Uncelebrating the Fourth

Ok, so we just celebrated the 4th of July, or Independence Day. In light of the sinking of America, I was wondering what it means. Then I read this and thought, "I couldn't have said it better myself!" Check out when this was written. This is pre-Obama, so there is no political bias here. Enjoy!

Uncelebrating the Fourth

Posted on 02 July 2009

by Harry Browne

Originally published July 4, 2003

Unfortunately, July 4th has become a day of deceit.

On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress formally declared its independence from Great Britain. Thirteen years later, after a difficult war to secure that independence, the new country was open for business.

It was truly unique — the first nation in all of history in which the individual was considered more important than the government, and the government was tied down by a written Constitution.

It was the one nation where you could live your life secure in the knowledge that no one would ask for your papers, where you weren’t identified by a number, and where the government wouldn’t extort a percentage of your income as the price of holding a job.

And so each year July 4th has been a commemoration of the freest country in history.

False Celebration

But the America that’s celebrated no longer exists.

The holiday oratory deceitfully describes America as though it were the unique land of liberty that once was. Politicians thank the Almighty for conferring the blessings of liberty on a country that no longer enjoys those blessings. The original freedom and security have disappeared — even though the oratory lingers on.

What made America unique is now gone, and we are much the same as Germany, France, England, or Spain, with:

• confiscatory taxes,
• a Constitution and Bill of Rights that are symbolic only — merely documents used to justify governmental actions that are in fact prohibited by those documents,
• business regulated by the state in the most minute detail,
• no limits on what Congress or the President might decide to do.

Yes, there are some freedoms left, but nothing like the America that was — and nothing that you can’t find in a few dozen other countries.

The Empire

Gone, too, is the sense of peace and security that once reigned throughout the land. America — bound by two huge oceans and two friendly neighbors — was subject to none of the never-ending wars and destruction that plagued Europe and Asia.

Now, however, everyone’s business is America’s business. Our Presidents consider themselves the rulers of the world — deciding who may govern any country on earth and sending Americans to die enforcing those decisions.

Whereas America was once an inspiration to the entire world — its very existence was proof that peace and liberty really were possible — Americans now live in fear of the rest of the world and the rest of the world lives in fear of America.

The Future

Because the education of our children was turned over to government in the 19th century, generations of Americans have been taught that freedom means taxes, regulations, civic duty, and responsibility for the whole world. They have no conception of the better life that could exist in a society in which government doesn’t manage health care, education, welfare, and business — and in which individuals are free to plot their own destinies.

Human beings are born with the desire to make their own decisions and control their own lives. But in most countries government and social pressures work to teach people to expect very little autonomy.

Fortunately, in America a remnant has kept alive the ideas of liberty, peace, and self-respect — passing the concepts on from generation to generation. And so today millions of Americans know that the present system isn’t the right system — that human beings aren’t born to serve the state and police the world.

Millions more would be receptive upon being shown that it’s possible to have better lives than what they’re living now.

Both groups need encouragement to quit supporting those who are taking freedom away from them.

You and I may not have the money and influence to change America by ourselves, but we can keep spreading the word — describing a better society in which individuals are truly free and government is in chains (instead of the opposite).

And someday we may reach the people who do have the money and influence to persuade tens of millions of Americans to change our country for the better.

I don’t know that it’s going to happen, but I do know it’s possible. I know that the urge to live one’s own life is as basic in human beings as the will to live and the desire to procreate. If we keep plugging away, we may eventually tap into that urge and rally the forces necessary to restore the real America.

And then the 4th of July will be worth celebrating again.

Harry Browne (RIP 1933-2006), the author of Why Government Doesn’t Work and many other books, was the Libertarian Party presidential candidate in 1996 and 2000, a co-founder of DownsizeDC, and the Director of Public Policy for the American Liberty Foundation. See his website.

There she goes!

