Let Freedom Ring?
Let Freedom Ring?
Lately there are many decrying our loss of freedom and liberty, and rightly so. I believe, however, that there are vast numbers of Americans who don’t really see it. They don’t make the connection between huge deficits, bailouts, nationalization and, God forbid, nationalized health care, and loss of freedom. Most understand their freedom at the level of their limited personal experience. We can still say what we want, we can still choose to go to McDonald’s or Burger King, drink Coke or Pepsi, watch American Idol or Grey’s Anatomy. We choose our hobbies, recreation and career and there is no government official overseeing those choices. So we must still be free, right?
Freedom, when we boil it down, is all about choices, specifically economic choices. As most of us learned in school, government run or not, people have basic needs. Food, water, shelter. We all need to either work to provide ourselves with those necessities, or con someone into providing them for us. Free people work for their sustenance. Our labor is our own and therefore the products of our labor are our own to dispose of as we see fit. So our first basic freedom is how we choose to spend our time working and at what. Unless we are operating at a subsistence level, producing everything we need for our own consumption, we are producing something that other people want so we can trade the product of our labor for theirs. We make something they want or need and trade it for something we want or need. This is basic capitalism and in pure capitalism there are no restrictions on the contracts between people when they trade the products of their time and labor. It is the freedom to produce anything in any manner and charge any price.
The only limitations are the ones set by the consumers, the person on the other end of the transaction. They have the freedom to accept or reject what is produced based on how it meets the needs or desires they have. This is the second basic freedom, that of the consumer. He has the freedom to choose between potentially unlimited options, among as many producers as there are. Therefore, producers are always seeking to create new, innovative products to entice the consumer their way. It is freedom and the profit motive that has made America the wealthy, technologically advanced nation it is. It has made us healthy and happy and seen each generation improve its lot over the one before.
That is all changing and this change has been going on for decades. Although President Obama and his cronies have accelerated the pace exponentially, the loss of freedom has been going on for some time. Some of it Americans have willingly embraced. We trade a large portion of the products of our labor (taxes) for inefficient services the government provides (social safety net). Sometimes we are scared into giving up choices like riding a bike without a helmet or eradicating malaria with DDT. Too often, however, choices, and therefore freedom, are taken from us and we are rarely aware of it. This is because the government does not hold out one thing in each had and say we cannot have the thing in the right hand. It only holds out one thing and says, this is all there is. What they really mean is, “This is the only choice we believe should be available to you because we are smarter and we know what is best”. This distorts the market and is ultimately harmful to the consumer because the availability of products is no longer made by the free choice of the consumer but by people with political considerations at the forefront. And we all know that political decisions are made not in the interests of the people but for the enhancement of the power of the state and its supporters.
Let us look at some examples. Right now the government takeover of GM is big news. The fact that government bureaucrats will be running that company with political, and not market, intentions means that the cars that are produced will be political statements. Between what the government will produce though GM and the CAFE standards and other regulations, soon we will no longer have a choice as to what we drive. I was going to say we could still choose the color of the limited models, all small and fuel efficient, but California wants to ban black cars in the name of the environment. The fact is that by limiting our choices to these small, light cars, thousands more people will be killed and severely injured on the roads each year. The consumer should have a choice between a large, safe car and a small fuel efficient car. If you want to do your part for the environment because you believe in global warming, go ahead, use the products of your labor to do so and risk your own life. Don’t force me to risk mine.
While we are on that subject, think of the push toward ethanol. By subsidizing and mandating ethanol use, the government has taken away more of your freedom to choose. Because ethanol is subsidized, it requires tax dollars. Because it is profitable under those subsidies to produce, land is diverted to its production which raised food prices. This means that less of the fruits of your time and production are available to be used for other things. You have lost the ability to choose to buy something because the government has taken more money through direct taxation and through the indirect taxes by causing a rise in prices through its policies. We could use sugar for ethanol like they do in Brazil. It is more efficient and cost effective but the sugar lobby, like the corn lobby, is a powerful one. These two lobbies are also why we use high fructose corn syrup in so many things instead of sugar. More choices lost.
While we are on the subject of food, consider the choices we have lost here. You think you can still eat what you want? No you can’t and more of those choices are being removed all the time. The coconut oil that once made great movie popcorn, you can’t have it any more. The way McDonald’s once made their fries so tasty, no more. The health nazis have been working to ban so many things it is amazing, yet because of political considerations the worst, like cigarettes, are not. That is because cigarettes are a cash cow for government and soon sugar will be too. The “fat tax” is coming and while you may still have the ability to choose Twinkies and Big Macs, its going to cost you. Because it does, you will lose the ability to choose other things because your finite resources will be stretched thin.
