”If we can’t trust the government, WHO can we trust?”
Yep. Haywood County commissioner Michael Sorrells (D)posed that question in an election profile news story published in a local paper.
Haywood County has been very very good to us. It’s been a great case study in government tyranny and overreach.
Sorrells made his statement in reaction to questions about the county’s controversial emergency managment ordinance which we reported on HERE earlier. But the Democrat incumbent wasn’t even close to being finished on the subject:
”The ordinance is designed to keep people safe and help the rescue workers and officers tasked with public safety do their jobs.
The notion that the ordinance will be used to suppress people, seize their food, occupy their homes, take their guns, or sequester them is off-base.
Making assumptions about what people might or might not be inclined to do in the future is a dangerous game. The text of the ordinance clearly gives government officials enough leeway to do ALL of the stuff Sorrells is poo-pooing. Wait. He’s not finished:
“We live in a civilized society. We live in a democracy. Haywood County especially is a very safe place to live. If we can’t trust the government who can we trust? The boogeyman is not coming to get you.”
Yes, the ordinance allows the county to enter people’s property without permission, because that would be critical in the event of a flood. Rescue workers evacuating an area ahead of rising flood waters would need to enter homes and make sure no one is being left behind. Or if there is a landslide, and the only way to reach victims inside buried homes is crossing someone’s private yard, you can’t wait around to get permission from that property owner.
“We won’t have a riot in Haywood County, but what if we did have a riot, if you can’t limit who is on the street and who can be out with weapons, how will the police know who the bad guys are?”
Here’s a clue, Mr. Sorrells. The “bad guys” are the ones assaulting innocent people, stealing other people’s stuff,
or damaging / destroying other people’s property. According to that pesky, inconvenient Second Amendment, possessing a firearm does not necessarily make you a “bad guy.” MORE:
The elements of the ordinance are based on legitimate needs in a time of emergency, not crazy scenarios.
“There is fear out there that something bad is going to happen. To me, I’m sorry, but I don’t have that feeling.”
Haywood’s ordinance specifically gives the county manager the authority to seize private property and take control of ALL economic resources in the county. That COULD be interpreted to include deposits in local banks. After all, those ARE economic resources. I know that this was probably a well-intended but wrong-headed attempt to combat good ol’ price-gouging.
Prices DO shoot up in times of crisis. Low supplies and big demand result in higher prices. In most cases it’s not about greed. Most merchants have set inventories that are restocked on regular schedules. How are they to survive if their stock is cleaned out in one day, and the new inventory is not coming until the end of the month, or can’t get through for some other reason?
Sometimes, government policies grow into things beyond what they were originally intended for. For example, Social Security was initially meant to be a short-term safety net. The ATF was founded to help enforce the Prohibition laws. The Constitution has been amended to repeal prohibition, but the ATF is STILL here. We need to be very careful about powers that we assign to government. Bureaucrats and politicians are not too fond about giving up their power over our lives. (Just look at how Republicans in Washington are now behaving in reference to ObamaCare.)
Justifying this ordinance by saying the UNC School of Government OKed it is unacceptable. It has to pass muster with a certain document approved by the people of North Carolina way back in 1789.
The fact that this authoritarian ordinance was approved by the NC School of Government raises some very serious questions about that institution. Maybe they should be called the School of Big Government.
Haywood County is very near the Qualla Boundary or the Cherokee Reservation as it is known. Which in a roundabout way reminds me also of the best bumper stickers I ever had. I’ve had a lot of vehicles, and not one to sport a whole slew of them, but very selective.
I grade them by the looks I get at stop lights, parking lots, etc.
#2 (runner up) was “Ted Kennedy has killed more people than my gun”
and the best one for gawking and reactions was….[drumroll]…
“Sure, you can trust the government, ask any Indian”
Also as an aside, since Brant mentioned it…let’s not forget that one of the biggest atrocities ever perpetrated was at the hands of ATF, that being Waco.
We read about stuff like that happening in other countries and vilify them. Here under the Clintonistas, Janet Reno and her ilk MURDERED 76 men women and children. Religious whacko or not, it wasn’t right nor justified, nor the American way.
Go ahead…trust your government.
Sorry for the back to back posts, but here goes at the risk being called a doomsdayer or prepper or conspiracy theorist.
The Gubmint only has to control a few things to permanently keep the people subdued. Healthcare is one, fuel is one, ammo more so than guns, and civil rights (interrment camps, secret courts, etc), press. That’s not a complete list but a formidable one.
Advances in GPS and other technologies have put Gubmint control within easy grasp. In Charlotte and many other cities law enforcement is using ‘stingrays’ to interecept and track cell traffic and have been for years. Then there’s the militarization of police and sheriffs. Want to get a creepy feeling?
Did you know that EVERY new Honda that rolls off the lot has GPS in it…not OnStar for Driver aid. Do some research on LPRs many of which are manufactured right here in the Old North State. These are license plate readers, and are installed lots of places, even the orange barrels. Yep.
Law enforcement vehicles have trunk mount or light bar mount LPRs that can read, identify, and photograph cars whizzing by six lanes across. In certain circumstances, even alert the officer of a ‘hit’…meaning a ‘wanted’ car just passed by. We are talking huge databases of information collection and sharing. One company has forged a network of over 550 metro and not metro sources and ‘sells’ the data. These are installed in law enforcement vehicles, light poles, barrels, toll meters, etc
Ask any repo man that’s not a poser. He will tell you. A repo guy can ride through a shopping mall and ‘scan’ the vehicles with a LPR as he cruises, and a vehicle slated for repo will ‘hit’. He can call and get the order to pick up and pick the car up right then. My colleague told me its not uncommon to pick up 15 cars a day during Christmas all with this technology.
Insurance companies can order a ‘vehicle sighting history’ and get location data, even pictures of where and when a vehicle (your vehicle) has been.
Couple all this with the Snowden revelations, and the undisclosed satellite programs, and the Gubmint lies we have been historically fed, and you have a frightening assessment of how fragile our liberties are right now.
flyinthe ointment,don’t apologize,that is why we are in this situation in our state and country. Our elected officials are all goons in fancy suits and the majority of the public think they are upstanding citizens not realizing that they have been duped. We need to be prepared everyday because as a survivalist my life and yours depends on it.