Palmer Says Bush Feeding Market Instability

By STEPHEN PALMER, COL Correspondent

October 10, 2008

ROUND ROCK, TX — Stephen Palmer said Friday that the government’s financial rescue plan was aggressive enough and big enough to plunge America into a depression and rob citizens of their hard-earned savings, but it may take time to fully kick in as the government props up unstable policies and institutions. “We can solve this crisis and we will — by getting rid of the Federal Reserve,” he said in brief remarks from his home.

Palmer spoke as leaders of the world’s top economies gathered in Washington to figure out how they could leverage the panic to confiscate more illegitimate power.

Mr. Palmer noted that major Western countries were working together in an attempt to undermine every positive step we’ve taken toward creating just and equitable civilizations since 1776, including ignoring their respective Constitutions.

“Through these efforts, the world is sending an unmistakable signal. We’re in this together and we’ll be oppressed by our governments together,” Palmer said.

Palmer said how he understood how Americans could be concerned about their economic future. “That anxiety can feed anxiety and that can make it hard to see all that’s being done to worsen the problem and strip us of more freedom,” he said.

But despite a relentless sell-off that has seen the Dow Jones industrials plunge 20 percent in the past seven trading days, Palmer said, “We are a prosperous nation with immense resources and a wide range of tools at our disposal — all of which can be employed when we get President Bush, Henry Paulson, Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve out of the way.”

Mr. Palmer said the new $700 billion tyranny plan that President Bush signed into law a week ago authorizes the Treasury Department to socialize financial institutions at the whims of one man.

It wasn’t the first time Mr. Palmer has declared that the government stop distorting the market by controlling interest rates and the money supply, although it has also been mentioned by several other prominent economists and experts.

Since the bailout package was signed into law, the conversation about how it will be used has shifted from how taxpayers are lining the pockets of corporate executives to how they are supporting an overblown government.

Nationalization of the U.S. banking industry was once unthinkable, but in a stagnant pond of public apathy, anything is possible.

The government is authorized under the law to “screw taxpayers.”

These include the couple in South Dakota making $45,000 a year and trying desperately to put their two sons through college, but not Wall Street executives making $5 million per year and struggling with the overwhelming decision of how they should spend their money.

It is Mr. Palmer’s position that the Bush administration’s authority extends to whatever it feel like doing, since Congress doesn’t have the guts, nor the knowledge, to check it on any front.

“The plan they are executing is aggressive. It is the wrong plan. It will take time to have its full impact. It is flexible enough to get even more tyrannical as the executive branch amasses more power. And it is big enough to work, the definition of ‘work’ being to collapse the economy,” Palmer said.

He also noted that the Federal Reserve has injected hundreds of billions of green pieces of paper into the system — with little to no oversight and with nothing backing it. Other central banks have cooperated to help speed up the rate of inflation and erode the savings of every American.

“The federal government has a comprehensive strategy to lull the people into temporary security at the cost of freedom,” Palmer said.

While he sought to reassure Americans that the situation is not hopeless and that we should continue doing all we can, Palmer also acknowledged that this was one of the most egregious acts of tyranny in our nation’s history.

Palmer said his online community, The Cause of Liberty, has launched initiatives that are “helping common Americans to reclaim their responsibilities as citizens and to restore the American Republic.”

He also noted “rigorous discipline” must be enacted by the People to make sure that the government doesn’t “take advantage of the crisis to illegitimately erode our freedoms.”

“Over the past few days,” Palmer continued, “we have witnessed a totally predictable drop in the stock market, much of it driven by the stupidity and power-mongering of the government and the Federal Reserve. This has been a deeply unsettling period for the American people.”

Move the Cause of Liberty by (1) subscribing to the Sentinel, a free weekly newsletter boldly illuminating the principles of freedom in a darkening nation, and (2) pledging your Life, Liberty, and Sacred Honor to the Cause by signing the Declaration of Dependence.

Copyright © 2008 by The Cause of Liberty. All rights reserved.

She recently recited the Pledge and ended it with, “…with liberty and justice for poop.”

At first I laughed. Then, as I realized how relevant her words were, it wasn’t funny anymore.

The “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act” passed by Congress and signed by King George on October 3, 2008, was Washington taking a $700 billion dump on the head of every American.

I found another meaning in Libby’s innocent words: In a gross act of injustice to ordinary American’s, Washington thought it expedient to dole out “justice” to the poop perpetrated by the Federal Reserve, Wall Street, and idiotic corporations. America is now the land where stupid crap pulled by the big guys gets tossed to the little guys; the aristocracy get the protection of the government at the expense of common Americans.

And to think that they pulled it off in the name of the little guy — you know, “Main Street.”

My little carefree Libby, innocent and precious beyond words, has no idea what landed on her, her children, her grandchildren and beyond that Friday of infamy, the day where America sold the last remnants of her soul to the devil of expediency.

