To achieve liberty and peace, two powerful
human emotions have to be overcome.
Number one is "envy" which leads to
hate and class warfare. Number two is "intolerance" which leads to bigoted and
judgmental policies. These emotions must be replaced with a much better
understanding of love, compassion, tolerance and free market economics. Freedom,
when understood, brings people together. When tried, freedom is
popular.
We have been forced to choose between the "lesser of two
evils" usually involving economic interventionists swayed by envy, or social
interventionists swayed by intolerance of habits and lifestyles. The
misunderstanding that tolerance is an endorsement of certain activities,
motivates many to legislate moral standards which should only be set by
individuals making their own choices. Both sides use force to deal with these
misplaced emotions. Both are authoritarians. Neither endorses voluntarism. Both
views ought to be rejected.
I have come to one firm conviction after
these many years of trying to figure out "the plain truth of things." The best
chance for achieving peace and prosperity, for the maximum number of people
world-wide, is to pursue the cause of LIBERTY.
If you find this to be a
worthwhile message, spread it throughout the land.
Full Speech
Transcript:
By Ron Paul | Delivered on the
House Floor, November 14, 2012
Farewell to Congress
This may well be
the last time I speak on the House Floor. At the end of the year I’ll leave
Congress after 23 years in office over a 36 year period. My goals in 1976 were
the same as they are today: promote peace and prosperity by a strict adherence
to the principles of individual liberty.
It was my opinion, that the course
the U.S. embarked on in the latter part of the 20th Century would bring us a
major financial crisis and engulf us in a foreign policy that would overextend
us and undermine our national security.
To achieve the goals I sought,
government would have had to shrink in size and scope, reduce spending, change
the monetary system, and reject the unsustainable costs of policing the world
and expanding the American Empire.
The problems seemed to be overwhelming and
impossible to solve, yet from my view point, just following the constraints
placed on the federal government by the Constitution would have been a good
place to start.
How Much Did I Accomplish?
In many ways, according to
conventional wisdom, my off-and-on career in Congress, from 1976 to 2012,
accomplished very little. No named legislation, no named federal buildings or
highways—thank goodness. In spite of my efforts, the government has grown
exponentially, taxes remain excessive, and the prolific increase of
incomprehensible regulations continues. Wars are constant and pursued without
Congressional declaration, deficits rise to the sky, poverty is rampant and
dependency on the federal government is now worse than any time in our
history.
All this with minimal concerns for the deficits and unfunded
liabilities that common sense tells us cannot go on much longer. A grand, but
never mentioned, bipartisan agreement allows for the well-kept secret that keeps
the spending going. One side doesn’t give up one penny on military spending, the
other side doesn’t give up one penny on welfare spending, while both sides
support the bailouts and subsidies for the banking and corporate elite. And the
spending continues as the economy weakens and the downward spiral continues. As
the government continues fiddling around, our liberties and our wealth burn in
the flames of a foreign policy that makes us less safe.
The major stumbling
block to real change in Washington is the total resistance to admitting that the
country is broke. This has made compromising, just to agree to increase
spending, inevitable since neither side has any intention of cutting
spending.
The country and the Congress will remain divisive since there’s
no “loot left to divvy up.”
Without this recognition the spenders in
Washington will continue the march toward a fiscal cliff much bigger than the
one anticipated this coming January.
I have thought a lot about why those of
us who believe in liberty, as a solution, have done so poorly in convincing
others of its benefits. If liberty is what we claim it is- the principle that
protects all personal, social and economic decisions necessary for maximum
prosperity and the best chance for peace- it should be an easy sell. Yet,
history has shown that the masses have been quite receptive to the promises of
authoritarians which are rarely if ever fulfilled.
Authoritarianism vs.
Liberty
If authoritarianism leads to poverty and war and less freedom for all
individuals and is controlled by rich special interests, the people should be
begging for liberty. There certainly was a strong enough sentiment for more
freedom at the time of our founding that motivated those who were willing to
fight in the revolution against the powerful British government.
During my
time in Congress the appetite for liberty has been quite weak; the understanding
of its significance negligible. Yet the good news is that compared to 1976 when
I first came to Congress, the desire for more freedom and less government in
2012 is much greater and growing, especially in grassroots America. Tens of
thousands of teenagers and college age students are, with great enthusiasm,
welcoming the message of liberty.
