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If you keep on keeping on, your legacy is to pass down a controlled and regulated life to the next generation. Your legacy is to tuck tail and drink and screw when the going gets tough. Makes for a good story but is selfish without virtue.
Americans have been keeping on since 1803, when the Supreme Court declared itself able to interpret what was and was not constitutional. That had a major effect on checks and balances.
The previous generation to you kept keeping on. The generation previous to mine voted Dubya into office, allowed the USAPATRIOT Act to be passed, supported war on countries with dubious ties to terror, countries we had supported in the past, countries we worked with to make chemical weapons. My generation reelected Dubya, allowed the continuing of the USAPATRIOT Act, allowed the troop surge, elected Obama (twice) and did just about diddly to prevent the growth of the NSA.
Everything we consent to, every search we allow, every increase in governmental regulatory power we say yes to, has far-reaching consequences. We still suffer from the choices our great-great-grandparents made, and their parents before them. I'm not asking anyone to be selfless in their support of smaller government, I'm asking them to be as selfish as possible- after all, is not your life the one of utmost import to you?
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