Land of the Free or Land of the Fearful?

For those of you unaware there has been a growing grassroots movement across this  nation for a few months now called The 10th Amendment Sovereignty movement.  The 10th Amendment in The Constitution of the United States reads the following,  “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Due to a lot of misinformation many don’t know that it began last year prior to the 2008 election and by just a handful of legislators.  It primarily began however last year in the state of Oklahoma, a “Red” state, and I might add by a Republican Congressman, Rep. Charles Key.  ( you can learn more about it here OKTENTH )  Others states have followed their lead.  As the movement has grown, so has the opposition, up to and including Oklahoma’s Governor who vetoed the resolution that had successfully passed Congress.  Yes, a resolution which simply reasserts a constitutional amendment ALREADY in the Constitution was vetoed by a state’s governor.  I found it outrageous that a Governor sworn to uphold the Constitution would veto a resolution which reasserts an amendment in it.  The explanation he gave didn’t help clear matters either.    Nonetheless, thanks to the efforts of Rep. Key and all grassroots support, the House was able to pass Concurrent Resolution HCR1028 which did not need the Governor’s signature.   I found it amazing that a simple reassertion of sovereignty had to go through essentially legal maneuvering for it to pass.

What we know now that IS certain, is that more and more Americans are no longer in the business of endorsing and defending Liberty but rather in killing it.   The threat to our demise is not a foreign threat, it is us.  In our complacency we are doing a better job than they could ever do.  Whether it is through rejecting or not understanding the 10th Amendment in our own constitution, an amendment which simply asserts the State’s and the People’s sovereignty and demands that the Federal government get back into it’s proper constitutional role, or by looking away at the encroaching abuse of power by our government and/or by endorsing the killing of Liberty through supporting police-state laws because we feel it makes us “safer”.  We are willingly marching into the slaughterhouse.  What is interesting of course is that if one was to ask each individual, why? Why are you actively destroying your own freedom?, they would simply state that they are not, and the sad truth is they would not be lying.  They truly believe they are not.

The fact is, #1, people no longer know what Freedom is and #2, We are afraid to be free.   So afraid that we have gotten to the point that we are rejecting our own Liberty.  This is the problem.  This is the root of the cancer that is eating away at our nation, at our laws and at our very life.  We believe Freedom is having the choice between Meal #1 or Meal #2.  We believe because we can choose between Target or Walmart, we are free.  We believe that because we choose between candidate A or candidate B, we are free.  No folks.  That is NOT freedom.  That at best is foolish and at worst, suicidal.  These are mere illusions of choice and we must ask ourselves, if that is so, if we are living in an illusion of Freedom, well then… just what is America anymore?

For now let’s bypass my first point that people no longer know what freedom is and let’s focus on my second point, people are afraid to be free.  In the case of Oklahoma, the primary reason Gov. Henry cited for his decision to veto the mere assertion or restatement of the People’s sovereignty was that it would not allow the state to receive Federal Funding.  He stated, “HJR 1003 also implies that the sate should reject federal tax dollars paid to Washington, DC, by the Oklahoma citizens, an act that would prevent our tax dollars from being used in Oklahoma to address critical needs in transportation, education, health care, law enforcement, veterans programs and many other vital services beneficial to our state.  In short, HJR 1003 could be detrimental to Oklahoma and does not serve the state or its citizens in any positive manner” First of all, the bill never implied such a step.  However since this is the reason given by Gov. Henry, the question to be asked is: if asking the Federal government to revert to its constitutional role risks the sustainability of a state and its people, haven’t we just proven that we are not free but mere subjects existing at the mercy of the Federal Government?  Rather than leaders and representatives in public office what we have now are Governors and politicians afraid to let go of the Central Government’s hands.  Fear, Fear, FEAR.   How deep this fear goes is what  lies at the heart of this disease.   We as individuals are afraid to claim our own sovereignty.  We have been dumbed down to believe that we are incapable of self rule and self ownership.  We are afraid to be Free.  We are afraid of the responsibility that our very Freedom entails.

This is not a partisan deficiency, this is actually very bi-partisan.  Both ends of the political spectrum have being willing participants in the undoing of our own Liberty.  I would submit that it is because of both parties running to the Federal Government for solutions that we have created the monster we have now.   We cling to the Federal Government to define marriage for us because we fear the idea of a homosexual couple in our neighborhood.  We cling to the Federal Government  to raise and educate our children because we fear some parents can’t do the job right.  We cling to the Federal Government to monitor all our emails and listen to our conversations  because we  fear the very threat government has given us.  We cling to the Federal Government to spy and violate our privacy on our own bodies in airports, because we fear some nebulous terrorist attack.  We cling to the Federal Government to be numbered and marked like cattle because we fear for our own security.  We cling to the Federal Government because we fear what might happen.  That is truly where we are now, we simply fear the idea of responsibility, of self-reliance, of choice, of self-rule, of the education of our children… we fear Freedom.  I know some would argue it is not that simple.  There are some things the people  “need” the Federal Government to handle simply because of the size of our nation.  To that I would answer, yes there are, but never to the detriment of Liberty and Freedom.

Fear of the Unknown, fear of a potential threat, fear of financial collapse, fear.  If we put ourselves at the mercy of a stranger can we really complain when we get struck?  That which the government gives, it can take away.  “But we should trust government to do the right thing” that’s a phrase I always hear.  There truly is no other word that belongs less in the world of politics than the word “trust.”   I heard it for the past eight years and I hear it now.  “President Bush is a good man, he is a Christian, I pray he does the right thing I trust his decisions.” “I trust Obama, let’s give him a chance.”  Folks, The Presidency is an institution, not a man.   Government is not a person, it is an entity.  An entity that thrives on manufactured conflicts and failing solutions in order to grow and sustain itself.  It is in the interest of Government that you remain trapped in problems so they can prescribe a fake solution and give you something to vote on every two to four years.   When that solution fails, a new solution is ordered and on and on it goes.    Your interests and the interests of government are in conflict!

I wrote earlier that in addition to being a nation running on fear rather than a beacon of Freedom, we are also a nation ignorant of what Liberty means.  If we are to ask people on the street, “Are you Free? How so?” they wouldn’t even know what to say.  They wouldn’t even understand the question.  Freedom nowadays is simply this, “I vote for my leaders.”  That is Freedom today.   Some carbon-copy of a Democracy rather than the Republic the originators of the Constitution founded.  Is it by chance that the teaching of Civics has been eradicated from American schools? Is it by chance that more high school students have said that that we can do without the First Amendment?  More young people know less about Liberty and Civics than at any other time in this nation’s history.  Do we truly believe this is by chance?   Simply ask yourselves who is in charge of educating our youth? Why on earth would you trust that institution to be looking out for the People’s best interest?

I used to believe people were just simply lazy.  Distracted by their six hundred HD channels and the latest reality TV show.  Now I see we are lazy, we are ignorant AND we are fearful.  How this nation arrived at its current state is a mystery to me.  How a nation of radicals who faced the greatest empire of its time turned into a nation of  fearful zombies and consumers is not just puzzling but tragic.  It is amusing to me to hear the argument that we “need” government for our own progress.  Meanwhile our founding fathers were self-educated children who later became intellectuals and self-made men.  And here we are today, rejecting the laws and very principles of Liberty that our Founding fathers gave us.

Our Declaration of Independence reads, ” We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness… that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it. “ These men called upon us to ABOLISH it, not run elections or shop or trust our professional politicians to save us, but to ABOLISH it.  How many of us feel empowered by those words and how many of us feel fear?   I wonder.

-Desiree