Total Dependence Day

    I’m loathe to do so, but I regrettably believe it has become necessary to suggest a new holiday. It wouldn’t be something marked by fireworks and celebration, but instead it would be a day of mourning known as “Total Dependence Day.”

It would begin at the stroke of midnight on the fourth day of July, so immediately after celebrating “Independence Day”, you would have to stop the party, and reflect on the reality that our hard-won freedom has been lost due to our total dependence on government and gadgetry, and that many of us would be reduced to tears if not supplied with the endless cheap entertainment that now dominates our culture and our free time.   

The most devoted holiday mourners would spend much of the day considering how much they “need” the television that brainwashes them, and how much they “need” the cell phone that spies on them, and how they’d be lost without the public school system warping their children’s minds in exchange for babysitting services.

The more casual observers of the holiday would wonder if they could feed themselves without the supermarket’s poison stacked high in cans, or how they would cope if they had to do the actual fighting necessary to save our country. Would you even be able to defend yourself from crime without screaming for the police?

I submit to you that this holiday is necessary to remind Americans that every time they accept any degree of help or protection from their government, they always sacrifice a little freedom in return for it, and that every time they’re sold a new gadget or convenience, they lose some of their own strength and ability.

They’ve obviously forgotten this, because the average American has been reduced to a thoughtless couch potato possessing no practical skills, useful knowledge, or courage, and this miserable condition has forced him to be comfortable with being controlled, but the millions of Americans who still love freedom are offended by these same controls which are also applied to us.

When you screamed “we need more cops because we’re afraid of crime” the government was more than happy to provide them at your expense, but they’ve only become a bigger gang of criminals, with the full support of the judicial system.

When you screamed “protect us from the turbaned terrorists at all costs” you lost all rights to privacy, and watched in stupidity as the constitution was shredded before your eyes.

The sad reality is that while we were celebrating our independence from British rule 237 years ago, we forgot how completely dependent we’ve become on our own government, and the corporations that own it. And we’ve forgotten that if it’s not the home of the brave, it won’t be the land of the free for very long, either.

What’s happened is that while Americans were distracted by “bread and circuses”, they’ve lost all that was previously won through bloody devotion to the cause of freedom, and as they become softer, weaker and more dependent, they’re losing the ability to regain that freedom, because it’s certainly not something that’s going to be given to them.

They’ve become so addicted to ease and convenience that they’re not even able to boycott their enemies, but instead they continue to patronize the corporations that profit from their demise. Did they stop using Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, or the other icons of internet surveillance?

No. They didn’t. They might complain about being spied upon for a day or two, but they’ll continue to use these same spying products, and get used to being spied upon rather then suffer the slight inconvenience of changing their habits, and this weakness, or lack of determination to make a stand for anything is exactly why these corporations will continue to spy on them. When tyrannical governments, or greedy corporations meet no resistance, there’s absolutely no incentive for them to curtail their tyranny or greed. We can only buy lousy products in stores now because the manufacturers know that only a very small percentage of buyers will ever complain or return a product that falls apart shortly after being unpackaged. Most will simply return to the store and buy another one, so there’s obviously no sensible reason to produce quality products when selling crap is so much more profitable.

Very few Americans know how to turn a live fleeing animal into a dead, cooked meal, and very few Americans know how to raise vegetables from seeds. Without their food being supplied by a local grocer, most Americans haven’t a chance to survive, and since all of their sources of food rely on healthy economic activity, it’s likely that many of them won’t survive for very long. And it’s these same Americans who will be most resistant to change, and most likely to obey their ruler rather than the Constitution, because these helpless, dependent Americans are afraid of freedom’s requirements.

“Independence Day” is a holiday we all like to celebrate, but true independence begins with personal independence, and is something most Americans need to make a study of. Anything you “can’t live without” is something that weakens you, and enslaves you, whether it be your cellphone, the police, or your local grocery store.

If you spend all week pushing papers or shoveling bull, you might want to spend your days off learning to survive in the wilderness, or nailing your own house together, or engaged in any activity that gives you practical skills necessary to survive outside our present economic model. You should realize by now that our economy is on the brink of collapse. Do you plan to collapse with it, or are you able to live by your own wits, and are you capable of being truly independent?

The more strength and skills you acquire now, the easier our uncertain future will become, and if you do achieve true independence, you’ll also know freedom, and not before then.
                       — Jolly Roger

“Freedom is a system based on courage”  — Charles Peguy