I have a few thoughts as to why the people
of a country like ours, once the freest and most prosperous, allowed the
conditions to deteriorate to the degree that they have.
Freedom, private
property, and enforceable voluntary contracts, generate wealth. In our early
history we were very much aware of this. But in the early part of the 20th
century our politicians promoted the notion that the tax and monetary systems
had to change if we were to involve ourselves in excessive domestic and military
spending. That is why Congress gave us the Federal Reserve and the income tax.
The majority of Americans and many government officials agreed that sacrificing
some liberty was necessary to carry out what some claimed to be “progressive”
ideas. Pure democracy became acceptable.
They failed to recognized that what
they were doing was exactly opposite of what the colonists were seeking when
they broke away from the British.
Some complain that my arguments makes no
sense, since great wealth and the standard of living improved for many Americans
over the last 100 years, even with these new policies.
But the damage to the
market economy, and the currency, has been insidious and steady. It took a long
time to consume our wealth, destroy the currency and undermine productivity and
get our financial obligations to a point of no return. Confidence sometimes
lasts longer than deserved. Most of our wealth today depends on debt.
The
wealth that we enjoyed and seemed to be endless, allowed concern for the
principle of a free society to be neglected. As long as most people believed the
material abundance would last forever, worrying about protecting a competitive
productive economy and individual liberty seemed unnecessary.
The Age of
Redistribution
This neglect ushered in an age of redistribution of wealth by
government kowtowing to any and all special interests, except for those who just
wanted to left alone. That is why today money in politics far surpasses money
currently going into research and development and productive entrepreneurial
efforts.
The material benefits became more important than the understanding
and promoting the principles of liberty and a free market. It is good that
material abundance is a result of liberty but if materialism is all that we care
about, problems are guaranteed.
The crisis arrived because the illusion
that wealth and prosperity would last forever has ended. Since it was based on
debt and a pretense that debt can be papered over by an out-of-control fiat
monetary system, it was doomed to fail. We have ended up with a system that
doesn’t produce enough even to finance the debt and no fundamental understanding
of why a free society is crucial to reversing these trends.
If this is
not recognized, the recovery will linger for a long time. Bigger government,
more spending, more debt, more poverty for the middle class, and a more intense
scramble by the elite special interests will continue.
We Need an
Intellectual Awakening
Without an intellectual awakening, the turning point
will be driven by economic law. A dollar crisis will bring the current
out-of-control system to its knees.
If it’s not accepted that big government,
fiat money, ignoring liberty, central economic planning, welfarism, and
warfarism caused our crisis we can expect a continuous and dangerous march
toward corporatism and even fascism with even more loss of our liberties.
Prosperity for a large middle class though will become an abstract
dream.
This continuous move is no different than what we have seen in how
our financial crisis of 2008 was handled. Congress first directed, with
bipartisan support, bailouts for the wealthy. Then it was the Federal Reserve
with its endless quantitative easing. If at first it doesn’t succeed try again;
QE1, QE2, and QE3 and with no results we try QE indefinitely—that is until it
too fails. There’s a cost to all of this and let me assure you delaying the
payment is no longer an option. The rules of the market will extract its pound
of flesh and it won’t be pretty.
The current crisis elicits a lot of
pessimism. And the pessimism adds to less confidence in the future. The two feed
on themselves, making our situation worse.
If the underlying cause of the
crisis is not understood we cannot solve our problems. The issues of warfare,
welfare, deficits, inflationism, corporatism, bailouts and authoritarianism
cannot be ignored. By only expanding these policies we cannot expect good
results.
Everyone claims support for freedom. But too often it’s for
one’s own freedom and not for others. Too many believe that there must be limits
on freedom. They argue that freedom must be directed and managed to achieve
fairness and equality thus making it acceptable to curtail, through force,
certain liberties.
Some decide what and whose freedoms are to be limited.
These are the politicians whose goal in life is power. Their success depends on
gaining support from special interests.
No More ‘isms’
The great news
is the answer is not to be found in more “isms.” The answers are to be found in
more liberty which cost so much less. Under these circumstances spending goes
down, wealth production goes up, and the quality of life improves.
Just this
recognition—especially if we move in this direction—increases optimism which in
itself is beneficial. The follow through with sound policies are required which
must be understood and supported by the people.
But there is good
evidence that the generation coming of age at the present time is supportive of
moving in the direction of more liberty and self-reliance. The more this change
in direction and the solutions become known, the quicker will be the return of
optimism.
