Writing #2, Feb. 28, 2009

The changing of our country from a free, proud, patriotic country of self-sufficient people, who dream of reaching their personal full potential and strive every day for prosperity, to a country of fearful, dependent people who look to the government to care for them and keep them from failure or proverty. Who were so willing to suddenly give up many of their freedoms, and their dreams, for the security of a nanny state. Not realizing that once personal initiative and independence is relinquished, it is only through revolution that it is to be recovered.



"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both. " - Benjamin Franklin



As a child of the 70's and a teen of the 80's, I was brought up to view my country in a very patriotic light. To love my country, deep in my heart, as I loved my family. I was not preached to, nordo I recall conversations about the subject directly. But it was all the 'little' things; the Pledge of Allegience each morning at school; singing the National Anthem before a baseball game; learning about the uniqueness of our form of government and how democracy and freedom and individual rights empower every person it touches; reading about the courageous men who died to preserve a better future for their children, and rid themselves of tyranny. Those people decided to turn their lives upside down to fight against an oppressive government, and to create an entirely new form of government and a strong nation. They had the courage to sacrifice their 'secure' (albiet, increasingly intrusive) existance sustained by the King, in order to stand on their own, no matter how hard it would be.



I became consumed by the 2008 election campaigning, and listened to all the media, both on the right and the left. Then recently I realized, this shouldn't be political- this is all based on human nature, and history. People will tend to do certain things given specific circumstances, in almost every matter. We fight for revolution, then take our way of life for granted, become complacent, and it slowly slips away. We would rise in revolt if everything suddenly changed, but a dictatorship is not possible in America, so indoctrination of the masses is being used instead. The media uses propaganda to sway people towards one opinion or the other, and most people are too apathetic to check the facts for themselves, so they go along with the popular perspective. They believe everything they are told. Especially when they are fearful, and emotion is used to sway them. Even when a leader does what he says he will not do, nobody says a word. You can almost hear people's collective thoughts, "We are fearful; take care of us". That is the turning point. You have relinquished your personal freedoms for security.



[I have heard people ask, what specific freedoms are you losing? Because they don't understand that we aren't talking about freedom of speech, or freedom of press or others. What we mean is that by creating a larger government, we are giving that government the power to change many things in our lives in the future, and to put in place many laws that will limit our ability to be 'free'. It's a perspective that is lost on too many people.



Some call it 'ideology'. I call it vigilance. It is our responsibility to watch the government to be sure that they continue to do as we wish, as a representative democracy. We all know it's not perfect, and we don't expect a utopia.



I expect my government, at all levels, to do certain things. I expect them to protect, through local police and fire departments, and protect our nation as a whole with our military. I expect them to provide a basic education system, though the public school systems. And I expect them to keep a basic infrastructure in this country, with roads and such. And I expect them to create laws and regulations to keep us all safe. For all of these things, I am happy to pay my taxes. But the problem is, they do all of these things without efficiency. Our tax dollars are wasted. The regulations we have are either too little, too much, or are not enforced (i.e. the SEC). I've heard people try to defend the government, saying we don't want any government. They must not have been listening. We want limited government, that understands that they are to do what we want them to do, not think that they know better and will do what they want. That is preposterous. ]



This is deeply saddening to me, watching 52% of this country vote for a person who tells them everything they want to hear, tells lies and half-truths, misleading them and saying everything he can to get elected. Not just Obama. I saw McCain live at a rally and was stunned to hear him say, right in front of me, "We will keep people in their homes", refering to the housing/foreclosure crisis. This was one week before election day. I always thought the Republicans stood for personal accountability and smaller government? How can he promise to help those who made a mistake (by believing predatory lendors and/or buying too much house), at the expense of responsible tax payers? Because he was saying whatever he had to, to get elected. He knew people were scared, and looking to their next leader to make things better.

So all of this has made me realize that life is full circle. They were repressed so came to a new land, were repressed again so they fought for their freedom. (not everyone wanted independence, showing that even then, not everyone had the courage to break away from a bad situation in order to better their lives. ). Then after several hundred years of freedom, some have forgotten how fragile our liberties are, and take them for granted. This apathy has led to the majority of this country voting for bigger government and starting on a road right back to relying on government for their basic needs. This is not America, not the proud and independent America I love.