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From a Romanian newspaper

An Ode to America, Why are Americans so united?

They would not resemble one another even if you painted them all one color!
They speak all the languages of the world and form an astonishing mixture of civilizations and religious beliefs.
Still, the American tragedy turned three hundred million people into a hand put on the heart.
Nobody rushed to accuse the White House, the army, and the secret services that they are only a bunch of losers.
Nobody rushed to empty their bank accounts.
Nobody rushed out onto the streets nearby to gape about.
The Americans volunteered to donate blood and to give a helping hand.

After the first moments of panic, they raised their flag over the smoking ruins, putting on T-shirts, caps and ties in the colors of the national flag. They placed flags on buildings and cars as if in every place and on every car a government official or the president was passing. On every occasion they started singing their traditional song, "God Bless America!"

I watched the live broadcast and rerun after rerun for hours listening to the story of the guy who went down one hundred floors with a woman in a wheelchair without knowing who she was, or of the California hockey player who gave his life fighting with the terrorists and prevented the plane from hitting a target that could have killed other hundreds or thousands of people.

How on earth were they able to respond united as one human being? Imperceptibly, with every word and musical note, the memory of some turned into a modern myth of tragic heroes. And with every phone call, millions and millions of dollars were put in a collection aimed at rewarding not a man or a family, but a spirit, which no money can buy.

What on earth can unite the Americans in such a way? Their land? Their galloping history? Their economic Power? Money?

I tried for hours to find an answer, humming songs and murmuring phrases with the risk of sounding commonplace.

I thought things over, but I reached only one conclusion...

Only freedom can work such miracles!

The article was written by Mr. Cornel Nistorescu and published under the title "C"ntarea Americii meaning "Ode To America") on September 24, 2002 in the Romanian newspaper Evenimentul zilei ("The Daily Event" or "News of the Day").

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Just What is Freedom?

Last week we addressed the fundamental of hypocrisy. This week we will address the fundamental issue of freedom. Yes some people will say that these are elementary issues that most people know about so why even address them?

Well if this was so simple then how come we ended up with a liberal government that is so popular that infringes on the rights and freedoms of every Canadian.

C.S. Lewis concluded that of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated: but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

Linda Gorman has this to say:

" Despite decisive historical demonstrations of the benefits of limited government, some people remain determined to run the lives of others. As the notion of limited government replaced monarchy, socialists promoted the idea of a government that exercised absolute control in the interest of the "common good." In a world of individuals with different tastes and preferences, a common good does not exist although there are many causes, like mass immunization, that obviously benefit almost everyone and so make voluntary communal action worthwhile. Because the common good is a chimera, a philosophy of unlimited government in its interest invariably ends up imposing the preferences of the few on the many. It replaces the tyranny of heredity monarchs with the tyranny of the governing elite."

"The socialists got around this obstacle by promoting the idea that many individuals are fundamentally incapable of acting either in their own best interests or in the best interests of others. Since businessmen exploit common resources for their own selfish ends, they reasoned that the State must control production. Since parents may raise their children improperly, the State must provide breakfast, lunch, sex education, values clarification, and medical care. Since people may not save enough to provide for their old age, the State must force them to. And since people often fail to volunteer for the right causes, the State should require "volunteering." In the socialist model, the elect defined the common good. Since they considered themselves morally and intellectually superior, they had no qualms about compelling the unenlightened masses to perform their part in creating the socialist utopia. When a form of heaven on earth was the goal, any means were acceptable to achieve the end."

Finally we have what Ayn Rand coined as objective philosophy: My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute. - Ayn Rand, Appendix to Atlas Shrugged

Ayn Rand's philosophy is summed-up by John Galt, the central hero of "Atlas Shrugged," when he says: "Man's life, as required by his nature, is not the life of a mindless brute, of a looting thug or a mooching mystic, but the life of a thinking being -- not life by means of force or fraud, but life by means of achievement."

William Thomas of the objectivist center expanded on this by saying objectivism is the philosophy of rational individualism founded by Ayn Rand (1905-1982). In novels such as The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, Rand dramatized her ideal man, the producer who lives by his own effort and does not give or receive the undeserved, who honors achievement and rejects envy. Rand laid out the details of her world-view in nonfiction books such as The Virtue of Selfishness and Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal.

Objectivism holds that there is no greater moral goal than achieving happiness. But one cannot achieve happiness by wish or whim. Fundamentally, it requires rational respect for the facts of reality, including the facts about our human nature and needs. Happiness requires that one live by objective principles, including moral integrity and respect for the rights of others. Politically, Objectivists advocate laissez-faire capitalism. Under capitalism, a strictly limited government protects each person's rights to life, liberty, and property and forbids that anyone initiate force against anyone else. The heroes of Objectivism are achievers who build businesses, invent technologies, and create art and ideas, depending on their own talents and on trade with other independent people to reach their goals.

Objectivism is optimistic, holding that the universe is open to human achievement and happiness and that each person has within him the ability live a rich, fulfilling, independent life. This idealistic message suffuses Rand's novels, which continue to sell by the hundreds of thousands every year to people attracted to their inspirational storylines and distinctive ideas.

So we see that freedom is definitely not about control or being controlled. It's about the pursuit of happiness through creativity without stealing from others.

Terry Pearson, The Right Point Ezine
 

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During my move I hired two local lads to help with the heavy lifting and transportation.  They are both normal young men of 19 and 21 whose interests are partying and drinking.  But during the long drive from Ucluelet to Nanoose, I had their captive interest and we talked about politics.  They know virtually nothing.  But they were fascinated when I brought up the subject of personal privacy.  I told them (in approximate words...)

 "I wouldn't want to live in your generation at all.  By the time you are as old as me, you will be carrying a national ID card.  You will have to check in every time you enter a grocery store, a gymnasium, a department store or even a library.  Everything you do will be monitored and catalogued to be used against you at the whims of government bureaucrats.  My generation has had their financial privacy destroyed by the income tax laws, but it will be much
worse for yours.  In the name of socialized medicine and the avoidance of any excessive costs to the system, you will be monitored so that you don't eat excessively, eat the wrong foods, get good rest, good exercise, don't consume "too much" alcohol or tobacco, etc.  Everything you buy or consume will be watched. 
In the name of anti-terrorism, every trip you take, every political
association you belong to, every letter-to-the-editor you print, every speech you make will be monitored by the anti-terrorist police."

The older of the two uttered the word "Harsh!" out loud.  I presume that is a new-fangled word for "they better not dare" - but he was intrigued by the prospect - and he could see it was not just ridiculous imaginings of a pre-senile "oldster".
 

I asked them if they ever heard a teacher speak out in favor of
corporations and they both laughed.  But they stopped laughing when I pointed out that everything they valued; their cars, their pickups, their electronic toys,  their clothing, their medicines, their computers, their entire retail distribution network - came to them from corporations and with a variety of goods in this era that dwarfed anything their parents could ever imagine - and it all comes from corporations.  I asked them if any comparable good came into their lives from government.  They were shocked to realize that they could name virtually nothing done by government that improved their lives.

 

DECLARATION OF CANADIAN INDEPENDENCE

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