Liberty-First, Foremost and Forever

Liberty is the basis of living. Without freedom, without the opportunity to make one’s own decisions and choices, a person becomes a ward…a supplicant…chattel for someone or something. The individual who does not inhale the fresh air of freedom may be bound to the fecklessness of the state…never knowing  which rule, law or regulation he or she may be violating at any given moment. The individual whose freedom has been taken by another person is a slave, and the person who submits his freedom to another person or a state is a fool. Throughout human history individuals have battled for freedom from the chains of oppression while others have willingly yielded to the fetters of others. Those who have struggled for freedom have nourished the spark of humanity within their souls while the others who have chosen to forfeit their liberty have assumed the posture of domesticated beasts of burden.

When someone surrenders her liberty, she is, in essence, admitting that she’s either incapable of or too lazy to manage her own affairs. Choosing dependence and supplication as a lifestyle destroys the humanity of the dependent. Initiative and creativity become blunted, and the dependent individual becomes a constant grumbler about the quantity and quality of the care provided by the controller/director/master. The motto for the purposeful supplicant could be: Bitch, moan and whine while taking the freebies provided by others. Intentional dependency leads to a death by a thousand cuts as one’s self-worth, self-esteem and confidence are slowly eroded away. Even with the strongest mindset of entitlement comes the uncertainty that the provider may tire of the arrangement…leaving the hapless, thoughtless dependent to forage for survival.

Learning is a byproduct of one’s pursuing something new. The goal may be firmly fixed in the mind of the seeker, but the nuggets of knowledge acquired during the quest are usually unanticipated. Liberty opens the portals of exploration and innovation whereas dependence deadens curiosity and ambition. Free people are learners. Dependent drones are not. Learning is the only mechanism for a society or culture to advance. No one can invent or create if one is unaware of what has already been accomplished or attempted. Dependents are condemned to the status quo because of their failure to learn…to broaden their horizons. Achieving and reaching goals is impossible when one is immobile.

The people of our nation seem to have lost their respect for liberty. We can see that attitude reflected in the abysmal performance of our students on so many levels. Quality service has become a rarity in many of our commercial encounters. Rudeness and crudity are abundant in the marketplace and on our public streets. True liberty requires that one be accountable and responsible for one’s actions, and does not intentionally interfere with the actions, lives or property of others. In other words liberty contains a rich component of respect for others without being obsequious. A person who respects liberty will perform at her highest level possible because of the commitment to responsible behavior. Observers sometimes confuse those who have no responsibility as enjoying freedom, but in fact they are dependent on others—individuals or institutions—for their guidance and direction. Their “free and easy lives” are illusionary and self destructive.

Liberty, personal freedom, must be the primary motivator if a society is to prosper. A dependent social structure cannot succeed because the producers withdraw from meaningful activity, and dependents do not produce in a significant way. When producers have been turned loose to perform at their highest level, the entire community reaps the benefits. Freedom is the critical component for a growing society whether it be in economics, the arts or any other aspect for measuring the progress of a nation.

Liberty is the most essential element for building a positively dynamic country. Liberty is the most critical attribute for maintaining a society committed to growth. Liberty is absolutely vital if a nation is to survive. Thousands of despotic or tyrannical regimes have disintegrated on the ash heap of history. Many dozens of existing nations are suffocating under repressive governments and have lost their zest for excellence. Liberty offers the only means for energetic and creative citizens to flourish, and as they prosper, the nation benefits. Dependence leads to decay and despair….and tyranny.

Liberty, individual liberty, must be the first value of a nation. Liberty must be the preeminent protected value of a people. Liberty for all, for all time should be the dream of a free people…first, foremost and forever.

Comment:  cearlwriting@hotmail.com      or      www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

       

Death and Taxes

The old saying goes “the only two certain things in life are death and taxes,” and the clowns in government make it a daily double. The estate tax represents government’s ultimate indignity. As they lower your cold dead body into the ground, the greedy clutching hand of government reaches into your pocket and extracts your wallet. They examine the contents with glee then tell your heirs to “keep the change.” Your heirs, the products of your loins, your emotional investments and the subjects of your love must handle the heart breaking tasks of putting your affairs in order while the gluttonous breath of government cascades all around them. The results of your lifetime of risk-taking and hard work are distributed among strangers…bureaucrats, the slothful and the needy. And it is not your desires that matter…Big Brother and Nanny State make the call and pass out the goodies. Your “estate” diminishes to the value of a rental plot in a backwoods Alabama trailer park. Those you left behind must scramble to “fire sale” your assets so that when the tax collector arrives, his sack can be filled with the plunder reaped from your lifetime of labor. That’s “fairness” in the lexicon of oppressive government.

