Posts

We’re Here!: Freedom Is Just A Generation Away From Extinction

/in , /by

Is it just me, or does it seem as though very few people truly want to be free? Not just in America, but in the countries of Europe as well.  More and more people seemingly want to be ruled and governed by someone or something else, surrender personal responsibility, and allowing someone or something else to determine their success or failure, willfully surrendering their freedoms and liberties.

In 1993 28 nations of Europe literally erased their national borders and identity to become a superstate, the European Union, headquartered in Brussels, by which 19 nations surrendered their national currencies to be under one monetary system, the Euro. But the shot that rung out throughout the European continent on June 23 was that a majority of British Citizens still stubbornly cling to the notion of Britons determing the lives, the destiny, and the politics of Briton, and not some faceless unelected group of politicians thousands of miles beyond the English Channel.

But, the real story is the most troubling. The division amongst those of the British older generation and that of the youth, and those with a formal education and those without, was laid bare for all the world to see1. The younger generation, those under 60 y/o particularly, and those with at least a formal university level education greatly favored to remain having their lives and politics being ruled by a government centered in Brussels, as opposed to those who wanted to regain British independence from European dictates.

I believe that a very similar production of events is set to play out here in America in just a couple of months with the U.S Presidential elections, but with more dire ramifications for the world, no matter the outcome. The presumptive Republican nominee has unapologetically tapped into an emotionally charged mantra, “Make America Great Again.” Alluding to a vow to return the country to the glory of some 60 years past, when the United States and America were in their prime and dominance – politically socially, economically, and internationally. Just as with the Pro-Brexiters, Trump’s main campaign pillar is to stop in the flood of unassimilated low skilled and low educated immigrants into the country that is not being voted on locally, but being dictated by the central government in D.C onto the several states.  And so too, as with Briton, those who are supporting Trump’s message are those over 45 and 60 y/o and without a formal university education2.

But, I believe that the U.S elections have less to do with the two main actors than the audience and supporters that they garner, and future of the ideal of freedom, both as a nation and as individual citizens. Neither candidate is promising less government. Neither candidate subscribes to strict Constitutional principles nor interpretation. Lease of the two is Mrs. Hillary Clinton, the Democrat nominee. She blatantly wants the federal seat to dictate and govern the lives of Americans and U.S Citizens and grotesquely expand the size and reach of the government. Whereas Mr. Trump just believes his version of an over-baring federal government will be better.

The concerning point of both of these pivotal events to me is that no one seems to care that the majority of the youth of the two nations that were founded upon and greatly influenced by the Magna Carta, Great Briton and the United States of America, respectively, a fundamental document protecting the rights and liberties of the individual against the power of the absolute king, or government. A youth population that apparently sees no problem with giving the king, i.e. the government, absolute power over their lives again, in fact they are begging for it.

Former president Ronald Reagan prophetically stated, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream.”

Due to 60 plus years of federal governmental indoctrination via the it’s control of the nation’s educational systems, in both England and America, has developed in the minds of those without any true reference nor reverence of a time of a less imposing central government influence and a time in which individualism and self-rule were proud and indistinguishable traits of both nation’s people, but in particular for America, the notion that government is good and bigger government is better.  There used to be a time that the very word socialism or communism were repugnant to Americans consciousness without reservation.  But in a recent Gallup Poll, astonishingly 55% of Americans between 18 and 29 y/o favored socialism3. But yet, that same group has a largely favorable view of capitalism, entrepreneurism, free enterprise, and small business; all of which greatly struggles, or dies, under a socialist economic system. As evidenced by the fact that America is less than 300 y/o, founded on capitalism and entrepreneurism, has been out performing economically the whole of Europe, whose societies have been in existence for centuries. It is the belief that Europe could better economically compete with America if they joined into one superstate was the main mantra for the creation of the European Union in the first place. How is that working for them?

