Quote:
Originally Posted by Peregrino
Nice quote. I approve of the sentiments; however, you might want to check attribution. (Hint - RR wasn't the first.)
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"Give me liberty, or give me death" Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775. A reason the founders chose a Constitutional Republic over a pure democracy or a monarchy and set forth to give the power of governance to the people.
Over time the people have surrendered that power and ceded control to a central government that cannot and is not capable of providing the type of protection it is charged with. Another quote of relevance prior to this one in 1755: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety” (Benjamin Franklin) Franklin and others saw clearly at the time that Individual Liberty trumped the collective whole of centralized power and control. That is the starting point of "balance of power."
Moving forward 200 years we change the words 'patriot' and 'invader' to 'freedom fighter' and 'terrorist' (a relatively new word) and another famous quote by Gerald Seymour, who in 1975 wrote in his book Harry's Game: "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter."
The balance of power is a fickle thing and if one is not willing or prepared to maintain that balance we get one more historical quote to add that predates our short history. Lingchi "Death by a thousand cuts" ancient Chinese method of execution and exacting revenge.
What "Democracy" in our current form of centralized government has brought forward is the slow process of slicing away at the freedoms granted to the individual American citizen in the BOR and the Constitution to prevent such abuses of power have resulted in all foretold conclusions. The balance is lost we gradually ceded power and our "freedoms" to the government and are now feeling each cut of "temporary security."
The government (state or federal) cannot protect you and the courts have said time and again the police are not there to provide individual protections.
There is no 'balance' (the OP) speaks of - it's a fairy tale promoted to gain and maintain absolute power over the people. Al Qeada, the IRA, ISIS, the Weather-Underground, the Red Army Faction and all the others weren't just concocted in a basement of mom's house. They were permitted to exist and allowed to grow because in order for good to destroy evil you first need to identify what evil looks like. I'd wager money that while both parties are complicit, Democrats lead the way in looking the other way and promoting the self-licking ice cream that has become known as "terrorism."