Emailing the other day, a friend happened to drop a great phrase: “whoever, or whatever, is masquerading as Uncle Sam” (unstated but implied was “at the moment”).<\/p>\n
I thought, now there’s a phrase with the power to wake some sleepy folks.<\/p>\n
We like to go on about the capital-F Founders. Some people talk as if America was their living, breathing gift to us. In a way, it was of course — the idea and the ideal. <\/p>\n
But the actual, practical thing those Founders bequeathed us was a mere corporate shell. A shell in the shape of a constitution and institutions. However good or ill the Famous Founders’ intentions, that shell could be — and has been — taken over. It was there; it was convenient. So it’s been taken and occupied like a hermit crab<\/a> takes over the empty shell of a sea snail.<\/p>\n Argue all day about the intentions of Hamilton vs Madison vs Jefferson vs whoever, the shell was created by a different species of creature than those who inhabit it now.<\/p>\n I’m mixing my metaphors, but you get the idea.<\/p>\n Sure, a lot of us know that the constitution itself is of no authority<\/a>. And Uncle Sam has long been a suspiciously militaristic<\/a> character. <\/p>\n But for friends of liberty who hold the nation and its symbols dear, the image of the constitution being used as a mere disguise, a convenience, a legitimizing “outfit” for powers that are altogether illegitimate … that could be a wake-up call. How easy it is for tyrants large and small to use institutions of authority to disguise what they really are. It might get some folks asking questions.<\/p>\n “Who are you and what have you done with Uncle Sam? Why are you wearing his clothing? Have you mugged him, you thug, and taken everything that should have been his — and ours?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Emailing the other day, a friend happened to drop a great phrase: “whoever, or whatever, is masquerading as Uncle Sam” (unstated but implied was “at the moment”). I thought, now there’s a phrase with the power to wake some sleepy folks. We like to go on about the capital-F Founders. Some people talk as if America was their living, breathing gift to us. In a way, it was of course — the idea and the ideal. But the actual, practical thing those Founders bequeathed us was a mere corporate shell. A shell in the shape of a constitution and institutions.…<\/p>\n