For most of history most of the world's population has been more concerned with simply surviving than pursuing happiness. Tyrants, from kings to war lords, to local officials and small time hoods, have enslaved and kept most people in poverty while they live in luxury off the spoils of the common man's labors.
A good example is my worker, Sammy, here in Kenya. His father had two wives. When he died he divided the inheritance, plots of land, between the sons of both families. Sammy's mother being the second wife, he and his brothers received a smaller portion. That was still not good enough for his half-brothers and they sued to get all of the inheritance.
The court assigned the case to their local District Commissioner, kind of like a local area mayor. The DC and a board of wazee (elders) are to decide the merits of the case. The half-brothers have no documents to prove their claims to the land, but what should be an open and shut case has been drawn out for over a year, the hearings often being put off because the half-brothers failed to show up. The DC finally came to a decision; whoever will pay the wazee 10,000 shillings first will be declared the owner of the land. It is bribery pure and simple, which is against the law in this country, but to contest it in court would cost more than 10,000 shillings just to file. It is only 125 US dollars, but that's more than a month's salary and an impossibility to come up with quickly. Sammy's family's right to their inheritance and their ability to even survive is being threatened by corrupt local officials.
This was similarly true in England and throughout Europe in the 17th century when the first colonists came to America. They fled the corruption of the old systems, and were willing to brave the unknown dangers of settling a wilderness and forging a new nation so they would be free to pursue their own happiness. Our Founding Fathers agreed that the pursuit of happiness was a basic right, and that it could only be realized in a free society unencumbered by excessive taxation and laws, or corrupt government officials.
With rights comes responsibility. The pursuit of happiness requires hard work and honest toil. It requires honest, responsible leadership as well as a self-disciplined populace that will look after its own needs. It should be noted that the right expressed in the Declaration of Independence was only the pursuit of happiness. The Founders claimed no right to a guaranteed outcome.
Today, however, we live in a society that has become obsessed with "rights" far beyond what the Founders had envisioned. It began with FDR's creation of the Social Security system to care for the aged when they could no longer work. Prior to Social Security families and sometimes churches took care of their own. Roosevelt made government the care giver. The "right" to survive for the first time became a government responsibility. With it came the perversion of the right to pursue happiness to the right of happiness.
It led to Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, which was to be a war on poverty; a war we lost and are continuing to lose. In 1994, thirty years after the Great Society began, five trillion dollars had been spent fighting poverty, yet President Clinton declared more people were below the poverty level then than when the program started. Coincidentally, the national debt stood at five trillion dollars as well.
While campaigning for president, Obama told Joe the Plumber that he intended to "spread the wealth." Socialism at its core is spreading the wealth. Obama laughed at the idea, but that is what he is doing; taking from those who have worked hard to get it, to give to those who haven't worked and are not willing to work to get it.
Like a modern day Robin Hood, he is taking from the rich to give to the poor. The problem is, none of the money from his stimulus package, which the Democrats forced through Congress, went to the poor. It was all given to large corporations, to the rich, to the same people liberals routinely vilify whenever they say they are going to redistribute the wealth.
Ultimately, socialism creates a "nanny state" where everyone is equally poor except those in government and nobody is happy. Those who work aren't happy because the government takes what they earn to give to those who are not willing to work, including illegal immigrants. Those on the dole aren't happy because no matter how much you give a whining cry baby he's never happy anyway. The end result will be an economic collapse and a loss of more freedoms.
Government has usurped powers the Founders never intended it to have and is destroying the right of honest people to pursue happiness. The answer is to get government out of the economy. We need to take away from government the power to tax personal income and the power of Congress to raise its own salaries. We need to demand a balanced budget and no more perks for government officials. They must be made to live within their means just as we have to live within ours.
It is up to "We the People" to take back the responsibility for our own happiness. Then we will be free to pursue it.
[This is a letter from Richard Konnerup who was a missionary in Ethiopia at the time the communists overthrew Haile Sellasie.]
ReplyDeleteLance,
You are a good writer and being a history buff helps. This article is good and is explained well. Many believe what you wrote, but do nothing about it.
I remember when Communism/Socialism was being touted in Ethiopia. The high schoolers and university students were eating up. Mao's little red book was secretly being distributed. Groups hid in the woods to study it. One older high school student tried to tell me the benefits of Communism. I asked him to tell me of a country that was an example of it working. He was happy to tell me about Tanzania as being a good example. I asked him why was it that Tanzanians had to travel to Kenya to get food? Then he tried Russia which didn't work either. One older man who could not read nor write that worked with me in building and such said to me when I returned to Ethiopia while Communism was in full swing, "These rulers said that they would take from the rich and give to the poor, then, we would all be the same." He went on to say, "They were right, "Now we are all poor". For an uneducated man, he was smart and had wisdom.
We, here in America, have wonderful models in Europe which we can follow as our models. Everyone is so happy and content there having all their needs met. When will lazy people wake up to realize "by the sweat of our brows, we will eat?"
Have a good day.
[Follow up from Richard Konnerup]
ReplyDeleteLance,
I forgot to give the ending to the old man who explained that all are now poor. This man lived on the other side of the river, but came to work with us everyday. Like the other farmers of the area, the Government encouraged them to get together to clear the field of all the stones to make for better plowing, etc. They did this. Then, they were told that they would work the fields as a community for the Government was now the owner of all land; some worked and some just stood around, but received the same at the end of the day. So, these farmers ended up under Communism being able to live in their
grass huts, but without having any land because the Government took it and often gave it to someone else. Today, though now Socialistic, the
Government still owns the land. You can own the house on the land. But not the land. I said all that to say, not only did they become equally poor, but they no longer owned their land. That is what you call equality. If you owned two houses, you could pick the one you wanted and the Government took the other to rent out, etc.