Rage

Do you know the sound of liberty dying? It is not the sound of stomping jackboots. It is not the sound of weeping. It is not the sound of your wrists being handcuffed. No, it is something far more familiar and disturbing. It is the sound of thunderous applause.

We are witness to the greatest tyranny over the minds of Americans. Since the election, the ruling gentry of our nation has been calling for unity and the end of opposition. We have been told that now is the time to put aside our differences and give the ruling gentry unchecked power. After all, their task is daunting and unjustifiable. They must take control of an economy that is in a mild cyclical recession. They must paint our energy industries green for the sake of a fabricated global crisis. They must rob from the rich to give to the poor. They must befriend our worst enemies. They must spend over $1,000,000,000,000 more than they actually have to execute their plans that will probably make our problems worse anyway. How could we expect them to succeed when opposition to their plans make so much sense?

Even those I considered to be strong conservatives are setting aside their principles to celebrate the coronation of a ruler that asks for nothing less than the end of conservatism. We are told to sit down and be quiet in order to respect the historic nature of our ruler's ascension. Since I judge a man by the content of his character and not the color of his skin, the only history made yesterday is the coronation of a President that despises much of what makes this country great.

We stand in the dying light of liberty. Darkness is descending on our nation. The ruling gentry frightens us, then tells us not to fear. They tell us how cold and harsh the world is and then offer us warmth and shelter. All we must do is put aside our differences swear allegiance to their king. We are faced with a choice. When the light fades and we face the cold night we could lay down our beliefs and cower at the feet of the ruling gentry. As for me, I will refuse their hospitality. I will curse, bless the world with fierce tears. I will not go quietly into that good night. I shall rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Practice Makes Perfect

Tomorrow, millions of people will cast a vote believing that their candidate will change the fabric of our society. To most participants in our republic, Election Day is the ultimate moment of truth. Consider the staggering cost of this election cycle. Congressional and Presidential candidates will have spent over $5,300,000,000 for this day. Cable and broadcast news agencies have logged countless hours of coverage and crazed bloggers from both sides crawled out of the woodwork, ranting and attacking at will. Pollsters have been conducting their own elections daily for months. Sean Hannity has quite literally been counting down the days until "Judgement Day" for 364 days. Obama was either pictured or mentioned on the cover of 12 magazines on the rack at Borders yesterday. Google "Obama" and you will get 216 million hits. Even "McCain" gets 152 million. Either one get more hits than Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Lindsay Lohan combined. What I'm trying to say is that this election has been hyped like none before. And this hype really makes me hostile. This election has been aready been overanalyzed and probed before it ever actually happened. All this analysis exists to tell we the people what we are going to do. Another result of all this hype is that everyone feels that the results of this election must be historic. The fabric of our society will be altered and the path of our nation will be changed. But let me ask you a simple question that I have yet to hear: Will tomorrow's election be a cause or an effect? Does an election reflect or create social change? The real essential question is whether electing Obama will fundamentally change our country, or does electing Obama reflect a fundamental change that has already taken place? Allow me to digress for a moment. I had a moment of inspiration while reading an article about the Dallas Cowboys in my most recent Sports Illustrated. Zach Thomas mentioned an old saying: "You don't win on Sunday. You win on Wednesday and Thursday." In other words, what you do in practice determines the result on game day. I remember football practice. It started each day with stretching and agility sprints. Then the team splits into position groups to learn and execute the fundamentals of their position. As a lineman, mostly I ran through the line cage and hit the sled. After that, we ran either laps, sprints, or relays. I never was very fond of all that exertion. But I recognized that performing those menial basic tasks in the proper manner would determine game performance. A slow lazy weakling at practice was a slow lazy weakling during the game. People who ran fast and hit hard during practice did so during the game. Now consider America as a football team. Tomorrow is game day. Do you think that our country is full of slow lazy weaklings or do we run fast and hit hard? How hard have you practiced the fundamentals of democracy, freedom, and independence in your everyday life? How about your teammates? How many people do you know who already live off the government? How many people you encounter on a daily basis are ignorant and apathetic about their freedoms that are already being stifled? Are you one of those who have succombed to the tyranny over the minds of men? If Obama wins tomorrow, it will not mean that capitalism will die and freedoms will be torn away from us. It will not mean that we will become a country that embraces the killing of unborn children. It will not mean that we will become dependent on the government to provide our needs and wants. It will not mean that we will give up on the war on terror and open our borders. It will not mean that we will become a nation that values style over substance and charisma over character. It will not mean that America will become a lesser nation. No, if Obama wins tomorrow, it will mean that all of this has already happened.

Monsters in the Woods

Untrue myths and legends are born out of fear and ignorance. The more fearful and ignorant people are, the more believable those myths are. For example, the Big Piney Monster lives in the caves around the Big Piney River and eats canoers. Now, if you've floated and camped along the Big Piney for your entire life, that legend will not keep you awake at night when you're camping on a gravel bar. But if you've never been camping anywhere before and you hear the story of the Big Piney Monster, you are more likely to think something sinister is lurking the bushes. That's because you're easily frightened and simply don't know any better.

Scared and ignorant people make really, really bad decisions. There's scared little voice in our heads that override all common sense. That little voice tells us to shoot the monster grunting and rustling in the bushes in the dark. In truth, it's one of you fellow campers taking a crap in the bushes. That little voice tells us to swerve around the deer in the road. In truth, you're swerving into a semi in the other lane. That little voice tells us that the crowd fleeing from a nightclub fire must be headed to an exit. In truth, that crowd is heading to a locked door. You see that big, loud voice of panic will get you and other people killed. That is why I would consider keeping people scared and ignorant to be the greatest tyranny one can exert over the minds of man. Even calm and informed people are sheep. Keep them scared and ignorant, you can manipulate people to do almost anything. And once you manipulate one, the herd will follow. All of this is a metaphor for the current state of "the" economy. Right now, millions of Americans are scared and ignorant about economics. They are told in every news broadcast the latest, worst economic news the media can find. Seizing on this, Obamabiden became the scared little voice in everyone's head that sounds so logical in a time of crisis. They tell us that the rich are monsters and must be punished. In truth, they are just as innocent as a guy crapping in the woods. They tell us that we must allow the federal government to take drastic steps and take away more of our money to help those less fortunate. In truth, we are avoiding a minor impact to our wallets and steering to a major impact that will take even more money and freedom away from us all. And they tell us that we are all in an economic crisis together. In truth, they are herding us toward a locked door. So, for the sake of our economic well-being and freedom, take a deep breath and let some common sense creep past the voice of panic and be the one who lets the guy crap in peace, hits the deer to avoid a semi, and doesn't get trampled in the herd.