Congressman Paul has been one of the very people in the Washington political class who has sincerely worried about the erosion of liberty and freedom in this country. This loss of freedom was usually at the hands of overreaching, overbearing, and over politicized politicians and their usually ineffective, wasteful, and dangerous policies and legislation.
Many smart people throughout history have correctly observed that freedom is seldom lost by a sudden outburst of tyranny. It is usually lost over time, bit by bit, kind of like death by a thousand cuts. You do not notice how much freedom has eroded away until it is too late to stop the erosion.
Congressman Paul’s points do a great job of pointing out how that slow erosion, how those tiny cuts have dramatically reduced our freedom in this country without most of us noticing. It is a good starting point to determine if this path of slow tyranny is a good path for America or if there is truly a need to change the path back to our heritage of liberty as outlined in the Constitution. Is it a continued road of ignorance or back to the enlightened road of free will, free expression, and freedom from the shackles of politicians and government.
The first part of his speech goes down a checklist of freedom reducing acts from just the past few years:
"[Still] our liberties are restricted and government operates outside the rule of law.. Here are a few examples:
- Debt is growing exponentially.
- The Patriot Act and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act legislation passed without much debate, have resulted in a steady erosion of our Fourth Amendment rights.
- Tragically, our government engages in a pre-emptive wear, 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 the hatred builds for innocent lives lost and the international laws flouted.
- 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.
- Sanctions are used to punish countries that don’t follow our orders.
- Bailouts and guarantees for all kinds of misbehavior are routine.”
To these gross impositions on freedom, the root causes of our liberty loss, we should add a few more causes:
- You are not living in a free country when all forms of government confiscate, on average, over 30% of an American household’s income every year.
- You are not living in a free country when about 500 people in Washington, people you have never met, can force you to purchase a product or service of their choosing, as witnessed by the health insurance mandate demanded in Obama Care.
- You are not living in a free country when the central government controls your elder years medical care (via Medicare).
- You are not living in a free country when the central government controls a large portion of your retirement income (via Social Security).
- You are not living in a free country when the central government controls a large portion of your pre-retirement medical care (via Obama Care).
- You are not living in a free country if your ability to go to college, via student loans, is dependent on the actions and whims of Federal government politicians.
- You are not living in a free country if your ability to get a home mortgage, via Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is dependent on the actions and whims of Federal government politicians.
- You are not living in a free country if the Federal government’s executive branch can independently and arbitrarily designate any American for assassination and then actually commit that assassination without due process of law (e.g. Anwar al-Awlaki).
- You are not living in a free country when a President can seize control of all forms of communications when he alone decides it is in the national interest (Executive Order - Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions)
- You are not living in a free country when the Federal government can collect and store every electronic communication any citizen makes (e.g. email, text messages) in massive data storage centers (e.g. Bluffdale, Utah) without due process, a warrant, or privacy protection.
- You are not living in a free country when the Federal government executive branch thinks it can affix a GPS tracking device to any citizen’s car without a warrant (see U.S. Vs. Jones decision).
- You are not living in a free country when crony capitalism wastes billions of taxpayer dollars every year without any redeeming societal benefits (e.g. Solyndra, Fisker, Telsa).
- You are not living in a free country if the executive branch can circumvent Constitutionally mandated government appointment reviews via a "czar" politburo.
When taken in total, the above actions by the American political class have shot us a long way down the road to tyranny. In light of these actions, the Congressman’s speech addresses some very serious questions to all Americans:
“Why are sick people [Americans] who use medical marijuana put in prison?
Why are Americans not allowed to use gold and silver as legal tender as mandated by the Constitution?
Why is the Transportation Security Administration permitted to abuse the rights of any American traveling by air?
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 our 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 U.S.?
Why does changing the party in power never change policy? Could it be that the views of both parties are essentially the same?
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 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.”
Thought provoking questions that every American needs to ask themselves if liberty and freedom in this country have any chance of surviving. We are well on our way to a thousand cuts and once we get beyond that magic number, the ability to restore our freedom and liberty will become next to impossible. Those forces that do not care about these Constitutional concepts, the American political class, will be too entrenched to give back the freedom they took away from us.
Congressman Paul’s insights and questions should be our wake up call. These should be the starting points and road map of taking back our country from the those who use our country for their own political gain, personal enrichment, and selfish ego satisfaction.
Today, we laid out the root causes of our problem, the erosion of liberty. Tomorrow, we will review the back half of the Congressman’s speech which lays out the types of behavior that is needed to stop the bleeding before it is too late.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:
www.loathemygovernment.com
It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
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