Pete Hendrickson (@LostHorizons)

So, Here We Are At "Resolution Day"... A semi-annual "wake-up" call for today's real American men and women. You may have seen this before, but no matter. Read it again. It's that important. RESOLUTION DAY. That is, "NO MORE PARALYSIS Day" "NO MORE DENIAL Day" "NO MORE, "I DON'T DARE..." Day" "NO MORE, "THE BAD MEN WILL NOTICE ME SO I'D BETTER NOT!" Day" "NO MORE, "I'LL WAIT FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO GO FIRST..." Day" In short, here we are at, "GET OFF YOUR ASS Day" "GET LOUD AND PROUD AND UN-COWED Day" I'm talking about, "DON'T STOP 'TIL YOU'VE GOT LIBERTY AND THE RULE OF LAW Day" "FACE THE FACTS Day" "NO TIME TO RELAX Day"... MORE THAN ANYTHING, here we are at "PUT ASIDE DELUSIONS Day" That's what the original "Resolution day" was all about. It was the day the American colonists finally acknowledged that the people they had been entreating to respect their rights actually didn't want them to have their rights. It was the day the American colonists finally acknowledged that the government operatives they had been petitioning and politicking and lobbying and arguing with weren't misled or mistaken or suffering from misunderstanding, needing only to have things explained a bit better, or argued a bit more authoritatively. Instead, as the colonists realized and finally admitted by way of the Declaration of Independence, those operatives were their competitors. Those operatives were the colonists' opponents. Efforts to persuade them were pointless-- they admitted to no limits on their power and had no interest in curbing its abuse, which was being practiced for their benefit. IT WAS HARD for the colonists to reach that epiphany about their government. Because states exercise power (and partly also because they maintain an elaborate apologia dedicated to justifying that exercise as being for the good of the citizenry, or at least the way things must or are supposed to be), they come to be viewed as virtual parents in the hind-brains of those subject to that power. It is very hard for people to recognize and acknowledge that actual Mom and Dad are bad people. It is nearly as hard for people to recognize that the state under the influence of which they have been raised is corrupt and malicious. But of course, sometimes Mom and Dad are indeed bad, and states usually are. And while Mom and Dad can and often do become remorseful, and proceed to reform and redemption, states are institutionally-incapable of remorse. The only remedy against a bad state is taking away its power. Eventually, after wasting all that time and effort on petitioning, politicking, lobbying and arguing, the American colonists admitted this truth on their Resolution Day and said, "No more talking-- it's time for walking!" Bless them for abandoning their child-like view of the state and becoming grown-ups at last. Continued: https://losthorizons.com/N/224.htm#1