Ray Harvey

Zombie, an anonymous San Francisco blogger and photographer whom I admire, recently wrote an article for Pajamas Media that echoes what I myself have been saying for years: the left/right, republican/democrat, conservative/liberal alternative is a false alternative, and those two ideologies are really just two sides of the same penny: the one espouses (nominal) economic freedom but advocates government intrusion in political issues (the Right), while the other espouses nominal political freedom but advocates complete government intrusion in economic affairs (the Left). This issue is not a marginal issue — and indeed becomes more and more relevant each passing day, as this country creeps closer to outright revolution.

Zombie’s article is worth reading in full, but if you don’t have the time or the inclination, please take a long look at his graph, which he calls the real political spectrum: collectivism-versus-individualism — or, in my words, freedom-versus-statism. It’s not quite the graph I would have made, but it’s pretty good; and if freedom is ever to win the day, it is this distinction that must be understood:

(Note: to see Zombie’s explanation for his categories, click here.)

This giant billboard was posted along I-70 in Lafayette County, Missouri. If you can’t quite make it out, it displays this message: “A Citizens Guide to Revolution of a corrupt government.”

It then displays the following list of actions:

1. Starve the Beast.
2. Vote out incumbents.
3. If steps, 1 & 2 fail?

Prepare for War –Live Free or Die

That billboard replaced a previous one:

According to Think Progress: “It’s unclear who the owner of the billboard is, but the first one was the work of a ‘Missouri businessman.’”

Radical?

Maybe, maybe.

And yet in any society — and perhaps America most especially — you can restrict freedom only so much before people will naturally revolt, as people naturally should.

Freedom is not “granted” by bureaucrats. Freedom is a birthright — to every single human being.