Freedom

Freedom

Your freedom ends where my freedom begins; or, conversely, my freedom ends where yours begins. Our nation is a nation of freedom, and we want to stay that way. As such, there is no room for anarchy—absolutely none. Our inner desires notwithstanding, we cannot do as we please and should not. The more there are of us, i.e. the more our population grows, the less freedom we can have and the more regulation necessary to protect us from one another is required. This is a fact. It is also a fact that with freedom goes responsibility, without which, our freedom is lost, relinquished by us to those who would steal it from us—not unlike our unwittingly leaving our purse in a shopping cart at the super market. We are surrounded by thieves ready and willing to steal from us. This is the reality of our lives.

And where am I going with this? Our nation has begun a downhill course; we are under attack; and we need and must have increased responsibility by our people before it is too late. A great proportion of us are, in effect, deaf, dumb, and blind to what is happening to us and what is causing it. Constantly bombarded with false information, propaganda, and erroneous bias, the political knowledge of our citizens is severely lacking and their ability to analyze and evaluate issues, causes, and effects, suffers accordingly. Sadly, many, if not most, of our people from the President of the United States of America on down to the janitor in the local bar appear to not even know the difference between a Congressman and a Representative or a Senator, including the Congressmen themselves and the media—something as simple as that.

So that you will understand what I’m talking about, I’ll explain. Article I, Section 1 of our Constitution clearly states that the Legislative Branch of our Congress is one of three branches of our government, the other two being the Executive Branch, as specified in Article II, and the Judicial Branch as specified in Article III, and consists of two branches of its own, The House of Representatives and the United States Senate. The official title of a member of the House of Representatives is Representative. The official title of a member of the Senate is Senator. A Representative is no more, no less a Congressman than a Senator, yet I am yet to hear a Senator referred to as Congressman. This may not seem important. In fact, it may even sound petty, but our lack of knowledge about how our government works is so prevalent that even something as minor as this is important. One would think the media would catch on, at least, but they just keep on.

Now, to return to the main thrust of our subject, in addition to the need for an increase in the knowledge and responsibility of our people, like it or not, there is a dire need for increased regulation by our government. The rampant abuse of our systems and institutions throughout our nation by those in power, who, under the guise of preaching the evils of government preach otherwise, denouncing regulation and dictating that we do just the opposite. Greed and avarice permeates our culture and undermines the individual freedoms of all. Only the intellectual strength of our people and their responsible commitment to government can save us—by doing “what’s right”.

The overall good of our nation isn’t just about the good of the Corporatocracy and the Power Elite, the rich and powerful who really run our country through their lobbyists and vast amounts of money, it’s also about “We the people”. Don’t forget us. But, if we don’t stand up for ourselves, if we don’t go to work and fulfill our responsibility in governing, no one else will.

And, what is it we should do to this end? First, we should vote—every last one of us. There are those who have fought and died for that right, and we should preserve it. Next, we should look, listen, read, study, and know the who, what, and why of what is happening around us—not relying on our opinions, biases, and prejudices, but dealing with the facts. Just remember, there is the seen and the unseen to everything. Every action has unseen side-effects. Look for them as they just may affect you.

Next, we should educate ourselves and insure that our children are educated as well. We need education in order to qualify for employment; but we also need education just in order to live, to comprehend, to protect ourselves from those who would take advantage of us—to understand the world, our government, our people, how everything works. In order to facilitate equal education to everybody, and, in turn, equal opportunity, I strongly feel that the financing of public education should be changed from financing by district (based on property values) to equal financing of all districts within each state, giving the poor equal opportunity for success.We should also return discipline to the schools.

Arguably, in years past, people could live decently without education and not even miss it. That isn’t true anymore. I just heard on TV news. There are six million people looking for jobs—even in these times of full employment. Yet there are seven million jobs going unfilled because there are not those with the necessary technical ability to fill them. With the highest standard of living of any nation on earth or in the history of civilization, notwithstanding the fact that our average degree of prosperity for the working man has been going downhill since the seventies, we cannot continue to think “my mother and father only had an eighth grade education, and they did all right, I don’t need to continue on in school”. That’s “bunk”. We need to go to school through four years of college or through vocational school. In fact, I think, and this is just my opinion, we should require the first two years of college even if we choose vocational school, with special emphasis on reading, writing, mathematics, English, and history, including world history as well as American, i.e. Pre K through 14. In fact, we should legislate this into law, making “dropping out” illegal, perhaps even going so far as to conscript them into the military and educating them there. I’m not sure. There may be a more desirable solution. I just know our country can no longer afford to follow its present course. People—all of us—must be educated. Gangs must be quelled. Division among us must be abated, we must unite, we must all get along and work toward a common goal.

