 Home | Writings | Quotes | Links | ProbalismARTICLE9 January 2009 The American Revolution Was Compromised "From the beginning of our history the country has been afflicted with compromise. It is by compromise that human rights have been abandoned." - Charles Sumner The American Revolution was compromised almost immediately by those who fought so hard to attain their freedom and self determination. Any gains made towards human liberty won because of the revolt have in the present day been suppressed to levels worse than those which ignited it. The revolution based on Liberty was compromised when it came time to free everyone. The southern slaves were excluded. Why did the Founders fail to free everyone? "The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. Whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be no compromise on basic principles." - Ayn Rand The Founding Fathers compromised their principle of Liberty, in order to avoid the hard choice concerning slavery. Instead of freeing the slaves, they avoided the situation and left the question for future generations to solve. Their principle of Liberty was compromised due to the fact they wanted the South to join the union and tolerated the obvious evil and anti-Liberty use of slavery by Southerners. Sixty years later the slavery question was answered and, as an unintended consequence of their original compromise, the nature of the union between the Federal government and the States changed as well. Forever. "No man has the right to rule another without their consent" - Abraham Lincoln, hypocrite A union can only exist if all parties have given their mutual consent to it. If one party becomes dissatisfied with the union, then it has the right to leave. If the other party does not want the union to end, then it will have to use force to artificially hold it together. A relationship held together by force can no longer be called a union. Instead, it is a relationship based on subjugation where there are masters and slaves. Before the Civil War, the United States was a voluntary union. Any State had the Right to leave the union if it saw fit. It was the ultimate check on growth of power by the federal government. The Civil War was the excuse the federal government and Lincoln needed to end States' Rights and the union by mutual consent. It became the center of power when it denied the Southern states their right to leave/secede from the Union. Consequently, the slavery question was settled. Unfortunately, it was not ended, but instead expanded to eventually encapsulate every American. The Federal government doesn't want to use whips and chains. Instead government prefers the fear of imprisonment and fines to get Americans to be compliant to its demands that all pay income and property taxes, are licensed, have their money controlled, accept government education (public schools), etc. It is time that we look in the mirror and admit to ourselves that we are not free and do not live in a country dedicated to Liberty (as the Founders intended). We are having our birth right stolen from us by a large and invasive government. Its power is derived from our continued willingness to compromise on the principle of Liberty. When it comes to Liberty, one either has it or one does not. There are no such compromises as being sort of a slave, or sort of a Free man - anything less than total Liberty is slavery, PERIOD! "The contest is not between us and them, but between good and evil, and if those who would fight evil adopt the ways of evil, evil wins." - Thomas Jefferson (please see "Compromising Ourselves into Tyranny" by Tom Hurst for other aspects of this issue.)
(other articles are archived on my Writings page.) Rebecca Iocca |
