Idaho Libertarian Times

Senator Crapo, Show Me Your Authority

by Rob Oates

Idaho's senator, Mike Crapo, was all over the media in the past week celebrating the passage by Congress and the President's signing of Crapo's Owyhee Initiative. Here's the summary: "The Owyhee Initiative will designate 517,000 acres of public land as the Owyhee-Bruneau Wilderness, in six units, release 199,000 acres of wilderness study areas to non-wilderness multiple use management and designate 316 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers." Wow. This was folded into a massive bill that included hundreds of similar actions -- all approved after years of lobbying effort with essentially one vote.

So, Senator Crapo, help me out here. I'm curious about what Constitutional authority you exercised in fighting for this bill over the years? No, seriously, I want to know. Here's the part of the Constitution that defines what you are hired to do as a senator, Article 1, Section 8:

Section 8. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;

To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;

To establish post offices and post roads;

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;

To provide and maintain a navy;

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;--And

To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.

Please, please, please, I beg you, point out where you have the authority to permanently tie up over half a million acres and hundreds of miles of rivers. While you're at it, please tell me where the federal government has any authority at all to own massive amounts of land other than perhaps on military reservations?

If you cite the "necessary and proper" clause please use the whole thing: "To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the forgoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof."  Whatever Congress wants to do has to be specifically permitted by the Constitution or it's, as they say, un-Constitutional.

SHOW ME, Senator Crapo.

Most of you know that Idaho's Senator Mike Crapo is one of the "good guys" in Congress -- at least most of the time. His legislative success this week, though, points out that almost EVERYTHING Congress does is outside the scope of their Constitutional authority. That means they're acting because one of them thinks it would be a good idea. That's what happened with the Owyhee Initiative. Someone thought it would be a good idea. Crapo sponsored it. Eventually pushed it through Congress. Stood behind Chancellor Obama at the signing ceremony. Not even remotely constitutional.

We're living in times I used to think were impossible to contemplate. I used to believe our rulers were working for us. I used to be much more naive. Reminds me of a line from a song, "I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then" by Bob Seger. Those probably were the good old days.

Our country cannot continue down this road. This cannot end well.

What Am I Not Seeing?

Here it is the back side of the recession & yes Virginia, they are still talking about adding more money to bail out the banks, this is exactly what I've railed against, yet its exactly where we are headed. The problem with bailouts is they don't solve the issue, bad business practices, the only way to solve bad business practices, is to let the market solve the issue the natural way, let the businesses in question go out of business.
No body in his their right mind can say there is any real chance of helping out these damaged companies, they are not going to survive. The cause of the problem is bad business methods, its lunacy to follow them up with yet more bad business methods ,by making even more bad business decisions, you know loaning money to companies who can't make money on the loans they've already made.
And for gods sake, don't tell me "these companies are too big to let fail", Thats Bull Shit!
There is no such business! Yes big companies imploding isn't fun, but it isn't the end of the Frakkin World! The market will absorb in 6 months what we will now have to suck up for the next 24 months. Thats right we now get 8 quarters suck instead of 2 quarters. Now The US Govt has asked for the resignation of GM CEO. OK, why, this was supposed to be a bridge loan. Not a frigging nationalization. Ya the last thing I want is to be part owner of the big 3 , or for that matter AIG, or Citi! Why, Hell why buy these guys, they are on their last legs.
Well the next 1/4 will tell, as we slog through this recession, so far everything points to another round of bail outs. I'm betting before May 15th.

Teach Your Kids or Grandkids to Shoot a Rifle

by Rob Oates

“The times they are a-changin’.” With appropriate apologies to Bob Dylan, those words are truer today than ever. Funny thing is many people I talk to are very concerned about where they think our country is headed and they want to know what an individual citizen can do in these uncertain times.

After recommending a vote for libertarian candidates (!), I tell them that I’m quite proud of my service in the U.S. Army, but the rest of the answer to their question comes from the United States Marine Corps.

The Few, The Proud? I thought we were looking for something everyone could do… True enough. Most of us won’t ever have much influence on whether or not our government bails out this industry or that. We may or may not be individually stimulated by our current regime. Fact is most of us don’t have much of anything to do with what our elected or appointed officials do in our name.

