The Covid plandemic was a test of the power of the state and the compliance of the people.  It was a raving success!  Talk about 'galling'!  It is clear that the next time the people will once again obey — who knows how far they can be pressed the next time.  Such is the recipe for communist revolution — when the hearts and minds of the people no longer value freedom, they are then ripe for the pickings.  Lord help us...

You know that as soon as Waffler gives 5 stars and raves about a quote that he will soon follow up with a completely contradictory spin on it.  

Robert, you know darn well that this is no longer considered 'liberalism' today.  The 'my body my choice' liberals are selective in how that applies — just because it is your body doesn't mean you can do anything you choose without regard for other people's bodies and rights.  'Pride' events come to mind — why must we have people's sexual proclivities shoved in our faces for a month (and more).  It used to be a crime to expose yourself in public, now it is common practice and embraced by 'liberals.'  We've come a long way, baby.

Unless of course you are a man 'identifying' as a woman... 😁

I'm inclined to agree.  Has a communist nation ever been 'freed' by bombing it into oblivion?  If the people don't embrace Liberty themselves, it never happens.  Look at Iran, there is no way to convert them from the air, no matter how many bombs are dropped.  If the culture does not transform itself, it will continue on, no matter what level of poverty it is forced into.  That is why it is the Truth that makes one free, force never freed anyone.

Let me help with what should be obvious...

Q: "a little narcissistic, is it not?" 
A: Not.

Q: "Is it I or is it you?" 
A: We are both individuals.

Q: "If I am the individual does that mean that you are not." 
A: No.

Q: "If we all are the individual then should not the quote say "the individuals" (that is pluarl) are the true reality of life."
A: No, 'the individual' refers to the singular person, 'the individuals' refers to a group and completely changes the meaning of the point Emma Goldman is making.

Q: "And does'nt the "S" make all of the difference in the world in this quote." 
A: No.

There, hope that helps anyone else that might be confused.

Isn't it rather incomprehensible that for many this is NOT an astute in the obvious observation, nor self-evident? 🤦‍♂️

Waffler has provided a great service by putting himself out there and demonstrating the collectivist mind.  We really do appear insane to him — and Waffler is not alone!  I am inclined to believe that Waffler represents a huge percentage of the general populace, often referred to as 'progressive liberals.'  The 'concept' of individuality is really incomprehensible to them.

It really comes down to the age old questions: "Who am I?  Why am I here?"  Free individuals answer those questions for themselves.  The collectivist answers them for everyone.  Since liberty requires responsibility, those that do not take responsibility cannot know freedom, and they can't even conceive of liberty for anyone else either.

Those with designs to rule over others, cultivate blame in the 'useful idiots' in order to foment envy and hatred of the self-directed, pointing out the inequality of individuals in order to level all to an equal subservient field under their direction.  

It really boggles my brain — how can an advocate of 'social justice' square being ruled by an elite?  How can the individual be merged with the group while being dictated to by individuals elevated within a group to do so?  Isn't 'democracy' then just a 'concept'?  In the end, someone is still elevated above the others to answer the questions — "you are who I say you are, you are here for the reasons I say you are." 

Every utopian dream starts with an individual, all that is needed is compliance from everyone else to follow it.  Freedom lets every individual hold their own dreams and work towards their fulfilment — and as long as my dream doesn't require anyone else to bend to my will, and others' dreams don't require my involuntary compliance, all is for the best.  This is Liberty and the Responsibility that comes with it.

I agree mostly, Robert, but providing food and health care by the US government was never an enumerated power granted to the federal government.  Perhaps it could be a State issue, but certainly not federal.

When the 'state' makes its citizens 'wards,' the republican form of government is turned upon its head, completely corrupting its intention, which is to get out of the way of the people to take care of themselves.  The agrarian way of the States produced enough food to feed the world — one must look to the causes of real poverty, and it almost always points to government intervention in what should be personal responsibility and individual charity.  Economic booms and busts are the result of government meddling.

The same goes for health care.  Left to a free market, medical care would have remained less expensive than it is today.  The monopoly afforded the medical/drug industry and the subsidy of the insurance industry has funneled immense profits to them and raised prices out of reach of the individual.  (Just like the subsidy of banks and lawyers has resulted in the same monopolistic pricing.) 

Remove government monopolies, and let the free market prevail.  Unfortunately, we have travelled so far down this road of perpetual debt to prop up this system that the return to the lawful republican  system will be such a crash that another revolution or civil war will be inevitable.

Then let me clarify, Robert. Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence referred to “assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them,” meaning that our rights are an inherent faculty of birth and that we are entitled to them by “Nature’s God,” whomever or whatever that might be. Some use the phrase 'God-given rights' which means the same thing.  But it is clear, that 'rights' are not a dispensation of other men to be granted or restricted as they may see fit by superior might.

Our slavery to the Matrix is mental — Harriet Tubman said,

"I freed thousands of slaves. I could have freed thousands more if they had known they were slaves."

