Friday, June 12, 2009

Freedom's crossroads, part 2


These men formed a more perfect union, with the goal of maximizing freedom for the most people. If they were alive today, they'd be spitting mad, regardless of how serene this picture looks. We recognize freedom is under attack within our own borders, and we make it our mission to fight back. Some call the fall of the Berlin Wall the end of the 20th century, and 9-11-01 the beginning of the 21st. While considering our current struggle, I keep recalling Churchill: "America did not become what it is by being made of candy." I subscribe to Tim's e-mail reports, and here's an especially poignant one. While you read it, consider what's going on in our country, right now, and whether the U.S. is striving for more freedom or more governmental control...which incidentally is its exact opposite, in the minds of our founding fathers. Are we heading for a more or less secure America for future generations?

...I’d like to share some principles from a book called ‘The 5000 Year Leap’ written & put together by the National Center for Constitutional Studies. Simply put, this book is AWESOME! Heck, I wish it was required reading for all high school students. It’s about ‘The 28 Great Ideas That Changed the World.’
The 15th Principle, one of my favorites! The Highest Level of Prosperity Occurs when there is a Free-Market Economy and a Minimum of Government Regulations. Most of this is straight from the book.
The United States was the first people to undertake the structuring of a whole national economy on the basis of natural law and the free-market concept described by Adam Smith (who wrote a book in 1776 called The Wealth of Nations). Among other things, this formula called for the following:
1. Specialized production – let each person or corporation of persons do what they do best.
2. Exchange of goods takes place in a free-market environment without governmental interference in production, prices, or wages.
3. The free market provides the needs of the people on the basis of supply and demand, with no government imposed monopolies.
4. Prices are regulated by competition on the basis of supply and demand.
5. Profits are looked upon as the means by which production of goods and services is made worthwhile.
6. Competition is looked upon as the means by which quality is improved, quantity is increased, and prices are reduced.

The Four Laws of Economic Freedom: Prosperity also depends on a climate of wholesome stimulation protected by law. Reduced to its simplest formula, there are four laws of economic freedom which a nation must maintain if its people are to prosper at the maximum level. These are:
1. The Freedom to try.
2. The Freedom to buy.
3. The Freedom to sell.
4. The Freedom to fail.

Proper role of gov is to protect equal rights, NOT provide equal things.
By 1905 the United States had become the richest industrial nation in the world. With only 5 percent of the earth’s continental land area and merely 6 percent of the world’s population, the American people were producing over half of almost everything-clothes, food, houses, transportation, communications, even luxuries. It was a great tribute to Adam Smith.
Those are the values this country was founded on. One person CAN make a difference. You can teach those around you, your family, your friends timeless principles that we need to all follow once again.


Thanks, Tim. You're making a difference.

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