We can each control our own actions, for now, and we can probably influence our own family members.

After voting, the single most patriotic action an individual can take is to own a rifle. WHAT?! He’s talking about guns again??? Let me finish, please…

Let’s briefly look back in our history. Our country was founded by sovereign individuals most of whom were fleeing some type of tyranny or oppression. The individuals formed communities and states. Later the states banded together to create the united States of America. Yes, “united” should be lower case; it indicates that the States united together to form the country. The corporate entity the United States of America, Inc. came later.

Anyway, in order to preserve it, we each have a solemn duty to defend our country, our Constitution and our way of life “…against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” That’s part of the oath I took as a military officer.

I believe we must each discharge that duty by being properly armed and trained so we’re prepared should we have to defend our way of life against those who would turn this into the People’s Democratic Republik of Amerika.

New Marines learn that every Marine is a rifleman first.

Let that sink in. Every citizen should also be a rifleman first. That should be the call to vigilance for each and every citizen – become a proficient rifleman. Go to your favorite gun store and tell them you want to buy a battle rifle, the kind that could be used to defend our country. Buy some extra magazines. Get some training on how to effectively use your rifle. Buy a few hundred rounds for it. Practice with it.

Join a local shooting group or range. Join a pro-gun organization like Gun Owners of America, Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership or the National Rifle Association. Teach your spouse and each of your kids/grandkids how to shoot your rifle well. The life/way of life you save may be your own. Future generations of free Americans are counting on us to do the right thing.

Do it soon. 

Our republic is facing dangers from many directions. With massive bailouts and an orgy of stimulus spending, the Chancellor and Imperial Senate don’t seem inclined to veer off the road to economic ruin and political tyranny.

You should pay close attention to the news about our government’s attitude toward our guns.  Tyranny and enslavement are next to impossible, IF sovereign citizens possess the means to resist.  Get that rifle.

A bumper sticker very succinctly captures the point: Fear the government that fears your guns.

“We” already outnumber “them” – make a political statement, save our country, get a gun.

Protestors at the G20!

Protestors at the G20!

by: Silence DoGood

   

Why must they always be Socialists? We need some good Libertarians to drop a few dimes to speak at these rallies abroad in defense of capitalism and free markets. Only the brave need apply.

     The corporatist swine that repress the hordes also know their weaknesses. As the huddled masses cry out in agony from the pinch of thrift, economically uninformed and oftentimes violent radical leftists prey on their ignorance. In turn, the corporate oligarchy later betrays the ideologically young and stupid leftists, those who don’t “get with the program” of crony capitalism.

    Look at the ignorant foul prattle the dirty commies peddle. They feed on the bilge of Europe's entrails of citizenry.

    The legislature passes the laws that restrict competition so they never lose. Things like Agricultural subsidies convince the people that it's in their best interests, when it only serves the "special interests'." The big boys never get down and out, especially not the banks. Big tough buddy boy red meat eating firebrand cowboy richy boys are just too big to fail these days. We can’t stand turnover, so let’s just inflate the currency to keep failing technologies and politicians in place. Remember the government phone monopoly?  Private markets couldn’t possibly solve these immense complex problems. We need it centrally planned.

    The great hordes of Americans are roiling into Marxian confusions. No one knows what’s going on, but everyone I see is turning Left! The starry eyed dreamers who had Obama fill their empty hearts for a night are now suffering from extreme “morning after” syndrome. Huffington is calling for the head of Geithner!

     But we have seen that the Anarcho-socialists are willing to do anything, even resort to violence. Their brutes swing the clubs. The Anarchists amongst the Libertarians tend to be more likely to blog angrily on Twitter. Our non violent natures feeds into a feeling of ever increasing helplessness in the era of the police state.

We’re doomed folks.

AIG the untold parts

Congress is angry!!?!
Really truly incensed.!!!!?

Incredibly angry & there's irrational motive for their wrath.

Every ones angry toward American International Group, which paid bonuses that are seen as unacceptable. But it appears no ones angry at Congress, which merrily rejected a prohibition of these bonuses earlier this year, but is now appalled to see AIG doing just that. The Democrats who control Congress want retaliation, along with some Republicans. So the House voted 328-93 to levy a 90% tax on these payments.

