The Answer, My Friend...

Before reading the rest of this post, it is important for you to look closely at, and try to find what is wrong with this picture...

Do you see it?

There is nothing wrong with it. It is a picture of a number of people, all with different thoughts, different opinions, different problems all coming together to work for a common goal, and solve the problem at hand. The PEOPLE are doing it, not the government.

And this is exactly what built this great nation into the most prosperous and powerful nation the Earth has every seen.

This sense of community, once the norm in America, is all but gone now. How many barn raisings have you been involved in recently? Or ever?

America has been history's greatest success story only because we knew the value of all pulling together in spite of all our differences, and because we had the personal freedom to do so. We knew we did not have to agree with our neighbor - only that he was our neighbor and an important part of the wholeness of the community.

Today, America is more divided than it was in 1859 with the buildup to the Civil War. The sense of community has been replaced by a growing desire to fill our own personal goals at any cost - even at the expense of others. We have shed our responsibility towards ourselves and one another in favor of letting the government handle that for us. We have become lax and lazy.

Whenever we give up any power or authority to a government, we give up some of our own freedom. And as our freedoms wane, so does the need for that sense of community. Let the government take care of the poor and needy. Let the government take care of education. Let the government take care of the elders.

We can clearly see that is not the solution. In fact, it is the problem. There was a time when we had the right solutions. We had barn raisings. Each family, community and church took care of their own, directly. Each township had a Community Chest. We all worked together to overcome trials and tribulations, and it worked.

Please take another look at that picture, and burn it into your consciousness. Remember it. And then go out and do some little thing every day that will bring you - us - closer to that sense of community.

Let's stop giving our power, our stength and our freedom to a government. No government has ever used that power well or wisely. A government is like any other entity - it wants to grow and gain power. To do that, it must consume. And what it consumes is the freedom of its people.

The Founding Fathers knew the importance of having a central government, but they also understood that we, the people, needed to keep it small and within OUR power. In essence, they wanted the strength of a tree, but decided it would be best to cultivate it as a Bonzai variety - trimmed, pruned and trained to remain small, and not overly consuming.

We can bring back that crucial, warm sense of community. But to do so, we must have the need to do so. And that means taking back our power and freedom from a government that has gone rogue, and replacing that government with one that serves its people without consuming their freedoms with overbearing regulation and burdened with excessive taxes.

Vote on November 2nd.

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