The Will to Resist...

In the Old Testament the Israelites had just crossed the Red Sea in a miraculous event.  Water came from the rock and many other numerous miracles had occurred.  However when they came to the banks of the Jordan and saw the giants and scary people on the other side of the river their hearts were faint and they pulled back from taking the Promised Land.  I maintain they had what I call the "slave mentality."

These folks had just come from many years of slavery and bowing and scraping and learning obedience from the time they were born.  The will to "resist" had been trained out of them.  In fact they were trained to be obedient to apparent authority just because the authority was clothed in the trappings of legality.

Liberty; It’s a Matter of Choice

 

The world in which we live has become cluttered with some people trying to rule other people. This is done through passing law after law that restricts certain behaviors. It is done in the name of saving the children, or the helpless or in the name of the public safety; in some cases with religious fervor.  The problem is so many of these laws, rules, mandates or regulations prohibit behaviors which are victimless crimes.

If we define breaking the law as a crime then: not wearing a seat belt in a moving motor vehicle is now a crime. Buying too much of a certain cold remedy is now a crime. Carrying a certain weapon for self defense is a crime. Opening an eating establishment without government blessing is now a crime in Pike County, for example a sidewalk lemonade stand. In New York City selling certain drinks in excess of 16ozs is now a crime. Having an excess of lights on a running board of a vehicle is a crime. The list is essentially endless. How ‘bout someone willing to take a job for $6 per hour instead of $8.25, the so called government mandated amount.

Libertarians, on the other hand, attempt to make it clear that fiscal responsibility is imperative and essential to Liberty. “That government governs best which governs least,” being the rally cry. The most fuss from the so called mainstream is that, “those Libertarians are in favor of vice and drugs and all sorts socially unacceptable behaviors.” That really isn’t correct. What the Libertarian would prefer to say is we are in favor of choice. Choice is the difference between a free man and a slave. I personally would prefer that my kids choose not to sample alcohol, or mind altering substances or get entangled in the behaviors which I consider to be bad choices, but remain victimless crimes.

The slave has no choice, he is ruled by his master and must ask permission before he commits any act. In my opinion, while I personally would not condone poor choices for anyone, and especially for my family, I do not feel that once my child has reached an age where he should be able to make ‘right’ choices, that it is my business or “right” to able to pass a law against him or anyone making a poor choice. I consider it a poor choice to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, but my wife has made that choice 7 times. It is not my business to rule my wife or my neighbors via government decree, at least for victimless behaviors.

It cannot be the job of my neighbor to inflict his beliefs on me nor mine on him until, and unless, his bad choices affect me. At the point his poor choice affects me then I might have cause to pursue a remedy in law, but until then I have no call to rule my neighbor. For instance if my neighbor lies in his house in an intoxicated stupor then what is that to me. If he gets in his car and begins to drive it while not in control of his faculties and endanger me and mine, then things change. Till then it is none of my business.

There is no end to passing laws that prohibit behaviors of various types. Some of these behaviors are disgusting to any average person, however part of the price of Liberty is that if we are to be free then we must allow all to be free to make choices. Some of those choices may be repugnant to people who are of common social morals. Anything less leads to really bad crime. There was no “organized” crime until prohibition. Prohibited victimless behaviors lead to crime. Crime leads to injury and lack of safety, which requires more Law Enforcement Officers and more laws prohibiting more behaviors which need more monitoring of bank accounts, phone calls and texts and on and on.

So the Libertarian philosophy is not one that encourages poor social choices, rather it is a philosophy that says government must remain neutral on victimless issues because that is necessary to maintain Liberty. Where there is no choice, there is no Liberty.

If you would like to correspond with me on this contact me at: editorial@pike912.org or leave a message at 217-285-2134, or follow my blog at: pike912.blogspot.com.

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Judges are human too...

