01-16-2021
For those of you who read my musings, I would like to take a moment to explain myself.
I am not the only person who believes that principles should be held above personalities. There are millions of us. But few are foolish enough or good enough to articulate such a profound concept with any coherency. I am fool enough simply due to age and apathy. My brain doesn’t work as well as it once did, and I just don’t give a damn any more. I’m not really good enough, but I don’t give a damn any more. Did I repeat myself? This profound concept (principles above personalities) may sound simple, but it is much more difficult to practice than to say.
If you read through the site (knowthycountry.com) sequentially I hope you can discern a theme. One concept bears upon the next to arrive at a proof that points back to the Constitution. I cannot overstate how magnificent that document truly is, yet today the best minds in our country are ignoring it! The recent impeachment vote – 7 hour hearing, zero investigation, zero due process – made a mockery of it!
We take so much for granted. It has made us weak. My only hope is that more people will read blogs like this and begin to think deeply about what this country was, what it is today, and what it could become.
The not so simple concept of private property has all but been lost on us. I have been told that by 2030 we will own nothing, but rent everything from the government.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) predicted that in 2030 people will own nothing and “all products will have become services,” according to the organization’s 8 predictions for the world in 2030.
Now that’s something to look forward to ! We rent back everything we have or make from the government.
If you are not an individual, you can not own things. Obviously we will not be individuals by 2030, just numbers in some government database. Ahhhh the pursuit of happiness.
Throughout history, kings, emperors, magistrates, whatever title they went by, owned all of the land and everything on it. They gave parcels to lords, but could withdraw them at any time. Staying in the king’s grace was the only way to keep your property.
With the creation of the United States of America, simple, common people could become land owners. There was so much of it! Yes, we destroyed the Native American population in the process. That was a unforgivable travesty. It is part of our history that is regrettable in the extreme. We have many things to regret, history being what has actually taken place not that which we sanctimoniously judge to have taken place. We will talk about erasing the past in another post.
Nevertheless owning land is a form of freedom. Having money provides for freedom. Having ownership of material wealth improves one’s living conditions, one’s options, one’s freedom. We call them creature comforts. The principle involved is equal opportunity in order to improve one’s life. The constitution provides for this and our country has thrived because of it. The pursuit of happiness.
Under the the constitution private property is a result of the natural law, a god given right, not bestowed upon us by the government. The premise assumes we have taken a god given natural resource and used it to create something, a tool, a luxury item, a farm, etc (value added). In this process of creating, we emulate God by applying our will to a material object. This thing then becomes “ours”, not subject to any other entity. Of course nowadays we just buy stuff, so the money and the transaction becomes an extrapolation of the first principle. It “belongs” to us.
This idea also establishes individual sovereignty as it is the individual who is participating in the natural law – the creative process – once again a god given right not something bestowed by government.
According to the Constitution, the role of the government is TO PROTECT the private property of its citizens. There is also an unspoken social contract that is implied with the whole idea of ownership. This concept goes back to the stone age, a fundamental assumption that is needed to create and maintain any society. When we so much as harass the notion of private property we are advocating the demise of civilization.
David Hume, an associate of Adam Smith, explained the need for private property better than anyone.
Hume wrote that “it is well known that men’s happiness consists not so much in an abundance of [the commodities and enjoyments of life], as in the peace and security with which they possess them” (Essays 54-5).
We must recognize that any infringement upon our private property is an assault to our freedom. Therefore theft is a direct attack against our freedom and this is why we feel so bitter and violated when someone steals from us. We feel the same way when our freedom to speak is trampled because those are our words … stolen …. in the form of being silenced. The concept of private property is far ranging and intrinsic within other, more obvious principles.
At its core, we are not promoting materialism, but rather an essential boundary between people that enables peace, harmony, and progress. It is civilization itself, a priori, intuitive, a reason to organize and cooperate with each other in the first place. Yet, even as I write this there are those who are scheming “how to” subvert this fundamental right. They believe ‘we’ are ‘their’ property.
Why for instance, should there be an “Estate Tax” ? Can’t I die and bequeath my private property to whomever I wish? No.!?? I have to have a “Trust”? What about wealth tax? The leftists want to impose that in order to redistribute resources. If they take 10% every year, how long till we’re broke? That is what they want. For all of us to be broke. Secondly, how do they intend to redistribute it? With monthly checks to the population at large? How will we ever have enough money to start a factory with no capital investment? Oh yeah, the government will do it.
Communism eliminates private property by making the state the owner of everything. This is diametrically opposed to protecting private property! They will own the “means of production”, the real estate, the improvements, the land, the farms, everything. Just read Marx. It’s all there, in the Manifesto! As they pander to one group after another, never acknowledging individuals beyond their tribal identity, they promise gifts in return for support. They offer bribes for votes. But when they disband this concept of private property under the guise of common cause, it will not be only the wealthy who pay the price …. “.. From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs ....-> Karl Marx ”
Fmd: → https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_each_according_to_his_ability,_to_each_according_to_his_needs
That is basically what the American people have voted for. Is that really what we want?
Let’s just suppose for one moment that everyone in the country is like Mother Teresa, willing to sacrifice everything for the good of humanity. We give all of our wealth to the government to redistribute. What makes anyone believe that the government could ever fairly redistribute it all? That they could make it work? These people screw up every time. They can’t balance a budget. They can’t maintain roads or bridges or rail lines. The government is the most inefficient organism ever devised by mankind. It is at best a most useless, necessary evil. That is why the term “limited federal government” is so poignant in these trying times.
If they can make you stay at home with an edict, close your business, let criminals free, not enforce the law (actually promote lawlessness), pick and choose who can say what, then summon 25,000 military personnel to Washington to virtually impose martial law: what is to stop them from confiscating your private property? I am tired of hearing, “That’s not who we are” ; because that is exactly who we have become.