The Tower of Babel and an PWNED citizenry
I noticed a story in the news a while back about some school kids who attempted to build a "replica" of the Tower of Babel out of Legos. I put replica in quotes because the only information we have about the Tower of Babel comes from the mention in the Bible, which included no picture and no real description.
As is often the case, the real lesson from the Tower of Babel was lost on these kids as well as the reporters. The real story is much different than the superficial image most have.
A man named Nimrod grew to become powerful and controlling. He ruled over several cities but as people began to spread out, he realized his control over them would weaken the further away they traveled. His plan was to build one tall building in one of the cities he ruled to set that city as the central part of a worldwide government and by persuasion or force, bring all the people of the earth into that and the surrounding cities to be ruled by him. The tower he built was described in the best way they knew to describe something tall, "...whose top may reach unto heaven...". They weren't actually trying to build a tower that would allow them to reach heaven, but to built a government that would have an iron control on people through a centralized location.
Sound familiar?
The younger generation have coined a new concept "owned" which they sometime spell "PWNED" ( the P symbolizes someone sticking out their tongue). It means to be so badly conquered that your victor now owns you and can even gloat about it.
The lesson of Babel is one we desperately need to learn today. In almost every issue the division comes down to centralized v. decentralized control. Each issue is define in whether you want to be free or pwned. A centralized government wants to pwn you, a decentralized government doesn't.
Gun Control. The surrender of our personal safety to the government means the surrender of our will to the total control of the government. A centralized government wants that. A decentralized government would depend on the individualism of the governed to cover much of what the centralized government demands to do. Last year people stood by while a 91-year-old veteran was beaten severely. The mindset that "it's not my job" is so ingrained already that we can sit by and watch an act like that and assume the "wise" thing to do is to wait for the police. Where's your gun? Where's your individualism? Are you free or are you pwned?
National Security. It's obvious that the eventual plan by Liberals is for a centralized world government. Under Bill Clinton our troops were put under UN commanders and required to wear UN insignias. One, lone soldier took a stand and was court-martialed. He stands out as a hero who refused to be pwned. Under GWB our troops have not been required to become UN soldiers so the problem has been delayed. But for how long? A strong national defense means that we stand against those that would tear down our national sovereignty. How long until America itself is pwned?
Taxes. Who needs money if the government takes care of everything? Right. A decentralized government needs much less money than a powerful, controlling centralized one. Besides, the less resources the individual has, the less likely he is to fight the control of a centralized government. Also, a tax system that punishes the wealthy means an economy that must be propped up by an increasingly powerful and controlling government. The wealthy create wealth for the middle and lower class. Taxing them forces the middle class to virtually disappear and the now, much-larger, lower class to depend on the government for their survival. The promise of bread and circuses in exchange for our freedom means we are pwned.
Government Spending. The US Government, like the rivers in Missouri, poured outside the boundaries set for it long ago. But the deep pockets of the government have been such a temptation to people more than willing to sell their freedom from what they call pork when spent elsewhere. Another Biblical lesson ignored. Genesis tells of Joseph's advise to Pharaoh preceding the 7 years of plenty and the 7 years of drought. His advice allowed Pharaoh to pwn the Egyptian people who were starving during the famine. Each time we turn a blind eye to another power grab by the Federal Government in exchange for a few favors, we become that much more pwned ourselves. It's possible to pull back on that, but only by electing good leaders, who recognize that problem, and are willing to address it.
Social Security. One of the biggest and most successful scams ever created. For just a "small" fraction of your paycheck, the government will guarantee a meager, substandard income for you once you arrive at whatever retirement age it decides it will allow, as long as you survive that long. Meanwhile they spend what they've amassed on pork projects and use current social security taxes to fund current recipients. But as baby boomers enter retirement age, social security is being paid for by the survivors of the abortion holocaust. The math just doesn't work, but it doesn't matter--you're pwned anyway. Even mentioning social security reform causes Liberals to scream bloody murder.
