Right Turn from the Left Lane

The ancient Egyptians enslaved Israelites unleashing the wrath of Almighty God. But they worshiped cats.

Perhaps they understood, unlike our modern pharaohs… nobody owns cats.

Dogs have owners
Cats have staff
(…or so says Mittens’ embroidered throw)

Cats are Bed & Breakfast boarders at best. They dine any time, nap anywhere, and purr beneath the moon to a Patsy Cline tune. They are self-grooming, self-governing, and always socially distant. Cats are the cowboys of the La-Z-Boy frontier.

Dogs are democrats.

But even with the lifting of medical martial law and dog owners dancing naked-face through the aisles of lettuce and grapes, everyone’s just a little too delirious with their refunded freedoms to see… we’re not as free as we used to be.

Well, what was the mask mandate but a human leash law?

No gatherings other than Sunday dinner, all workers reclassified into essential vs. non-essential based on their ability to fulfill the needs of the State, and of course you couldn’t go to school but you could burn one down.

Businesses closed
Travel suspended
Churches shuttered
No right to speak, worship, or assemble

And for refusing to wear your muzzle… No soup for you!

To borrow a bumper sticker: Covid control wasn’t about Covid. It was about control.

…Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of “Hey, y’all! Watch this!”

Everyone remembers the highlights, but Jefferson’s Declaration also warned of the threat to freedom beyond just Pharaoh:

“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers from the EPA, IRS, and OSHA to harass our people…”

So, we went to war with an unelected unaccountable King and his powdered wig bureaucrats for the right to be ruled by our unelected unaccountable neighbors and their lapdog democrats.

Apparently we lost.

Free men do not ask permission. Or forgiveness. And we’re either free or we’re dogs on a leash. Freedom cannot be licensed.

How many men are driving suspended, not for being bad drivers, but for being bad fathers? (Not that a license could transform Mr. Magoo into Mario Andretti but…) if a license, any license, can be revoked for shorting child support then what’s next?

Failure to fly the crayola flag?
Denial of a patron’s personal pronoun?
Singing Jesus Loves Me?

Tyranny is an zero-sum game: If the tyrant cannot control everything, in the end he controls nothing. The ultimate failure of every evil empire is their inability to herd cats.

If the State therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Unless, of course, a permit is required then please file your forms in triplicate.
John 8:36 ^{NKJ (Not the King James)}

Freedom and bureaucracy are oil and rust.

For tyranny to succeed, individual liberty must be surrendered to the selfish whims of everybody else. And everything must be licensed by the State. Except cats.

Just kidding.

It’s just that cats, unlike the rest of us, refuse to be enslaved by Pharaoh.

Jefferson’s self evident truth declared freedom to be an inalienable gift of the Creator. Mittens understood this from Day Six. The rest of us… eh, we’re still unconvinced.

Free Parking
“Ride it like you stole it.” ^{Thomas Paine (sorta)}Well… he might have said it, had he opened a novelty t-shirt outlet.

Sons of Liberty
Be careful what you wish for. To borrow a bumper sticker quip: Covid-19 control isn’t about Covid-19. It’s about control.

^{Genesis 22:7} And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb? ⁸ And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb.

^{Isaiah 53:3} He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. ⁴ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. ⁵ He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

^{John 1:22} Who art thou? ²³ I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord. ²⁹ The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

^{John 10:9} I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. ^{John 10:1} He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. ^{John 10:10} The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. ¹¹ I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

^{Isaiah 53:6} All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

^{Luke 24:7} The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

^{Matthew 27:11} And [Pilate] asked him: Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. ³¹ and led him away to crucify him.

^{Luke 23:33} And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him. ^{Mark 15:27} And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left. ²⁸ And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith… ^{Isaiah 53:12} He was numbered with the transgressors.

^{Luke 23:34} Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.

^{Luke 23:39} And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. ⁴⁰ But the other rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? ⁴¹ And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. ⁴² And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. ⁴³ And Jesus said unto him, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ^{Romans 5:8}

^{John 3:16} For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

^{John 20:1} The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away. ¹⁵ Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. ¹⁶ Jesus saith unto her, Mary.

^{John 14:6} I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. ²⁷ Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

The Cry of the Rocks
Truth can be ignored but cannot be made untrue. Truth just is, even if held by just one. One plus God.