By Dennis Linthicum
November 8, 2023
Last weekend I spoke in Ashland, Oregon at a wonderful event with several hundred Oregon Federation of Republican Women. During my presentation, one person asked a fantastic question, “Who are ‘they’?” To provide context, I was not addressing the confusion about modern pronoun usage.
I had said, “They are unhinged!” Now this territory is part of my accustomed soapbox. I routinely write about so-called conspiracy theories and I often bash “them thar bad guys” referring to them as, “they and them.” At the time, I didn’t have a succinct answer and thought I could do better.
Today, I will try to answer, “Who are ‘they’ and what is our disagreement?”
In general, “they” are those opposed to Liberty. They are deep-state malcontents amassing power by stripping authority and wealth from the citizenry. They are typically elites and the super wealthy using their enormous influence to steer public policy toward their own enrichment. They sway public leaders and legislators to do their bidding by using emotional stories.
As I mentioned in my last newsletter, false assumptions, incorrect or mis-understood data and faulty reasoning will lead people down the wrong track. Concentrations of power, in public or private hands, based on faulty views or corrupt ideas have led to vast expansions in state power. This usurpation of power eventually alienates segments of society and culture.
This is why the song, “Rich Men North of Richmond” was such a success. Oliver Anthony says what we know to be true. He identifies inflation, the lack of accountability, the imprudent uses of taxpayer dollars and needlessly high taxation. Things that the folks in DC (and Salem) can’t seem to understand.
Those desiring more state power and control, statists, do so because the state is the single entity authorized to use force and coercion to get what it wants. Our government ends up elevating those who have neither wisdom, character, nor the right to be our guardians. These bureaucrats become the watchers, directors, chairs, commanders, regulators, accusers, fact-checkers, estimators, evaluators, censors and preachers over everyone else.
This constant and unrelenting pressure from a nameless bureaucracy creates dissent, tension and distrust, leading to an unstable environment. Governments exert their power to foster grievances, whether real or imagined, further fraying the fabric of society.
This instability can fester in race relations, educational disparities or shortages, and is easily seen in the economy. In Oregon, we can see market damage happening daily. We see it in prices and availability for housing, food, fuel, police protection, healthcare, and education. Most families, citizens and even foreign-born aliens, view themselves as incapable of solving these problems because they have been usurped by the state and are, therefore, beyond the reach of local and community control.
The enormity of the global COVID-19 fraud is a prime example.
It started with fear-mongering based upon entirely unrealistic estimates of worldwide death. There was gross data manipulation and re-writing of the rules. The instructions for your County Coroner’s completion of Death Certificates were altered only for COVID-19; formerly acceptable medical protocols were denied; proven pandemic policies were jettisoned.
The massive Leftwing media machine raced to show inflated death statistics changing by the hour. The CDC, NIH, CIA, FBI, and DOJ issued directives to promote centralized, universal healthcare models regardless of health, age, susceptibility or co-morbidities.
Small businesses were needlessly closed while those with influence, the big-box stores and online giants, were happily picking up the customers and, thereby, sweeping small-main-street businesses off the map. This destruction was orchestrated by shamelessly corrupt individuals around the world using the “color of law” to declare war on the non-compliant while amassing absolute authority.
The free-market is loathed by statists from both major parties, Democrats and Republicans. The recent vote for Jim Jordan as Speaker was controversial because he represented a credible threat to the exponential growth of the bloated bureaucracy. The bureaucracy which desires to both set the standard and enforce the standard. This is precisely why we see more than 3000 new bills being introduced during every Legislative long-session in Oregon.
The never-ending batches of new laws shows us the fanatical desire to tax, spend and regulate every private business operation. The collectivists control minimum wages, fair wages across every business, and every new-found personal identity. These geniuses set working hours, break times, healthcare and family leave requirements.
These laws continually provide taxpayer monies to subsidize well-heeled influencers and push others out of the market. Last week, the food giant Tyson Foods announced their commitment to building a more sustainable insect protein food production system to save the planet.
Where did this new demand for crunchy crickets come from? Did your family picnic turn into a hunt for yummy mealworms after the fried chicken tub was emptied?
No! There is no demand-side to the equation for black soldier flies, grasshoppers, mealworms or crickets. The only demand comes from the regulators who pretend to care more than the rest of us.
Hence, IP-3, which criminalizes animal farming practices is headed to main street.
Without stopping IP-3 gigantic agri-businesses will grow while the small Mom-and-Pop farms and cattle producers will simply dry up. Look at the small towns across Oregon, larger fast-food franchises are opening while the small diners and lunch-counters which once cluttered downtowns are boarded up with “Closed” signs fraying in the wind.
The business giants float ideas that require every transaction be tracked, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, registered, and authorized. If Mom-and-Pop can’t implement the rules they will be forced to close-up shop. Or, they may get admonished, punished, or sent along to one of Hillary Clinton’s proposed re-indoctrination centers to get their worldview fixed.
What is happening? Why do we continue down this path?
We have to get back to basics, local economies, and meritorious interpersonal relationships.
Our Nation, has been led to greatness by the Hand of Liberty. It was created from all the glory that free-speech, individual heroism, and hardworking humanity could offer. We must fight against our own willingness to forge the chains of our destruction and demand fiscal responsibility from Congress, then from our own state houses.
Our sights must be aimed at supporting Life, Liberty and our own just pursuits, not just the largess that citizens can pocket from the public treasury.
Private enterprise is essential. Otherwise, the socialists and statists will use their executive agency power to relentlessly steer us towards total control and regulation which will lead to our destruction and misery.
Finally, who are “they”?
They can only be identified by their fruits, not by their intentions. They can be identified by their unending efforts to subvert our liberties and the ideals which are so beautifully stated in the unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America and our US Constitution.
Therefore, we must stand firm and devote our lives and prosperity to removing them from power at every level of government.
© 2023 Dennis Linthicum – All Rights Reserved
E-Mail Dennis Linthicum: d4linthicum@gmail.com
