The Lawlessness Continues

If you’ve been following the national news:

1. You poor soul;
2. You know how bad things are getting.

Obama is now planning to raise taxes by executive order. He’s already spent federal funds without Congressional authorization. It’s odds-on that he’ll refuse to abide by a federal court ruling that his amnesty for illegal immigrants is unconstitutional. Given all that, should the Supreme Court strike down ObamaCare, what would you expect him to do? Meekly comply?

For that matter, what do you expect Congress – now full of Republicans – to do about Obama’s noncompliance with the explicit terms of the Constitution? Will it fight for its prerogatives and the rule of law, or will it content itself with approximately what it’s done so far – i.e., nothing at all?

The Obama Administration has arrogated all power to itself. It recognizes no requirement to secure legislative authorization for its actions. It deems the courts’ rulings to be no better than advisories. Indeed, it concedes no constraints of any sort.

How do you like living in a dictatorship, Gentle Reader?

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At this point, there is no way to predict how things will progress with any degree of assurance. The mechanisms that are supposed to check the concentration of power in the executive branch aren’t being employed; the Republicans are too spineless to hold firm against Obama’s seizures of ever more anti-Constitutional power, much less to impeach the bastard. I’m not prepared to say that Obama will attempt to remain in the Oval Office beyond the end of his second term...but it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.

Only the forcible removal of Obama from the White House – and I do mean forcible – has any chance of putting an end to his lawlessness. But of course, unless Biden and the rest of his ilk are removed along with him, the remedy is not guaranteed to cure the disease. Nor would I place much hope in a resurgence of Constitutional governance under any arbitrary gaggle of Republicans; they’re up to their necks in the venality that’s brought us to this pass. The current crop of officeholders cannot be trusted, and cleansing the GOP’s leadership has proved impossible.

There are only two imaginable paths out of this descent into totalitarianism: a rebellion by the states, or a “grass-roots” rebellion too large and too widespread to be suppressed by Washington’s domestic forces. Both would involve large-scale violence. Both would be immensely destructive of American society and the American economy. But unless the Republicans “get religion” and move to curb the Tyrant Obama by Constitutional means, there are no other upward paths.

So when do we take the musket down from the mantel? Indeed, are there any imaginable conditions under which we’d be willing to do so?

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If you’re any sort of “prepper,” you’ve already worked to buttress yourself against some possible shocks. However, it’s inherently beyond any man’s powers to prepare adequately for every possibility. Should violence erupt – and the threat of a violent upheaval, given the current state of our economy and the restiveness of far too many social sectors, is high and rising – there will be no way to guarantee its confinement, geographically or demographically. We will all be at risk.

Being on the best possible terms with your neighbors is paramount. Don’t imagine that you can become entirely self-sufficient. Murphy’s Law states that only after the rioting starts will we realize what essentials to survival we’ve neglected to secure. Your best hope of enduring the chaos will be that while you might have provided for X but forgotten Y, your neighbor Jones did the opposite...and you two are well disposed toward one another.

Right now I’m looking at my oil tank and wondering whether to replace it with a larger unit.

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Does the above read like the counsel of despair? It isn’t, not really. I’ve ceased to hope for a political solution, but that doesn’t mean that no solution exists. In that connection, recall this line from Star Wars: A New Hope: “The more you tighten your grip, the more systems will slip though your fingers.” A rigid totalitarian authority is inherently incapable of enforcing its will uniformly; it could only do so by enlisting the overwhelming majority of its subjects as its agents and utterly squashing all internal corruption. Consider as an example any prison, the best micro-model of a totalitarian society available; they’re overrun with illegal drugs, their wardens know it, and they can do nothing about it.

So while we might cease to be free de jure – i.e., politically – we can still hope for a lot of latitude de facto, owing to the State’s inability to be everywhere at once. It won’t be a laugh riot. Indeed, it will involve a lot of risk, an attitude of distrust that comes hard to Americans, and the willingness to conceal many an activity that’s noncontroversial today. Still, it should be possible to survive, to flourish, and to raise children who will understand what has been done and what must be done.

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A number of my Gentle Readers, alarmed by my recent writings, have written to exhort me to keep fighting...mainly, to keep writing, since in my advanced state of decrepitude I’m not good for much else. I’ve been asking myself whether it’s worthwhile – i.e., whether the gains from it are worth the risks I incur by doing so.

To rant as I’ve done here and elsewhere is to paint a target on one’s back. If there isn’t yet one on mine, the probability of it will rise as matters worsen.

No, I’m not going to stop just now. I’ll do my best to keep the tirades coming, if only in the hope that it will lift my readers’ spirits. But I can’t predict what I’ll need to do, or to stop doing, for my own well-being.

For the present, I hope you’ll continue to stop by. I’ll try to make it worth your while.