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<i>In a democracy, <br>
April 15th, when you pay your taxes, would be a day of celebration.
Here we've gotten together as a community, we've decided on certain
policies and now we're moving to implement them by our own
participation. That's not the way it's viewed in the United States. <br>
<br>
That's a day of mourning. There's this alien entity, sort of like a—<br>
\as if it's from Mars somewhere, which is stealing our hard-earned
money from us. <br>
We have to give it up, because we have no choice.</i> - Chomsky<br>
<br>
*<br>
What if you worked for the government and the government didn't work
for you? <br>
What if freedom were a myth? <br>
What if we don't live in a free
country? What do we do about it?<br>
<br>
The Myth of American Freedom<br>
<br>
by Andrew P. Napolitano<br>
<br>
Does the government work for us or do we work for the government? Is
freedom in America a myth or a reality? Tonight, what if we didn't live
in a free country?<br>
<br>
What if the Constitution were written not to limit government, but to
expand it? What if the Constitution didn't fulfill the promise of the
Declaration of Independence, but betrayed it? What if the Constitution
actually permitted the government to limit and constrict freedom? What
if the Bill of Rights was just a paper promise, that the government
could avoid whenever it claimed the need to do so? What if the same
generation – in some cases the same people – that drafted the U.S.
Constitution enacted laws that violated it? What if the merchants and
bankers who financed the American Revolution bought their way into the
new government and got it to enact laws that stifled their competition?
What if the civil war that was fought in the name of freedom actually
advanced the cause of tyranny?<br>
<br>
What if the federal government were the product of 150 years of
stealing power and liberty and property from the people and the states?
What if our political elites spent the 20th century importing the
socialist ideas of big government Statism from Europe? What if our
political class was adopting the European political culture from which
our founding fathers fought so hard to break free?<br>
<br>
What if our political leaders no longer acknowledged that our rights
come from our humanity, but insisted instead that they come from the
government? What if you had to produce your papers to get out of or
into our once-free country? What if you couldn't board a plane, a
train, or a long-distance bus without providing documentation telling
the government who you are and where you're going, without paying the
government, and without risking sexual assault? What if your local
police department could shoot down a plane? What if government agents
could write their own search warrants, declare their own enemies, and
seize whatever property they want? What if the feds could detain you
indefinitely, with no visitors, no lawyer, no judge, and no jury? What
if they could make you just disappear? What if the government broke its
own laws in order to enforce them? What if the government broke down
your front door in the middle of the night and shot your dog, and
claimed it was a mistake?<br>
<br>
What if you were required to purchase a product that you didn't need,
didn't want, and couldn't afford, from a company you never heard of,
just as a condition of living in the United States? What if the
government told you what not to put in your body as well as what to put
into it; and how much? What if the government claimed that since it
will be paying your medical bills, it can tell you what to eat, when to
sleep, and how to live? What if the government tried to cajole and coax
and compel you into behaviors and attitudes it considered socially
acceptable? What if the government spent your tax money to advertise to
you how great the services are that it provides? What if the government
kept promising to make you safe while it kept stripping you of your
liberties and committing crimes in your name that made you a target of
more violence?<br>
<br>
What if you didn't have a right to every dollar you earned? What if the
government decided how much of your earnings it will keep and how much
it will permit you to have? What if the government took money from you
and gave it away to its rich banking and corporate friends whose
businesses were failing? What if the government thought it knew better
than you did how to lead your life and had no problem telling you so?
What if the government took the credit for every success your own human
actions helped you achieve? What if the government told you that only
it could build roads, run schools, keep you safe, and collect trash
even though it's never been able to do so efficiently before? What if
the government spent nearly twice as much as it took in? What if it
couldn't pass a budget on a timely basis and funded itself just weeks
at a time? And what if the government kept borrowing money against the
wealth of future generations to pay for wasteful programs today?<br>
<br>
What if you worked for the government and the government didn't work
for you? What if freedom were a myth? What if we don't live in a free
country? What do we do about it?<br>
<br>
>From New York, defending freedom; so-long America.
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