Introduction

ACCIDENTAL FACSISM

Fascism is a big word. Actually it's kind of a small word for an -ism. But I want to address a serious issue that has to do with this.

Some people think that fascism is a form of government. Look it up. While it is associated with government the word itself relates to the philosophy that any government may espouse. It is a decision whether or not to be tolerant to opposing opinions.

Citizens of a fascist regime do not have free speech or freedom of the press. They are stifled and can only publish material supporting that regime. A fascist regime owns the media outlets and makes sure that no dissent is broadcasted. If no one hears dissent, then people will assume there is no dissent. A fascist regime forces everyone to comply through censorship of everything.

So I want to talk about "accidental fascism." This is what happens when we allow ourselves to be censored.

During the Bush years I wasn't actively publishing online, and that is a shame because I would have had some fantastic literature. But I heard all the time how people were afraid to speak their minds. And maybe they were justified. Weren't our phone lines being tapped? Weren't people ending up on suspect lists without even knowing it?

Today during Obama's administration I have heard the opposite group of people express fear. They seem to think that the government will come down on them for opposing our new President. And maybe they are justified. Doesn't the skeptical media adore every step Obama takes? Aren't dissenters being called an "unruly mob" and "right-wing radicals" by the mouth of the President himself?

No matter what fears we may have of censorship this is still the United States of America. We are not fascist and unless things change very quickly we aren't going to be any time soon. The closest to fascist we will ever be is the self-censorship imposed on yourself by yourself. If we the People decide to be afraid to speak our minds then we have lessened ourselves to Communist Russia or Nazi Germany. But it is a decision that you make, not the government you supposedly fear. Until the Bill of Rights is revoked you and you alone can censor yourself.

So don't do it. Don't choose to live in bondage. Don't be afraid to dissent. I, for one, will continue to mock the President, the Czars, and the agencies. I will tell Congress exactly what I think of them. I will do it in stark, blunt words. I will rag on bills I hate and make fun of pundits I dislike. Even if I were afraid, I would do it, because I am an American.

And you do it, too. Do not fear. A fearful citizenry will hurt this nation more than bad decisions by its government.

And if one day I am dragged out of bed, hauled in front of an illegal court, and secretly locked up in Guantanamo Bay, it will be worth it because I lived how I believed. And THAT day, start the revolution.

OPINIONS THAT MATTER

I recently encountered the argument that states that the Founders' opinions do not concern us. That they are too far removed from our time. That they couldn't foresee what our government has become. That they represented a wide variety of viewpoints so it's impossible to get a consensus anyway. These arguments trouble me. They are completely wrong, and I will tell you why.

How do you think this country was founded? Was it because my warlord beat up your warlord so we're going to do things my way? In British history Oliver Cromwell led a revolution and took over the government and then seized power. In American history George Washington came to the point where he could have seized power, but instead he went back to his farm and opened the door to a flood of ideas. Our nation didn't come from power lust or blood shed, but from ideas. Our Founders came together in peace and debated their differences until they formed our Constitution. The entire government was about how enlightened principles influenced our Founders, so how can you argue that their views don't matter?

George Mason refused to sign the Constitution because he so fervently disagreed with it. Then he went home and argued passionately that Virginia ratify it, because he believed in unification so strongly. When great men display their values so perfectly, how can you argue that their ideas don't matter?

There were deep divisions in our Founders. John Marshall against Thomas Jefferson; George Washington against James Madison; Alexander Hamilton against James Monroe; John Adams against Aaron Burr. But with few exceptions these men held enough in common that they could work together, and did for decades. As you come to appreciate the personal ideals they put aside to make the “Republican experiment” a reality, how can you argue that their opinions do not matter?

But there is a greater commonality that these men had that you and I do not. When we speak in arrogance that the Founders were old folks who don't understand our time, perhaps we had best reevaluate what their views actually represent. Have you ever lived without liberty? Have you ever lived under an oppressive regime that treated you as a lesser person because of one or another demographic fact? You live in an age of such equality that you cannot understand what a loss of liberty is. Hopefully you never will, but as we distance ourselves from the opinions of the Founders we become increasingly at risk.

The Founders knew very well what it was to live without liberty. They had lived under it, fought against it, and risked death and dishonor to oppose it. They wrote this government as they did in order to ensure the survival of the liberty they had fought and died for. So if you spurn their opinions you are spurning liberty itself. Read them; study them. They point the way to freedom because they had a clear path, and they describe it perfectly for us.

Sure there were differences, but those differences make their collective writings all the more valuable. Jefferson teaches us about high ideals. Madison teaches us about the role of government. Washington teaches us how government functions. Adams teaches us practicality. Hamilton teaches us about expansion. Collectively they form an encyclopedia of experts on liberty, how it functions, and how it can be threatened.

Not you, your favorite politician, nor your expert lawyer understand what they understood. If we read them we will understand why the government was made the way it was, and a careful study will reveal the very real dangers we face today. These are not just old men: these are the experts. In the Founders, we find opinions that truly matter.

UNAMERICAN

This is a word that has been traded a lot lately. If you're a Republican, unAmerican is disagreeing with the war in Iraq, raising taxes on tax shelters, or working for MSNBC. If you're a Democrat, unAmerican is doubting environmentalism, owning a business, or questioning Barack Obama. There are only two items that, I believe, are truly unAmerican, and I will explain them to you.

America was built because people had the fortitude to carve a nation out of wild tomahawk-riddled forests. They came from everywhere, back when everywhere was Europe, to get some land, build a home, and work a farm. Those early Americans soon caught up pace with their mother Europe in inventions, acres cleared, and merchant ships built. They even stole enough cannons to launch a Revolution. Nothing about it was easy, not the westward expansion, the creation of a capitol, or stopping the British from taking them back. They worked hard, and they built a nation based on that ideal.

So the first thing I consider unAmerican is laziness. When JFK told us to ask what we can do for our country, he wasn't telling us to pay higher taxes he was asking us to be the kind of people that makes America proud. So what are you doing? What more could you be doing? I'm afraid that the word “convenient” has become the great watchword, instead of “effort.” Stop being complacent. Stop thinking you're good enough. Edison didn't say, “Eh, fifty tries is enough, next project!” McArthur didn't say, “Hell with this, I'm getting a beer,” and Buzz Aldren didn't say, “You want me to what?”

JFK was telling you never to feel entitled. He was telling you to leave a trail of steam everywhere you go. Laziness is unAmerican, and run away from anyone who tells you otherwise.

The Continental aristocracy was not as powerful as the lords back in Britain, but those early American landowners had a lot of perks. Many were governors or representatives, some were invited back to the motherland, or given great favors. But none of them had true liberty. So they put everything on the line and fought for that liberty that they held most dear.

Anyone who does not put liberty first is unAmerican. And I don't mean all this nonsense about “freedom from fear,” or “freedom from hunger.” I mean the liberty to choose your own destiny, to own your own land, and work your fingers raw. The freedom to live life so fully that you can fail, get depressed, and even die in pursuit of your dreams.

I don't believe that unAmerican ought to be used as freely as we have been using it lately. Talk show hosts, political partisans, and angry protestors have tossed the word back and forth so much that it's lost its power. Take it back. If someone tells you this or that is “unAmerican,” challenge them to justify it. Usually they'll come back around to proving that what the word has come to mean is “I'm out of intelligent arguments and this is all I can come up with.”

I firmly believe that certain engagements which our government and our citizenry has involved itself in lately is unAmerican, but it's time to limit that word. It needs to mean a betrayal of our ideals, not a departure from your particular ideology.