The Outsider: Principles of Liberty (Twelve)

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Principles of Liberty (Twelve)

Principles of Liberty (Twelve)

By William Pressgrove

“The United States of America shall be a Republic." (The 5000 Year Leap, Cleon Skousen)

With the things that are happening in this country right now, I can’t think of a more timely discussion than one about how this country is governed, especially concerning the form of government we have. Most of my life, even though I said the pledge of allegiance every day of my elementary school life, I found myself referring to America as a democracy as I was conditioned to do by radio, TV, teachers and politicians as I was growing up. Well I have been set straight thanks to those who are more well read and studied than myself, in particular W. Cleon Skousen and a friend in the cause Earl Taylor. “At the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention, a passerby asked Benjamin Franklin, ‘Well, Doctor, what have we got—a republic or a monarchy?’ Franklin replied, ‘A republic—if you can keep it.’” (Quoted in a speech by Chuck Baldwin July 30, 2008) That is what this discussion is all about, keeping it.

James Madison made it perfectly clear that a democracy as the Greeks attempted to use would not be a viable form of government in a county that was anticipated to grow as ours has. That is the reason that a republican (a representative government in which those who are elected to govern are representatives of the people) form of government was instituted in the Constitution. Madison said, “It is essential to such a government that it be derived from the great body of the society, not from an inconsiderable proportion or a favored class of it...” (Federalist Papers, No. 39, p. 241) (Italics added for emphasis) He thought, with just cause, that if the rich and powerful could figure out a way to influence the selection of these representatives then even though this government was a republic, it could and would become tyrannical. The real problem here is that even though it was tyrannical, it would have the guise of being legitimate because it is a republican form of government by name.

It appears that Madison’s worst fears have been realized. Even though our representatives and now Senators (reference to the 17th Amendment) are elected by the people, it is the influence of special interest groups and those with the monetary influence who 1) influence elections in their favor, and 2) influence the decisions of those elected in their favor to get gain. This has become quite apparent with the passing of this stimulus bill, with 70+ % of the general population expressing their view that it was not a good idea, that those who have been elected are 1) not listening to their constituents, and 2) have their self-serving interests at heart as demonstrated by all the ineffective spending that it contains.

A serious look at the differences in the reasons for government spending money from the days of the Founding Fathers to today should be sufficient to convince any that this government has moved significantly toward Socialism. Government has grown to where it is more concerned with taking care of every problem for every individual than it is about taking care of the concerns that would require a collective action to accomplish like “pay the Debts, and provide for the common defense, and general welfare of the United States...” (US Constitution Article 1 Section 8 Clause 1 delegation of powers). (Italics added for emphasis) The expansion of the term general welfare to mean every object of concern for each citizen is the ideology that drives my concern for what is being done for two reasons, 1) each individual’s welfare is not the express concern of the government, unless the government feels that each individual is property of the state, and 2) NEVER has the government given any benefit to any citizen, or lesser body of government without strings attached which means if you get something from the government, they control you. If they control you, what happens to your unalienable right to “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness” then?

One of the sad conclusions I have come to by watching the political process over the past several years is that it doesn’t matter what political party is in control of the government, the end result of usurpation of individual responsibility and thus individual rights has been universal throughout. Some take more advantage of their position to alleviate the citizens of their rights and responsibilities than others have, but the end result has been the same. Each regime has taken more responsibility for our “well-being” than the previous one did, or maybe it is that we have become so weak and dependent as individuals that we have abdicated our responsibility for taking care of ourselves voluntarily. Either way the end result is the same, we lose our unalienable rights. However, I feel that the latter is the most destructive because it leaves us without any hope of ever getting them back because we gave them up freely.

A republic is still the best form of government, but even a republic is insufficient to govern a people who have become complacent and sheep-like regarding their responsibility for their own well-being and care. My hope is that it isn’t too late and that people will wake up to the awful situation we have gotten ourselves into by not being vigilant concerning our responsibility for self and for electing responsible representatives and Senators. That is where it has become difficult to keep a republic. Not that the name has changed, but that we have abdicated our responsibility toward it to the point where it no longer is a republic, but a representative socialism.

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The Tapestry

The Tapestry
By William L. Pressgrove
Written in 1992, edited Nov 2009

Once upon a time, there was a land far, far away full of beauty. There was lush vegetation like tall trees, colorful flowers, winding rivers, snowy mountains, and grassy plains. The land was exceedingly rich in natural resources because the ruler of the land had blessed it with all things he had the power with which to bless it. The ruler of the land was a jealous ruler so anyone who came to live on this land had to make a covenant to worship him only. If the people ever forgot, or would not worship the ruler of the land, they would be swept off of the land because the ruler of the land would not be mocked.

As the story begins, there is evidence that the land had been peopled several times. Artifacts found in the land indicated that each group had broken their covenant with the ruler of the land and had been destroyed or they had destroyed themselves.

Another people in a distant land heard about this strange and beautiful land and desired to move to it. They made arrangements to move, many having to take great losses as they sold their goods and possessions, but to them the promise of the new land and freedom were worth all their sacrifices. These people became known as "Freemen" because of their love for freedom.

When the Freemen arrived in the new land, they found people already living there. These people were called "Landers" because they were a people who lived off the land and used it to their benefit, somewhat wisely, but the Landers had forgotten the ruler who had blessed the land, thus they had fallen out of favor with him. Therefore, the Landers lived without his protection. The Freemen learned of the ruler of the land and made a covenant with him to worship him and him alone. So, whenever there was a problem between the Freemen and the Landers, the ruler would favor the Freemen. There were several wars between the two groups because the Landers didn’t want the Freemen taking their land and gaining a foot hold in it. The Freemen prevailed and became established in the land. They prospered and began to fill the land, because they remembered their covenant with the ruler of the land.

The Freemen continued honoring the covenant they had made with the ruler, but the mother country from which the Freemen had come didn’t want them to become independent. The Freemen had to break away from the mother country’s hold on them before they could fully live the covenant they had made with the ruler of the land. They knew if they would break with the old country, the ruler of the land would assist them to become secure in the covenant they made with him.

The old country didn’t want to lose control of their colony in the new land because of its exceeding riches, so it began to exercise more control over the colony and make unreasonable demands on the Freemen. The Freemen had to pay more and more taxes for the goods they received from the mother land. The mother country taxed the Freemen without allowing them to be represented in government.

Even with the help of the ruler of the land, there was a great war between the old country and the colonists in which many of the Freemen paid the ultimate price for freedom. The greatest men of that generation spilt their blood to gain the independence they were seeking.

The people, having won their freedom began to live all the terms of the covenant they had made with the ruler of the land. They set about to fix laws by which they could remain free in this new land. They hadn’t forgotten the help they received from the ruler of the land, so they incorporated rules and regulations that allowed the people to have the freedom of choice in their new nation. This freedom of choice was a right they fought so valiantly to gain, and they recognized that it was the only way they could truly worship the ruler of the land.

The leaders of the country of Freemen made a tapestry into which was woven the rules of the government they had formed. This tapestry displayed to all the world the freedom the new nation of Freemen stood for. The tapestry was held high and was revered by all who had taken part in obtaining freedom for the new nation and had worked so hard to set up a sound government.

As time went on the Freemen, who had made the covenant with the ruler of the land and had fought beside those who died for it, passed away. Their children remembered the covenant and the tremendous sacrifice their fathers had made by holding the tapestry high and reverencing those who had made their freedom possible as well as the ruler who had help secure it.

Several generations passed away reverencing the tapestry and enjoying the freedom it represented. Eventually, those who were placed into government positions decided that they could improve the laws that the tapestry represented. They began to make these changes and told the people they were for the betterment of the country. As a symbol of each change they removed one thread from the fabric of the tapestry, one thread for every change.

All the changes made the Freemen feel that the government was caring for them and that the changes were making the country better. The tapestry didn’t appear to have suffered from the changes either. The threads that were removed were hardly, if at all noticeable.

As the years passed the Freemen became less self-sufficient and more dependent on the government to sustain them. Politicians began to realize that by making promises of more aid to special interest groups they could garner more votes from the people in exchange for more money from the government coffers. Sadly, the people began to expect more and more support from the government without ever thinking about where the government was getting money.

Before they were aware of it, the people had become so dependent of the government that they began to forget about the covenant their fathers had made with the ruler of the land. The government became more important to them than the ruler of the land. Historians began removing all references to the ruler of the land from the history books used to teach the children about the Founding Fathers of the country. Those in power also began passing laws that prohibited the mention of the ruler of the land in public places. As these changes were being made, the politicians and now even the historians took more threads from the tapestry to make it conform to their new way of thinking.

Even though so many changes were being made to the tapestry, the people still revered it and considered it to be the fabric of the country and said that it was so strong that no one or nothing could ever tear it apart. They held it high on every Independence Day to display to the world how proud they were of it. They would boast of being the greatest nation in the world. They were proud of the strength of their military. They would occasionally show their strength by defending "freedom" by supporting international causes supposedly to keep the peace.

One day, a dispute began among the leaders of the country as to whether the laws the tapestry represented were still valid because times had changed and technology had become so advanced. Some thought that the laws the tapestry contained were outdated and needed to be scrapped and a new one drafted. Others thought that with just a few more changes, that the old tapestry would be just fine. As a graphic representation of this argument, a verbal tug-of-war ensued each side being on opposite sides of the tapestry. As they began the tug-of-war it was plain to see that the tapestry would be torn apart by the argument. Those who wanted the Constitution to remain quickly made some serious concessions to the opposing party with the understanding that they would keep the "old" tapestry as the countries symbols of freedom.

The tapestry was changed so much that it was just a shell of what it had been and so many threads had been removed from the tapestry that it began to look like an old shredded cloth. As the government was discussing more changes to the tapestry, an enemy came into the land and began to take possession of it, killing and enslaving the people as they went. The mighty army was sent out to fight this intruder, but found that it was so weakened by the lack of discipline that it was no match for the invasion. You see, they had become weak because of the lasciviousness that had been allowed by their leaders, that they didn’t have the moral fiber to hold them together as a fighting unit.

Finally citizens, who had been weary of the actions of the politicians, took up their arms and the tapestry as a banner in defense of their country. They were seriously hampered in their efforts because some of the new laws that were passed made it difficult for them to retain their firearms, so they were fighting with whatever they could get their hands on. These citizens were those who had believed in and kept the covenant with the ruler of the land and were sustained by their faith that he would help them to rid their country of the invaders. Joined by those of the military who had recognized the lasciviousness that had overtaken their forces and had maintained themselves apart from those activities, these citizens prevailed and began to repel the invaders.

After much bloodshed this new army prevailed and defeated the invaders, but not before the capital city and those who were in it was destroyed. When peace was restored, the original tapestry was found almost totally shredded into pieces. It was held together by one brittle thread. It was taken to a laboratory to be restored.

The threads that had been removed were found in the archives and were brought out and laid down side by side so they could be restored to the tapestry. As this process began, the workers noticed that the threads had tiny strands of gold woven in them at various places. When they were all laid down together they discovered a word had been woven into the threads, a word that when embedded in the cloth held the tapestry together tightly but was imperceptible to the naked eye. A word that when removed bit by bit over time had allowed not only the tapestry, but the fabric of the nation to fall apart as well. That word?–God.

The Outsider

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Principles of Liberty (Twelve)

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