National P.O.O.P. Day

In honor of my daughter Liberty and every other innocent American who will be scraping Washington’s and Wall Street’s poop off their lives for generations, I hereby declare October 3rd to be National P.O.O.P. Day. The acronym P.O.O.P. stands for:

• P: Punish at the Polls
• O: Ownership
• O: One American
• P: Prepare

Punish at the Polls

Break free from the tyranny of two-party mediocrity, monopolization, and rationalization. Throw off the shackles of “the lesser of two evils” thinking. Stop compromising with your vote. Vote your conscience. Vote on principle.

The Founders viewed elections as “mini-revolutions,” and it’s time for a revolution. Punish every Senator and Congressman who voted in favor of the bailout bill by booting them out of office. (See how your representative voted here.) Show them who is in charge. And in case you haven’t heard, there are more than two presidential candidates in the current election.

Ownership

With the advent of National P.O.O.P Day, it’s time for every American to stop the insanity of irresponsibility and apathy. Take ownership for your life and your results. Take ownership for your education, your career, your income, your financial health, your spiritual moorings. Stop selling out to false security and accept the responsibility of freedom.

“That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.” -Thomas Jefferson

One American

It’s time to cast off our feelings and attitudes of futility, helplessness, and hopelessness. You can’t do everything, but you can do something. Do it. Stop waiting for social validation — act. Never underestimate the power of one individual acting from conscience.

Do something good, anything. Every day. Get out of debt. Write a book. Write to your Congressman. Read to a child. Love your spouse. Forgive your brother. Turn off the blasted TV and read the Federalist Papers instead.

You are One American, and America is nothing but the aggregate of all its Ones. Be the change. Make a difference.

“Immortality will come to such as are fit for it, and he who would be a great soul in the future must be a great soul now.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Prepare

There’s no easy fix to the problems that have been amassing for longer than a Century. Make no mistake — we are in for hard times.

Prepare.

• Spiritually: Deepen your relationship with God. Develop faith and overcome fear. Pray and meditate daily. Find that “connection in the stillness” and hold onto it like your life depends on it, as it indeed does.
• Financially: Get out of debt. Spend less than you earn. Produce more than you consume. Build cash reserves. Invest in hard, collateralized assets.
• Temporally: Build a year’s supply of food and water. Learn how to grow a garden. Become an emergency preparedness expert.
• Mentally: Turn off the TV and devour the classics. Become a constitutional scholar. Understand what you’re fighting for.
• Socially: Expand and strengthen your relationships and networks. This will both extend your sphere of influence as well as give you resources in difficult times. Associate with like-minded people. Discuss the classics with your family and friends.

“Giving up the illusion that you can predict the future is a very liberating moment. All you can do is give yourself the capacity to respond — the creation of that capacity is the purpose of strategy.” -Lord John Browne of Madingley

Throw the Poop Back

The poop has hit the fan. And it’s time for us to start flinging it back. In a good, productive way.

The principles within National P.O.O.P. Day represent the People taking back their power by assuming their responsibility. This new National Poopyday (as opposed to “Holiday”) represents us throwing back the crap that has been thrown on us against our will and in violation of our beloved Constitution.

The early American colonists had the Boston Tea Party. Our generation has National P.O.O.P. Day. Support National P.O.O.P. Day by emailing this to everyone you know and publishing it in full in every possible venue. When the air finally clears — however long it takes — we’re going to have our Republic back.

Join National P.O.O.P. Day on Facebook

Move the Cause of Liberty by (1) subscribing to the Sentinel, a free weekly newsletter boldly illuminating the principles of freedom in a darkening nation, and (2) pledging your Life, Liberty, and Sacred Honor to the Cause by signing the Declaration of Dependence.

Copyright © 2008 by The Cause of Liberty. All rights reserved.

The most humorous conversations are peppered with quotes from the classic movie Princess Bride. If you haven’t seen it, stop reading and go watch it. Like any good classic it gets better and more applicable each time seen.

What can we learn from this classic? Let me point out a few lessons that I think fit perfectly with our times.

1. When I hear our presidential candidates use the word “change” every couple of minutes, unfailingly Indigo’s voice comes into my head saying, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Change is not being in Afghanistan versus Iraq, or visa versa. It is getting out of foreign nations we shouldn’t be in.

Change in education is not working on “No Child Left Behind” as was suggested in the VP Debate. Change would be getting the Federal Government out of education and and giving that power back to the parents and states.

2. As for the bailout just passed in Congress;

“Think it will work?”

“It would take a miracle.”

One senator, after changing his vote to yes on the economic bailout, said that the fear on Wall Street was going to affect Main Street.

Maybe it is time that Wall Street be afraid.

As a nation we cannot continue on in our current economic situation. We have become a nation that consumes more than it creates, spends more then it earns, and takes more then it gives.

Wall Street does affect Main Street, so let us start the process of changing our economic strategies as a nation. Having the government there to catch business when it falls only prolongs and extenuates the long range problems we will face.