But what may not be so surprising is that when a “Millennial” [those born around 1980] is asked to define socialism, they can’t4. The U.S government education system does not teach the differences of the world’s economic system, capitalism, socialism, and communism, as it once did. It certainly doesn’t teach of the superiority of American capitalism over any other economic system.  So is it not the fault of the parents in particular, and those of us who are 40 y/o and older who have willingly abnegated our responsibility to teach the children the differences? I say very much so.

Reagan said it right, freedom is not passed through the bloodstream. It is taught. It cannot be defended nor keep without knowing and understanding the difference between freedom and servitude; Just as a young lion has to be taught the differences between a gazelle and a hyena. And also just as Mr. Reagan most correctly stated regarding freedom, “It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”

The reason that it seems as though so many of the younger generation, as well as the old, in Briton and more importantly here in America, and that we have reached the point that we have lost reverence for the very ideal of freedom and personal liberty, both young and old, is because we have lost the true knowledge of what being free actually is.  My question is, if we as the older generation cannot, or won’t, teach the younger generation what freedom is, in the country that made the word freedom into an action verb and a noun for the world to aspire to, and men and women have giving their lives for the sake of it, then who will future historians blame?

 

1)  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/24/eu-referendum-how-the-results-compare-to-the-uks-educated-old-an/

2)  http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/the-trumpian-coalition/481272/

3)  http://www.gallup.com/poll/191354/americans-views-socialism-capitalism-little-changed.aspx

4)  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-millennials-socialism-bernie-sanders-20160513-column.html

 

 

America: The Land of the Dependent?

/2 Comments/in /by

Barack ObamaWell it is official, the Progressives, with the enthusiastic aid of Mr. Obama, have placed the American people on the single lane road towards the end of America as we have known it. Last week the Congressional Budget Office [C.B.O] issued the report that many of those economically attuned intuitively knew of Obamacare, that it would not only increase medical cost and increase the ranks of the uninsured, but also increase the ranks of the unemployed and incentivize the aversion to working and drive more citizens to become dependent on the government for a living. America will no longer be the land of the “free” but of the dependent. CNBC reported that the C.B.O “citing new estimates that the Affordable Care Act will cause a larger-than-expected reduction in working hours—eliminating the equivalent of about 2.3 million workers in 2021…the A.C.A will reduce the total number of hours worked, on net, by about 1.5 to 2 percent during the period from 2017 to 2024, almost entirely because workers will choose to supply less labor.” And to lay open the naked intellectually strained logic of the Administration, the immediate scripted response from Mr. O’s supporting cast was, as reported by Washington Post’s Dana Milbank, Gene Sperling, Obama’s top economic-policy adviser said, “When you have two parents and they’re both working full-time to provide health care and they don’t feel they’re there to do homework with their kids and this allows one of [them] to work a little less because they have health care, that’s not costing jobs,” Jason Furman, head of the Council of Economic Advisers, “said that the Act “couldn’t possibly be a job killer because 8.1 million jobs had been created since it became law…the report “is subject to misinterpretation, doesn’t take into account every factor, and there’s uncertainty and debate around it.” Congressman Van Hollen said “The Affordable Care Act does end that job lock”…“It allows Americans to choose to spend more time with their family or pursue their dreams.”Their reaction is like the fireman coming up to you, after sitting the fire to your home, telling you that since your house has burnt down you longer have to worry about cutting the grass or painting the shingles.

The government’s take over of over 5% of the nation’s economy in one such as ours that was specifically designed for it [the government] to be limited and unintrusive in the lives of the American citizen, coupled with the growing illiteracy amongst the populace regarding basic civics and the fundamental pillars upon which the nation have rested for more than 200 years, individual self-governance, an intellectually politically engaged/aware populace, and a government restrained by the first two pillars, spelled doom for the nation from the outset.

