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Freedom is dying. Be of good cheer.

We’ve been watching freedom be throttled, stomped, and shoved off a cliff for most of our lifetimes.

I hardly need mention that the downward plunge has accelerated in the last year and especially the last few weeks.

The murder of freedom has been a boon for oligarchs, plutocrats, useful idiots, fans of Marx and Gramsci, co-opters of the name of Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, and thousands of pathetic over-schooled conformist nobodies in online mobs who could never gain so much power over others through brains or hard work (who are currently enjoying their brief ascendency, not realizing the Jacobins will eventually come for their heads, too).

The acceleration has been good for prepping and suppliers of storage products, pundits predicting civil war, gun dealers, and myriad others who might benefit from doomsday. It’s even benefited The Living Freedom Forums, whose newest members are often driven to join by deepening dread.

Two things it most notably hasn’t been good for are freedom itself — down there nearing the bottom of that abyssally deep canyon — and the morale of we who love and understand liberty.

—–

But I am here to urge you to be of good cheer.

I say this not as some Pollyanna, some ever-sunny optimist. Quite the opposite. You who’ve been around a while know I’m a born pessimist, a made cynic, and as likely as anybody else to cry, “We’re dooooooooooooomed!”

Nor am I some eejit who imagines we can be free if we just ignore all the unfreedom around us.

I am merely a person who has learned from long, sometimes hard, life experience, that it’s best to acknowledge potential doom — then kick it out of the space it likes to occupy in our heads. Not in order to make us feel better, but to make us DO better.

Again, if you’ve been around you know that drill.

For those who haven’t been around for years, let me tell you about Loxosceles_Reclusa. Not the brown recluse spider, but perhaps the worst advocate for freedom who ever lived on the ‘Net.

Lox_Rex, let’s call him, deeply, truly, desperately wanted to be free. That’s why he joined the old Claire Files Forums (full of advocates for building individual freedom in this unfree world), way back when.

So he claimed.

But he absolutely couldn’t become free, you see, because he faced one insurmountable barrier.

I’ll get to the barrier in a moment, but first let me tell you how that (then very active, now defunct) board of freedom seekers responded. Naturally when Lox_Rex first appeared others rushed to help him find his way toward freedom. They were more than willing to aid, advise, encourage, and support poor Lox’s aim to freedom. And he was so sad and miserable. Surely he needed all the uplift, useful information, and encouragement we could give.

But “poor” Lox sucked up everything we had to offer, then spat it back out. None of it applied to him. He told us a thousand reasons why all our ideas and experiences were worthless. We were blind and insensitive to the depths of his plight. Nobody had ever been as unfortunate as he. Nobody had ever been as helpless as he. No one had ever been as depressed, as oppressed, as mistreated, as ugly, as inept, as trapped, as misery-laden as he.

No one had ever suffered as much as he suffered; therefore no one could possibly give him useful advice or encouragement because we were all so much luckier, healthier, wealthier, and more fortunate in every way than he. It didn’t matter if a forum member offering encouragement was suffering from cancer or missing a limb or jobless or living in his car or had lost half her family in the Holocaust; no one, anywhere, ever, could understand the depth of suffering enjoyed by Lox_Rex.

And he did enjoy it, of course. Relished it. Wallowed in it.

But that wasn’t the barrier to his freedom.

In his perception, the one insurmountable barrier to his freedom was this: His mother and father (who he resented and hated to the pit of his soul) had not yet died and left him the $300,000 he was entitled to. Worse, they sometimes threatened not to leave it to him at all.

I’ll pause a moment so you can weep for the poor man’s heart-rending tragedy.

—–

Oh, and while we’re all wiping our eyes and blowing our noses, here’s a picture of the only inheritance I ever received. My last grandparent died when I was 10 nine and I got this:

It’s a jam jar. In the shape of a strawberry. Later, when I was a teenager, I stole my dead grandfather’s ring from Mom’s jewelry box, adding to my vast inherited wealth. The ring might even have some gold in it.

You can imagine how much mourning and weeping I did for poor, poor unfortunate Lox.

I’m not complaining. I’ve had a good life and many benefactors. Not being beholden to my family is one of the best things that ever happened to me. Still, when I see my jam jar, I do tend to remember “poor” entitled Lox and how he could absolutely NEVER be free until he was suddenly made rich.

