Posted by roserty on 11/08/08

America has voted.  They have let the world know that they are looking for a change.  Unfortunately, they have also demonstrated that they have no idea what will bring about the change they need, or even what their true needs are.  Just as our predecessors did, Americans have made the mistake of judging a man by the color of his skin.  However, it should be apparent within the next few years that the change America needs will not come from a different color of a man, but from a different standard of a man.  This insecure nation will soon look around once again for the change that they truly need.

This insecurity is exactly what supporters of liberty need to spread their message.  As lovers of liberty, now is the time to prepare ourselves to share our message of equality with all who will listen.  We will find that soon there will be more and more of those people who are looking for just what we have to offer.

Let us spend our time first educating ourselves.  Let us truly educate ourselves by making the principles of liberty part of our being.  If we have not read the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Revolution: a Manifesto, and other great governmental works, and felt the fire of their words pierce our hearts, then we must do so.  We cannot share a message that is only skin deep in us.  We cannot share a truth that is not securely fastened in our hearts so strongly that we would rather our heart stop beating than to give up the cause.  The matter of liberty is so important that only our lives are payment enough to secure it.

Once we have educated ourselves, let us live the things we have learned.  Though we may not die for this cause, we can only gauge how deeply it is a part of our lives if we have given our lives to it.  Certainly, other important things will take our time as well, but these should only be other things that we would also be willing to die to protect: our families and our belief in God.  If we are the most valuable citizens we have the power to be then those looking for change will know where to go with their questions.

The last thing we should do is actually look for others to tell our message to.  If we have educated ourselves and changed our lives accordingly, then sharing the message will come naturally to us.  We won't be pushy or obnoxious in our preaching.  We will radiate excitement and generate interest, and yet check ourselves when we sense that others are offended.  We will wait for the right moments when others are ready to listen.  We will do these things because sharing the message is important to us and we want to do it right.  Soul-deep conversion has always been a prerequisite to great teaching.

Let us become the great leaders that our forefathers were.  Then we can lead the way back to a free America.  Then we will march only toward that goal and then will others awaken from their slumber and follow in fervor.  Then will the force of the revolution sweep America and change its very heart.

Posted 01/13/09 Heather D Port Byron, IL

Beautifully written!

Posted 03/31/09 Mountjoy Halifax, NS, Canada

Thanks, Roserty. There is no shortcut to being "good." Your depiction of the only righteous human response to immorality reminds me of the story of Richard Gage's defining moment. He tells it on his website; a fantastic resource indeed: ae911truth.org

Posted by roserty on 11/10/09

As the battle rages on over health care reform, one thing continues to threaten drug and insurance company profits: self-care with time-tested remedies.  Through much help from the government, the drug companies have convinced many Americans that their products are the only methods that can help, but they can't stop Americans from going out into their backyard and yanking up the weeds that can actually cure health problems.  Though they continue the intellectual onslaught against natural remedies, more and more people are turning to herbs, homeopathy, acupuncture, chiropractic, and other alternative methods for help.

What can they expect?  With a few exceptions, drugs help little and have strong side effects while natural remedies work better than drugs with few if any side effects.  They can only fool those who aren't willing to give the alternative remedies an open-minded try.  Besides, common sense will tell you that we wouldn't even exist if modern medicine were the one and only way to treat health problems since it is fairly new in our world's history.

The experts can continue to slur truth all they want, but they will fail to explain to me why drugs make my baby cranky (or even sick!) while herbs give her relief 90% of the time.  The placebo effect?  Ha!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091110/ap_on_he_me/med_unproven_remedies_placebo

Posted 11/11/09 rightsman Las Vegas,, NV

roserty, This issue of the medical doctors having set themselves up as the "experts" on health care and maintenance is among the most dangerous situations we face. Dandelion root, thistle, thyme, wild onions, mint leaves, and any number of "weeds" have curative values. My grandmother had any number of weeds growing outside her door for use in curing colds, and other ills. I once stepped on a rusty can and cut my foot very badly. It was bleeding profusely. Grammy put some kind of weed or grass on the cut to stop the bleeding. Then she wrapped my foot with some salt pork on the cut. The salt pork was to "draw out the poison so you don't get lockjaw," she told me. A tetanus shot was not necessary. She brewed up some bitter tea and made me drink it. Within an hour I was back outside running and playing. Hie yourself to the nearest Health Food store and get a few books on Herbs and natural remedies before the FDA, the AMA, and Big Pharma have them shut down! Thank you, Robert Walker

Posted by roserty on 11/05/09
Last updated 11/05/09

When the federal government passed the first massive bailout bill, I gave up entirely on trying to sway them.  While the efforts on the part of Campaign for Liberty to convince our legislatures to pass the Audit the Fed bill have been encouraging, I believe that for the most part, our federal government has run amoke and cannot be restrained easily even by large groups of individuals.  However, our government was set up to give the greatest power to the individual as possible.  We do not need to rely on our federal government to make the right choice regarding health care.  We can ask our state governments to protect us instead.

Instead of wasting my energy on large efforts to stop the federal government from passing health care legislation, I am directing my energies toward my state government and asking them to protect me from the effects of this bill.  My first step is to send a letter to my representatives asking them to sponsor a resolution negating the effects of the federal health care bill.  Here is the letter I sent:

"As you know, the federal government is preparing to pass a health care bill that would dramatically change our health care system. This massive bill contains many provisions that would limit and even destroy many of our God-given rights.

