By Linda Squire
A midterm election will take place in November 2014. As you enter the voting booth, will you understand the positions of the various candidates and how the ideas of these people will shape your future and the future of generations of Americans yet unborn?
Do you know that the plan outlined in the Constitution provided that the federal government would hold less power, not more, over the lives of the people than the state and local governments? Will you comprehend the seriousness of the ongoing rampant federal spending spree?
Can you imagine the sheer magnitude of the number 17 trillion? Visualize stacks and stacks of $100 bills side by side, packed solid, line by line, the size of a football field and the height of the torch on the Statue of Liberty. Will you realize that the painful process of paying back the national debt will have deleterious effects on the economy, your job prospects, and the security and quality of life of your children and grandchildren?
The ideologies of the individuals we elect to represent us in Congress will be reflected in the laws they enact. We either will have more government and less individual freedom or less government and more individual freedom. Every time a new law is passed, someone’s freedom to do something or to keep the proceeds of his own labor is taken away, either in the form of increased taxation and confiscation of wealth, or in the form of fines or incarceration imposed upon any person who dares to not comply with the law.
Extreme and total government control means that an individual may not own property or make his own decisions. The government may execute dissenters and those who serve no purpose to the society. In his book, Execution by Hunger, Miron Dolot describes the plundering of peaceful farming villages and the suffering of Ukrainian farmers at the hands of communist rulers during the collectivization process in the mid-to-late 1920s.
Moving just a little to the right of communism, still on the left side of the political spectrum, one would find fascism. Fascists, unlike communists, may be content to control the means of production, such as factories and farms, while not necessarily owning them. There is the same heavy-handed government monopoly on the use of force against citizens and the same centralized power structure, but alliances between big business and government are not uncommon. The term “Nazi” was an abbreviation for the German phrase for “national socialism.” When former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi engaged in her name-calling campaign against individuals supporting the Tea Party by referring to them as “Nazis,” she revealed her true ignorance. Tea Party supporters in general want very limited central government control, fiscal responsibility, and a return to the form of government outlined in the Constitution.
According to Joseph Farah, author of The Tea Party Manifesto, on the scale or spectrum of attitude toward government, libertarians would be to the left of anarchists and definitely well to the right of the center. Libertarians “acknowledge there is a role for government, but want it strictly limited.”
Left of the center of the political spectrum, one would find socialism. This seems to be a point on the “collective journey” referred to by President Obama in his most recent inaugural address to describe a marked shift toward the left from the center.
“Fundamental change” represents trading freedom for a false sense of security. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”
Think long and hard before you vote. Read the Constitution. Read books. Do not accept propaganda or spin from anybody. Sort out the facts. Follow the news and evaluate the candidates and the issues. Figure out “where you are” on the political spectrum. Elect people who will serve you, not dominate or punish you. Hopefully, you will come to the conclusion that our Founding Fathers were focused on preserving something they cherished, something very special, exceptional, in fact: freedom.