“Nowhere to Run, Baby, Nowhere to Hide”

“Nowhere to Run, Baby, Nowhere to Hide”

By Craig M. Szwed

“Nowhere to Run, Baby, Nowhere to Hide” was a pop song, sung ‘back in the day’ by Martha and the Vandellas. It’s bittersweet words talk of romance, heartbreak, and a yearning for freedom from torment. For some, that might picture a welfare state, but for others it brings up the image of being unable to find any good place to live without bad memories. For those who don’t listen to the words, it may be nothing more than a dance tune or something to hum.

Like the key figure in the song, our Nation has a slew of both good and bad memories. As a matter of perspective, that song could even be the new U.S. National Anthem, these days, and it wouldn’t take the exchange of too many words to make its lyrics wholly applicable to the political mayhem that troubles so many U.S. citizens today.

We all know that our Constitution and Bill of Rights are being trammeled by various groups, including the federal government and numerous state governments. I would hazard to guess that most law-abiding citizens are very frustrated with the present situation, some having the urge to either flee the more troubled areas of our modern society, or to become very confrontational with those who have so violated our Founding Principles. The feeling of oppression is growing so strong, for some, that it is as if they are being required to choke on the situation, that the offenders might be rid of the rest of us. Yet, “We, The People”, are expected to just swallow it and give the offenders our blessing for their grievous infringements upon our Rights.

We all know that something needs to be done to turn public apathy and government abuse around, to restore the constitutional way of doing things. I could go on a rabbit-trail about various positive things that are being done by numerous groups across our State and Nation, but the reader can do a web search to find those positive efforts, if a little wisdom, discretion, and diligence are applied. For the moment, I’ll focus on the urge to escape, that is so often a topic of conversation.

There are many citizens who talk more and more about “lines in the sand”, and what they plan to do if certain legislation is passed, or not rescinded, or if certain persons are elected or not elected to office. When we are extremely frustrated and unable to accomplish what we want, our first natural inclination may be to either try to tear down that with which we are frustrated, or we may seek to flee the situation altogether. Virtually all citizens, with whom I speak of our present constitutional crisis, want to see our State and Nation restored to constitutional government, yet, the inclination to flee from constitutional infringements is what I often hear mentioned in various settings.

The urge to flee from trouble is both natural and wholly understandable. Most of our forefathers fled some unpleasant situation or other, in their former lands, in order to come to this continent. So, we’re not talking about any new human urge, here.

What is very important about this situation is the desperation with which people, today, speak of their dissatisfaction with government, and their desire to get away from it because they often feel as if they are powerless to change an out-of-control government. The People often express a very strong urge to leave governmentally oppressive areas that deny them their full constitutional Rights. Yet, the question arises, as in that old song, to what place can they or we all run, to get away from those political infringements and oppression?

What place is left, in the whole world, where people can freely associate within the laws of decency and morality as was established by our Constitution and Bill of Rights? I think that we must rationally answer that there are no longer any earthly places for us to run or hide. If we give up our fight here and abandon one state, will not the oppression and trouble follow us, even as a recurring nightmare? While we may, now, consider one state to be less oppressive than another in our Nation, yet we must also honestly face the fact of how little most citizens participate in warding off the offensive infringements from which we may want to flee.

Given the general lack of citizen participation in constructive and formative discussions and political developments, plus the despondent and fractious voter turnout that barely tips the activity meter, why are we surprised when special interest groups and unconstitutional governmental actions are brought to bear upon the average law-abiding citizen. When citizens neglect to participate in the process and neglect to vote according to our Constitution, why are we surprised when the violators and infringement specialists win the battles? We should not be any more surprised with that fact than when wolves or coyotes scatter a flock of sheep, then maim or kill whichever sheep they desire. So it is, today, with U.S. politics. Again…. Still….

Now, if we stood and fought like a water buffalo herd, instead of scattering like half-witted sheep, that would bring serious cause for concern to those who seek to deprive us of our Rights, for water buffalo are known to take on several attacking lions, when in defense of their own herd.

If we, sheepishly, flee our present domain to personally avoid the ravages of outrageous and overbearing government and its cronies, we then will have contributed to their ravages, as they enslave, rape, and pillage the countryside. We will have made their conquest easier and more fruitful, simply because we will have chosen to run away instead of standing and resisting their evil.

It is not that I find fault with those who earnestly desire to flee, but that I commend all who resist the evils of this world. It is not that I condemn those who are afraid of confronting the evil head-on, but rather that I praise those who do what is right to fight against evil, in spite of their fears. Courage is not a lack of fear, but courage is simply doing what is right in spite of all risk to self, in spite of circumstances. If no one resists evil, then evil flourishes unrestrained. When any of us resist evil, then evil does not get to prosper as much as it desires. With each person who resists evil and stands up for right (and for our constitutional way that our Founders gave to us), then evil will be increasingly frustrated and pushed back toward the darkness from where it came.

Yes, there are financial, moral, and unconstitutional violations that attack us and our society. But, with work and cooperation among those of us who choose to remain and fight those evils, we can all contribute our resolve and means to curtail evil’s work in our State and our Nation. Instead of fleeing now, then hiding and waiting elsewhere for evil to hunt us down again, let us, instead, stay, stand, fight, and work to do the good that evil hates. Let us strive, let us labor to restore our constitutional form of government that so upsets the selfish dreams of the workers of evil. But, in order to be able to resist evil, we must stay, and we must stand together against the evil that attacks.