The very topic of freedom makes my heart beat faster. It makes me feel alive; it moves me to action. I’m reminded of feelings aroused by the movie, Braveheart. By the passion of hero William Wallace, “Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you’ll live…And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin’ to trade ALL the days, from this day to that to have the chance, one chance, to tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take… OUR FREEDOM!!!”
What choice would you have made at that moment?
Choice, in my opinion, is our most precious gift, besides life itself. It is the freedom to choose what we will or will not believe or do or live for. Choice is the foundation of who we are, as individuals, because it allows us to act on our own thoughts and shape our own future…who we are and who we will become.
Choice presumes life and liberty; which, in turn, presumes the right to property. And property inspires the desire to trade, improve and create. Ultimately, in this foundation of life, liberty and property, it is a free economy that advances our ability to act and is critical to the one greatest pursuit of all mankind – the pursuit of happiness.
At this point, it is important to note that the natural course of “freedom of choice” demands the principal of consequences. Good choices result in good consequences and create an environment in which happiness abounds. But the reverse is also true. And while some say that they want the freedom, they are unwilling to give up the dole and welfare programs that rob them, and others, of freedom. Poor choices bring bad consequences.
Unfortunately, today, some of the greatest attacks on our freedoms have come from within the borders of our own country by those that should be promoting our freedom the most. For example, the recent financial bailouts in the banking and corporate finance world, the debt strategies of our federal government and the legislation that allows mismanagement and greed to rule our economy, has robbed the American people of both our right to produce and our hard-earned resources. Our money.
“They” claim that the banks paid back their debt. And yet, the very banks that received the bailouts, did not reciprocate by lending the money back to the American people but rather invested in treasuries allowing them to accumulate even more cash. Small and mid-sized entrepreneurs and businesses have been left to rebuild the economy on their own, without the ability to borrow.
By the manipulation of interest rates, the printing of money, and the failure of Congress to serve and protect “We the People, “ during “the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression,” they have stifled our recovery. They have perpetrated one of the greatest attacks on our personal freedom of choice, both present and future.
Will the debt ever be paid back? Perhaps…
Part two will be available on Thursday July 31st, 2014.
Sean Fleming
