Clarity

Today was one of those days that I had to step back from my life and take a look from the outside looking in. Recently I made quite a few statements about being upset about the President taking away cost of living increases for all federal employees. Now, don't get me wrong, as a federal employee this stinks for me, but I had to think about it as an American first, and an employee second. Having thought about this I suppose what Obama is trying to do is a positive for his administration (assuming there are no hidden agendas). We need to make the hard cuts, the tough sacrifices and the ugly decisions. And if that means that I have to give up a family vacation to do it, well then, that is the least I can do in the name of freedom. I know that I have everything that I need and the Good Lord will make sure of that. I fear, however, that we are running out of Americans to lean on. Who else can take a cut? So many people are out of work and on food stamps and unemployment as it is. The government is bleeding us dry. I refuse to bleed to death. This isn't how it is suppose to be. I wonder who Mr. Obama is taking his direction from? I hope in all of the directions he is probably looking that he is spending most of his time looking up.

What do you believe in?

Hello?

America?

Are you there?

This is freedom speaking.

Have you forgotten about me?

       Perhaps we have, as Americans, forgotten about our long lost friend that we so fondly call ‘freedom.’ Freedom is more than a guarantee, it is a state of mind, an emotion, and it is a rare commodity. It gives us the independence to be self regulating and allows us to decide what the best is for ourselves, our family, and our future.  There is nowhere else in the world where you can experience freedom as boundlessly as you can here, in The United States of America. In the famous words of Ronald Reagan, ‘If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth.’ Our freedom needs to be protected and watched over.

       So why is it that so many Americans have lost sight of Freedom, in the name of being comfortable, having rights, and being ignorant to the perversion of our government?  Ah, yes, our government, the very structure put into place to ensure that our freedoms never get taken away, diminished or re-interpreted. They promise not protection of our freedoms, but protection from ourselves, from our decisions and of our rights (which, by the way, they designate to us).

        Isn’t that clear? They said, ‘you don’t have the ability to save money for your retirement’, so they tax us for social security and spend our hard earned money until we get to the age that they say we can retire at and slowly and systematically dispense our own money back  to us. That is, if you qualify to get your money back. Social Security along with other government entitlement programs like welfare, unemployment and ‘Obama Care’ are the basically the governments way of saying, “you’re too stupid to know what to do with your money, and we know better than you, so let us PROTECT you from yourself by providing you with these ‘free’ services.”  In the infamous words of Thomas Jefferson, “I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.”

        America, it is time to wake up. Wise up. And rise up. Educate yourself about what the government is serving up to us. Ask yourself how this is going to affect your freedom, and where it’s going to stop. Does is stop with another revolution? Or does it stop with enlightenment? We have a duty, as American citizens, to protect our freedoms and the things we believe in. What do you believe in?