Don’t Take Me for Granted
Posted by freedomforall 2 years, 8 months ago to Philosophy
Excerpt:
"Freedom in America, and throughout the world, is in decline. In fact, it has been in decline for many years.
Perhaps a little freedom lost in exchange for security and comfort may seem like a fair trade in certain cases. But caution is advised. As the idea of what freedoms are acceptable to give up expands, the air of freedom becomes polluted.
Small losses of freedom, whittled away incrementally, add up. You may not notice it from day to day. Yet over time the sum losses have resulted in a world that’s dramatically less free.
Compulsory seatbelt requirements or drivers licenses may not be a big deal. One could argue this government regulation is a small sacrifice that’s intended to provide public safety. Yet maybe the world would be a better off without it.
And what about body scan searches to board an airplane? Or proof of vaccination to enter an indoor business or to cross state lines? What about vaccine passports?
Do these measures make you safe? What about government issued digital money, and the banning of cash transactions?
By and large, privacy in America, and throughout the world, no longer exists. The surveillance state runs rampant. Facial recognition technology is vastly improving. The monitoring of financial transactions has become a staple of the 21st century.
The SEC, IRS, FCC, FDA, EPA, TSA, DOJ, DOD, FTC, CIA, FBI, DEA, Department of Labor, Department of the Interior, Commerce Department, and much, Much, More. These bureaucratic agencies all have an intended purpose that was, at one time, deemed necessary by those elected to represent the people.
In practice, they all serve to centralize power and encroach on individual freedom and liberty…
Government Salvation
In 1913, the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified, which legalized the federal income tax. That’s when the welfare-warfare state really began its inexorable march. That’s when freedom took a backseat to the pursuit of big government.
The Federal Reserve Act, the New Deal, gold confiscation, war spending, social spending, social security, Medicare, big business bailouts, COVID stimmy checks, generous unemployment payments, lockdowns, national eviction moratoriums, money printing…
By the close of the first two decades of the 21st century, a large part of America had become a nation of dependents. Freedom had been lost.
At the same time, everyone says they love freedom. In fact, everyone says they cherish freedom. Yet this only holds true so long as freedom doesn’t interfere with their social security, Medicare, or other big government checks.
And therein lies the paradox. People say they love and cherish freedom. They’ll celebrate it on Independence Day with reverence and zeal. Yet they will sacrifice it for safety and security. They will incrementally trade freedom for the promise of government salvation."
"Freedom in America, and throughout the world, is in decline. In fact, it has been in decline for many years.
Perhaps a little freedom lost in exchange for security and comfort may seem like a fair trade in certain cases. But caution is advised. As the idea of what freedoms are acceptable to give up expands, the air of freedom becomes polluted.
Small losses of freedom, whittled away incrementally, add up. You may not notice it from day to day. Yet over time the sum losses have resulted in a world that’s dramatically less free.
Compulsory seatbelt requirements or drivers licenses may not be a big deal. One could argue this government regulation is a small sacrifice that’s intended to provide public safety. Yet maybe the world would be a better off without it.
And what about body scan searches to board an airplane? Or proof of vaccination to enter an indoor business or to cross state lines? What about vaccine passports?
Do these measures make you safe? What about government issued digital money, and the banning of cash transactions?
By and large, privacy in America, and throughout the world, no longer exists. The surveillance state runs rampant. Facial recognition technology is vastly improving. The monitoring of financial transactions has become a staple of the 21st century.
The SEC, IRS, FCC, FDA, EPA, TSA, DOJ, DOD, FTC, CIA, FBI, DEA, Department of Labor, Department of the Interior, Commerce Department, and much, Much, More. These bureaucratic agencies all have an intended purpose that was, at one time, deemed necessary by those elected to represent the people.
In practice, they all serve to centralize power and encroach on individual freedom and liberty…
Government Salvation
In 1913, the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified, which legalized the federal income tax. That’s when the welfare-warfare state really began its inexorable march. That’s when freedom took a backseat to the pursuit of big government.
The Federal Reserve Act, the New Deal, gold confiscation, war spending, social spending, social security, Medicare, big business bailouts, COVID stimmy checks, generous unemployment payments, lockdowns, national eviction moratoriums, money printing…
By the close of the first two decades of the 21st century, a large part of America had become a nation of dependents. Freedom had been lost.
At the same time, everyone says they love freedom. In fact, everyone says they cherish freedom. Yet this only holds true so long as freedom doesn’t interfere with their social security, Medicare, or other big government checks.
And therein lies the paradox. People say they love and cherish freedom. They’ll celebrate it on Independence Day with reverence and zeal. Yet they will sacrifice it for safety and security. They will incrementally trade freedom for the promise of government salvation."
https://prospect.org/power/fear-threa...
Politicians—aided by media hysteria—seize the opportunity to dispense funds, create new programs, and enact proposals that had languished before the crisis. The current pandemic, for instance, has given protectionists a new excuse for restricting international trade. Progressives in Congress have tried to create new protections for workers and immigrants, subsidies for alternative energy, and mandates for diversity programs. Trillions have been added to the national debt with little debate because criticism becomes taboo during a crisis. During World War II, the conversation stopper was, “Don’t you know there’s a war on?” Today it’s repurposed by substituting “pandemic” for “war,” and accompanied by solemn declarations like, “A human life is priceless.”
The Covid-19 lockdown measures are supposed to be temporary, but Higgs expects them to endure due to another consequence of the negativity effect: because bad events have more impact than good ones, people strive harder to avoid losses than they do to achieve gains. As a result, any new government program typically creates a powerful coalition committed to its preservation: an “iron triangle” consisting of a legislative committee, an administrative bureaucracy, and a group of special interests reaping benefits from the program.
A little ditty from my book: "Man made rules, punish the many, because of a few, in favor of a few and/or to aggrandize the man that made the rule.