Is there a way out?

Regardless of which side of the political spectrum you’re on you can’t help but be impressed by the event that took place in Washington, D.C. on September 12th. A huge number of people (yes I know the numbers are being questioned — no matter, they’re still big) from across America showed up to protest a radically arrogant and out-of-control federal government. No riots, no looting, no violence, no arrests, just outspoken outrage and peaceful protest. Amazing.

The “sleeping giant” of true freedom-loving Americans is starting to stir. The question now is, “Are we really going to have an impact? Is it enough, or is it too little, too late?” Is there really a way out of this mess?

Let me state at the outset that I believe in Americans. I believe in our ability to solve problems. I believe in our ability to create greatness out of nothing more than a powerful vision. I believe that, given the opportunity, we as individuals united can solve the problems we face. However, we have been deprived time and time again of the opportunity by a Federal Government that is far more committed to special interest groups than it is in preserving and promoting our freedoms.

Without the freedom to explore and experiment we will remain hopelessly bogged down by problems that can and should be resolved by American ingenuity.

That freedom, however, has been interfered with for decades by an ever increasing, intrusive and manipulative Federal Government. We have allowed that to happen because we became so obsessed with consumption that we lost the vision for production. We have been so concerned with peace and prosperity that we lost the will to fight for our dreams and the vision of leading the world by example rather than by force.

Can we once again regain the freedom to act without interference from government supported corporations or political action committies? Is there a way out? I believe that there is, but it’s costly and will require much from each of us. To begin with we must return to some much needed basics. I see at least five that are absolute musts if we are to see America return to greatness:

1. We must, once again, become rational in our thinking.

We must admit that we have sacrificed truth and rationality for denial and wishing. Any person or government that honestly believes that you can get out of debt by spending more money than you have coming in, is simply irrational and steeped in denial.

How did we get to the point where truth and reality are now less important than wishes and desires? We have been taught since the sixties that “…there is no such thing as absolute truth!” And somehow we bought this as the one absolute truth through which we try to live our lives. Are we INSANE?

Look, you get hit by a bus, you’re going to get injured. Truth! You can’t walk through walls without a doorway, window or some other kind of hole through which you can pass. Truth! One plus one equals two not three. Truth! The next time someone tries to convince you that there is no such thing as an absolute truth, ask them if they are absolutely certain about that.

Reason is vital to our survival as human beings. America was founded on the principles of the Enlightenment. Reason, thinking and debate were at the root of our of our constitution. How is it, then, that we believe that denial, wishing, and irrational actions will work to preserve the principles of that great document?

Yet this is all we seem to get from our politicians. Irrational actions and insane justifications. George W. Bush tells us he’s going to “save capitalism” by abandoning capitalist principles. Barack Obama tells us he’s going to save the auto industry even though he’s never had one day’s worth of experience building an industrial based business. And we as Americans have bought this load of bull. ARE WE NUTS?!

Reason and truth. In our culture today they are almost foreign words, but we must once again value them if we are ever to regain the freedoms we’ve lost and preserve the very few ones we have left.

2. We must, once again, become serious about our values.

Politicians love to use rhetoric that positions them as having the moral high ground. They love to frame their power grabs and freedom destroying policies in flowering phrases such as:

“…for the children;”

“…for the good of society;”

“…to help the poor;”

“…to preserve the environment.”

Anybody who actually takes the time to look at the policies these phrases are used to promote and justify soon comes to realize that these fraudulent politicians don’t give a tinkers damn about the children or the environment or the poor. They simply use them to justify their evil and intentional pushes toward more and more interference in our private lives.

The sad truth is that the Politicians were able to take the high moral ground because WE GAVE IT UP! We are the ones who turned our children over to government schools, because we didn’t want to be bothered with educating them ourselves.

We are the ones who chose to live beyond our means. So much so that we have to have multiple incomes just to survive.

We decided to let the government “take care” of the poor so we wouldn’t have to dirty our hands with the job.

The good of society? Preserving the environment? We’re to busy watching reality TV or the Dallas Cowboys to actually take time to consider thinking deeply about those issues. Let the government deal with ‘em.

If we are ever going to regain our freedom we had better start taking life much, much more seriously than we have over the last 60 years. We had better start taking those things we say we value a bit more to heart and start taking back the moral high ground we gave away from those who gladly took it. Took it so they can keep us leashed.

3. We must, once again, become generational in our vision.

As I’ve been reading men like Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, etc., one thing I’ve come to appreciate is their depth of vision. Their thinking went beyond the immediate moment and current circumstances to embrace their children, their children’s children and their children’s grandchildren.

Sure today we think about out children. We want them to have a decent and happy life. We want them to end up living better than we did. But which of us actually spend the time thinking and pursuing principles that will preserve the freedoms necessary for our children to thrive? Do we even know what those principles are?

Our actions and beliefs have impact in the world. Our impact may last for generations or it may only last a lifetime. Either way, part of leading by example (as our forefathers hoped) requires that our thinking and decisions become long term. That they consider future generations as well as current circumstances.

The way out requires us to give up the desire for a quick fix. It requires us to implement solutions that have generational value and that aren’t easily abandoned. Not an easy task with our addiction to short-term thinking, but it is doable.

4. We must, once again, become graciously insistent in our rhetoric.

It is so easy to simply let our zeal for whatever position we bear drive our mouths before we engage our brains. It’s too easy to abandon civility in order to drive home a point. When we do this, however, we often end up winning the argument, but loosing the person.

Gracious and civil debate over issues is rapidly disappearing in America. More and more we are simply lining up on both sides of the fence and screaming at each other. Debate, done civilly and with intellectual honesty, has tremendous power to persuade. Shouting at each other simply leads to frustration, anger and hurt. Nothing good can come from bashing each other with our words.

On the other hand, compromising for the sake of “peace at any cost” is also a losing proposition. To get out of our current mess and to make such an exit more or less permanent, we must learn to be insistent, persistent, and civil in our debating. Never compromise but always invite. Oppose false and wrong-headed thinking, but always be kind. Keep the pressure on, but always seek to persuade and never ever force participation.

5. We must, once again, become courageous in our resistance.

How many of us are convinced of the evil of the Federal Government stealing thirty percent of our income and giving it to organizations that oppose our deepest values? How many of us are outraged by having no choice in how our hard earned money is taken from us without our consent? Yet when someone suggests that we conduct an organized resistance by refusing to pay, what is our response?

“Why you can’t do that! You’d be arrested. You’d go to jail!”

Yet our forefathers were willing to put their very lives on the line to preserve liberty for themselves and for future generations. I wonder which ones of us are truly willing to sacrifice everything like our forefathers did in order to see a restoration of the liberties we were given by nature. I wonder if I am.

The reality is we sold the treasure of freedom for a common mess of pottage called security and we’ve been paying for it ever since. The only way to get the treasure back is to take it back

If we are willing to do these five things listed above and we take action now, not next Tuesday, we stand a chance of getting out of the hole we are in. If not, then they’ve won already. It will only be a matter of time before all our freedoms disappear.

Pictures by flicker user Thomas Sly, Jacob Bøtter, laverrue, Macnolete, Stephen VanDyke, and Randy Son Of Robert under Creative Commons License. Use of this picture does not constitute an endorsement by Thomas Sly, Jacob Bøtter, laverrue, Macnolete, Stephen VanDyke, or Randy Son Of Robert of the ideas in this post.

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