Friday, December 24, 2010

I Pledge Allegiance


h/t Holger Awakens

Remember when?






[update]

Remember when? ...back before we noticed government destroying businesses and farms, courts and financial stability, and now whole industries.
“It is the responsibility of the patriot to protect his country from its government.”
- Thomas Paine
The current form of government has made itself a leech, a cancer, sucking the life out of the country. As it fattens, it is killing the host.


I also remember a time and place where the government provided stability and consistency, and where robust individuals were able to reap the rewards for their innovation and hard work. No, really. Maybe it was a local/regional phenomenon, but I remember it. It's what the founders intended. And I want that back.

That's the attraction in the videos: The nostalgic notion that people are free to do things without begging the government; that 'we the people' are anything other than Eloi to serve the Morlocks.
"--That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
- Jefferson, et al
Imagine that: A government constituted with the specific task of ensuring my Safety and Happiness.

5 comments:

Borepatch said...

Thanks for posting this, as a reminder of how fortunate we are. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

sofa said...

Merry Christmas, Borepatch

Home on the Range said...

I hope your Christmas was a day of joy and your New Year one of great adventures.

GunRights4US said...

Well this won't be popular but here goes:

I love my country, but to be honest I’ve lost a lot of regard for the pledge when I discovered it was penned by a die-hard socialist flag salesman. And for the longest time I didn’t pay attention to its use of the word indivisible. Yet as a Southerner who fervently believes that Lincoln was a tyrant who did irreparable damage to the Constitution, I now recognize that “indivisible” flies right in the face of the state’s right of secession. And lastly, I read Johan Goldberg’s book Liberal Fascism not long ago, and I became enlightened to the long history of governments using patriotism to harness and redirect the devotion of the citizens in ways that would benefit the corrupt political class. I have reached the point where I detest my government while still loving my nation. Far too many Americans can’t seem to distinguish between the two, and in my opinion the pledge helps to further that confusion. I sincerely wish that Americans would learn and be able to recite the Bill of Rights - instead of some flag salesman’s promo bit.

sofa said...

Sorry for not being clearer on what I was remembering when watching these nostaligic videos...

I updated the post.

***

Remember when? ...back before we 'took the red pill' and saw reality for what it was? ...back before we noticed government destroying businesses and farms, courts and financial stability, and now whole industries.

I also remember a time and place where the government provided stability and consistency, and where robust individuals were able to reap the rewards for their hard work and good deeds. No, really. Maybe it was regional phenomenon, but I remember it. It's what the founders intended. And I want that back.