—–

All this came to mind because I recently had an encounter with another person having trouble moving forward in personal freedom. Let me hasten to say I don’t think this person was anywhere near being Lox_Rex reborn. More likely he was just feeling stuck because of a recent downturn in his life. I expect he’ll eventually find his way out of it. Money was also a sticking point for him; he made a decent living but somehow could never marshal all the resources he’d need to build the homestead he dreamed of.

But he was also stuck by attitude. He knew every bit of bad news pouring out of the media. He observed many, many efforts for freedom that didn’t work. And he was dwelling on them.

Yeah, sometimes it’s hard not to dwell on them. Sometimes don’t we all dwell on them?

But that’s a trap. We should know as much about bad news and failures of “our side” as we need to evaluate our situation and act intelligently. But we tend to allow these evils and failures to squat in our heads and take over ownership of our thoughts.

And that’s where we doom ourselves to unfreedom. “We’re doooooooooooooomed” becomes not a wail of despair, but a state of mind that crowds out all counterarguments and therefore all possibility of improving our personal lot or mounting an effective opposition to the enemies of freedom.

—–

One way my recent correspondent did appear to be just a little a bit like Lox was that he seemed to think he’d need to have the resources to do everything at once if he were ever going to have that homestead — shelter, infrastructure, fencing, everything.

I may be misinterpreting here, but that’s what I saw in his phrasing when he wrote of what he couldn’t do. And even if I’m misrepresenting him (and if so, I apologize), the belief that we must have have all or we have nothing is a common misconception — especially now when the forces of unfreedom are moving so rapidly.

But just as “the perfect is the enemy of the good,” “all or nothing” is an enemy of progress toward freedom.

All or nothing comes up in a more terrifying way, too: Since winning freedom through elections or public protests has failed us, there is no other alternative — not one! — other than to take up arms.

That’s not me talking; but that’s definitely what a lot of despairing people are saying, these days.

That attitude makes me shudder. It’s wrong. It’s far, far more dangerous than the holders of the view seem to realize. And it’s so freaking short sighted when we have examples of tyranny falling non-violently within our very own memory. The fall of the Berlin Wall. The freeing of the Iron Curtain countries. Estonia’s marvelous Singing Revolution. Even China, though not exactly a beacon of freedom, went straight from the horrors of Mao to a roaring market economy — without even bothering to change its “Communist” label.

Tyranny can do unthinkable damage. But the one thing it cannot do is sustain itself. Or keep hearts and minds captive forever.

Yes, we are now headed into totalitarian rule — without even bothering to change our “freedom” and “democracy” labels. But that road has a lot of twists, turns, and branches. Many things can happen. Nothing is inevitable. We have an American history and awesome historic documents as guidance — which no other country does. Even some negative things may be good medicine against would-be tyrants. For instance, our economy is already so wrecked and wretched that leftist utopians will likely create hyperinflation before they’ll create whatever sort of malignant paradise they think they’re aiming for.

Yes, it’s looking like really, really bad times, up to and possibly including cultural revolution ala Mao, actual revolution ala Robespierre, or civil war ala … well, you know. Taking up arms at some point isn’t inconceivable. It may one day be necessary. But it’s not to be desired. And certainly not to be presented as our only “all or nothing” option. If we think that way, we’re going to lose.

Our best hope of either averting or surviving those times lies in refusing to allow doom to squat forever in our brains. The best hope for freedom lies in incrementally moving toward it, both in our own lives and practices and in our strategic thinking.

All-or-nothing beliefs destroy progress. Fear is a tyrant’s most potent weapon.

Cool determination to move toward freedom is ours.

Be of good cheer. We may go through hell, but we have something worth coming out the other side for. The enemies of freedom have nothing but sputtering rage and destruction.

34 Comments

  1. Comrade X
    Comrade X March 2, 2021 1:34 pm

    If we can’t find freedom between our ears how can we expect to find it anywhere else?

    Ever made jam for your neat jam holder?

  2. Claire
    Claire March 2, 2021 1:40 pm

    Absolutely, Comrade X. Freedom lies between the ears.

    And yes, I’ve made jam and apple butter and chutneys for my jar. I love that little thing. My grandma was a sweet, kind lady and very big on working in her kitchen. I love remembering her.