"I have learned that it is useless to fight our federal government. As an individual, I have very little power to sway them. Even as part of a group, they seem to be insulated from public opinion, as demonstrated by the passing of the bailout bills. However, our country is set up in a way that allows the states to protect their citizens when the federal government makes laws that are unconstitutional and tyrannous.

"You can protect us from this bill by submitting a resolution in the state legislature stating that Utah is exempt from federal meddling in its health care system. I urge you to begin drawing up a resolution immediately. I and many of my fellow Utahns in my lobbying group, campaignforliberty.com will support your efforts. Thank you for considering my suggestion."

I sent one to my house representative and my senator and a similar one to the governor.  I will put everything I can into this effort because I know it stands a much better chance of realization than anything I can do on the federal level.  Please help me in this effort, fellow Utahns!  We don't have to take federal intervention laying down!

Posted by roserty on 10/08/09

The health care debate has been one of the most entertaining thing on TV lately, especially the town hall meetings.  I have asked myself many times why the government has gone to the trouble of holding these meetings when it's fairly obvious that the representatives have already made up their mind how they will vote and they aren't likely to produce any significant change.  Then I realized that the health care debate, along with all the other high profile bills that have marched continuously through congress, is playing an important role in keeping the federal government in power.  With all eyes on the shenanegans of the federal government, no one can see the real means of winning back our freedom.

The Constitution was set up to give the individual the most power possible.  The most important safeguard in the Constitution is the power the states hold.  While the federal government would like us to think that the states are subject to them, it is in fact the other way around.  The federal government is given a very limited amount of power and all other powers reside in the individual states and the people.  Any unconstitutional law passed by congress can be repealed by the states.  This gives each of us a great deal more power over the conducting of our own lives since we have a much better chance of influencing the people of our state to see our perspective than the entire country.

However, as long as these debates over health care, the bailout, the environment, and so forth rage on, and people focus all their effort only in trying to make a difference in the federal government, nothing will change, either in Washington or on our home fronts.  Well . . . actually things will change.  We will become more and more burdened by taxes and inflation and less and less free to make our own decisions.  All we really need to do is ignore Washington, except in the things that they are Constitutionally given power to do, and turn to our state legislators to make a difference.

Let's take the Health Care issue as an example.  Fixing the problem in any given state would be quite easily done with two steps.  First of all, the state could write a resolution stating that the federal government was not given power over health care and so no federal health care laws will be recognized within the state.  Secondly, the state could review its own health care regulations and lift all those which raise health care costs and limit competition.  With health care thus protected against government intrusion, most of the health care problems would be resolved.  It might take doctors a while to get used to not having someone looking over their shoulders all the time, but other than that, things should run pretty smoothly right away.

Nearly all of our problems could be fixed this way.  People on the state level could closely monitor their state legislators.  Liberty-loving people could focus on running for state office where they can make the most difference.  We could fix our country's problems from the inside out, just as the founding fathers intended.  Until we do, we will continue to waste effort on large scale debates where our voice is nothing more than a pin drop at a construction site.

Posted 10/08/09 sjaye Chicago, IL

This is why I think we need to organize by state legislature district and pressure our state governments. If we allow regional coordinators to appoint coordinators for each state district, they can organize campaigns to get specific bills through the state legislature. This would most likely come with state organizations being approved, and there is probably a lot of red tape in that process that I am unaware of, but I still think it would be great! Plus, a lot of freedoms are taken away at the state and local level.

Posted 10/08/09 BillNM Carlsbad, NM

Excellent article. Rather than taking over industries, government should pass no laws that do not foster and encourage competition. Health care was easy before government got involved. I remember.

Posted by roserty on 09/08/09
Last updated 09/08/09

The most relevant election for Orem's residents are Orem's elections.  After reviewing the candidates for Orem's mayoral race this year, I discovered a great libertarian candidate, Philip Hornberger, and invited him to share a statement with us.  Here it is:

  American policies over the last 10 years have slowly started moving further and further away from the Constitution that our great nation was founded on.  We are giving more and more control to the government, and taking away the very rights so many people gave their lives to defend.  To the point where now there is talk that the government wants to take away our right to bare arms.  The Constitution was not designed to take away our freedoms.  "The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain The People, it is an instrument for The People to restrain the government," said Patrick Henry. Today's government is taking more and more control. They are looking at ways they can "help" run our lives, when it is not the governments job to do.  One of the great statesmen of our past said it best when he said, "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it." - Thomas Jefferson. 

I want to help fight the good fight and get back to The People running the government, not the government running The People.  Even here at a local level our city has started branching out to areas that I don't feel are the governments responsibility.  Many of them are on my website: www.phil4mayor.com, however, one I would like to highlight is how we as a city are starting to compete in the private sector and funding private businesses, when it's not the city's responsibility.  The city's main focus should be 3 fold, roads and transportation, public utilities, and public safety.  Why are we wasting taxpayer dollars on dreams of tomorrow?  I want to help our city set the good example of staying out of debt and living within its means. We are asking our citizens to do it, why can't we as a city?

To find the answers to these, and many other questions, I think we need to look to our past and determine where we came from.  What are the principles that permitted us to become the greatest free nation in the world?  I believe the Constitution was a document written for the ages and is as good and correct today as the day it was written.

Philip Hornberger

After reviewing the city council meeting minutes for the past year, it's clear to me we need a mayor and city council who truly understand the principles of liberty.  Please review Mr. Hornberger's website to see if you find, as I have, that he truly understands the cause of liberty and add your support to his campaign.

www.phil4mayor.com