Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), the third President of the United States (18011809), and and founder of the University of Virginia, once said the following
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
Lets have a quick look at tyranny.
Tyranny: arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; despotic abuse of authority; oppressive or unjustly severe government on the part of any ruler.
Oppressive: difficult to bear; burdensome; exercising power arbitrarily and often unjustly; tyrannical; weighing heavily on the senses or spirit
Tyrannical government: despotic and oppressive tyrannical characteristic of an absolute ruler or absolute rule; having absolute sovereignty; an authoritarian regime; autocratic government; despotic rulers
It could be said that unless restrained, all governments devolve to tyranny. A democracy needs informed citizens if it is to thrive, or ultimately even survive.
When Adolf Hitler was building up the Nazi movement in the 1920s, leading up to his taking power in the 1930s, he deliberately sought to activate people who did not normally pay much attention to politics. Such people were a valuable addition to his political base, since they were particularly susceptible to Hitlers rhetoric and had far less basis for questioning his assumptions or his conclusions.
Useful idiots was the term supposedly coined by Lenin to describe similarly unthinking supporters of his dictatorship in the Soviet Union.
Perhaps it is easier to slip into tyrannical rule of government during hard economic times or frightening and uncertain times, when a largely uniformed populace can be more easily led and controlled, and are more desperate and willing to accept measures in hopes of solutions to their problems.
It is fairly plain to see (if you look) some of the liberties that have been trampled upon of late by government or government agencies.
Super-computers that are profiling you by
Listening to your phone calls in search for key words.
Reading your emails in search of key words.
Monitoring and profiling your internet activity.
Logging the products and foods that you purchase, and where you get them.
Logging and monitoring the groups that you associate with.
Monitoring your travel movements for patterns.
You may say to yourself that some of the monitoring is purely for market research and advertising purposes, but, make no mistake about it, if the data is available, it will be gathered into govt databases in the name of Homeland Security. Whether you like it or not, you ARE being profiled.
Government agents that are, will, or could
Search your body / property at airports if the agent is TSA.
Search your body / property at NFL games if the agent is Homeland Security.
Search your vehicle if you look suspicious on an Interstate road if the agent is TSA.
On a whim, declare an American citizen an enemy combatant, and:
Detain without charge, in secret.
Deny legal representation.
Deny the right to question his detention.
Be shipped to a foreign country for interrogation, in secret.
Be tortured, in secret.
Be tried by a military tribunal, in secret.
NOT be granted access to the secret evidence against him.
Convicted based on that secret evidence.
On top of all that, the system is rigged to put you oppressively in debt, and to make you a slave to that debt. Our politicians are in cohort with, and beholden to, the Banksters and BigCorp who have built this system. Our politicians rarely, actually, represent us, at least in the true definition of representation.
So, the question is, does the government fear the people? Or do the people fear the government? The answer will reveal whether we are already under tyrannical control.