John Adams said,

"The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people,"

and Thomas Jefferson said,

"[The Declaration of Independence] was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion."

We must cast out the false ideas of our indentured servitude, and reclaim our individual sovereignty — no one can do that for you, that declaration is yours to make, and once declared must be defended.

A promissory note is a debt, and indeed, Americans are indebted to the Founding Fathers and those that won our Liberty.  That inheritance comes with the responsibility to uphold that promise and not default on it, lest the bill comes due.

The solution of course is a republican form of government chartered by the people in their sovereign capacity, with a system of checks and balances, with limited powers strictly enumerated and enforced, individual ownership of land in allodium, a hard currency, a 'well-regulated' armed populace, freedom of religion/conscience and the right to speak and print — basically the ideals upon which the American republic was founded.  Of course, only a people that will govern themselves according to the laws of Nature and of Nature's god will be able to uphold such principles.

Fred, you have the uncanny talent of trying to sound intelligent without actually saying anything... absolutely unintelligible.

This was the quintessential 'call to action' for the American Revolution!  It is still pertinent today — if Richard Henry Lee were resurrected, I imagine he would repeat the same now.

Good grief, Waffler — Wikipedia?  I suppose your Funk and Wagnalls is out of print...

Perhaps the word 'statism' better makes the distinction between the republican form of government chartered and guaranteed by the Constitutions of the United States of America and the socialistic 'statist' forms.  There is little difference between a 'statist' form and the 'socialist' forms in all their variations from communism to fascism (yes, fascism is a form of socialism).

'True' socialism whereby the ownership and control of the means of production, etc., being vested 'in the community' can never be accomplished without a centralized body to regulate it.  In a free 'republic,' ownership and control is vested in the people individually, not collectively, the sum total being a free nation of property owners — that has proven to be the best arrangement for protecting the rights and liberties of a people and for their 'collective' prosperity.

Being a perpetual 'subject' of a state, monarch, dictator, committee, whatever, is the complete reversal of what the Declaration of Independence was all about.  The key foundation of republican liberty is ownership of property — especially land and a hard currency for commerce.  Credit and promises to pay are commercial debt instruments that do not transfer ownership of property but merely equitable interest.  The same with 'titles' to land — it is equitable interest only, the real owners issue the titles, and strings are attached. 

You can't have true capitalism without true ownership of capital.  That's the fundamental difference between capitalism and socialism, and from that perspective, the US has adopted the primary pillars of socialism, and the people have become 'subject' to the rules for regulating commercial paper and have forfeited our lawful claims to our property which essentially we are just renting whether it be our land, our money, and anything we 'bought' with IOU's.

Ignorance of what the Declaration of Independence and the resulting American Revolution was all about is the real cause of our return to statism in whatever form you want to call it.

I think maybe Don means "know ye the Truth, and the Truth will make you free."  I agree! 👍

Say what you will about Trump, but he has demonstrated the most patriotic pride in the USA, the nation's capital, and the American flag than any president in my lifetime.  Happy 250th birthday, America!!

Americans would still be under the thumb of a monarchy if we took your advice, Fred.  Is not being ruled by force upon threat of death or imprisonment violence?  Your utopian dreams will never be fulfilled without upsetting the 'social balance' (thankfully).

Fred, this declaration says nothing about fairness — reading socialistic talking points into the Declaration of Independence is not only an attempt to rewrite history but a blatant disregard for its founding principles of the inherent rights of the people to be free from the dictates of the State, whomever or whatever that may be.  'Independence' is the key word here, something that proud socialists like yourself cannot fathom.

I wonder what Chesterton would have thought about AI? We seem to be ever marching towards a technocratic authoritarianism... just look to China where everyone has a smart phone that tracks everything and is as close to the mark of the beast as humankind has ever come.

Warren, didn't you read the fine print at the end of Waffler's post?  Double-think well demonstrated...

Waffler also admitted he inherited property from his father.  Progressive liberal hypocrisy knows no bounds — it's almost always projection and Hegelian Dialectic fallacies, whatever it takes to tear down independence in mind and of body.  Most are self-deluded, and many are just simply nihilistic and want to 'burn it all down' by any means necessary.  Few, if any, believe in Liberty or God.

The steady march towards authoritarian socialism continues unabated, no matter who is in office.  The Trump administration tried to close down some of the unconstitutional spending, only to be met with fierce opposition from the left (in both parties) — activist judges protecting the graft, and Senators who will not let legislation be put forward for a vote continue to stymie any efforts to exorcise the evils now well-rooted in legislation and government administration which has now become 'too big to fail' and must be propped up by indenturing We the People forever. 

It appears to me that Civil War is inevitable, and unfortunately, unless the people learn the true ideals that make up the foundation of a republican form of government, when the dust settles, the banksters will be there to pick up the pieces all over again.

This certainly helps to clarify why welfare ghettos are so crime-riddled.