Also of note, the pending bonuses in question, were not hidden information, in fact they were public knowledge. AIG's plan to pay 167 million dollars in bonuses, was advertised last fall, when Congress asked about expensive junkets the company had supported, so reports The Associated Press. Further the AP reports, "A November SEC {Securities & Exchange Commission} filing by the company elaborated about an estimated "$469 million in 'retention payments' to keep prized employees."

The White House was also in the loop. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) claims the administration asked him to attach a provision to the stimulus bill that authorized such bonuses. Sen. Dodd claims that he only agreed because he didn't understand what the measure would do. Maybe others who voted for it in the Senate & House didn't either. Maybe Sen. Dodd & Congress should stop & read statutes before approving them.

But then again is it possible to pander to your constituencies unless you have really excellent outrage to show them you care after all? Lets put this story into perspective.

1.Everybody knew of these payments as far back as September.
You might be thinking; If they knew, then why are the acting so shocked?
2.Anger, even faked, can be used to curry favor.
Think about the scenario, a major corporation comes hat in hand asking for a bridge loan from the Govt. You don't think the government didn't sic the auditors on them, especially with the amount AIG was asking for ????

The fact is, everybody knew the real deal months ago;
This is just a rare case of an over sized, blatantly timed & executed photo op for Congress. To show us, their constituents, how hard they are working for us.

My only hope is this boomerangs & the glory they seek is remembered for what it is,

A shallow attempt at grand standing.

Socialized Medicine Kills the Reality Star

U.K. reality star and tabloid darling Jade Goody died in her sleep early yesterday morning. The 27 year old leaves behind a disabled mother and two young boys.  The U.S. gossip blogs find it difficult to be respectful and mournful when Goody mostly existed as cartoonish comment on lower class existence in England.  Her malaprops (e.g., escape goat), a crippled mother, a dead mixed raced father who served time for robbery, two out of wedlock sons with another reality star, her general ignorance of basic geography and accusations of racism against Indians did not bring out the best in fans.

That laundry list of class markers is the least interesting aspect of Goody's life and death? How does someone that young succumb to cervical cancer?  Apparently by relying on that great equalizer, socialized medicine.

Cervical cancer is easy to detect and treat. Unless of course your medical regimen is determined by England's National Health Service. The NHS using medical data which was cutting edge in 1895 sets the minimum age for cervical smears at 25.  By comparison many young American girls start receiving gynecological check ups shortly after menarche and continue to do so throughout their lives.  

According to Chris Green of The Independent, "The minimum age for testing in England was set at 20 until 2004. Regular tests still start at the age of 20 in Wales and Scotland. The NHS says testing women under 25 would result in many unnecessarily having invasive checks which can increase the risk of premature births." 

Can increase the risk of premature birth?  What about premature death?

The Neo-Libertarian Manifesto: An Introduction

The Neo-Libertarian

A Manifesto

By: Silence DoGood



Introduction

    The purpose of this book will be to identify and describe a particular philosophy group that merges secular, pro science views, with classical liberal social and economic policies.

     It is to describe and motivate a generation of young idealists who have a hopeful view of the future, and who reject the State as the solution for societies ills.

    In an age where the man of reason has firmly established that there exists no Gods, one must ask, how should we now be governed?

    Societies in the past have been based upon laws created from flawed ecclesiastical dictum. Knowing now that laws based on the false premise of a divine overseer are mostly useless, the time is at hand to begin a new age of reason. If America is to prosper, she should fashion laws that most adequately integrate in with human nature so as to alleviate the most amount of suffering, and extend the mobility, happiness, and freedom of the most amount of individuals as possible.

    Almost all tyrants, past and present, use religion as a tool to manipulate, and impoverish their people for their own selfish desires. None are so insidious as those from the current Neo-Conservative and Islamic fundamentalist movements, who rationalize oppression of minorities, and homosexuals through morality based policies and fatwa’s. These luckily draw attention away from substantive issues the people they oppress might be interested in.

