Courage before government

We live in a time when our government, by its actions, has demonstrated its belief that its citizens are its property; to use as it will, towards whatever ends it sees fit, with or without their approval.

Of course they seek and elicit our willing approval. To that end they have become skillful manipulators of public opinion. They have been successful in convincing some people our only path to security is for our one nation to expend its treasure and life’s blood in an attempt to dominate the entire Earth, sacrificing even the freedoms we hold dear when necessary to achieve this end. They apparently have also been successful in frightening many of the rest of us into silence, by maintaining their policies represent the will of the majority.

Those who presently lead this nation, and those who support them, are ignoring the natural order of life, a basic axiom of democracy, ensconced by Thomas Jefferson in our Declaration of Independence: Power and sovereignty flow from the people to government — not the other way around. If we are to recognize the truth of Jefferson’s words, we must conclude that there are not two types of people on the face of the Earth — exceptional Americans, and everyone else — but only one. Such an endeavor as that envisioned by our leadership, therefore, is doomed to fail.

The wiser course, then, must be to use our liberty, thus proving its validity, rather than cower in silence from our government, accepting whatever benefits they allow, enduring whatever demands they require, in their pursuit of global dominance.

Either course could lead to our demise, but death is inevitable in any case. What is in our control is our character. As a wise man once said: sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character; reap a destiny.

Let us develop the habit of courage before our government, in order to reclaim our national character, and reappoint our destiny.