Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
It feels like the future is being pulled in two directions at once. Things are getting better, while things also feel like they are getting worse. Both are probably true.
I’m not so naive as to believe this is something new. Looking back at history I see how every era of the past had opposing forces pulling in different directions, fighting to shape the future. Two steps forward and one step back, as one or the other got the upper hand for a time.
I do believe the long-term trend -- with notable exceptions -- has been toward a better future. And to me, better always means greater liberty.
We may be the generation to see humans walk on Mars. Maybe even to begin emigrating off this planet. If, that is, the control freaks among us don’t succeed in forcing us to live medieval lives of serfdom to advance their agenda.
Both futures seem equally possible today, depending on whose vision wins. Depending on who has the power to prevail.
In the governmental realm, liberty has been shielded from some tyrannical government overreach, while at the same time being violated by these same governments. Sometimes even over the same issues.
Just after the Supreme Court admitted the Second Amendment mostly means what it says, some backward states began desperately trying to find ways to avoid respecting the natural human right of their residents to own and to carry weapons. This should embarrass them after “Constitutional carry” of firearms proved its value against an evil loser in an Indiana mall recently.
Yet, at the same time, Congress debates a new ban on “assault weapons” -- a made-up political term for something that doesn’t exist outside their imaginations. A ban they already know is unconstitutional and unethical, and which will harm more people than it would help until it inevitably gets thrown out. Opposing forces pulling toward a better future and a worse one.
This isn’t the only demonstration of this effect. Marijuana legalization seems assured nationwide at this point. Taking away government’s power to punish people for having or consuming a plant is better for liberty. On the other hand, if you can be punished by government for refusing to use wrong pronouns when speaking, you are not free.
I hope the better future wins. I’m not a fan of tyranny and slavery, no matter how “safe” the political criminals say this will make us.
Farwell’s Kent McManigal champions liberty. Contact him at: