by Dennis Smith

Created on: June 30, 2009   Last Updated: July 02, 2009

Governments move in one of two directions, they are either moving in the direction of freedom or they are moving in the direction of tyranny. People are either becoming more free or they are becoming less free. When a government writes and makes laws that do not protect its citizens from foreign and domestic enemies, but laws that are to protect its citizens from themselves, they are moving toward tyranny.

When the U.S. government makes laws that restrict its people from smoking in public places, speaking how they want, in the format they want (I am referring to the constant threat of new 'Hate Crimes' laws and 'Fairness Doctrine' laws that may prevent talk radio from continuing), using the kind of light bulbs that they want, driving the kind of car that they want, watching television in a non-high-definition format if they want, using gasoline for their car that does not contain any ethanol if they want, using their air conditioner without the fear of paying a much higher bill because of the passage of a new 'Cap and Trade' law if they want; there is reason to think that the U.S. is moving away from freedom and moving towards tyranny.

To say that tyranny should only be reserved from those governments that physically oppress their people that brutally beat and kill their citizens, is a failure to understand how some governments become governments of tyranny. Sigmund Freud believed that Germany proved they were more advanced because instead of burning Jews they were burning their books (referring to the fact that they were burning his and other books written by Jewish authors). However, perhaps to Freud's surprise, they were not proving to be a more advanced society, for instead they were advancing further in to tyranny - as first it was their books and next it was their authors that they were destroying.

A nation who claims to love freedom in any form or fashion must embrace it for everyone, or it will soon find that it exists for no one. The United States government believes that it is passing laws to help its citizens, by manipulating them to change their behaviors. An accusation that can be made against many of its leaders both Right and Left, Conservative and Liberal, Republican and Liberal.

However, like so many times before leaders with good intentions make laws that only do more harm than good to others, and are passed quickly and assuredly without any thought of what it will mean down the road. Laws against the sale and purchase of alcohol proved

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