LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

U

Search

Many Voices, One Freedom: United in the 1st Amendment

March 28, 2024

M

Menu

!

Menu

Your Source for Free Speech, Talk Radio, Podcasts, and News.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Milton Friedman wrote, in his 1993 book, Why Government Is the Problem, “The major social problems of the United States – deteriorating education, lawlessness and crime, homelessness, the collapse of family values, the crisis in medical care – have been produced by well-intended actions of government. That is easy to document. The difficult task is understanding why government is the problem.

The power of special interests arising from the concentrated benefits of most government actions and their dispersed costs is only part of the answer. A more fundamental part is the difference between the self-interest of individuals when they are engaged in the private sector and the self-interest of the same individuals when they are engaged in the government sector. The result is a government system that is no longer controlled by “we, the people.” Instead of Lincoln’s government “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” we now have a government “of the people, by the bureaucrats, for the bureaucrats,” including the elected representatives who have become bureaucrats.”

Friedman was 100% spot on, but I’m not convinced it matters anymore. Allow me to make a brief argument in favor of tyranny.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal poll, the percentage of Americans for whom religion is an important part of their lives has dropped over the past 25 years from 70% to 39%, and the percentage of Americans for whom patriotism is an important part of their lives has dropped from 70% to 38%.

When Milton Friedman wrote that paragraph, this was a religious and moral country of patriots who were willing to die to preserve our values and our way of life. Today we are a country of amoral narcissists who do not believe our nation to be worthy of defending, and who think our values and our way of life are the primary source of evil on the world stage.

When Milton Friedman wrote Why Government Is the Problem, we were a people who both wanted and deserved liberty. Now we are a nation that neither wants nor deserves liberty.

I’m all for the 2nd Amendment in a country of moral people, but ask yourself this: do you really want 330 million amoral narcissists to have guns?

The way we are headed, we’re going to have to give up our guns, as that will be the only way to prevent us from ripping one another to shreds.

Will Durant wrote that a civilization needs two of three things to survive: a shared culture, a shared religion, and a shared language, and even to the degree that we still have English as a common language, we have competing definitions for words like “Fascism,” “Racism,” such that everyone can be called ‘evil’ based on one of the definitions commonly in use.

We are at the end of the road. If we cannot turn this thing around, we will either need a government that has the power to control us, or we will tear our nation apart. We have no shared culture, no shared religion, no shared moral values, and increasingly no shared language. We have nothing to base a nation around.

Take ‘Racism’ as an example. In 1992, we all agreed that ‘racism’ was ‘The belief that there are differences between races that render some people better or worse than others, based on race.” Many of us still use that definition, but the political left defines racism as “prejudice + power,” and goes on to say that we all have at least subconscious biases, making prejudice a given. That means racism = power. To the left, white people are in power, therefore, white people are racist, by definition, and nobody else even can be.

The left’s definition of the word ‘racism’ is racist, making anyone who is not a racist based on the real definition of the word, a racist based on the left’s definition. This is true even as we all agree racism is evil, which means that the left thinks the right is evil, and the right thinks the left is evil.

Fascism is another great example. Giovanni Gentile (the philosopher who invented it) defined it as a nationalist system in which the means of production are privately owned but publicly controlled. Today’s political left doesn’t bother defining ‘fascism’ so much as listing ‘characteristics of fascism’ that are cherry-picked to make conservatives fascist. It’s as if they think Hitler was a libertarian or something, which is, of course, absurd. If you remove the racism from the Nazi platform Hitler ran on before taking power, it’s indistinguishable from that of Elizabeth Warren or Joe Biden.

And it’s not just those two words. Postmodernists don’t really believe in definitions, making the left perfectly free to focus solely on connotation (how words ‘feel’) with no regard to denotation (what words mean). It’s as Bill Clinton said when asked if he’d lied to Congress about having had sex with Monica Lewinski in the Oval Office: “It depends on what the definition of the word ‘is’ is.”

I’m sorry, but ‘it’ is not a difficult word to define. For those who are curious, the American Heritage Dictionary (1985) uses this definition: “The third person singular present tense of ‘be.’” If we can’t even agree on the definition of the word ‘is,’ we’re done. We’ve destroyed our language to the point that we cannot functionally communicate anymore.