     It is extremely effective to galvanize voters to action on particular issues if they believe they have a moral reason for doing so. Of course the mostly useless holy books that exist can be called upon for reasoning any ill deed that a bureaucratic charlatan cares to enact. It takes only for an unenlightened public to support the deed in the name of whichever deity they were indoctrinated with, to make the matter discussed law. Thus we restrain the freedoms and happiness of a certain group of people who do not fall in line with the god-fearing groups notions of right and wrong, and we as a nation participate in the injustice through our inaction.

    If we wish to evolve as a species, we would do well to leave behind a notion that a creator exists who shapes our wills, so as to better understand and define the motivations behind our actions. Being free of the shackles of morality based upon superstitions and fairy tales, the Neo-Libertarian seeks a new way to legislate, adjudicate, and execute the policies of advanced civilizations such as our own.

    It is sad to think of how much good could be done in the United States, if Congress, the Courts, and the Executive were truly interested in promoting the general welfare of their own people. Instead we see what we have always seen throughout history where usurpers continue dictatorships through obvious nepotism, greed, murder, and lies. Industry in the digital age could be glorious if not for the rabid socialism that has gripped most of the world.

    Indeed, Islamic radicals have poured into countries like Sweden and leeched their free resources. A colleague of mine told me his family fled that country for these reasons, and expressed that his father was. The Iraq tragedy has harmed more families than just Americans and Iraqi’s.

    The splendid freedoms, of which America was prized for, have been slowly eroded over a course of time longer than one human life. This deliberate usurpation of power, liberty, and wealth, is normally slow in its creep, but can also make large gains from time to time via disturbing events such as 9/11. Naomi Klein asserts in the “Shock Doctrine” that such events usually serve as catalysts to enact legislation and changes that would have been difficult to pursue if the public were not vulnerable to exploitation from their enhanced emotional state as a direct result of said event.

    It is interesting that most non-believers in the public forum tend to be leftists. They have been deemed Secular Progressives, as if the socialized policies they champion are actually considered progress. Of course, Socialism is tyranny, and as our favorite Texas Libertarian has said, “Tyranny is an old idea, Liberty is a young idea.”

       As such it has been relatively simple to disengage generations of people from the political process that is critical to asserting the checks and balances of a functioning republic. A people who are cowed into submission via oppressive taxation, police state tactics, and who have no knowledge of how to take recourse, and are too weak and placated to participate in revolution, are slowly driven into serfdom as they have been in ages past. One need only study the current regime under Robert Mugabe in Africa to see a need for a citizens revolution to depose this dictator.

    Only an educated, and courageous electorate that is free from mystical ideas, and who use logic, and the guides left to us from the Founders, who refuse to be victims, shall prevail in reasserting their rights guaranteed to them via the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

A Letter I Need To Share

Dear Friends
Wes Benedict has expressed his interest to me in The Executive Director position on the LNC. This is the job he held in Texas if I'm not mistaken. He seems to have made a credible track record of growth in Texas as well during his tenure.
Okay my question is, is there any reason not to support Wes, aside from you might be supporting some one else. My next question is "is there anyone known to us that some of us are unaware of who could do a better job?"

The reason I write this letter is in part because of an email I received in the last 48 hours. In it was forwarded from a friend who I didn't realize was so concerned about how bad things have gotten. The forwarded post was from a 3rd person, a pretty marginal character who it was mentioned in the email, may be interested in the state LP gubernatorial slot in the 2010 elections cycle. To be honest as I read through the post I was pretty offended on two levels. The first was the Racial tone, it was to be brief very offensive to me personally, so much so that I'd have to volunteer to run for the governorship just to block his nomination. And lets be honest I'm not the guy you want on my states LP ticket for governor.
The second reason I was offended was this guy seems to think we as Libertarians would welcome a fascist like this to our ranks. A 3rd regrettable side point is, emails like this are why outfits like MIAC [Missouri Information Analysis Center] an arm of the that states state police would consider us as possible threat. Hell, were obviously not doing enough to individuate our selves from the paranoid bunker mentality of some people who don't understand us as the party of peace & prosperity. The only party that makes you take an oath never to use violence as a political means to an end.

I'll ask again, is there any reason not to support Wes.
I believe Wes Benedict can help us grow the party at a time when we need to reach out to show as many as possible there are options to the statists in power through out America. A peaceful option we should be working overtime to support.

