The one that doesn't count

Though trees are starting to bud, and there are some hardier flowers beginning to unfold, spring is still dominated by browns and drabs here in Gyeongju.  It was a beautiful day, however, for a bicycle ride to the lake.

I am reminded by the news that once again I do not count, literally, to the United States government.  Yesterday was census day, but for the last three censuses I have lived abroad and have not counted.  I don't know the last time I counted.  My mother died on census day in 1980, so it's unclear whether my parents actually had gotten around to mailing the form back in.  I'll just assume that 1970 was the last time I counted, as an eleven-year old Caucasian male in a two-parent family of modest means living on an unpaved city street in a four-bedroom, two-storey house with asbestos siding.  I was somebody back then!
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The flagrant sedition I have been watching unfold in the United States disturbs me.  During all the dark days when the Great Idiot was President and those overlapping years when the party of Big Business controlled all of Congress, I don't remember any liberals calling for the overthrow of the government, the compelled removal of legally elected officers of state, the destruction of private property, threats on the lives of elected officials, armed marches into the capital city of the Republic, or unabashed lying about... everything.  The seditionists have a barely remote chance of unraveling the established order of the American Constitution, but they may succeed in compelling the People to defend themselves, that is, the government may have to step in if chaos breaks out because of these wannabe revolutionaries.  That would be regrettable since the Radicals would see that as a sign the government wants to control us, when the fact is, We the People expect our leaders to maintain order for our own safety and prosperity.  Chaos benefits only those who have nothing to lose.

When considering a return to the United States to live, these are things that weigh on my mind.  Man can be a dangerous animal.  Our times are not shielded from danger any more than the times of the French Revolution, Kristallnacht, the Haymarket Massacre, or the segregated South.  However, responsible citizens do not cower in fear because evil men raise themselves up.  Evil men do not remain long when We the People stand firm in our resolve to defend the Republic against its enemies.  And lest some think I am a sappy sentimentalist, let me be clear.  I do not believe the government is the Republic.  The government is the servant of the Republic.  We the People are the Republic, and when it becomes clear that a minority wishes Us the People general ill, that minority must be contained and reformed at all costs for the well being and prosperity of All the People. 

What can an ageing, gray-haired liberal do to save his country from these wolves?  Alone, very little.  However, if that one stands shoulder to shoulder with two, and those two stand with more, both conservative and liberal, who do not want to see this Republic fail, then it will not fail.