If you paid attention during your 12 or more years in school and have taken any interest since in world affairs, you know that tyrannical governments have predominated throughout history and still are too prevalent across the globe today.
You also may have noticed that -- in all places and at all times -- the number of those tyrannized greatly exceeds the number of tyrants.
You may have had occasion to wonder how tyrants stay in power when they’re so overwhelmingly outnumbered by their subjects.
A number of factors are involved, starting with the tyrant’s monopoly on power, his control of the organs of communication, his division of the populace into antagonistic factions, and his ongoing efforts to infantilize the masses and convince them that they lack the capacity to govern themselves.
In free countries, there always seem to be would-be tyrants trying to acquire and consolidate power, to manipulate the media, to create division, and to persuade the people to abandon their civic duties so that supposed “experts” can run things.
Too often, the voters oblige them.
If we remain obliging and oblivious to our would-be masters long enough, when we finally do notice that we’re losing our freedoms, it may be too late to save them.
Texans Against Lawsuit Abuse and Texans for Lawsuit Reform recently hosted an event called “Vote Smart: The Texas Supreme Court Is Important To You” to encourage participation in the upcoming primary elections.
Event organizers want voting-age Texans “to learn about the modern history of the Texas Supreme Court, the challenge to this Court from the personal injury trial lawyers, and the important role the Court plays in our state’s economy and the lives of our citizens.”
Anyone who’s ever been before a judge knows how stressful the experience can be. But the judges of the Texas Supreme Court have to go before the voters and be judged by us. If you don’t take that lightly, they certainly won’t.