America--land of entitlement, home of the enslaved, Part One

By Madeline Crabb

Does this title make you mad? Good. There must be something that can be said or done to wake Americans up from our slumber and sleep; otherwise, we are going to become as miserable as the millions of citizens around the world who live under dictatorships and communist regimes. Sadly, we are already living under what Mark Levin calls a "soft tyranny." We're already enslaved to a certain degree, and are too ignorant or blind to recognize it.

The saddest thing about our current situation is that We the People have caused our own demise. Oh yes we have. Founding Father Benjamin Franklin was asked what kind of government we were going to have after the Constitutional Convention. He replied, "A Republic, if you can keep it." Well, it seems his doubts were correct. It appears American citizens would rather abdicate their duty of preserving the American Republic to others rather than bother themselves with such a mundane task. We would rather let others run things, and tell us what to do, rather than take personal responsibility for our own lives and future.

Granted, governments are necessary evils. The second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence details the purpose of our government. It is important to examine these words:

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 to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted
among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent
of the Governed."

In my pocket Declaration and Constitution from the CATO Institute, the preface contains further explanation and reasoning for establishing our government. CATO states that "self-evident" refers to the "long tradition of natural law, which holds that there is a 'higher law' of right and wrong from which to derive human law and against which to criticize that law at any time." The contention is that the foundation of our political system is moral reasoning, not political will. Reason is the Founder's vision, and liberty is its aim.

CATO also explains that defined by our natural rights, we are all created equal – that no one has rights superior to anyone else's rights, and that we are born with these rights, they do not come from government. In fact, any rights the government has come from We the People, "the Consent of the Governed." Our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, states CATO, imply that we have the right to live our lives as long as we respect the equal rights of others to do so as well. "Drawing by implication upon the common law tradition of liberty, property, and contract – the Founders thus outline the moral foundations of a free society."

But here we are in 2013 under a government that ignores the premise of liberty espoused in the Declaration, and tramples on the Law of the Land, the United States Constitution, inserting instead laws and directives contrary to the spirit and essence of the founding documents. Government bureaucrats love to use the term, "Law of the Land," any time they say something can't be changed – something they again, have forced upon us against our will. And all the while, they have totally ignored the true Law of the Land. The result is that We the People are living again under the tyrannical rule of an absurdly out-of-control government – I believe a government much worse than that of our British rulers.

Again, our government was founded to "secure our rights." CATO says that the powers our government may need to secure our rights "must be derived from our consent if they are to be just." Additionally, "Government is thus twice limited: by its end, which any of us would have a right to pursue were there no government; and by its means, which require our consent." Just think about this last statement...

Imagine how you would live your life if there was no government telling you how and what you could or couldn't do. Imagine being able to work however and whenever you wanted, to build the biggest and best of whatever you made, to charge whatever price you chose for your product – or to not charge anything at all if you so chose. How wonderful would it be not having to give half or more of your earnings to government in the form of confiscatory taxes? How about being able to save as much money as you wanted to leave for your children and grandchildren, instead of relinquishing half of it to taxes upon your death? This is how we are meant to live our lives. We should be able to pursue our "happiness" and fortunes however vigorously we choose, not according to what government bureaucrats believe. (Actually, when writing the Declaration, the founders considered using the word fortunes before settling on happiness.) As long as others are allowed to pursue their happiness in any way they choose, we should be left alone. Our pursuits should be legal and ethical, and not interfere or endanger others. But it is We the People who decide what is dangerous, legal, and ethical. WE are only subject to the dictates of the government if we consent to them. As Abraham Lincoln once said, "We the People are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts – not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution."

Unfortunately, we have forsaken our duty of controlling the government. And now, it controls us. Ask yourself: Is there any area of your life government doesn't exert some kind of control over? Sleep? Government dictates what kind of mattresses we can sleep on. They regulate how the sheets are made as well. Using the bathroom? Toilet paper, toilet, and how powerful the flush is are all regulated by government. Eating? Our food and drinks are regulated, regulated, and then regulated some more. Now the government even wants to tell us how much we can eat and drink. Driving your car? All parts of the car are regulated to death. It is against the law to not wear our seat belts, or to drive too fast, and on and on. And now, government is considering legislation to put devices into our cars to monitor how many miles we drive, on which they will tax us. Carry that to its logical conclusion and we will soon be told how many miles we are allowed to drive. Using the phone, or Internet? Regulated to death, and monitored by the government. Thinking? They've been manipulating that for decades. The only thing I can think of they haven't regulated yet, is our breathing. But, Obama is working on that as well. He and all good Progressives want to control the weather and environment. Carbon dioxide will be taxed – the same carbon dioxide we expel when breathing. Don't be surprised when you are told how to, and how much you can breathe. Seriously. AND, like everything else we do every day, we will be taxed on breathing as well. And so it goes...

You think any of this is an exaggeration? Seriously, get a reality check. And what's worse than the truth about the control government has over us is that WE have done it to OURSELVES. Hello! What are we thinking?!

Government bureaucrats tell us they do everything for our good, or for our safety and security. Most of what they tell us is a bunch of hogwash. Mark Levin tells us that our legislators craft about 3000 new laws every year. Mind you, that's on top of all the other laws that have been passed before. How often have you heard lawmakers speak of repealing laws? Uhh, that would be almost never. What do all these laws mean to We the People? It means tighter chains binding us.

Hey, Democrats are always bringing up the subject of slavery, suggesting that Republicans want blacks enslaved. By the way...Republicans were the ones who worked to free the slaves. Democrats wanted the slaves to remain enslaved – then and now. It's about control. If you are a black person, you shouldn't be so in love with the Democratic Party that is doing everything in its power to subjugate you. Not even our half black president has done anything to help the black community, and yet, many of you worship him. But I digress...The point is that all the laws inflicted upon us are to control us, keep us in line – in other words, to make us slaves or servants. This is not freedom.

Now you may be wondering how We the People have done this to ourselves. The answer: By not educating ourselves about our founding documents and how our government works...By not taking an active role in overseeing what our legislators do...By not making informed, educated choices when voting for people to represent us...By not demanding our representatives perform only those duties enumerated in the Constitution, which again, is THE law of the land...and by essentially being poor caretakers of our own liberty. While there are many other things we have also failed to do, vigilance in just these areas, would have prevented us from living in tyranny, and facing a communist future.

America has indeed become the land of entitlement (and the entitled), and home of the enslaved. When almost half the population gets some form of government assistance, we can't be truly free. Why? Because for every person who thinks he or she is "entitled" to a government handout, other people are "enslaved" by having to work to provide that handout. Far too many of the people getting their welfare and "food stamps" don't realize that the government has absolutely NO MONEY of its own. It has to take money from people who are still willing to work, to be able to give to those people holding out their hands. In other words, far too many people are fools, as Mr. T might call them.

In a sense, we are all guilty of neglecting our role as caretakers of our freedom, and overseers of those we put into government. We all need to ponder the situation we have created, and decide what we are going to do. As George Washington said, "The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty... [is] finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people." Can we re-ignite the fire of liberty within our hearts? For Judge Learned Hand said that "Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women. When it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it." Let's hope there is at least a flame in the hearts of enough people to start a bonfire for liberty in the land! We'll discuss more on this in the next column. To anyone willing to hear....

© Madeline Crabb