Washington's Birthday (Presidents Day): Let Freedom Ring!

When the Continental Congress of 1787 concluded in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin was seen exiting Independence Hall. A woman asked, "Well, Doctor, what have we got—a republic or a monarchy?" He answered, "A republic, if you can keep it." We are privileged to have such a rare and precious government but it's something that we, the people, need to preserve. We can't rely on judges or elected officials to maintain it. It's our responsibility to educate ourselves so that we can make the right choices on election day.

Unfortunately, it's far too easy for us to be led astray by lying politicians who say they have our best interests at heart when they really only have theirs. We need to forget about labels like left or right, Democrat or Republican, progressive or conservative. What we really need to look out for are the things that will lead to more or less government which equates to less or more freedom.

There's an inverse relationship between the amount of government and freedom, as shown in this little graphic I made:

The red triangle shows where the US is on this scale. We're a right of center country. Operating under the rule of law, an idea based on the Talmud, we're a nation of laws, not of men. That means we're supposed to go by what the law says, not by what some charismatic leader says.

Today, we have a president and a Congress who would dramatically increase the size of government at the expense of our liberty, if we let them. So far, we're not letting them get away with it, thanks to the Tea Party movement and large scale citizen activism. Our representatives dare not cross the majority lest they be turned out of office. As it is, an increasingly wary electorate is poised to make major changes to the makeup of Congress come November. Even so, we have a president determined to make changes by executive order that the public plainly doesn't want. If he goes ahead with his plans, he will only further enrage the public and motivate them to speak out in a louder voice.

This article helps explain what we're dealing with: » The New Fascists: Part 1 – A Political Primer - Big Journalism 

It's Presidents Day, a combined holiday to honor the birthdays of our first president, George Washington, and our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. Please take some time to consider what they did to create and preserve this great nation that is the land of the free and the home of the brave. Then, consider what our president and our Congress is trying to do to us now.