Our job, for those of us who believe that a different system
than the one that we have had for the last 100 years, has driven us to this
unsustainable crisis, is to be more convincing that there is a wonderful,
uncomplicated, and moral system that provides the answers. We had a taste of it
in our early history. We need not give up on the notion of advancing this
cause.
It worked, but we allowed our leaders to concentrate on the
material abundance that freedom generates, while ignoring freedom itself. Now we
have neither, but the door is open, out of necessity, for an answer. The answer
available is based on the Constitution, individual liberty and prohibiting the
use of government force to provide privileges and benefits to all special
interests.
After over 100 years we face a society quite different from
the one that was intended by the Founders. In many ways their efforts to protect
future generations with the Constitution from this danger has failed. Skeptics,
at the time the Constitution was written in 1787, warned us of today’s possible
outcome. The insidious nature of the erosion of our liberties and the
reassurance our great abundance gave us, allowed the process to evolve into the
dangerous period in which we now live.
Dependency on Government
Largesse
Today we face a dependency on government largesse for almost every
need. Our liberties are restricted and government operates outside the rule of
law, protecting and rewarding those who buy or coerce government into satisfying
their demands. Here are a few examples:
Undeclared wars are commonplace.
Welfare for the rich and poor is considered an entitlement.
The economy
is overregulated, overtaxed and grossly distorted by a deeply flawed monetary
system.
Debt is growing exponentially.
The Patriot Act and FISA
legislation passed without much debate have resulted in a steady erosion of our
4th Amendment rights.
Tragically our government engages in preemptive war,
otherwise known as aggression, with no complaints from the American people.
The drone warfare we are pursuing worldwide is destined to end badly for us
as the hatred builds for innocent lives lost and the international laws
flaunted. Once we are financially weakened and militarily challenged, there will
be a lot resentment thrown our way.
It’s now the law of the land that the
military can arrest American citizens, hold them indefinitely, without charges
or a trial.
Rampant hostility toward free trade is supported by a large
number in Washington.
Supporters of sanctions, currency manipulation and WTO
trade retaliation, call the true free traders “isolationists.”
Sanctions are
used to punish countries that don’t follow our orders.
Bailouts and
guarantees for all kinds of misbehavior are routine.
Central economic
planning through monetary policy, regulations and legislative mandates has been
an acceptable policy.
Questions
Excessive government has created such a
mess it prompts many questions:
Why are sick people who use medical marijuana
put in prison?
Why does the federal government restrict the drinking of raw
milk?
Why can’t Americans manufacturer rope and other products from hemp?
Why are Americans not allowed to use gold and silver as legal tender as
mandated by the Constitution?
Why is Germany concerned enough to consider
repatriating their gold held by the FED for her in New York? Is it that the
trust in the U.S. and dollar supremacy beginning to wane?
Why do our
political leaders believe it’s unnecessary to thoroughly audit our own gold?
Why can’t Americans decide which type of light bulbs they can buy?
Why
is the TSA permitted to abuse the rights of any American traveling by air?
Why should there be mandatory sentences—even up to life for crimes without
victims—as our drug laws require?
Why have we allowed the federal government
to regulate commodes in our homes?
Why is it political suicide for anyone to
criticize AIPAC ?
Why haven’t we given up on the drug war since it’s an
obvious failure and violates the people’s rights? Has nobody noticed that the
authorities can’t even keep drugs out of the prisons? How can making our entire
society a prison solve the problem?
Why do we sacrifice so much getting
needlessly involved in border disputes and civil strife around the world and
ignore the root cause of the most deadly border in the world-the one between
Mexico and the US?
Why does Congress willingly give up its prerogatives to
the Executive Branch?
Why does changing the party in power never change
policy? Could it be that the views of both parties are essentially the same?
Why did the big banks, the large corporations, and foreign banks and foreign
central banks get bailed out in 2008 and the middle class lost their jobs and
their homes?
Why do so many in the government and the federal officials
believe that creating money out of thin air creates wealth?
Why do so many
accept the deeply flawed principle that government bureaucrats and politicians
can protect us from ourselves without totally destroying the principle of
liberty?
Why can’t people understand that war always destroys wealth and
liberty?
Why is there so little concern for the Executive Order that gives
the President authority to establish a “kill list,” including American citizens,
of those targeted for assassination?
