By John David Egan
I want to offer my condolences to my conservative friends. A little late perhaps but the conservative movement is dead. Not because Herr Trump signed a massive spending bill. Not because the " wall " is a hoax. And not because the war machine continues to grow or the fact that there is a camera on every corner and a cop geared up for war. It is dead because there is no weapon available to fight the onslaught of big government out of Washington, DC. The minions of big government have so corrupted the Great Republic that it is almost beyond repair. The " freedom caucus " is impotent. There are no libertarians unless you count Massie and Paul, no Madisonians, Jeffersonians, Federalists, or Constitutionalists to carry the spear that will kill the beast. Big government is winning and by all accounts is on the verge of sweeping away any resistance.
The kids from Parkland, armed with their Saul Alinsky handbooks on social justice are the newest face of the Bolshevik left. They are talking about gun safety, not control and that is the beginning of a new war on the 2nd amendment. Confiscation is the aim. They are organized, well funded and great TV. They have captured the attention of the mob. Gun safety is kin to its big brother hate speech. The two go hand in hand. Shut up and give me your guns. Pretty scary and almost conspiratorial. But it is happening right in front of us. Frantically reported to us by well-coiffed fanatics. The sideshow being played out for the cameras by the DC swamp creatures features bump stock banishment, age requirements to buy a gun, and an onslaught of blame heaped on the helpless mentally deranged among us is a distraction. The real aim is to protect the government; not the people. A whopping spending bill designed to puff up the armada and keep such national treasures as planned parenthood and the national police forces funded and equipped for the coming revolt is the conservative legacy. Don't blame the progressives for this one. This is solely on Herr Trump and his populist agenda. It is a bad time to be a conservative. All the media attention, a lot of Gita, and an energized movement is with the left. The right has sold out. Good. At least now the money, our money, is on the table. Trump if he has done anything has pulled the curtain on the duplicitous creatures of the swamp. They, however, seem to be without shame. They go right on making restrictive laws, spend money, add to the debt without regret and engage in partisan name calling and histrionics. It's fabulous entertainment, but the cost is too great to bear. Where are we heading with only one philosophy dominating Washington, DC? We are skidding into the Stalinist policy of central control and central planning. No the deep state, which doesn't exist because the media says it doesn't exist, has won the day. Soon we will all be servants of the tyrants in the bureaucracy.
It is even a worse time to be a Libertarian. Yes, yes I know we had that golden duo run for office in 2016, Johnson, Weld. We do have a credible candidate for governor of the Empire State, Larry Sharpe. He is seriously outgunned and out funded. Mr. Sharpe's chances are slim to none that he topples Comrade Cuomo. Still no victories. Nothing but loudmouths like me to fuel the frustration of the liberty movement. What will it take?
It is enough to make one sick. The blatant use of emotion, in the case of Parkland especially, by the Leftists to push their agenda of a one world government might be able to fodder for the tin hats who follow Alex Jones but I am beginning to believe all the conspiracies. The oily denizens of the deep halls of the Capital, mixing potions of regulation, mandates, money and surveillance to enslave Americans. It is an act of desperation on my part to even entertain such thoughts. The battle over the 2A is a case in point. Where reason and liberty are not even spoken of. It's all about keeping the kids safe.
Because emotion is a volatile condition the Left must have a steadying influence on the narrative. The media is more than willing to assist. They even make shit up that doesn't need to be made up. So the war mongers at FOX rail against the Commies of MSNBC, no news there mind you, and we the clunks of America scratch our heads and whisper WTF.
Right there in a nutshell is what happened to the Great Republic. Self-serving, lazy, bloated citizens of the Empire on the Potomac relegated our authority to a bunch of hacks and fore-flushers to represent our interests in DC. We demanded to be entertained by the news. Zealots have the airwaves. How'd that turn out? Not very well. Craven politicians entrenched in DC with an army of bureaucrats to write the rules, laws, and regulations began the dismantling of the constitution in 1937 under Fearless Leader Franklin Roosevelt. Since then it's been all cake and easy money for the government types. Assaults on the Constitution have been constant and well funded. From Roosevelt to Trump there hasn't been one Constitutional President. They have all sold their souls to the government. As soon as they walk off the podium on Inauguration Day, hand still on the bible they sell out their oath. That is why the notion held on the left and the right that the President is some kind of god who needs all the power he can get his hands on is so ridiculous. If Congress would just go along? And they do. Such is politics and the constant gullibility of the citizenry. The Congress has abdicated its authority and Constitutional mandate to write the laws on behalf of the people. To check the power of an imperial President. There hasn't been a single law written in my lifetime that has shored up the rights of the citizenry as a whole. Everything is control.
Now that I have painted a picture of desperation and conspiracy I must offer some hope. And there is hope. One of the things that is a positive for the liberty movement is that so many people are pissed off at the government. For different reasons yes but pissed is pissed. It's not necessary to form alliances with all these other angry groups. Why do It ? The growing onslaught of frustration with the DC elites is growing and the pressure is mounting. It doesn't matter to me if the pressure comes from the left or the right. Just as long as its constant. And loud. Yes make it very loud. Block the streets, jail the bankers, storm the precincts all that Bolshevik crap. Just as long as it, at the very least, neutralizes the beast. Technology in the hands of an educated population is a dangerous thing to tyranny. No matter what you may think of the Parkland kids they are smart, well spoken and as informed as they need to be to carry forward their agenda. It is a false narrative, of course, but; rabble-rousing is an American tradition. One I fully support. These youngsters are tech-savvy and socially very mobile. Watch what they do. It is a lesson they may learn on how things get hijacked by the professional social justice warriors in protest movements no matter how pure the intentions. These kids are young. They will learn. This is a time in our history when the earth is a little shaky. The Nationalist movements across the globe are moving. The New World Order that Pappy Bush spoke about is on the defensive. Few if any of these movements are based on individualism. But a strong desire across the globe for autonomy and self-determination is well underway.
Governments of all kinds will eventually prove worthless. This young generation, highly criticized by the generation who raised them, is a lot smarter and tougher then us old geezers give them credit for. There are many who are questioning everything. That's a start. Meanwhile, my fellow libertarians may be more prone to support and elect local officials in their towns and cities. The swamp in DC is beyond repair. It will topple under its own weight. The rest of us still have to live. Strong libertarian local governments can insulate the citizenry against the tyranny that infects our nation's capital. It's really a waste of time to try and reform the federal government. We can manage to promote council people, mayors, commissioners. We can run for school boards and zoning commissions. I know its already being done on a small scale. So let's amp it up a bit. Walk away from the federal fight and roll up our sleeves in our hometowns. We seceed nothing by walking away from the federal fight. We are not even a player on the national stage. But on the local front we can make a difference.