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Ignorant Citizens Destroying Freedom
By Chuck Baldwin
August 5, 2003
Thomas Jefferson is quoted as saying, "Ignorant and free has never
been and never will be." He is right, of course. Furthermore, this
simple proverb may best explain the cause of America's rush to
moral and political destruction.
Under our form of government, an informed and educated electorate is
essential. There can be no lasting freedom without it. All of our public
and private institutions derive their shape and sustenance from people.
Every single one of them.
People sit on court juries and staff government bureaucracies. They
become our sheriffs, lawyers, and judges. They write our newspapers and
magazines and man our television talk shows and news desks. They teach
in our schools and in our Sunday Schools.
In America, "we the people" are the government; we are the
authority! Nothing happens in this country except that "we the
people" promote it, finance it, or at least, allow it to happen.
It's time then that "we the people" started taking
responsibility for the mess we have made of our country! It's time to
stop blaming the Democrats or the Republicans or anyone else in
Washington,
D.C. Our nation is exactly where the people have taken it.
Furthermore, the nation is exactly where the people want it to be. I'll
say it again, the nation is exactly where the people want it to be. If
it wasn't, the people would do something to change it. That they don't
proves they are content with life as it is.
Americans today are content to be ignorant about the abuses committed by
their elected leaders. They are content to be ignorant about what is
really going on Iraq and in over one hundred other
countries where American troops are putting their lives on the line to
protect the elite's Brave New World. They are content to be taxed to the
point of financial ruin. They are content to have their
public schools deteriorate into elaborate (and dangerous) baby- sitting
services. They are content to listen to the propaganda that emanates
from both CNN and Rush Limbaugh.
Beyond that, the American people today are intoxicated with sports and
recreation to the point that they have become slaves to it. The best
that many of our husbands and fathers can do is to bury themselves in
front of the television set all weekend and get drunk while rooting for
their favorite sports celebrities. Some do more than that, of course.
Some people work all week so they can follow their favorite college
football team to wherever they are playing. Understand that this goes on
for as long as the season lasts. The time, money, and energy that goes
into such fanaticism is incalculable.
Sports in America has become more than a past-time. It is a religion. It
is a religion that demands countless hours and financial contributions
from its worshippers. More than that, sports (and many other
distractions) have become an excuse for freeborn men and women to
acquiesce their God-given responsibility to be a knowledgeable and
informed citizenry capable of self-government.
Liberty requires more than putting a flag on a car window! Liberty
requires that people are willing to educate themselves regarding the
pressing issues of the day. It requires that people are willing to
hold themselves, their children, and, yes, their elected leaders
accountable to the eternal principles of right and wrong.
In fact, with no million dollar organizations, with no nationwide media
campaigns, and with no political pundits telling them what to do, the
American people ON THEIR OWN could vote into office anyone they wanted
to.
For example, The Constitution Party's Presidential Nominee, Howard
Phillips, was on the ballot in some 40 states during the 2000 elections.
If every person in those 40 states who only voted for G.W. Bush because
he was the "lesser of two evils" would have ON THEIR OWN
pulled the lever for Phillips, he could have won that election! Yes, he
could have!
The American people do not need the major media or the Limbaughs,
Hannitys, or O'Reillys telling them what to do! All they need to do is
spend a little time studying the issues for themselves, forming their
own opinions, and then acting independently and courageously upon their
own convictions. That
recipe worked pretty well back in 1776, and it would work pretty well
again in 2004.
However, as long as the American people are content to be cheaply
entertained, content to be deceived by conscienceless politicians and
their collaborators in the propaganda press, content to remain
personally ignorant of America's founding principles and constitutional
requirements of government, the words of Jefferson will come to haunt
this nation as an ominous and self-fulfilling
prophecy.
© Chuck Baldwin
NOTE TO THE READER:
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column intact with full credit given including Chuck's web site: http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com.
If the publication charges for subscriptions or advertising, the
publication must contact chuck@chuckbaldwinlive.com
for permission to use this column.
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