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Riddles, Mysteries, and Enigmas
Lewis
Goldberg
04/012003
Winston
Churchill famously stated in a radio broadcast in Oct 1939 that Russia is
"...a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." While most
nations seem thus from the outside, ours is just as enigmatic from within.
Constitution abandonment, counterfeit currency, forgotten amendments,
mysteriously-assassinated leaders, strange alliances, war crimes,
imperialism, civil oppression...the list could go on. Is there no evil that
our glorious republic has not committed? Yet most folks are content to
stand on the curb as the parade goes by - waving their flags while pieces
of half-chewed corn dog fall from the corners of their mouths.
Now,
my mouth has loosed its share of masticated particulates, but life - being
the educational experience it is - has shut it a bit. The sadness felt each
time another myth of American greatness has fallen to facts cannot help but
engender a feeling of "what shall we do now?" even if it does
diminish in intensity as one edifice after another falls into a sea of lies
and deceptions.
In
the position I am in as a writer and editor, I see a lot of evidence of
corruption and get taught a lot of history not found in the textbooks.
Naturally, I grieve for the America we should have had: an America
where men are truly free to live their own lives without government
interference, so long as they mind their own business, property, and
affairs.
Instead
we have an America that requires a license or permit for every public
action imaginable, followed up with a tax on whatever produce emerges from
the activity. Additionally, we live in an America where much of that tax
collected is shipped to foreign accounts, to be squandered by tinpot
dictators, poised to betray us the following week. Most of what's left and
not used for defense or highways is delivered as cash, goods, or services
to the least productive elements of society who are inspired to [shazam!]
be even less productive and demand even more goodies. Give somebody
something free and they want it freer...
Yes,
America has a lot of advantages over other nations, and this by the
providence of almighty God. But America also suffers badly from an
infection of corruption; inflicted by greed and sustained by ignorance and
fear. With a bodily infection, a man will often simply rub ointment on it
or wear concealing clothing before he'll visit the doctor. Likewise, it'll
be hard for the doctor to convince the man his leg will have to come off
when he's still walking fine on it. When the infection reaches its climax,
he'll die quietly at home with the tube of ointment in his hand.
We
stand at this moment in a precarious position. Our armed forces are in
heated combat; names like 'battle at the Euphrates' ring apocalyptic, and I
wonder if this is just the beginning of another 'war to end all wars.' I
just got done reading L.M. Montgomery's 'Rilla of Ingleside, in
which a Canadian family lives through the four year-long heartache of
waiting for the boys to come home from World War One. How much that book
reminded me of the times we are in right now - particularly the beginning,
when it was "just another assassination," or "just a bunch
of saber-rattling," and then "oh, it'll be over in three
months...you'll see."
Wherever
the events of late lead us, there is sure to be another batch of riddles,
mysteries, and enigmas to puzzle us.
Your comments and questions are encouraged. [editor@patriotist.com]
Patriotist
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