An Army of White Knights

by: Stephen Palmer Saturday, March 14th, 2009

My wife and I just watched the latest Batman movie, Dark Knight. We found it disturbing on many levels and for many reasons.

However, I did extract a few lessons that are applicable to America today.

Lesson #1: Be the Hero

The entire movie revolves around two “heroes,” Batman and Harvey Dent, trying to save Gotham City.

Batman, of course, is the “Dark Knight,” the “silent protector” who can get away with things that others can’t. But he’s tired and wants to hand the reins over to someone with a face. That someone is Harvey Dent, the honorable District Attorney referred to as the “White Knight.”

For over two and a half hours I wondered, “Where the heck are all the citizens?” Here’s the basic plot: two good guys battling against a horde of bad guys who are holding the city hostage. Mind you, Gotham City has a population of 30 million.

I don’t know what disgusts me more — the fact that none of them rise up and fight, or that they are portrayed this way by Hollywood. In any case, it’s stupid.

But then again, we humans are prone to do stupid things. In America, we’re about 300 million strong. And how many of us are sitting on our butts waiting for Barack Obama/Congress/corporations/institutions/whatever to save us?

Barack Obama is no Batman, and America isn’t Gotham City (at least not yet). Be the hero everyone is waiting for. Raise a healthy family. Teach your children the Constitution. Pay off your debts. Serve in your community. Become self-reliant. Run for political office. Hold your elected officials accountable. Share the Constitution with your family, friends, and neighbors.

Do all in your power to spread truth and light and fight against darkness and falsehood.

Lesson #2: Democracy Is Insane

In one scene, the people are evacuating the city in boats because of threats made by the Joker. Two boats are crossing the river when they’re stopped due to prior rigging by the Joker. One boat is full of convicted criminals from prisons, and the other is full of “good” citizens.

The Joker tells them over the loudspeaker that he’s going to conduct a “social experiment.” Both boats have been rigged to explode by a detonator. Each boat has the detonator for the other boat. The Joker tells them that if one of them blows up the other boat, they’ll be saved. If neither of them blow up each other, then he’s going to blow both of them up at midnight (they have about 15 minutes to choose).

So how do the “good” citizens attempt to solve the problem? They cast a vote. As if their stupid, blind, selfish, ugly, and insanely wrong votes have any bearing whatsoever in natural law that gives them any shred of intrinsic authority.

I know Dark Knight is just a movie, but this type of thinking permeates American political discourse and policy. We think that we can take whatever we want from whomever we want just because we have a majority vote.

The old saying, “Might makes right” was used in reference to powerful tyrants. In democracy, the saying can be altered to “Majority makes right.” Of course, in both cases it’s a ridiculous concept. Right is right regardless of power or popularity. Majority vote doesn’t necessarily make right, but it often makes stupid.

The Rise of the White Knights

Here’s a novel idea: What if common citizens stopped waiting for heroes to save them? What if they saved themselves instead, and in the process cast off the shackles of corporate and institutional dependence?

What if instead of waiting for one “White Knight” we all became white knights in the pursuit of freedom and justice, truth and light? What if we studied our heritage and realized that democracy is the worst form of government and that there are reasons why our Founders formed a constitutional republic?

What if the “good” guys ran for political office, then did what was right regardless of what the people told them through polling data?

What if we studied natural law and tried to conform our lives to it, rather than trying to shape existence according to our whims and selfish desires?

I don’t know about you, but I’m not waiting around for “Batman” and/or “Harvey Dent” to make things all better. I’m no superhero, but I’m proud to call myself a common citizen. And I’m going to do what common citizens of a Republic ought to do…

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Stephen Palmer is a book writer for mission-driven leaders, a small business lead generation website design architect and persuasive website copywriter, a co-founder of The Center for Social Leadership, and the author of Uncommon Sense: A Common Citizen’s Guide to Rebuilding America.