Freedom: you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone

Brandenburg Gate on December 1, 1989. (Photo: Mediawiki)

If the light of freedom in America is extinguished, there is no place left on earth to flee to. —Anna Marie Hirschmann

On November 9, 1989, Ronald Reagan's impossible dream to tear down the Berlin Wall became the inevitable. The East German government announced that its citizens would be free to cross the border into West Germany and West Berlin. In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed. Suddenly, it seemed that freedom would reign all over the world.

Incredibly, in 2009, twenty years later, freedom is under assault in "the land of the free, and the home of the brave." Statism is now in fashion. Instead of protecting liberty, government is in the process of taking over the private economy and micromanaging private behavior from smoking to the cars we drive to the kind of light bulbs we buy. Wealth is being taxed from productive members of society to an unsustainably growing government and entitlement class. As Reagan said, "As government expands, liberty contracts."

On November 9, 2009, a former Hitler Youth Leader turned United States citizen will speak on the question, "what does it mean to be free?" Czech-born Anna Marie "Hansi" Hirschmann was orphaned as a baby, and grew up in a foster home, experiencing a life of loneliness, hunger, rejection and fear. After Nazi troops "liberated" Czechoslovakia, she was chosen for training to be a Nazi youth leader. Brainwashed, Maria’s god became Adolph Hitler, and when Germany fell, her world shattered. Hirschmann eventually came to the United States, became a naturalized citizen, taught school, wrote her autobiography, and now speaks around the world about her experiences.

Hirschmann will speak at a dinner sponsored by the Citizens Council on Health Care (CCHC). Why is a health care organization hosting Hirschmann? The CCHC quotes Reagan as saying, "One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine."

CCHC Freedom Dinner
featuring Anna Marie Hirschmann
Monday, November 9, 2009
Crowne Plaza Riverfront Hotel
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Tickets: $100, includes tax-deductible donation to the CCHC
See CCHC web site for details.

Americans still believe in Constitutional principles

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. —Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America

On September 17, 1787, the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified by the delegates to the Constitutional Convention. "It is encouraging to see the principles enshrined in the Constitution over 222 years ago are as essential to Americans today as they were when we were initially fighting for those fundamental liberties," said National Constitution Center President and CEO Linda E. Johnson.

When asked which of the following statements comes closest to their view, 75% of respondents to a recent National Constitution Center/Associated Press poll chose "The United States Constitution is an enduring document that remains relevant today," while only 23% chose "The United States Constitution is an outdated document that needs to be modernized."

Poll respondents also endorsed the principle of the balance of powers. When asked, "If you thought it would help improve the economy would you favor or oppose giving the President more power at the expense of the power of Congress and the courts?," 75% would oppose, while only 24% would be in favor.

Americans also still favor private property and free enterprise. Poll respondents strongly oppose allowing the government to take partial ownership of private enterprise, even if it would prevent them from going out of business (71%) or losing jobs (66%), or if the failure of the industry would seriously harm the economy (60%).

Mike Pence: back to basics

If the GOP has lost its way, people like Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN6) are trying to steer it back on course. Republicans across the country should consider his remarks on yesterday's Fox News Sunday:

...government handouts through a government bureaucracy is no substitute for broad-based tax relief and fiscal discipline in Washington, D.C.

...the quickest way to get money into this economy is not to take it in the first place.

...I think Republicans are starting to earn back the confidence of the American people that we squandered, really, in the last 10 years. I mean, look, let's be honest. We didn't just lose our majorities in 2006. We lost our way. I mean, the American people saw a Republican Party that walked away from its commitment to fiscal discipline, limited government and reform, and the American people walked away from us.

We saw -- we saw in the last Republican administration, you know, increase at the federal Department of Education, the Medicare prescription drug entitlement, and an administration that ended up taking $700 billion in bad decisions on Wall Street and transferring those to Main Street, that on top of a doubling of the national debt.

But since the last election, Republicans on Capitol Hill are returning to their commitment to fiscal discipline, limited government and reform, and the defense of traditional values.

And I believe we're -- we're beginning to get a second look from the American people, and they're beginning to see that Republicans are returning to the principles that minted our majority in 1980 and again in 1994.

...I don't think the debate in this country is about President Obama or about Democrats or Republicans. I think it's about who we are as a nation. I think it's about what we believe is the proper role of government in our lives and the proper responsibility of individuals. ...Republicans for a while were on the wrong side of that argument. We've gotten back on the side of fiscal responsibility, personal responsibility, limited government.

And I think as we continue to fight consistently on Capitol Hill and take our message to the American people, the American people are going to come back to us.

