Last Thursday night I attended a meeting at Mt. Logan Middle School. About 150 people attended. It was sponsored by the "Independent Caucus" and included several speeches and presentations, generally designed to tap into dissatisfaction with the way things are going in the country.
While I was sitting in between two friends, I penned the following observation:
"Getting large numbers of people who believe in independence to unite in a common cause is like herding cats."
That occurred to me because each speaker, in turn, was admonishing people in the audience to get out and protect the Constitution and their rights against intrusion and interference. But when asked what specifically a person can or should do, they seemed stumped. To their credit, they did not say "Follow me blindly and help me throw off the yoke of despotism." But this dilemma is an organic obstacle to well-organized resistance to socialism. Those who oppose governmental control of their lives are by the same nature disinclined to commit their loyalty to any political organization.
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Donkeys and Elephants
Become active in politics. Help destroy the myth that “politics are dirty.” The fact is: politics are essential. The Lord has stressed that we ought to be concerned and involved in promoting good government. You simply have to realize that the political process is the way to attain that objective.
-D. James Cannon
-D. James Cannon
Book List
- I have granted every contributor admin privileges so that you can add your favorite political books yourself. Just follow the same format and be sure to keep this comment first in the list. Thanks!
- "The Constitution of Liberty" by F.A. Hayek (Jeff)
- "The Wealth of Nations" by Adam Smith (Devin)
- "1776" by David McCullough (Devin)
- "The Road to Serfdom" by F.A. Hayek (Jeff)
- "A Matter of Interpretation" by Antonin Scalia (Devin)
- "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand (Rich)
- "1984" by George Orwell (Devin)
- "The Birth of Plenty" by William J. Bernstein (Devin)
- Very quick read: "The Curses of Entitlement: 30 Frightening Consequences of Government Payments" by Roger Fritz (Rich)
- "The Tempting of America" by Robert H. Bork (Devin)
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3 comments:
And therein lies the catch-22. You bring up an great question: How do you effectively mobilize and coalesce individuals into a political force who themselves highly value individualism, freedom, liberty, and personal autonomy (and therefore, by nature are skeptical and resistant to hand some of it over to a political group)? It seems like a tall order.
Great observation Dad.
And for a somewhat-related piece of news, a Gallup poll/survey came out yesterday that I found interesting. I don't give much weight to surveys and polls because they are often deeply flawed, unreliable, misleading, etc. That said, 10 surveys were conducted from January to May, and the results showed that self-described conservatives outnumber self-described liberals by a 2-1 margin (40% to 21%), making them the largest ideological group in the country. 35% responded as moderates. If that really is the case, you wonder how a majority voted for Obama in November? I have my theories, but that is for another day.
But back to the post - wouldn't it be nice to see some true conservative coalescing in time for the 2010 Midterm Elections?
This is something Glenn Beck brings up every now and then. There is a very large and growing number of independents in the nation who are disillusioned with both government and partisan politics, and their very nature leaves them with no organization or leader. It leaves a lot of unanswered questions, but it doesn't negate what they stand for. Something will eventually give.
This idea of herding cats reminds me of the revolutionary era. It took great men to unite the colonies and even then the ties were tenuous. Their hesitancy to unify and adopt a national government makes more sense as we view the growth of the federal government over the course of the nations history. They knew what too few know today:
Government is a necessary evil. Emphasis on the evil part.
They only adopted the Constitution after they were persuaded that it was one of limited powers. (Limited powers?) They only accepted it after they were sure that they put enough checks in place to contain the beast. Much to my hearts lament the safeguards they established are withering as that beast grows ever stronger. That growth comes at the diminishment of local government and hence people ruling themselves. Proximity to the government grows ever more distant as does our ability to rule ourselves. I am convinced that many are ready to follow and make some noise but they need someone they can believe in before they will. I am one of those many.
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