And that is the whole point of postmodernism. Postmodernism can only destroy – it cannot build. Postmodernism exists to destroy Western Society from the inside out, and by the time anyone really noticed, the postmodernists had already won.

Milton Friedman was correct, but we did not listen to him. Instead, we played stupid games (As Ben Shapiro likes to say), and now we will get our stupid prizes.

John Adams very famously wrote, “While our Country remains untainted with the Principles and manners, which are now producing desolation in so many Parts of the World: while she continues Sincere and incapable of insidious and impious Policy: We shall have the Strongest Reason to rejoice in the local destination assigned Us by Providence. But should the People of America, once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another and towards foreign nations, which assumes the Language of Justice and moderation while it is practicing Inequity and Extravagance; and displays in the most captivating manner the charming Pictures of Candour frankness & sincerity while it is rioting in rapine and Insolence: this Country will be the most miserable Habitation in the World. Because We have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion. Avarice, Ambition, and Revenge, or Gallantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any Other.”

Look back at those poll numbers. We are not “a moral and religious people” anymore. We’ve collectively given morality up over the past 25 years. As a consequence, our Constitution is ‘wholly inadequate’ for our governance, and we need a government “with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion.”

We talk as if voting Democratic or Republican are real options. They are not. Our options are far more basic and far less optimistic than that:

  1. Restore America’s founding values by force,
  2. Tyranny, or
  3. Civil war.

If you vote Democrat, while you might not want option 2, that’s what you are going to get. Whether it’ll look like Mao’s China, Stalin’s Soviet Union, Franco’s Spain, or some combination of those things, is an open question. All are tyrannies, so I don’t know that it really matters which way we go, though I suppose communism is the worst of the bunch to live under.

Note, too, that many of us do not need to worry about which system we will live under, as we are regulating away our ability to make food such that we can have a more ‘equitable’ system. Who will suffer the most from that? Poor countries: Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The political left is going to kill off most of the world’s People of Color, and they are going to do it in the name of ‘equity.’

I hope to have the moral courage not to live to see that.

If you vote Republican, you might still get option 2. Many Republicans are corrupt and are happy to ‘go along to get along,’ provided they personally benefit from their positions in government (this is true of many Democrats too). Statesmen are few and far between.

Even if we are lucky enough to put a lot of people working toward option 1 into office, we may well have to go through option 3 to get there. The real question is whether or not we have enough patriots left to fight a civil war to prevent tyranny in a country whose intelligence apparatus has the ability to take organizations down faster than they can be formed.

We conservatives are hamstrung. Since we believe in the Constitution and in a country of laws, we tend to also follow the law. The modern left has no such constraints, viewing the law as nothing more than a set of weapons to leverage against their political opponents. The Biden Administration held around 1,000 Americans in solitary confinement for a year only to then charge them with trespassing, and is now rounding up another 1,000 Americans to do the same thing again. Are we a free country when our President keeps people in solitary confinement for a year only to charge them with a misdemeanor?!?

The same government then refuses to lock up those on the political left who burn down cities, invade the White House grounds (forcing the President into the White House Bunker), storm the floor of the Senate (to shut down Supreme Court nomination hearings), and the like. District Attorneys around the country refuse to prosecute actual crimes, while simultaneously locking up political opponents on pretense alone.

We are a banana republic, and according to polls, most of us want that.

The left is willing to get violent to effect change. Are we? The left is willing to weaponize the law for political purposes. Are we?

The left is only too happy to destroy our country. Are we willing to take it back?

We don’t need Ronald Reagan. We need Augusto Pinochet.

  • Wallace Garneau

    Wallace L. Garneau, political commentator and professional author, brings a unique blend of expertise to the airwaves. Raised in a family of historians, Garneau's roots in history and economics run deep, with a particular focus on Europe between the World Wars. With a background in information technology and a keen business mind, Garneau authored "The Way Forward: Lean Leadership and Systems Thinking for Large and Small Businesses." His knack for breaking down complex ideas in clear, accessible language makes him a standout author and a powerful voice in the radio and podcast sphere. Beyond the corporate world, Garneau's culinary passion shines through in his social media presence, where he shares grilling and smoking techniques. A two-service military veteran (Marine Corps and Army), family man, and father of two, Garneau embodies dedication both personally and professionally. Listeners can expect insightful commentary on politics, economics, and culture. His unique perspective, rooted in historical understanding, sets him apart. Join Wallace Garneau on the America Out Loud network—his is a voice that not only informs but resonates, helping make sense of today's complex world through a lens of experience, knowledge, and a touch of culinary flair.