Why is patriotism thought to be blind
loyalty to the government and the politicians who run it, rather than loyalty to
the principles of liberty and support for the people? Real patriotism is a
willingness to challenge the government when it’s wrong.
Why is it is
claimed that if people won’t or can’t take care of their own needs, that people
in government can do it for them?
Why did we ever give the government a safe
haven for initiating violence against the people?
Why do some members defend
free markets, but not civil liberties?
Why do some members defend civil
liberties but not free markets? Aren’t they the same?
Why don’t more defend
both economic liberty and personal liberty?
Why are there not more
individuals who seek to intellectually influence others to bring about positive
changes than those who seek power to force others to obey their commands?
Why does the use of religion to support a social gospel and preemptive wars,
both of which requires authoritarians to use violence, or the threat of
violence, go unchallenged? Aggression and forced redistribution of wealth has
nothing to do with the teachings of the world great religions.
Why do we
allow the government and the Federal Reserve to disseminate false information
dealing with both economic and foreign policy?
Why is democracy held in such
high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to
the dictates of the majority?
Why should anyone be surprised that Congress
has no credibility, since there’s such a disconnect between what politicians say
and what they do?
Is there any explanation for all the deception, the
unhappiness, the fear of the future, the loss of confidence in our leaders, the
distrust, the anger and frustration? Yes there is, and there’s a way to reverse
these attitudes. The negative perceptions are logical and a consequence of bad
policies bringing about our problems. Identification of the problems and
recognizing the cause allow the proper changes to come easy.
Trust Yourself,
Not the Government
Too many people have for too long placed too much
confidence and trust in government and not enough in themselves. Fortunately,
many are now becoming aware of the seriousness of the gross mistakes of the past
several decades. The blame is shared by both political parties. Many Americans
now are demanding to hear the plain truth of things and want the demagoguing to
stop. Without this first step, solutions are impossible.
Seeking the truth
and finding the answers in liberty and self-reliance promotes the optimism
necessary for restoring prosperity. The task is not that difficult if politics
doesn’t get in the way.
We have allowed ourselves to get into such a mess
for various reasons.
Politicians deceive themselves as to how wealth is
produced. Excessive confidence is placed in the judgment of politicians and
bureaucrats. This replaces the confidence in a free society. Too many in high
places of authority became convinced that only they, armed with arbitrary
government power, can bring about fairness, while facilitating wealth
production. This always proves to be a utopian dream and destroys wealth and
liberty. It impoverishes the people and rewards the special interests who end up
controlling both political parties.
It’s no surprise then that much of what
goes on in Washington is driven by aggressive partisanship and power seeking,
with philosophic differences being minor.
Economic Ignorance
Economic
ignorance is commonplace. Keynesianism continues to thrive, although today it is
facing healthy and enthusiastic rebuttals. Believers in military Keynesianism
and domestic Keynesianism continue to desperately promote their failed policies,
as the economy languishes in a deep slumber.
Supporters of all government
edicts use humanitarian arguments to justify them.
Humanitarian arguments are
always used to justify government mandates related to the economy, monetary
policy, foreign policy, and personal liberty. This is on purpose to make it more
difficult to challenge. But, initiating violence for humanitarian reasons is
still violence. Good intentions are no excuse and are just as harmful as when
people use force with bad intentions. The results are always
negative.
The immoral use of force is the source of man’s political
problems. Sadly, many religious groups, secular organizations, and psychopathic
authoritarians endorse government initiated force to change the world. Even when
the desired goals are well-intentioned—or especially when well-intentioned—the
results are dismal. The good results sought never materialize. The new problems
created require even more government force as a solution. The net result is
institutionalizing government initiated violence and morally justifying it on
humanitarian grounds.
This is the same fundamental reason our government uses
force for invading other countries at will, central economic planning at home,
and the regulation of personal liberty and habits of our citizens.
It is
rather strange, that unless one has a criminal mind and no respect for other
people and their property, no one claims it’s permissible to go into one’s
neighbor’s house and tell them how to behave, what they can eat, smoke and drink
or how to spend their money.
Yet, rarely is it asked why it is morally
acceptable that a stranger with a badge and a gun can do the same thing in the
name of law and order. Any resistance is met with brute force, fines, taxes,
arrests, and even imprisonment. This is done more frequently every day without a
proper search warrant.