Your community is about to be organized

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies." —Groucho Marx

If you like what Congress and President Obama have done to "fix" the banks and the auto industry, wait until you see what they have in store for your favorite community organizations. A bill is now on the way to President Obama for his signature into law that will turn the idea of volunteerism on its head: by turning private charity and volunteer service into a government program.

On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a motion to agree on the Senate amendments to HR 1388, "The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act." This 275 to 149 vote (Ayes: Democrat 249, Republican 26; Nays: Democrat 0; Republican 149) sends the bill to the President to sign into law.

When the President signs HR 1388, Americorps will be on track to increase from 75,000 to 250,000 members and spend over $5 billion in the next five years. A new Civic Health Assessment will be established to determine whether you are volunteering, voting, supporting civic groups, and understand U.S. history and government. Can mandatory national service be far behind?

On March 24, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) eloquently explained why this bill is so fundamentally opposed to the American values of charity and self-reliance:

When the French historian de Tocqueville came to the United States not long after we were founded, one of the things that amazed him about our country that was so different from France was that in his home country when there was a problem, people would say: Someone ought to do it and government should do it; but in America we were different. When someone saw a problem, they went and got a friend and formed a small group and solved the problem themselves. Much of that was motivated by religious convictions that our place in this world is not only to help ourselves but to love and help those around us. That was key.

Volunteerism is something that works in America. When we think of America, we do not think of Congress and Presidents, we think of Little League games and PTA meetings and bake sales...Civil society is America. It responds to needs, meets challenges, and solves problems because it is free from Government.

DeMint then elaborated on the role religion plays in volunteerism, how the movement to eliminate religious expression had the unintended consequence of reducing volunteerism, creating a crisis for government to solve (sound familiar?):

You also look at what we have done over the years, forgetting that a lot of private charity and the motivation to serve God and community is a religious-based motivation...We have essentially tried to purge that motivation from our country. Most public schools, or at least a lot of them, used to sponsor Boy Scout groups. But after being sued for years because the Boy Scouts have God in their pledge and they set standards for their leaders that some do not agree with, the threat of lawsuits essentially means our Government schools have thrown out the Boy Scouts.

More than half our astronauts, half our FBI agents, a lot of the most successful people in this country were trained in the Boy Scouts to serve their community, where their character was developed. But this Federal Government has forced them out of public places. For years we purged religion from our society. Religion was the primary motivation for a lot of civic groups, a lot of services, a lot of charities, a lot of hospitals that were formed, a lot of schools...

Now we are going to come in and help solve the problem we have created. We want to promote voluntarism, we want to promote community service, when what we have done over the last several decades is essentially tried to destroy the motivation for people to serve a cause that is greater than themselves.

"There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts."
—Ronald Reagain, Farewell Address to the Nation, January 11, 1989

Change is coming. Soon the entire country will either be signing up to "Serve America," as per government regulations, or lining up to be served: from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

American idol

statism (n) : the basic concept that sovereignty is vested not in the people but in the national state, and that all individuals and associations exist only to enhance the power, the prestige, and the well-being of the state. The fascist concept of statism repudiates individualsm and exalts the nation as an organic body headed by the Supreme Leader and nurtured by unity, force, and discipline. —from Political Science Dictionary. Editor Jack C. Plano. Dryden Press, 1973

This belief in government power doesn't necessarily make statists undemocratic. Many statists believe government represents the collective will of the people, and they usually argue that a powerful government is necessary to build a better society. As WordIQ.com noted, "supporters of statism argue that [government power] ultimately benefits the individual himself, since the public good involves the personal good of the maximum number of individuals."

Statists support far less individual liberty than any other political ideology. Statists tend to distrust the free market, advocate centralized planning of the economy (including high taxes, strict regulation of business, and even government ownership or control of major industries)...In short, statists consistently doubt that economic liberty and individual freedom are necessary, practical, or workable in today's world. —TheAdvocates.org, home of The World's Smallest Political Quiz

The belief that government can solve all of the world's, our country's, or even the various states' problems amounts to idol worship. Government has a role, but as we abandon that cherished American value of rugged individualism, and begin to shred the Constitution, which limits the federal government, one article at a time, we are following a golden calf of statism.

Government is not the solution to our problem

These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, human misery and personal indignity.

Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity. But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. For decades we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.

You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why then should we think that collectively, as a nation, we are not bound by that same limitation?

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we’ve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. But if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?

We are a nation that has a government -- not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the earth. Our Government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.

All of us — all of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the states; the states created the Federal Government.

Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it. If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before.

It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of Government.

—excerpts from Ronald Reagan's First Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981

You don't know what you've got 'till it's gone

The next time you hear someone say that they will be so glad that campaign season is over, or worse yet that they won't be voting, you might want to remind them that many of our patriots died to protect our free elections and freedom of speech, and that other governments have killed to prevent the same.

