What is Our Cost of Freedom?

---

We often equate a person’s service in the military with the “cost of freedom”. I doubt anyone would disagree, however, each one of us regardless of our military service must recognize that there are fundamental “costs” or “burdens” that each of us must bear if we are to remain a free people. Those burdens or costs are;

1) Reliance on Self (and trust in God)
2) Charity, and
3) Eternal Vigilance

I’ll speak to each one individually…

Reliance on Self and Trust in God – One of the greatest ideals put forth by our Founding Fathers was the idea of “limited government”. Our Founder’s knowledge and understanding of history, civil government and religion was extensive and fundamental to the establishment of the most remarkable governing document in the history of mankind, second only to the Bible. They understood the great political thinkers of the day including John Locke, William Blackstone, Charles Montesquieu and others. They understood many of the classical thinkers and were very familiar with the ancient writings of Plato, Aristotle and Socrates but it was undeniable that the Bible had the greatest influence on our Founders for the Bible was by far the most often quoted source. It has often been argued that our government most resembles the government given Moses by God after the exodus from Egypt. Our Founders read the Bible extensively and understood that man’s ambition would lead him to want to rule over people rather than to govern by their consent. They knew that men in power would use their positions to further their power by creating a people more dependent on government. Eventually, government would progressively take away the people’s freedoms including those of speech, worship and property. Eventually we would lose the right to keep our earnings and to use our property as we choose. The Founders knew that the American culture had to promote not only self-reliance but reliance on God if we were to prevent the dangerous slide toward dependency on government and ultimate enslavement.

Charity – I believe that God sometimes allows us to endure hardship to build our character and faith. Few people escape some level of struggle in their life. Sadly, many struggle most of their lives sometimes through no fault of their own and many are challenged, one or more times in their life over monetary, health or relationship issues or a combination of the three. If we are to be a self reliant people, we must recognize that there are many people that need assistance. Assistance may come in many forms. It can be monetary or it may come from devoting one’s time or emotional support. We must recognize that if we are to remain a free people, we must be a charitable people. We must not give the government a reason to take our money under the pretense of taking care of those who can’t take care of themselves. That will create a dependent class of people that will vote for and look to those politicians who will promise to give the people the most. In other words, they will bribe the people with their own money. Scottish historian Sir Alexander Tytler noticed that all democracies go through a 10 step cycle that ends with dependency. Once the democracy reaches the stage of dependency it is only a matter of time before the democracy ends a violent and bloody death from bankruptcy followed by dictatorship (bondage). Our Founders were well aware of Tytler’s theory and tried to warn us of falling into a democracy. Our Founders believed that democracy was the worst form of government and for that reason gave us a constitutional (democratic) republic. This leads me to the final burden…

Eternal Vigilance – There are several ideas that are manifest in the writings of our Founders. One of those was that government was never to be trusted. George Washington said, “Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master”. It is evident that our Founders were fighting the same battles in their time as we are fighting today. This quote from Thomas Jefferson is also appropriate today and indicates the deceptive nature of government, “I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them”. If we are not to trust government, it implies that we must forever oversee their activity. Oversight also implies that the people must be educated in the functioning of government and the issues of the day. People must get their news from different sources and continually question the validity of what they read. Most newspapers and news channels have an agenda and they will lie if it serves their purpose (the end justifies the means). It is very clear from the writings of our Founders that if liberty was to be sustained from generation to generation the people had to have a “general” education (in civil government). Our Founders had an extensive education in the areas of religion, civil government, history, law and economics. John Adams said “Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people”. Washington said, “Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty”. Eternal vigilance among the people must apply not only to the federal government but to the states and local governments as well. It must absolutely apply to our school system. I believe our public school system has been greatly influenced by progressive ideology that has pushed issues such as global warming, multiculturalism and sex education to further their socialist agenda and dumb down America. I believe it is no coincidence that the effectiveness of our schools has deteriorated while the progressive teachers unions have gained significant power. As members of the Tea Party, each chapter should be putting forth a candidate for the school board and voting them into office. We should be doing the same for the County commission. Many of you are familiar with Agenda 21 and its usurpation of our property rights. Agenda 21 is an agenda developed by United Nations NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) such as World Wildlife Fund and Nature Conservancy that have been instituted, under the radar, to restrict or eliminate an individual’s property rights. You can recognize Agenda 21 by such code words as “sustainability”. We must elect County Commissioners that can prevent and roll back the measures already put in place by Agenda 21. Many Counties have unknowingly embraced this United Nations “back-door” policy. We must be vigilant. We must get involved if we are to preserve freedom for children and grandchildren.

Since I began reading about our Founding Fathers it became very clear to me that our situation today is not much different than what the Founders experienced. France was going through a similar revolt about the same time we did but there was one great difference. France’s revolution was a progressive (godless) revolution and it was extremely violent and bloody. Ours was truly a glorious revolution. Self reliance in the minds of most religious people implies a reliance on God. It implies the people governing themselves. The Founder’s fundamental premise displayed by these words in the Declaration of Independence, “we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights”. Those eight words proclaim to all would be tyrants…“our rights come from God and no man may take them away”. As long as the majority of our citizens believe this to be true we have the ability to be a free society. Once the majority of the people no longer put their faith in God our days as a free nation are numbered. Is it any wonder why there is such a tremendous and relentless attack on religion and more specifically, Christianity? The Liberty Bell at Independence Hall in Philadelphia has inscribed the words from the book of Leviticus 25:10, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof”. Noah Webster, the “Father of American Scholarship and Education” said that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. Bottom line, we must be self reliant and recognize that our rights come from God and only he can take them away. If you’re a believer, start every day on your knees and pray that God might forgive us, have mercy on us and heal this Nation. Pray that God will be restored as this nation’s true leader.