Published April, 2012 in The Town Messenger
Individual
freedom is something we cherish and most of the time take completely
for granted. We assume that tomorrow we will enjoy the same basic
freedoms that we do today with the same confidence that we believe the
sun will rise in the morning. We joke about our freedoms slipping away
one by one, but this is no laughing matter. If you are not sobered by
the fact that you are not nearly as free as you think you are, then you
have already been affected by the desensitization that liberty’s enemies
(which have very real names and faces, by the way) have been
spoon-feeding us for decades.
Last week the Supreme Court heard arguments regarding a piece of
legislation that would strip every one of us of our individual right to
choose. In an effort to reclaim states’ rights and protect our
individual freedom, Texas and several other states filed suit regarding
the constitutionality of the individual mandate of Obamacare – that
requirement that every American citizen, regardless of preference,
purchase their (the government’s) approved healthcare plan or pay a
penalty. The fact that a mandate regarding what we as “free” American
citizens spend our hard-earned money on is included in ANY piece of
legislation should make our cumulative blood boil.
In March of 2010, when Nancy Pelosi stood up in front of Congress and
the American people and said, “We have to pass the bill so that you
can, uh, find out what is in it away from the fog of the controversy,”
(view video)
the ground rumbled as every one of our founding fathers rolled over in
their graves, emitting an other-worldly chorus of, “What the …?” And on
this side of the grass, millions of us sat in front of our televisions,
computer screens and smart phones, dumbfounded that an educated woman
could stand there and make such an asinine statement with a smile on her
face as if she were discussing with her grandchildren why we they have
to go to bed early. This one statement (and the reasoning behind it)
goes down in the historical recesses of my mind as evidence of the
unfathomable irresponsibility with which our current “leaders” govern
this country. And the fact that she and her cohorts still have their
jobs speaks to the fact that too many of us still just don’t get it.
Does our healthcare system need reform? Absolutely – but
not at the expense of our individual freedom. Friedrich Hayek said,
“Freedom can be preserved only if it is treated as a supreme principle which must not be sacrificed for particular advantages.”
Voting for a bad piece of legislation just because it’s the only
thing currently on the table (instead of sending it back and demanding
something better) is just as foolish and irresponsible as sending a man
to the White House based primarily on his skin color (yes, I’m going
there). Before you get your undies in a wad and start throwing around
the “racist” label, hear this: I would have loved to see a black or
Hispanic or female president long ago. I think it’s long overdue. But it
must be the right person – someone who will lead with integrity and
character, who is not afraid to stand up for what is right and who puts
the good of the country and every American citizen above his/her own
political aspirations. Whether that person is black, white, brown, green
or purple is of no consequence to me. What I look for is someone I can
trust. Voting for someone just because they are black is just as
closed-minded as not voting for them for the same reason.
Getting back to individual freedom, once we let them get away with
mandating that we must purchase healthcare (or anything else) or face
punishment, the door is open for them to control every other aspect of
our lives. And for the record, the “they” I am referring to here is not
some nameless, faceless group of strangers. They are men and women from
our own towns and communities that WE VOTED INTO OFFICE. And if the next
words out of your mouth were going to be, “Well, don’t look at me,
because I didn’t vote,” save your breath. You are the reason we are in
this mess. It is the stunning silence of the milions of Americans who do
not bother to vote that screams to the power-hungry, “Go ahead. Do what
you want. I don’t have time to care. What time does
Dancing with the Stars come on tonight?” How’s that for throwing personal responsibility back on the table? Let’s see who picks it up.
“People never give up their liberties but under some delusion.” ~ Edmund Burke
How did we get here? How did we lose sight of our most treasured and
foundational personal freedoms and allow a handful of self-focused,
power-crazed people to take us so far down the road to destruction? We
took our eye off the prize. We forgot how precious the right to vote
really is. We fell for the lie that said that our lone little voice
would not matter, so why bother? We failed to exercise our God-given
right and responsibility to send people to Washington to look after and
represent our interests, rather than their own or those of the
lobbyists. Once we silenced our own voices by not voting, we stopped
watching what was going on in Washington once our elected
representatives got there. When they passed legislation that allowed
them to exempt themselves from the same laws they impose on us, we
allowed them to keep their jobs. It is as plain and simple as that. If
Congress (who is employed by you and me, by the way) had to live under
the same rules and regulations they require the rest of us to, there
would be a huge difference in the kinds of laws that get passed.
Just so you don’t think that the problem rests solely with Congress,
here are a few more little tidbits for you to chew on. On March 16,
2012, President Obama issued an Executive Order authorizing peacetime
martial law. Read that sentence again. Two weeks ago, our president
empowered himself to take absolute control of our natural resources,
among other things, ANYTIME HE WANTS TO
(see story). During the hearing last week in the Supreme Court regarding Obamacare, Justice Elena Kagan was quoted as saying,
“Why is a big gift from the federal government a matter of
coercion? In other words, the federal government is here saying: We’re
giving you a boatload of money. There are no matching funds requirement.
There are no extraneous conditions attached to it. It’s just a boatload
of federal money for you to take and spend on poor people’s health.” (see transcript)
And to bring it home, this same spirit that is trying to undermine
our individual freedom is not isolated to Washington, DC. I sat in a
meeting of citizens, church leaders and business leaders last week in
one Williamson County town where the Mayor, when questioned about
whether a particular decision would make the voters mad, was quoted as
saying,
“Sometimes it’s not about the voters. Sometimes we have to make decisions, and let them get mad!”
Did you catch that? It doesn’t matter what the voters want. We (the
ones the voters elected) know what is best, and we have the authority to
do what we want whether the voters like it or not. This power-drunken
attitude comes not from D.C., dear reader – it comes from a small Texas
town in your backyard.
We must identify every enemy that raises its ugly head against our
freedom and wage a full-on war against them. They don’t all look the
same. Sometimes it’s the Marxist/Communist agendas that have been
operating in our country for decades. Sometimes it’s the anti-American
texts being taught in our schools at every level
(see video).
Sometimes it’s the good-ole-boy approach to local government that says,
“You look the other way while I lie, cheat and steal, and I’ll do the
same for you.” Even with all these players on the field, our biggest and
most dangerous enemy is apathy – a culture that is more interested in
who will win
American Idol and when the next witchcraft or
vampire movie will come out than in knowing (or caring) who is making
life-altering decisions on our behalf and how to stop them before it
goes any further.
I heard someone say today that a particular manager of a store didn’t
have any good employees and always ended up getting in trouble for the
slack job her employees did because she coddled them and did not hold
them accountable. He said, “I would fire them.” We need to be reminded
that unlike other countries, where a monarch or dictator or other ruling
figure leads as they see fit with no repercussions, our government is
made up of individuals who work for us. We answer to them, but only as
far as they answer to us. If they pass laws and engage in activity that
does not best represent our interests, we can and must show them the
exit door and replace them someone who is better suited for the
position. It’s just good business. It’s what any smart manager would do.
It is time to awaken the sleeping giant that is We the People. This
is our time to shine. This is the hour when we must hold ourselves and
our elected officials accountable. They are not there to babysit us.
They are not there to coddle to the lobbyists and exempt themselves from
the very laws they pass. They are there to protect
our
interests. If we don’t hold their feet to the fire, then we have no one
to blame for our future (and that of our children and grandchildren) but
ourselves.
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ~ Jesus (John 8:32)
