The Cause of Liberty

If anyone ever tries to tell you that the economy is driven by consumer spending, I have one piece of advice–RUN! This one fallacy alone has arguably caused more damage to our nation than any other, and a person who believes it is either deceived, or is using it to be deceptive, or both.

I walked out of an investing seminar recently because the speaker used this fallacy–that consumer spending is the basis of the economy–as a foundational argument for his thesis. His thesis was that America is headed toward a serious economic downturn based on future reduction of consumer spending, and that if we want to survive the rough times ahead then we need to amass as much money as possible, because money is what will save us.

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What stories will your great-grandchildren tell about you?

I once stood in the cemetery where several of my ancestors have been laid. In a deeply sentimental mood I thought to myself, “How many stories cry from the ground here? How many hopes and dreams, joys and sorrows do these cold headstones represent? Can we even begin to comprehend all that these people went through for us to enjoy our freedom today?”

I quietly listened to my father as he told fascinating stories of these mysterious people I had never met. I began to feel an intimate bond with these faceless Pioneers.

The realization sank deep into my soul that we stand on the shoulders of Those Who Have Gone Before. But have we become Those Who Have Forgotten? It is critical that we remember our heritage; the future of our nation depends on it.

Allow me to help us remember by…

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Overcoming Self-Deception Through the Study of History

I am Rome, and Rome is me. I am Greece, and Greece is me. I have in me the best of humanity, and the worst of humanity, as we all do. I am Aurelius and Caligula. I am Socrates; I am also and the mob that murdered Socrates without legitimate cause. I am a Stoic and an Epicurean. I am the Enlightenment, and I am the Dark Ages.

I, like every individual human being, embody every aspect of human nature–for good or for evil–that has been displayed throughout history.

History is the study of human nature, the museum of human action that tells us less about the past than it tells us about ourselves as volitional beings. Santayana once said that, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” This is so, not because we make mistakes because of forgetfulness, but because humans have a predictable, homogenous nature; our actions may be different from one another but we all act for the same reasons.

In other words, it’s not entirely precise to say that the purpose of studying history is to teach us about the past, in order that we might better navigate the future. More precisely, the purpose of studying history is to learn about ourselves as individual human beings. As historian David McCullough stated, “History is who we are and why we are the way we are.”

The more conscious we are of ourselves and of our nature the more capable we are of guiding and controlling that nature. History–our own and that of others–shows plainly that humans have a dual nature, and the struggle between Continue reading »

Live For the Cause of Freedom

One of the best examples of public virtue in the Revolutionary War period was John Hart. He was a farmer, known throughout his state as “Honest John Hart.” He served with distinction in the pre-Revolutionary legislatures of New Jersey, and was one of the first to recognize the tyranny of the Stamp Act. During the enemy invasion of New Jersey, Hart was besieged in his farmhouse. His wife lay dying at the time, and he refused to leave her. After her death he managed to make his escape at the age of 65, and for a year was hunted through the woods, where he existed as an exile and fugitive, eluding every effort of his pursuers, hiding in caves. Hessian mercenaries destroyed his farm, livestock, mills, and property. An old man, he never lost his spirit, and joined Washington’s army as a private after the battle of Princeton. He died at the age of 68, having given his life, liberty, wife, and property to the cause of freedom.

Unlike the John Hart, most of us will probably not have to suffer so much and die defending freedom. However, our duty is perhaps more difficult: to live a life of virtue, courage, and contribution in the midst of relative ease and prosperity. There are many who claim that they would die for their freedom, yet they fail to live for it on a consistent basis. Our average voting percentage for presidential elections is barely over 50%, and between 1960 and 1990, America saw a 560% increase in violent crime, a 419% increase in illegitimate births, a quadrupling of divorce rates, a tripling of the percentage of children living in single-parent homes, more than a 200% increase in teenage suicides, and a drop of almost 80 points in SAT scores (see full report here).

Many of our ancestors displayed their virtue by dying for the cause of freedom; we must show ours by living the cause daily.

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Written By Stephen Palmer. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

I try to be an informed and responsible citizen by keeping abreast of all the news from as many sources as possible. But as I hear about major crises and problems such as the genocide in Sudan, our ever-increasing national budget deficit, the insurgency in Iraq, the bankruptcy rate in America, the state of public education and health care, poverty, environmental degradation, etc., I often find myself intensely frustrated and angry at my seeming inability to contribute to the solution of these problems. In a world of six billion people, it’s hard not to feel insignificant and simply give in to cynicism.

