We recently discussed what inalienable rights are. We came up with this description (with the help of Jo)
A right is something that you have by being born. If you were born on a desert island all you would have is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Saying that the things you would not have and are not entitled to are:
Food
Shelter
Marriage
Children
Healthcare
Money
Power
These are things that you could work for. They are a privilege. They are incentive. In fact you should work for them. By working for them you get a sense of accomplishment. You should not be forced to work for them either. That takes away freedom of choice. (For those who are LDS it's the difference of Agency (with consequences) or everyone being able to get back again (force) to Heavenly Father.)
However, if they are given to you without you putting in the necessary effort you do not understand what is truly required to have them. If somehow your benefactor dies, or whatever, then you suddenly lose your benefits that you didn't really deserve in the first place because you were not willing to work for them. You are in a rut and you are screaming "injustice!" and you're right. You don't even know how to get those benefits on your own merit. That is truly injustice.
I know that there is a lot of corruption in the land. I think Democrats have Socialistic tendencies and "some" think Republicans have anarchy (no desire for any government) tendencies. With so much corruption who can tell.
So maybe I'm neither. I am for the liberty, love, the family, and all that is right and good. I believe that evil should not be called good, and good should not be called evil.
I believe people have the right to pursue their desires. I also firmly believe that we should not remove the consequences they worked so hard to receive. It is not fair to punish those who work hard and are good while rewarding the wicked or lazy.
That said. You probably think I am heartless. On the contrary. As I have researched Charities, Non-profit organizations, and donations I have discovered that American's are the most giving collection of people in the world. Why? Because we have education, religion, and family values. We desire that people do not live in terrible conditions. We want to share our education, our health, and our wealth. We want to help the less fortunate, sponsor the determined yet underprivileged, and invest in those who do not have the current means but do have the inspiration for something great.
We want to teach people to fish so they can feed themselves for a lifetime.
I am appalled at the resentment created in people, because they are taxed in order to help others, implying that they themselves are not good enough to do it on their own. So families are pulling apart and resent helping each other, because they think that the government should do it, since they are paying taxes for that sort of thing. This happens so slowly (over a series of 50-60 years) that we think it is normal not to cling together and support each other.
I believe that the founding fathers had a pretty good understanding of corruption and how government should run. The Federal, state, and city governments were to have a set of checks and balances so that no particular party or organization would get strong enough to bring in corruption. (Although Washington himself warned against separating into parties at all.) That way even though there is evil in the world people would be too afraid to put power/greedy hungry people in power because it would hurt the people.
Well, afraid to say it. FDR used the terrible conditions to open the door to socialistic thinking...with the promise that when the war was over and the people returned to normalsy that Social Security and Medicaid/Medicare would end and the powers of government would return to how they were intended. So, more power was given to the government. The people were so eager to sell out their freedom for a handout.
The power was too tempting. It still exists.
The city should take care of city dealings.
The State should take care of state dealings.
The Fed should take care of Freeways, International relations, and severe crimes.
So what can we do? Get involved.
As "Remy" said in Ratatouille, "the time to change is now." It is not inevitable if we do not make it so.
Awake from your slumber and do the research. Don't just research modern day government. Do what John Adams did. Go and research the history of the world. Read Karl Marx Communist Manifesto, Read Voltair, Candide, the history of Russia, Broken Glass Floats, the Hiding Place. Find the good-bad-ugly and sort it out. Only then will you truly understand how freedoms are slowly taken away and must be paid for again with blood.
Prevent the Pride cycle. Arise. Focus on all that you can do.
Great thoughts. These have got to get out there more!! This really is a critical time to be involved in calling your Congressmen and all that so the government doesn't take even more power that they shouldn't have. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWell-stated. I hadn't realized that Social Security and Medicare were intended to temporary.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sara Lyn. I hope by blogging I can help. I also hope that we can get the funding to do our dance company so that we can perform patriotic shows to forward freedom. We'll see how that goes. We do have dancers. :)
ReplyDeleteJanene, I hope that we can end SS and Medicare so that the promise of temporary is fulfilled.
I wrote a big ole' long response, but was told I can't write something longer than 4,096 characters. So I emailed it to you. Now I'm curious how many characters long my response was!
ReplyDeleteThe short of it is, I love freedom and the pursuit of happiness, but I don't always think that simply "earning" one of the privileges you pointed out guarantees getting it. It is for when people are down and out and have nowhere else to turn (i.e. when family is in just as dire straights as I am/we are) that systems like Medicaid are meant to help. They are not meant to be a bailout, and those who use them as such are only hurting themselves because they miss the satisfaction and morale of being self-sufficient when possible.
Anyway, WIC and Medicaid have saved me more than once when I was in dire need, and I respect it as the fallback it should be.
I tend toward more republican in my ideals, that local govt. can more effectively & efficiently run programs.
But I also think that Obama (who I assume you are referring to here?) has worthy ideals and that his desire is to help the American People, even though his method of doing it runs democratic (which is only fair as he was elected because people felt the last president, a republican, was not effective).
Lastly, I love the gospel because we seek to help each other out if we can, and because the priesthood can't even be used to bless ourselves, only others, which teaches such a great principle about effective leadership and not letting our fallen natures become power-hungry.
Was that short enough this time?? We shall see if it posts....
I just have to say, yay, it posted!
ReplyDeleteAnd one more comment. One of my favorite books, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, shows how the hardest-working of them all (the mom), who should be earning the greatest of the American Dream privileges, is not only always just trying to scrape by, she is always falling behind.
Govt. is not a perfect system, though it's the most efficient system for this Telestial world. And sometimes people desperately need some help and can't seem to get it even though they're more qualified via their solid character and good nature than others that have it.
Especially now when we are in recession, I am watching many people in my ward and community who are crumbling financially, not due to ANYTHING that is a direct consequence of any of their actions, but simply a consequence of the economy downturn.
One friend is in drastic need of gallbladder surgery, and though many of her friends are helping take care of her kids and bringing meals, we simply don't have the means to foot the bills for her surgery. She is looking for mercy, and I hope she finds it. She is most worthy, and her husband has simply been laid off and can't find work so doesn't have insurance.
I wish I knew the answers, though. For every Irena who needs gallbladder surgery is a Tom who will grab on to the tail end of a mercy chain even though he could have figured things out on his own. I wish things could work according to how they're meant to work ideally.