Read the Curmudgeon. The Curmudgeon is Wise

For a couple of weeks now I've had an urge to write an essay about just how crappy our government has become and what to do about it. Don't get me wrong - I think that our system of government is still the best in the world. No other democratic form of government has lasted as long as ours in modern history, nor has any other nation achieved the wealth, the power, nor the standard of living the United States has. However, the defective components of the system - the people who want to manipulate it for their own ends, and those who fail to oppose them - have had a very long time to toss sand and monkey wrenches into the gleaming machinery our Founders constructed, and time has taken its toll. Repair is needed. The question, in my opinion, is whether we're going to be able to make the necessary repairs while the system is running, or if we're going to have to dismantle the thing for a complete overhaul. The second option holds the very real risk of not being able to put it back together again, or - possibly worse - put it back together in a form that is far worse than what we have now.

My urge to write that essay was largely inspired by a piece written by the Geek With A .45, because, like me, he sees the mechanisms of oppression being constructed by our ostensible public servants - subassemblies just waiting to be put together into a machine of tyranny. Mechanisms that I believe the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were written to prevent.

Thankfully, Francis Porretto has begun a series of essays entitled Tyranny and its Fringes which is up to part four now. If you don't read The Curmudgeon's Corner please give these a read:

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

UPDATE: 2/13 - Part V is up.

UPDATE: 2/20-Part VI is now up.

Francis lays out an excellent background lesson, and has begun to explain how we can repair the damage with the machinery still running. The Constitution has really excellent self-healing properties, but it requires us - the working parts - to do our jobs. We've not been living up to the task.

I may still write my piece(s), but I'm going to wait until Francis is finished with his series.