4 comments:

On April 13, 2009 at 8:18 AM , Bryan Williams said...

Things are definitely heating up in the political economic debate. I'm a little skeptical myself of Glenn Beck and others that attack current policy by immediately calling it communistic or fascist. I watched an hour long special yesterday from Glenn Beck on current conditions and parallels to fascism.

Fact is I'm seeing a lot of criticism from everyone with 0 alternatives. I'm not a fan of this whole situation either. I think we could be making some huge mistakes, but I'm not exactly sure which mistakes are better.

For once I want to see one of these commentator critiques show an actual alternative to status quo. One that addresses the specific problems we are facing and consequences rather than slap on a sticker of communism, terrorism, or fascism just so we can feel good when we root it out.

 

On April 13, 2009 at 8:40 PM , Ken Coman said...

Bryan,

As always, thank you for your comments. I am in the same boat as you. I personally never listen to Glenn Beck or any of the other commentators. I used to listen daily, but I usually failed to feel informed by them but rather felt like they were being Party voices instead of educators. There are times though when I appreciate what they bring out and was glad to have found this quote on YouTube. The only other recording I found of this quote had the backdrop of the US capital burning in the background with the USSR planting their flag in the foreground... I chose this one instead. My point of the post was not what Glenn Beck was saying, but what Ezra T. Benson said. It is certainly true that times of crisis are the times that changes are made in jeopardizing our liberties.

After 9/11, civil liberties took a huge beating - all in the wake of a huge disaster. Americans were reasonably concerned about that. I found it noteworthy how Bush supporters were more likely to support the government wire tapping their phone calls than those who didn't support him. Obama supporters are more likely to support his changes than those who are not. Why? Because we support the person and therefore we sign on for the ride - generally speaking. I don't find myself supporting politicians much any more but rather I find myself supporting good policies and opposing bad ones.

Ezra T. Benson was pointing out how it would be economic crisis that would usher in socialism. This is the crisis that is bringing it in even more than the past. Is it well intentioned? I honestly believe it is. I think the well meaning individuals with socialist beliefs are trying to help people out. However, socialism robs people of the one thing that is really theirs: agency. It does not enhance it - it limits it. If people don't have the freedom to fail then they also do not have the freedom to succeed.

I believe that suffering natural consequences, even if painful, is better than numbing the pain while continuing to inflict injuring. I think we are doing that. I think that the pain down the road will be larger because we are not allowing ourselves to suffer the consequences of our actions today. Only through suffering the consequences will we feel deeply enough the changes that need to be made. We are kidding ourselves by thinking that some tighter regulations and intervention from Central Bankers will correct the problems. The problems are much deeper and far more entrenched than the remedies being proposed. I believe they are so deep that we don't even know what they are yet - nor will we because we are not willing to find out. We want everything PLUS freedom - and we think that is what America means. It doesn't - it means freedom and freedom only. Our citizenry though have been used to having everything and they expect it as a Right. With freedom people can become something or nothing. With Freedom those who have can give to those who have not and to provide them with opportunities they would not have had. This kind of free giving is the type of action that creates a united people of brotherhood and love. Socialism tries to create a community of equality but fails in the vision of brotherhood and destroys individual liberty in the process.

The alternative to socialism is freedom: freedom to be or not to be. That is the choice. Socialism says: BE - we will make you BE - don't worry about the choice.

In this time of Crisis, we should hold to America. That is, we should hold to Freedom. We should use this as an opportunity to really fix the problems in our system - both economically and politically by suffering the consequences of our actions and coming together as brothers and sisters in the human race in the aid, support and sustaining of one another in times of trial and need. That is what would build a better America.

If we lose Freedom, we may still fly the stars and stripes but America will be no more. The United States will be a country with a great history but will only resemble the freedom our founders died for in the monuments erected and the stories told. What monuments to Freedom are we building today? What stories are we writing today? Freedom is ALWAYS better than the alternative. The better "mistake" is allowing freedom to take its course - even when it hurts. Freedom is never a mistake unless America was a mistake because that is what America is.

 

On April 13, 2009 at 10:01 PM , Bryan Williams said...

I too enjoy the perspective some of these critics bring although typically I don't know of anything substantial they bring to the discussion. I understand your value of freedom and rejection of things like communism through socialism, but I fear it isn't so black and white. Yes the US stands for freedom, stars and stripes and all that but the reality is there isn't a clear model to even go back to. The freedom the new world offered was remote land to be settled. As the borders expanded it's been a fight ever since. Fight against elements, indiginous peoples, conflicting ideas, corporations, classes, other countries and freedoms. The two times in our nations history when things finally seemed to be going well, it was only an illusion. And even in that illusion it was still damaging lots of people. I can't think of a single time in history that I would actually turn the clock back to. The current administration is doing absolutly everything they can to keep the old bubble alive but it's crashing. It's gotta be replaced by something. I'm trying to find a true model of fairness and freedom. We know the only perfect structure or organization, but you and I both know our nation isn't ready for that.

 

On April 19, 2009 at 7:39 PM , Ken Coman said...