I have friends who fled Cuba in the 1960s after Fidel Castro began nationalizing private property and cracking down on political dissent. They will never take voting for granted or forget that freedom is not free.

The Great Land, Part II

Alaska's politics are a product of its nearly a century as a territory, during which it was exploited by a Congress in which it had no representation, and the rugged individuals who sparsely populate this "last frontier."

Although much of the economy is federally subsidized, "Bridge to Nowhere" notwithstanding, Alaska has a relatively flat governmental structure and a strong libertarian streak.

Most of Alaska has two levels of government: state and "borough," roughly equivalent to a county, but no township or city government, and as far as I know no regional transit boards or metropolitan councils. Much of the state falls into the "unorganized" borough and is administered by the state.

Firearms are licensed on a "shall issue" basis, and once licensed no additional license is needed to carry the weapon concealed. Carrying a firearm is illegal in Alaskan courthouses, schoolyards, bars and domestic violence shelters, but you don't see those ridiculous WEAPONS BANNED ON THESE PREMESES signs everywhere you turn as you do here in Minnesota. Alaska smoking laws resemble the pre-Indoor Clean Air Act era in Minnesota, with smoking and non-smoking sections in public places. Earlier this month, an Alaska Superior Court judge struck down a law that criminalizes the posession of up to an ounce of marijuana for personal use.

The state of Alaska does not have a state sales tax or state income tax. In some boroughs and cities there is a sales tax.

Alaskan politics has been known for its corrupt, good-old-boys ways, but its first female governor, the popular and photogenic Sarah Palin, has largely cleaned house since taking office in 2006. Palin, a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, is the former mayor of Wasilla, 40 miles north of Anchorage (home of the Iditarod dog sled race). Her husband, Todd, works for BP at an oil field on the North Slope and is a commercial fisherman. Alaska's first family includes two sons and three daughters.

The nanny party in Denver

If you really want to know the difference between how Democrats and Republicans govern, all you need to do is take a look at some of the machinations underway for the Democratic National Convention. They can't even trust their own delegates to make politically-correct choices about what to eat during the convention. As reported in the June 25 Wall Street Journal:

But Matt Burns, a spokesman for the Republican convention, looks on with undisguised glee at some of the Democrats' efforts -- such as the "lean 'n' green" catering guidelines.

Among them: No fried food. And, on the theory that nutritious food is more vibrant, each meal should include "at least three of the following colors: red, green, yellow, blue/purple, and white." (Garnishes don't count.) At least 70% of ingredients should be organic or grown locally, to minimize emissions from fuel burned during transportation. "One would think," says Mr. Burns, "that the Democrats in Denver have bigger fish to bake -- they have ruled out frying already -- than mandating color-coordinated pretzel platters."

Laura Hylton, general manager of Biscuits & Berries catering, agrees in principle. But she has been testing her recipes using local ingredients for weeks and still can't get the green peppercorn sauce right when she uses white Colorado wine. The state's high-altitude wine industry took off in the early 1990s and produces some award-winning labels, but Ms. Hylton says diplomatically, "It's a little...lacking. Our wineries out here aren't what you'd see in California or France."

Joanne Katz, who runs the Denver caterer Three Tomatoes, will take one for the green team by removing her fried goat-cheese won tons with chipotle pepper caramel sauce from the menu. But she questions whether some of the guidelines will have the desired earth-saving effects.

According to at least one Democrat blogger, this sort of kooky puritanism is leaving centrist Dems squirming under nanny-state correctness:

…this is EXACTLY why my beloved Democratic Party loses elections. The various factions that make up our party spend so much time trying to ensure that each one of their core principles is thrust upon Americans with little or no choice. After all ‘we’ know ‘better.’ … this information only adds to the perception that Democrats care more about engineering society in a politically correct fashion, than we do about helping working families put food on the table.

Fly the flag

Tomorrow, June 14, is Flag Day. If you don't fly your flag every day, be sure to display it tomorrow. Tomorrow would also be a great time to look over your flag and replace it if it is getting faded or worn out (flags can be recycled at your local VFW or American Legion post, and some Boy Scout troops or council offices). Go to USFlag.org for tips on proper handling and showing respect for our nation's colors — and by extension, our nation.

My dad told me that he always got choked up whenever he saw the flag of the United States. Growing up as the son of immigrants and serving in the Army under this flag during World War II taught him to love our country, even while the rest of his family and 110,000 other persons of Japanese ancestry were interned by the federal government by executive order. After the war, he didn't ask much from the government, he just finished college, went to work, raised a family, and flew the flag.

