Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn described his discussions in the Gulag about how they ended up there.
We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation…. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”
? Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
“We didn’t love freedom enough.”
That is the truth. Sad, but true.
Ask whomever you wish, “What is the primary purpose of the US government?” and you will get answers like —
To keep us safe!
To make us equal!
To run the economy!
To make sure we have jobs! And food! And healthcare!
To help educate our children!
To build and maintain the roads!
To implement a fair justice for all!
Etc., etc.
Bull biscuits!
Ask people what the purpose of any government is, and just see how many you ask before anyone answers, “to protect our freedoms.”
Looks like the change of paradigm goes beyond science and the AGW fiasco.
We live in revolutionary times, but different from 100 year ago.
Our enemies now are inside of our heads.
“Our enemies now are inside of our heads.”
Very true. The good news is that the decentralization of information access is a tremendous weapon in the fight for freedom.
This is fascinating, it’s like a paradigm shift at “spiritual level”.
We’re not being confronted in our beliefs, but in all aspects of our existence. Interesting how Life brought us to this point.
we had no awareness of the real situation…. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”
Witness Obama and the Hope and Change campaign; and numskulls like Ann Althouse (University of Wisconsin law prof) of the Althouse blog STILL have the audacity to post daily her opinion on all manner of subjects and still expect to have her comments taken seriously.
She is my example #1 of why women should not have the right to vote. (Something to do with historical ‘hysteria’ and all that. And women, I do not want to get into it with you here on this blog. I know there are exceptions, but they are rare and not the rule.)
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When I was a teen, I lived in Germany. I took a trip to Berlin, where we visited the “wall”. We were told NOT to take pictures of the Russian/East German guards or they would shoot us.
Apparently the wall has been moved – http://www.inquisitr.com/1370616/border-patrol-boy-scouts/
Solzhenitsyn also wrote about how he and other prisoners talked about seeing the paddywagons at night in their neighborhoods, only the driver sitting in the van, and they knew something bad was happening but they didn’t do anything about it, and at that time before the government had consolidated its power had people fought back even then it would have made a difference.
Had guns been banned at this time?
Here is the quote:
“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?… The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If…if…We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation…. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”
I remember one brief story told of a lady in Moscow during that same time period.
She was simply walking down the street when a car of operatives pulled to a stop beside her and a group of men jumped out, ready to drag her into the car and take her for imprisonment, torture or death. She grabbed the pole of a street light and began to scream while the men pulled at her. “TAKE SOMEONE ELSE! IT DOESN’T MATTER WHO YOU TAKE! IT DOESN’T EVEN MATTER! JUST TAKE SOMEONE ELSE! YOU DON’T CARE WHO YOU GET! TAKE SOMEONE ELSE!” So they left her… Why have to struggle with an uncooperative victim? Why have to be embarrased struggling with some lady on the street? She was right, absolutely correct. They did not care who they took. Their purpose had nothing to do with security or justice. They were just thugs carying out a campaign of terror. So they left her and went to grab a more compliant cow.
That could come in handy. Thanks
So they had guns huh … no ammo?
We liberal/progressives are also worried about the encroaching police state, but a proposal for a $50/tonne carbon tax is only a tenth of our bloated military budget. We are all worried about snooping, DHS, NSA, TSA, etc, but it is being pushed more by the authoritarian right wingers than left wingers, as shown by this re 2011 renewal of the act:
The House passed this bill by a vote of 250 to 153. 196 Republicans supported it, and 31 Republicans opposed it. 122 Democrats (including Nancy Pelosi) opposed the bill, and 54 supported it. It passed with bipartisan support–but a very Republican-heavy bipartisanship. Democrats, as those numbers show, opposed the bill by over 2 to 1……..
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/06/11/1215331/-Do-Democratic-partisans-forget-that-House-Dems-Voted-2-1-against-extending-the-PATRIOT-Act-in-2011
Anyone who thinks I or other libertarians are pushing for a bloated military budget, isn’t paying attention.
bobmaginnis says July 25, 2014 at 7:18 pm
We liberal/progressives are also worried about the encroaching police state, but a proposal for a $50/tonne carbon tax is only a tenth of our bloated military budget.
WHAT do we (in the US) spend on welfare and so-called entitlement programs little “b” bob?
What is that in proportion to the military budget?
Has the military budget been declining while welfare et al have INCREASED?
Is this your new hobby horse little “b” bob?
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Big “J’ Jim, this fortunate liberal capitalist was Republican pro Viet Nam war, voted for Nixon in 1968, but became Democrat and pro union while working in factories to support his new family. I’m OK with helping poor people with my income tax, but don’t like to pay for our expensive military invasions of Muslim Middle East countries, which just results in more terrorism and more police state action here at home. As Ron Paul or someone said, “they don’t hate us for who we are, but for what we do to them.” Big “J,” I support public spending on infrastructure, things like the Hoover Dam, the California Water Project, but I bet you would be against that, wouldn’t you?
If there is a large project that has justification; I don’t think most republicans would be against it. Like Eisenhowers interstate system or Hoovers Dam. Do you think any of those projects could be started today with the environmentalists controlling the democrats? As for the wars you mention, remember………the democrats supported those wars to begin with. They have always suffered from too little backbone.
Are you suggesting that Ron Paul is closer to the democrats than the republicans? I think you’ve been in the union too long.
“They don’t hate us for what we are but what we do to them.” Bull. They most definitely hate us for what we are.
Bob, you seem like a bright guy. I completely understand your conversion to the Dem party based on ‘personal’ benefits. What I don’t understand is why you continue to support that corrupt party with the current leader named the 2014 Liar of the Year? Do you support all liars or just the ones that you gain some personal benefit from?
In short – What is the appeal of continuing to support a well-documented liar and his party that nominated/elected this serial liar and do you support all liars or just the ones you personally benefit from supporting? Please help me out with this mystery Bob as it beyond my comprehension to understand. Rationally it makes no sense…
Hey Bob! You seem like a bright enough guy, but do you really see our current government in terms of Republican vs Democrat? Really? I think most people today realize that the two major parties are just playing “good cop/ bad cop”. They may switch roles on occasion, but both cops are pushing for the police state and want nothing more than to see that you are convicted of something.
bobmaginnis says July 25, 2014 at 7:18 pm
We liberal/progressives are also worried about the encroaching police state, …
Not really.
Your ‘friends’ and fellow House Oversight committee members looking into the IRS scandal could not give a sh!t what took place, from the BIGGEST, MOST intrusive governmental unit EVER created, that access to ALL your records now, both financial AND medical.
See why you are so full of sh!t to show up here and post anything?
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bob a democratic senate voted for it and a democratic president signed it. I guess they are authoritarian right wingers also.
1. There is a little problem with Islamic radicals going on right now … I suspect the Nigerian Christians would be willing to accept more surveillance in their country.
2. Although there’s a lot that could be debated about things like the Patriot Act (and I for one am glad the libertarians are promoting a debate), there’s nothing to debate about a silly tax on carbon. I don’t care if it’s a millionth of our “bloated” military budget, a tax like this shouldn’t be passed – and in a saner time, it wouldn’t even be considered.
3. (an afterthought) How do you like our present PC military? How do you think it’s going to do against the Chinese?