Quote of the Day: “Courage is grace under pressure.” – Ernest Hemingway
Osama Bin Laden is dead. Most Americans think we should leave Afghanistan. This means that the time is now ripe for another terrorist attack.
The terrorists will realize that something new is needed to reignite fear in the American people.
The terrorists want us to continue harming our own way of life, continue trashing our own Constitution, and continue pursuing foreign adventures that create new enemies for us at the cost of looming bankruptcy.
We should protect ourselves against this, NOT by supporting fearful overreaction, but by growing a backbone.
This is the purpose of the “I Am Not Afraid” campaign, which you can find on the Our Heresies page of our website.
Why do we call it a “heresy” to NOT be afraid?
To be blunt, we have become convinced that America is no longer the land of the free and the home of the brave. Instead . . .
Fear has become the orthodox American position.
Many Americans seem to be afraid of everything. These fearful Americans are constantly running to Mommy-and-Daddy Politician asking them to “kiss it and make it better.” The result is an ever-expanding Leviathan State.
When fear is orthodox, courage becomes a heresy. If you want to change this then please . . .
Tell Congress you are NOT afraid of terrorism.
Our argument is simple. We have made it before, but we will repeat it now to remind old members, and for the benefit of new members . . .
Terrorists aim to cause fear. By acting on fear we give them what they want.
But we can defeat the terrorists’ intentions immediately and completely, simply by NOT being afraid.
Such courage would also correspond to reality. All the terrorists in the world amount to no more than an anemic mosquito on the snout of a whale. The fact is . . .
American criminals commit more murders each year than terrorists have over the past two decades. But we don’t trash the Constitution because of it, the way we have because of terrorism.
This statistical truth makes it very clear that Americans have VASTLY OVERREACTED to the terrorist threat, and the politicians have encouraged and exploited our cowardice to expand the power of the State.
If “grace under pressure” is the right definition of “courage,” then our country has shown little grace in the face of not much pressure. To us, the official “War on Terror” amounts to one giant national cringe.
We can do better, with less effort and more grace.
There is really only one way to win a war on terrorism. Stop being afraid!
Achieving this victory does not require large armies, invasions, illegal spying, torture, detention camps, Kangaroo courts, or multi-billion dollar Congressional appropriations. Neither does it require us to shred the Bill of Rights or the Geneva Conventions. All it requires is a bit of backbone, and a little common sense.
The moment we allowed the first violation of the Bill of Rights the terrorists won. We’ve been losing, ever since.
Can we stop being afraid?
Can you?
Here’s what it means to not be afraid . . .
Here’s what it means to fight a real war on terror and to WIN that war, instantly . . .
You . . .
* Do not participate in the public hysteria when terrorists attack, but instead react proportionally, placing the terrorist act in its proper place in the vast scheme of crimes, accidents, disease, natural disaster, and generic tragedy that is man’s lot on earth
* Do not permit the politicians to feel terror on your behalf
* Discourage them from fomenting and exploiting hysteria to expand their own power at the expense of traditional American principles
* Declare your lack of fear to the politicians, and recruit others to adopt your war winning strategy of not being afraid
And you can do all this by sending Downsize DC’s “I Am Not Afraid” declaration to Congress. It reads . . .
“I am not afraid of terrorism, and I want you to stop being afraid on my behalf. Please start scaling back the official government war on terror. Please replace it with a smaller, more focused anti-terrorist police effort in keeping with the rule of law. Please stop overreacting. I understand that it will not be possible to stop all terrorist acts. I accept that. I am not afraid.”
I send this declaration to Congress on a regular basis, to remind them that some of us are not afraid. I did so again this morning.
We feel strongly that we must continue to withdraw our consent for the bad things Congress does until, finally, they submit to the “Chains of Constitution.” If we do NOT do this, then we are sanctioning their crimes through our submissive silence, and we shall wear the heavy chains they impose on us.
You can help defeat terrorism by sending your “I Am Not Afraid” declaration to Congress using Downsize DC’s Educate the Powerful System,through the “I Am Not Afraid” campaign on the “Our Heresies” page.
We also invite you to follow us on Facebook and share this message with your friends.
Perry Willis
Vice President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.