The government is after me … and you ~ By Patrice Lewis

By Patrice Lewis Posted: August 08, 2009 1:00 am Eastern © 2009 There's an old saying that goes, "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean you're wrong." Lately I've taken that as my personal motto. That's because everything about our government seems designed to make me feel paranoid. They want my guns. They want my money. They want to dictate my lighting options. They want to microchip my livestock. If I attend a tea party protesting our trillions in deficit spending, or if I am against abortion, or if I object to illegal immigration, I'm lumped with terrorists. If I stare at a man dressed in drag – even though he's dressed in drag in order to be stared at – I'm guilty of a "hate" crime. So what's a paranoid housewife to do? "Is it just me," inquired my oldest daughter a few months ago, "or are things getting crazier and crazier?" "It's not just you," I replied. "They are getting crazier." And it gets nuttier every day. Our government is kicking our economy in the tush and encouraging it to tank by spending trillions it doesn't have. It says offering cash for clunkers will save our economy. It wants to take over health insurance, assuring us that it's a "right." (Documentation please!) It is spending trillions of dollars on certifiably idiotic ideas such as government-run "private" businesses and government-run health care and government-run schools. It wants to impose harsh restrictions that will close thousands of small businesses. It wants to take over my health insurance. It wants my personal information. It wants to restrict my ability to raise my children as I see fit. It wants to know how many toilets I have in my house, how long it takes me to get to work, and what my mental condition might be (hint: mistrustful). Now tell me, does any of this strike you as ominous? So what's a paranoid housewife to do? Leave? Believe me, I've fanaticized about it. I find myself longing for a place where a "don't tread on me" philosophy still exists. I confess I've taken to trolling Google Earth for a distant island where I can have my family and my friends and my guns and my cattle and my orchard and my garden and have the rest of the insane, mad world leave us alone. (Norfolk Island springs attractively to mind.) Being so close to Canada, I've entertained the thought of fleeing over the border. But would we be any better off there than here? I don't think so. I understand Canada is even worse than the U.S. when it comes to government intrusion … or maybe not. Our government may beat theirs in that aspect pretty soon. And the trouble with hiding on a distant island is there's no place to go if they come for you. Oops, does that sound too paranoid? Now I grant it's a pretty sad state of affairs for a citizen to be afraid of her government, but it's nothing unusual. In fact, throughout history it's been the norm rather than the exception. And maybe therein lies my complaint: Our government used to be the exception. Now it's the norm. It's changed from the Founding Fathers' vision of a lean, streamlined, minimal experiment in individual rights protection, a system that catapulted the United States light years beyond other countries in terms of freedoms, liberties and growth. Now we're slowing down to the plodding level of so many other Western nations, and I don't mean in terms of the economy. I mean in terms of personal freedoms. I mean in the freedom to live our lives as we see fit. To screw up or redeem ourselves under our own impetus, free from government intrusion. In times past, if someone was "after" you, you had the freedom to melt into the wilderness and disappear (sometimes forever – interpret that as you will). Today we don't have that option. The last frontier is not a place one can survive easily. The days of running away are over. There is no more "last frontier" to which we can flee and hide and be free. There's no place to escape the long arm of government control (ours, or another country's). In other words, there's no place to go. Which means I'll have to stick it out where I am and make the best of things. [CONTINUE READING]