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REQUIEM

Below are the two final essays to be posted on Allegiance and Duty Betrayed. The first one is written by a friend -- screen name 'Euro-American Scum' -- who, over the past four years, has been the most faithful essayist here. He has written about everything from his pilgrimage to Normandy in 2004 to take part in the 60th–year commemoration of the invasion, to his memories of his tour in Vietnam. His dedication to America’s founding principles ... and those who have sacrificed to preserve them over the past 200+ years ... is unequaled. Thank you, E-A-S. It has been a privilege to include your writing here, and it is a privilege to call you my friend.

The second essay is my own farewell. And with it I thank all of the many regular visitors, and those who may have only dropped in occasionally, for coming here. I hope you learned something. I hope a seed or two was planted. But, even if not, I thank you for stopping by ... 25 March, 2010

3/04/2008

Election Year Wisdom
From William F. Buckley

tyranny1.jpg

I will not cede more power to the state. I will not willingly cede more power to anyone -- not to the state, not to General Motors, not to the C.I.O. I will hoard my power like a miser, resisting every effort to drain it away from me. I will then use my power as I see fit. I mean to live my life an obedient man -- but obedient to God, subservient to the wisdom of my ancestors; never to the authority of political truths arrived at yesterday at the voting booth ... William F. Buckley

I humbly sign on to Mr. Buckley's philosophy.

The most powerful and eternally important words of that quote (obedient to God and subservient to the wisdom of my ancestors) are overlooked by most Americans these days, as is evidenced by the character and integrity of the three remaining major contenders for the presidency.

The wisdom of our ancestors now finds itself tragically overshadowed by the power of the thirty-second sound-bite, the innate truth and integrity of which has been declared irrelevant -- 'charisma' and catchiness being deemed of more value.

After all, most modern Americans know very little about their ancestors (our Founders in particular) and consider it a waste of time to comprehend their sacrifice or their vision, let alone defend them.

Obedience to God, from whom all of our liberties flow, has largely found itself replaced by a willingness to allow a self-declared human elite to decide what is best for us. It has become acceptable for self-declared mini-gods to:

(1) entice us to abrogate our God-given individual freedoms in order to increase their personal and ideological power

(2) teach us to despise individual human excellence and genuine success based on ability and hard work

(3) employ dark and bold lies, claiming to love humanity and the earth, while all the while scheming to usurp individual liberties and author contrived threats to the environment in order to increase their own power and domain.

In this most crucial presidential campaign of our history -- when our liberty, sovereignty, and very existence as a free republic have never been more threatened, both domestically and internationally -- none of the three remaining candidates for president has consistently exhibited even a modicum of allegiance to defending individual liberty or adhering to the vision of our Founding Fathers.

We're navigating in very dark waters. Those who refuse to look beyond rhetoric, and who have no knowledge of the consequences of misplaced trust, might do well to take a few steps back, silence the 'party unity at all costs' mantra, and consider how the survival of the American republic will be affected by incessant compromise -- granting credence and privilege to those who have no respect for our Founders or the original blueprint of this republic, and who view our God-given liberties as expendable.

American politics aren't about solving problems, nor are they any longer about addressing the concerns of the people ... American politics are about joining a very small, very elite fraternity ... which makes up its own rules, provides for its own best interest, and whose members are not subject to the laws and provisions that govern the proletariat ... American politics have become, at best, a taxpayer-funded brothel and/or liars club comprised of hedonistic opportunists. Many claim the system is corrupt. I submit it isn't the system; rather, it is the ne'er-do-wells who have been permitted to conscript it.

One of the primary causal factors in the creation of our form of government was to eliminate kings and queens. Yet that is exactly the way those on Capitol Hill behave. There are only so many reasons a person is willing to spend tens of millions of their own money to get a job that pays $165,000 a year -- and while certain of those reasons may be altruistic, it's a safe bet that the greater majority of same are totally self-serving ... Mychal Massie


~ joanie

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

"In the name of the best within you, do not sacrifice this world to those who are its worst. In the name of the values that keep you alive, do not let your vision of man be distorted by the ugly, the cowardly, the mindless in those who have never achieved his title. Do not lose your knowledge that man's proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads. Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it's yours."

