Wednesday, April 6, 2011

The History Of Freedom & Democracy

Freedom and Democracy, as we have known it in the United States, is historically very young.   While the roots of democracy may have begun in Greece and Rome, it important to recognize that these were not free societies as slavery was always the law of the land.   Even the United States was flawed by slavery until our Civil War.   Yet, what our Founders created 235 years ago was truly remarkable.  For the first time in human history a nation was founded on the concept that all men are created equal endowed with inalienable rights by their creator.   Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence and James Madison, considered the father of the US Constitution, constructed a framework of declared rights and checks and balances on government that never existed before then.   Even so, it is important to recognize that the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution as the first 10 Amendments, as our Founding Fathers realized that they had not clearly secured the rights of the individual. 

Our Founding Fathers experienced tyranny first hand and fought a revolution to end it, which was finalized by the Civil War to guarantee rights to all Americans.   And even though it took perhaps another hundred years after the Civil War to insure justice for all, the United States was created as a model for all other nations and peoples seeking freedom.   But freedom has not come without costs and is still not evident in most countries around the world.  Europeans have often surrendered their freedom for government guaranteed security that presumably comes from a high tax Socialist model.  Communism that was supposed to provide a utopia of equality; but only brought poverty, misery and tyranny.

What we have seen in the United States is that "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely".   Totalitarianism has occurred by force and some times initially by election in many countries.  In our country, though our Founding Fathers got it right and clearly understood the dangers posed by big intrusive government,  they clearly did not anticipate the Socialist creep we have experienced since the passage of the federal income tax in 1913.   Since then and during the last 98 years, our freedoms have come under attack.   We clearly do not have today the Democracy that was intended by our Founding Fathers.  To some degree, many American have surrendered their freedoms to the nanny state. 

Clearly, freedom lost is rarely freedom recovered without a fierce struggle.   Today, we face that struggle.  Socialists in the United States seek to limit our freedoms and intrude into every aspect of our lives.  It will happen if we don't act to stop it.   We have to say NO to higher taxes, NO to more regulations, NO to ObamaCare, and in general NO to bigger, more intrusive government that limits our freedoms.  Clearly, government more often than not is the problem rather than the solution.   In the elections of 2012 and 2014, we are fighting for our freedoms and it is a war.  And, to protect our freedoms, we must sweep these Socialists out of office at both the federal and state levels by electing Conservatives that will act to preserve our freedom, our nation and way of life.   We can do it.   We must do it for the sake of our children and grandchildren. 

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