Make Mine Freedom

I'm posting this video on my blog for those of you who haven't already had the opportunity to view it.

It pretty much speaks for itself. Rarely does government offer us anything that doesn't come at the expense of liberty. Our citizens are easily seduced by the allure of more for less or something for nothing and are not as discriminating as they should be of the legislation and programs coming out of Washington.

Bottom line: When we allow government to grow and touch more aspects of our lives, our liberties shrink and we literally open the door more widely for the advance of absolute tyranny.

Socialism: The Core of the Health Care Debate II

“…no true American can be a socialist or a communist or support programs leading in that direction.” -- Ezra Taft Benson, American Heritage of Freedom

In my recent blog, "Socialism: The Core of the Health Care Debate", I discussed how the unconstitutional principle of re-distribution of wealth is the selling point of a nationalized health care system, naively accepted by some well meaning individuals and embraced by the greedy. I also mentioned that many politicians champion health care reform to increase their political power by making the citizenry increasingly more reliant on government solutions and increasingly less reliant on themselves. I read an article today by Roger Hedgcock with a title I may well have used for my blog, "Health Reform is Spelled F-O-R-C-E". The article reminded me of additional reasons to eschew national health care.

If America socializes our health care, public costs will drive health care decisions, not individual choices or desires.

The government will eventually determine when “end of life” medical care is cost prohibitive, or wasteful and pointless. (See video where President Obama implies that individuals are incapable of making good “end of life” decisions; that government must save them from evil medical practitioners who will milk them dry by loading their elderly parents up with needless tests.)

Health care costs will cause Federal regulation to expand into a broader range of activities since nearly everything affects health in some way or another. For example, it is conceivable that the Federal Governement will try to regulate the likes of McDonalds out of business for nutritional reasons. It is conceivable that they will force doctors to perform abortions and euthanasia on demand.

Roger Hedgecock writes:

“When you cut through the different bills working their way through Congress, cut through all the speeches, all the charges and counter charges raging in the debate on health insurance "Reform"---at the bottom line is governmental force. A shift of power and money and choice from the citizen, taxpayer, and patient to Government.…

…The same mentality that led President Clinton to blurt out that taxes were good because "we know better how to spend your money than you do" is evident today in the arrogant attitude that only this behemoth increase in government power can save us from our inability to provide health care to ourselves and our loved ones.”

Beware of this Pandora's Box, America!

The Immutable Law of the Harvest Dooms Social Programs

Brian Mecham of Latter-Day Conservatives.Com brought a wonderful speech to my attention. In 1966, Elder Howard W. Hunter brilliantly exposed many fallacies of socialist theory through the light of the Law of the Harvest. Liberty was under assault in 1966 and still is today. I highly recommend that all defenders of liberty read "Law of the Harvest: As a Man Sows, So Shall He Reap". The speech is full of truths to inject into our modern day debates on the proper role of government.

I’ve chosen just a few choice quotes to leave on this blog. The full speech is available HERE.

“… there appears to me to be a trend to shift responsibility for life and its processes from the individual to the state. In this shift there is a basic violation of the Law of the Harvest, or the law of justice. The attitude of “something for nothing” is encouraged. The government is often looked to as the source of wealth. There is the feeling that the government should step in and take care of one’s needs, one’s emergencies, and one’s future.

“…as my friend…became a slave to his own ignorance and bad habits by refusing to accept the responsibility for his own education and moral growth, so, also, can an entire people be imperceptibly transferred from individuals, families, and communities to the Federal Government.”

“If you deprive a man of his right to fail in the righteous use of his property, you also deprive him of his right to succeed. If you remove from a man his right to “go to hell,” you likewise remove his free agency to go to heaven. Satan’s entire philosphy is based on a “something for nothing” philosophy: salvation without effort – a free gift…”

“In a very real sense, the true Law of the Harvest was restored – the law of justice, the law of mercy, the law of love. It was restored in a free country under the influence of a God-inspired Constitution which created a climate of freedom, opportunity and prosperity. The basic virtues of thrift, self-reliance, independence, enterprise, diligence, integrity, morality, faith in God and in His Son, Jesus Christ, were the principles upon which this, the greatest nation in the world, has been built. We must not sell this priceless, divine heritage which was largely paid for by the blood of patriots and prophets for a mess of pottage, for a counterfeit, a false doctrine parading under the cloak of love and compassion, of humanitarianism, even of Christianity.”

“What can you do here and now? First, resolve to live the Law of the Harvest and realize that this will involve a price, and with some that price will be very, very heavy. Then go to work, resisting temptation, overcoming bad habits, and developing the good habits of an upright character, …

“Like the light set on a hill, like the leaven of a loaf, you will influence for good our entire country and help preserve this great Republic and its inspired Constitution and its great climate of freedom.”