The truth is some (many) people just want someone to make decisions for them. I am unsure if it is a genetic disposition or whether it is socialization or whether it is both. All I know is some people do not want to control their own lives. They are more comfortable with someone at the helm. They are comforted by a horizon which is limited and defined by others.
Who are you to pursue happiness? Who are you to be left alone to live, love, and create? Why don’t you respect authority? Why can’t you fall in line? You’re not better than us. Stand down Mr. or Ms. Individual. There are more of us than there are of you.
And to a large degree this is true. There are more of them. It is why we have the system of government we have now which seeks to restrict liberty, innovation, creativity, even joy in the name of order. There are more who wish to be controlled (whether they will admit it or not) and provided for than there are people who want to rule themselves. But in America, home of the rogue, the gambler, the pioneer, the dreamer, the number of freedom lovers is still relatively high. It’s literally in our DNA. And this is a source of hope.
Even in the face of decades and decades of statist propaganda in our primary schools and universities, on TV, and directly from the government, the thing which defines what an American is is liberty. An idea. We are not Huns, or Saxons, or Han, or whatever. We are a people – or at least we are supposed to be – which is defined by belief in human potential. By the pursuit of happiness and self ownership.
But propaganda has done quite a lot of damage to be sure.
A small example.
In a Simpsons episode from a few years ago (the inspiration for this post) the Simpsons family is kicked out of the United States and finds itself residing in France. As the family savors baguettes and Homer swills wine little Lisa laments that she misses America. Why? Not because we are supposed to be a bastion of freedom and liberty. A land of opportunity. No, she misses her home because America is “where all (her) stuff is.”
Is this what America is for many? Simply a place and not an idea? If so it is easy to understand why so many dismiss liberty, the founding principal of the United States. America is just another country. A place where our stuff is.
“Live Free or Die” is a foreign concept to people who think like this. And that is just sad given the opportunity for personal independence which is our birthright in this country.
People who are only concerned with bread and circuses are easy to rule. They are easily manipulated. The person who cares only for their pension or their Obamaphone is docile in the face of those who control these things. This is by design, and I think many people are very happy with this design.
Ruler and ruled alike.
Read more at Against Crony Capitalism
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