

Civil Disobsequiousness

          "How does it become a man to behave toward this American 
          government today?  I answer that he cannot without disgrace 
          be associated wuth it.  I cannot for an instant recognize that 
          political organization as my government which is the slaves' 
          government also."     -Thoreau, Civil Disobedience

          "Cold and hunger seem more friendly to my nature than those 
          methods which men have adopted  and advise to ward them 
          off."    -Thoreau, Life without Principle

          "In accumulating property for ourselves or our posterity, in 
          founding a family or a state, or acquiring fame even, we are 
          mortal; but in dealing with truth we are immortal, and need 
          fear no change nor accident.    -Thoreau, Reading

It is October of 1996, and the major emphasis of the news and information 
channels is the presidential race between Dole and Clinton.  Do you know 
what hinges on that race?

Damned little.

Do you know what hinges on your personal pursuit of principle and morality 
that we practice and promote in our own lives?  The presidency of Clinton 
or Dole.

We talk about the truth, and then ignore it.  Was it true in 1776 that 
government only takes its strength from the consent of the governed?  Must 
government recognize that it only has the power that the people grant to it?  

No, the government does not need to recognize it.  The government is the 
power of the people, and it will do as it can, for good or bad, to govern.  It
will no longer govern when the people are ungovernable, and it will govern 
brilliantly without laws when the people are governed and lawful unto
themselves.

George Washington said, "That government governs best that governs
least."  Do we stop to question why?  Is it because government is bad?  No, 
it is because the will of the people expresses itself most powerfully against 
political government only when it is capable of self-government.  The 
government does not represent the abuse of the people from above; it 
represents the abuse of the people by themselves.

We are the responsible party.  

Can I be obedient?  Oh, yes!  Will I be obsequious?   Not on my life!  I will 
never render meekly what lesser powers demand, because they are not my 
powers.  It should never cross our minds to submit to the hand of evil, in any 
form, at any time.  

Noah Webster said that the two words are not synonymous: obsequious 
"often signifies yielding to the will or desires of such as have no right to 
control.  Servilely or meanly condescending."  He also said that "Obedience 
can be voluntary or involuntary.  Voluntary obedience alone can be 
acceptable to God."  

If you can't obey with your heart, you are not obeying God.  Why should we 
pride ourselves on being obsequious?  Perhaps it is time to find some better 
way to serve.   

Long live the republic!

Dave Delany
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