No Government Monopoly over Initiating
Violence
Restraining aggressive behavior is one thing, but legalizing a
government monopoly for initiating aggression can only lead to exhausting
liberty associated with chaos, anger and the breakdown of civil society.
Permitting such authority and expecting saintly behavior from the bureaucrats
and the politicians is a pipe dream. We now have a standing army of armed
bureaucrats in the TSA, CIA, FBI, Fish and Wildlife, FEMA, IRS, Corp of
Engineers, etc. numbering over 100,000. Citizens are guilty until proven
innocent in the unconstitutional administrative courts.
Government in a free
society should have no authority to meddle in social activities or the economic
transactions of individuals. Nor should government meddle in the affairs of
other nations. All things peaceful, even when controversial, should be
permitted.
We must reject the notion of prior restraint in economic
activity just we do in the area of free speech and religious liberty. But even
in these areas government is starting to use a backdoor approach of political
correctness to regulate speech-a dangerous trend. Since 9/11 monitoring speech
on the internet is now a problem since warrants are no longer
required.
The Proliferation of Federal Crimes
The Constitution
established four federal crimes. Today the experts can’t even agree on how many
federal crimes are now on the books—they number into the thousands. No one
person can comprehend the enormity of the legal system—especially the tax code.
Due to the ill-advised drug war and the endless federal expansion of the
criminal code we have over 6 million people under correctional suspension, more
than the Soviets ever had, and more than any other nation today, including
China. I don’t understand the complacency of the Congress and the willingness to
continue their obsession with passing more Federal laws. Mandatory sentencing
laws associated with drug laws have compounded our prison problems.
The
federal register is now 75,000 pages long and the tax code has 72,000 pages, and
expands every year. When will the people start shouting, “enough is enough,” and
demand Congress cease and desist.
Achieving Liberty
Liberty can only
be achieved when government is denied the aggressive use of force. If one seeks
liberty, a precise type of government is needed. To achieve it, more than lip
service is required.
Two choices are available.
1. A government
designed to protect liberty—a natural right—as its sole objective. The people
are expected to care for themselves and reject the use of any force for
interfering with another person’s liberty. Government is given a strictly
limited authority to enforce contracts, property ownership, settle disputes, and
defend against foreign aggression.
2. A government that pretends to
protect liberty but is granted power to arbitrarily use force over the people
and foreign nations. Though the grant of power many times is meant to be small
and limited, it inevitably metastasizes into an omnipotent political cancer.
This is the problem for which the world has suffered throughout the ages. Though
meant to be limited it nevertheless is a 100% sacrifice of a principle that
would-be-tyrants find irresistible. It is used vigorously—though incrementally
and insidiously. Granting power to government officials always proves the adage
that: “power corrupts.”
Once government gets a limited concession for the
use of force to mold people habits and plan the economy, it causes a steady move
toward tyrannical government. Only a revolutionary spirit can reverse the
process and deny to the government this arbitrary use of aggression. There’s no
in-between. Sacrificing a little liberty for imaginary safety always ends
badly.
Today’s mess is a result of Americans accepting option #2, even though
the Founders attempted to give us Option #1.
The results are not good. As our
liberties have been eroded our wealth has been consumed. The wealth we see today
is based on debt and a foolish willingness on the part of foreigners to take our
dollars for goods and services. They then loan them back to us to perpetuate our
debt system. It’s amazing that it has worked for this long but the impasse in
Washington, in solving our problems indicate that many are starting to
understand the seriousness of the world -wide debt crisis and the dangers we
face. The longer this process continues the harsher the outcome will
be.
The Financial Crisis Is a Moral Crisis
Many are now acknowledging
that a financial crisis looms but few understand it’s, in reality, a moral
crisis. It’s the moral crisis that has allowed our liberties to be undermined
and permits the exponential growth of illegal government power. Without a clear
understanding of the nature of the crisis it will be difficult to prevent a
steady march toward tyranny and the poverty that will accompany
it.
Ultimately, the people have to decide which form of government they want;
option #1 or option #2. There is no other choice. Claiming there is a choice of
a “little” tyranny is like describing pregnancy as a “touch of pregnancy.” It is
a myth to believe that a mixture of free markets and government central economic
planning is a worthy compromise. What we see today is a result of that type of
thinking. And the results speak for themselves.