Education. Control the minds of the children and you pwn the future.
Agriculture. Through the seventies we saw large mega-farms lobby congress for "reform" as small farmers struggled. The plight of the small farms was used to enact legislation that benefited the mega-farms. But why were the small farms struggling? Because of unfair practices utilized by the mega-farms. Subsidies and price caps forced artificial profit margins that only the mega-farms could survive. Remember, lower profits margins work if it means running your competition out of business. America's small farms started disappearing at an alarming rate, while the mega-farms began experimenting with frightening hormones and chemicals, the consumer was powerless to object to. So what does that have to do with a centralized government? The American farmer has always been the core of America's attitude of rugged individualism. The farmer more than any other member of society could live more independent of the hand-outs offered by the government. It's not our dependence of the mega-farm that's the problem, but our lack of an avenue to escape the economic manipulations of a power-hungry government. The farm had been that refuge. It is no longer.
Traditional Values. The Judea-Christian concepts place the government as beneath God. No centralized government can tolerate that long, which is why we see Jews and Christians attacked at the outset of almost every attempt by a dictator to conquer a nation. The Holocaust, the pograms in Russia, the slaughter of Christians in Africa, the continued persecution of Christians in far east regimes. If the people believe anything is above the government, then they won't accept the total rule of the government. In the US the Judeo-Christian mindset is the enemy of the socialist, Liberal, one-world mindset. You can't pwn someone who considers themselves under God's rule. Before the state can declare itself god, God must be eliminated. Thus we see the war on traditional values by the left.
Religious Freedom. No nation offered more religious freedom than American did, up until recently. As a Christian nation, the idea that Christianity could only be accepted voluntarily meant that religious freedom was the most efficient means of offering Christianity to everyone. But today we see religious freedom under attack. the Constitution is being "re-interpreted" to force the concept of "Freedom from Religion" on America, when the Founding Fathers had no such intent. Ultimately the state wants no other god before it, so "Freedom from Religion" is merely a stepping stone to being pwned by the state, setting itself up as god.
Life. Another concept the centralize government wants to eliminate is the value of the individual. The start is to devalue those who society is more inclined to ignore, such as the unborn and the incapacitated. We saw a few years ago, an innocent woman tortured to death by her estranged husband, at the order of the government. If the value of the individual has degraded to the point that others can decide that and individual can be euthenized, how far are we from a complete devaluing of life itself? If your life has that little value, guess what, you're pwned.
Health Care. This one is obvious. The government's has a monopoly on the means of life and death, means we are pwned.
Energy and the Environment. We have an energy problem today, because enviro-wackos hamstrung the nuclear energy industry. I remember debating energy policy as my high school debate topic over 30 years ago, and the arguments then are the exact same arguments today. Not one single real change has been made. Why, when it's such an important topic and influences so many issues not the least of which is the funding of terrorist nations? Thirty years and not one single meaningful change in the problem that was debated then. Here's the political equations. Everyone needs energy. Environmentalists are generally silly, emotional and terribly easy to manipulate. Pwn the left through their blind devotion to whatever the current environmental fad is. Pwn the right (and everyone else) through the need for affordable and available energy. Use the left to make sure no real change occurs. As long as the problem continues to exist, a centralized government can then use it to gain more power and control, carefully making sure it never, ever actually comes close to solving the problem, simply amassing power and pwning the people.
I don't drink, but I see our attitude toward the government as the way one should have toward alcohol. Useful and even enjoyable in moderation, but extremely dangerous in large quantities. But as with alcohol, indulgence in the benefits of government tends to blur the lines between moderation and excess. I watched once as a friend became increasingly drunk as each can of beer made him less able to exercise self-control. (possibly the reason I don't drink) I've watched our nation do the same thing, growing drunk of the bread and circuses thrown to us by an increasingly powerful government. (sorry for the mixed metaphors) We need an intervention, desperately.
Posted by Danny Carlton at April 24, 2008 7:51 AM