Like most Progressives of the past Mr. O claims to be looking out for the little man and the middle-class. But, in fact his policies work for the exact opposite benefit. According to the Heritage. Org. Report, Five Health Care Takeaways from C.B.O’s Report, “Spending for major health care programs will be nearly 5 percent of GDP [gross domestic product] in 2013, and such spending is projected to grow rapidly when provisions of [Obamacare] are fully implemented by mid-decade, reaching 6.2 percent of GDP in 2023.” Which means that the government will be siphoning more money out of the economy that could be used by the private sector and go into our pockets to spend as we chose. The Week.com reported in January, “according to Forbes, for a 40-year-old, the 2013 average deductible was $4,045, and the monthly cost increased 29 percent to $309…. a 64-year-old man, the monthly cost of a plan with a $3,494 deductible increased 64 percent to $806.” And it stated what should be instinctively obvious to everyone, “Consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of the nation’s GDP, although experts say that number is likely to decline.” Why? Because simply the money that used to circulate in the economy to buy night outs, trips, groceries, cars, and such, are now going to the government, via healthcare premiums. But with fewer hours available to be worked, less people wanting to work, less people will be freely spending money. And to dispel  a grossly false popular notion, the government can not produce wealth nor grow wealth.  It can only take from one pocket to put into that of another. The American middle class Median household income is lower than it was five years ago. Only the top 5 percent of households have seen their incomes rise under President Obama, according to Real Clear Politics.com.  So look for your standard of living to diminish greatly.

Adlai E. Stevenson, the 23rd Vice President of the United States, once said, “A hungry man is not a free man.” Even the most passive observer viewing the landscape of today’s America sees that freedom is on the endangered list. You see people literally existing paycheck to paycheck, more citizens receiving Food Stamps than a check from a job, that there is approx. over 91 Million citizens not working today, and that the U.S government’s debt has sky-rocketed over $6 Trillion under Obama’s reign. As stated in the 2013 Index of Dependence on Government, “America is increasingly moving away from a nation of self-reliant individuals, where civil society flourishes, toward a nation of individuals less inclined to practicing self-reliance and personal responsibility. Government programs not only crowd out civil society, but too frequently trap individuals and families in long-term dependence, leaving them incapable of escaping their condition for generations to come.” If a man is solely concentrated on his stomach or where or how he is going to live, he is far less concerned of the chains that being placed about his ankles.

Contrary to popular appearances, it’s not all about Mr. Obama. He’s just the man who is the face of these disastrous economic policies.  He’s the man who unlike any prior man to sit in the seat of the President of the United States has no true sentimental reservation to completely reform the very psychology of a nation that used to be grounded in Christendom, a nation that used to believe inevitably in the value of hard work, and a nation that strove to be exceptional to all others. Today we are a nation more religiously secular, a more dependent-minded people than ever, and more of a feminist culture that looks to be coddled and protected, even at the expense of everything that we as Americans once held dearest – freedom.

America unlike any other nation was not wired to be socialists, communists, nor regardless of popular notions, a democracy. Government security was never meant to be the surrogate to one’s personal responsibilities. The promised Republican form of government was meant to rely on the free-minded liberties of the individual. Not of the collective. And certainly not to rely on the benevolence of the government. But, as more and more of us have chosen to surrender our responsibilities to govern ourselves accordingly, the government has taken the opportunity to relieve us of that burden.

The government is a reflection of us. We as a nation have come to this point not within a matter of days, months, but generations. We as individuals have become unwilling to take responsibilities for our bad choices, both personally and financially. So the government reflects our behavior. The passage of the Affordable Care Act [Obamacare] was passed into law by the Democratic Party majority of both houses of the Congress. The majority of the nations citizens re-elected the man who was and is the face of it to be President – Mr. Obama. And the Progressives, on both sides of the isle, have worked to keep government expanding more and more, with only a vague genuine protest from the majority of the electorate.  This is the consequence of a Democracy, where in the wake of the mis-guided actions of the majority, it is often the freedoms and liberties of the minority.  In a Democracy where the majority wishes to forsake the burden of personal responsibility, the end has been revealed to us by history; “In the end, more than freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all — security, comfort, and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.”, said Edward Gibbon, 1700’s English historian, and author of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Eventually the dues will have to be paid by us all.

