The Expiration Date on Liberty

There is a reason that there appears to be an expiration date on free and open societies. They take effort to maintain. Sometimes, it's hard to take responsibility for yourself - to forgo short-term gain for long term necessity. It isn't easy, sometimes, to tolerate people who look, talk, or love differently than you do. It's easy to blame, hard to understand.

A few generations after the crown falls, the populace forgets what it was like to have to kiss a king's foot - to have to kneel and humbly thank gilded bandits who own you, everything you've worked for, and all the labor you'll ever be able to give.

Some people forget that, and long to be relieved of the burdens of liberty - the responsibility of living in a social order where you are not told what to do. They want a strong man to keep them safe - to stop the changes they fear, to make everyone get in line.

I suspect that millions of Americans see the authoritarian society that we are becoming and feel, not apprehension, but relief. The strong man will make everything right. He will make things "great again," like they were when you had big daddy who took care of everything, and all you had to do was trust him, and obey.