Giving Up Liberty

Magna Carta Libertatum is the whole title to the document. It placed restraints on the king. The US Constitution placed restraints on the government, the political class. Both focused on the rights of people. The most recent attack on Christianity, specifically the Catholic Church, by the Obama Administration and the Democrat Party, is beyond just that. It’s an attack on liberty.

“I leave it up to the government to make good decisions for Americans.” Danica Patrick

For those that don’t know, Patrick is a sexy race car driver and model. She has hit here on the mindset of a growing number of citizens that it’s okay to give up individual liberty and submit to the State. It’s severely bothersome and disconcerting to me that for the five thousand years or so of civilization prior to the founding of the republic of America, Man has lived under tyranny. Just look how long and slow progress was; spiritually and physically. Just look at all the cool stuff we’ve got in the last couple hundred years or so. There’s more progress in freedom and goodies than all the history preceding the US Constitution.

The primary reason, arguably the only reason, for this explosion of creativity, innovation, and personal wealth is the power of the State had its wings clipped. People were able to do things for themselves, family and community, and all have benefitted. Now the State’s feathers of oppression have grown back.

The latest, of course, is the attempt to control the Catholic Church and by extension Christians, so Freedom of Religion gets clipped. Even those not tolerant of organized religion should take note because every tyranny begins with the crushing of Christians and Jews (anti-Semitism is on the rise). Freedom of Speech is clipped by “political correctness” and name calling. If you disagree with Obama’s policies you’re a racist, if you don’t approve of homosexuality or gay marriage you’re a bigot, if you don’t think employees or taxpayers should be paying for someone else’s abortions or contraceptives, you're a sexist.

Case in point from Chris Matthews: “There are a number of people who have chosen to convert to the Catholic faith because they don’t like the liberal positions taken by their sectarian groups, that’s a fact, you can write that down. . . .I’m saying that some people who are bigoted against gay people have changed religions, yes.”

Then there’s Obama’s statement: “So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” It’s an anathema to these Statists that people actually believe in God because they believe, not because the government isn’t fulfilling some need in their lives. Statists want Religion out of the way because it creates a vacuum for the State to fill. They want all citizens replace their religion with the Religion of the State like they have.

Now the government tells us what light bulbs we can use, even though the one’s we will soon be forced to buy provide worse light and are dangerous and toxic. Some public schools are forcing parents to buy school lunches, deeming home made sack lunches not healthy enough. I read one incident where the school didn’t let a kid eat his lunch meat sandwich from home and eat at the school cafeteria; the replacement meal was “chicken” nuggets. Really? The government is installing “smart meters” on homes to control your house temperature, what and how many appliances you can run. They have tried, so far unsuccessfully, to ban smoking in cars and homes. They tell restaurants how much sugar and salt they can use in their recipes. The tax code is designed to limit your income; they are mandating how much you may earn.  In California parents have to keep their kids in booster seats until they are 57” tall. Some kids will be in them until they’re 10 or 12 years old. This was a safety problem? If the people vote on something, and the government doesn't like the outcome, they just get a judge say it's unconstitutional and overturn the will people and their representatives.

“We are only a few days away from fundamentally transforming America!” Barack Obama, November 2008

Obama’s “accommodation” to the Catholic Church is to have insurance companies pay for contraception and whatever else, so the employees will have these for free. Statists say things are for free, if only we give them more power and money. Power to not obey the laws the rest of us are forced to obey, and money so they can live large with the things we can no longer afford because they took our money.

The cost of all that free stuff? The U.S. government debt is currently $44,215 per person. Obama’s own budget numbers show it will rise over the next ten years to $75,000.

“I leave it up to the government to make good decisions for Americans.” Truly?