Do Americans Truly Care About Freedom Anymore?

/in /by

Yes we have reached another Memorial Day Celebration, and soon it will be time to Celebrate our nation’s independence. But, as I look around I must seriously question do we as Americans truly care about what is freedom? What makes our nation so exceptional and great? Or do many of us ever honestly and truly stop to comprehend and appreciate the significance of either.

We often hear the it said how it is the United States military that fights to defend our freedoms. But I believe that an argument can be made the it is the American people who have fought and daily fight to defend our freedoms and liberties individually. From the Revolutionary War to the present it has been each individual American who fights to protect their freedoms and liberties from all threats, both foreign and domestic.

But, here are some disturbing, and curious, recent poll results;

What may be even more telling of our extreme misplacement of national priorities according to Pew Research more Americans care more about the discovery of four Cleveland, Ohio women who were supposedly held captive for more than 10 yrs than about the economy [28%], or the Benghazi [23%] or I.R.S corruption hearings [20%]. While the Cleveland women story attracted a whopping 40% of the populace attention.

I’m confused, how can nearly half of Americans favor restricting Constitutional protected rights for some Americans, whether it be to forbid one’s ability to protect themselves, or stop one from speaking or doing something that you may not like, or the confiscation of one’s property to be given to another, and yet believe in the Constitution? And the fact that an astounding number of us do not know how America became America, particular regarding the next generation, is more concerning. But, it somewhat makes since when I see that more Americans care about the rescue of four women in Ohio whose lives will have absolutely no consequential effect on anyone elses  lives but those directly connected to them then whether or not we are being governed by a U.S Administration who consciously left Americans to be slaughtered in Libya and uses the federal governments powers, via the I.R.S, to intimidate Americans based on their political preference, and that has developed a culture of extreme indifference to the American people and the Constitution.

If you were to ask a hundred people to defined what freedom is to them you will more likely to get a hundred different answers. More than likely it will center around their self-interest, not how it affects freedom and liberties as a whole. Its getting so that many of us say its ok to take someone else’s rights and liberties, but leave mines alone. It brings to mind a famous quote of World War 2 period German pastor Martin Niemöller when he said, “First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist; Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist; Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

So too many of us today have a severely contorted notion that everything is a “right”- I have a “right” to healthcare, a “right” to education, a “right” to fresh air, or I have a “right” to be prosperous. This just clearly proves that there is a critical defect in the education and comprehension of the true principles of the Constitution for too many of us. Basically a true right is something that we already posses or can do without taking the same from another. Period. But, if we are someone who has a distorted or misunderstood view of freedom and rights than we may also not realize that the true threat to our rights, liberties, and freedoms comes from not without our nations borders, but from within, by us. Couple that with the insatiable thrust for power and control of the government, we have BIG problem. The biggest threat to our freedoms comes from us not knowing what they truly are and understanding that the confiscation or restriction of one American’s Constitutionally protected rights or liberties is a threat to those protections for us all.  Lets remember, the Constitution places limits not on we the people, but the government.

Furthermore, if the government should ever become so brazenly careless and arrogantly dismissive with its constitutional relations and obligations, and even more so with its relations to the American people it is the responsibility of each and every one of us to know to check it and correct it. But, that task becomes most problematic when we are ignorant of what is the proper role and functions and the what limits of the government are. Frankly stated, if we do not know what the government is supposed to be doing, how can know when it is doing what it should not be doing? If we do not know our nation’s history of how we became what we are, what makes us what we are, or the reason why we are truly an exceptional nation, how can you be expected to effectively defend those values and principles? And if we do not know what our inalienable rights and liberties truly are, how can be we honestly boast or celebrate that we have them or know when they are being taken away? It becomes a deceitful and hollow charade if freedom and liberty is not grounded by truth, education, and moral principles. As Founder Samuel Adams prophetically stated, “No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders.”

