When Good People take a Bad Stand
by John Galt
February 18, 2013 05:00 ET
There is also this naive belief that America can be saved and that hope, along with a lot of prayer and public action at the local level, will prevent the country we all know from declining into darkness. History has a bad habit of judging good men for taking bad stands on issue after issue. Let’s review a few select examples to determine if the ideal of working within the system is still viable, and those bad positions on various issues are still tenable.
1. Lincoln, Slavery, and the Civil War
The issues which created the basis for the Civil War are too complicated and too numerous to discuss in one short paragraph. However, if President Lincoln had indeed worked with the Southern states as he took office and considered the example of the British with their Slavery Abolition Bill of 1833 whereas slave owners received compensation for the release of their slave labor, it has been postulated numerous times (throughout history I might add) that one of the major issues which prompted the War of Northern Aggression could have been averted. Lincoln recognized this mistake after one year of bloody warfare where both sides suffered horrendous losses and the ferocity of the conflict shocked the leadership in Washington and Richmond. In a letter sent to Illinois Senator James A. McDougall on March 14, 1862, Lincoln postulated about providing a gradual emancipation by paying slave owners $400 per slave over a period of time. This idea was to shorten the war, lower the cost of the conflict immediately, and to seek the basis for peace with the Confederacy. This idea was rejected by the Senator and the conflict continued until 1865 killing tens of thousands of Americans and living a division which lasted almost a century, and in some parts of the nation to this very day, between the North and South.
2. Reagan’s Two Blunders
America’s favorite recent conservative President admitted to two blunders during his career, the first of which was as Governor of California where he admitted in a letter to Republican Henry Hyde in 1976 (as reported by the National Review):
The only circumstance under which I felt [abortion] could be justified was self-defense, a concept deeply rooted in our laws and traditions. If a mother’s life is endangered by her own unborn child, she has a right to protect her life. I do not believe, however, that abortion of a less-than-perfect child, or abortion for convenience sake or abortion because “a mistake” has been made can be justified.
To his death he regretted the decision to sign the act into law and as a result of which, helped his conversion into a conservative political figure for the decades which followed.
The blunder which has impacted American political reality until this day is his other blunder. What was that? The IRCA, or Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. The perspective as best stated from the website Conservativenews.com by Mike Scruggs:
According to Ronald Reagan himself, as told to his trusted long-time friend and U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese, the biggest mistake of his presidency was signing the l986 amnesty for what turned out to be more than half the five million illegal immigrants in the country. Reagan was uncomfortable with the amnesty but was persuaded by some of the leaders of his own party (still living) that it would only affect a small number of illegal immigrants and would assure that Congress would follow through with more vigorous enforcement of U.S. immigration laws. The misnamed Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 was touted by its supporters as “comprehensive immigration reform” that would grant amnesty only to a few long-settled immigrants and strengthen border security and internal immigration enforcement against employers who were hiring illegal immigrants.
These blunders have impacted American to this day, and unfortunately created a permanent distrust of both parties to do what is right for America, and most importantly, to protect the Constitution.
3. American’s Faith in the honesty of the Political Elites
Americans are by and large, a trusting and obedient people as a mass.
We believe that our political elites will obey the law, the Constitution, and the faith “we the people” put into their perceived duty to do what is best for the nation.
JFK’s betrayal of the Cuban insurrection.
LBJ’s destruction of the American military in Vietnam by willingly slaughtering those young men without giving them a chance to succeed.
Watergate.
Jimmy Carter’s surrender of the Panama Canal.
Reagan’s trust in the Democratic Party as an honest partner in governance.
George H.W. Bush’s betrayal of the Iraqi people and refusal to end the war on terror before it started.
William Jefferson Clinton’s services for sale White House.
George W. Bush’s incompetence and evil betrayal from Day 1 of his administration.
Barrack Hussein Obama’s reversion to despotic rule.
All of the above are indications and documented historical evidence of our foolishness in trusting these evil, vile souls. Yet we praise them in passing forgetting the lessons of history.
And here we are today.
In what I call a fascinating recognition of the coming storm and an impassioned plea for rationality in the face of a fascist tsunami about to wash on to America’s shores, Glenn Beck said the following on his January 14th BlazeTV program:
An honorable and logical approach if we still lived in the United States of American that he and I grew up in. Glenn is not alone however in his ideals which espouse the belief that the system of Constitutional Law of our nation is still somewhat functioning. Mr. Beck, among many others, proclaim that ‘we the people” should once again follow the examples of Jesus, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King in our future course of action, yet fails to answer a critical question.
Suppose we abide by his wishes.
Suppose we surrender our weapons and gamble on the court system.
The same judicial system which stole the rights to physical property and 4th Amendment protections when Chrysler and General Motors were stolen from the bondholders.
The same judicial system which convicted David Olofson to 30 months in prison due to a firearm malfunction and modification of the rule of law because of defendant’s political beliefs.
The same judicial system which has yet to seriously investigate nor arrest one top executive of MF Global, especially John Corzine, for crimes which wiped out farmers and investors throughout the United States despite blatant violations of securities laws.
Glenn, God love you man, but here is the question:
Suppose you surrender your laws, loving Gandhi and MLK, and march into the courtroom as you say we should do?
I’ve spent the last month or so praying and considering your dilemma and reached my own conclusion:
If I were you, I would pray on it.
Because once the average person is defenseless, you are dead as is your family. Thus why our Founding Fathers created the 2nd Amendment to protect ourselves from the corruption and imperial leadership of a government out of control; as we are experiencing now.
Sleep on it.
Pray on it.
Get back to me on the choice to defend one’s family on their feet or to watch them perish while on your knees.
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