Alexis de Tocqueville coined the term in his 1835 work entitled Democracy in America.

Basically freedom is taken away incrementally, so as to disguise its absence. Of course this is done without a war or civil war; hence the term soft tyranny. Sound familiar?

In the United States the incremental removal of our freedoms has been going on for quite some time, mostly under the radar. Politicians begin reducing freedom in areas that effect the smallest numbers of people first. Of course the logical place to start is at the top. If you punish those who have more, why would those with less care. Those at the top would just be brought down to the lower level right? As freedoms are reduced (for those at the top) those at the bottom often feel smug. I've heard many people say things like, "now they'll know how we feel."

The outcome to this is; there become fewer individuals at the top, usually as a reduction of freedom, there are more at the bottom. People are in-effect rewarded for doing less, and producing less. This is not sustainable. It's quite simple; you punish those who achieve and reward those who don't. The punishment of those who succeed is to prop up those who don't. It's this "fostering of dependency" which is hurting the U.S. economy right now. How can the government endlessly increase unemployment benefits when the country is already broke?

That being said, let's switch to the health care debate or lack there of. The health care "debate" is a shinning example of soft tyranny.

Even to those who pay little attention to politics can tell that most Americans don't trust this health care legislation. In fact polling data shows that most Americans don't want this "health care" legislation passed. I thought that our politicians were supposed to represent the people. What happened to that?

C-SPAN has been denied access to the (behind the scenes) health care debate. This is one of the most tyrannical things ever to happen in U.S. history. There is no health care debate. You just have a small number of people working on the legislation in secret. I thought the point of congress was public debate.

The United States refuses to be exceptional when it operates like a socialist oligarchy. Doesn't this make you want to go by an Obama bumper sticker?

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The choice is going to be much easier come Jan 1 of this year, at least for the people of DC. DC will place a tax on plastic bags this year. The thing that makes this so absurd is the stated reasons for the tax.

Starting today, the District of Columbia becomes the first major city in the nation to impose a surcharge on disposable paper and plastic bags commonly used at grocery and retail stores everywhere.

Customers who tote their food or liquor purchases home in the ubiquitous bags will now be required to pay 5 cents for each one they use. The fees will go to a fund for cleaning up the city's Anacostia River.

"I signed this law in July to cut down on the disposable bags that foul our waterways," D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty said last month. "We want everyone to know that you can save the river, and 5 cents, if you bring your own reusable bag to the store instead."

D.C. Becomes Only U.S. City to Tax Grocery Bags

But in many cities -- including New York, Seattle, Philadelphia and Baltimore – voters have rejected attempts to impose bans or fees. Critics of such measures say they would add hundreds of dollars a year to families' grocery bills and amount to a tax.

"Consumers don't need to bear a tax in order to help protect the environment," said Progressive Bag Affiliates director Shari Jackson. "Plastic bags don't belong in roadways, they belong in the recycling bin." Some parts of the country have attempted to find a middle ground between a tax and a ban, opting to mandate plastic bag recycling as a first step towards "going green."

This is surreal. What ever happened to personal responsibility. A bag tax isn't going to stop anyone from throwing a bag out of their window! This is absurd.

Wouldn't it make more sense to offer people money for recycling bags? Why is it that the government is stuck on the idea that, in order to sway public opinion, negative reinforcement must be used. Why not reward people for doing the right thing, instead of punishing them for doing something other than what you want? People can rally behind a movement that encourages individual responsibility, and thus rewards the participants. Nobody can rally behind someone who is whipping them.

Just keep in mind, taxes are being used here as a negative thing to punish those who use plastic bags. Just as you are taxed more based on what you make. The idea is to keep you from making "too much." The message is "don't achieve too much." Why else would you tax people on a sliding scale. The end result is less achievers. Why would anyone want that?

It's a good thing that the IRS isn't invovled in this tax. We would end up with a progressive bag tax. People would be taxed for plastic bags whether they used them or not. It would be just like the income tax. Wouldn't that be great!

The final and most absurd aspect to all of this is the fact that --plastic bags were pushed by the environmental movement in the first place. Paper is more easily recycled; whether it be by humans, or by simply being on the ground and getting rained on. But we needed to save the trees right? I guess we saved "the trees," so that work is done. When is this mess going to stop!

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Here is a link to the Library of Congress THOMAS.

Here is the PDF downloadable from this site.

Tiger has lost his AT&T contract.

AT&T's logo appeared on the golfer's bag. The company did not comment on its reasons for dropping Woods.

The company was also the host of the AT&T National PGA event in July - something it says it will continue to sponsor.

In a terse statement, AT&T said: "We are ending our sponsorship agreement with Tiger Woods and wish him well in the future."

At least AT&T didn't comment on why they dropped Tiger. That's better than what Gator Aid did.

Soft drink brand Gatorade says it is to drop a Tiger Woods-endorsed product but said it was not related to revelations about the golfer's private life.

PepsiCo-owned Gatorade said the decision to axe the Tiger Focus drink was made a few months ago.

Hat tip to AT&T! Nice job AT&T by not insulting everyone by claiming that your issues with Tiger have nothing to do with his personal life. We all know that's the case.

I guess Gator Aid is worried about offending all of those athletes who cheat on their wives and get away with it...

This gets to my bigger point. This is the same sort of idiocy we are getting out of the government as of late. Every time there is news --which is obviously terror related-- we have these government boobs come out and say that terrorism is not suspected. Then what happens? We find out that the "alleged" suspect(s) have Muslim name(s), were under investigation (by some government agency) and have openly disclosed their feelings about this country.

If we can't count on the government to tell the truth when it's obvious; why in the hell should we trust what they tell us about health care!? Does anyone really believe that this bill is going to do what's promised? I just hope that the American people can put two and two together in time.

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This is an interesting story; it also brings to light a few scary details.

I just have one very simple question. If the "attempted terrorist" was so obvious that --his own father reported him to the U.S. "authorities"-- how the hell was he missed in any screening anywhere!?

COME ON! If "authorities" can't stop a terrorist from boarding a plane when they are tipped off ahead of time; we are in big trouble! This reeks of Fort Hood.

If the TSA consists of "authorities" we are screwed!

Oh, and Terrorists are now referred to as "Man Caused Disaster Engineers."

One last thought; why is it that the terrorists --under investigation-- seem to be those most effective at carrying out their plans? You can't stop a war with law enforcement.

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