Have The American People Gone Too Far Forsaking Liberty?

/in /by

Congressman Ron Paul during his farewell speech to the Congress made some very provocative points that should give anyone who truly loves this nation serious pause regarding the path that we now find ourselves as a nation that was established to be the model of individual freedom and liberty.  Two statements he made that caught my eye were, “I have thought a lot about why those of us who believe in liberty, as a solution, have done so poorly in convincing others of its benefits. If liberty is what we claim it is- the principle that protects all personal, social and economic decisions necessary for maximum prosperity and the best chance for peace- it should be an easy sell. Yet, history has shown that the masses have been quite receptive to the promises of authoritarians which are rarely if ever fulfilled.” and, “The Founders were convinced that a free society could not exist without a moral people.  …Today the rule of law written in the Constitution has little meaning for most Americans”   Irregardless of what you may think of the messenger, the message itself  is troubling.

First, why is the message of liberty today not solidly embraced in today’s America, while at the same time many of us stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, wave “Ol’ Glory, and give lip service to its ideals?  Today there are more citizens receiving some form of assistance from the federal government, i.e., Social Security, Food Stamps, and Medicare.   Too many people are more willing to take a hand out rather that a hand up. With Obamacare, the government is now able to regulate or control every aspect of a citizen’s life.  During the past 12 plus years the government has expand to  unprecedented scales and during this recession government  jobs have greatly expanded, while those in the private sector have done so in the reverse.   The citizens of the United States and America have chosen to elect the most liberally social and economic minded man to be president ever who espouses nothing other than greater government, less individual liberty, and give to those simply based on their need and to take from those based on their ability, twice.  Group identity has surpassed individual identity in the consciousness of many Americans, whether it is based on sexual orientation, ethnicity, age, gender, or income. Such ideals are intellectually repugnant to the very principles of our nation’s founding.  In fact, today to even be so bold as to claim one’s liberties recognized in the Constitution as superior to any claim by a group or quote any of the Founders risk being seen as a radical, extremist, anti-diversity, anti-government, or anything short of a child of God.  The very concept of freedom and liberty has become an extreme psychological burden to many.

There was even actually an open conversation on The CBS Good Morning program last month by a so-called professor talking about honestly doing away with parts of the Constitution because they are not “inspiring” and equating the Founders with the U.N and France.  Really?  I have actually had heated discussions with people  over the issue of gun control. They questioned the need for anyone to have military-styled weapons or any amount of guns that they deemed excessive.  My response to them was it is the constitutionally protected right for any American to have as many guns as he wants. Period! Just as every American has the right to smoke as many cigarettes as her or she chooses, or anything else for that matter, gorge himself on fast foods, or spend all of his money on scratch-off lottery tickets, so long as it does not interfere with nor infringe upon my rights and liberties.  That is the truest and should be the easiest concept of freedom to understand.  Shouldn’t it?

America is no longer the freest nation economically, we’re 10th behind nations such as Chile, Hong Kong, and Mauritius, and we have more people in correctional institutions than Communist China or Russia.  Both of these issues are symptomatic of an underlined debasement of our nation’s moral compass and refusal of too many of us to embrace the weight of the responsibility that comes with personal liberties and freedoms.  To borrow a line from Spiderman, “with great power, comes great responsibility.”

America was to be the shining light of freedom on the hill for all those seeking such to be guided.  There is no greater power than that of a free individual, a sovereign.  But, yes too there is no greater responsibility than that which is applied to that individual. Ben Franklin prophetically stated, “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.” 

