Learn from our history, or learn from bears

The following is a transcript of a speech delivered to the Everett Tea Party on 4/15/2010 in Everett, WA.

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Here is a picture from a hotel in Yellowstone in the early part of the 20th century.


They routinely placed garbage out for bears to forage, and watched the show. Little did the guests know that when tourism season ended many of these bears starved because their skills for foraging and self-reliance atrophied as a direct result of their reliance on the Hotel’s garbage!

I pose two questions from this scenario:

1. Had the bears been aware of self, and recognized that the path of least resistance carried long-term consequence, would they have taken the free food?
2. What was more harmful to the bear species… the hotel offering the food in the first place, or withholding it once the bears integrated the nourishment into their daily lives?

We must assume that the proprietors of this hotel acted with the best of intentions. We have to believe that they could not extrapolate how their seemingly altruistic actions could garner such a consequence. Once they knew better, this practice ceased.

I watched “Die Hard” last week. In one of the scenes Bruce Willis is on the radio with some knucklehead from the Government. Bruce says..

“If you aren’t part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Quit being part of the problem and put the other guy back on.”

What is the problem in America today? Healthcare? Jobs? Banks? I argue those are symptoms of the problem; artifacts and indicators of a deeper issue. From the dawn of civilization the ambitious man pursued the control over others. This is a constant; a natural law; much akin to gravity. For most of the 20th century really smart and ambitious people quietly made inroads into our educational and governmental infrastructure; germinating economic and societal concepts which appear really good when you step back 10 feet and squint. The concepts had pretty titles like “living wage”, “New Deal”, “Social Responsibility”… among others. What were the common threads across all? A simple concept..

When government regulates the production of resources and distribution to the people, then the governed will be better off.

The problem becomes clear. More of our countrymen either believe the euphemisms which shroud the cold vocabulary of Socialism, or simply tune out. Either way they are stuck living the life of a scrounging bear once deciding to accept the path of least resistance offered by the government. For every emergency, for every crisis, for every ailment, talking heads from academia and media tell us that we need the government to fix “it”. Oh, and unlike the hotel proprietors, they DO know better.

Now back to our buddy Bruce… If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.

If the strategy for governmental control relied on indoctrinating a generation into believing that they could not do for themselves what the Government was “offering” to do for them, then the anti-strategy requires practicing self-reliance in every way possible!

• Self-reliance in our shelter needs
• Self-reliance in for nourishment
• Self-reliance for matters of finance
• Self-reliance in our formation of opinion

The greatest advance toward liberty you can make is to learn how to do for yourselves most of the things you currently pay others or the government to do for you. Not only will your muscles of self-reliance become stronger, but it will generate a shift in attitude, expectation, and control.

Those traveling this path will most assuredly encounter the neighbor, friend, or family member who adamantly and blindly clings to the position that giving up this piece or that piece of our liberty for the greater good of “the collective” represents a more altruistic and patriotic course. They will discount, insult, and nullify any arguments that Constitutional Principles are still relevant in today’s modern era; if they even studied the Constitution at all. They are more likely to form political opinions from John Stewart’s talking points ather than the experiences of John Adams. To these people I implore you to be kind, loving, and forgiving as far as your character allows. I pity the fellow who must learn from his own mistakes rather than from the mistakes of others... or even bears for that matter. It is so disheartening when someone quite well-intentioned and academically educated starts to use history when arguing why progressive ideals are so great, when every historical example in existence turns into tyranny or bankruptcy!

To quote Reagan...

"It is not that our Liberal friends are ignorant, it that they know so much that just isn’t so.”

For the rest of your community, you must be that beacon of light. Be that example of awakened consciousness. Demonstrate self-reliance in every act of every day. The time will come when your neighbors rustle from their slumber. When they begin to ask how they ended up following the government’s rules for their rent payment, for their health checkups, follow the red tape for their job duties, wait for their turn in the food line, along with every other aspect of life. They will begin to struggle against the bounds known as our “Nanny state”. That is when you are needed most. Not to feed them a fish, but to teach them to fish.

You can demonstrate the power of One. Each of us came into this earth to do more than clock in and out for forty years and get a gold watch. If you want hope, if you want change, be the hope and change you want to see. This time next year, let the walls of these buildings resonate with your testimony of a new awakening! Let it be the year you became debt free, let this spring mark your rediscovery of our founding Father’s plight! Let this autumn be your first harvest, and let 2010 be the year you turned off your television and spent those hours learning from others, and teaching other what you know!

It does not end there. Our electorate is a reflection of society at large. When the Self Reliant person springs forward with a desire to lead, they can only succeed with the confidence knowing they represent a self-reliant constituency. They need more than your vote; they require your advocacy, donations of time, donations of money, and reinforcement that they are not alone; especially when they face down the tsunami of “progress” flooding our congressional halls. Each voting district in this state contains a candidate ready to represent the Founding principles critical to the prosperity of America. Seek them out. THANK THEM, then support them every way you can.

Judge rules that a 13 year old boy must undergo chemo

Link to news article

Cases like this are severely concerning on many levels.