Gllenn Beck & Penn Jillette on the MIAC report

Principles of Tyranny

Principles of Tyranny
by Jon Roland
Definition of tyranny

Tyranny is usually thought of as cruel and oppressive, and it often is, but the original definition of the term was rule by persons who lack legitimacy, whether they be malign or benevolent. Historically, benign tyrannies have tended to be insecure, and to try to maintain their power by becoming increasingly oppressive. Therefore, rule that initially seems benign is inherently dangerous, and the only security is to maintain legitimacy — an unbroken accountability to the people through the framework of a written constitution that provides for election of key officials and the division of powers among branches and officials in a way that avoids concentration of powers in the hands of a few persons who might then abuse those powers.

Tyranny is an important phenomenon that operates by principles by which it can be recognized in its early emerging stages, and, if the people are vigilant, prepared, and committed to liberty, countered before it becomes entrenched.
The psychology of tyranny

Perhaps one of the things that most distinguishes those with a fascist mentality from most other persons is how they react in situations that engender feelings of insecurity and inadequacy. Both kinds of people will tend to seek to increase their power, that is, their control over the outcome of events, but those with a fascist mindset tend to overestimate the amount of influence over outcomes that it is possible to attain. This leads to behavior that often brings them to positions of leadership or authority, especially if most other persons in their society tend to underestimate the influence over outcomes they can attain, and are inclined to yield to those who project confidence in what they can do and promise more than anyone can deliver.

This process is aided by a common susceptibility which might be called the rooster syndrome, from the old saying, "They give credit to the rooster crowing for the rising of the sun." It arises from the tendency of people guided more by hope or fear than intelligence to overestimate the power of their leaders and attribute to them outcomes, either good or bad, to which the leaders contributed little if anything, and perhaps even acted to prevent or reduce. This comes from the inability of most persons to understand complex dynamic systems and their long-term behavior, which leads people to attribute effects to proximate preceding events instead of actual long-term causes.

The emergence of tyranny therefore begins with challenges to a group, develops into general feelings of insecurity and inadequacy, and falls into a pattern in which some individuals assume the role of "father" to the others, who willingly submit to becoming dependent "children" of such persons if only they are reassured that a more favorable outcome will be realized. This pattern of co-dependency is pathological, and generally results in decisionmaking of poor quality that makes the situation even worse, but, because the pattern is pathological, instead of abandoning it, the co-dependents repeat their inappropriate behavior to produce a vicious spiral that, if not interrupted, can lead to total breakdown of the group and the worst of the available outcomes.

In psychiatry, this syndrome is often discussed as an "authoritarian personality disorder". In common parlance, as being a "control freak".
The logic of tyranny

In Orwell's classic fable, Nineteen Eighty-Four, the protagonist Winston Smith makes a key statement:

  Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.

Following the trial of the surviving Branch Davidians in San Antonio, Texas, in March, 1994, in which a misinstructed jury acquitted all the defendants of the main crimes with which they were charged, but convicted them of the enhancements of using firearms in the commission of a crime, the federal judge, Walter F. Smith, first dismissed the charges, correctly, on the grounds that it is logically impossible to be guilty of an enhancement if one is innocent of the crime. However, under apparent political pressure, he subsequently reversed his own ruling and sentenced the defendants to maximum terms as though they had been convicted of the main crimes, offering the comment, "The law doesn't have to be logical."

No. The law does have to be logical. Otherwise it is not law. It is arbitrary rule by force.

Now by "logical" what is meant is two-valued logic, which is sometimes also called Boolean, Aristotelian or Euclidean logic. In other words, a system of propositions within which a statement and its negation cannot both be true or valid. One of the two must be false or invalid. The two possible values are true and false, and every meaningful proposition can be assigned one or the other value.

A system of law is a body of prescriptive, as opposed to descriptive, propositions, that support the making of decisions, and therefore its logic must be two-valued. It is a fundamental principle of law that like cases must be decided alike, and this means according to propositions that exclude their contradictions.

It is also a fundamental principle of logic that any system of propositions that accepts both a statement and its negation as valid, that is, which accepts a contradiction, accepts all contradictions, and provides no basis for deciding among them. If decisions are made, they are not made on the basis of the propositions, but are arbitrary, and that is the definition of the rule of men, as opposed to the rule of law.