MANY VOICES, ONE FREEDOM: UNITED IN THE 1ST AMENDMENT

Join our community: Your insights matter. Contribute to the diversity of thoughts and ideas.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
18 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
TN_Vol
TN_Vol
11 months ago

You give up your guns… I’ll keep mine. Such foolishness as this author spouts is the mewling puke of an idiot. God fearing, decent folk aren’t the problem, nor are we the ones doing the killing. But, EVERY gender confused person should be disarmed, they’re delusional and as we just saw deadly. They will kill again, and again… their psychosis is so warped they view themselves as undergoing a genocide, thus delusionaly justifying their violence.

Phenry
Phenry
11 months ago

If it gets down to it, the only way to turn it around WILL BE our guns… exactly what the second amendment was written for.

the question is, will we need a second internal civil war as well?

Forearmed
Forearmed
Reply to  Phenry
11 months ago

Humans do not like change, so war is always inevitable when one side believes the other side is trying to screw them. And, that is exactly how our first civil war started when the north was trying to screw the south over taxes and tariffs. It had nothing to do with slavery.

I have been calling for a military coup or a civil war for the last two years because the deep-state criminals are so entrenched there is no other way to rout them.

KeepTehMemesCooming
KeepTehMemesCooming
Reply to  Phenry
11 months ago

I concur! Erring on the side of optimism, a national divorce is the last remaining peaceful option before it devolves entirely. The answer to your question you pose remains to be seen, truly. The haves and have-littles vs. the gibs. I don’t think the gibs will want to go along with a national divorce because their little gravy train will dry up. Fun fact: Americans perfected the art of guerilla warfare going all the way back to the very foundation of this nation.

ChickieFillette
ChickieFillette
11 months ago

The Republic hasn’t failed. The Democrat party has failed. They have become a criminal enterprise cheating at every turn. They deserve to be thrown on the trash heap of history.

Richard Houghton
Richard Houghton
Reply to  ChickieFillette
11 months ago

Agreed. But, as the author has tried to imply: Who is going to do th throwing?

Ben Neviss
Ben Neviss
Reply to  ChickieFillette
11 months ago

The republic failed when people allowed democrats get away with cra pping all over the constitution. We can debate specifically whose fault that is but it will come down to weak men in comfortable times who didn’t stand up when those in DC openly began hating the virtuous things the US still represented. We are no longer a light unto world. The Golden Rule is dead, replaced by “Hate your neighbor and exercise vengeance upon those who disagree with you.”

Dana
Dana
11 months ago

When Christ comes back to Judge, then we will let Him be the Tyrant in charge of taking care of monsters. Until then, Who do we surrender our rights to to make it better? No one,,, that’s right. So it comes down to refreshing the Tree of Liberty and see The morals and ethics of the winners preside. Me, I am betting in White, Anglo, Saxon, Christian, folks, to prevail. We all make our bets and cast the dice. I cast my dice with God Jehovah/Yahweh, and will rally around the MAGA, banner.

Ron
Ron
Reply to  Dana
11 months ago

Very good points except God shouldn’t be described as tyrant as a trip to the dictionary will reveal. Scripture doesn’t reveal God as an oppressive ruler or a usurper of sovereignty.

KeepTehMemesCooming
KeepTehMemesCooming
11 months ago

The author is worried whether there are enough patriots for option 3? Cheating aside, approximately 1/3 of the populace – OVER 100 MILLION voted for DJT when you cut out all of the funny business with the voter rolls and ballot stuffing. That’s hovering around 30%. Is the author aware that it only took 10% of the populace to kick off the Revolutionary war? So, as the meme goes, lighten up Francis. I also wholeheartedly dispute any notion whatsoever that we will have to give up our guns. Not me – not ever. I’ll die on my feet before I live on my knees. And for the simps out there who would argue that I live on my knees, I’ll just plead the 5th (I lost my taxes in a tragic boating accident). Besides, it’s ILLEGAL to fund organized crime and terrorism – and that’s basically what the bloated federal gov’t IS when you distill it all down.

