The Superhighway to Serfdom
23. Dec, 2009 Written by: Brian Roberts Comments (6)________________________
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In 1944, nobel prize winning economist F.A. Hayek wrote The Road to Serfdom to describe the typical path tyrants use to lead free people from freedom to servitude. It’s not as long of a road as you might expect. In fact, it’s easy to see that America is on it and the pedal is to the floor. If you haven’t seen the illustrated road to serfdom, spend 5 minutes here:
http://mises.org/books/TRTS/ (I’d guess we’re probably on step 9 or so.)
The founder’s were fully aware of the road to serfdom that Hayek describes. The Constitution itself provides “We the People” with many alternate routes that can lead to freedom in the event that a tyrannical government sets the country on a course to serfdom. In fact, the writers of the Constitution were extremely focused on keeping the powers of the federal government in chains so that our freedom would not be stolen from us in the dead of the night by politicians in Washington DC. That is exactly what the Bill of Rights was about and why the 10th amendment delegated most lawmaking to the states.
Over the last 100 years, many roadblocks have been put up to destroy these Constitutional protections. Through backdoor legislation, ridiculous judicial rulings and just pure misinformation, each carefully crafted protection has been under attack. But if you look carefully, the Constitutional exit ramps are still there; our choice as free citizens is to face the challenge and use our current freedom to get the hell off the road to serfdom before it is too late.
The Superhighway to Serfdom
Do you ever wonder why the country seems to be driving 150 mph, out of control, and politicians are screaming “Emergency!” at every turn? The answer is simple… these federal politicians are trying to keep us from jumping out of the car before we arrive at the final destination. Hayek states it more eloquently:
“Emergencies’ have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded.“
In effect, a superhighway to serfdom has been built over the last 100 years and politicians today are driving as fast as they can to get us past all the exits that would lead to freedom before we have a chance to wake up. Some of the best options are in the rear view mirror and the least painful options are about to pass us by. The sooner we wake up and force action, the less we will have to suffer to remain free.
Notice that I used the word “force” in the previous sentence. We are going to have to force the federal government to restrain itself to the limits of the Constitution. That is the nature of the battle.
Washington Avenue
If you try to get back to freedom by exiting on Washington Avenue, you’ll find that it winds and turns, gets really confusing but in the end you are right back on the Superhighway to Serfdom. This is the game our federal politicians have been playing for years now. Democrats steal away freedom in large chunks, then Republicans will take over and only steal away small chunks of freedom. It’s a losers game for “we the people”.
Another reason to be wary of the “Washington in 2010 or 2012″ strategy is that the Democrats who voted for socialist health care in defiance of the Constitution and against public opinion do not seem to fear the elections. Ask yourself why. Biased Media? Amnesty? Acorn? White House managed census? Biden’s “manufactured crisis”? I only know there are a number of tools readily available to influence the vote.
Ok, let’s assume that we are able to actually get a Republican majority. What are you expectations? Recent history proves their inability or unwillingness to reverse legislation. They might campaign on killing Obamacare, but they will never do it. There are too many political ramifications. I can already hear the Democrats complaining about stealing “[protected group #12's] right to health care”. It will work too. So, if the Democrats are able to get Health Care or Cap and Trade passed before 2010, you can rest assured that any Republican majority will be too scared (or too corrupt) to reverse anything significant.
This exit is in the rear view mirror… onward we fly to serfdom.
10th Street
The 10th amendment states:
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
This is the next option we have to get off the road to serfdom. This one is approaching right now. What will we do?
There are many challenges here. In 1913, the federal government tried to destroy this path by passing the 16th and 17th amendment. Both of these significantly hindered a states power to effect policy, but that’s a dicussion for another time. There is also an education problem as many people are unaware of the tools that state’s possess to protect their sovereignty and their citizens well-being. Regardless of these roadblocks, i think this is by all means the next best route to freedom.
One option that states can use to assert their 10th amendment rights is to nullify federal laws. This means that unconstitutional federal laws are declared null and void by actions of state legislatures or through a state’s constitutional amendment process. In practice, this serves to provide great balance as it allows regions that may be different culturally and politically to live in relative harmony sharing enumerated powers with a federal government. In our founders eyes the federal government would be very limited in size and mostly responsible for raising a defensive military and proving stability between state commerce. As the 10th states, the other powers are relegated to the states or to the people themselves.
There are many advantages of bringing the power back closer to the people. Different regions could legislate their own cultural differences instead of a “one federal size fits all states” dictate; states can try new programs and successful programs can be mimicked by other states; and, the balance of power that would result from a competitive political battle between states and the federal government can only result in good things for we the people. So, talk to everyone you know about the 10th amendment, state sovereignty and nullification. Call your state representatives and tell them you want them to nullify the health care bill. Tell them your state will remain free.
Take this route, after this it gets messy.
Secession Drive
If we are unable to force the federal government to abide by the constitution through 10th amendment action, then secession is what has to happen. At this point, the federal government has broken the Constitutional contract, ignored our stated grievances, placed federal politicians above the people, passed laws that by design eliminate the possibility of repeal, ignored the rule-of-law, and has proven that it’s intended destination for “we the people” is serfdom. Can anyone truly live free from tyranny with a central government that stops at nothing?
I have to be clear here. The 10th amendment movement is about using Constitutional protections to limit the powers of the federal government so that our country may never having to go this route. But I will tell you this, if the choices come down to taking this exit or waiting for the next, this is by far the better route.
2nd Street
The second amendment is not about hunting, it is about individuals protecting their right to life, liberty and property from a tyrannical government. 2nd Street is not a street you want to travel. The Constitution has given us many options before this one and we should fight like hell to get out of the car before we get here. Sir Winston Churchill had the best quote about what it might feel like if the 2nd amendment is the only thing between you and serfdom:
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If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves.”If you are here, ask yourself why you didn’t do anything to protect freedom for you and your children when you had the chance.
Final Destination: Serfdom
What happens if “we the people” fail to protect our constitutional republic? Well, Hayek pointed this out too. Flip to the last slide here:
http://mises.org/books/TRTS/. It’s what happened in 1930’s Germany, it’s what happened in Stalin’s Russia, it’s what we are on the road to right now.
Lucky for us the founders of our country knew we’d eventually end up on the road to serfdom and they provided us with a Constitution that gives us a legal means to recover from our past mistakes. We have let tyranny fester in Washington DC and it is now our generation’s responsibility to put the Constitutional chains back in place.
Wake up.
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Keep it up libs, you will provoike CW2 sooner than you think.