They will be stretched even thinner with “cap and trade” which will cause your energy prices to skyrocket. The point is that the government is forcing you to “choose” energy conservation by making it too expensive to be otherwise. Is that a real choice? Is this not all coercion? Finally, health care. One of our most basic freedoms is what we do with our own bodies. The government has begun regulating what we can put into it, now it will literally choose whether we live or die. Harbor no illusions. If we end up with a health care system like Canada, our choices will vanish. The government will decide what treatments are available and whether we are worth the expense. We will not have the ability to choose to go outside the system because it will be illegal. New, innovative treatments and drugs will not be produced because of the cost. What will we be thinking after we have traded our freedom in health care for the myth of government security and are lying in a hospital bed on death’s door because we are not deemed “worthy” of treatment or it was denied too long because of government red tape?
Most of the previous examples have been the government’s “carrot” approach among the “carrot and stick”. Increasingly, the government is taking away our choices with the stick as well. And the government has lots of sticks. The IRS has been strengthened to go after taxpayers here and abroad to make sure they are paying for all this stuff. The government has used intimidation to get what it wants. When the mob comes into a store and asks the owner for “protection money”, does the owner have a choice? Is it any different with the government? If an individual or business knows if they don’t contribute they will be subject to harassment from dozens or hundreds of tax and regulatory agencies, do they really have a choice? By forcing business into that box the government removes choices from all of us. None of this mentions the how the freedom of speech (first amendment) is under assault and the government intrusion into our private affairs (fourth amendment) is almost a given.
Freedom of choice in economic affairs is the foundation of all freedom. If that freedom has made us the healthiest and wealthiest nation on earth, the denial of that freedom will do just the opposite. We have lost so much already. What will it take for most American’s to wake up and see that all the restrictions places on them by their government are not for their benefit, it is for the government’s. If it makes our choices so costly, do we really have the freedom to choose at all? Do the majority of us really believe the government knows best or have we just been too lazy to care? We, as individuals, are the most qualified at determining what is best for ourselves. This nation was founded on the God given rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. For decades our government has regulated our pursuits, limited our liberty and made choices that determine the quality and length of our lives. Will it really take the government mandated closing of McDonald’s and cancellation of American Idol for the majority to see how far down this dark road we have come?
Lately there are many decrying our loss of freedom and liberty, and rightly so. I believe, however, that there are vast numbers of Americans who don’t really see it. They don’t make the connection between huge deficits, bailouts, nationalization and, God forbid, nationalized health care, and loss of freedom. Most understand their freedom at the level of their limited personal experience. We can still say what we want, we can still choose to go to McDonald’s or Burger King, drink Coke or Pepsi, watch American Idol or Grey’s Anatomy. We choose our hobbies, recreation and career and there is no government official overseeing those choices. So we must still be free, right?
Freedom, when we boil it down, is all about choices, specifically economic choices. As most of us learned in school, government run or not, people have basic needs. Food, water, shelter. We all need to either work to provide ourselves with those necessities, or con someone into providing them for us. Free people work for their sustenance. Our labor is our own and therefore the products of our labor are our own to dispose of as we see fit. So our first basic freedom is how we choose to spend our time working and at what. Unless we are operating at a subsistence level, producing everything we need for our own consumption, we are producing something that other people want so we can trade the product of our labor for theirs. We make something they want or need and trade it for something we want or need. This is basic capitalism and in pure capitalism there are no restrictions on the contracts between people when they trade the products of their time and labor. It is the freedom to produce anything in any manner and charge any price.
The only limitations are the ones set by the consumers, the person on the other end of the transaction. They have the freedom to accept or reject what is produced based on how it meets the needs or desires they have. This is the second basic freedom, that of the consumer. He has the freedom to choose between potentially unlimited options, among as many producers as there are. Therefore, producers are always seeking to create new, innovative products to entice the consumer their way. It is freedom and the profit motive that has made America the wealthy, technologically advanced nation it is. It has made us healthy and happy and seen each generation improve its lot over the one before.
That is all changing and this change has been going on for decades. Although President Obama and his cronies have accelerated the pace exponentially, the loss of freedom has been going on for some time. Some of it Americans have willingly embraced. We trade a large portion of the products of our labor (taxes) for inefficient services the government provides (social safety net). Sometimes we are scared into giving up choices like riding a bike without a helmet or eradicating malaria with DDT. Too often, however, choices, and therefore freedom, are taken from us and we are rarely aware of it. This is because the government does not hold out one thing in each had and say we cannot have the thing in the right hand. It only holds out one thing and says, this is all there is. What they really mean is, “This is the only choice we believe should be available to you because we are smarter and we know what is best”. This distorts the market and is ultimately harmful to the consumer because the availability of products is no longer made by the free choice of the consumer but by people with political considerations at the forefront. And we all know that political decisions are made not in the interests of the people but for the enhancement of the power of the state and its supporters.
