Tipping Point
“But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.” – John Adams
John Adam’s considered opinion well describes the urgency I feel about the state of our nation. We are being burdened with a debt that can never be repaid and that will result in oppressive taxation or ruinous inflation. Simultaneously, our industries are at once maligned, nationalized and threatened. Our new president has announced his desire to control the census, hinder our commerce with increased taxes and regulation and even dictate the terms of private compensation and corporate restructuring.
After an incredibly torrid first 100 days this President has announced plans to nationalize the greatest health care system in the world using a rare congressional procedure (Reconciliation) which will require only 51 votes in the Senate. Americans currently enjoy the most plentiful and least expensive energy in the free world but Mr. Obama would implement a “cap and trade” system that will drain trillions of dollars from our economy and use the largess to fund government experimentation in wind, solar and biofuels which have already been proven futile. Conglomerates such as General Electric are lining up to collect the President’s subsidies and contracts in exchange for their fawning coverage of his policies by their media subsidiaries.
Private citizens who lift their voices in opposition, or appeal to liberty in the oldest of American traditions, are derided and ridiculed by the President or his Whitehouse. In recent months, Joe Wurzelbacher (aka Joe the Plumber), Rush Limbaugh, CNBC’s Rick Santelli, Chrysler senior debt holders and private citizens who attended the Tea Parties on April 15th have been singled out by the Barack Obama Administration or spokesmen. For the first time in my memory, men and women who treasure the Constitution and value their liberty are becoming afraid to speak out for fear of official retribution. It has been said that when the government fears the people there is freedom and liberty but when the people fear the government there is bondage and tyranny.
Christian Philosopher, Frances Schaeffer, foresaw this present darkness in 1973 when he authored “How Shall We Then Live” and coined the phrase “personal peace and affluency” to describe Westerners who forsook timeless spiritual principles and engagement with their culture in favor of wealth, leisure and narcissism. To be sure, many traditional Americans have placed their families, churches, businesses and communities on a higher plane of priority than political engagement. However, it must be conceded that many Americans simply have taken their liberty for granted and assumed that no politician, regardless of political affiliation or philosophy, truly aspires to transform the greatest nation in the world into a collectivist state. This naiveté has been our excuse for complacency and non-engagement and we have disregarded Benjamin Franklin’s cryptic warning, “We have given you a Republic, IF you can keep it.”
When Ronald Reagan challenged President Gerald Ford for the Republican nomination in 1976 many young Americans rallied to his side because his message was unambiguous and the cause was noble. I am convinced that a clear trumpet is the only battle cry that will attract the hearty patriots who will rally to the good fight. Only men and women who are compelled by principle, truth, and liberty possess the perseverance and grit that will be required to join the looming battle. Great numbers are not required but in Samuel Adams sage words, “only an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.”
America has reached a tipping point. There is no more time for equivocation and non-engagement. No more time for politically correct foolishness. The time has come for good men and women to do something. Our forefathers purchased our freedoms at a great cost of blood and treasure and handed the mantle to us with Patrick Henry’s admonition to “Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel.” Our generation has been favored with innovation and prosperity but greatness has always eluded us. Now the stage is ours. We have the opportunity to engrave our names on the marble tablets of history along side those who pledged their lives, their wealth and their sacred honor in the defense of liberty.