The consent of the people

I am tired of hearing liberals say "I am not responsible for the actions of my country's government." Because, in the end, for the vast majority, it is simply not true.

No government survives without the consent of the people. Even Saddam Hussein's government survived only because he had bribed, threatened, or cajole'ed the consent of most of his people. To blame the actions of the United States only on "the government" and completely ignore the people that complacently and compliantly enable "the government" to perform those actions is completely illogical and ridiculous. If you pay taxes, if you add to the national economy, if you do anything that allows the U.S. government to pay its bills or function, you are implicitly supporting the actions of the U.S. government regardless of your objections. But, you say, "I'd go to jail if I did not pay taxes! I'd starve to death if I did not participate in the economy!". Same complaints that the residents of Iraq had when you pointed out that it was their own actions that enabled the rule of Saddam Hussein.

Case in point: The collapse of the Soviet Union. At the end, everybody stood around and said to themselves, "why should we work for and pay the Soviet government? Let us all go our own way." And the Soviet Union ceased to exist simply because everybody decided it no longer had any reason to exist and did not pay taxes to it, would not work for it, and utterly ignored its whims and dictates. Gorbachev was rattling around in an empty palace for weeks looking for someone to take his orders before he finally admitted that the Soviet Union was dead and called Boris Yeltsin to formally offer his resignation as Premier and arrange for the divvying up of the State assets.

But of course we are too complacent, too insecure in our beliefs, too bought to do that here in the United States, and I count myself in that number. I do, after all, have multiple motorcycles and many other nice toys. I have been bought big-time. And so yes, I do bear responsibility for the actions of my government, regardless of whether I agree with those actions or not. This government has bought my consent with money, with intimidation, with any number of mechanisms where I willingly pay my taxes and participate in the national economy that allows this government to perform the actions that it performs. We are none of us innocent, except perhaps the children, or the shambling bums underneath the freeway underpasses with their caps held out for alms from passing motorists as they talk to their invisible friends. That is the sad truth that the "it's not my fault" brigade ignores when they object to a bad thing that the U.S. government has done. It is your fault. And my fault. And everybody's fault. Because we have the power to do to the United States what was done to the Soviet Union, and do not do so. Because, well... we're too bought. Too comfortable. Too complacent. And, dare I say... too scared?

-- Badtux the Bought Penguin