The Statue Is Becoming A Lie

I feel sad for the US today.

At one time, at least the story is told here, our country was a shining example of "freedom" to the world. But now, the word "liberty" (which means the same thing, forms the root of the term "libertarian," and is used prominently in our Declaration of Independence) is treated as a "bad" or "uncaring" thing. Instead of us having the freedom to give, or not give, to the charitable causes we deem worthy, we're supposed to trust that supposedly-selfless elected officials (does anybody really believe in the altruism of politicians?) should be given as much power as they demand to deliver benefits to "worthy" causes, with little or no control by us regarding how our money is distributed. This is the lamp of freedom we hold up to the world?

Of course, distribution of our earnings to government-controlled social programs is only one power grab. Not only are we not free to give to charity as we see fit, but we are not free to choose how we take care of ourselves, or to not do so. This lack of control is imposed on us along with an imposed social "responsibility" to take care of those in need, without regard for what those in need may have done to put themselves in that situation. You rode your motorcycle drunk without a helmet, crashed, and need medical assistance? The current story is that your society is "responsible" to take care of you anyway; and, that fabricated "responsibility" is the key to a whole host of liberty-destroying mandates, ranging from helmet laws, to laws against smoking in public, to required participation in health insurance.

Even more power is demanded by elected officials and their myriad appointees for the will-o'-wisp purpose of "security." I do not believe the nonsense about the 9/11 terrorist attacks being an "inside job," but I do see that statist opportunists have used that awful day in our national history, at every possible opportunity, to strip away freedom and impose government control.

What underscored for me, today, that the world does not look to the US as an example of freedom was a comment on the federated social networking service Diaspora about not hosting data in the US because of a distrust of how that data might be seized by the US government. If we were a free country, no such concern would exist, and no such comment would be made. Instead we have lazily chosen poor leaders (politically and otherwise) and allowed them to drag our nation down to where it is mocked, instead of respected, for its treatment of personal liberty.

These are sad times for the US, indeed.