The Big Picture Blog

Here is a blog post I copied word for word, from Jim Babka and Perry Willis of DownsizeDC.org.

In an era when the consciousness of humanity is rising, there are still some who choose to give up their power. Mostly this decision comes about from confusion. It is understandable that people would become confused with the overwhelming amount of data we all have to deal with, and with the country being run more and more by faceless corporations who seem to be motivated only by self-interest.

However, giving up your power to a government, or to a President, because he or she “knows what to do,” must eventually lead to a breakdown of society. Only when citizens are educated and demand accountability from their representatives, can democracy flourish.

Here is what Babka and Willis say about the current situation:

If you asked us what surprises us most about the world we live in,
this would be high on the list . . .

* Statists control nearly everything

* Statist arguments dominate the national debate

* And yet, public opinion is still largely anti-Statist

Remember, Statism is the belief that . . .

* Your life needs to be engineered by a select group of people
(Congress, the President) from the top down

* People must be threatened with violence in order to make them
comply with these designs and dictates

* People who don’t submit to these threats, should actually suffer
violence, in the form of imprisonment, the loss of property, and
possibly even death, depending on how much they resist

Social engineering, threats, and violence — these are the sordid
reality behind all the euphemistic talk we hear from Statists about
things like compassion, order, safety, and security. Whenever someone
proposes the State must do something, we should ask . . .

* Will the proposal protect your freedom to live your life as you see
fit — provided you don’t impinge on the equal freedom of others to do
the same? Or . . .

* Will the proposal itself threaten you with violence, instead of
protecting you from it? Because . . .

If it protects your freedom, then it’s in keeping with the idea of
Constitutional government and human liberty. If threatens you with
fines, imprisonment, etc., then you’re talking about Statism.

Sadly, nearly everything discussed in the national debate is Statist.
Consider the current so-called healthcare bill. It’s jam-packed with
threats of violence . . .

* You must have health insurance of a kind dictated by politicians

* If you don’t buy health insurance then you’ll be fined — your hard
earned property will be stolen from you

* If you try to avoid the fine, then minions of the State will find
some way to take the money from you

* If you try to hide your money so that it can’t be seized,
eventually men with guns will show up at your door to kidnap you, and
hold you in confinement

* If you try to resist this kidnapping then the men will draw their
guns, and if you continue to resist they will shoot you

This is the grim truth about the healthcare bill, and about nearly
everything our government now does. Statism equals violence. And yet.
. .

Many people are blind to this reality. They cannot see the gun that’s
implicit in what they advocate. And because they can’t see the gun,
they can’t see the inherent contradiction in their beliefs.

Threatening and initiating violence against others contradicts
compassion, order, safety, and security.

The Statist is inherently hypocritical, wanting to be protected from
threats and violence when his own interests and beliefs are at stake,
but wanting to use threats and violence to impose his interests and
beliefs on others. This is not government, this is thuggery. Statist
thuggery.

And yet, everywhere we look we see this thuggery wrapped in the flag,
and marching to patriotic music. Statist thuggery is . . .

* Taught in our schools and universities

* Preached by our politicians

* Presented as the only option by the major established news media

* Defended in advertising by every special interest beneficiary of
Statist violence

* Invoked nearly every time someone says “there ought to be a law”

My comment: When President Obama was asked whether he and his family would sign up for the new heathcare plan that he himself is pushing, he avoided the question and would not answer it. Our Congressmen and women refuse to have anything to do with this healthcare legislation, and have their own separate, elitist plan (supported by your tax dollars, of course). The bill is opposed by a majority of American citizens.

So why, then, is is being so assiduously promoted? The Democratic Congress is using a procedural tactic to pass the Senate version of healthcare, without the House having to vote on it. This is unconstitutional.

As I said in a previous blog post, healthcare is essentially pharmaceutical drugs and invasive surgeries.
According to Dr. Barbara Starfield of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, writing in JAMA (the Journal of the American Medical Association) 250,000 deaths per year are caused by medical errors, making this the third-largest cause of death in the U.S., following heart disease and cancer.

Think about what you are getting when you allow the government to run your lives.
More statism, more collectivism — which just means, more rule from above by a small elite — and less freedom.