"America's Self-Fulfilling Prophecy!"
Many governments, including the American government, have learned the tricks of the Burmese monkey trapper, or so it would seem. The monkey trapper hollows out a coconut and then puts nuts inside the cavity. He then chains the coconut to a tree. Along comes a monkey who sticks his hand in the coconut and closes his fist around the nuts. With the nuts firmly in his grasp, his fist will not come back out of the coconut and he's stuck there, as in a trap. Alas, the monkey isn't very smart and he holds onto the nuts and won't let go. Along comes the monkey trapper and throws the hapless monkey in a cage for a trip to some zoo, or a dinner table.
Now there is some doubt as to the truth of the monkey trap story, but it illustrates the point about what happens to people when they stick their hand in the public "cookie jar". They will fight with a vengeance to hold onto to what they think is their rightful portion of the "cookies." Each person who gets on welfare ..... each person taking money from the government, in whatever form, ..... has their fist closed tightly around the government handout "nuts" in the coconut and won't let go, just like the monkey. They are just as vulnerable to government tyranny and power, as the monkey is to the monkey trapper for exactly the same reasons. They haven't got the good sense to open their fist, let go of the "nuts" and extract it from the coconut. Gotcha!
Which lead us to a dilemma on the direction of the country and whom will lead us in the "right" direction. Which of the two or more opposing ideologies will take the country in the direction envisioned by our Founding Fathers, or which will lead us into a collective where individual rights will be subjugated to what could be the irrational desires of the many, aided and abetted by a corrupt government eager to lock up some more votes with promises from the public "cookie jar"?
The battle lines are drawn between the two parties, Republicans and Democrats, as to which of their designs for government, best suit a free nation. One party advances a small government with less regulations and less taxes but more freedom. The other party condones a much larger government with more regulations and much higher taxes, where government is the answer for all of the people's needs, and then acts, by the force of law, to equalize incomes and outcomes. In other words, government unilaterally picks winners and losers, without regard to any limits on its power. Those that propose small government come up against the monkey with his "fist" in the coconut that won't let go of the nuts and it's the other party that put the nuts in the coconut in the first place. So the battle has raged on for decades between politics, access to the "cookie jar" and the principles of liberty. So far, liberty is losing.
It seems that we are always beset with the choice between politics and principle. Is the principle choice right, while ignoring the politics? Or is the political choice right, while ignoring principle? However, if we continue to make politics the right choice, then principle will eventually disappear. But without principle, chaos, anarchy and mob rule, in the end, will be our mentors and our friends. Somewhere in this mix, we are going to have to side with principle, or the stark reality of irrational politics and all those fists locked in the coconut, will do us all in.
The problem we face is a self-fulfilling prophecy. As more people become "wards" of the state and are receiving handouts from the government in one form or another, "politics" will continue to move to the "left", (socialism) away from the principle of individual freedom, until the only "principle" will be receiving a "free" handout from the public "cookie jar."
The events unfolding in Wisconsin are a prime example. The Republicans will probably end up on the wrong side of politics in Wisconsin and in the end will lose, because so many people have their fists stuck in the public "cookie jar" and will vote for those who keep the "cookie jar" full. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy and a triggering of an avalanche that can't be stopped. The only thing that can stop it are the people, but the people have their hands deep into the "cookie jar" and have no incentive to stop it.
The unions and their members have a sweet deal. The union bosses "take" union dues from their members and then use the millions of dollars from union dues to buy influence from the Democrats to elect Democrat representatives that then negotiate sweet contracts for union members. In any other situation, this would be called a giant conflict of interest and in fact if business did this (and some are), it would be called racketeering. Could that be why the mob has taken over many unions?
Now everyone seems to be aware that the "cookie jar" approach to government has racked up debts so huge, there is a strong likelihood that the debt can never be repaid. There are three ways in which to extricate ourselves from this dilemma. The first is to tax the Hell out of the rich to pay the debt off. Unfortunately, that won't work. If government took every penny of earnings from the rich, a debt payoff would still be out of reach, even though the top 25% of income earners pay 87% of income taxes.
The second way is to start cutting government to the bone, start paring back benefits from the three major entitlement programs, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, and cutting government departments and programs by significant percentages. But that won't work because of all the millions of Americans who have their fist wrapped around their portion of the cookies in the "cookie jar", will lobby congress by the millions to maintain their largess. Politicians, being the cowards that they are, will cave in to the political pressure. Once again, politics wins over principle.
But the third way has much more promise. Get government the Hell out of the way and let private enterprise do what it has always done through the efforts of millions of entrepreneurs who invent better mouse traps, or come up with a unique service that hasn't been created before. Entrepreneurs create jobs, but government regulation, over-spending and piling up massive debt for ill-conceived and un-constitutional social programs and government expansion, squelches capital and jobs.
Unfortunately, for the last several decades, we have allowed ourselves to practice politics instead of insisting on principle. Should we continue down this path, those fists inside the "cookie jar" will find that the "cookie jar" is empty. When that is discovered, those American fists will be withdrawn from the empty "cookie jar" and will then be used in acts of violence as has been occurring all over Europe, North Africa, the Middle East ..... and Wisconsin.
The Tea Partiers protested in peace around the country because they believe government has breached its limits of power and as a result the people are losing control over their own lives as well as their freedom. In contrast, union members are protesting in violence in Wisconsin and other places because they believe they have had their sweet union, racketeering deal (fist in the "cookie jar") taken away from them by the democratic process of representation. They seem to give no credence to the fact that their sweet union deals and their fists in the "cookie jar", are bankrupting the taxpayers and the tea partiers, who are and have, protested in peace. If the dichotomy of this situation escapes you, no amount of facts will convince you otherwise.
So ladies and gentlemen, if we do not move towards principle and very soon, "America's Self-Fulfilling Prophecy" will eventually present all those fists in the "cookie jar", with an empty "cookie jar" and you can kiss a free America goodbye. Without returning to the principles of freedom and the foundation of individual liberty, you can kiss chaos, anarchy and mob rule hello.
Oh, and one more thing! If you are looking for solutions to this self-fulfilling prophecy, look in the mirror and ask yourself, how many government "nuts" does your fist have in its grasp? Let go of the nuts and freedom might just replace them. Independence FROM government and individual freedom, come from being self-reliant and independent OF government. Which are you?
Ron Ewart, President
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RURAL LANDOWNERS
P. O. Box 1031, Issaquah, WA 98027
425 837-5365 or 1 800 682-7848
Check out "The NARLO Offense" at: www.narloltd.com/the10ps.html
By Ron Ewart, President
National Association of Rural Landowners
and nationally recognized author on freedom and property rights issues.
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© Copyright March 13, 2011 - All Rights Reserved
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