If you live in a “democracy” where everyone routinely votes to censor and imprison one another, you still live in a police state. [More]
I don’t initiate force and consider myself the most peaceable of men, but every time I hear some stupid Republican politician use the term “our democracy,” I envision grabbing him by the lapels and head-butting some sense into his face.
[Via Michael G]
They’ve essentially limited the use of the word “republic” to the point where it is becoming obsolete. Many Americans who should know better are not only unable to tell you the difference between a “republic” and a “democracy”
‘ “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten. Already, in the Eleventh Edition, we’re not far from that point. But the process will still be continuing long after you and I are dead. Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller. Even now, there’s no reason or excuse for committing thoughtcrime. It’s merely a question of self-discipline, reality-control. The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect. Newspeak is Ingsoc and Ingsoc is Newspeak,” he added with a sort of mystical satisfaction. ‘
— George Orwell, 1984
1984 was intended to be a cautionary tale, not an instruction manual.
“1984 was intended to be a cautionary tale, not an instruction manual.’
The same could and has been said about Mike Vanderboegh’s “Absolved.”
https://github.com/billstclair/absolved
http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2009/10/absolved-introduction.html
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The Unintended Inspiration
Books are most often dedicated to the one person, or persons, who made the project possible – to those who inspired and informed the author. This book has a forward thanking all the folks who have assisted me in my project, among these my long-suffering wife Rosey, my kids, other gunnies and fellow workers in the thankless task of trying to restore our tottering constitutional republic.
But I think it is appropriate to dedicate Absolved to “Waco Jim” Cavanaugh and Agent Jody Keeku of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the twin unintended inspirations for all my recent work. For the coterie of my Internet friends, neither needs an introduction. For the rest of you, the very moniker of “Waco Jim” should tell you the larger portion of his sins. Keeku was the principal agent of David Olofson’s frame-up and imprisonment. Whether my novel is a prescient glimpse into a bloody future or a “useful dire warning” that is heeded, is entirely up to the likes of them and to the corrupt politicians who hold their leashes.
It is they who, by their conduct, will absolve us of the necessity of any further obedience to an oppressive regime. As I point out in Absolved, if the law no longer protects us, then they will find to their sorrow that it no longer protects them either. The choice is theirs. So I dedicate Absolved to them and their thuggish fellow gang members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. As Ho Chi Minh once observed, “Cherish your enemies, they teach you the best lessons.”
I hope they understand that before it is too late.
If not, there is always Aunt Jenny Brooks’ soap dish.
Believe me, you mess with Winston County, Alabama, at your own peril.
Mike Vanderboegh
Pinson, AL
20 October 2009