Governments are like corporations in a lot of ways. They only exist as a concept and to the extent that their rules are honored and enforced. Like corporations, governments are only as good as the people they govern – and that govern them. The men and women that have and that continue to put their lives on the line for this country don’t do it for the government. They do it for us and for their families. When they say they love their country, it us the people they are talking about. They put everything on the line to keep us free and safe.
But when governments begin the decline toward totalitarianism, they manipulate the people by redefining things and by using words and phrases interchangeably that are simply not interchangeable. Losing sight of the distinction between the country and the government compels people to defend the actions of the government – even if those actions are despicable.
Please consider the evidence posted below that our government is running off the rails. In ancient times (40 years ago) when I was in grade school, we were told that America was better than other countries because we respected individual rights, because no one in the government was above the law, because the law applied the same to every citizen, and because every citizen had an absolute right to due process. You could not be hassled or arrested here because of your political beliefs or the color of your skin. If you were arrested you had a right to the presumption of innocence until you were proven guilty. You had the right to an attorney. If something unfair happened to you, we had a free independent press that would tell the world what was going on. And because we lived in a democracy, the people would make sure the government did not go too far. The police states that roam the streets demanding their citizens to show them their papers to prove they had the right to be on the sidewalk, that take people into custody, and that torture those accused of committing or of thinking about possibly committing a crime against the state were evil. We would never be like that. I wonder if they are still telling kids that in our public schools?
