Authority

The rattlesnake receives nearly daily, e-mail messages from a man named Larkin Rose. Mr. Rose is one of the rare breed of individuals in this nation who is willing to “put his money where is mouth is” sort of speak. He has been a force in the truth-in-tax movement for many years. He just finished a stint in federal incarceration for standing up for freedom in the face of the federal courts. Many would say that Mr. Rose’s loss (i.e. losing a court battle that resulted in his being sent to jail) shows that his point of view has no merit. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just ask anybody who has had any dealings with federal courts and they will tell you that truth and real justice are rarely found inside a federal court room. Mr. Rose and his wife too, are courageous people who are to be admired. They are the sort who started this nation. If you want to receive Mr. Rose’s e-mails you can send a blank e-mail message to tmds-on@mail-list.com. He is a fun read and a thoughtful guy. The snake encourages you to get his messages. However, Mr. Rose did make a comment in one of his recent messages with which the rattlesnake has umbrage.
In his post dated November 11, 2007, entitled More of the Same, Mr. Rose asks, presumably a the rhetorical question, “Why does anyone still think that the belief in “authority” is a CIVILIZING influence?” Here Mr. Rose falls into the snare that many freedom fighters, which have had their butt kicked by tyrants, do. They begin to bad-mouth all authority as if the very concept of authority is evil. It is a reactionary response filled with very little logical thought. The entire universe is created around, and with, authority engrained into it. The rattlesnake has never met Mr. Rose or spoken with him personally, but I will venture to say that Mr. Rose believes in God. If he does not then he has no foundation from which to judge what was done to him by the federal courts as “wrong” -- for without God there is no foundational presupposition for belief in absolute truth; and if there is no absolute truth then might-makes-right. The guy with the biggest gun will tell you what truth is – period. But I know Mr. Rose believes in truth. The principles he stands for and espouses daily are secured by truth that is not subject to the mere opinions of men. What was done to him and other fighters across this land was and is wrong by absolute standards.
Authority, properly grounded and applied in concert with the mind of the Creator of the universe, is in fact, a civilizing influence. The ethics and economics of the Bible establish free enterprise and market driven systems as truth. The ownership of property is seminal to the individual responsibility God expects from all men. Slavery, as is created by a graduated, confiscatory income tax system, is degraded in the Bible. The laws of this nation were established and cemented in authority properly aligned with absolute truth of the bible. The problem Mr. Rose has, as do we all, is the fact that those imbued with the power of government have purposely discarded the values of the Bible. We are left, then, with a government of men not laws. This fact does not make true the canard that authority is incapable of having a civilizing influence. It does make true that authority, promulgated apart from absolute truth, is incapable of a civilizing influence.
Two quotes from the great statesman John Adams, say it all – in the rattlesnake’s opinion.

June 21, 1776 John Adams wrote “Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People in a greater Measure, then they have it now, they may change their Rulers and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty.” John Adams believed, as did most of the framers, that authority was capable of a civilizing and free influence.
On October 11, 1798 President Adams stated in an address to the military “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Authority can and does have a civilizing influence. The most radical political and economic effort anybody can put forth for freedom and liberty is to lead their personal life, and thus this nation, back to the values of the Bible and our framers God. Think and be free.

The Rattlesnake