Extinguishing the light

Friday, 27 March 2020 – indeed a day of shame, for which we will pay for a very long time, both figuratively and literally.

For years, I have believed and stated that the American Republic is dead. Those who disagreed with me now can point to this date as the day that many more people agreed with me. Many will date the fall from this day.

If indeed today is the day, the end came not with a bang, but with a whimper. Or more accurately, with sniveling and whinging. The United States House of Representatives, as a group, an organization, has demonstrated its cowardice and collectively betrayed its oath to uphold the Constitution.

That “light on the hill” which was once the American Union, that beacon of freedom and liberty, is been extinguished. The democracy into which the republic had devolved and decayed has become a government of mob rule and tyranny, in which the voters (through their representatives, admittedly) have voted themselves “free money.”

This regime (I don’t know what to call it, really) has codified virtually every aspect of a police state: businesses are closed (or increasingly, in threat of seizure) on the whim of un-elected bureaucrats or executives acting like dictators. Or in fear of such action. People are unable to travel in more and more places: the public roads completely closed or literally requiring travel papers to demonstrate they are privileged enough to travel. People are being detained and dispersed and arrested for daring to assemble – sometimes as few as five or ten. Medical care is being rationed in more and more places, as is even food. Hundreds – no, thousands – of governmental activities that were “absolutely, critically essential” just a few days ago have now ceased. All done without any approval of elected representatives or due process, and often without any basis at all in law. Trillions of dollars in wealth have been destroyed; trillions more created out of thin air; and MORE trillions paid to virtually anyone and everyone by government.

Why did the House betray the Constitution (and therefore, the people)?

In a nutshell, panic. Panic based on unreasonable and unforgivable fear. Irrational fear, sparked by events in other places and stoked by a variety of people for various reasons. Fear for their own hides and health, and about the reaction of the people they supposedly represent. Combined with hatred. Hatred, among other things, of Trump and their neighbors. All combined in an atmosphere of a rapid breakdown of society and civility. And made worse by the very governments themselves.

For now, lets just talk about the legislation and the money. I alluded to this very important observation:

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury.”

Alexander Tytler

Never has this been more true than today, Friday the 17th of March, AD 2020. The 2.2 TRILLION dollar “emergency bill” (actual cost probably $6 trillion) was passed in the Senate and then approved by the House in a farcical “voice vote.” An action which ensures that most members of Congress can repudiate their support for this hideous legislation when it is obvious to everyone that it was a hideous mistake.

Thomas Massie of Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District has earned undying enmity for his simple insistence that the Constitution’s specific provisions be followed, even if it mean that Congresscritturs must risk exposing themselves to Beer Flu. He called them cowards for being less willing to risk themselves than the risks that healthcare workers and over-the-road truck drivers are expected to take. Risks to save people’s lives and provide the essentials of life – and keep what is left of the world economy going.

He tried to get a recorded vote, and failed. But he DID get a quorum, which makes sure that at least SOME constitutional order was mantained.

Massie said his request for a recorded vote was “to make sure our republic doesn’t die by unanimous consent in an empty chamber.” It is too bad: the Republic is long dead, and we are just throwing more dirt on top of the grave. He knew he would win, but it was at least not a unanimous consent matter. But we should honor his example. He was joined by a few other (still unknown) Representatives that refused to be stampeded and voted “no.” (The Donald, by the way, condemned him harshly and unfairly.)

Although the Senate chamber was more populated when Palpatine proclaimed the Empire, I still have that scene echoing through my head:

More on the crash and destruction of the last vestiges of the American Republic. Suffice to say for now: Responsibility for much of this disaster we are now suffering must be placed on government itself. Government’s action, both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. AND government’s inaction to supposedly fulfill the functions it claims that only it can perform.

Government fails. And the light is extinguished.