This story from USFlag.org pretty well sums up how the World War II generation feels about the flag:

My Grandfather was a glider infantryman in WWII, an advisor in Korea, and lost one of his sons, my uncle Gary Edwards, in Vietnam. I worked in his auto repair station during high school and he flew his flag in front daily. One day while I was sweeping the oil dry out of the bays it began to sprinkle rain. He told me to go get the flag and I said "gimme a second." He said, "It is raining, go get the flag NOW." Well I popped off my mouth about how he should cool it, it isn't going to melt or some such typical teenage comment.

My grandfather is the toughest man I've ever met. He explained once that he thought basic training was some sort of country club during WWII, because he was used to hard work anyway, and at home he didn't have indoor toilets or hot running water! And when I said whatever it was that I said to him, he turned deep crimson and I thought, "God save me, he's going to kill me for talking back." Instead tears welled up in his eyes and he squeaked out "You don't understand what this family has paid for the right to fly that flag." Then he turned his back on me and went out and got the flag. I just stood there feeling like the smallest person to ever live. Those words cut me so deep. I wish the entire country could have heard them.

Iowa State prof "expelled"

From my friend Dave Eaton:

A few weeks ago a very talented scientist at Iowa State University was denied tenure because he approaches science in the same way as the greatest scientists in history. Isaac Newton, Francis Bacon, Gregor Mendel, Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo ALL approached science with the assumption that they were studying the works of an intelligent creator, God. Historians have observed that it was exactly this perspective that enabled the start and advancement of modern science.

Today when scientists take that approach to science they are ridiculed and stripped of their careers.

Now for a little history. In the 1500's Copernicous' conclusion that the earth went around the sun was enabled by his Christian approach to study and considered controversial by many. However, few realize that it was Christians who rallied to his side, encouraged his work and financially underwrote the publication of his controversial scientific work.

Today, you can be part of history by helping fund the work of Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez, an accomplished scientist that has been "expelled" from the public university system for his Christian approach to studying science. A group of ISU alumni have developed a web site that allows you to learn of Dr. Gonzalez's work and make a donation towards his research. Please go to www.freegonzalez.com to learn more.

Note, too that Dr. Gonzalez is one of the persecuted scientists featured in the movie, Expelled, that is opening nationally tonight. You can get more information on the movie at www.expelledthemovie.com.

Freedom: a better idea

There was a time in this country when we kids grew up learning about American innovators. Ford's Lee Iacocca had "a better idea." He captured the youth market with the Mustang, then when Ford scoffed at his minivan, he took it to Chrysler. Decades later, both products and their imitators are still going strong. The race to the moon inspired us and forever changed our life on Earth. Every year, American inventors earn more patents than inventors from all other countries combined.

Today, nanny-state socialist environmentalists who are pushing the compact florescent lamp (CFL), and the lawmakers and bureaucrats who love them, ironically sweep the dangers of the mercury and lead solder in each of the bulbs under the rug (figuratively speaking). These are some of the same people behind the effort to rid our medicine cabinets of mercury fever thermometers, rid our homes of thermostats with mercury switches, warn against consuming too much mercury-laced tuna, and lobby hospitals and clinics to eliminate vaccines preserved with thimerosol (which contains mercury). They justify other shortcomings of CFLs — high costs of manufacturing, inefficiency in frequent on-off applications, unsuitability in extreme temperatures like home ovens and your Minnesota garage during winter, the wastefulness of the disposable ballast — as a "net positive" in light of claimed reductions in greenhouse gasses, which is a whole 'nother adventure in junk science.

These problems should be discussed (the mass media won't), but they are not the worst thing about Congress banning Thomas Edison's incandescent bulb by 2014.

Just like smoking bans aren't really about public health, gun bans aren't really about public safety, light rail isn't really about relieving traffic congestion, ethanol isn't really about energy independence, the incandescent light bulb ban isn't really about reducing the mythical threat of global warming.

All of these misguided public policies in various ways expand government and reduce our freedoms.

Free markets and the profit motive has solved problems and improved the quality of life for over 200 years in this country. A year ago, Thomas Edison's General Electric announced a new incandescent light bulb technology, the high efficiency incandescent (HEI), that it claims is about as efficient as the CFL, but without the CFL's significant environmental, safety, and health hazards. Edison's successor inventors at GE Global Research are also working on a technology called OLED (organic light emitting diode), another low-cost, high-efficiency, "Earth friendly" lighting alternative.

Government rarely leads the way in innovation (except in the areas of taxation and redistribution of wealth). "Congress tends to jump on whatever the current buzz is in the 24-hour news cycle," said Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN6), announcing her "Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act," the necessity of which is a testament to intrusive hand of Big Brother.

Government should let the competition of free markets pick the winners and losers, and let the light bulb symbolize American innovation and know-how again.