Liberty or Security?

"They who can give up essential liberty, to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety." Benjamin Franklin

I'm a little torn about this post this morning. I'd love to churn out a bunch of smartass remarks about President Obama and his communist cohorts and, God knows, he's been providing an endless stream of material. But, something has been bugging me more and more lately and it's not that funny. Americans, regardless of political leanings or party affiliations, seem increasingly willing to surrender their basic freedoms and individual rights, in exchange for what they perceive to be safety or security. Over the past decade, we've accepted a ton of new restrictions and intrusions on our god given rights. In most cases, it hasn't made us any safer and, even if it had, I'd question whether or not it was worth it. I love the quote at the top of this page by Ben Franklin. If you're willing to trade freedom for security, you don't deserve either one. I've read several books on economics by Thomas Sowell and one of the themes he always returns to is that; economics and life are a series of choices and trade offs. It's not a zero sum game. If you make the choice to buy a really expensive car, that limits the size house you can afford or the number of times you can eat out at nice restaurants. In other words, you can't have it all. The same goes for the amount of security that we ask government to provide. For them to protect us, we have to allow them some authority to tell us what we can and can;'t do. By the way, this is a key point that far too many Americans have lost sight of; in America; government derives it's powers "from the consent of the governed". They only get to boss us around because we let them. The constitution doesn't define or establish our rights; our rights are natural, or God given. The constitution gives government it's rights and keeps them from trampling ours; at least that was the plan. Most reasonable people understand that it is necessary to allow the government authority over certain areas of our lives in order to protect the overall interest of society. We give the cops the authority to patrol our roads and highways, and enforce traffic laws. Otherwise, every time we backed out of our driveway, we'd have to worry about some drunk jackass running over us. The tradeoff is, we might get a ticket for rolling through a stop sign in our neighborhood at 4:00 a.m. because some lazy ass cop is trying to make his quota; yeah, that happened to me. The problem I see now, is that so many people are only paying attention to what they're gaining, or what they think they're gaining; and ignoring what they're giving up in return. In a lot of cases, they refuse to believe they're giving up anything at all. There are a couple of technical terms for those people; Democrats and morons. I'm jokingly taking a little jab at Democrats, but the problem is definitely not confined to one party or group. In fact, I think the Republicans are worse because they claim to be the party of individual rights and limited government, while, more often than not, governing in exactly the opposite direction. Some of the things that conservatives complain the loudest about were established at the hands of Republican presidents and congresses; the EPA, OSHA, the ban on incandescent light bulbs, and No Child Left Behind are just a few examples. As a rule, we tend to ignore bullshit if it's the product of someone we voted for. The vast majority of Americans sat back and watched or applauded over the last 40 years as federal, state, and local governments waged war against smokers. Almost everyone agrees that smoking is bad for your health, as are a million other things that we do on a daily basis. But, we don't regulate or stigmatize any of those other things the way we do smoking...yet. It used to be hard to make an argument for regulating individual behavior that didn't harm others. Thomas Jefferson once wrote:
"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."

That's tough to argue with. My neighbor may be killing himself by smoking and we both know it. But, he's not hurting anyone else, should the government step in a protect him from himself? Most reasonable people would say no, because that would open the door to all sorts of intrusions and regulations on personal behaviors that might be harmful. So, why would so many of those same people support a ban on smoking in privately owned buildings, a ban on incandescent light bulbs, or a government imposed limit on the size soft drink you can buy? Why would rational people, who've never committed a crime, allow govt. Employees to grope their genitals, view digital scans of their bodies, or spy on them, on their privately owned property using cameras on unmanned drones? It's because they've been convinced that we live in a world of catastrophes, disasters, and epidemics; and that only government can protect us from those things. They're willing to trade privacy, individual choice, and freedom in exchange for that protection. It's a viscous, never ending cycle:

Millions of Americans can't afford health care because the drug companies and insurers have conspired in profit making. People are dying in the street because they can't afford health care; even though a federal law forces hospitals to treat everyone, regardless of ability to pay, and regardless of the fact that the govt. already spends almost a trillion a year on Medicare and Medicaid. The only solution is for government to control health care.

Poor choices in personal behavior, such as smoking and over eating, are costing hundreds of billions in health care costs, which is the responsibility of the taxpayers since govt. controls health care. This is placing a heavy burden on the economy. The only solution is for government to regulate these harmful behaviors.

Excessive use of energy from fossil fuels causes carbon dioxide emissions, which is destroying the planet. The only solution is for government to regulate energy production and usage.

National security is threaten by terrorists, who are living among us, plotting the next 9/11. In order to give law enforcement the ability to stop them, we must allow the government much broader powers with regard to search, seizure, and surveillance. Random body pat downs and digital scanners that can see through clothing are needed to keep bombs off airplanes.The government must have the authority to detain people indefinitely, without bringing charges, and to deny them legal representation.

