Saturday, July 2, 2011

Forget Independence Day Bring Back King George!

Lew Rockwell quotes the late Joseph Sobran:
By today's standards, King George III was a very mild tyrant indeed. He taxed his American colonists at a rate of only pennies per annum. His actual impact on their personal lives was trivial. He had arbitrary power over them in law and in principle, but in fact it was seldom exercised. If you compare his rule with that of today's U.S. Government, you have to wonder why we celebrate our independence.

7 comments:

  1. The march toward globalism as laid out by our elite overlords have me wondering if this holiday shouldn't be called INTERDEPENDENCE DAY.

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  2. I like Lew, but this quote is just dumb. I'm not saying things are perfect, far from it. But, we do have a lot to celebrate (I find it a bit ironic that Lew quotes a voice of decent regarding the holiday, how many countries would throw him in jail for doing so someplace else,) but more than that every year we are reminded of what this country is all about (or at least should be all about) through this holiday.

    Be afraid of the day they try to take the 4th of July celebration away or down-play it as something only ignorant people celebrate and wipe away the memory of what this country was founded on.

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  3. @AaronC

    Lew has done more than any man I can think of to keep the ideas of liberty, and teachings of Rothbard and Mises, alive in current times. Bar none.

    Do you honestly think we are a freer country today than under George III?

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  4. Robert,
    Let me say this, I believe Lew is a great man, that is a fact.

    My point is, were there no independence day, are we freer today than we would be after 200+ years of English rule? How has that system worked out for those living in the UK?

    We definitely enjoy a freer society (so far, but we both know it's fast slipping away) when it comes to personal liberties than under George III. Just because his "arbitrary power" was "seldom exercised" (as far as we know, really who was in charge of the record keeping then) doesn't mean that people were freer. Today I don't have to worry about the fickle-finger-of fate landing me in prison for a life time just because somebody doesn't like what I've said or wrote, the same holds true for you.

    I dig your site, I'm here nearly every day, I dig www.lewrockwell.com, but I don't believe that just because I think the same as you and Lew, that I have to agree with everything either of you say, we are disagreeing over (the perception of) history here, not a supply and demand curve.

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  5. Aaron, you should read Hoppe's "Democracy: The God That Failed" for a fuller and more nuanced explanation what the late and lamented Joe Sobran is trying to point out.

    In short, a king has a proprietary interest in seeing his kingdom survive and prosper, whereas a democracy is interested in only the short term goals of the people we elect. The end result is a constant slide towards serfdom as the overlords vote for more spending to secure the votes of their followers. Plus, at least a king (if he overextends his reach) can be overthrown and one of the more reasonable of his heirs can be installed. In a democracy, even if we impeach a ruler, the replacement is almost guaranteed to be as odious as his predecessor.

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  6. I don't really see 4th of July as only about the state.

    It's about history and society. It's about the "body politic". It's a time to feel good, regardless.

    Everyone gets a birthday. Usually you don't beat someone up on that day, no matter what they've done.

    We can always wear sack cloth and ashes on the other 364 days.

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  7. "Today I don't have to worry about the fickle-finger-of fate landing me in prison for a life time just because somebody doesn't like what I've said or wrote."

    Aaron, re-read this statement, and think about the hundreds of ways that the mere expression of opinion can result in your detention here in the US.

    Although the First Amendment is supposed to be inviolable, LRC was forced to give up tax-free status just because it was so vocal in support of Ron Paul. Not for him as a person, but because of his views. If 2 or 3 other candidates had held the same position, and LRC had supported them as well, the same policy would have applied. Had they declined, Lew and many others would be in prison.

    The "fickle finger of fate" is far more onerous than it was 200+ years ago, and now it has a huge, powerful bureaucracy to enforce its powers.

    BTW, the UK still has a nominal monarch, but the power resides in the parliament (and the City of London financial powers). The monarchy died at the end of WW1 when the Austro-Hungarian empire was disbanded by the Power Elite.

    PLEASE read, or at least skim, Hoppe- it will radically realign your conception of Democracy vs. Monarchy. Democracy radically alters the time-preferences of society, resulting in far more short-term vs long-term planning.

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