--Ayn Rand

Anonymous said...

A beautiful quote, Mr. Buckley.

A beautiful quote, Ms. Rand.

Thank you, Joanie and John.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this.

Anonymous said...

God bless William Buckley.

Anonymous said...

God bless William Buckley.

He already has, many times over, and no doubt is right now. ;)

Anonymous said...

"We're navigating in very dark waters. Those who refuse to look beyond rhetoric, and who have no knowledge of the consequences of misplaced trust, might do well to take a few steps back, silence the 'party unity at all costs' mantra, and consider how the survival of the American republic will be affected by incessant compromise -- granting credence and privilege to those who have no respect for our Founders or the original blueprint of this republic, and who view our God-given liberties as expendable."

I have nothing to add. It just needed repeating.

Anonymous said...

I highly recommend this article: To Be Conservative in America by J.B. Williams. It begins...

~~~~

America’s conservative party, the Grand Ole Republican Party, is so fractured down ideological lines that it has not been able to advance a real conservative candidate in a quarter century, since Reagan won re-election twenty four years ago in 1984.

In the 2008 primaries, conservative voters were so divided between numerous candidates that they were unable to coalesce around a single conservative. By Super Tuesday, before most conservatives had any say in their party nomination, the most liberal Republican candidate had emerged as the party nominee, even though more than 65 percent of Republicans voted against him. The 65 percent agreed only on opposing John McCain, but not on whom else to run in his place.

After years of reader mail and surfing dozens of high traffic conservative blogs reading thousands of “conservative” comments concerning who or what is or isn’t “conservative,” it is clear that Republicans no longer agree on what the word “conservative” means.

Unless conservatives can agree on what it is to be “conservative,” the conservative movement in America will remain fractured and powerless.

~~~~~

I agree that unless it can agree on some fundamental principles, the GOP is history. The essay continues...

~~~~~

Isn’t America an idea, a concept of social order, based on certain specific principles and values? Is it the geographical longitude and latitude or the many sizes, shapes, colors and ideologies of its 300 million people that define what America is? Or is it a specific set of foundational ideas, principles and values that defines what America is, has been and should always be?

America is founded on a very simple set of concepts recorded for all posterity with the opening words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident.” Beyond this opening line is a brief but very specific list of those basic “truths”…

*That our individual rights as Americans were endowed by a Creator, not granted by man. That these individual rights are unalienable by all men (or women), no matter the impact on the greater communal good.

*That the right of individual liberty can not be trampled on by the communal body, even for a greater common purpose.

*That all men are Created equal and free, regardless of race, creed or color.

*That every individual has the right to define and pursue (earn) his/her own happiness.

*That the very first American unalienable right is to Life itself, without which there can be no individual liberty, happiness, social decency or humane justice.

*That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men.

*That these men/women and their governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.

*And that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends (these concepts), it is the Right (and obligation) of the People to alter or to abolish it.

*That the power in America rests in the individual, not in the special interest organization or self-serving politician.

~~~~~
JB Williams is mostly unknown, but very, very good.

Anonymous said...

What an excellent article Cooper! I've saved it to my hard drive and sent it to a bunch of conservative friends.

This is so tragic especially:

In the 2008 primaries, conservative voters were so divided between numerous candidates that they were unable to coalesce around a single conservative. By Super Tuesday, before most conservatives had any say in their party nomination, the most liberal Republican candidate had emerged as the party nominee, even though more than 65 percent of Republicans voted against him. The 65 percent agreed only on opposing John McCain, but not on whom else to run in his place.

Thanks for posting this.

Anonymous said...

Well said as always Joanie. I share your disgust. Our choice in November will be a dismal one and God help our country, no matter who the next President is. One thing for sure: He/she won't be fit for office.