While I was typing
this title, I accidentally typed “fee” instead of “free the first time. It got
me thinking as I rested on the Memorial Day weekend.
I thought: are we
really free according to our Constitution or have we drifted from this ideal?
What’s free about us anymore? It seems like the government runs everything or
influences everything we do. For example, I read on the Drudge report that 49%
of Americans are on some sort of government assistance. That’s a lot of people.
In our own
personal lives, both of us have government jobs – my husband Bob and me. Both
of us had to pay lots of taxes when we owned our own business. We continue to
pay property taxes, sales taxes, income taxes, social security taxes and
licensing taxes now. Our car must be licensed, for example, through the tag and
we must pay for a driver’s license too. The government even determines who
should be married and who shouldn’t by issuing you a marriage license.
Now, they want to
run our lives through health care programs for everyone instead of only through
Medicare and Medicaid which are a bureaucratic maze of government regulations
I’m sure. We use the VA so we know what that’s like. And if
you have been reading my blog recently, you know how rough it is for students in
our government-funded schools to get a good education …
Is
this what our Founders intended?
I’ve read a book
named: “Liberty Defined: 50 Essential Freedoms.” I’m not going to tell you who
the author is until the end of this blog but I was very impressed by this man’s
knowledge of our history and culture. I was also impressed by his understanding
of basic human nature.
This
is what he said in five of ten principles of a free society. I will cover the
rest of them next time.
Here it goes: “Rights belong to individuals,
not groups; they derive from our nature and can neither be granted nor taken
away by the government. All peaceful, voluntary economic and social
associations are permitted; consent is the basis of the social and economic
order. Justly acquired property is privately owned by individuals and ownership
cannot be arbitrarily voided by governments. Government may not redistribute
private wealth or grant special privileges to any individual or group. Individuals
are responsible for their own actions; government cannot and should not protect
us from ourselves.”
The
parts here that are italicized are done that way because I did it. I want to
emphasize the fact that everyone wants to blame someone else any more instead
of taking responsibility for their own actions.
Our deficit is
getting bigger, for example, every day in spite of all the taxes the average
citizen pays. No one wants to take responsibility for getting rid of this huge
amount. We want to keep redistributing the wealth. Our government wants to keep
taking money from the rich and giving it to the poor. I propose that if we
really wanted to, we could dispose of the debt in a very short period of time..
I propose we could have bake sales, sell t-shirts and do other fun activities
like spaghetti dinners and fund-raisers to pay off the deficit. These would be
one-time, voluntary actions to begin to reverse it. However, I don’t know if we
care enough. Have we become such slaves and thralls of the State that we have
not an ounce of motivation left in our bloodstream? Do we really want liberty
or do we want more slavery? I think for the last 80 years this country has
drifted more towards slavery and less towards liberty. Remember, a rut is
similar to a grave and I wonder which one we are in. I want your thoughts on
this now. What do you think? Do you feel free or trapped and almost overwhelmed
by all of it?
Of course, as a
Christian, I know God is in control.. Do we act passively or actively in our
society? Do we let the ship of state sink or do we look for a real solution?
And by the way, my
author is….to be continued next week….
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