There is no way government can inure citizens from want and fear. FDR said in his first inauguration in 1933, “The only things we have to fear is fear itself.” What about the notion government can guarantee citizens freedom from want?
FDR’s Four Freedoms have been in the public eye for several generations. The freedom from want has shaped public expectations such as Minimum Wage and the War on Poverty. Government cannot give each citizen all that they want.
In the year 2014 there could be a new Four Freedoms: Freedom from losing all of our Bill of Rights. Freedom to not have unusual concerns about food supplies, energy and the ability of our military to protect us. Next we need the freedom to have public education that is focused on the students and not the adults and which is not used for propaganda. Finally I would want the freedom from tyranny by our police and bureaucrats.
The intention of the founders of our country by passing the Bill of Rights was for government to be limited in how it could handle citizens. Inch by inch courts have interpreted the Constitution to mean exactly opposite of what it originally meant. When a section says… Congress shall make no laws… it is now interpreted to mean …Congress shall make laws… go figure.
More so, little by little each right in the Bill of Rights has been repealed without a vote of Congress or the people. Do not let anyone kid you, when the police come you are considered in our society guilty until proven innocent even if we mouth the words the other way.
The freedom of our food supply is constantly challenged by Wilderness activists, the EPA and political action such that a consistent supply of beef is not assured. Our country has more energy than it can use in the abstract but must import energy because part of the government works against the energy companies. And our military has been shredded by politicians who never served and seem to hold the military in contempt. If America had enemies they would do exactly what our government is doing to us now.
Our education system over the last seventy years has absolutely nothing to do with students at the core and everything to do with the adults who make a good living. Even worse, the colleges are turning out journalists and teachers who feel free to deal in propaganda rather than just report or teach. So our society is polarized by the lack of honesty in the media and in our public schools.
Finally, in my lifetime it seems our public servants think of us citizens as giving units to be pushed around and taken advantage of rather than to serve. The police leader of the State Police Academy recently said he would not disclose his curriculum that is how the police are trained to use deadly force. He said he would burn those materials before he would let citizens see them.
Deadly force by the police now seems the norm with innocent citizens killed without recourse. We citizens are treated as if we are criminals by the police and the media is full of horror stories. Further, the bureaucrats make being in business iffy at best. They constantly increase regulations and rules to the point that many business owners give up.
I would like a government that was not about itself but actually served the people. I would like to keep our Representative Republic from becoming a Communist Nation. Who will join me in the fight?
Dr. Michael Swickard hosts the syndicated radio talk show News New Mexico six to nine a.m. Monday - Friday on a number of New Mexico radio stations and through streaming. Email: michael@swickard.com
Dr. Michael Swickard hosts the syndicated radio talk show News New Mexico six to nine a.m. Monday - Friday on a number of New Mexico radio stations and through streaming. Email: michael@swickard.com