But just as one may disclaim, so too can he reclaim.  Many of us have forgotten or have never been introduced to the greatness of our nation’s Constitution and founding documents and principles, so we know not what it is that is to be our birthrite and that has made us uniquely exceptional to other nations. Thus we lack the true significance of our incrementally forsaking our birthrite of liberty.  But, it is up to us to reclaim, to become reintroduced, or to become educated to what it is to be free. To question with stern boldness what direction those entrusted with the nation’s governance.  And if it is not the Constitution and or the people that they receive their authority, it needs to be asked then by which do they? And then seek real change.  Or else remember another statement made by Congressman Paul, “Once government gets a limited concession for the use of force to mold people habits and plan the economy, it causes a steady move toward tyrannical government.”

I Don’t Know Of What U.S Constitution and America Obama Was Referring To In His Inaugural Address; Not That Anyone Really Cares. He Does Sound Good Don’t He?.

/in /by

Mr. Obama started in his inaugural speech by praising the strength of our nation’s Constitution. But, then he goes off on a tangent referring to things that have nothing to do with either our nation’s founding principles or founding documents; in particular the Declaration of Independence.

First, let’s give Mr. O credit for finally admitting that we Americans are exceptional.  But, we were NEVER promised a democracy.  If so then the word democracy would be found somewhere in the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence.  It is not!  But Article 3, Section 4 does guarantee us a “republican form of government.”   When he speaks of the patriots not fighting to replace tyranny of kings with the privileges of a few or mob rule, he sounds confused.  Because during the times of kings they were the government, and by definition mob rule is a democracy.  Of which he has shown by his actions that he wants nothing more than to greatly expand both infinitely.

When he says that, “we the people understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it.”  Was he referring to Communist China, the Soviet Union, North Korea, or some other such nation that he holds in suppressed honor and regard?  Because my recollection is that this nation has been the economic marvel that all others have driven to attempt to imitate and still today many of other nation’s citizens cross blistering deserts and shark-infested waters to be included in – illegally and legally.  And it has been the free-spirited individual’s ability to dream and work hard to achieve beyond his wildest dreams to become successful and wealthy.  History does tell us that it is when government expands and eats up more money in the economy, the soup lines expands amongst the people.  It is only most recently, in the past four years, that there are more Americans on welfare, on food stamps, and chronically unemployed and sitting idle, thus not being able to make it.  But, lets not let that get in the way of his story. An argument can be made that we are in the mist of a ’29 depression without the Media plastering pictures and news of it.

The main thing that I found fundamentally glaringly flawed from Mr. O’s speech is that though the Declaration does state that we are all CREATED equal, it doesn’t mean that we are all created to remain so.  And if that is the case, it is not the job of the government to then attempt to make us so.   As Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas have said that, “…America was founded on a philosophy of individual rights, not group rights.” and that, “Government cannot make us equal; it can only recognize, respect, and protect us as equal before the law.”

All throughout the speech it was all about what government should do.  Nothing was stated about the true meaning of the Declaration of Independence, individualism.  Much unlike JFK’s inaugural speech when he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country”, or Ron Reagan’s when he said, “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem…. We’ve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of government himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.”  Or even Jefferson’s speech at our nation’s infancy said, “Let us then, fellow citizens, unite with one heart and one mind, let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty, and even life itself, are but dreary things,” … “Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. … We are all Republicans. We are all Federalists.”

Our nation, even with its issues, corrections, and readjustments, as every other nation has had to some degree, has two things that separates us from all others and enables us to be truly exceptional; they are our Declaration of Independence and Constitution.  What those two documents so fervently proclaim is that it is the individual’s freedom to his life, his liberty, and thus the pursuit of his happiness – not necessarily the possession of it – that is paramount; not that of the collective.  For it is bestowed to him by the Creator.  And for that to be accomplished government must be small and most unintrusive.  It is the President who should wholesomely reflect, recite, and resemble these principles, and not attempt to us remake them in his own vision, image, or ideology that are intellectually repugnant to their very principles.  For it is those founding documents that can truly unite us and strengthen us if they are truthfully  implemented, applied, and understood as they were intended.  For it is those documents that make us Americans.