Memories of the 28th Century

The Duty of Civil Disobedience


People don't often discuss it, but we citizens of the United States of American are expected to overthrow the government, if the government abuses its powers or the rights of citizens.

As the Declaration of Independence says. Such actions should not be done lightly or over transient causes. The right granted by the Second Amendment to the Constitution specifies what the people have the right to have to carry out the overthrow, if that becomes necessary.

Back when writing was by hand, people were were less wasteful with words, so the second Amendment didn't list every possible weapon that might be used. That was summarized with “the right to have and to bear arms”. That means that the people have the right to have and to bear any and all weapons. While nuclear missiles didn't exist then, the right to use them, if it became necessary to do so is clearly implied.

I am not suggesting that the present government should be overthrown, but it is something that politicians should think about. How far can they go, or have they gone too far already? Restrictions have been put on the rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

Civil Disobedience is a form of protest against actions of the government that are improper or of dubious validity. Protest against the actions by Trump's minions might seem pointless, but they are valid protests, and they protest against actions that may be contrary to the Constitution and rights of the people. I don't think that any reasonable person would contend that all of the programs that Congress has passed were proper, and many people have considered the Education Department to be federal overreach since it was first created, and there are programs in several departments that are outside the purview of the federal government, but Congress made the mistakes of creating those, so it should be charged with eliminating the,.

Some people opine that anything that Congress votes for the federal government to do is valid, unless the courts throw it out. They may be right. We will see. But if Trump were serious about making the federal government smaller, then he should have had Congress eliminate programs; he certainly does not have the power to eliminate them by himself.

The best laid plans of mice and men aft gang agly (Robert Burns). The founders of the U.S.A. didn't think it would last a long time, and Jefferson opined “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it's natural manure.” I have not lived in a time when there was widespread feeding of the tree of liberty, but it gets small feedings regularly. I would prefer that the people be better educated, so they would be able to detect a tyrant by his speech and actions. Some people want to push their own positions, while others take a wider view of the world, and some of them can understand that a “rising tide lifts all ships.”

It is pointless to protest the tides, but we should never let tyrants have an easy life. The question is how to tell a tyrant from a benevolent despot. Tyrants do not assist people in living their own lives, while benevolent despots assist the people in living their lives. Would be tyrants appeal to the misunderstandings of the people.

But when a friend of the president starts telling people they are fired, because he doesn’t understand the political system, then it might be time to protest, and such thoughts are so common that there might be some success.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/71/71-h/71-h.htm