We must understand. Our country is going downhill. We are under attack. China, India, Brazil, Russia, (aka the BRICK nations) and others are rising up from their third world status. Our nation’s status as five percent of the world’s population consuming twenty-five percent of the world’s resources is not going to stand. Others want their share. Our nation is going to have to work harder to compete. In other words, we’re going to have to get off our mentally lazy asses (I don’t want to get thrown out of church, so I won’t go further). The underclass of our society must be eliminated by “coming up” with those of a higher standard of living. 

Just remember what you have seen as our nation has progressed into this economy we call “globalization”. Economically, as the standard of living in other nations, i.e. India, China, Brazil, etc., has risen, that of our nation is edging downward. If you don’t see it, look. It’s there to be seen, if you only will, but you must be mentally receptive. An economy is not unlike a container of water. It holds its level as long as it is contained. Plug it into another container which is empty, and it will seek its own level. You saw this happen to us when we “went global”. We have become "more plugged in" to the economy of others. Just a side comment, did “we the people” have a say in that? Or was it just another decision of the Corporatocracy and Power Elite which controls us and controls our lives.

Also, we need to get our healthcare in order. An unacceptable percentage of our people are without adequate healthcare and everyday it seems to be getting worse. Costs are getting higher, people are losing their insurance, and the massive amounts of expense are flooding our deficit, increasing our national debt. I submit that we need single payer Universal Healthcare for all, modeled after our present Medicare plan and self-funded as is presently our Social Security program, not affecting our national deficit and, therefore, national debt.

There are those who say there is not enough money to do all these things. B.S. Don’t you believe that. Back in the Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies, our nation was enjoying the highest standard of living in history, our income taxes were the highest, ranging to a personal income tax of eighty-nine or ninety percent, and we did fine, even paying off our World War II expense in the process. So did the wealthy. Let me once again remind you. When Jimmy Carter left office, our national debt was all but eliminated—down to $0.9 Trillion dollars. Now, our national debt is $22.0 Trillion, give or take, and income taxes (for the rich and the corporations) are the lowest in decades. Sad, there’s enough money. If everybody paid taxes according to their ability to pay, gave more thought to the wellbeing of the nation and the people rather than the furtherance of their own bank accounts and egos, there is enough money. I really become angry at those corporations and individuals who give up their citizenship so as to reduce their taxes or, worse yet, not to pay taxes at all. Also, as we take into account the people on welfare, perhaps we should take into account, too, those corporations on corporate welfare. Just look and count those dollars. Also, look at the income taxes currently being paid by Hedge Fund owners—Willard Mitt Romney, for example.

I want to make one last comment. I’m not against the corporations and the rich. The more enlightened and blessed of our nation are absolutely necessary. We need the most talented and able people we can get to manage our government. No offense is intended to anyone, but the uneducated, untalented of our people are not qualified to “run” our great nation. I know that. Our Founding Fathers knew that. We need those people who are blessed with greater talents.

The problem arises in their abuses. Businesses, corporations, were created by man to serve man. Man was not created to serve them. Profit is not the ultimate goal in life. It certainly is not the purpose of a business; but that is where this has come to. When asked, almost everyone will tell you the purpose of a business is to make a profit. It’s not! The purpose of a business is to provide a quality product or service to man—to serve man. Profit is absolutely necessary for a business to survive. So are its employees, the utility bill, property taxes, and on and on. Profit is an expense of doing business without which the business will not survive, just the same as everything else. Profit is the purpose of the financier and the stockholder, the owner; but, as to the business? It is an expense. I’ve said this many times and in many ways before to no avail; but, it’s important. It’s important because this difference in thinking has affected the attitudes and actions of business management as to how they manage, affecting the governing of our government and the impact on our people.

Freedom, Responsibility, Purpose—All contribute to forming a more perfect Union, establishing Justice, insuring domestic Tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general Welfare, and securing the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, the Preamble to our Constitution.

Ronald Miller

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