Relax….it’s OK
By Brian Lindquist
Recently I watched my 2 youngest sons, Jon, 10 and Sam, 12, play basketball at a public court. This was just a quick pickup game with 4 other kids from the neighborhood. At the top of the hour chimes sounded out from the steeple of the church across the street followed by several patriotic songs played on the chimes.
As I watched my guys play in the soft, beautiful light that comes as the sun starts or closes each day; with the Star Spangled Banner playing in the background it struck me how much this was just the essence of small town America. Kids being kids, and a parent sitting watching them wondering what their future holds. In our country we know that a kid can go from poor to rich, unknown to the leader of the free world. This was a photo essay right out of National Geographic.
Now with an Administration and Congress in place that many of us worry will restrict our freedoms I am reminded of a book I’m reading that chronicles the collapse of the Soviet Union. Most of us grew up assuming the Iron Curtain would always exist. But depending on your scale of measuring time, it took from 3 years to just weeks for that Wall to fall. The Communist leaders in the Soviet Union and their client states were completely astonished by the force of will in their enslaved peoples to be free. Again the time scale for these changes was amazing and in some cases the freedoms were won because the people acted so quickly their leaders couldn’t react swiftly enough to destroy the Freedom Fighters.
In our land we have known freedom way too long for people to step aside and surrender that precious commodity. The Bible tells us that God appoints the Kings, that God has it all under control, that as long as we don’t lose the vision we won’t perish. (my paraphrase)
I’m sure all 3 of my boys will grow up in a land where freedom will still reign because if millions who were enslaved to the Communist system for 70 odd years can throw it off in a matter of months, we who have known freedom, have died for freedom, and have upheld it for hundreds of years will, if needed, make sure the Vision does not perish in our Nation. If in no other way than being sure to pray for our leaders.
Oh, and my guys won by 2 points!!
I response let me post some quotes from early Americans:
ReplyDeleteBut a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.
John Adams, letter to Abigail Adams, July 17, 1775
Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people, commencing demagogues and ending tyrants.
Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 1, October 27, 1787
A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.
Thomas Jefferson, Rights of British America, 1774
Dependence [on government] begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 19, 1787
He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.
Thomas Paine, Dissertation on First Principles of Government, December 23, 1791
I think that most Americans, especially in my generation, violate the tendencies described here to protect our liberties. This is especially true when election season rolls around and the rhetoric (not to mention hatred and abuse) which each side spews at each other reach a fever pitch. God does appoint the leaders but remember that that means God established the Soviet Government in Russia and, since I've been thinking about the prophets today, we know for a fact that God consecrated Gentiles to overthrow the Jews. (Darius is called a "messiah" even.)
I would contend that the problem is simply that we have known freedom for too long and to such an extent that we no longer appreciate it. And in an effort to make people "equal" we are giving up our freedoms to the government. This happened under both Clinton and Bush II, and is happening at an alarming rate under Obama. Stepping back, we can see that America has been moving toward socialism since the Great Depression at least. (The New Deal, etc.) So will we likely be conquered by revolutionaries? No, but with each welfare check that is mailed, each Prop 8 that is passed, and each bailed out company that the government controls, we are losing our freedom. (cf. Solzhenitsyn's Harvard Commencement address on this one.)
This is one of the many reasons that I am a Libertarian. We eschew both the attempts at moral domination from the Right and the economic domination from the Left. Sure, as the middle man (or Third Option as I like to think of us) we get trampled on from both ends, but I think our day is coming.
Ben
PS. Sorry, Dad. :P
That is EXACTLY the point, ALL leaders are appointed by God. The Soviets included (though God brought them down beginning with the words of a Pope) Many times He has used pagans to do his Work i.e. Cyrus. BUT the thing is He was in control. I never implied He only appointed Christian Leaders.
ReplyDeleteBut the primary point is that in each of us there is a point where we join with that great defender of the oppressed and say -- "'I've had all I can stand and I can't stand no more!!" -- Popeye.
Watch Iran right now, if they are incensed long enough sometime in the near future the potential exists for open rebellion because the people are "Drawing A Line In The Sand" (Bush 1) If not this time then next.
My point is that within people who have not known freedom and those who do there is a point they will no longer surrender their freedoms. To think otherwise assumes that the dream has faded from the earth and in the midst of this nation's most vicious war to date, Abraham Lincoln told us that "this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government: OF the people, BY the people, FOR the people, shall not perish from the earth."
