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R.C. Sproul Jr. I don't much care for the government. Some have jumped to the conclusion that I therefore must be an anarchist. Not so. I believe in government. I want my life and property defended by agents of law. What I don't like is having my life consumed by the state. That is, I don't like it that they fail to protect my property, but rather claim it for their own, and I don't like having my thoughts consumed by them. I'm among the many who are tired of constant updates on Forni-gate, but one of the few who still wants the man strung up. I've got better things to do than worry about both the political and the sexual manueverings of the DC crowd. I have a life to live. And it strikes me that such a view would do conservatives a world of good. Sure let's fight the good fight against big government, but if that's all we're about, our whole lives will be the government. Even if we win we lose, or worse, we turn into neo-cons. We need to be for things, not just against them. When I write and gripe about the intrusions of the state, I am not merely being negative. I'm also being positive. I'm anti-government, but pro-freedom. I'm anti-state, but pro-family, anti-abortion, and pro-life. My solution to big government is not little nothing, not big business, but big liberty. The best way to be free of Leviathan is not to feed it by paying attention to it, but to starve it by ignoring it. What would happen if every conservative stopped trying to change Washington, and instead went to work, or raised a family, or helped a church? What would happen if we would build the mediating institutions of family, church and neighborhood, such that they could shield us from the monster? If, on the other hand, we're going to fight the war against the intrusive state, perhaps we would be wiser to try to lop of its head instead of yapping at its heels. Maybe we can stop dickering about 1.5 trillion budgets versus 1.3 trillion, and instead ask the Washington this question, "Who made you a ruler over us?" Maybe we should direct our efforts to escaping Levaithan's net, rather than trying to put the monster on a diet. Maybe we should be asserting our Constitutional and God-given right of secession. There is no legal power, nor moral rules which bind the sovereign states to their agent run-amuck, the federal government. The dream is not yet dead. And not only are the states filled with people eager to be free of the feds (and their monster debt) but there are even organizations, legal and above board, and utterly lacking overweight men in fatigues, that seek this remedy. The best is The League of the South. Their purpose statement is: "We seek to advance the cultural, social, economic and political well-being and the independence of the southern people by all honorable means." The best way to let a sleeping dog lie is not to scream in horror, but to yawn. He's going to keep sleeping and lying anyway. (Originally written for Covenant Syndicate, Feb. 1998.) |
