At a very prominent location, on the campus of Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, stands an oddly shaped water tower.
As you may well imagine, this building has had some colorful nicknames, none of which I wish to expose here. The tower has also come to symbolize the hope of many male students; a dream they nurture and pass down, from one class to the next. Their myth holds that if a virgin ever graduates from EMU, this water tower will crumble and fall.
Ypsilanti is my home town, and the tower competition was amusing. Guys wore buttons swearing to "KEEP THE TOWER STANDING!" Gals responded with vows to "LET THE TOWER FALL!" Since the tower has never fallen, the fellows, of course, claim victory.
I share the story of this tower because, for me, it has become a symbol for the unconstitutional "tall and powerful" direction that America has taken. The tower’s myths are representative of the great polarity in opinion and reaction to the goals and policies of President and Congress. I view the State as I view the water toweru2014an object that has lost its original purpose but remains in the forefront because of false premises sustained by myths and misinterpretations that are hawked by those with dishonorable intentions; ulterior motives. The rape of the People; theft of our monies, rights, and freedoms; actions taken by corrupt leaders; claims that abuses of our lives and liberty are "in the best interests of the people;" all serve the grand scheme for keeping the State standing.
Fewer and fewer people recognize the uphill battle we face in our attempts to, not only stem the tide of governmental abuse, but to turn it. Citizens face ever growing challenges–laws; taxes; police states; airport security; ineffective schools; corrupt elected officials; local permits required for this, that, and that other thing, and much more. The people work harder to pay increasing tax burdens and dutifully obey crazier, more offensive laws.
However, the time has come to question our adaptive behaviors. Are they admirable or are they seen simply as reactions that are expected of slaves? Have Americans become slaves to the power of the tower? slaves who have lost all sense of freedom, individuality, liberty; who have lost all hope for better lives (better lives not more toys) who have lost initiative, and the courage to defend themselves; who have lost common sense (The Death of Common Sense).
We are in grave danger of becoming a defeated people, although most refuse to recognize that possibility. Schools teach, but do not educate. The State has misinterpreted Checks and Balances to mean write checks while disregarding the balance in the account; perform a juggling act to balance accounts using the speed of the printing press. Citizens are expected to serve the State, rather than expect the state to serve them.
With each new abuse of governmental power, fewer individuals have the energy, the education, the courage, or the foresight, to realize that America has drifted (with some mighty strong nudges) far from its founding principles. A frightening number of people lack the insight; the wisdom; to realize that if we just stop being so accommodating; so adaptive, the State will, thankfully, fall. The crumbling of the State tower would free us to rebuild the country as the constitutional, philosophically-grounded, People-governed nation it was meant to be. America was never meant to be ruled by a dictator; steered by special interests; pushed by social agendas; and fed a steady diet of laws and policies that destroy nation, states, families and individual responsibility.
As I watched the Des Moines debate, I clearly saw the tower in my mind’s eye. I also visualized the solution we need: Ron Paul and his plan to return the nation to constitutional government.
During the debate I heard 8 men boast of yet more ways to keep the tower standing–move the Crusader symbols from one side to the other; expand the size of the structure; reorganize the stones; finance repairs to the structure; plan to make it thicker, higher, sturdier; ways to protect it from groups who seek to crush it.
Only one, Representative Ron Paul, spoke courageously, with conviction, of the rightness of the Constitution; the wrongness of the State tower as it now lords over the land; of the harm done by misuse of power; of the rightness of returning power to the People. We need Ron Paul to guide us as we disassemble the misshapen and misbegotten structure; to reveal the essence that was, and will again be, The United Individual States of America.
It is our turn to wear tower buttons—ones that proclaim "LET THE TOWER (OF-POWER) FALL!!"
