The Essence of Liberty

"The ultimate determinant in the struggle now going on for the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas - a trial of spiritual resolve: the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish and the ideas
to which we are dedicated."

Ronald Reagan

We've just held a very important election, probably one of the most important elections of our time. In its aftermath, I find it important to clarify what makes liberty and freedom possible.

As is evident by the pandering of most politicians (both Republican and Democrat), it seems liberty and freedom is defined by the benefits they can bestow upon the citizenry; healthcare, free college, day care, social security etc. It is not freedom and liberty they represent, but a paternalistic environment in which government will rescue us from the reality of life, from any mistakes in planning and responsibility that as a self-imposed "child of government" we have neglected to address in a free
society.

Where some may see a benefit of being a "child of government" I instead see only a benefit to the politicians for turning us into "slaves of government." Their policies encourage the idea that without government to provide for our every need freedom is not possible; in this argument I beg to differ and offer instead that it is the opposite, it is slavery. How can such an existence of reliance on the government define freedom? My beloved America - my heart breaks at the thought.

"Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it."

George Bernard Shaw

But a government that is powerful enough to reduce us to this dependency and that neglects the resulting impact of providing for our needs without thought to the ultimate cost - does us no favors. Like spoiled children we expect not less from the tit of government, but more. We are slaves to a false security that in the end will prove to be a dreadful mistake.

Nothing that comes from the government is "free," it comes from the pockets of the citizens and the pockets of their children; a legacy that economically will be a weight upon their necks and the downfall of America. That is not to say government should not address the needs of the less fortunate, but policies that discourage self-sufficiency and encourage government dependency are no panacea.

Some in the political spectrum point out Germany and France's socialist governments as an example to follow. But these countries are suffering from 9 to 12 percent unemployment and economies that have grown between -5 to 1 percent (U.S. growth 3 to 4 percent and unemployment rate 5 percent). Attempts by their governments to address the economic stagnation caused by their cradle to grave social benefits have been met by its citizens much the way a spoiled child reacts when denied candy.

"Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grandchildren are once more slaves."

D.H. Lawrence

Will America's sunset coincide with our inability to accept the responsibility for our own lives? Will these social benefits and the taxes necessary to support them encourage or discourage incentives to produce knowing that you are guaranteed that "father" government will provide for your every need?

Liberty is not defined by protection from failure - it is defined by self-determination and the freedom to succeed or to fail- as well as the freedom to pick your self up and try again.

I find it interesting that those at one end of the political spectrum see the United States as the source of all evil in the world and hope for its defeat (such as Micheal Moore who proclaimed America to be a "terrorist state"), much the same way many at one end of the environmental movement see man as the root of all evil in the environment - and hope for a calamity that would wipe mankind out.

"Phasing out the human race will solve every problem on earth, social and environmental"

Dave Forman, Founder of Earth First!

The environmental movement's ideology that views mankind as preventing their
nature has done what no man has ever done; destroyed whole ecosystems of species many times over since the beginning of time.

But despite the emotional folly of these individuals they cannot deny the only rule that for eon's nature has operated under - only the strong survive; there is no guarantee of survival save the strength and foresight to repel or escape predators - thus insuring your continued existence.

Does this sound harsh? In the history of mankind, what countries have survived; those that go against the rule of nature - or those that understand it and reacted accordingly? Likewise in nature, is it the trust of the deer and consensus of the herd that protects it from the jaws of the cougar, or is it the deer's ability to anticipate the attack and foil it?

There is no "free" money. For every bond the government takes on or social program that government proposes the net result will be another yoke upon our and our children's necks. There is no spontaneous generation of money to pay for these programs, just as there is no spontaneous generation of natural resources to fuel our economy, as the environmental movement seems to think, as they stop us from any resource recovery from our public lands. Both these agendas will doom our economy, freedom and the future of our children.

"Economy is among the first and most important of republican virtues, and public debt is the greatest of the dangers to be feared."

Thomas Jefferson

Much the same way the environmental movement has fought to deny us the freedom to access our public lands to "protect the environment", we will soon find a government that seeks to "protect the citizens" by providing for our every need will be the same government that will determine what freedoms we will enjoy.

As a final thought; I love America; as a person of color it has given me all I have needed to succeed - freedom - and I ask for nothing more. I beg you to understand the ramifications if we continue along the path the following "Cycle of Liberty" describes.

Chris Vargas - Warrior's Society Executive Director

THE CYCLE OF LIBERTY

At about the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution, In the year 1787, Alexander Tyler (a Scottish history professor at The University of Edinburgh) had this to say about "The Fall of The Athenian Republic" some 2,000 years prior:

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship."

The average age of the worlds greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

From Bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage."

Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul,Minnesota, believes the U.S. is now somewhere between the "apathy" and complacency" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy; with some 40 percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.

"The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools."

Herbert Spencer

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