“We've had a string of embezzlers, frauds, liars, and lunatics making a string of catastrophic decisions. This is plain fact. But who elected them? It was you! You who appointed these people! You who gave them the power to make your decisions for you!” – V for Vendetta
Vowing to return the United States to its pre-COVID economic vitality, the Biden Administration has failed spectacularly. With inflation at its highest rates in 40 years, the cost of gas and fuel exploding, college tuition and school debt soaring, and an economy still 8 million jobs short of 2020 levels, the promised turnaround has not, and will not, materialize under current policies.
Violence, too, is on the rise with twelve cities (including Philadelphia, Portland, and Austin) smashing longstanding homicide rates. New York City has seen its overall crime climb by 50 percent in the past year alone. On the national front, the Department of Homeland Security continues its funding of surveillance cameras across the country, while the ACLU recently filed suit over the department’s purchasing of cellphone location data to track its citizens.
Vapid acceptance of these and other self-sabotaging policies only further weakens our already economic and cultural decline. Adding to this vacuum of liberty is a lack of resistance to our disappearing rights and attacks on our privacy. To catch a glimpse of our future should we continue down this road, is the following fictional account of the dystopian tale of overreaching government.
“V for Vendetta”, is the 2006 graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, crafted after a comic that originated in 1982. It is a story of anarchy over fascism, in the futuristic state of the United Kingdom. Following a nuclear war, chaos, and urban decay lead to a fascist solution buoyed by a police state. “V”, a revolutionary, exacts revenge for a previous detention and looks to free his nation from the authoritarians who imprisoned him. A movie by the same name was also released in 2006 with slight plot changes.
Victimized by an experiment gone bad, “V” fights to free himself from his captors by creating his own brand of lawlessness. A faceless hero, “V” becomes a symbol of both destroyer and creator, tearing down the old before he can make room for the new. Along the way, he gains the support of the people, who secretly grow into a resistance faction, as he leads a widespread protest against tyranny.
Vital to a free country is the independence to do as one pleases. Individual dissidents can be silenced forever, but as “V” ultimately proves, ideas are bulletproof and will spread like wildfire when the desire to reach a worthy end overcomes fear. Then for everyone that dies, multitudes more are raised.
Valiant resistors who have nothing to lose, are the most dangerous and necessary people in the world. And while modern America may seem in many ways like the fascist government of futuristic Britain in “V for Vendetta”, there is still time to take her back. We must begin by withholding our approval because it is we who allowed this evil to flourish.
“Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly. It is mine to avenge; I will repay” - Deuteronomy 32:35. Choose to live as you want or choose to return to your chains. The moment is ours.
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