So what Winston Smith is saying is that freedom means being able to distinguish between a true proposition and a false one, and what his nemesis O'Brien therefore does to crush him is make him accept that "2 + 2 = 5", which cannot be true if the logic is Aristotelian. O'Brien represents the logic of arbitrary power, a "logic" we might call Orwellian, although Orwell, whose real name was Eric Blair, was strongly opposed to it.
The methodology of tyranny

The methods used to overthrow a constitutional order and establish a tyranny are well-known. However, despite this awareness, it is surprising how those who have no intention of perpetrating a tyranny can slip into these methods and bring about a tyranny despite their best intentions. Tyranny does not have to be deliberate. Tyrants can fool themselves as thoroughly as they fool everyone else.

Control of public information and opinion
  It begins with withholding information, and leads to putting out false or misleading information. A government can develop ministries of propaganda under many guises. They typically call it "public information" or "marketing".
Vote fraud used to prevent the election of reformers
  It doesn't matter which of the two major party candidates are elected if no real reformer can get nominated, and when news services start knowing the outcomes of elections before it is possible for them to know, then the votes are not being honestly counted.
Undue official influence on trials and juries
  Nonrandom selection of jury panels, exclusion of those opposed to the law, exclusion of the jury from hearing argument on the law, exclusion of private prosecutors from access to the grand jury, and prevention of parties and their counsels from making effective arguments or challenging the government.
Usurpation of undelegated powers
  This is usually done with popular support for solving some problem, or to redistribute wealth to the advantage of the supporters of the dominant faction, but it soon leads to the deprivation of rights of minorities and individuals. 
Seeking a government monopoly on the capability and use of armed force
  The first signs are efforts to register or restrict the possession and use of firearms, initially under the guise of "protecting" the public, which, when it actually results in increased crime, provides a basis for further disarmament efforts affecting more people and more weapons.
Militarization of law enforcement
  Declaring a "war on crime" that becomes a war on civil liberties. Preparation of military forces for internal policing duties.
Infiltration and subversion of citizen groups that could be forces for reform
  Internal spying and surveillance is the beginning. A sign is false prosecutions of their leaders.
Suppression of investigators and whistleblowers
  When people who try to uncover high level wrongdoing are threatened, that is a sign the system is not only riddled with corruption, but that the corruption has passed the threshold into active tyranny.
Use of the law for competition suppression
  It begins with the dominant faction winning support by paying off their supporters and suppressing their supporters' competitors, but leads to public officials themselves engaging in illegal activities and using the law to suppress independent competitors. A good example of this is narcotics trafficking.
Subversion of internal checks and balances
  This involves the appointment to key positions of persons who can be controlled by their sponsors, and who are then induced to do illegal things. The worst way in which this occurs is in the appointment of judges that will go along with unconstitutional acts by the other branches.
Creation of a class of officials who are above the law
  This is indicated by dismissal of charges for wrongdoing against persons who are "following orders".
Increasing dependency of the people on government
  The classic approach to domination of the people is to first take everything they have away from them, then make them compliant with the demands of the rulers to get anything back again.
Increasing public ignorance of their civic duties and reluctance to perform them
  When the people avoid doing things like voting and serving in militias and juries, tyranny is not far behind.
Use of staged events to produce popular support
  Acts of terrorism, blamed on political opponents, followed immediately with well-prepared proposals for increased powers and budgets for suppressive agencies. Sometimes called a Reichstag plot.
Conversion of rights into privileges
  Requiring licenses and permits for doing things that the government does not have the delegated power to restrict, except by due process in which the burden of proof is on the petitioner.
Political correctness
  Many if not most people are susceptible to being recruited to engage in repressive actions against disfavored views or behaviors, and led to pave the way for the dominance of tyrannical government.

Avoiding tyranny

The key is always to detect tendencies toward tyranny and suppress them before they go too far or become too firmly established. The people must never acquiesce in any violation of the Constitution. Failure to take corrective action early will only mean that more severe measures will have to be taken later, perhaps with the loss of life and the disruption of the society in ways from which recovery may take centuries.

http://www.constitution.org/tyr/prin_tyr.htm

this came to me in a daily article from "The List Universe"  it's free to sign up. john  

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