The Day Freedom Ends
In 1776, the Americans had a wonderful new idea for a republic in which each state (a common word for “country” in those days) would exist independently of the others, whilst a federal government would be in place to provide a few additional services, such as the creation of a common currency and joint protection from foreign invasion.
Unfortunately, those who sought to be all powerful were at work almost immediately, hoping to increase the power of the federal government to the point that the United States would be run as a conglomerate. By 1860, this had already reached the stage that the president denied the right of states to leave the Union.
The US later became the model for a new kind of empire. Until the 20th century, empires were often oppressive, with kings who ruled over a country and conquered other states. This was true right until the decline of the British Empire.
Since that time, the empire concept has not by any means gone away. It has just changed its marketing strategy. Today, the trend is toward collective unions patterned after the American model—the illusion that democracy is in full flower and that “the people” are in charge. This, of course, is Freedom in name alone. The propaganda soothes the more gullible of us into imagining that a modern empire is less oppressive than the empires of old.
The Rape of Liberty
Rights are regularly stripped away, generally to “protect the people from terrorism.” This has been most evident in the US, where, since 9/11, the country has devolved dramatically into a police state. (As second US President John Adams correctly stated, “Those who trade Liberty for Security have neither.”)
Those of us who are not US citizens tend to view the “Rape of Liberty” presently being carried out in much of the First World (and in the US in particular) the way we might watch a violent storm from the windows of our (hopefully) secure home, all the while hoping that the storm is not so strong as to destroy our home in the bargain.
We watch as, in recent years, right
Article from LewRockwell
LewRockwell.com is a libertarian website that publishes articles, essays, and blog posts advocating for minimal government, free markets, and individual liberty. The site was founded by Lew Rockwell, an American libertarian political commentator, activist, and former congressional staffer. The website often features content that is critical of mainstream politics, state intervention, and foreign policy, among other topics. It is a platform frequently used to disseminate Austrian economics, a school of economic thought that is popular among some libertarians.