Individual behavior is killing wildlife and plant life with reckless, wasteful consumption. The only way to preserve these resources is greater government control and regulation of land use

Private business is failing to fairly compensate their workers and endangering their safety. The only solution is for government to regulate wages and working conditions.

These examples are just the tip of the iceberg. In order to just survive, we have relinquished control over almost every aspect of our lives. But, to who? We've surrendered these broad totalitarian powers to a group of less than 600 people, who , according to the polls, has less than a 20% approval rating. We're trusting these people to micro-manage the lives of over 300 million people. In addition, we're trusting that they won't abuse this authority; despite tons of evidence that they will. So, why do so many people choose security over liberty? Good question! I think a lot of them are too lazy to take responsibility for their own lives. It's easier to blame others and seek compensation for being wronged. The other group are the ones that want to force their beliefs and values on everyone else, with the naive belief that it will never effect their own freedom. I doubt that any other free people in history have so willingly submitted to tyranny.

Dear Mr. President: WTF?

Dear President Obama,


It has occurred to me that I may have been a little ungrateful for all that you have done in the short time you've been in office. If your people have been monitoring me on some watch list, I may have given the impression that I think you're an asshat. OK, I actually said it several times...JUST KIDDING! I recently learned of your "Secret Kill List" and I know that I fit the home grown terrorist profile of Jack Napolitano; old, white, Christian, redneck. I'm not former military, but four out of five isn't bad. Anyway, I guess I haven't made that list, or I wouldn't be typing this brilliant piece of literature right now. So, just to clarify, I think you've done a lot of just wonderful things and, on behalf of myself and a few friends, I'd like to thank you. Where should I start?

• The Economy-Ok, so everything costs a lot more and all of us have a lot less money; let's look for the silver lining. My pantry and refrigerator needed a good cleaning and their both spotless and shiny now. Back when we had all that economic growth under Reagan, Clinton, and the Bush boys, they were all cluttered up with food and crap like that. Thanks A Lot!!!
• Personal Wealth-Even though it doesn't seem like it, my personal wealth has infinitely multiplied under your leadership. Before you took office, I was just a regular working stiff. But, thanks to you, and according to you; I'm either a millionaire or a billionaire. I'm not sure why in the hell my bank balance says $359.00, I guess all my money must be tied up in bonds or securities or something like that. Either way, like your buddy Warren Buffett, I feel like I'm not paying my fair share. Please raise my taxes; PLEEEEEEASE!!!
• George W. Bush-On behalf of myself and your predecessor, THANK YOU! No we really mean it, Thank You! As you like to mention very frequently, "W" kind of made a mess of things. His over the top deficit spending and manipulation of the currency left us with a real turd of an economy. But, then you came in, worked your magic, and turned it into "TURDZILLA". We owe you one!
• Jimmy Carter-In the same spirit as above, Ol' Jimmy is extremely grateful. After all, you and he are sort of kindred spirits; with you being the first African-American president, and he the first retarded one. Jimmy made Fidel Castro look like an economic genius and thought he had secured his place as the worst president in history; then you rode to the rescue. The state of Georgia is forever in your debt.
• Mitt Romney-Mitt is still trying to figure out what happened. He went from being a lifelong "DND" (Damn Near Democrat) to looking like the second coming of Ronald Freaking Reagan. Mitt had no idea he was a conservative until you got elected; he thought John McCain was a right wing extremist. That's why he still can't articulate the message that good, but he's learning. Mitt would also like to apologize for sending you that damn socialized health care thing.Iit worked out OK for him, but he didn't have to worry about the pesky ass constitution in Massachusetts. He's sorry that it's caused you so much grief. Also, thanks for writing an awesome campaign platform for him; he was really clueless, but you're providing an unending stream of talking points. Much Appreciated!
• My Personal Health-I guess I owe you my life! Who knew that a steady diet of Dr. Peppers and Twinkies was bad for your health? I don't know what we'd do without you and your wife looking out for us; I guess just get fat and die. But, in spite of your warnings, we're still having a tough time backing away from the buffet. Maybe you should consider dropping the hammer on us with some serious food regulations, or maybe just tax the crap out of our fat asses. Oh, you already thought of that? My bad. Please hurry before my butt gets too big to fit through the door. Thanks!
• Punishing the Rich-You know, I had been thinking that it would be great if someone could really stick it to the people that I work for, and by groceries and energy from. If someone would just break it off in their asses, I'm sure that could be nothing but beneficial to me. Yeah, take more money from my boss, there's gotta be a better chance of you giving me some than him giving me a raise, right? Tax the shit out of Exxon and Walmart! They'll never think of passing it on to us. Go Get "em Prez!

Well, gotta run now, it's 5:30 a.m. and I have to get down to the food bank. A fellow has to eat, and God knows the line is a lot longer down there than it was before you took office. Oh, sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned God in a letter to you. I take it back. Please don't put me on a new list! I'll continue this later, I still have tons of stuff to thank you for.


Best Regards,


Seymour Poverty