7/2/2017
By Chris Rossini
One challenge that advocates of liberty must always face is the reverence that so many American citizens have for politicians.
If politicians are viewed as a special breed of human being who should be appealed to for solving the world's problems, you can be sure that liberty and individual responsibility have been buried as a result.
We have to choose one or the other...Liberty or Power.
We can't have both.
Think of liberty vs. power as a see-saw. When one swings upward, the other must come down.
When America was forming as a nation, liberty was flying high as a kite. The average American's contact with government was extremely limited. For many the post office was their only major connection to the federal government. That's it.
To think of the president as someone who would abolish poverty, bring democracy to the Middle East, alter the climate so that it stops "changing," provide "health care" to everyone, and thousands of other things would have been pure insanity.
You would have been told to go back to Europe if you wanted to live the life of a serf. Samuel Adams would have told you to "crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!"
Of course, even today, with more power than any individual should ever be granted, the president and government do none of the above. They create poverty and screw up the Middle East. The U.S. military is the biggest polluter on Earth, and they've turned health care into a total nightmare.
However, the difference is that Americans today believe that government should continue meddling in our lives. You won't find many people like Samuel Adams today.
To be sure, today's dominant beliefs have been cultivated for a very long time. Government's compulsory "schools," mainstream media, politically-connected corporations, churches, and countless other groups have placed politicians on a pedestal.
In fact, go to Washington D.C. and you can see the pedestals and the shrines for yourself.
The liberty vs. power see-saw swung in the other direction around the beginning of the 1900's. Comically, it would become known as the "progressive" era, and it's still with us today.
After creating wealth on a scale that was never seen before on planet Earth, it was time for liberty to get knocked down. America would chart a new course.
The former land of the free would become the land of the Caesars, who would all make their contribution to conquering the outside world. Liberty (they hoped) would be buried forever.
Pulling such a major change off requires a lot of propaganda...like massive amounts that appear around every corner. Many millions of people would have to view politicians as a special breed of human.
It took many years, and a ton of persistence, but the political classes in America pulled it off.
Today, American presidents are shuffled around the world with extravagant entourages, and showered with pomp-and-circumstance that would have made King George III jealous.
Because Empires require other countries to play along (by force if necessary) the American president has been viewed as a superhuman all over the world.
For a little more than 100 years, all aspects of the political establishment have crafted a He-Man known as the American President. He wears a nice suit and tie, is well-spoken, kisses babies, talks about compassion. He looks and acts very "presidential."
... And then came Donald Trump ...
The opening salvo against the establishment's fantasy would come from the Internet. No longer would Americans be exposed to a single script propagated by something called a "mainstream media."
The Internet even pokes holes into all the stories that government schools have been propagating as well.
Maybe all of those wars were a complete lie, and countless millions have died in vain. Maybe politicians are just tools of crony interests, that are auctioned off to the highest bidder.
It's amazing what one can learn when exposed to other opinions. The Internet lacerated the political classes and they've been struggling to censor it ever since Netscape gave us the browser.
And now Donald Trump comes along as president and starts firing off one Tweet after another. The new president is completely off script!
Trump's speech, demeanor, attitude and persona are nothing like the deified president that the political classes have created for America.
Unfortunately, Trump's not contributing to liberty from a policy perspective. His policies have been pure establishment, but we'll take the tweets nevertheless.
Trump is showing the world that the American President is really just a human being after all. He appeals to, and acts, like the man on the street.
Is the illusion of the presidency broken?
Probably not. Beliefs take a while to change.
But keep tweeting President Trump.
Keep smashing the government religion.
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Originally Posted by timosman
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