Real Change: Rebuilding the Dream (Part 1)

In the 2008 Presidential election, America's so-called two-party system offered the voters no real choice. Obama offered empty rhetoric that masked a lifelong commitment to the treacherous allure of shiftless communism. McCain offered empty rhetoric that masked his total abandonment of the American principles the Republican Party pretends to uphold. Both candidates joined in support of the so-called bank rescue package that is now acknowledged by all to have been America's fateful leap into full fledged socialism. (As usual, when we said so at the time, people like me were ridiculed by the thought enforcers in the media, who exist to make people timid and ashamed of their own common sense.) The election was a stage play of phony fisticuffs, like some of the wrestling matches we see on TV. The two parties are like baseball teams or racing cars held by the same owners. Despite the appearance of competition, they are two puppets moved by one pair of hands, sharing a common goal- to maximize profits for the self-serving special interests that pull their strings. America doesn't have two parties, but one party with two heads. Their lips feign disagreement, but they sit atop a body whose feet move only one way- toward government dictatorship that once and for all overthrows the sovereignty of the people.

Of course, many people who support the Democrats have no problem with this outcome, so long as the government dictators promise a job (though for all too many a reliable handout will do), a roof over their heads and the freedom to fornicate in whatever manner they choose. They even applaud mass slaughter, so long as it's directed against human life in a way that flatters their timidity and pride to exempt them from immediate harm ("not to worry, you're in no danger, only your inferiors"). But some Democrats and a large number of Republicans have enough self-respect to reject the small pride that fearful prejudice makes possible. They want to feel part of something noble, something that invokes a better destiny than survival, a better hope than simply being spared the butcher's knife. Some of these give in with pleasure to empty words of hope and change, spoken in tones that smack of something grand, they know not what. Some surrender to slogans that exalt liberty; promise greater responsibility; that even (dare we say it) mention God and imply that yes, there's more to life than passing fantasies of never lasting pleasure. These latter mostly vote Republican. They long for the real substance of that old American dream, our liberty. I like to believe that there are still enough of them to constitute a governing majority, if ever they would come together in earnest to vote for what they say they long to see. But even now, faced with the prospective triumph of everything they profess to deplore, they remain passive, hesitant, divided, confused- filled with noble appetites but all unwilling to risk moving toward the highlands where nobility can be satisfied. They hear with pleasure the echoes of Ronald Reagan, calling to America as that 'city on a hill'. But mired by love of pleasure in their suburbs on the plain, though they hear, they will not climb.

Such people have a decision to make, not unlike the one that faced Lot's congregation when the Lord gave them leave to escape the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. Will they be Lot or Lot's wife? They must choose between the steep path to hope that dwells in the highlands, or the memories of pleasure tugging at their heartstrings, pulling toward the plains and hope's destruction. It is of course only the memory of pleasure that beckons: a vain delusion. For us the surest indication of this is the little grain of truth in the alleged usurper's State of the Union address. Amidst improbable promises of future messianic wonders, he admitted that the likely and immediate prospect was one of debt, dearth, and government inflicted discipline. The real question therefore is not whether we will suffer, but whether we will do so to help Obama overthrow our liberty or to help ourselves restore it.

In slavery times some masters' prized possession was a dark skinned overseer whose appearance lent some color of legitimacy to the brutal reality of enslavement. Their greatest nightmare was one who rose to be a rallying point against this clever deception. Against this nightmare, the most clever and enslaving deception of all was the preacher who appealed to the longing for freedom in order to enmesh the enslaved in a soulish disposition that sings hymns to freedom in the land of bye and bye, but does nothing here and now to assert or pursue that freedom. Such was the caricature of Christianity often encouraged amongst their "chattel" by skillful slaveholders. Such sadly is the role the Republican Party now plays in the drama that depicts the fate of America's liberty.

Happily, the best antidote to the false Christianity used to facilitate the tyranny of earthly masters, is the true faith that represents the liberty of God's creation. God's liberty offers every human being the chance to be their own master with no provision except that they respond to the goodwill that God offers them by accepting it themselves and extending it to all others. In doing so they constitute a self-governing community for which God's goodwill becomes the law. This is the clear, straightforward vision of republican liberty that America's founding generation sought to implement. In the Declaration of Independence they eloquently set forth its principles. In the war for Independence they proved their dedication to its truth. In the Constitution of the United States they strove, as best they could, to fashion a framework for its construction.

Abraham Lincoln's legacy has been falsely played upon and manipulated a good deal in recent weeks. But are there really any Americans left truly committed to government of, by and for the people, the form of government to which Lincoln dedicated all the sacrifice, suffering and death of the American Civil war? If so, the most critical and desperate need of our times is a vehicle for their action that is truly, faithfully, wholeheartedly committed to its preservation. Yet, though by name the Democrats invoke the people's strength, they embrace an ideology that betrays that strength for the sake of government power. Though by name the Republicans invoke the common good that is the people's liberty, they have sold out the faith and fear to act on the creed that is the foundation of our free republic. If we mean to restore it, then we must reject the betrayal of the Democrats and the sold-out timidity of the so-called Republicans. We must cease to be the consumers of their political lies, wallowing in the throes of the nightmare they have brought upon us. We must become instead the re-builders of a fresh republican hope, the real American dream.

In light of this challenge, it is surely providential that contemporary science and technology now offer tools exactly suited to the practical challenge at hand. Next, we'll take a look at the characteristics of a structure of political action that makes use of these tools. It must be designed from the ground up to be consistent with the goal of rebuilding the ark of liberty. Otherwise it will not survive the flood of lies, debt and delusions that now threatens to overwhelm our freedom. As background for this discussion, pay a visit to http://AIPnews.com. Explore what you find there. After all, the old saw is sometimes right on. A good illustration saves more than a thousand words.

Worth considering? Then don't forget to DIGG IT!!!!Worth considering? Then don't forget to DIGG IT!!!!