A Culture of Violence
American now suffers from a culture of violence. It’s easy to reject the
initiation of violence against one’s neighbor but it’s ironic that the people
arbitrarily and freely anoint government officials with monopoly power to
initiate violence against the American people—practically at
will.
Because it’s the government that initiates force, most people
accept it as being legitimate. Those who exert the force have no sense of guilt.
It is believed by too many that governments are morally justified in initiating
force supposedly to “do good.” They incorrectly believe that this authority has
come from the “consent of the people.” The minority, or victims of government
violence never consented to suffer the abuse of government mandates, even when
dictated by the majority. Victims of TSA excesses never consented to this
abuse.
This attitude has given us a policy of initiating war to “do
good,” as well. It is claimed that war, to prevent war for noble purposes, is
justified. This is similar to what we were once told that: “destroying a village
to save a village” was justified. It was said by a US Secretary of State that
the loss of 500,000 Iraqis, mostly children, in the 1990s, as a result of
American bombs and sanctions, was “worth it” to achieve the “good” we brought to
the Iraqi people. And look at the mess that Iraq is in today.
Government
use of force to mold social and economic behavior at home and abroad has
justified individuals using force on their own terms. The fact that violence by
government is seen as morally justified, is the reason why violence will
increase when the big financial crisis hits and becomes a political crisis as
well.
First, we recognize that individuals shouldn’t initiate violence,
then we give the authority to government. Eventually, the immoral use of
government violence, when things goes badly, will be used to justify an
individual’s “right” to do the same thing. Neither the government nor
individuals have the moral right to initiate violence against another yet we are
moving toward the day when both will claim this authority. If this cycle is not
reversed society will break down.
When needs are pressing, conditions
deteriorate and rights become relative to the demands and the whims of the
majority. It’s then not a great leap for individuals to take it upon themselves
to use violence to get what they claim is theirs. As the economy deteriorates
and the wealth discrepancies increase—as are already occurring— violence
increases as those in need take it in their own hands to get what they believe
is theirs. They will not wait for a government rescue program.
When
government officials wield power over others to bail out the special interests,
even with disastrous results to the average citizen, they feel no guilt for the
harm they do. Those who take us into undeclared wars with many casualties
resulting, never lose sleep over the death and destruction their bad decisions
caused. They are convinced that what they do is morally justified, and the fact
that many suffer just can’t be helped.
When the street criminals do the
same thing, they too have no remorse, believing they are only taking what is
rightfully theirs. All moral standards become relative. Whether it’s bailouts,
privileges, government subsidies or benefits for some from inflating a currency,
it’s all part of a process justified by a philosophy of forced redistribution of
wealth. Violence, or a threat of such, is the instrument required and
unfortunately is of little concern of most members of Congress.
Some
argue it’s only a matter of “fairness” that those in need are cared for. There
are two problems with this. First, the principle is used to provide a greater
amount of benefits to the rich than the poor. Second, no one seems to be
concerned about whether or not it’s fair to those who end up paying for the
benefits. The costs are usually placed on the backs of the middle class and are
hidden from the public eye. Too many people believe government handouts are
free; like printing money out of thin air, and there is no cost. That deception
is coming to an end. The bills are coming due and that’s what the economic
slowdown is all about.
Sadly, we have become accustomed to living with
the illegitimate use of force by government. It is the tool for telling the
people how to live, what to eat and drink, what to read and how to spend their
money.
To develop a truly free society, the issue of initiating force
must be understood and rejected. Granting to government even a small amount of
force is a dangerous concession.
Limiting Government Excesses vs. a
Virtuous Moral People
Our Constitution, which was intended to limit
government power and abuse, has failed. The Founders warned that a free society
depends on a virtuous and moral people. The current crisis reflects that their
concerns were justified.
Most politicians and pundits are aware of the
problems we face but spend all their time in trying to reform government. The
sad part is that the suggested reforms almost always lead to less freedom and
the importance of a virtuous and moral people is either ignored, or not
understood. The new reforms serve only to further undermine liberty. The
compounding effect has given us this steady erosion of liberty and the massive
expansion of debt. The real question is: if it is liberty we seek, should most
of the emphasis be placed on government reform or trying to understand what “a
virtuous and moral people” means and how to promote it. The Constitution has not
prevented the people from demanding handouts for both rich and poor in their
efforts to reform the government, while ignoring the principles of a free
society. All branches of our government today are controlled by individuals who
use their power to undermine liberty and enhance the welfare/warfare state-and
frequently their own wealth and power.