  3. Steve
    Steve March 2, 2021 1:48 pm

    I always like Churchill’s comment that if you’re going through hell, keep going.

  4. Myself
    Myself March 2, 2021 2:39 pm

    I remember Lox, I remember him claiming he couldn’t move because he “needed” a Barrett .50 cal rifle, he listed a impressive number of firearms he did own, I did some research and found several good pieces of land in the west, none would get to cold, I suggested he sell off some of his guns, trade in his car and get an RV then just buy some land and move.

    He had every reason he couldn’t do that, including waiting for Gadot, er, I mean his inheritance.
    I recall when I got fed up with him, after one of his poor me, no one likes me posts, so I replied, “everybody hates me, no body loves me, I’m going to sit in a garbage can and eat worms!”

    He blocked me after that, like they say, it was like the trash took itself out.

    Yes, the all or nothing view is extremely detrimental to freedom, and on the same token, so is the belief that you have to get other people on your side (or eliminate those on the “other” side) That road leads to destruction, live and let live

  5. Claire
    Claire March 2, 2021 2:53 pm

    Myself — “I remember Lox, I remember him claiming he couldn’t move because he “needed” a Barrett .50 cal rifle,”

    OMG, I’d forgotten that. But yes, that was Lox all over. And I’ll bet that, even if he did eventually get that $300,000 inheritance, he’s still out there doing the equivalent of sitting in a garbage can eating worms — and coming up with a raft of new reasons why he “can’t” be free. It’s what he loved to do.

    —–

    Steve — Leave it to Winston Churchill to say what I’m trying to say, but say it a whole lot better than I did.

    (But of course we can’t quote Churchill now because instead of being the great inspirational leader who saved England from the Nazis he’s … well, he must have said a bad word once or inherited a 19th-century attitude toward people of color. But anyway, if the Twitterati ever discover his name here, we’ll all be in big trouble. 😉 )

  6. John Wilder
    John Wilder March 2, 2021 8:26 pm

    Bravo! People are happy or they’re not. The engine blew on my pickup truck today. 124,000 miles.

    Cry? Nope. Sad? Nope. Mildly irritated. Life is like that.

    Bad things in life will happen. What we control is our attitude. So why not have a good one?

  7. Toirdhealbheach Beucail
    Toirdhealbheach Beucail March 2, 2021 9:01 pm

    “We’re dooooooooooooomed!”. This pleases and amuses me. I will use it more in conversation.

    Your description of Lox_Rex reminds me of a character in C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce, who was constantly coming up with reasons that he could not change. It was only when he committed himself to the change, no matter what the consequences, that he was finally transformed.

    Freedom starts within ourselves and our minds (the one thing, maybe, I remember from Viktor Frankl). The other thing is that any methodology we use to make ourselves even infinitesimally less dependent on anyone is a step in that direction. I make all my own yogurt now. Will that change the course of history? Probably not – although “The Yogurt Maker That Changed History” does have a certain ring to it. Does it make me free from the fact that I am good to go in the event of a catastrophic yogurt shortage? Yes.

    We do have better documents than most, and we also have the fact that we are a very large country and policing all of it will be pretty difficult. Also, to paraphrase Princess Leia to Governor Tarkin in Star Wars, the tighter the grip becomes, the more people will slip from their grasp.

    It also demonstrates that tyrannies need something to run on – like anything else, money and resources are the blood that fuels them. Denying them that in any small way, nonviolently, will eventually break the system. Very seldom does violence accomplish what its originators think it will, and to quote the Eurypontid Spartan King Agis at the start of the Peloponnesian War, “If we begin the war in haste, we’ll have many delays before we end it, owing to our lack of preparation”.

    I am often sad but not depressed. In some ways, the lunacy of what is attempting to be initiated is now on full display for the world to see. It is already being revealed for what it really is.

  8. E. Garrett Perry
    E. Garrett Perry March 3, 2021 1:05 am

    Oh Death And Taxes, I remember Lox. The entitlement just -poured- off that guy, you could actually smell it through the internet. I also remember his rants, unhinged polemics really, against any and all recreational uses of any drug stronger than triple-distilled water. Honestly it seemed to me that not only did he enjoy his misery in a perverse way, he seemed to be actively trying to spread it, and to have an active grudge against anybody who tried to alleviate their own suffering. He made me think of that dreadful prat Bernard de Claireveaux, if you’d fed the bugger a handful of Quaaludes and Ex-Lax.

