Tyrants Make De-Tyrannification a Criminal Act?

Interestingly, in the playbook of most Americans, tyranny used to be considered a bad thing. In fact, there are a few of us left who remember a time when the absence of tyranny was exactly what made the people around the world envy us. 

Indeed, was it not our liberating independence from the shackles of King George’s tyranny that was, far and away, the leading claim-to-fame of our founding fathers? Yet today, the tides of history appear to be turning as we watch the tell-tale signs of a despotism that is presently re-appearing on this side of the pond too.

Frighteningly however, this time around, it appears to be a tyranny that is emerging from within the very institutions those founders established in the hope of keeping it at bay.  And, indeed, there are some among us who are seeming to enjoy the ride as our country travels down a path toward what could soon become an absolute totalitarian state, if it is not stopped … and soon.

By definition, tyrants are those who, for whatever reason, have been empowered to write, interpret, and enforce any such laws as they alone may feel are even remotely necessary and appropriate for them to protect and retain their power. 

Now, with that definition in mind, consider the notable recent efforts of people like of Fani Willis, Alvin Bragg, and Jack Smith, i.e. politically-motivated prosecutors who are working in service to their tyrant overlords by aggressively and blatantly taking advantage of an inexcusable two-tiered system of justice to take down the ideological foes of their expanding totalitarian regime.

Which, in turn, is necessarily placing a fear-based constraint on everybody else’s right to speak freely about how to best protest, and hopefully eradicate, this metastasizing cultural cancer that is threatening to strangle (completely) our God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Imagine, if you will, that we should find ourselves living in a country where we are made to witness government officials (who claim to have been duly “elected”) misuse the powers of their (illegitimately-gained) “offices” to unilaterally declare it to be a criminal offense for anyone to even think about questioning publicly whether said officials were indeed elected legitimately. 

In any normal world, is that not a mind-bender? 

Then, top that with these same “officials” not even caring that we are witnessing that they have been empowered by ideologically sympathetic judges to charge only their political foes with these newly-minted “crimes,” all while the same tyrannical regime they serve fully expects them to turn a blind eye to the equally, if not more culpable criminal conduct of its allies.

All of which brings us around to having to acknowledge the timely truth that was recently put to music by a young man named Oliver Anthony:

It’s a damn shame what the world’s gotten to
For people like me and people like you
Wish I could just wake up and it not be true

But it is, oh, it is …

It is this truth that has left many of the so-called “deplorables” and “listless vessels” in America today in a quandary as to how to go about finding a way back.  Millions of us want our government restored to one that will abide by a proper (moral) operation of law and order; one that will once again regard all people equally.

These are the folks who today are truly experiencing the dilemma that was once poignantly described by 19th century French economist Frédéric Bastiat in The Law:

When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law.

In today’s highly charged and divided political atmosphere in which the tyranny we are witnessing is being given birth, there is a question that those who might want to seek a resolution to this dilemma might first be well advised to carefully consider:

In America today, is it even possible for the tyranny at hand — or, for that matter, any tyranny — to be removed and replaced in a way that the totalitarian regime being threatened will ever consider to be both lawful and peaceful?

Logic, reason and recent events would indicate that even any discussion of this issue might lead us to an acknowledgment of an uncomfortable truth.

Which is … might even the discussion of such an issue be considered a crime by the government officials we presently have allowed to be in power?

Remember that tyrants, by definition, are enabled through their position and power to decide for themselves how and when any laws they may need to preserve their power are to be enacted, interpreted, and enforced.  Thus, even when it may seem possible that some forms of resistance to their tyranny are “peaceful,” if those peaceful actions are considered to hold even a remote promise of success in deposing their tyranny, they will most certainly be quickly construed in some way by the regime in power to be … “unlawful.”

To verify that this is very likely to be the case in the context of today’s reality, one need only ask President Trump and all his many co-defendants who were indicted and “arrested” last week in Fulton County, Georgia for questioning an election’s legitimacy.

Yet, setting aside the probability of this being the actual state of our current socio/political dystopian malaise, does that mean that the millions of good patriotic Americans out there who are feeling the need to try shouldn’t be allowed to continue attempting to find a “lawful and peaceful” way around this uncomfortable truth?

At minimum, it is a discussion that will enable them to resolve in their minds whether or not there actually may exist a way of eradicating the tyranny that confronts them that can remain both lawful and peaceful … and, that has yet to be discovered.

And, even if they fail, so what?

At least they will have been afforded the opportunity to obtain the peace of mind of knowing that at least they had tried their very best to avoid having to confront an ugly truth that, at the end of the day, even our founding fathers eventually conceded was … unavoidable.

That is … there very well may not be any means by which to remove a tyranny that can ever be considered by all to be both … lawful and peaceful.

And, as God is our witness .. if that’s the truth … it’s most certain nothing other than an ugly truth … so, help us God … PLEASE!

Cliff Nichols is the author of A Barrister’s Tales, the curator of The American Landscape and the drafter of The Declaration of Liberty.