I HAVE MET THE ENEMY

"We have met the enemy, and he is us."

So said the greatest philosopher of the 20th century.The fact that he was a little possum from the Okeefenokee named Pogo doesn't change the truth in these words.

In what I'm about to tell you, I include myself in each accusation, slap myself for every action not taken, and hang my head in shame for long believing the rhetoric of many of the so-called "Conservative Republicans".

If I were truly cynical, I would say the only thing those Republicans want to conserve is their own power and their cockamamie jobs. Alright, I am that cynical.

The Constitution? Expendable.

The rugged individualism that raised this great experiment to heights unparalleled in history? Expendable.

The principle that representatives are elected to do right by the Constitution as God or their conscience gives them, and not to enact the will of the people? Expendable.

As tempting as it is to blame the Republicans (and their share of the blame is undeniable), the truth is that in a free society we do get the government we deserve. And what our government has become doesn't say much for us patriots, does it?

Is there a solution? What will move the country back toward a concept of government and society worthy of our founding principles? What will it take to eliminate the great political scam called "Marxism"?

I don't know. I doubt anyone has a foolproof plan. But one thing is very clear: What we've done since the "conservative" takeover in the nineties has had modest or barely measurable success in reversing our course.

Until recently we were at least slowing the leftward drift. Now it has again picked up speed, propelled farther leftward by the very people who made a Contract with America to stop it.

Conservative talk radio hasn't really helped. Rush Limbaugh has been toiling for 20 years and still we lose ground. Other conservative talkers seem unlikely to do better. Patriots who call in to vent over the latest government outrage or media "crisis of the day" have availed us nothing. I doubt it even makes us feel much better.

What we need is a new course of action, a new battle plan. Options might include:

1) Increased political activism. When you're losing, it can't hurt to see what the winning team is doing. We should get off our "high ideals" and mount massive protest marches. After all, Louis Farrakhan can lead 200,000 in a "Million Man" march, and the Socialist Workers Party can lead tens of thousands against America defending herself. So why can't the tens of millions who love the Constitution and our founding principles inspire two million ex-military people, bikers, athletes, conservative Christians, and like-minded "average Americans" to march and shout in a grand circle around the Capitol in D.C. , banging pots and yelling, "Hey hey, ho ho, socialism's gotta go!"

All it would take is organization, determination and total commitment to the cause, and I will admit the thought of cowering hired hands (sometimes called Senators and Representatives) , worried that the inflamed crowd might charge into their "Sanctus Sanctimonitorium" and teach them a lesson in respect for the people who hired them, does give me a really warm fuzzy.

For this effort, sunshine patriots need not apply.

2) Use the Internet to find and coordinate conservative groups and political parties into one body politic. Use both local and national grassroots action to elect Constitutionalists to local office. After all, today's county commissioner is tomorrow's U.S. senator. We have to drop our tendency to splinter and instead, organize around one immutable principle: the limited government embodied in the original vision of the Constitution.

3) We can continue to vote Republican on the national level as the "lesser of two evils", while giving money and support to a combined conservative party on the local level. (Although this was originally written three years ago, Newt has recently suggested the same thing, welcome aboard, Mr. Gingrich.)

By doing so, we would "prepare the ground" to replace either the Democrats or the Republicans when they collapse.

4)Vote, vote, always vote!

5) And finally, armed insurrection. A very scary thought and a last possible resort. But it can't be taken off the table as an option because as Lincoln said, "The nation cannot exist half-slave and half-free"; it is also true that we cannot survive long with the two ideas that divide us today. Half Marx and half Jefferson. The idea that we have a Constitutional government with static limited powers and the dangerous notion that government powers are fluid and limitless are mutually exclusive and cannot be reconciled. History shows us that one or the other will triumph. Too much blood has been shed defending the first idea to allow victory to the second.

If, God forbid, it should ever come to this, we have this consolation: while the Left has the biggest mouths and fewest ideas, the Right has the biggest guns and the most ammunition.

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