" There are basically three things that give us power over our government, our religion, our guns, and our wealth. Religion gives us power because it maintains the notion that our rights are provided by our creator, not a king, elected body, or a document. The rights that we, as individuals, possess transcend any edict passed by other men, and, thus, they cannot be taken from us by man or government. It is worth mentioning, here, that while bowing may be customary when meeting heads of state around the world, in America, we bow only in places of worship.
Our guns give us the ability to defend ourselves against errant governmental authorities should such authorities attempt to deprive us of our rights.
And, finally, our wealth makes possible our financial independence from government lest we are tempted to surrender our rights in exchange for sustenance.
With these three things, it would be very difficult for tyranny to establish itself in our nation. Without these things, however, we become little more than fodder for tyrants. That is why I worry.
It is no secret that for years there have been those in government who have gone through great pain to eradicate any mention of God or Creator or religion from public policy. Prayer is disallowed in schools or public buildings, religious displays are banned, even the Pledge of Allegiance has been all but eliminated from national thought. Recently, President Obama, speaking on two separate occasions, misquoted our Declaration of Independence by stating that we are “endowed with unalienable rights”, omitting the phrase “by our creator”. Call me crazy, but, I believe that was no accident. The same President has been telling us for two years that the government will provide the “right to health care”, among other things, thus advancing the notion that rights come not from our Creator, but from the government. Note the subtlety here, the goal is not to ban religion, but to trivialize it.
On the subject of guns, it has been obvious for decades that many in our government wished the Second Amendment had never been written, and have been working feveriously to whittle away at our right to keep and bear arms wherever and whenever they can (for our own protection, mind you). Again, we are reminded of the President’s quote while on the campaign trail that we, out of fear and ignorance, desperately cling to our guns and religion. There he trivializes both the First and Second Amendments in a single sentence.
But what of our wealth? Sure they can tax us, but they cannot take away what we’ve already been taxed on, and have managed to save, can they? Well, maybe not directly. But what if they were to create massive deficits, so massive, in fact, that there would be no way our nation could repay our debtors. Under such conditions it might become tempting to pay those debts through “monitization”. Of course, the long term effect of printing money is inflation, or as Reagan put it, the cruelest tax of all. No, the government may not take our wealth away, but it can make it worth less, or even, worthless.
Ultimately, through such political sleight of hand, the three things that give us our power over our government are rendered powerless — the tyrant’s trifecta.
But, they wouldn’t take advantage of that, would they? "
