Here is an article worth reading:
The State of the Union: These Are Dangerous Times, and the Government Is To Blame, by John W. Whitehead, published on the Rutherford Institute website on February 4, 2019.
The article is worth reading, especially if you still believe all is well with our nation. Sure, the economy looks good at present, we can still vote for candidates and laws of our choice, we still move relatively freely within our nation and in and out of our nation. However, there are areas of concern. The article in question lists a few of these concerns, such as,
* The tendency to consider all citizens suspect – guilty until proven innocent.
* Invasive strip searches, forceful drawing of blood, intimate probes.
* Militarization of our city police.
* A constitutional right to bear arms that applies to government officials only.
* Spying by government and commerce into private lives of citizens.
* Courts more interested in advancing government’s agenda than seeking justice.
The concerns are serious and the events listed above real. However, is the government to blame, as the title of the article indicates? The subtitle of the website on which the article appears is “It’s our job to make the government play by the rules of the constitution.”
That indeed is the job not only of The Rutherford Institute but of every voter and resident of this nation. If we the people choose to vote for candidates and laws that place security above liberty, we are to blame. If we obediently submit to walking without our shoes on airport floors, we are to blame. If we aid the surveillance state by choosing all manner of “smart” gadgets, we are to blame.
The list of sins we commit against ourselves by far outweigh those committed by government against us. Government robs our liberties by our own consent.
Alexis de Tocqueville signaled how a nation descends into soft despotism in his book Democracy in America. At the end of the devolution are a childlike populace and a “tutelary” government.
Above this race of men stands an immense and tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratifications and to watch over their fate. That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild …
Alexis de Tocqueville 1805-1859, Democracy in America
Just Vote No 