1. When is it appropriate to err on the side of medicine instead of personal faith?
2. What precedent will this case set? Will it become acceptable for CPS to take our kids if we don't believe they should take the battery of immunizations currently "recommended"?
3. How can the we be sure that these types of "best interest" decisions will not be influenced by expensive procedures supporting special interests?

Commentary -
A judge may only interpret the laws passed by the legislature. Society is constitutionally protected from laws which abridge our freedom to peacefully practice religious beliefs. What law allows for the State to dictate the choices parents and children make in accordance with their beliefs? This is not a case of abuse, or a case where a family's beliefs are endangering society around them. This is a personal, private matter which is painful beyond comprehension. I would argue that this decision is as crazy as the state mandating blood letting on a child in the 1800s, but that would actually legitimize a false point. The issue is not whether Chemo or blood letting will provide a cure, it is that the family does not believe it will, and moreover their beliefs of faith restrict them to medication models of alternative medicine.

It is my opinion that this case sets a dangerous precedent for the reach of big government, and will amplify the anguish of this family.

Atrophy

Like muscles unused, machinery un-maintained, or friendships left stale, the liberties and principles won by our forefathers atrophy from neglect. For the last fifty years, Americans collectively experienced the lightest of sacrifice and duty. Generations who lived through dust-bowl depression era years coming away with the richest appreciation for prosperity and financial stability. Current generations only read in history books about the importance of planting a victory garden, the sacrifice of rationing, or the clear and present danger faced by aggressive fascism. Though not without struggles, the post-war era brought considerable prosperity to Americans while simultaneously reducing the natural growth occurring when adversity gives way to accomplishment.

Steel is tempered through repetitions of hot and cold; binding the molecules in to a stronger structure with the same mass. People are no different. Societies tempered with the experiences of loss forge strengthen both in an appreciation for liberties as well as the duties of defending it. George Washington warned:

“against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, for I conjure to believe me,
fellow citizens the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake,
since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most
baneful foes of a republican government.”

The enemies of America’s liberty learned well from the foes of yesteryear; for Americans unify well when facing an easily identifiable frontal assault. From Britain to Germany Americans offered unified services, loyalty, and life in order to protect and defend our country, and the principles of it foundation. Those enemies identified themselves with language, uniform, and culture; all of the characteristics comprising a nation. The aggressors attacking the United States today arrive not from land or by sea; they walk among our elected leaders and through the halls housing the scared documents of our country’s founding. Today, our inalienable rights erode at a subtle pace; inching ever closer to a tipping point as we forsake perceived safety for freedom. A universal truth of mankind is that it is easier to add freedoms than to remove them. The revolutionary war was seen as a preservation of the freedoms rather than the acquisition of them. Likewise, today’s America sudden losses of freedoms would most certainly result in resistance. Alas, all generations baseline current freedoms in context of our acclimation to the present. Like a frog in a slowly heated kettle, knowledge of how far we drifted from the nation of our founding fathers is lost in the acceptance of the familiar, and convenient.

This enemy, however, cannot forcibly invade. This enemy arrives through invitation. Under the auspices of safety or security, ignorant Americans simply invite more rules and regulations into their lives. Gradually, yet consistently, more laws bind the actions within our lives. Some are visible; like the extra form or two appearing during real estate purchases which capture and hand over personal, private information to the federal government in order to fight "terrorist funding". Other encroachments only surface when Americans begin to break away from their regular, docile routine. What actions define an American as a "Terrorist", or a "right wing extremist"? How does one get placed on a "no fly" list? When placed on that list, how does one get removed? These examples underscore the implementations of laws and regulations thrust upon us during times of collective shock. In this case, the tragedy of 9/11.

With the economic crisis, we faced a different class of shock, and a different type of doctrine. One of fleeting prosperity and stability. Quick and decisive action emerged from the lame duck administration as well as the incoming. Suddenly we stopped asking "should we" when it came to appropriations and started asking "can we". In short order more debt was thrust upon our children in one year than was spent through the New Deal and WWII.

In both of these cases the federal government stepped away from the bound placed upon it by Articles 1 and 2 of the constitution. Why are these laws still on the books? Simply put, they stand unchallenged. Why? Most of us dont know what supreme laws exist affirming our rights and the restrictions protecting us from tyrannical rule. If we dont know and/or dont care, then who stands up en-masse to petition the government for redress of grievances?

Welcome

What conversations took place in the halls and taverns of 1772? How did early America go from a land of colonies peacefully under British rule, to the fervent uprising of oppressed people banding together to push back against the escalation of tyranny? What tipping point does a society cross when it determines that the rigors of resistance are less costly than the yoke of the oppressor?

History tells us that most civilizations lived under the rule of another. What was the transition from a free society to one of subjection? For some, the change came in the form of an external invasion. For others, the change arrived from within; through complacency, apathy, and ignorance.

This blog explores the leading indicators of oppression, and invites a dialogue with responsible American citizens to discuss examples with the fabric of our country and how we can respond to preserve and protect liberty from those with ambition and designs to remove it.