What is Liberty Worth?
Perhaps the better question is, “How far are you willing to go to preserve it?” This question was brought to mind as a consequence of the most recent protest I organized outside our local congressman’s office. Most protests, especially in our little backwater and with only twenty five people, don’t make much of an impact. In its organization, however, I sent out an e-mail stating that I was going to hang the congressman in effigy, which I did-life size. We had a good protest, the congressman’s press secretary fielded questions and criticisms for over a half hour and I believe we made our point.
Two days later I get a call that informed me that my picture with the hanging congressman was being commented on in the Politico.com. The article and about half the comments were less than complimentary. The main point was that if my action was the face of the GOP’s criticism of Democrat Health Care, the GOP was in big trouble. Of course, I do not represent the GOP nor am I a republican. I am just a citizen trying to get his point across. Quite a few thought it inappropriate and in bad taste to hang our congressman in effigy. Personally, I think these power hungry people in our federal Government are traitors to the constitution and the founding principles of the Republic. None of them are upholding their oath of office. They are unprofessional-what lawyer signs a contract without reading it!? They are foolish for thinking they can spend, borrow and print so much money without consequence. They are enemies of liberty for thinking that government should have the power to determine the temperature of our homes or the medicines we receive. Most of us know this is wrong and it will not end well for this country if it continues. Barak Obama said he was going to “Transform America”. He is trying to transform it into a Marxist state with power concentrated at the top and no aspect of our lives too small or insignificant to be beyond its control. No thank you.
This has not happened overnight, its taken one hundred years. One step here, one leap there, sometimes pausing, but never retreating. We have an opportunity now, as president Obama tries the biggest leap since the New Deal, to catch the statist monster in the air and throw it back on its heels. The question is, are we willing to do whatever it takes? Are we finally going to draw a line in the sand? If we don’t now, then when? Ten or twenty years from now when you need that new operation or expensive medicine and the health care bureaucrat turns to you and says, “You’ve had a good run, here’s your pain pill.” It will be too late. When ATF shows up outside your home and demands your guns, are you going to give them up or make them pry them out of your cold dead hands? Where’s all that non-violent claptrap then, or when child protective services forces you to send your kid to a government school or deems your “hateful” form of religion nonproductive to the raising of properly adjusted children? What percentage of your income is too much? 60%, 70%, 90%? When do you refuse to allow your money to be confiscated and given to the non-productive and lazy? What will you do when they come to throw you in jail for being so “stingy”, refusing to put your “skin in the game?” When all this borrowing and spending leads to hyperinflation and wage and price controls and the scarcity that goes with it, who are you going to blame? Are you going to be able to look in the mirror and say “I did everything I could” or will you finally understand that by letting the statist set the rules with political correctness and by refusing to consider all options for resistance, the battle and the war were already lost.
The government holds all the cards, or so it thinks. They become more and more bold the more they get away with. Every time an election rolls around and ninety-five percent of them are returned to office irregardless of their out of control behavior, they behave more like kings, and thugs. When the opposition whines about things they may pause or simply try a new way of accomplishing their goal. I want you to understand something very important. The goal of the majority of people in government, particularly this current crop, is totalitarian control. Do you get that? They want to control everything. Sure, you may think you have choices but they are only choices approved of by them. The car you drive, it has to meet hundreds of government specs, few of which have to do with safety. This is only going to get worse. They have nationalized banks, they control behavior through taxes and regulation, they want to control the food you eat, the people you associate with (racist!), how much money you earn, the list could go on and on. This is the very definition of totalitarianism and the antithesis of liberty. It has all happened because we let it. And because it has happened over such a long period of time, we are often unaware of how much we have lost. When do we say “enough?” And if we say it now, how far are we willing to go to show we mean it? If a little thing like hanging the congressman in effigy bothers you, then our cause is lost. The occasional quiet protest, the calls and e-mails, even the occasional turnover of congress will only be a pause in the march to total state control. I, for one, do not want my children to grow up in that nation, do you?
Two days later I get a call that informed me that my picture with the hanging congressman was being commented on in the Politico.com. The article and about half the comments were less than complimentary. The main point was that if my action was the face of the GOP’s criticism of Democrat Health Care, the GOP was in big trouble. Of course, I do not represent the GOP nor am I a republican. I am just a citizen trying to get his point across. Quite a few thought it inappropriate and in bad taste to hang our congressman in effigy. Personally, I think these power hungry people in our federal Government are traitors to the constitution and the founding principles of the Republic. None of them are upholding their oath of office. They are unprofessional-what lawyer signs a contract without reading it!? They are foolish for thinking they can spend, borrow and print so much money without consequence. They are enemies of liberty for thinking that government should have the power to determine the temperature of our homes or the medicines we receive. Most of us know this is wrong and it will not end well for this country if it continues. Barak Obama said he was going to “Transform America”. He is trying to transform it into a Marxist state with power concentrated at the top and no aspect of our lives too small or insignificant to be beyond its control. No thank you.
This has not happened overnight, its taken one hundred years. One step here, one leap there, sometimes pausing, but never retreating. We have an opportunity now, as president Obama tries the biggest leap since the New Deal, to catch the statist monster in the air and throw it back on its heels. The question is, are we willing to do whatever it takes? Are we finally going to draw a line in the sand? If we don’t now, then when? Ten or twenty years from now when you need that new operation or expensive medicine and the health care bureaucrat turns to you and says, “You’ve had a good run, here’s your pain pill.” It will be too late. When ATF shows up outside your home and demands your guns, are you going to give them up or make them pry them out of your cold dead hands? Where’s all that non-violent claptrap then, or when child protective services forces you to send your kid to a government school or deems your “hateful” form of religion nonproductive to the raising of properly adjusted children? What percentage of your income is too much? 60%, 70%, 90%? When do you refuse to allow your money to be confiscated and given to the non-productive and lazy? What will you do when they come to throw you in jail for being so “stingy”, refusing to put your “skin in the game?” When all this borrowing and spending leads to hyperinflation and wage and price controls and the scarcity that goes with it, who are you going to blame? Are you going to be able to look in the mirror and say “I did everything I could” or will you finally understand that by letting the statist set the rules with political correctness and by refusing to consider all options for resistance, the battle and the war were already lost.
The government holds all the cards, or so it thinks. They become more and more bold the more they get away with. Every time an election rolls around and ninety-five percent of them are returned to office irregardless of their out of control behavior, they behave more like kings, and thugs. When the opposition whines about things they may pause or simply try a new way of accomplishing their goal. I want you to understand something very important. The goal of the majority of people in government, particularly this current crop, is totalitarian control. Do you get that? They want to control everything. Sure, you may think you have choices but they are only choices approved of by them. The car you drive, it has to meet hundreds of government specs, few of which have to do with safety. This is only going to get worse. They have nationalized banks, they control behavior through taxes and regulation, they want to control the food you eat, the people you associate with (racist!), how much money you earn, the list could go on and on. This is the very definition of totalitarianism and the antithesis of liberty. It has all happened because we let it. And because it has happened over such a long period of time, we are often unaware of how much we have lost. When do we say “enough?” And if we say it now, how far are we willing to go to show we mean it? If a little thing like hanging the congressman in effigy bothers you, then our cause is lost. The occasional quiet protest, the calls and e-mails, even the occasional turnover of congress will only be a pause in the march to total state control. I, for one, do not want my children to grow up in that nation, do you?
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