You assume that people forget and can never remember what is taken, but eventually it will be pushed too far. Orwell's "1984" is a reach, more likely are the results in his "Animal Farm" Book.
We need to be careful we don't get wrapped up in noble quotes from the past and remember that underlying all those great events were folks like the Greatest Generation that your grandfathers were a part of, that protected freedom without anyone except maybe you and me and a few in their families knowing about; times millions of other plain folk who repeatedly over the years have protected freedom.
I remember a son who I greatly respect telling me "don't be such a cynic Dad"
Love ya dude even if you :p me
It is nice idea but it is not the way of governments to give up power once it has been given to them. Look at Europe or China and tell me this isn't the case. The other fact is that almost half of my generation have polled to say they are either fine with or in support of socialism.
ReplyDeleteThis seems to mean that the common American is relying more and more on the government and is willing to give up more freedoms. Most are doing it unquestioningly in the face of the materialist, propaganda-driven worldviews promulgated by the major political parties in America. Bailouts, welfare, universal healthcare, and all the rest are simply symptoms of the disease rotting out our liberties.
The difference between losing your freedoms by force and giving them away is the crucial point. We are more and more like the characters in Fahrenheit 451 than anything else. We are looking for the next entertainment fix, the next thing to distract us and make feel safe rather than being real people. We do this by asking the government to fix our problems because we're Americans and shouldn't suffer the consequences! We also do this by shunting our responsibilities as members of a community onto the government (i.e. too busy to help out friends in economic trouble so let the government pay for it, or we are too metaphysically disassociated to convince people not to have abortions or homosexual relationships so let's just have the government force them to do what we want.)
The fundamental difference between us is you see people as the frog who will let himself be boiled in a slowly heating pan of water.
ReplyDeleteI see them as ones who will in fact eventually respond to the heat and act to lower the heat, maybe even change the pan. Once again witness Iran TODAY, Tiananmen Square which will someday be repeated. Iraq who though we helped still had to act themselves to throw the religious zealots who tried to succeed Sadam.
Remember God's time frame is years not months. Additionally in America the bulk of our 300,000,000 people DON'T live in the cities of the right left coast or the left left coast. So your surveys and view may not be indicative of the bulk of the American People.
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ReplyDeleteBTW My contention is not that we ask for our freedoms back and gov'ts say "yes sir right away" The line I speak of and the examples I've cited have NOT been polite society fixes; we may have to forcefully ask for our freedoms back.
ReplyDeleteIf no where else than everyone showing up at the polls and voting smart next time.
You analogy is not completely correct. What we have witnessed post-9/11 is a movement within American culture to be the frog turning the heat up on themselves! The Patriot Act and other frightening legislation in tandem with a Republican government that grew and invaded our liberties as much as any Democratic government.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, your examples only show one side of the spectrum. Show me a people lulled into bovine acceptance who have reversed the trend before they have given in to tyrants. If your contention is that Americans will take it back, someday, maybe, probably, by force if they need to, then sure. However, I am speaking to your comment "In our land we have known freedom way too long for people to step aside and surrender that precious commodity." This is, in light of the evidence, patently false. Not because it is being taken from us deceitfully (which is happening to be sure) but it also due to our giving it away.
In regards to the "silent majority" argument, most of the people in America voted for Obama. Fact. They knew how he was going to govern(maybe not to the greatest extent because both of the major candidates were trash as far as actually saying anything of value) and they still put him in office.
I do agree that we need to vote smart next time. Voting smart means looking beyond the two major parties. If everyone who said "I would vote Libertarian but I feel like it is a wasted vote" had in fact voted for Bob Barr, then you would have seen a dramatic swing in our numbers, especially since it became evident that McCain was a wasted vote at least a week before the election. (I'm not saying we would have won this time, Obama was too much of a juggernaut.) The same is true for the Green party or the Constitution party.
You Said "Show me a people lulled into bovine acceptance who have reversed the trend.... I (Ben) am speaking to your comment "In our land we have known freedom way too long for people to step aside and surrender that precious commodity." This is, in light of the evidence, patently false"
ReplyDeleteThere is lots of evidence; Peaceful Revolutions abound where the people have refused to bow to a repressive or dictatorial grab for power
Maldives 2008
E. Germany 1989
Czechoslovakia Velvet Revolution 1989
Russia the country 1991 (Comm Attempt Coup)
Marcos Philippines - People Power 1986
Portugal Carnation Revolution 1974
India and Ghandi