American Frankenstein

Beware . . .



Asserting one's rights is a threat to tyranny. The talk of war means a leader will not have to be accountable when ignoring the rights of the people he terrorizes.

Beware the leader who points to false evidence in order to excite the citizenry into fervor -- patriotism warms the heart, but cools the mind.

The masses, suffused with mindless passion, will silence those who dare chirp when their rights are ignored; and the foolish masses in the media, academia, and intelligencia will acquiesce to tyranny, putting their personal safety before the right of their fellow man to say what is self-evident: We have a dictatorship without regard for the rule of law.

The intelligencia, focusing on grammar, punctuation, and trivialities at winter cocktail parties, will [a] miss the tyrant’s threat to the free exercise of their right to engage in discourse; and [b] suffocate those who dare assert their rights, even accusing the few with a clear mind with charges of treason. The foolish buffoons will agree -- attacking friend and foe -- while the tyrant enjoys the convenient distraction from his abuses.

The citizenry -- no thanks to the spineless legal community and literary scholars who might assert the rule of law and reason against this tyrant -- suffused with fear and blind patriotism, will celebrate the tyrant's efforts to ignore their rights.

The toads in the legal community will assent to tyranny, using this as evidence of their patriotism, thereby securing tenure at law school. But what type of law will they teach? That tyranny will preserve all -- a legal fiction.

The citizenry will celebrate the tyrant's excuses, believing [a] rights are not to be asserted; and [b] safety is best preserved if they assent to tyranny.

The tyrant's security measures require additional intrusions, but there was little evidence the intrusions solved the security problem. The tyrant denied information permitting the citizens to realize that the intrusions into their personal privacy did nothing -- the enemy developed other methods to evade detection.

Only those naive -- failing to assert their rights, believing they are free -- will suffer; but this suffering will be explained away by convincing the suffering their toil is the needed stepping stone for character development or some nebulous future reward.

It never arrives, but tyranny has an open door and remains as welcome as a hot fire on a cold winter's morning.

Rights are meaningless unless asserted. Character is the guide to whether the rights will be asserted or foregone.

By failing to assert their right to stand up to a tyrant's abuse, intrusions, and violations of the law, the mindless citizenry is no longer free or safe. The tyrant doesn't care. He will ignore the people's rights, invade their homes, and pretend he has the authority to move contrary to the laws constraining others.

When compared to other tyrants, the tyrant will accuse those who love history and the law as being a threat to the nation's stability and security. This tyrant feigns shock when reminded of King George, the American Declaration of Independence, or the list of the King's abuses.

No mention will be made that the purpose of the American government was to preserve the Constitution and rights, not simply assert the unconstrained option to impose order.

The tyrant failed to keep his promise to preserve, protect, and defend their rights; and the mindless failed to realize they were no longer bound to assent to tyranny. Rather, they celebrate their slavery, thinking they are free to accuse others of being threats to the tyrant's power.

They fail to see they have been manipulated -- most assenting to tyranny; silence over the state of affairs is the kiss of death to their right to be free and independent citizens.

Who are they? They are Ben Franklin's Americans who [a] failed to assert their rights; and [b] are neither free nor safe; they won the Cold War, but let their Constitutional system of checks and balances crumble.

It was a fine celebration, which wasn't really much fun, yet the masses were deluded otherwise. How do I know? I kept my eyes open.

Hoc Voluerunt !

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Credit due: Robert McHenry for the editing tips and suggestions.

Notes:

1. Above comments were originally written in 2001. This version, self-evidently, expands on those comments.

2. Explanations of the original comment.

3. The above incorporates feedback from Robert McHenry.