Government represents the greatest of necro-carnivores. My advice to you is not to die. They are waiting for the moment of your untimely demise so that they can squander whatever they can coerce or squeeze from your grieving loved ones. Live forever and drive the bastards crazy. Much has been written about the “death panels” in the negligent health care legislation that was passed last year. If you have a sizable estate, you may hear these melodious tones from your local health care overseers: surgery…denied; medicine renewal…denied. If you are a person of means, you may have a permanent “DNR” tattooed on your forehead. Government’s insatiable appetite for your money will not be denied, and you will be admonished to go quietly for the good of society.

What is the purpose of the estate tax? In fact what is the purpose of any tax? This question should be asked and answered before any confiscation of your labor or property. So, what is the purpose of the estate tax? To punish the wealthy? To redistribute wealth from those “who won life’s lottery” to those who never played the game? To generate income for a specific purpose? To acquire easy money from those who are unable to resist? What is the ACTUAL purpose of the estate tax? Let’s take this query one step further. What are the moral and constitutional justifications for levying the estate tax? Personally, I’m not dead….yet, and the estate tax is no more obnoxious in my view than are hordes of other schemes the government employs to steal our wealth. I chose to write about this particular offensive maneuver because in most jurisdictions within the United States, molesting a corpse is a crime. Much of the tax code that has been adopted in our nation during the past century reeks of criminality. It seems as if the tax code were designed to punish the producers and reward looters. Clearly Ayn Rand witnessed the early abominations in the system and anticipated the later ones.

In a system that honors freedom and protects liberty the tax code should exist solely to raise the necessary revenue for basic constitutional functions. The present system is a convoluted maze for social engineering. Layer after layer of penalties, surtaxes and progressive rate increases are countered by exemptions, subsidies and deductions. The mountainous collection of tax rules, laws and regulations is an unconscionable assault on individual liberty and property and is generally indecipherable and oppressive. Tax law defines the limits of government force that can be used against the citizens. In our present code there appear to be no limits. Every breathing resident is at some level of risk, and even death is no escape from the ravages of the tax collector. RIP.

Comment:   cearlwriting@hotmail.com    or    www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Low Tide

A low tide exposes much of the beach when the water recedes. The tightly compressed grains of sand begin to discover their individuality as the sun spreads its warmth on them, and they begin to dry. The consistency of the beach is transformed from a tightly constricted hardpan to an inviting collection of warm individual grains of sand. The predictable movement of the tides and their impact on the countless mini-pebbles of sand provide a fitting metaphor for our situation in the United States today.

The power of the surging water has washed over our land and compressed our liberties. With the new Congress we appear to have a respite of sorts as many people seek to exercise their rights and restore the ideal of individual liberty that was designed by our Framers. We should note, however, the new Congress is NOT attacking all the egregious affronts to our freedom. They have sought to minimize a few of them, ignore some of the others, and extend another group even further. High tide will return with a vengeance.

While we may be tempted to rejoice in some apparent tiny victories, this is not the time for God’s people of liberty to become satisfied or complacent. The nature of government, all governments, is to acquire power and to grow larger. The little pause that we are celebrating now is misleading. While there may be some stalemate in the legislative realm, the executive branch, the judiciary and the bureaucracy continue their march toward tyranny. If we hesitate, if we dance in the end zone, if we curtail our vigilance and our efforts, the tide will sweep back to shore and compress us more tightly than we have ever known before.

The difficulty for us is that while the tide has receded, we revel in our individuality, but in order to assure that we can recapture our God-given or natural rights, we must band together. As a people with varying priorities and preferences, we must suppress our personal desires in order to secure our personal freedom. In other words our countless grains of individual sand must cling together to form a barrier to limit the tide’s effect when it returns. We can erect a levee of protection if we are willing to stand on the shoulders of each other. If we insist on our singular paths and priorities, we shall be swamped by the might of the surging water.

Defeating Obama and the progressives in the 2012 election is absolutely necessary, but it must be done with candidates and servants DEDICATED to personal freedom. “Smaller government” is a meaningless term and is subjective, relative and easily manipulated. The same holds true for “less spending” or “lower taxes.” Only an absolute commitment to individual liberty will provide the impetus for an officeholder to work to dismantle the monster of government. Any other position can be compromised into meaningless incrementalism. The commitment to liberty must be absolute…unwavering, unmoving.

Sadly, there are many grains of sand who prefer the high tide. They see it as an amniotic fluid of comfort and safety. They do not care that the suffocating nature of the water dramatically restricts their movements and their choices. Like most grains of sand they are mindless, but those of us who cherish liberty must struggle to escape the hard pan and fight for freedom. Black Americans represent roughly 13% of our population but managed to stir the conscience of the entire nation during the Civil Rights era. Radical feminists with their hairy legs and burning bras revolutionized our social contract. A remnant of freedom-loving people, a minority of the sand can construct, must construct the levee of freedom or we shall all be drowned.

Comment:   cearlwriting@hotmail.com    or    www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com