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Since COVID madness started, the response by governments in the USA and Worldwide has been fairly draconian. Lockdown and mandates of all sorts were imposed on citizens with little to no debate. Moreover, the costs and benefits weren't weighed in favor of a One Size Fits None solution.

In other words, a top-down government-imposed over-reaction that ignores their citizens rights.

Tyranny instantiated.

My thought on all this is many (largely left of centre) politicians and bureaucrats saw COVID as a great excuse to impose their will upon an unruly population. In part, it would be punishment for electing the "wrong" candidate and exercising their freedoms.

That had to stop pronto lest they lose more power and control.

So a public health "emergency" was used as a weapon against heretofore free people. It also had the affect of punishing small, family-owned businesses at the expense of larger firms who could afford lobbyists and had friends in high places.

It took a while for many to notice but during 2020, a lot of hard-working people lost everything or had their lives upended. Add to this the physical and mental health consequences of the (largely unnecessary) pandemic responses; the cure was worse than the disease.

Normals started taking notice, it became too evident to ignore.

Then, seeming at random, there was a racially-charged death. It didn't matter what city it was in, it didn't matter what the facts were either (the suspect took 4x the lethal dose of Fentanyl), all that mattered is it was a black man who died in the custody of a white police office.

Made to order.

Riots ensued along with all manner of mayhem, not just in Minneapolis but across the country. Local mayors and other politicians stood by and gave the rioters "space to destroy" in a spasm of violence. Even after that situation burned itself out, there were calls to "defund the police" and other innane proposals.

The result being increased violence during and after a contested election.

All this constitutes abuse of citizenry by governments whose primary responsibility is to protect them and uphold their rights. This is fundamental to our system of government. Yet the government is not performing it's basic duties whether through incompetence or malicious intent. The result is chaos and disorder even though the citizens are PAYING their government servants via taxes.

I see it as tyranny, plain and simple. Bastiat would see it this way too I suspect, authority and law are being misused to served the rulers. Historically, this is dangerous; first to the people being abused but later to the rulers inflicting the abuse.

So what now?

If Constitutional, republican government is not in operation...we have a crisis.

The Hermit brought up the concept of Devolution and what it might entail.

The unusual aircraft movements (especially of ISR types) over the CONUS made me think this is likely.

Treaties like AUKUS moving forward make Devolution appear the most likely explanation.

After all, the people's rights are being nullified by tyrannical leaders. Emergency powers and edicts are replacing the Rule of Law as the guiderails of our society. The likely corruption of critical infrastructure like election systems and the attendant illegitimate results show that such systems are not trustworthy.

Many/most/all of the elected leaders from this past election (and 2018 too?) may well be illegitimate. That is by definition a crisis, one that will have to be remedied. Without correction, government has absolutely no authority...none whatsoever.

https://freeatlantis.com/web/statuses/107440231786819948