It’s getting hot in here!

by BRIAN LOCKHART

There is an old fable of sorts about a frog in boiling water that is meant as a warning for a person's inability to see, or lack of awareness, of a rising threat.

The frog is placed in a bowl of water that is heated over a period of time. Because the temperature rises so slowly, the little amphibian doesn't realize how warm it is becoming.

It gets hotter and hotter, and when the water reaches a boiling point, it is too late, and the frog dies without realizing the growing threat that ended its life.

Obviously, you can't take this moral fable all that seriously as a tale. Any normal frog would just hop out of the bowl when the water temperature became uncomfortable. He's a frog, not a snail, so animal rights activists don't have to worry about this.

However, the slow-moving threat is very real in our everyday lives and citizens in this country are starting to respond.

Once again, the federal government is going after legal gun owners, banning more firearms and starting buy-back programs, while at the same time giving illegal gun owners a slap on the wrist for gun crimes.

Legal gun owners do not cause problems. Criminals with illegal guns do cause problems.

Just ask any police officer how he feels when called to an area where there is a possibility some thug has a pistol stuck in his waistband.

However, the courts and the federal government continually go after those who lawfully own guns and follow the laws about the use and storage of firearms.

If you think being disarmed isn't a big deal, do some research on 20th century world history and see how many hundreds of millions of people were killed by world governments after disarming the population.

I could print some of that history here, but the list is too long.

The water is also getting a little too warm when it comes to free speech. Laws and more laws are being made around ‘hate speech.'

Hate speech is difficult to define. What may be considered ‘hateful' to some may be seen as just bad social form to someone else.

It is the fact that speech is being attacked at all is the scary part. Imagine being charged and jailed for having an opinion?

You can be charged, and rightfully so, for threatening someone, however, having a different opinion should not ever land someone behind bars.

I noticed there is a growing number of groups that are trending across the country that are now starting a movement to restore our nation to what it was, and should be.

I've monitored some of these groups quite closely, just as an interest. I've never seen any notion of violence, threatening behaviour, or illegal activity.

They are just citizens who want the government to listen to them. They are tired of the water being heated and want the heat turned off.

Talking to many people over the past couple of years, I've noticed that there are many people who feel the same way. They will speak about it in private, but not publicly, because they know that announcing a public opinion could get you labelled as ‘phobic', ‘fascist,' or the popular ‘nazi.'

I'm sure a lot of people who use those terms don't even know what they mean.

I was at a small gathering a few years ago. There was one woman there who was actually a very friendly and pleasant person.

She was a bit of an activist of sorts, and I think her one flaw was that she would spend too much time in a social setting telling everyone of her political views. Most people I know didn't appreciate that.

She made a reference to a person, and followed up by saying, ‘He's a nazi.'

I couldn't let that slide, and said ‘You mean he's a member of a political party?'

She replied, ‘No, not a political party, he's a nazi.'

I chose not to point out her error.

Many people are not happy with the current situation, both economically and socially in the country.

These new groups at least intend to have a voice and make our politicians listen to them rather than towing the line and being afraid to speak up and agree that we have to get a grip and keep our cultural integrity intact.

If the water does start to boil, it will be too late.