If the people are unhappy with the
government performance it must be recognized that government is merely a
reflection of an immoral society that rejected a moral government of
constitutional limitations of power and love of freedom.
If this is the
problem all the tinkering with thousands of pages of new laws and regulations
will do nothing to solve the problem.
It is self-evident that our freedoms
have been severely limited and the apparent prosperity we still have, is nothing
more than leftover wealth from a previous time. This fictitious wealth based on
debt and benefits from a false trust in our currency and credit, will play havoc
with our society when the bills come due. This means that the full consequence
of our lost liberties is yet to be felt.
But that illusion is now ending.
Reversing a downward spiral depends on accepting a new approach.
Expect
the rapidly expanding home-schooling movement to play a significant role in the
revolutionary reforms needed to build a free society with Constitutional
protections. We cannot expect a Federal government controlled school system to
provide the intellectual ammunition to combat the dangerous growth of government
that threatens our liberties.
The internet will provide the alternative
to the government/media complex that controls the news and most political
propaganda. This is why it’s essential that the internet remains free of
government regulation.
Many of our religious institutions and secular
organizations support greater dependency on the state by supporting war, welfare
and corporatism and ignore the need for a virtuous people.
I never
believed that the world or our country could be made more free by politicians,
if the people had no desire for freedom.
Under the current circumstances
the most we can hope to achieve in the political process is to use it as a
podium to reach the people to alert them of the nature of the crisis and the
importance of their need to assume responsibility for themselves, if it is
liberty that they truly seek. Without this, a constitutionally protected free
society is impossible.
If this is true, our individual goal in life ought to
be for us to seek virtue and excellence and recognize that self-esteem and
happiness only comes from using one’s natural ability, in the most productive
manner possible, according to one’s own talents.
Productivity and
creativity are the true source of personal satisfaction. Freedom, and not
dependency, provides the environment needed to achieve these goals. Government
cannot do this for us; it only gets in the way. When the government gets
involved, the goal becomes a bailout or a subsidy and these cannot provide a
sense of personal achievement.
Achieving legislative power and political
influence should not be our goal. Most of the change, if it is to come, will not
come from the politicians, but rather from individuals, family, friends,
intellectual leaders and our religious institutions. The solution can only come
from rejecting the use of coercion, compulsion, government commands, and
aggressive force, to mold social and economic behavior. Without accepting these
restraints, inevitably the consensus will be to allow the government to mandate
economic equality and obedience to the politicians who gain power and promote an
environment that smothers the freedoms of everyone. It is then that the
responsible individuals who seek excellence and self-esteem by being
self-reliance and productive, become the true victims.
Conclusion
What are the greatest dangers that the American people face today and impede
the goal of a free society? There are five.
1. The continuous attack on our
civil liberties which threatens
the rule of law and our ability to resist the
onrush of tyranny.
2. Violent anti-Americanism that has engulfed the world.
Because the phenomenon of “blow-back” is not understood or denied, our foreign
policy is destined to keep us involved in many wars that we have no business
being in. National bankruptcy and a greater threat to our national security will
result.
3. The ease in which we go to war, without a declaration by
Congress, but accepting international authority from the UN or NATO even for
preemptive wars, otherwise known as aggression.
4. A financial political
crisis as a consequence of excessive debt, unfunded liabilities, spending,
bailouts, and gross discrepancy in wealth distribution going from the middle
class to the rich. The danger of central economic planning, by the Federal
Reserve must be understood.
5. World government taking over local and US
sovereignty by getting involved in the issues of war, welfare, trade, banking, a
world currency, taxes, property ownership, and private ownership of guns.
Happily, there is an answer for these very dangerous trends.
What a
wonderful world it would be if everyone accepted the simple moral premise of
rejecting all acts of aggression. The retort to such a suggestion is always:
it’s too simplistic, too idealistic, impractical, naïve, utopian, dangerous, and
unrealistic to strive for such an ideal.
The answer to that is that for
thousands of years the acceptance of government force, to rule over the people,
at the sacrifice of liberty, was considered moral and the only available option
for achieving peace and prosperity.
What could be more utopian than that
myth—considering the results especially looking at the state sponsored killing,
by nearly every government during the 20th Century, estimated to be in the
hundreds of millions. It’s time to reconsider this grant of authority to the
state.
