Which Tyrant do we shoot? A very good question.

By Joshua Hansen

In our current state of Fascism/ Socialism and unconstitutional acts by both Democrats and Republicans if it did come down to open rebellion who would we shoot? Who is the enemy?
Do you know?

The founders didn’t fill “them” full of lead. They fought the soldiers of the king, and they didn’t drag the ignorant from their homes and execute them. It was a different time with different circumstances. Do you think society today would read and debate the Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers? Is it morally acceptable to force freedom on a society that doesn’t want it? Isn’t that a contradiction?

Freeing yourself personally is only the first step, simply because it makes no sense to proclaim freedom if you yourself aren’t willing to make the sacrifices necessary to live that way. However, once you’re there, then what?

In a society such as ours, who is most responsible for infringing on my rights? The President or the people that empowered the President. The President or the people that demand federally socialized healthcare? Is it the President or the people and soldiers that voluntarily join the armed forces who support the war? Although it applies in ANY government, in any remotely democratic government it applies more: the people are the government and without their consent, the leaders/ servants/ whatever cannot accomplish anything. If Congress passed Social Security and everyone simply didn’t get a number, what would have become of the program? What if they declared a war and no one showed up?

The founders fought a monarch and they fought a system where the prevailing philosophy was the idea that all sovereignty extended from one man: the king. As a result, it was easy to focus aggression and responsibility—particularly in the case of the colonies which had no representation in parliament. The king was directly responsible. He wasn’t elected and their system didn’t acknowledge individual sovereignty.

We fight a system of “we the people.” When we established a country of the people, by the people and for the people, the responsibility all fell on the people. We the People became the sovereignty. That’s the defining point of sovereignty: responsibility. So who is responsible for the terrible machine that’s been built to control our actions and dominate our minds?

I’ve see the enemy and it’s us.

So it’s one thing to say we need to make people mortally accountable for infringing on our rights, but who are you going to shoot at? Every single person who voted for George W Bush is, in their own way, accountable for every last bit of death, torture, mayhem and tyranny brought about by his administration. Those who continue to defend and condone his actions as good, patriotic and necessary are further culpable.

Do I stalk through right wing evangelical churches with an assault rifle and hold these people accountable?

Do I set up with a sniper rifle outside a retirement home and hold the members of AARP accountable for stealing the wealth and lifeblood of my generation?

Do I enter a union meeting with a shotgun and start holding people accountable for pushing programs that interfere with my freedom to contract and potentially interfere with my healthcare?

Gunpowder and lead isn’t the answer anymore because while we face tyranny that is far more egregious than the founders did, the methods of its implementation are entirely different. The democratic nature of our government has transformed tyranny from the whim and caprice of a single tyrant or oligarchy into the crushing weight of the collective self interest and avarice of the society at large. Our elected officials are nothing but the avatars of this society. They’re a reflection of what America really is: greedy, selfish, shallow, slothful, barbaric, lying, cheating, stealing and hungry for authority without responsibility. That is right. It is the fault of every registered Democrat and Republican. It is also the fault of every American that does not work against Fascism and Socialism. It is the fault of every person that has a Social Security Number, get a Drivers license, joins the military, joins the police etc. etc.

How terrible is a society that places the faces of the venerated founding members on the bank notes they so totally dispised?

The sort of insurrection that was typical of old revolutions simply cannot and will not work in our current societal context. (And that’s without taking into account the realities of the modern world where none of us are self sufficient farmers and probably couldn’t survive without an operational supermarket.) The only thing that’s going to bring about major change at this point is a catastrophe, but it won’t be at the hands of a small band of revolutionaries, despite what constantly parroting Samuel Adams’ famous quote would lead some people to believe.

The only quote by the founders that still gives me any hope, and yet simultaneously terrifies me is this:

“[C]an the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever…” — Thomas Jefferson

I do not know when that justice will wake from its slumber, but I do know that every day that passes only increases the blood that will be spilled when the reckoning comes.

It seems to me that the only thing left to do is to be true to ourselves, fight any battles we can, take every small victory we can and plan for the day when it’s time to rebuild. This building is going to have to tumble before something new can be built in its place though—and even then, there’s no guarantee that whatever is newly erected in its place will be more free or more just. So, when it comes down, if we haven’t analyzed what killed the system we had before us beyond patriotic platitudes and fortune cookie philosophy, we’re doomed to enter the same cycle anyway.

The question that tantalizes my mind more than any other is: how to you build a society that isn’t caught up in the age old cycle of freedom -> prosperity -> class division through greed -> tyranny? The Constitution and the works of our forefathers are a good place to start, but given where we stand now it’s clear that their work was just the beginning and certainly isn’t complete.