    I think that’s one of the biggest problems the “freedom” movement has, honestly, though there are bigger ones: so many people are SO angry, and SO depressed, and SO “out there” with the conspiratorial thinking (sometimes concerning society or politics, and sometimes their own personal misfortunes), and so very VERY prone to blowing their stacks at anyone who doesn’t share their rage and depression. It’s off-putting as hell, and a major reason why I’ve all but left the movement over the past five years.

    As for Churchill…my feelings and thoughts on old Winston are conflicted. He was a great leader and morale-booster for the Brits, and his decisions about how to handle Tube Alloys and Lord Woolton’s rationing scheme were right on the money. But his handling of the Bengali Famine is, at best, questionable; especially given the history of the Crown’s use of enforced famines as a tool to destroy independence movements in their Empire. And much as I love the FAL, he set western firearms and cartridge development back by forty years when he strong-armed the MoD into ditching the EM-2/.280 in favor of the L1A1/7.62×51.

  9. Jeff2
    Jeff2 March 3, 2021 4:10 am

    I have been prepping for a long time. I haven’t been nearly as awake as I would like to have been, but that is changing. One thing I note is that for now, 99.9% of the bad news in the world doesn’t affect me directly. I am slowly learning to give it the .01% attention that it is due, and NO MORE. As rules are instituted against my freedom, I tolorate those that are tolarable and break those that are not. I am sure that at some point it will get me in trouble with the tyrants, but for the most part, they seem to be content to just make my life difficult by using others for their bidding.

    My soul is at peace, in that I have done my best on the rightous path and will continue as such until this incarnation terminates.

    Peace All!

    Jeff2

  10. kentmcmanigal
    kentmcmanigal March 3, 2021 8:47 am

    I was just talking to someone this morning who was concerned with some new government scheme. My response was that it would be interesting to see what they (try to) do. I’ve started looking at this as exciting new opportunities to express my outlawry.

  11. larryarnold
    larryarnold March 3, 2021 5:16 pm

    There is at least one ray of hope. The progressives who want to “remake” the U.S. are themselves in the grip of “We’re Dooooommed!”

    I mean, in the 2020 election they kept control of the House and Senate, and took the White House, and it pissed them off.

    IMHO, President Biden is going to fulfill his promise to unify the country. If he keeps prosecuting people who voted against him, and shafting people who voted for them, he’s going to end up with more unity than he could handle.

    For example, since you mentioned Winston, I note that Dr. Seuss is in good company.

  12. Claire
    Claire March 4, 2021 9:48 am

    “I note that Dr. Seuss is in good company.”

    I hope parents, lovers of great children’s literature, and sensible people everywhere are as furious as I am.

    When I heard that my favorite Dr. Seuss book (and indeed one of my favorite books of all time), On Beyond Zebra, was getting the axe, I was as astonished as I was heartbroken. I immediately tried to buy a new copy to preserve beside my tattered and faded one, but all the murdered Seuss titles went instantly to $200-$1,000.

    So I pulled down my beloved copy and searched through it for whatever offended the mob. I know Dr. Seuss was a man of his time and sometimes drew “Chinamen” or “natives” with grass skirts and bones in their noses (un-PC, but certainly small offenses for a man who remade children’s literature and wrote and drew like no one else on earth). I paged through Zebra twice. No “Chinamen.” No “natives.” The most damning thing I found was what might have been a caricature of a Middle Easterner. But for heaven’s sake, it was a grandee named the Nazzim of Bazzim — hardly demeaning.

    And most of the rest of the characters (other than the little boys at the center of the story) aren’t even human.

    The whole business of censoring books is an outrage, and censoring Dr. Seuss is appallingly sad (even, or perhaps especially, because it was done in this case by the people who own the rights to his works). But On Beyond Zebra is a wondrous work of creativity that teaches kids (and certainly taught my young self) to think beyond everyday reality. To try to rid the world of such a creative, inspirational marvel just because of … I don’t know what, some incidental drawing that might or might not mimic an Arab or a Persian? … is a real crime against both literature and the creative spirit.

