Most People Would Have Scoffed at those We Celebrate

I was thinking about all the smarmy bastards who think freedom is too much for the common man, those not quite so bright and enlightened as themselves. There is always a rationalization for elitist philosophy.

It comes as a shock that when I consider friends and relatives, how many would never have crossed that line toward independence. They would have reasoned that it was "not that simple", "not for the greater good", or maybe a crime against nature. Very, very few of the people I know are of the philosophy that had to be in place for that big break. Especially since it was such a gamble. Most of them lost homes, family, fortune in the process.

I've worked jobs in which someone wouldn't risk a minimum wage position to do the right thing. There's an abundance of snitwits in the work place who will sell their souls just to make a couple of brownie points more than their coworkers. No way I can imagine these people being the stuff of freedom. That is not what put this place on the map. Too bad so few realize that "this place" refers as much to a concept as a location. The fact that life and liberty weren't privileges granted by the state, but part of nature, was a huge twist in the way people had thought about things forever.

Too bad we never really shook the feudal system as time went on. It is sad. The stupidity and smallness of people allows the perpetual, never ending, ever intrusive con to keep on gaining steam.

Most in the public eye, in entertainment, news, politics scoff at anyone who shares the philosophy of those who sought to create a nation of free people. We are well on the way back to being serfs, subjects of the manor, slaves of the state. Some of these things are subtle but real. I don't even think it is subtle, but I am hypersensitive to uninvited external controls.

So, hopefully you can celebrate the birth of the nation without choking on the word "freedom", knowing that it has to be used in something other than the literal sense. I celebrate the fact I've made it another year without working for the government or seeking public grants or enjoying public assistance. Dependence leads to disappointment and trouble. Just look at how dependence on the feds for disaster relief and approvals helped the gulf. Until recently all offers to help contain the mess were refused. States couldn't get permits to do things themselves in many cases.

Too good a crisis not to let get out of control first. That's how it works when you put all your trust in the most corrupt institution ever conceived by man---people having authority over others, and the means to use force to ensure that power hierarchy. Many groups are so steeped in ignorance, petty greed, class envy and false sense of power that they willingly give up every real right thinking they are gaining security and wealth. Useful idiots.

Live free or die. That's how it works, figuratively or literally.