We cannot afford to renounce self-government

Self-governance—responsible self-discipline—is not easy. Ask anyone, “Who do you think should decide what’s best for you and your family? You, or the feds?” The answer will always be the former. Always. In America, no one likes being told what to do.

“I am the master of my fate,” vaunted William Ernest Henley. “I am the captain of my soul.” This is, in essence, the American dream.

But, once you delve into the daily complexities of managing this fundamental right, self-governance can start to seem less appealing.

In Aldous Huxley’s famous letter to George Orwell, the “Brave New World” author critiqued the severity of the latter’s “1984.”

“Whether in actual fact the policy of the boot-on-the-face can go on indefinitely seems doubtful,” he wrote. “My own belief is that the ruling oligarchy will find less arduous and wasteful ways of governing and of satisfying its lust for power, and these ways will resemble those which I described in Brave New World.” In “Brave New World,” the dystopian World State permits its subjects to overindulge in pleasure, whereas Orwell envisioned a more forceful, pleasure-less future.

“Within the next generation,” Huxley continued, “I believe that the world’s rulers will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging and kicking them into obedience” [emphasis added].

Whatever did he mean?

To most Americans, Huxley’s insinuation that “flogging and kicking” are not necessary but that people can be coaxed into embracing their enslavement is ludicrous. It’s anathema to us because we equate our freedom with amusement. For as long as we are sexed and satisfied, many of us would be more than content to surrender our autonomy.

We know this because it’s happening before our very eyes. Per the Founders’ standards, the federal government has too much power. Every administration, regardless of party, contributes to this growth. Yet, at the same time, virtually anything now goes on the local level. “No right, no wrong, no rules for me,” sang “Frozen’s” Queen Elsa, articulating this generation’s defining creed. “I'm free!”

This severe tightening of the rules federally—where we least agree—coupled with the relaxing of moral standards everywhere else is telling. It means we are being conditioned to love our servitude. It means we have grown accustomed to handing the keys to Washington, inviting them to make the hard decisions for us (and bail us out when necessary). Meanwhile, we wallow our lives away, sated by an endless smorgasbord of pleasures, oblivious to tyranny’s gradual creep.

Having denied any sense of personal responsibility, we turn to the government to cure our every problem. But that is exactly what a despot would have us do. Our gravest concern should be that in pinpointing Washington, D.C., as the sole bogeyman behind our problems, we risk backing ourselves into a corner.

Imagine, if you will, a conservative struggling with alcoholism. Whether under Biden or Trump, his addiction presumably remains unchanged. The same principle applies the other way around, too, of course. Now, if an administration takes charge promising to resolve this poor man’s addiction—or even just blaming it on the previous administration—one of two things will happen. Either that problem will persist—since Uncle Sam cannot force anyone to set down the bottle, anyway—or the government will have to abandon the Reaganite view of its purpose and intervene in matters it ideally shouldn’t.

In either case, self-governance suffers.

Responsible self-governance requires self-discipline. It requires taking responsibility for your own home and life—not simply resigning it to the government. Self-governance may not be easy, but the final result is worth it.

The question, then, is: how badly do we want it? When confronted with freedom-preserving restraint and pleasure-inducing dereliction, which path will we take?

Millions of Americans have chosen the path of self-governance. To join the nation’s largest grassroots army of self-governing activists, sign the Convention of States petition below.