    Sorry to rant, but this travesty is PERSONAL.

    Let the Dr. Seuss samizdat arise and thrive!

  13. Joel
    Joel March 4, 2021 10:15 am

    😀 Oh, I haven’t thought of Lox in YEARS! Good times.

    I love this post, Claire. And Lox might have been of some indirect use in spite of himself – right around the time he hit Peak Lox and everybody started dumping on him, I was steeling myself to make a big move despite being comically without the necessary resources. And I remember thinking at the time, “Well, I can do better than THAT…”

  14. Claire
    Claire March 4, 2021 11:05 am

    Yes. And you are a perfect example of how excruciatingly wrong all-or-nothing thinking is, Joel.

    You found freedom when you had absolutely nothing — and for readers who think I’m exaggerating, I really do mean Joel had nothing — except gumption and friends and a willingness to work hard, suffer, and be a good neighbor.

    Lox may have been a ridiculous example of people who find excuses for why they “can’t” be free. But Joel, you’re a perfect example of what it really takes to forge ahead on guts alone and find not only freedom, but surprising contentment.

  15. Comrade X
    Comrade X March 4, 2021 1:17 pm

    This is related for sure but WARNING!! WARNING!! you won’t be able to get it out of your head!

  16. Myself
    Myself March 4, 2021 1:27 pm

    The fact that it is the keepers of Theodor Geisel’s (AKA Dr. Seuss) legacy that are withdrawing six books, is indeed heart wrenching, and highly reminiscent of the late photographer Irving Klaw*, who in the late 50’s, destroyed most of his own work, not because he didn’t like it, but because he feared a government crackdown on “indecent” images.

    It is also very similar to Muslim families destroying cultural artifacts after 9/11 also fearing a government crackdown.

    Also think of all of the above whenever you hear about “common sense” gun registration.

    *For those who don’t know, Irving Klaw was the photographer who made Bettie Page famous, the work he destroyed was mostly his fetish pictures of Page and other models, yes a few survived, but he destroyed most, those that survived were mostly hidden by his boyfriend and his sister (both of whom worked with Klaw)

    and while it’s a bit off the subject, but if you’re a man who pitches a tent thinking of a woman with cropped bangs (or a woman who gets slicky FTM) lift a shot of your finest to Irving Klaw, (and spare a thought for Theodor Geise as well)

  17. Claire
    Claire March 4, 2021 2:52 pm

    Bettie Page and Irving Klaw

    https://www.bettiepagethebook.com/

    —–

    I spent a little time this morning trying to find out just who Dr. Seuss Enterprises is. I kept getting channeled either to news stories about the six-book cancellation or to sites belonging to Penguin/Random House. Even the infamous and disgusting statement supposedly published by DSE appears on and is copyrighted by a site owned by the publisher.

    https://www.seussville.com/statement-from-dr-seuss-enterprises/

    While I didn’t exactly dig like an investigative reporter, I didn’t find any web presence for DSE or any listing of who the individuals behind this travesty are. I realize that, if Geisel legitimately handed his works over to these mob-following cretins, they have a right to “disappear” all of them that they wish to disappear (and it’s clear from their statement that they have plans for more). But given how they’re denigrating and abusing the man’s legacy, I hope his relatives or other legal representatives of his estate do everything they can to depose them from their power.

    I think we who love books should at least be able to know who they are, where to contact them directly, and how they came to hold such power over the works of a brilliant creator whose feet they aren’t fit to wash.

    ETA: I did find one name: Susan Brandt. https://www.forbes.com/sites/cherylrobinson/2019/09/19/how-the-president-of-dr-seuss-enterprises-preserves-the-legacy-of-ted-geisel/ . But it’s in a puff piece from a couple of years ago with little solid info.

  18. Ron Johnson
    Ron Johnson March 5, 2021 4:24 am

    I loved the story of the Estonian Singing Revolution. It reminds me of another act of defiance I read about in which an eastern European country (don’t remember which) was subject to obvious government propaganda during the evening news broadcast. The response was that the people would take that hour to go for walks. An entire nation going for walks at the same time! Drove the government nuts.

    Yes, we lack freedom, but even more we lack creativity.

    I will not live to see libertarian freedom in my time. Humanity may never see it. But it is a beautiful idea that deserves to be kept alive. I’m happy to do my part. I know I already have sparked an interest among the next generation, so my legacy will outlive me.