No good has ever come from granting monopoly power to the state to
use aggression against the people to arbitrarily mold human behavior. Such
power, when left unchecked, becomes the seed of an ugly tyranny. This method of
governance has been adequately tested, and the results are in: reality dictates
we try liberty.
The idealism of non-aggression and rejecting all
offensive use of force should be tried. The idealism of government-sanctioned
violence has been abused throughout history and is the primary source of poverty
and war. The theory of a society being based on individual freedom has been
around for a long time. It’s time to take a bold step and actually permit it by
advancing this cause, rather than taking a step backwards as some would like us
to do.
Today the principle of habeas corpus, established when King John
signed the Magna Carta in 1215, is under attack. There’s every reason to believe
that a renewed effort with the use of the internet that we can instead advance
the cause of liberty by spreading an uncensored message that will serve to rein
in government authority and challenge the obsession with war and welfare.
What I’m talking about is a system of government guided by the moral
principles of peace and tolerance.
The Founders were convinced that a
free society could not exist without a moral people. Just writing rules won’t
work if the people choose to ignore them. Today the rule of law written in the
Constitution has little meaning for most Americans, especially those who work in
Washington DC.
Benjamin Franklin claimed “only a virtuous people are
capable of freedom.” John Adams concurred: “Our Constitution was made for a
moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any
other.”
A moral people must reject all violence in an effort to mold
people’s beliefs or habits.
A society that boos or ridicules the Golden Rule
is not a moral society. All great religions endorse the Golden Rule. The same
moral standards that individuals are required to follow should apply to all
government officials. They cannot be exempt.
The ultimate solution is not
in the hands of the government.
The solution falls on each and every
individual, with guidance from family, friends and community.
The #1
responsibility for each of us is to change ourselves with hope that others will
follow. This is of greater importance than working on changing the government;
that is secondary to promoting a virtuous society. If we can achieve this, then
the government will change.
It doesn’t mean that political action or
holding office has no value. At times it does nudge policy in the right
direction. But what is true is that when seeking office is done for personal
aggrandizement, money or power, it becomes useless if not harmful. When
political action is taken for the right reasons it’s easy to understand why
compromise should be avoided. It also becomes clear why progress is best
achieved by working with coalitions, which bring people together, without anyone
sacrificing his principles.
Political action, to be truly beneficial,
must be directed toward changing the hearts and minds of the people, recognizing
that it’s the virtue and morality of the people that allow liberty to
flourish.
The Constitution or more laws per se, have no value if the
people’s attitudes aren’t changed.
To achieve liberty and peace, two
powerful human emotions have to be overcome. Number one is “envy” which leads to
hate and class warfare. Number two is “intolerance” which leads to bigoted and
judgemental policies. These emotions must be replaced with a much better
understanding of love, compassion, tolerance and free market economics. Freedom,
when understood, brings people together. When tried, freedom is popular.
The problem we have faced over the years has been that economic
interventionists are swayed by envy, whereas social interventionists are swayed
by intolerance of habits and lifestyles. The misunderstanding that tolerance is
an endorsement of certain activities, motivates many to legislate moral
standards which should only be set by individuals making their own choices. Both
sides use force to deal with these misplaced emotions. Both are authoritarians.
Neither endorses voluntarism. Both views ought to be rejected.
I have
come to one firm conviction after these many years of trying to figure out “the
plain truth of things.” The best chance for achieving peace and prosperity, for
the maximum number of people world-wide, is to pursue the cause of
LIBERTY.
If you find this to be a worthwhile message, spread it throughout
the land.
------------------------------------
Thomas Jefferson said:
"The price of
freedom is eternal vigilance."
I add to this:
"The battle for freedom is never won, and is
never lost.
The battle for freedom always continues.
It is never too late,
and it is never soon enough, to defend freedom.
No matter how enslaved we
are, we always have hope.
No matter how free we are we are never
safe.
NOTHING EVER LIMITS THE GOVERNMENT, EXCEPT THE PEOPLE.
Any
generation that fails to defend freedom will lose it.
The next generation
will have to shed blood to gain it back"
John Perna
The defense of liberty is a lifetime project.
When the defense of liberty becomes a crime, tyranny is
already in force. At that point, failure to defend liberty makes slavery at
certainty.
John Perna
Regardless of the vote fraud, and the dirty tricks at
conventions, the cause of liberty will persist until victory. After victory the
defense of liberty will continue.
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