Four hundred and four years ago today the infamous Gunpowder Plot to blow up the English Houses of Parliament was foiled, and co-conspirator Guy Fawkes was consequently executed. Though I do not condone acts of violence, this event serves as an important reminder for us all to stay vigilant in the face of tyranny. During the pre-revolutionary era in America, colonists celebrated Nov. 5 to express their anger toward the authoritarian government back in England, providing the foundation for the American Revolution. Today it is celebrated to express opposition to an increasingly belligerent government that not only puts our liberties at risk but also undermines the very principles this country was founded on.
Throughout the last century, it has been a common practice for the federal government to take power beyond the authority afforded it by the U.S. Constitution. This usually occurs during times of crisis and uncertainty when politicians are more likely to gain public support. Such was the case during the Great Depression and shortly after Sept. 11. We are now seeing the same grab for power in the wake of the recent economic collapse. Unfortunately, the American people are lulled into a sense of indifference by the snake oil salesmen in Washington who claim that these actions are necessary for the "good of the country." I guess Thomas Jefferson was right when he said, "The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground."
But yet there is hope. Despite being in debt more than $12 trillion with more than $59 trillion in unfunded liabilities, Washington is spending money more than ever, and people are starting to notice. Americans are finally fed up with politicians who continue to follow the failed policies of interventionism and Keynesian economics, realizing that government corporatism is the real culprit in our economic troubles. Americans are realizing that controlling the markets through central banking, currency manipulation, regulation, subsidies and bailouts is detrimental to the economy.
Opposition to the government's aggressive foreign policy is greater now than ever before because people are starting to see the futility of maintaining an overseas empire in places we shouldn't belong. Americans are starting to believe in the Jeffersonian notions of peace, commerce and friendship with all nations and entangling alliances with none.
Apathy toward the two-party system is starting to take hold as thousands of Americans are leaving the Democratic and Republican parties. People are beginning to look for candidates who promise to reduce the size of government and support the basic principles of freedom our Founding Fathers believed in. The American people are reevaluating the role of government, noting that it does not exist to take care of them but rather to protect their individual freedoms. They are rediscovering the principles of classical liberalism that provided the foundation for this country. Americans are starting to understand that individuals, not a collective society, are the ones who make their own choices and determine their own fates.
I urge you all to support the cause of freedom. But for those of you who continue to support these detrimental government policies, I will leave you with this quote from Samuel Adams: "If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly upon you; may your posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."
Daniel Rood is a UF student and vice president of Students for the Preservation of Freedom.
