Why Clover Thinks He’s Free

by Eric Peters
EricPetersAutos.com

Clovers are ok with the American Police State because to them, it’s not a police state. They see no imposition – much less tyranny. They see “democracy,” lawful order. The flag – and (to them) freedom. The mindset is nicely articulated by the well-worn Clover cliche: “If you just obey the law you won’t have any problems.”

It’s circular reasoning, obviously – with the circles becoming ever tighter as they spiral down toward the drain into outright and abject slavery. Which even then, Clover will not see as slavery. He will still be free to act, he thinks – provided of course that he acts within the boundaries laid down for him. In the same way a slave was free to pick cotton; or the medieval serf free to farm his small plot… so long as he gave his Lord the specified portion of his crop.

Clover does not grasp that each time he submits, he has surrendered a piece of his life. And much worse, the lives of others, too.

Eventually, there will be nothing left to surrender.

But this ugly inevitability does not trouble Clover. He agrees to allow others to direct and control his life, to make his decisions for him. And because he has accepted this “direction,” so also must others. If they do not, if they object in any way, then they deserve what comes to them.

It will please Clover to see them punished.

Unfortunately, Clover’s psychological S&M routine is not his private perversion – which incidentally would be ok, in a free society. If he likes being told what to do – and punished when he does not do as he’s told – he has every right to live that dynamic provided it’s just between him and his dominatrix. What’s not ok – if society is to be free – is Clover’s demand that everyone else don the Gimp suit and rubber ball in the mouth, accept the lash and say “yes, Mistress” (that is, yes, Officer) on cue.

Yet this is precisely what Clover does in fact demand. And it’s the reason why Clover gets absolutely furious when they do not comply.

The other day, my wife went to the post office in one of our trucks. I had peeled off the old (out of date) state “safety” inspection because I figured this would be less conspicuous to any passing costumed enforcer. My wife encountered a Clover instead. She parked in front of the post office, and as she was exiting the vehicle, an angry little man lectured her about the absence of the “safety” sticker on the truck. Since he had to waste his time and money on a “safety” inspection, it infuriated him to see someone else who had not yet submitted. Rather than be angry with the Police State and its minions, he had become a minion himself.

We see this kind of thing all over nowadays. Most recently in the tattle-tale campaigns of the Department of Heimat Sicherheitsdeinst that counsel, “If you see something, say something.” For example, there’s the case of Brian Loftus. He went to a local gun store and bought several boxes of ammunition for target shooting. Still legal in this land of the allegedly free. Except, someone “saw something” – and “said something.” Which led to Loftus being telephoned and interrogated by the state police. (See here for the story and a video of Loftus.) In Cloverstan – er, America – there is no problem. Loftus should accept that the state police police were just “trying to keep us safe.” Clover cannot fathom the man’s anger; in fact, it makes Clover angry that anyone would get angry about such a thing.

September 17, 2012

Copyright © 2012 Eric Peters

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