Apparently...

...the crazed American is the bees knees in France. 

I've got literally 15 times the readership in France that I do here in America.

Dang.  Guess I need to brush up on my French, non? 

So, I sat down earlier with fire in my belly, ready to go off on a terrific rant about the lack resistance the American people are offering. 

So - there's the douchebag of a Congressman from Ohio named Steve Chabot.  He holds a town hall.  He orders police on site to confiscate all cell phones and cameras from the attending citizenry.  The dipshit police officer then proceed to collect private property from private citizens, with no legal backing.

Normally I do not link to Alex Jones, I am not a 911 truther, but in this instance I will - check this out for yourself.

In a different forum, I entered into a brief debate.  As you might have gleaned over the years that this blog has been (infrequently) active, I do have a tendency to look at the glass as half empty. As a matter of fact, I do belive that the current incarnation of the American Experiment is winding down.  I am not terribly excited to experience the next (probably profoundly unpleasant) phase in the experiment, and I really would like to get right down to the phase afterwards - the building of something new, but I digress.

The debate I entered into, with a person I respect, boiled down to the level of resistance a citizen of the United States should offer to such an infringement of my personal freedom. Should, as some might suggest argue with the officer wishing to take your personal property?  A woman at the meeting did protest and the camera was physically taken by an officer over her protest. 

My question to all of you:  What level of resistance would you offer, should you be found in a similar situation.  Would you resist?  Keep in mind, a sworn officer of the law, ARMED with taser and a .40 caliber handgun, is demanding you relinquish your property without cause, other than the Congressman does not wish embarrassing videos on YouTube.

Some people in the other forum took up the chant, that "I did nothing when they took my camera phone away."  I merely state that I would not resist too heftily, since the man who wants my camera had a gun.  Once the episode was over I would, within the system, raise hell with local media and the Congressman's office demanding an apology.

Could I take the Congressman to court? Were my civil rights violated?  Would I want to spend tens of thousands of dollars to do it? What law was being broken by my filming a town hall meeting? 

What are my responses to any of these questions, especially considering I think the Congress of the United States is a corrupt organisation, and that, to the effect of the level of corruption, no longer represents the vast majority of the people that are governed by it. 

Would this be a hill I would be willing to die on?  Hell, no.  The cop thought he was doing his job, even though a more principled officer might have said, "Take their cameras?  Why?  What harm does it do?  What laws does it break?"

Do I think this is a further erosion of our Republic.  Yes, I do.  What recourse as a people do we have?  Well, I will use this platform to call for the unceremonious ouster of the Asshat Steve Chabot, Republican, 1st District of Ohio, that is, I think the people of his district should vote him the hell out of office.  He obviously has no comprehension of his role in a Representative Democratic Republic.  Other than that - what can we do?  What can I do?  I can hold my own representative to the fire, or I can, like the vast majority of my countrymen, do absolutely nothing. 

So I end tonight's rant muddled.  I would not resist too strongly, since the man demanding my cell phone had a gun.  But I think each and every American, and sovereign citizen of the French Republic for that matter, should ask themselves a question:  at what point do you begin to resist tyranny?  What hill would you die on?

It's coming to it, folks.  Not today, not tomorrow, but sooner than most would like.  We live in a police state.  The cage is gilded, but it is still a cage.  Our freedoms are being eroded, incrementally.  Yesterday, you were effectively strip searched to get on an airplane.  Today, police confiscated cameras and phones to prevent a plutocrat from being embarrassed.  What happens tomorrow?  When do we as independent, thinking, rational sentient beings stand up for our rights? 

One of the fundamental principles of our nation is that our rights are bestowed upon us by our creator.  They are not allowed to happen by our government. 

The first revolution was fought over much, much less.  It's fact, look it up.

Disgusted, and out,

The Crazed American