Judges are human too, subject to prejudice, mistakes and flaws of the human condition.  Well taking it a step further, have you ever wondered if the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) could get it wrong?  Well wonder no more.  The case known as the Dred Scott decision has been studied for years by both the law school types and by those of us who have a nonprofessional vested interest in preserving Liberty.  It is called the learning process.  You fall down, you get back up.  You make a mistake, you fix it.

SCOTUS issued a ruling in 1857 that forever changed the course of human history.  The Court ruled that states that outlawed slavery could not forbid slaveowners from bringing slaves into their states, the so called Free States, and holding them as slaves there. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote that blacks were,

“beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations, and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”

One has to wonder at what point the Feds feel that, in their so called superior wisdom (more like educated idiots), they can rule over the People and expect to win long term.  Their hope obviously, would appear to be that they can keep their legislative agenda alive long enough the People will get hooked and fully dependent on “Free Health Care.” 

I received a comment the other day online from someone who stated, “All I know is “it” (Obamatax) will benefit me.  My comment was, “the Signers (of the Declaration of Independence) pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred Honor, to help us escape the tyranny of King George.  Can we do less?  Or will we go for short term benefit of a “free” trip to the doctor.

Our men and women who serve aren’t out there to preserve your “free” trip to the doctor; they are out there to preserve your ability to choose.  I have stated previously that a free man has choices; a slave has no choice but to do that which the “massa” bids.  Will the military become the tool to enforce the “massa’s” bidding?  The very essence of Liberty must include the ability to make a choice, even if it is a destructive choice to you personally.  It has very little to do with safety and security.  If you want to sample safety and security at its finest and most intense, try jail.

I resort once again to the eloquence of one of the Founder’s, Patrick Henry, when he said, “Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.”

If you would like to correspond with me on this contact me at:  editorial@pike912.org or leave a message at 217-285-2134, or follow my blog at: pike912.blogspot.com.

Benevolence or Malevolence

Dan A. Mefford, D.C.

As I write this piece I know not the outcome of the election or whether the People of Pike have decided in favor of including a small part of the Bill of Rights in our County legal code. It is my firm prayer the People decided in favor of individual Liberty, Freedom, and Self-reliance as opposed to dependency on government. It is also my sincere prayer that those in authority will recognize, regardless of passage of Constitutional Carry at the local level, that the Right exists, not because we passed it or didn’t pass it, but because we are endowed by our Creator at birth with certain unalienable rights, and among these is the right to keep and bear arms, no matter what the Chicago Machine and their henchmen say.

We need to teach our children the true number one function of government, which is, “to secure these rights.”-- the rights to Life, Liberty, and Property among so many others. It is so easy for a well meaning government to get into the “necessity” of protecting us from every supposed “evil” or “danger” that comes along that it loses track of its true function, which is, to secure our rights. That includes the right to make wrong choices - choices of eating the Politically Incorrect foods, using too much salt, gambling, ingesting politically incorrect things after achieving adulthood.

Choices are, in my opinion, the very essence of Liberty. How many choices did the Massa give a slave? The very essence of slavery is the requirement to ask permission in the exercise of any fundamental right. Did any slave you ever heard of have a right, at least according the Massa, to travel, to speak, to READ, to publish, petition for redress of grievances, to free assembly, to keep and bear armament in defense of himself or his family?

I may get some of my fellow Christians mad at me, but the truth is that our Lord and Savior allows his children to make wrong choices. He also allows the consequences of those choices to be visited on the ones who made the wrong choices at times. Unfortunately, their families and friends may suffer along with them as well. There is no way that government can make all things equal! Life just ‘ain’t’ fair that way. If you pass so many rules to try to even it all out then you are back to a tyrannical government and that just ‘ain’t’ fair either. Remember, it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.

Dear Government, I thank you for thinking of my safety etc. but for now, treat me with benign neglect. I promise not to intentionally harm my neighbor; in fact I might even try to do something good for him once in a while, if he doesn’t mind. Regards, Dan A. Mefford, D.C.

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