LIBERTY

To most, this word means little just another term coined in American history or conveniently inserted into the titles of schools and libraries. This word, however, is inherently different from any other. This word has resounded throughout history as a human emotion. It is a battle cry bellowed from the gullets of the poor and the rich alike. It is the radical and exciting notion that men and women are born equal and are endowed with permanent, indisputable rights and freedoms the concept that one cannot be born into servitude to another. This might sound familiar it should! These are the precise values upon which our country was founded. These are the provocative thoughts which had been passed down by brilliant philosophers such as John Locke and Algernon Sydney to our rebel forefathers. Together, those revolutionaries forged a new government unlike any seen before. This government was instated by the people and for the people in order to first and foremost uphold the Liberties and freedoms of the people. But where was the line drawn; how is Liberty defined? Liberty, as both John Locke and Thomas Jefferson defined it, is the freedom for a person to do whatever he wants so long as that action does not harm or infringe on the freedoms of another. This definition applies to all races, cultures, religions, sexes, and sexual orientations. It protects the freedom to earn and to own and thus advocates a free market. This was and should be the role of government. Anything more gives too much power and will eventually lead to tyranny. Where are we two-hundred or so years later? Well, that unique form of sovereign government, accountable directly to the people, led to an extended time of American brilliance in innovation; we were the most economically prosperous, technologically advanced, and socially free society. To say we are still so now is to kid ourselves. We are no longer a light of economic prosperity or personal Liberty in this world. What happened!? Today, the federal government is bigger and more intrusive than ever before. In matters both national and international, our American governance has steadily supplied itself more power and subsequently interfered in more areas. What happened to the role of government defined by the forefathers? Governments sole role is to protect and uphold the Liberties and freedoms of the people; yet how many laws and regulations are weighed down upon us which dont protect our Liberties but rather extinguish them. From this overregulation, we are suffering, and our national economy is being suffocated. Once again, I ask, how did this happen? How did we fall so far? Checks and balances were put into place by our forefathers in order to keep the government in check. We the people were one of these balances. With our votes and our heated voices, the legislative and executive branches were to be held accountable. We were to make sure our government was just that our government! Somewhere along the line, we became complacent. We started caring more about current celebrities than truth-seeking philosophy, more about fantasy football than political policy, more about visual entertainment than the real world, more about today than tomorrow. The majority of us live in a box, content to go about our lives and enjoy the little things without working to make or sustain any sort of real betterment in the world. You may not care, but perhaps your kids will or maybe your kids kids, and by that time it may be too late. The time for complacency is over. This country is ripe for real change. The two mainstream parties have more in common than not. Neither sticks to the forefathers definition of Liberty government. --The mainstream Democratic platform is in support of raising taxes, abolishing the right to bear arms, affirmative action, social welfare, overly powerful work unions, market regulation, socialized healthcare, corporate bailouts, and numerous controlling government-run social departments --The mainstream Republican platform often mixes politics with religion, advocates an expensive and failed prohibition war on drugs, denies gay rights, supports unnecessary and economically stifling military interventionism --Both parties together refuse to make real, government-reducing change. Both parties continue to pass fiscally irresponsible legislation which swells our national debt. Both parties work to further the deterioration of personal Liberty through aggressive, domestic legislation such as the Patriot Act, Stellar Wind, and the National Defense Authorization Act. All of the above political measures directly conflict with the very concept of Liberty; some policies single out and aid one group while impairing another, many more are harmful to all of us and aid no group. Either way, these policies defy the inherent notion of a free people. The Republican and Democratic parties are liquid and baseless. What the Republican party was fifty years ago is completely different from what it is now; the same can be said for the Democratic party. These parties reflect, to a small extent, their constituents. But more so, they reflect the special interests which fund them. ***Few people realize that there is a third choice. The Libertarian party is dependably consistent because it is grounded in an ageless and unchanging ideal the ideal of Liberty. This party holds to the absurd concept that if the freedom of the people is not directly threatened, then government should let you live your life and stay the hell out of your business!

http://www.lp.org/libertarian-solutions

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The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite. Thomas Jefferson