Occupy Wall street - This Is What Freedom Looks Like

Written By NewAmericaNow

I look out at the current world situation and see abusive government power and massive corruption at every level. A government, our government, co-opted by the powerful banking and corporate interests.

The banks and corporations have successfully hijacked our government on the back of good intentions for their own self interests. The addition of the fourteenth amendment in 1868, while purportedly designed to insure equality of citizenship after the civil war, has been used since then, by the banking and corporate interests for the purpose of a massive power grab of our unique political system. And so is the tale of the real danger of good intentions and their unintended consequences.

In my opinion, the fourteenth amendment was whole heartedly unnecessary. The fundamental solution for the problem of inequality was not another amendment, act or law but simply to fairly interpret the original fundamentals of existing law. The most fundamental precept of our nation is, all men, and people in general, are created equal and have basic rights expressed and agreed upon, as written in our Bill of Rights. The usual problem, as always, is that government does not abide by the rules and finds differing interpretations to break the chains that prevent the acquisition of power. When we protest that banks and corporations are in collusion with government and have taken over our political system and then in the same breath propose that government should do something about it is unbelievably preposterous.

In the final analysis, the banks and corporations are not the true cause of our problems, they are merely an opportunistic infection in a self inflicted injury. The banks and corporations would not consider taking control of a system that did not exert control over it's citizens, as it would not offer any monetary advantage. The fact that we have slowly and through the years given government more and more power over us and our actions, for some progressive well intentioned myth of safety or the common good, is the ultimate cause of our dilemma today.


Giving government more power has historically only made things worse. The secret solution to our dilemma is our undying insistence that government strictly adheres to the rules plainly written in the Bill of Rights and Constitution and to always err on the side of maximum individual freedom. Communism, Socialism and all forms of totalitarianism, such as fascism rely on the power of those in charge to fairly manage the masses. In a world of selfless, uncorruptable people it could work. However, in the real world of people with the the human frailties of ego, selfishness and self importance it would quickly, as our founders knew, devolve into tyranny.


It is quite interesting, as a history student, and disconcerting, as a citizen that although our system has given us a users guide to how our government should work and what our rights are, every single amendment of the Bill of Rights has been violated by government under the premise that they (the government) has the right to interpret those rights any way they choose because they have the force of arms and incarceration and are willing to use it. This is simply inconsistent with the original intent of the Bill of Rights.


Today people are arrested for dancing or expressing themselves at the very public and ironically, the memorial to the man who was the biggest champion of American freedom, Thomas Jefferson. What ever you may think about this type of expression, it is in fact, protected by what is suppose to be the highest law in the land. A US citizen was just exterminated by the Obama administration without due process of law and without presentation of evidence to justify this action and his family denied legal counsel to refute those allegations as it is guaranteed by this same document.


Innocent people are being searched against their will at airports across the country and the private internet activities of millions upon unsuspecting millions are surveilled without reasonable suspicion or warrant. People are being held without charges and without counsel for allegations they are unable to challenge with evidence or a jury of their peers.


The rights that we have are not subject to a vote because the majority thinks it's a good idea. THIS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY or rule by mob as our founders would call it. Areas of free choice like, privacy, lifestyle, who you married, what you and your community decide to teach your children or the food you choose to eat, were, according to these rules, for better or for worse, not subject to the vote of an intrusive majority or government regulation but was your right of choice as a human being. The protections we have are not subject to government interest or national security, they are unalienable and you can never be separated from them for ANY reason. That is what FREEDOM looks like.


Many would say we must regulate some things. I would agree that their are a good number of things that should be regulated, but not by the hand of government. It is not in our rules of government conduct and powers that they regulate our lives, and for good reason. Our founding fathers were specific in how much power our government would have because of the historical truth that, no matter how good intentioned human's are, absolute power corrupts absolutely.


Underwriter's Laboratory or UL who's logo is found on many electronics today, is a fine example of the private sector stepping up to give unbiased assurances to the public that products don't kill or injure the public, as that would be legally costly for any business trying to compete in a world free of monopolies and full of real competing consumer choices where reputation is everything.


Another wonderful violation of the original rules placed on government, which originally only taxed those who OWNED the means of production and CORPORATIONS, was the addition of the Sixteenth Amendment. The Sixteenth Amendment, ratified on February 3, 1913 sets up the future creation of the monster we now know as, the Federal Reserve System, and allows the Congress to levy, for the FIRST time in American history, an income tax without apportioning it among the states or basing it on Census results. The founding father's believed labor was a trade not income and so should not be subject to taxation and only those who could profit without work would be taxed and taxed equally, however, if taxes were to be collected they would always be equal and not incremental as they are today.


The founding fathers were very learned and wise men and were avid students of history.


Alexander Tytler, Arnold Toynbee, and Lord Thomas Macaulay were widely read historians of the pre-revolutionary period that noted that democracies throughout history have always been temporary in nature. The consensus among these learned historians was a democracy simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.


As stated by Tytler in the 1768 "A democracy will continue to exist up until the voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority will always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship.” Does any of this sound familiar and ironically on target?


Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. -
George Santayana


Although there are many aspects of democracy that were used in the creation of this nation, there were protections put in place in this Republic against the darker side of democracy that would protect each individual equally.


There are a number of ridiculous statements that I hear quite often coming from the naive or uninformed. Statements like, "a job is a right", "health care is a right" or "food is a right" or "I have the right to higher education". These statements are simply and unbelievably delusional. How can your right come from your demands on someone else? You have the right to choose to create your own business or choose to work for someone who has. You have the right to take care of yourself but you can not demand a doctor to heal you of your sickness without compensation. You have the right to grow your own food, but you do not have the right to sit in someone's restaurant and demand food without compensation. You have a right to educate yourself but you can not demand that someone teach you what they already know.


Don't think I am just picking on the left, the Tea Party is just as guilty of hypocrisy. I have heard of many a Tea Party member talk about Liberty and Freedom for all, yet call for Muslim members of our society, not to have the right to start a mosque in certain places even though they own the property. I have heard conservative Tea Party members rally against Gay marriage, when it is none of their business, since what consenting adults do in the privacy of their own homes is their right. The true test of freedom is respecting the free choices of others even when you strongly disagree.


Whether it's Occupy Wall Street, a Tea Party protest or whatever, if we are to make meaningful and fair change in our society we must proceed with caution, historical knowledge and wisdom at our backs. It is too easy to point fingers and say it's the other guy's fault without considering the historical facts and creating a real meaningful dialogue to make a better society. If we are careless, egotistical, and self absorbed we shall get exactly what we deserve.


S. Paul Note: I agree with this author on most points save one: Healthcare is a sticky situation in America when the foods we consume, the water we drink and even the air we breathe is contaminated with chemicals from lack of proper oversight. If the government is responsible or even industry, for causing these negative factors cause us sickness, there is a certain responsibility of that government to assist the people who become sick from them. Though a socialized system is not possible today in America considering the bloated costs from hospitals, doctors, the lawyers and people all too ready to sue over a misdiagnosis or bad drug reaction, etc...healthcare should not be free but it certainly shouldn't cost a person a decade's salary to treat their ills. Obama Care does not work; I have written on this, but neither does the current care system we are suffering for. I definitely think much work is yet to be done in this industry so that people like myself who do work very hard, can at least have the opportunity to pay for it.