We've officially seen the ship roll over. By ship I mean the sinking wreck that was once the greatest nation on the planet. I guess we should have seen it coming....she's been sinking for 150 years. The passing of the Waxman Markey bill, also known as Cap and Trade, has officially begun the final death throes of our once great union. First let's get a few things straight. Most importantly, Global Warming is a scam. Period. Now, let me be clear. There is no way that 6 billion folks and rising cannot have an effect on their environment. It simply has to be true. However, this is far more localized than the GW scammers will have you believe. I love the Earth. I enjoy being in nature and I try to get to it as much as possible. I also believe that we are very ignorant with energy consumption. But that's another post. Back to GW. The planet has never been stable in temperature. There are up swings and down swings in overall temperature. Read your earth science books from junior high. So we're on an upswing. It happens. However, this whole GW nonsense is something dreamed up in the minds of the power and money hungry. My example would be governments SELLING FOR PROFIT carbon credits! But we're just trying to save the Earth! Pardon the French, but BUUUULLLLSHIIIITT! This is nothing more than a move to take the money of hard working folks, Americans, Europeans, whatever, and place it in the hands of the Politicians and their special interest groups. This garbage has eaten away at Europe and turned the EU into a bankrupt, blood sucking leetch on its citizenry. And now the Euro-Fascism has made it's way to the US.
Well actually it's been here quite some time. Folks like to blame Roosevelt and the New Deal, me included. But after some study I've come to realize that while this appears to be socialist in nature, it was a limited timeframe and scope deal. Social Security was intended to be a trust fund much like the Federal RailRoad Retirement Fund, which has more money in it than was paid in, but some dumbass president (LBJ) decided that Congress should have access to it. And now it's bankrupt. Imagine that. A perfect example of the US govt's M.O.
Anyway, so now we are seeing the first signs of what the US Govt is becoming. More for us, less for you. By the way, that is the point. The middle class is the enemy of all governments, as they are the ones who are the most independent. The upper class has enough money that whatever happens will affect them minimally, plus they were smart enough to get there in the first place, so they know how to minimalize losses. The lower class wants as much given to them by the government as they can get, rendering them essentially bought votes for the spread the wealth politicians. And most of them are too ignorant or lazy to get out of the lower class. This leaves the middle class. Most of them just want to be left alone. Here's my taxes, now get the hell out of my way! So if this class is eliminated then they are no longer a threat to those in power. How do you eliminate an entire class of folks? Tax them and those that provide them with goods and services until they are broke and then they will be the dependent, subservient lower class. This is what Cap and Trade is all about. Not saving the planet or reducing dependency on fossil fuels. But simply making America a two class society, with the lower serving the upper.
So what can we do? Unfortunately, running is not an option. The rest of the civilized countries that any American would choose to live in are far worse off than we are. So technically the US is still better. But for all you bleeding heart, "This is still the greatest nation on earth" types, times up on that little schpiel. We've officially become no better than Europe. So we can't run, now what. Well, this half cocked power trip bill still has to pass the Senate. So get on the email, get on the phone, or simply show up at your two senator's offices (you do know whom they are, don't you?) and tell them that you refuse to be run over and if they vote for this nonsense you will ensure that they will not get your vote and the votes of your friends and relatives. The only way to deal with the power hungry politicians is to threaten to remove their power. Then after you have suffieciently exhausted that effort, you start to talk to those in your community, city, county, and even state. You talk them about how great it would be if you were not subject to the whims of a bunch of folks who live hundreds or thousands of miles away. Talk about how great it would be if you were governed by folks who had common values. Folks whose offices you can walk in with just a short travel and tell them how you feel. Folks who care when you express that opinion because you represent a large portion of their constituents. Then contact the leaders responsible for these communities, cities, counties, or states, and tell them that enough is enough. You do not want to go down with the ship. You see, there are lifeboats all around us. But we simply cannot be scared to jump in. Doing so is difficult, but we at least stand a chance in the lifeboat. If we stay with the ship we will surely drown.

Stuff about English Bible translations...

Or as I like to call it, "things that Bible scholars discuss when amongst themselves." Now let's get a couple things straight. I by no means am a Bible scholar. I minored in theology in college, so that gives me the credibility as a Bible scholar of a wharf rat. I did however room with several folks who are now either pastors or missionaries, so hopefully some of their insights into Scripture rubbed off on me. It doesn't appear that way though, as I am hopelessly inept at interpreting the Scriptures. Also, I don't read Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic. But I should. Learning them is just down on my list of "things to learn." So anyway, this is a response to a debate I was reading on a buddies blog, "ChurchETHOS.com." Check it out, it seems to be pretty solid, and Nate is an upstanding individual. The debate is about the English Standard Version of the Bible versus the Holman Christian Standard Bible. The Presbyterian Church in America adopted the ESV as their official version a few years back, and if you use anything else you are immediately excommunicated! No excuses!! Not really, but it is kind of ludicrous for a denomination of the Church to proclaim a translation as it's "official translation." By the way, I attend a PCA church and consider myself a Presbyterian. So I probably will be asked to leave the church in shame on Sunday, never to associate with it's members again! Again, just kidding! This does however leave a bad taste in regards to the ESV in the mouths of those whom don't quite subscribe to the Reformed doctrine. From what I've read, they seem to think if you use the ESV exclusively you've drank the Reformed Kool-Aid!! Now I'll admit, the Kool-Aid is refreshing, but this whole mess about English Translations is a bit rediculous. So here is my response to it, maybe it will illustrate my point a little better that this mess of ramblings...:

One of the justifications for, and what appear to be negative comments against, the ESV(English Standard Version) vs HCSB(Holman Christian Standard Bible) debate seem to be a translational bias based on the theological beliefs of the translator. I appreciate the healthy debate, and the stance that each reading this take on their particular favorite translation. I know from experience that English Bible translations are like good beer, everyone has their particular favorite and has a substantial reason for choosing it. You make the bias point in the previous post as well as this one. I appreciate your stance on this topic, as you seem to have given this a considerable amount of thought. Good for you, Nate. More of us should be like that. I would like to point out a couple of things. First, the history of English translations of the Bible is littered with biased translation. The Geneva Bible came out, with considerable bias and some outright attacks against King James I and his monarchy. He then responds with his own translation, the KJV(King James Version), which many in the Church, particularly in the South, will insist is the only version that God inspired, and if you use anything else you may as well read the Book of Mormon! Note that this version is oft described as the most inaccurate English translation available (the KJV, not the BoM). It does say a lot that our translations seem to be more accurate, with some such as the NASB(New American Standard Bible) being retranslated with time. However, this leads to my other point, these are translations and are no substitute for the original language texts. This is the one and only thing I find that Muslims get right. They are only supposed to use the Arabic version of the Koran, which it the language in which it was written. This leaves no room for translational error, no opportunity for the translator to insert his or her theology into the translation. Christians should be taught Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic early on so that each and every person would be able to read the Bible in the language in which it was written. I am not condemning the practice of translation, it opened the doors to many who were unlearned and allowed a greater percentage of the populace to understand God's Word. It's just that it seems translations are sort of a Pandora's Box. We now have to not only try to interpret what God is saying to us, but if the translator is trying to sway us to his or her system of theology. Which maybe authenticates your argument for the HCSB, I don't know. I personally use the NASB, NKJV(New King James Version), and the ESV. I'm Presbyterian, so I of course use the ESV because, well, that's what the pastor uses and I hate it when I get lost when he's reading Scripture and our translations differ!!! Know what I mean? Anyway, this is more of an essay than a comment, so I'll go.

See what I mean? This whole deal could have been avoided if instead of retranslating the Bible into the popular language, we could have just taught everyone how to read the Bible in it's existing tongues. Now I realize that this would require significantly more work, but it would have kept Christianity a bit more pure in the sense of differing beliefs. Christians appear to the remainder of the World's religions to be the most disorganized bunch of folks to ever believe in anything. This could also be why we are so vulnerable to outside influence of other beliefs. We can't agree on more basic theology, probably because we each use different translations that tilt the meanings a bit differently, depending on the translator. A Muslim acquaintance of mine actually stated that this is why Christians are "so confused." Well said, Rizwan. So that's it, just a little something I wanted to share with my two readers. Yeah right, everyone knows I really have like...no readers!! Saying I have all two readers just strokes my ego!! Oh, by the way, my favorite beer is Stella Artois, just incase you wanted to send me a bottle......or a case!! Later, crazies!!

Parenthood: The First Seven Days

Right now it is 8:07 Eastern, and in 14 minutes my son will officially be one week old. Last Monday, the wife and I went to the doctor for our routine 35 week pre-natal exam. We knew that the kid was standing up in the womb, and so the wife had the Doc check her. Before this happened we had been talking to him about scheduling a C-Section to deliver the kid if he didn't turn head down. So while checking her he gets a funny look on his face and then proclaims "Whoa, change in plans!" Apparently the kid was ready to come out now. So at 8:21 EST my beautiful baby boy was born to the world. This is the most exhilarating, wonderful, terrifying thing that has ever happenend to me. Looking back one week later, I now have an entirely new appreciation for parents; not only mine, but every parent I've ever encountered. I am learning that to take the family somewhere requires a 1 hour planning session,how to survive off of two or three broken three hour sleep sessions, and how to accomplish my work in two hour segments. I have a new appreciation for the female body. As a kidless man I always saw the female form in its reproductive form, beautiful and something to desire. While all of that is still true I now appreciate the amount of tolerance built in to their anatomy. To deal with all of the stresses of pregnancy, then go through the trauma of childbirth, particularly the C-Section (no ladies, natural may be tough for a while, but the C-Section is tough for WEEKS!), then put all of that aside to instantly nurture this creature that until moments ago seemed a figment of your imagination. WOW! You ladies rock. Most men start to bitch and moan if they have a particularly violent bowel movement, you guys take truckloads of pain like it's nothing. Then get up, change a diaper, type a few emails, and maybe do some laundry. Or, as in my case, make a grocery list and send the husband to the store (not that I minded, I'm here to serve).

I have to be honest folks, at the risk of jinksing myself, my kid has fallen into line pretty easily. He quickly got on a schedule, and other than randomly deciding to up his food intake, causing an alarmingly shrill cry otherwise known as the primordial scream of the pterodactyl, has really been pretty easy. His favorite pastime, other than sleeping, is to wait until mom or dad has changed him and fed him and then soil his fresh clean diaper with an incredible amount of mustard seedy poop. And of course he thinks it's funny. It's all OK for now, because is so incredibly adorable.

That kinda brings me to the perspective part of this whole thing. First of all, I feel completely inadequate to do this job. I am just kinda making random decisions and performing actions randomly hoping not to screw up, and knowing that I am going to. Second, the alarming part is that he is incapable of doing anything for himself. He is totally dependent on me for his every need. If I stumble or fail at my responsibilities as a daddy, he will suffer for it. This is the true definition of dependency. I finally understand the meaning of "faith like a child's." We are completely dependent on God for our every need. It's funny how our kids are examples to us when it should be the other way around.

So that's about it. The next installment will include a how-to guide for new fathers, as I figure I'll pretty much have this daddy thing mastered by then...........Sorry, got a little delusional there, must be the lack of sleep. Better go get some. Sleep that is. Sickos