Russel
Russel
Reply to  KeepTehMemesCooming
11 months ago

Per the sentence ” We are a banana republic, and according to polls, most of us want that.”. Let’s first define sides. No one anywhere has actually defined them aside from red and blue. I maintain, according to logic, it’s the big cities vs. the rest of us. Simply look at election district maps. Simple.

MinnieMcGuire
MinnieMcGuire
11 months ago

The American experiment has failed? No, the American experiment has been sabotaged. The founders admitted that our wonderful representative republic is dependent on an honest and honorable citizenry. Ever since Ted Kennedy helped open the border, we have imported way too many outsiders that do not understand the concept of what Americans are trying to build here. We do not need millions of cowards who runaway from their own homeland at the first sign of trouble. The despots in south america and china are definitely not sending us their best. #deportthemall.

Dave Coleman
Dave Coleman
11 months ago

Please don’t make the mistake of casting aside millions of potential allies like me that are rational and not religious. I don’t believe in God but I recognize the importance and achievements of Christianity in building the civilized and prosperous world we enjoy here in America and the west. I strongly support President Trump, the second amendment, individual rights, etc. I know right from wrong based on objective reality and my respect for the natural rights of my fellow human beings. I will fight alongside you and fully support your right to practise your religious beliefs and keep America a Judeo/Christian nation. Don’t alienate me and the millions like me by believing our lack of religious belief automatically makes us your enemies.

irongrampa
irongrampa
11 months ago

A major part of our heritage is to continue the struggle of our predecessors to ensure that our Republic endures. Long ago I took an oath to protect and defend that has no expiration date.

While I realize that fulfilling that oath doesn’t always mean picking up a weapon, the possibility IS there. I will do that which is necessary and proper.

I still believe this is the most exceptional country on the planet, populated by an extraordinary people who are governed, not ruled by a political system unique in history. Nothing will ever change that belief.

Articles like the above are discarded, along with their opinion.

OSCAR
OSCAR
11 months ago

I understand this author is frustrated. I also get that writers today tend toward the sensational in order to get likes and hits and help create ad revenue. But this guy stepped WAY over the bounds in offering his “solutions”. Anything that America is suffering now, would be a magnitutde of ten times worse if we took Garneau up on
them. That an ex-member of our military would suggest surrendering our God-
given and USC protected right to self-defense, is insulting and illogical, not to even mention suicidal. That a Christian would imply he would take the coward’s way out so as not to see our collapse is completely unacceptable at AOL. That a conservative would even suggest the brute Pinochet as our country’s savior proves this guy is not serious and that the editor should have round-filed this sick call to hell as unnecessary, unfunny, and unhelpful slop.

Noncompliant
Noncompliant
11 months ago

The second amendment is in the constitution to insure that government does not abuse it’s power by disarming us. It’s our inherent RIGHT to bear arms, it’s not a right given to us by any government. The government IS failing, but it’s the PEOPLE, not the system that is causing it to fail. America is not a failed experiment, the people who are purposely corrupting the system, the government, and abrogating our inherent rights are the failure. Clean that mess up and the ship will right itself.

If you don’t like it, pick a border and cross it and don’t come back. Take your illegal alien pals with you when you go.

James Foard
James Foard
11 months ago

This is our only solution, a new, Christian based Declaration of Independence. This was given to me by the Lord in 2004. I prophesied what would happen if this nation did not return to God.
https://web.archive.org/web/20190102075935/http://www.thedarwinpapers.org/Declaration.html

OSCAR
OSCAR
Reply to  James Foard
11 months ago

Your call for free and universal health care ALONE was enough for me to know that it was not God Who gave you that vision, and that you are hardly to be taken seriously. Not to mention that AOL’s comment board was not created for you to advertise your nonsense. Nonsense that you stuff in God’s mouth.

Sitewide Newsfeed

More Stories
.pp-sub-widget {display:none;} .walk-through-history {display:none;} .powerpress_links {display:none;} .powerpress_embed_box {display:none;}
Share via
Copy link