    Biden and his cronies (or perhaps it’s “the Cronies and their Biden”) are in the process of creating a backlash that they cannot imagine. I remember the mental depression that we went through with the loss in Vietnam, inflation, recession, energy crisis, Jimmy Carter wearing a Mr. Rogers sweater and hectoring everyone to turn down their thermostats in the new land-of-not-enough. And then came Reagan. Whatever bad Reagan did (and he did plenty) his election was a rejection of the defeatist mentality. His “City on the Hill” imagery changed the mood of the country overnight. The rhetoric was freedom, small government, individual responsibility (the reality was a bit different). I can see that happening again…with vengence…if the current crop of elitists continue with their attempts to control everything. The Democratic Left may have already destroyed their future, they just don’t know it yet.

  19. Mike in Canada
    Mike in Canada March 5, 2021 5:13 am

    I only recently heard of Lox, but I am reminded of a sign I once saw:
    If you cannot find it in yourself to set an example,
    You can always serve as a warning.

    Many people sacrifice themselves to provide warnings to the rest of us. They will be missed, a bit.

    Thank you for the column, Ms Wolfe. Always a pleasure to read your thoughts.

  20. James
    James March 5, 2021 5:22 am

    ” … my favorite Dr. Seuss book (and indeed one of my favorite books of all time), On Beyond Zebra … ”

    Hadn’t thought about that one in some time. I read that to my kids so many times, I didn’t need to look at the book. Digging into my memory, a lot of it’s still there:

    “Said Conrad Cornelius O’Donald O’Dell,
    My very young friend who was learning to spell,
    ‘The A is for Ape and the B is for Bear,
    The C is for Camel and the H is for Hare.
    The M is for Mouse and the R is for Rat,
    I know all the twenty-six letters like that
    Through to Z is for Zebra. I know them all well,’
    Said Conrad Cornelius O’Donald O’Dell.
    ‘So now I know everything anyone knows
    From beginning to end, from the start to the close,
    Because Z is as far as the alphabet goes!’

    Then he nearly fell flat on his face on the floor
    When I picked up the chalk and drew one letter more:
    A letter he never had dreamed of before!
    And I said, ‘You can stop, if you want, with the Z,
    Because Z is as far as most people go.
    BUT NOT ME!”

    That second-to-last line is wrong, I think, because the meter doesn’t scan; and I’m pretty much at memory’s end now (although I know that first new letter was Yuzz, which the narrator needed to spell Yuzz-a-ma-tuzz. But considering that my kids will be 41 and 36 this year, I think we can see how memorable verse can be. Maybe the ancients knew what they were doing, when they took the lore that they thought was important enough to pass down and set it in verse.

    I apologize from the digression from your main point. I can only plead that my “On Beyond Zebra” trigger got tripped.

  21. jsto
    jsto March 5, 2021 7:00 am

    Poor ‘Lox. However, as someone who is often labeled “a dreamer”, I can relate somewhat. When I started dating my wife, she took me to her family’s cabin in the mountains and I became obsessed about moving there. I still am, but through a much better attitude. For years, I was unsettled, constantly envisioning how it could work and my demeanor reflected my frustration. It seemed to me that we must move in order to be working towards the freedom I sought.

    I had to let that obsession go.

    It will happen in time. It’s a goal to work towards, not force. In the meantime, I’m doing basic prep work here in the ‘burbs. My in-laws eventually sold the cabin. While that was difficult news, it allowed us to completely reshape our goals and talk about the things we want instead of what we’d be allowed to do.

    My attitude adjustment was everything. That, and I fish a lot.

  22. Rick
    Rick March 5, 2021 12:58 pm

    @E. Garrett Perry

    Don’t forget Churchill’s role in engaging in state terror in Ireland in the 1920s.

  23. Len Savage
    Len Savage March 6, 2021 5:17 am

    Claire,

    Wonderful article!

    Needed as well (even I need a kick in the pants every now and then). I’m so with you in that it’s about marching onward and working the problem.

    We (meaning the builders, the makers, the writers, the thinkers) can invent far faster than ,gov can regulate. They know that its an immutable fact.