Bryan,

Very good points and you know that I agree with several of them. Inequality has certainly always been part of our world - America is no exception as far as worldly goods is concerned. However, what differed between our revolution and say the Bolshevik Revolution was that our revolution was over political freedom and individual liberty whereas that revolution was about economic equality and a redistribution of wealth by force and death. Certainly there were spoils of war in our revolution, however, America and Americans even after the war honored their debts to the British and to Great Britain. Our revolution was for Freedom - not fairness or equality - except for that same equality that was endowed to mankind by their Creator. That equality was enshrined in our Declaration of Independence: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Thomas Paine in the Rights of Man said it this way: Liberty, Property (the right to have and to keep) and Security. The equal protection of every American by our law that enshrines and protects these Human Rights is the only kind of fairness we should ever hope for or expect from our Government. It is good to remember was Alexis de Tocqueville said, "The man who asks of freedom anything other than itself is born to be a slave." Our leaders today are telling us that we can expect more of Freedom than just Freedom. In addition to security, property rights and equal protection under law, we hear that we can expect food, education - primary, secondary, and college, rehabilitation, retirement, prescription drug benefits, science (not just the protection of patents but the generation of them), research, the cure to Alzheimer's, help with having children, paying our medical bills, and free medical care to name just a few.

Freedom in the New World wasn't land for most Americans. Most Americans lived and died for land that wasn't theirs. They died for independence from an oppressive government. They died for Freedom.

Regarding whether there is a time you would wind the clock back to, you bring up an interesting point. We have grown and evolved much from our Nation's founding. We have suffered a bloody civil war and bloody battles for civil rights. Two centuries passed before the words "All mankind are created equal" was actually legally recognized - although still not completely. However, we still have some more progress to make in ensuring that all human beings' rights are recognized without distinction. Nevertheless, despite the fact that today a black man can be President of the United States of America, our people have become more and more reliant on the Government for their relief in times of unemployment through unemployment insurance benefits. That is not freedom. More and more of our people rely on the government for feeing their families. That is not freedom. More and more people turn to the government to give them housing. That is not freedom. More and more people are relying on the government to pay their utilities. That is not freedom. More and more people are having children and asking the government to pay for the medical bills. That is not freedom. Our people today are slaves to a monetary system that is 100% outside of their influence and control. That is not freedom. Our people today are paying in some instances 40% of their income to the government. That is not freedom. Our people will be forced to pay more and more of their income as taxes and inflation to our government for programs that take from those who earn to give to those who did not earn it. This is not freedom but is the opposite. Companies today pay on average 40% of their revenue to the government in taxes. This is not freedom. Our businesses today rely on the government to bail them out of their own bad business models and to prop them up while you and I pay for it. That is not freedom either. All of these things create an almost unbreakable dependence on the Government. This dependence is a type of voluntary slavery. Certainly all of these things give people a more comfortable life, but in the words of Patrick Henry: "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! "

That is the alternative to the current strategies of more and more government involvement: Liberty.

You said, "The current administration is doing absolutely everything they can to keep the old bubble alive but it's crashing. It's gotta be replaced by something. I'm trying to find a true model of fairness and freedom." Their efforts will chain us all tighter and tighter to the bubble that is bursting. When that happens, ALL of us will suffer and I shudder to think of the consequences. How can we get away from this bubble? This is what Ezra T. Benson said,

"This brings up the next question: How is it possible to cut out the various welfare-state features of our government which have already fastened themselves like cancer cells onto the body politic? Isn't drastic surgery already necessary, and can it be performed without endangering the patient? In answer, it is obvious that drastic measures ARE called for. No half-way or compromise actions will suffice. Like all surgery, it will not be without discomfort and perhaps even some scar tissue for a long time to come. But it must be done if the patient is to be saved, and it can be done without undue risk.

Obviously, not all welfare-state programs currently in force can be dropped simultaneously without causing tremendous economic and social upheaval. To try to do so would be like finding oneself at the controls of a hijacked airplane and attempting to return it by simply cutting off the engines in flight. It must be flown back, flown back, lowered in altitude, gradually reduced in speed and brought in for a smooth landing. Translated into practical terms, this means that the first step toward restoring the limited concept of government should be to freeze all welfare-state programs at their present level, making sure that no new ones are added. The next step would be to allow all present programs to run out their term with absolutely no renewal. The third step would involve the gradual phasing-out of those programs which are indefinite in their term. In my opinion, the bulk of the transition could be accomplished within a ten-year period and virtually completed within twenty years. Congress would serve as the initiator of this phase-out program, and the President would act as the executive in accordance with traditional constitutional procedures."

Fairness and Freedom can exist together and in fact should but only when fairness is recognized as that equal treatment of rights: the rights life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In fact, if all are Free then what can be more fair than that? If one mistakes fairness with equality, they would be wise to remember the Nobel winner Milton Friedman when he said, "A society that puts equality…ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom."

So, I close with my reiterated belief, that Freedom is the banner and the alternative: put away the dole at all levels; correct the laws to ensure equal treatment of all mankind and encourage people to return to morality. I believe this will be the only way to prepare our society for a higher law and a better standard of living. This is the model I believe in and it is one that would instill dignity, happiness and opportunities for prosperity for all. It is simple and it is obvious. However, people's faith in simple Freedom has wavered and their faith in Government has increased. That is an even greater bubble that will burst when it finally does.

Thanks for taking the time to read this long response I hope it has been helpful - I know your questions have been thought provoking and helpful for me. I really do appreciate it.