Baa, Baa, Baa-ad

When are people going to come to the realization that we're already living in anarchy? Without a definitively agreed upon source from which our rights emanate, there ceases to be a definitive measure of applied Truth. If there is no objective truth, and everything is subjectively relative, MIGHT and its corrollaries make "right." Some of the aspects of might would include volume and duration of an argument, or merely the degree of willingness to even engage in confrontation.

Routinely, aspects of our Bill of Rights are interpreted by those empowered in the front lines to enforce "laws." (police officers) If individual citizens are unwilling to challenge the judgment of an on-the-scene authority, rights are denied. The conventional "wisdom" that has become epidemic - "You can't fight city hall." - relieves an individual of the burden (hassle) of even trying. Apathy of the silent majority has finally reached its critical mass.

Care for a game of "chicken" with your liberty? If one perceives that one will be left hanging out to dry if one makes a stand for what one believes is objectively right, one cynically comes to the conclusion that acting on right reason is futile.

Everyone knows that one's Social Security card is "not to be used for purposes of identification." But everybody and his brother is likely to ask you for your social, "just to prevent mistaken identity." Most people succumb to the pressure, not wanting to go through the "hassle" or embarrassment of actually standing up for themselves and what they believe. Besides, they don't often contemplate what they indeed believe, or how these minute decisions erode freedom and set all of us up for the big fall. When I've told a doctor's receptionist that I don't give that number to anyone but employers, or those involved in keeping track of payments to the Social Security Administration, I usually get a roll of the eyes. Sometimes, they threaten that insurance clerks will not cooperate and ultimately the doctor and his office will not be able to serve me. Often, the individual takes my statement of noncompliance, no matter how polite my demeanor, as a personal affront. Playing the etiquette card of wounded inference sometimes bullies the sensitive individual, who does not wish to inadvertantly malign the integrity of the support staff, who frequently are considered so far beneath their physician employers. After all, unshredded records have NEVER been mined for information in dumpsters behind professional offices - or for that matter, ANY business who hops on the bandwagon of collecting a cross-referencing piece of information to ensure that funds in lieu of a potential bounced check can be tracked down.

Tacitly, we have been setting ourselves up gradually for acceptance of the national ID card for the past three decades and more. We think that we will righteously and stoutly refuse to "cross that line" when it comes. However, most won't even notice the line. It will have become too blurred by then. If I fear the inconvenience of not being "served" by one provider, can you not imagine the pressure to conform, when all of society will relegate me as a consumer nonentity for refusing the mark in a cashless one-world market? Don't you think it's past time you started exercising your assertive muscles lest you find yourself flabby on the day of your Test?

Rationalizations that one is not a SSN virgin - "I've already provided it to my university, health and auto insurance companies, bureau of driver licenses ," etc. etc. etc. - will conspire to seduce you into conformity. Not to worry, sheeple. You can always alter your bleating, "Four legs good, two legs bad," after the pigs begin to walk on their hind legs.

Perhaps, we should just say no to filing on April 15. Our alleged Representatives knew better than We, The People, when voting to accept stimulating bailout porkulus. Congress apparently thinks funding the budget is solely within its ruling elite power. Why wait to vote the bums out who misrepresented us and our future generations? Take a cue from Cabinet appointees and do the defunding at its source. Occasionally, one has to crawl down a rabbit hole to go to a Tea Party.