Some May Be Surprised....

Some of you - especially who know me - might be surprised that I have a presence in the blogosphere.

I am anti-Facebook and anti-Twitter.  I don't belong to a great following and the most useful things I do via the Internet are finding phone numbers, driving directions, and e-mail.

But some time earlier this year I realized that if I did not find an appropriate outlet for my frustration about the direction our country is going, and some way to voice what I think is right, I was going to go crazy.

I can't believe the changes that are happening via government and the change in the general opinion of people in the United States!  I remember my father-in-law, who grew up in the 1940s, telling me in the early 1990s that I was delusional if I thought I lived in a free country.  He said that if a person from the 1950s were dropped into the USA of the 1990s he would likely think he'd been transported to some Soviet satellite state.

What would that same person think today?

It seems that at least two forces are working against our individual liberties as Americans.  First, we are succumbing to the natural temptation to shirk responsiblility.  Second, scheming and self-interested people in government are seeking to consolidate power in themselves and in the system.

Bart Simpson is the embodiment of the natural and instinctive will to avoid the negative consequences of our actions when he says, "Who, me?  I didn't do it!  Nobody saw me!  You can't prove anything!"  Funny.  But more and more of us ("U.S. Americans", as Miss South Carolina calls them) want to avoid the outcomes of our bad decisions.

The pro-abortion movement is a classic example of this.  By couching their argument as "pro-choice" they seek to ignare the fact that in the vast majority of pregnancies, the "choice" was made before two people took off their clothes.  Now they want to dodge the consequence.  The lost freedom.  The increased responsibility.  The morphing body.  The physical discomfort.  The financial obligation. 

Now we see the financial crisis.  Many firms made risky decisions which turned out to be bad ones.  Executives in banking, investing, manufacturing, and other industries risked losing everything for their companies, their employees and themselves.  Do you think they wanted to dodge that responsibility?

You betcha!

And, just as in the abortion issue, government is there to "help".

Laws restricting the natural consequence of sex have been in place since Roe v. Wade in 1973.  The "Troubled Asset Relief Plan" and "Stimulus Package" were introduced in 2008 and 2009.  The last two shield not only companies, but individuals from consequences of their own decisions and those of others.

We are moving away from individual responsibility to a state in which the State assumes more and more responsibility for our actions.  Of course, in doing this, the State takes more and more control OF our actions.

And the State is right in doing that, given a few assumptions.  I don't agree with the assumptions, but they are rational.

Let's look at motorcycle helmet laws.  How can the state have the right to tell an individual he or she must wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle?  (Forget the fact that a helmet makes perfect sense.)  If a person wants to ride, wreck, and turn themself into a vegetable it is their natural right. 

But what do we as a society expect the State to do?  When that person's medical insurance stops paying we look to some sort of welfare to help out, right?  So, the State now has a stake in the motorcycle rider's well being.  And as a stakeholder, the State now has a RIGHT to dictate some of the behaviors of the rider.

You see how easy it is to abdicate responsiblity and abandon freedom?

Now look at General Motors.  Previously a non-governmental organization, GM was free to select its own leadership and to negotiate its own labor agreements.  It could also select its own product mix and reward its workers' success as liberally as it wanted to.

Now the State has stepped in to rescue GM from almost certain failure.  GM is no longer free to select its corporate leadership.  The President of The United States was unhappy with GM's former president and requested that he be replaced.  He was!  Under the new ownership of GM, the federal government and the autoworkers' union are the principal owners and have a controlling interest in the company.  The federal government has established a super-executive position  which sits in review of all compensation for leaders of companies receiving "assistance".  And the new GM product line is being guided largely by conditions attached to the "assistance" funds.

So, if motorcycle riders and car company executives can give up their liberties so easily, how much closer should we watch ours?  How much closer MUST we watch ours?

Why Don't They Get It?

Here's a great example of the ego-centric "me" projecting my reasons to people around me.

I hear commentators spanning the political spectrum analyzing why people (like me) went to tea parties on 15 April 09. They discuss the outrage expressed by people (like me) over the first stimulus package. Others (like me) were angered with the bailouts given to large companies in America. Pundits banter about people (like me) who rage over the healthcare "reforms" that are proposed.

The consensus seems to be split. One group believes that these groups of people are "astroturf". That we are a fabrication of some corporate/rightwing/naziesque/fringe entity. That is wrong. The other group believes that we are "Republicans" who are finally voicing our support for the Republican Party. That is wrong, too.

I know I cannot speak for others, but I will tell you why I am getting involved.

I grew up believing that the United States of America was a fundamentally good country. I believed that its leaders wanted the best for the people and that they would act in defense of the principles of the Constitution. I thought that if I worked hard I could succeed and that if I did not want to work hard enough I would be allowed, likewise, to fail. I thought that if I met with ruin I would have a chance to rebuild. I thought that if I had an idea, a thought or a belief I could hold it and express it without fear and without reprisal. I thought that we Americans were a free and independent people who shared a vision of opportunity.

I have learned that there is a significant portion of Americans who are content to surrender freedom and independence in exchange for some sense of security. I have learned that there are beliefs, thoughts and ideas that are "politically incorrect". That is not to say that they are bad or antisocial, but expressing them often leads to derrision and social isolation. I have learned that if some Americans meet with financial or other ruin they expect the government to support them in perpetuity. And in many cases the government will do just that. I have learned that there are some in government and others in the population who support them who, regardless of the input or the outcome of my efforts, would not allow me to fail, but would force me to attain some level of mediocrity in housing, in healthcare, in education. I have learned that there are some - and I say now, "many" - in government whose efforts are not expended in the interest of the country. They would compromise the liberty of their constituents and national security in an effort to curry favor with special interests and large financial contributors.

But at the root of it all still stands the Constitution of the United States of America. It is still good. The principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are still sound. The ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence are still ideals.

That is why I attended my local tea party. That is why I have been calling my representatives in Congress and in the state legislature to express my views.

I am disgusted by the mealymouthed Republican Party. I am repulsed by the radical leftleaning Democrat Party. I am terrified that both of their policies lead to the same place: An increasingly powerful federal government and further restriction of individual liberties. One claims to lead in the interest of Security. The other claims to lead in the interest of Equality. Both will lead us to Slavery.

But no one gets it.

I, for one, am mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!

This is not a Republican v. Democrat thing. This is not a Right v. Left thing. This is not a Religious v. Atheist thing.

This is nothing but a Libery v. Tyranny thing!

That is the line in the sand. Those who favor individual liberty and believe that man has a natural right to his liberty must gather to oppose those who believe that man has no inherent rights and that the State gives or takes rights as it seems appropriate to the State to do.

Which side are you on?

Then lay aside your petty "politics" and join us in fighting to save all of our liberties. You need to understand that we are fighting to preserve your right to have a homosexual relationship as avidly as we are fighting to preserve our right to have a heterosexual "marriage". We are working as hard to ensure your right to oppose wars as we are to ensure our right to live without fear. We are struggling to provide you relief from poverty as well as to allow us to retain the just fruits of our labors.

It's not about parties or politics, this is about people and preserving possibilities.