The Declaration of Independence is a wonderful document. In it, Thomas Jefferson penned those immortal lines:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these, are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
Now, we have Barack Obama and others who are saying that we need to extend these unalienable rights. They say that you should have a right to healthcare. A right to a job. A right to a house. In his infomercial this week, he had video of people complaining that they had to work multiple jobs, that they may lose their home, that they needed healthcare. One woman complained about the cost of gasoline and the cost of a gallon of milk. But, according to research company ComScore Mobile, it’s highly likely that they have an iPhone:
Lower-income U.S. consumers are flocking to Apple’s iPhone, sending an early signal that smartphones are changing from a luxury to a necessity, according to research company ComScore Mobile.
In a series of surveys ending in August, ComScore found that iPhone purchases grew fastest among people with annual household incomes between $25,000 and $50,000. The growth rate in this group was 48 percent, compared with just 16 percent among people with incomes above $100,000.
A baseline iPhone 3G is $200, and the cheapest iPhone plan from AT&T is $70 per month.
A quick check on eHealthInsurance.com shows that a 4-person household (adult male and female, teenage boy and girl), can find health insurance as low as $107 per month from United HealthCare. If we apply that $70 for the iPhone plan to the health insurance premium, that leaves a deficit of $37. Where can such a household find $37?
Well, according to an ICR survey, it’s highly likely that this fictitious household has more than one cell phone, due to the fact there are two teenagers living in the house. At an additional $20 per line, assuming both teenagers have a phone, there’s $40.
What if they only have that iPhone? Well, statistically, this family is likely to have cable TV. With basic cable running about $40 per month, there’s the remainder of their health insurance premium.
Let’s face it… There are many ways to prioritize a household’s budget so that healthcare is part of it. But what about milk and gasoline? Let’s say they have health coverage provided by their employer, but are struggling to buy gasoline and milk. If they really need a cellphone, they could easily got one of the free phones from the various providers. With a basic plan running $20 per month, that’s $50 left over for an extra tank of gas per month. And since they didn’t spend $200 on the iPhone, spread that out over 12 months and you get an extra $16.67 per month to buy milk.
The fact is, as we have said before, we are exchanging our freedoms for stuff. Stuff has become more important than liberty, and as long as politicians keep raising the expectations of “free” government goodies, as long as we keep believing that healthcare and jobs and houses are rights and iPhones are necessities, we will hurdle ever-faster toward giving up all of our freedoms and all of our liberties for a socialist nightmare.
— Thomas Jefferson
We have said on previous occasions that the thing that will drive this country into socialism, with the people willingly going along with it, is a food crisis. Some say “it could never happen here.”
They are not paying attention.
As this story reports, an Iranian ship was loaded with radioactive sand, and headed toward Israel via the Suez Canal. It was, in essence, a giant floating dirty bomb. The plan was for an explosion would carry the radioactive particles high into the atmosphere and blanket Israel during Yom Kippur. The U.S. government, for reasons unknown, is burying the story, as is the majority of the news media. Aside from Pat Dollard’s site, the only other non-blog news site that we could find that mentioned it is Israel National News.
If such a situation were to happen on the west coast of America, the prevailing winds would carry radioactive particles for hundreds of miles, irradiating the western third to half of the United States and parts of Mexico and Canada. Our western seaboard and ports would be shut down, and everything grown in that area would be inedible.
Crisis?
You bet.
And it would be just the kind of food crisis that would be needed to shove us from the doorstep of socialism, all the way through the door.
It has come to our attention that in recent days, the division between the people of this country is growing wider at an alarming rate. It is no longer a disagreement about ideas and ideals. It is no longer political opinion and polite disagreement discussed among neighbors. It has spilled over from the figurative to the literal.
Across the nation, the divide between parties has become physically violent:
- Orlando: Republican HQ Manager’s Home Shot Up Over McCain Signs
- Ohio: Man charged with threatening Ohio elections chief
- St. Paul: Senator’s garage vandalized
- San Jose: SUV denouncing family’s support for Prop 8 is moved
- New York City: Obama Supporter Assaults Female McCain Volunteer
- Denver: Political signs targeted by vandals
- Cuyahoga Falls: Poll workers clash at Falls nursing home
- Nationwide: Police prepare for unrest
It should be noted that the two major political parties are using the magician’s trick of distraction to achieve and maintain power. While they’re distracting us with one hand, the other hand is performing the behind the scenes trickery, and none of it good. While they have set the pieces in place for us to be at war with each other, bickering over which side is right and which side is wrong, both parties are using our distraction as an opportunity to enhance the power of the federal government, through the ever-increasing largesse of the government.
While we bicker about who is to blame for the economic crisis, they load up the “bailout bill” with pork for pet projects.
While we argue about who was to blame for the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, they prepare for another post-election power-grab under the disguise of another “stimulus bill”, which they already admit will raise our taxes.
While we worry about vandals and intimidation for displaying a political sign or bumper sticker, they want to increase government spending again with a “New Deal II”. (As if the Government largesse created by The New Deal and The Great Society haven’t bankrupted this country enough, we should have more?)
As Abraham Lincoln said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” And we are on the precipice of falling.
And so long as the Government is handing out money, every industry has its hand out asking for some of the “free” money. And the more the Government buys in, the more the Government controls the industries. First, the bailout bill for Bear Stearns. Then Fannie & Freddie. Then AIG wanted an $85 billion piece of the handout pie. In the middle of the $700 billion bailout package bru-ha-ha, Congress quietly passed a $25 billion bailout bill to Detroit automakers. Shortly thereafter, the US Treasury committed $250 billion to invest in U.S. banks. So on Friday, PNC Financial wanted in on the action, selling the Government $7.7 billion of preferred stock so it could take over ailing National City Bank. And it’s not ending there.
MetLife and Prudential are now looking at selling equity stakes in their companies to the Government. The state of California has made cries for federal help, as have other state and local governments. Before long, other “beleaguered” industries that made bad decisions will want their piece of the pie. And as long as the Government continues to relieve people (and companies) from being responsible for their decisions, people (and companies) will continue to make poor decisions. After all, the Government can help me out, right?
As we have stated numerous times in the past: true freedom is the freedom to succeed and the freedom to fail. If you no longer have the freedom to fail, then you are enslaved by whoever is taking that responsibility for you, because it is in their best interest for you to not fail. As a result, they prevent you from taking the necessary risks that are a required component of great success. In the end, if you no longer have the ability to fail, then you no longer have the ability to truly succeed.
Long-time readers of this site will remember that we warned of this decent into socialism. Back in April, we posted a list of 7 steps we envisioned would occur as this nation marched toward socialism. We are currently between #4 and #5, and it is entirely possible that within a year’s time we will wake up in a socialist nation, and wonder how we got there so quickly.
Do not be fooled by the magician’s hand. As both parties march us ever-faster toward the tyranny that is socialism, as the vast majority of the people in this country foolishly believe that it can never happen here, prepare yourself. Prepare your families. Warn your friends and your neighbors. Read the words of the Founding Fathers, and others who believe in the greatness of this nation. Read Yale economist William Grahm Sumner’s essay “The Forgotten Man“, then the book about the Great Depression with the same name and understand how the Government is turning us all into Forgotten Men. Read about the marvelous history of this great nation, and wonder how we strayed so far from what was good and right.
All it will take from this point is one national catastrophe that would jeopardize our food supply for us to be plunged fully into tyranny overnight.
So prepare.
For we will need liberty-minded Patriots to rebuild this great republic after we fall. Lest the government Of the People, By the People, and For the People perish from the earth.