Freedom vs. Tyranny by Groff Schroeder: November 2016
Submitted by ftcsadmin2 on Fri, 11/04/2016 - 06:55.
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- By Groff Schroeder
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- Freedom is the absence of illegitimate control by government. In contrast, tyranny is forced compliance with arbitrary, brutal, cruel, oppressive, and unlawful government. Freedom provides the ability to control and advance one's own destiny and to live, speak, and write as you wish without fear, interference, or coercion. Free societies provide citizens government protection from environmental degradation, enforced religion, and personal or financial exploitation through the the Rule of Law. Tyranny provides constant, invasive, and personally threatening surveillance designed to escalate societal compliance rooted in constant fear of imminent government-directed arrest, coercion, torture, and murder. Tyranny is law unto itself, exploiting the environment, religion, and citizens directly.
- Historically, freedom stems from democratic republics, where citizens wield political power by regularly voting upon referenda and electing representatives who vote in democratic institutions to pass laws on the citizens' behalf. Tyranny stems from the illegitimate authority of autocratic regimes, military dictatorships, and totalitarian states where a few people - often eventually just one person - takes or maintains political power through deception and violence, and summarily makes laws often detrimental to citizens.
- In democracies, citizens from differing backgrounds and religious traditions (if any) live in equality, harmony, and safety, enjoying vigorous economies, vibrant arts, and advancing technologies. Citizens contribute to their democratic institutions by voluntarily serving in the armed forces, working in public safety, participating in government, attending jury duty, and voting. Tyrannies are often economically stagnant, artistically repressed, religiously rigid, and technologically delayed. Conscription is common, citizens' activities are directed, controlled, and relentlessly monitored; political activity or dissent can be deadly, and the outcome of “elections” is known by all long before the ballot is printed.
- Democratic republics are complex, slow, inefficient, and subject to manipulation. Bribery, brinkmanship, dishonesty, greed, and obstructionism can make democratic republics chaotic, fragile, and inefficient - and thus susceptible to internal attack from political “strongmen,” corporations, oligarchs, and other potential or existing sources of illegitimate political power. In contrast, tyrannical governments are often straightforward, responsive, brutally efficient, and resistant to internal attack. Apparently, routine violence against any potential threat to the dictator – often including close allies – is a powerful motivator that creates both obedience and precise public transportation schedules.
- While it appears difficult to overthrow a dictatorship to create a democracy, history suggests it is comparatively easy to destroy a democracy and replace it with a dictatorship. Many democracies have been destroyed from within by duplicitous mechanisms including anti-government propaganda, undemocratic officials, politically motivated prosecutions, and rigid obstructionism - often championed by a charismatic individual who convinces citizens to overthrow or discard their democracy by de-legitimizing elections, attacking essential but inconvenient democratic ideals, and inciting political violence.
- Our democratic republic depends upon the belief that elections are honest, the peaceful transfer of political power, and the shared societal agreement to accept and advance the national decisions made in elections. Through democracy, We the People can directly protect and defend all of our freedoms, pouring the passion of election campaigns into tireless vigilance and ongoing verification that our elected representatives not only defend the principles of freedom and democracy, but also serve US citizens rather than illegitimate external forces. The beauty of democracy is that citizens hold the power of (nonviolent) “revolution” in our votes every two years – and monitoring our government and our representatives is a civic duty not a deadly risk.
- Published in the Colorado Springs Independent on November 2, 2016 with the quotation below.
- Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.
- Winston Churchill
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