In my frustration I turn to our leaders, hoping that they will have the answers and the influence to solve problems that are beyond the control of the individual citizen. However, our elections are vivid illustrations that there is a dearth of solid, principle-based leadership in this country. Our political contests have been reduced to forcing us to choose not the best candidate, but the lesser of two evils. Are we to simply vote along party lines? Wait a minute–where are those lines drawn anyway?

The more I look outward, the more I am convinced that the answers do not lie outside of myself. John Adams wrote that “If worthless men are sometimes at the head of affairs, it is because worthless men are at the tail, and the middle.” In other words, our political leaders are mere reflections of our citizens. If we want our leaders to change, we have to change. Meaningful and lasting national and global change must be enacted from the inside out, not the outside in, and it starts not with the community or even the family; it starts with the individual.

Gandhi taught, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” If I want to see a peaceful world, then I must pursue peace within myself, with my spouse, my children, and my extended family. If I want to see a better system of education in America, then I must take initiative and responsibility to educate myself and my children.

Instead of focusing on what I can’t do, I’m learning to focus instead on what I can do. I can’t pay off the national debt, but I can pay off my debt and balance my home budget. I can’t solve America’s health care problems, but I can live a healthy lifestyle. I can’t stop corporations from dumping environmental waste in our rivers, but I can maintain a clean home environment.

The reformation begins with me. As I change myself, it inspires others around me to change, spreading from my family, to my community, to my state, to my nation, and ultimately to the entire globe. Call me naive and idealistic if you must, but I won’t pay attention; I’m busy changing the world.

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Written By Stephen Palmer. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

All change involves both gains and losses; change is essentially the process of one exchanging with themselves. A person is constantly making decisions regarding this personal exchange, and through this process they can either degenerate or grow. One can choose to give up happiness, health, and wealth in order to gain laziness, fear, and bad habits and therefore degenerate, or one can give up laziness and fear in order to gain greater happiness, and therefore grow. There is no decision that does not carry both a gain and a loss.

The question you must answer is: What is it that you really, deeply want to gain and what are you willing to give up to get it?

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Are you taking an active part in creating that story, or is passivity leaving you subject to the winds of fortune?

Daniel Taylor wrote, “Freedom is useless if we don’t exercise it as characters making choices…We are free to change the stories by which we live. Because we are genuine characters, and not mere puppets, we can choose our defining stories. We can do so because we actively participate in the creation of our stories. We are co-authors as well as characters. Few things are so encouraging as the realization that things can be different and that we have a role in making them so.”

In the story of your life, be a creator and a writer, not a mere actor playing a scripted part.

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This attitude is a mockery of God and the gifts He has given us. In the Bible, in the book of Romans, chapter nine verse twenty, we read, “…O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why has thou made me thus?” In other words, Paul is telling us that we have no right or authority to question the wisdom of God, and our task, rather than questioning God, is to accept His will and to find the reasons why we have been blessed with our particular challenges.

For example, soon after Helen Keller was born, she lost her sight, hearing and speech. The victim way to view this is as an unfortunate tragedy; heroes look for the blessings inherent in such a challenge. By thinking and living as a heroine, Helen was able to bless the lives of millions through her amazing example. God was able to teach us the power of the human spirit through her.

What challenges are in your life? How are you facing them–as a victim or as a hero? What are you teaching others through your example?

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Viktor Frankl once wrote, “Being human always points, and is directed, to something, or someone, other than oneself–be it a meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter. The more one forgets himself–by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love–the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself…self-actualization is only possible as a side-effect of self-transcendence.”

As paradoxical as it may seem, self-fulfillment is a product of serving others. The more we forget about what we want and seek to help others get what they want they happier we will become, and the more we will find and develop our unique abilities; or in other words, the more we will become our true Selves.

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Do you know the roots of and reasons for your fears?

Paul Slovic, a psychologist at the University of Oregon, has spent decades studying how we decide what’s risky and what isn’t. His studies have shown that how risky something actually is has almost nothing to do with how risky we think it is. Slovic has demonstrated that people think skiing is safer than flying on a commercial aircraft, that smoking is less dangerous than being around handguns, that nuclear power plants are riskier than cars. Think about these questions: Do more Americans die of suicide or homicide? Which is more lethal, kidney disease or AIDS? According to the U.S. Government, in the year 2000 nearly twice as many people killed themselves as were murdered, and kidney diseases caused nearly three times as many deaths as AIDS. Although Americans consistently rate nuclear power as one of the most dangerous of all technologies, it’s actually safer by any objective measure than most other forms of power. And two of the deadliest things in America are cigarettes and cars; auto accidents alone kill an average of 115 Americans every day.

When we’re subject to fear our judgment is severely clouded and we make unwise decisions. Overcome fear through a commitment to continual education and persisting in courageous actions.

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