COMMON SENSE

Because there are still many people who still don't understand what is happening on the American street, because they cannot seem to grasp the enormity of the events of April 15th and the door that is being kicked down City Tavern is going to be hosting an extended meditation on Thomas Paine's Common Sense.

The title infers that everything within should be obvious to anyone possessing the ability to engage in critical thinking. So let's have a little common sense ourselves and keep moving forward. Tea Partiers carrying signs condemning Republicans and Democrats alike is the moment those of us in the Lagoon of the Unaffiliated have been waiting for all these years. Common sense seems to finally be getting through.

As a long and violent abuse of power is generally the means of calling the right of it in question, (and in matters too which might never have been thought of, had not the sufferers been aggravated into the inquiry,) and as the king of England [read: The Resident] hath undertaken in his own right, to support the parliament [read: Congress] in what he calls theirs, and as the good people of this country are grievously oppressed by the combination, they have an undoubted privilege to inquire into the pretensions of both, and equally to reject the usurpations of either.

The cause of America is, in a great measure, the cause of all mankind. Many circumstances have, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which the principles of all lovers of mankind are affected, and in the event of which, their affections are interested. The laying a country desolate with fire and sword, declaring war against the natural rights of all mankind, and extirpating the defenders thereof from the face of the earth, is the concern of every man [and woman] to whom nature hath given the power of feeling.

These are the stakes. We are not speaking simply of government reform. We are speaking of reforming government for the sake of preserving human freedom. The Congress through legislation like S.773/778 and Harry Reid's Green Energy bill, the stimulus, omnibus, and budget bills, are attempting to centralize government power in the hands of the Executive Branch. To my mind there is only one reason to do so: the supression and/or control of society. Americans aren't taking to the streets simply because of taxes and government spending. They are out in the streets because after 8 years of government subverting our rights to privacy and expression, the new administration is working harder deeper faster longer to accelerate that process. And the Republican Party, with its transparent attempts to look like they are leading the opposition, is as big a part of the problem as the Democrat controlled government. One need only look at the last eight years to see that. Seeing signs from the 15th that said things like, "Republicans suck too!" tells me we are on the right track.

It's time to stop standing by personal political agendas. There can only be one agenda for all Americans who love liberty: The protection and preservation of the constitutional republic. We can sort out the way forward once we stop the government's Constitution crushing freight train of bullshit. We ain't got time for that now. Now is the time to stand up against the corruption and smothering of freedom.