We Are Becoming A Nation Of Supplicants, Not Citizens
We are in a new era of American politics. One in which the government is taking more and more power over the economy and our lives. We have the Obama administration taking over car companies and closing down dealerships. Obama is taking over finance companies. The federal government is regulating everything from what kind of cars we can drive to what kind of light bulbs we can use. The “stimulus” spending spree passed into law by Obama and his fellow Democrats gives the federal government the power to not only accumulate our medical records into one central database, but to also weigh in when some bureaucrat feels our treatment isn’t efficient enough.
And even as we speak, Obama and his fellow liberals on both sides of the political aisle are pushing through legislation for taxes on carbon emissions (something we emit when we breathe) and nationalized health care (so the government will control the medical care we receive). The FCC is considering creating local boards that would dictate the sort of programming you can and can’t get on broadcast television and radio. The federal government is granting itself regulatory control over privately-owned land for no other reason than the land might be used in some sort of economic development our tourism project.
What all this is doing is turning us from a nation of citizens into a nation of supplicants.
I read news stories about people contacting politicians for help with their loans. I read news stories about politicians intervening to keep the government from closing down businesses in their states or districts.
Would it really be so hard to believe that should nationalized health care and cap-and-trade carbon taxes be put into place, Americans will be lining up in front of their politicians begging for help with getting medical attention or permission to emit more carbon than the government normally allows? Is that an America you would want to live in?
What is going on now reminds me of how monarchs throughout history would set aside special days where their subjects could come and ask them to grant favors, everything from requests for “the Divine Touch” to cure diseases to requests for patronage or mediation in land disputes. The supplicants would be led in one by one, and the monarch would rule on their cases.
Granted, our political leaders today are granted their power through election and not some sort of divine right, but we’re still creating a situation where government is so all-powerful that citizens are not empowered to set their own destinies. Instead they, more and more, must line up to supplicate the political class for permission, subsidy and succor.
We Americans like to talk about how America is a “free country.” Yet more and more it is not a free country. It is a country where your freedom to do (or not do) any given thing – be it driving a certain kind of car to emitting carbon – hinges almost entirely upon the rulings of the political elite.
Which is just the way the political elite like it. Better you must come to them for help and aid – for which they can extract a price from you – than for you to be able to help yourself.
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