    Do they really want to see innovation? Outlaw a gun I’ll build a flamethrower. Outlaw a flame thrower I will build a cannon filled with grape shot. Just think of the ghastly little devices that can be built from a microwave…

    We the people decide to revoke consent and they are royally …ahem…rhymes with “Cucked”!

    Seen the corruption up close in more federal cases than I care to think about…

    I compare the corruption to be like rails under a train slowly eroding and the train is large and you see the engine has hit something and gone off the rails and you know that the abrupt stop is going to happen as all that energy transfers through the system towards you…

    Do you jump? Do you strap yourself in? Do you secure loose objects in your train car?

    Doomed? No. Do our options suck? Yes. Does making the right decision have an impact? You betcha.

    Sooner this train stops the better. It’s going to be bumpy, but it will stop.

    Len Savage,

    Stopper of long trains of abuses

  24. JoseyW
    JoseyW March 6, 2021 7:32 am

    Spot on! I’ve invested in the miracle side of life where planting a microscopic seed becomes a towering plant or vine with a little nurturing. Seeds can be planted literally or metaphorically.
    The world can be seen as a fiction and the banning of Dr. Seuss just showcases how silly they are. Oh, the irony! The pretender in chief plays the part of “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” and medically speaking the World Health Organization lives it it’s own WHOville.

  25. larryarnold
    larryarnold March 6, 2021 5:26 pm

    I immediately tried to buy a new copy to preserve beside my tattered and faded one, but all the murdered Seuss titles went instantly to $200-$1,000.

    Only the progressive left could create a black market out of Dr. Seuss. MS-13 and the other drug lords are probably setting up printing presses as we blog.

  26. An Old Friend
    An Old Friend March 7, 2021 7:47 am

    It is only in the last couple of years that I’ve gotten ahold of freedom in my soul. I don’t have a “poor me” mentality any more, even though I became disabled due to series of serious illnesses, including an incurable cancer. While I was very sick and could hardly move, I was down, down, down. I finally yanked myself up by my proverbial bootstraps and gave myself a good talking to! Misery loves company and I had become miserable. So yucky!! I’ve even gotten to the point where I can “embrace pain” rather than fight against it. The pain shall not rule over me. I guess it takes a certain kind of stubborn Scots-Irish to live that out. I will more than likely inherit nothing, zip, nada, and I’ve learned to live on less, way less, but plenty in my mind because I am FREE. I feel fortunate and grateful for the Lord’s provision – He is my Rock.

    In digging my way out of the pit of despair, I found it necessary to practice rejecting the negative tapes that were playing in my head. They were all consuming. Sometimes I even shouted out loud “Get thee behind me Satan!!” I practiced and practiced replacing negativity with goodness. Even now I ask myself in the morning, “What good things shall I do today?” rather than recounting the sadness that used to be a part of me.

    It’s not all sunshine and roses. Occasionally I slip back into believing the great lie – that I am worthless. It helps to call it a lie and reject it thoroughly, even though I’m tempted to wallow in the mud puddle until I’m thoroughly covered in gunk. I envision myself jumping into a shower and rinsing all the sadness off, the life I thought was robbed from me. My new life that was born of some tragedies is actually much better than the old life!! Imagine that. Getting stuck happens. I think of it as being on an elevator that gets stuck between floors, but finally the repair guy gets it working, and you get to walk out the doors – FREE.

    All to say, IT IS POSSIBLE TO BE FREE NO MATTER THE CIRCUMSTANCES. And as Claire is famous for: Living Freedom.

  27. Claire
    Claire March 7, 2021 10:51 am

    Oh, dear Old Friend I’ve never met — I’m so sorry to learn of your sufferings, especially the cancer. Yet what a beautiful, inspiring message you’ve given us all, and what a journey you’ve taken. I like your imagery of the shower.

    I wish you the best, wherever your journey takes you.

  28. How to 'Enjoy the Decline' of America
    How to 'Enjoy the Decline' of America March 19, 2021 4:28 pm

    […] her essay entitled "Freedom is dying. Be of good cheer," professional curmudgeon Claire Wolfe mentions one despairing individual (let's call him Charlie) […]

  29. copium_detector
    copium_detector March 19, 2021 5:47 pm

    All garbage platitudes all the time. That guy was probably right and this is the biggest pile of cope I’ve seen today.

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