If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.

–James Madison, Federalist No. 51, February 8, 1788

When I was in the Marines, no one ever thought me a threat because I held a loaded weapon – even on those few occasions when I held it in public.  Heck, when they flew us to Saudi Arabia for Desert Shield, we had our weapons and our ammo, but the flight attendants never treated us as though we were going to harm them.  In fact, the lead flight attendant told us that she had never felt safer in her life than when she flew with 440 fully armed Marines.  Even when I had control of a main battle tank, no one acted as though I were a crazy nut who was about to kill, maim and destroy at any moment.  But the moment I took off my uniform, somehow, I suddenly became the next potential story on the news that night.  I have always wondered about people who think that way.  By what magic does a uniform transform the heart of a man or woman into a benevolent protector of the masses?  And how does that same person suddenly revert to a mass-murderer in waiting the moment he/she takes off that uniform?  Or is it that we truly have been indoctrinated to think the government can do no wrong?  Because, frankly, I think that’s what’s really at work here: Dewey and his social engineering.

But it’s not just the indoctrination we get in the public school system: that’s just where it starts.  It’s everywhere – especially in the pop culture.  I was watching a re-run of NCIS yesterday, the episode where Gibbs and McGee go to Los Angeles to work with the NCISLA team.  This is the show where we meet Michael Rivken, Ziva’s friend.  At one point in the show, McGee is working with the NCISLA tech geek to find a suspect.  They are sifting through the data that the government stores on every citizen and discussing how the daily activities of the average, law-abiding citizen are recorded well north of 3,000 time/week.  They comment on how the government and private organizations both store this information for future use, like finding a suspect.  They also mention that it is dangerous and illegal, but then the NCISLA guy says, “Yeah, but it’s OK when we do it, we’re the government.”  Have you ever noticed how many times cop shows do that: make heroes out of law enforcement officers who openly break the law and violate the Constitution and their oath to defend it?  And in every case, the TV show or movie hints that it is “OK” because the government is good and they are “just trying to protect us from the bad guys.”

Then I watched a re-run of Law & Order.  In this episode, they were bashing conservative talk radio, the TEA Party and the new media – again.  This is a repeating theme with this particular show.  And, just like they do every time they revisit this theme, they present the talk show host as a Leftist caricature of what the Left thinks the Right to be.  In this particular show, it was the idea that illegal immigrants are destroying the nation and should be killed to save the country.  I listen to a lot of conservative talk radio, and I read a lot of news – from all sides.  I have never heard this sort of thing from the Right (but then, I do not consider Savage and Jones to be on the right, I see them as being part of the lunatic fringe).   However, I can provide many examples of Left-wing talk show hosts saying things similar to this about the Right.  But the thing that really struck me is the fact that this show is called “Law & Order,” yet it was making the case for excusing and defending people who break the law.  This is a deliberate and intentional attempt to undermine the public’s’ support for the rule of law, which actually undermines civil “Law & Order.”  What do you know; the 180 degree rule in operation on your television.

But the same people who think I become a public menace the moment I take off my uniform will argue that there is nothing wrong with the content of our TV and movies, or our music, which glorifies killing cops and prostitution, etc.  If you try to explain how the media is being used to control them by putting thoughts in their head and creating peer pressure to push them in the direction that other people want them to go, they will call you a conspiracy theorist and tell you that you’re crazy.  It’s a sad thing that you cannot help them see that they are the ones who cannot see things clearly. And because they do not see the issues, and have been taught not to think but to follow, they do not understand that they are one of the most dangerous threats facing this nation today.  A nation simply cannot remain free and self-governing if its people are ignorant and un-thinking.  Our would-be masters know this.

Still, there are people who will swear that they are not influenced by our media.  Well, if you were raised in a religious household with parents who took their responsibility to see to your faith and education seriously, this may be true.  But even then, it only provides a level of insulation against the influence of media manipulation.  No matter how well insulated you may be, even if you are fully awake, this stuff can and does influence you to one degree or another.  I know because I’ve been looking at myself and finding how deeply entrenched it is in me.  And if it is in me and influences my thought processes, I know it does the same for many others who think themselves immune.   The evidence of this is easily presented:

Now, the medical professionals have testified to Congress — on the record — that there is a connection between violent video games and the rise in violent crimes.  They say there is a direct connection between these games and the loss of the individual’s natural aversion to killing, and that many of the mass killings that have been committed in recent times are also connected to these games.  They say the evidence here is irrefutable.  Yet the government goes after guns, not the video games (and music, movies, etc.).  Have you ever wondered why?  Who is the entertainment industry politically aligned with: the Left or the Right?  And do you suppose there might be a reason so many actors and politicians have personal connections that go back to their time in our “elite” universities?  Or did you even know about this?  Google it sometime: look for the number of actors who attended ivy league universities and for the connections between famous actors and leading politicians.  This is not a coincidence, but you have to understand the history of the Progressive movement to understand this connection.

Look, here’s the deal: the government is nothing more than people – individual people.  There is nothing special about them: if they can be bad in the private world, putting them in government does not suddenly make them benevolent.  In fact, the power available to those in government is a draw for malevolent people.  It attracts those who seek power, and those who seek power should be kept as far from the seat of power as possible because no one who seeks power is ever benevolent.  This is all part of human nature, and human nature has not changed since the advent of recorded history – nor will it.  No one can be allowed to operate above or outside the law.  If they are, then the rule of law ends and, with it, the rule of law, individual rights and liberty.  So, the next time you see or hear someone making the case that it is OK when the government breaks the law to “get the bad guys,” understand this:

If you are breaking the law and/or violating the Constitution, you are not “fighting the bad guys:” you are the bad guys!

This is why we have a Constitution in the first place: to limit the ability of tyrants to usurp your rights and liberty for the purpose of their own power.

In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.

–Thomas Jefferson, fair copy of the drafts of the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, 1798