More and more these days I hear people asking why any sane person would
remain in the collectivist police state which the U.S. has devolved into.
And while I totally sympathize with those who want to run for the hills in
the hopes of finding greener, less fascist pastures, for myself I have no
intention of leaving. Allow me to explain why.
1) Bite Me
The first reason is basic stubbornness. I live here. If someone else is
being an obnoxious jerk, why should I have to leave my home, and surrender
to them any turf? If a private crook broke into my house, I wouldn't just
run away and find a new house. I would try to get the intruder out, by
whatever means necessary. Likewise, why should I leave the entire country,
just because a gang of sociopathic control freaks are pretending that they
have the right to rule everyone and everything on this particular piece of
dirt? Forget "love it or leave it." I prefer, "love it, or get rid of the
bastards who are messing it up."
2) A Planet of Slave Plantations
Once upon a time it was possible to outrun the arm of the authoritarian
control freaks. In frontier days, for example, people migrated west faster
than the megalomaniacal parasites could keep up with them. But that didn't
last forever. Eventually, people desiring freedom ran out of planet. Now,
unless you know how to survive in the middle of the ocean, or in the
Antarctic, just about every piece of dirt is claimed by one group of
control freaks or another as their turf. Personally, I'm aiming for
something a little better than being owned by a slightly more permissive
master. So rather than move to the next plantation over, I intend to put
the plantation owner here out of business.
3) Fascism Will Follow
Running to somewhere less fascist is a temporary solution. Do control
freaks ever decide they have enough power? Does the beast called
"government" ever stop growing? Does anyone really think there is anywhere
he can go, which the tyrants and parasites won't get around to claiming as
their rightful territory? So why keep backing up, and running away, if
eventually you'll be cornered anyway? "Government" is worse than a common
crook, because if you abandon your property to a common crook, he probably
won't follow you, demanding more and more.
The sociopathic megalomaniacs known as "politicians" are driven by a love
of dominion; they literally hate the idea of other people being free. Why
else would anyone try to obtain the power to forcibly control hundreds of
millions of people he's never met, and knows almost nothing about? By
their very nature, these people are malicious, sadistic control freaks.
Leaving humanity in peace is something they're just not willing to do.
They literally spend day after day thinking up new ways to rob people and
boss them around. That's all "legislation" is, and they crank it out just
as fast as possible, to get their tentacles into as many activities, as
many choices, and as many places as they can. They are predators, driven
entirely by the desire to rob, enslave and control as many human beings as
possible. They will never suddenly decide that they have enough power, and
enough wealth, and enough control. If you try to escape them, sooner or
later they will follow.
4) Abandoning Victims
To continue the analogy of a home invasion, if an intruder wanted my
stuff, or wanted my house, I would resist a whole lot before surrendering
my property to him. But if my family was in that house, there is no way in
hell I would turn tail and run. Likewise, while they aren't exactly
"family," there are many millions of decent people living in the U.S. who
have been, and will continue to be, victims of "government" aggression. To
simply flee the country myself, leaving millions of others to fend for
themselves, is not something I am willing to do. Not yet, anyway.
Ironically, many Americans unwittingly contribute to their own subjugation
and oppression by accepting the mainstream mythology about politics and
"government," and by playing the very games which legitimize tyranny and
empower tyrants. Nonetheless, I don't even want people to suffer
unnecessarily for problems that they created, that they aggravate, and
that they perpetuate. Yes, all statists condone widespread extortion and
thuggery in the name of "law" and "government," but most don't do so out
of malice or hatred, but simply because their authoritarian indoctrination
has drastically warped their view of reality, tricking them into
advocating mass injustice without even realizing it. Not to sound
paternalistic, but I would like to do what I can to save them from their
own ignorance, having been a well-intentioned but horribly misguided
statist myself in the past.
By analogy, back when open slavery was "legal," many slaves actually
believed that they were supposedly to be slaves, and that slavery was
legitimate. In fact, they were so thoroughly indoctrinated that they would
often view a fellow slave who attempted to run away as a thief, for trying
to steal himself from the master. (Read the writings of Frederick
Douglass--who spent many years as a slave--if you doubt this.) And that
indicates a profound problem that cannot ultimately be fixed by a few
slaves running away. Yes, I fully support a slave who tries to escape, but
until all the slaves escape--first mentally, then physically--then the
underlying problem remains. So maybe I'm that stupid slave who has a
chance to flee, but instead hangs around trying to convince the other
slaves that they shouldn't be slaves. But it's what I feel I must do.
Maybe it's because I'm an obsessive nutcase, but I can't imagine feeling
fully free and content if I escape the clutches of the current regime
myself, while leaving several hundred million decent people behind to be
assaulted, extorted, and oppressed.
I don't even want active collaborators of statist domination to be
victimized by the monster they created, the monster they feed. In fact, to
show just how crazy I really am, I even view the mercenaries of the
state--cops and soldiers--as victims (as well as perpetrators) of
authoritarian mental and physical oppression. I even want to do what I can
to convince the jackboots to choose humanity. Don't take this is
irrational optimism; I full expect most of the state's hired thugs to
choose ignorant brutality over reason and morality, but I want them at
least to be shown that there is a choice.
As long as I can remain here alive, I intend to stay, throwing the ideas
of self-owership and voluntaryism at as many people as possible. And if
once in a while a few people listen, and my efforts help them to escape
the mental chains of statism, it will have been worth it. Eventually, the
lie of "government" will come crashing down. Whether or not it happens in
my lifetime, as long as I'm breathing I intend to do whatever I can to
push it over. Sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Megalomaniacal Tyrant Control Freak, I'm
not leaving. But sooner or later, you are.
