After reading the Declaration of Independence in Grade School, a certain section of the document stuck in my head for some reason, and has managed to stay with me even to this day. Let me share that portion with you now…
“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”
These words carry a bold and amazingly dangerous truth, and although we believe that it speaks to the tyranny of oppressive and corrupt political systems, it is actually true of any form of power or assumed authority that dictates some act or action over the will of the individual, the group or the people without their informed consent.
For example, for the last 30 years I’ve watched as an anti-smoking campaign took over America one state at a time quite subtlety, and under the façade of “fatherly” admonishment and gentle, loving correction. The powers that be, had advertised the need to eliminate the filthy habits of “evil smokers” and that by restricting, regulating and eliminating this “sinful behavior” all would benefit, smokers and non-smokers alike. Of course, the biggest selling point was that it would save the lives of countless thousands of innocents - the children.
It was, and is still, a brilliant, slick Madison Avenue campaign that garnered the support of all “good people” alike. After all, who in their right mind would ever say “Let the children die of second hand smoke?????” Sadly, this exercise in fatherly admonition was and is so effective and so profoundly alluring that the exact same formula has been used on many, many occasions, and applied by way of accusation to any number of additional “sinful behaviors” attributed to the people. I think the most astonishing aspect of this slick process of accusation of sinfulness is the frenzied and adamant belief by most people that we, the people, are actually the authors of this pronounced “goodness.” We actually believe that it was birthed from our own thoughts and as a result of our own unique ideals rather than it having been placed there through manipulated suggestion. And believe me, I’m not pointing fingers here – I am just as guilty as the next guy in promoting this form of manufactured “goodness.”