Let us look at some examples. Right now the government takeover of GM is big news. The fact that government bureaucrats will be running that company with political, and not market, intentions means that the cars that are produced will be political statements. Between what the government will produce though GM and the CAFE standards and other regulations, soon we will no longer have a choice as to what we drive. I was going to say we could still choose the color of the limited models, all small and fuel efficient, but California wants to ban black cars in the name of the environment. The fact is that by limiting our choices to these small, light cars, thousands more people will be killed and severely injured on the roads each year. The consumer should have a choice between a large, safe car and a small fuel efficient car. If you want to do your part for the environment because you believe in global warming, go ahead, use the products of your labor to do so and risk your own life. Don’t force me to risk mine.
While we are on that subject, think of the push toward ethanol. By subsidizing and mandating ethanol use, the government has taken away more of your freedom to choose. Because ethanol is subsidized, it requires tax dollars. Because it is profitable under those subsidies to produce, land is diverted to its production which raised food prices. This means that less of the fruits of your time and production are available to be used for other things. You have lost the ability to choose to buy something because the government has taken more money through direct taxation and through the indirect taxes by causing a rise in prices through its policies. We could use sugar for ethanol like they do in Brazil. It is more efficient and cost effective but the sugar lobby, like the corn lobby, is a powerful one. These two lobbies are also why we use high fructose corn syrup in so many things instead of sugar. More choices lost.
While we are on the subject of food, consider the choices we have lost here. You think you can still eat what you want? No you can’t and more of those choices are being removed all the time. The coconut oil that once made great movie popcorn, you can’t have it any more. The way McDonald’s once made their fries so tasty, no more. The health nazis have been working to ban so many things it is amazing, yet because of political considerations the worst, like cigarettes, are not. That is because cigarettes are a cash cow for government and soon sugar will be too. The “fat tax” is coming and while you may still have the ability to choose Twinkies and Big Macs, its going to cost you. Because it does, you will lose the ability to choose other things because your finite resources will be stretched thin.
They will be stretched even thinner with “cap and trade” which will cause your energy prices to skyrocket. The point is that the government is forcing you to “choose” energy conservation by making it too expensive to be otherwise. Is that a real choice? Is this not all coercion? Finally, health care. One of our most basic freedoms is what we do with our own bodies. The government has begun regulating what we can put into it, now it will literally choose whether we live or die. Harbor no illusions. If we end up with a health care system like Canada, our choices will vanish. The government will decide what treatments are available and whether we are worth the expense. We will not have the ability to choose to go outside the system because it will be illegal. New, innovative treatments and drugs will not be produced because of the cost. What will we be thinking after we have traded our freedom in health care for the myth of government security and are lying in a hospital bed on death’s door because we are not deemed “worthy” of treatment or it was denied too long because of government red tape?
Most of the previous examples have been the government’s “carrot” approach among the “carrot and stick”. Increasingly, the government is taking away our choices with the stick as well. And the government has lots of sticks. The IRS has been strengthened to go after taxpayers here and abroad to make sure they are paying for all this stuff. The government has used intimidation to get what it wants. When the mob comes into a store and asks the owner for “protection money”, does the owner have a choice? Is it any different with the government? If an individual or business knows if they don’t contribute they will be subject to harassment from dozens or hundreds of tax and regulatory agencies, do they really have a choice? By forcing business into that box the government removes choices from all of us. None of this mentions the how the freedom of speech (first amendment) is under assault and the government intrusion into our private affairs (fourth amendment) is almost a given.
Freedom of choice in economic affairs is the foundation of all freedom. If that freedom has made us the healthiest and wealthiest nation on earth, the denial of that freedom will do just the opposite. We have lost so much already. What will it take for most American’s to wake up and see that all the restrictions places on them by their government are not for their benefit, it is for the government’s. If it makes our choices so costly, do we really have the freedom to choose at all? Do the majority of us really believe the government knows best or have we just been too lazy to care? We, as individuals, are the most qualified at determining what is best for ourselves. This nation was founded on the God given rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. For decades our government has regulated our pursuits, limited our liberty and made choices that determine the quality and length of our lives. Will it really take the government mandated closing of McDonald’s and cancellation of American Idol for the majority to see how far down this dark road we have come?
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