3. Longfellow said our nation was a “ship of state” and that all humanity hung upon its fate. If that is the case where is the watchmen crying, “Look! The cliffs of insanity!”

4. I always get a funny feeling when I hear someone in government make statements about easing the burdens of the American people, having the government look out for the middle class and defending the common workers of America. For as the Dread Pirate Roberts said, “Life is pain… Anyone who says otherwise is selling something.”

It is human nature to tend to fall into a trap of wanting things to be easier, to not have to think about problems and to let someone else do the dirty work for us. But it is better to do the work then buy up the services of the government and let it run our lives.

In closing, “Let me explain — no there is to much — let me sum up.”

First, understand that the current debates between presidential candidates are not about change in policy; they are about change in approach.

Second, as uncertain as the future of our economy is right now, “bailouts” aren’t going to help. Ronald Reagan once said that you can talk to a child until you’re blue in the face about spending — or you can cut their allowance. Giving more money isn’t going to cure the mismanagement of it. Our $700 billion dollars is only a band aid on a gaping wound.

Third, lets listen to people who are telling us we are headed towards disaster.

Fourth, now is the time to reclaim the responsibility of self-governance and watch over our nation and communities. Lets stop abdicating our responsibility to others in exchange for convenience.

And next time you watch Princess Bride, think about government — I promise you’ll learn a lot.

Move the Cause of Liberty by (1) subscribing to the Sentinel, a free weekly newsletter boldly illuminating the principles of freedom in a darkening nation, and (2) pledging your Life, Liberty, and Sacred Honor to the Cause by signing the Declaration of Dependence.

Copyright © 2008 by The Cause of Liberty. All rights reserved.

His new book, A Deadly Misunderstanding: A Congressman’s Quest to Bridge the Muslim-Christian Divide, offers hope and genuine reconciliation between cultures and religions and answers to centuries-old conflicts.

An experienced statesman at home and abroad, Mr. Siljander serves on the Board of George Wythe University. In this revelatory book he recounts his amazing spiritual odyssey from anti-Muslim Christian conservative to pioneer in discovering uncharted, ground-breaking common roots between Islam and Christianity, while trailblazing a unique diplomatic path for bringing the two communities together.

This is not just another book; there are many interesting books filling our shelves. Nor is it an academic thesis or political agenda. This story inspires hope in our increasingly desperate world, uncovering compelling common ground for followers of these two super-power religions.

“No Christian or Muslim will be unaffected after reading this book. Siljander’s paradigm-shifting discoveries could radically shift the contemporary religious landscape and help heal the rift between Islam and the West.” -Christianbook.com

At our root are basic misunderstandings of concepts like “religion” and “conversion.” Siljander breaks down and re-assembles these concepts through study of the ancient Semitic languages of both religions, making paradigm-shifting discoveries that unite rather than divide us. His findings are drawn from twenty-seven years of study and practice in a real life journey. Wherever he and his praying partners travel among Muslim nations, the outcome of their quiet diplomacy is respect, trust, love of friends and enemies, and significant real-world breakthroughs in crisis situations of which few are aware.

His book offers explosive models based on ancient truths, proven to powerfully affect people, conflicts, countries, and potentially change cultures. This is the kind of  “change” future presidents must strive for. This seemingly implausible path to peace dismantles the engine of terror without firing a single shot.

Click here to learn more and to purchase your copies now. Readers are encouraged to purchase copies on October 7th, which is the official release date of the book.

“Rumors indicate that the Siljander book … has angered … the influential ‘war lobby’ depending on decades of religious conflict.” -Veterans Today

About the Author

Mr. Siljander represented Michigan for fifteen years, which includes three terms as a Member of the United States Congress, where he served on the International Relations Middle East Subcommittee and was Ranking Member of the Africa Subcommittee. He was the primary sponsor of the African Famine Relief Act. Mark was later appointed by President Reagan as a US Ambassador (Alt. Delegate) to the United Nations in New York, where he served as a member of the Middle East and Africa Strategy Group of permanent representatives.

Ambassador Siljander is a student of several languages, including Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew, and has spent over ten years studying the three Holy Books of the Abrahamic faiths. With over 26 years serving in the power circles of Washington and semi-official travel to nearly 130 countries, he has generated unique opportunities for frequent access to world leaders. These experiences have led him to develop a unique paradigm for the peaceful resolution of conflict that has been successfully applied in several challenging areas of the globe.

Mark Siljander reinforces his conflict resolution efforts through regular travel overseas with Congressional and high-level delegations.

Purchase your copy now to get on the cutting edge of the Middle East conflict and find real solutions to terrorism.

I had to hold back a laugh a few days ago when I heard the above question. My cousin had just asked it to his brother in law.

The reason for my laughter? I was caught up in seeing the huge difference in the two people having this conversation about work. My cousin, David, had just gotten back leading a group, myself included, backpacking and exploring in Mexico. As part of his work he takes small groups down to Copper Canyon on cultural/humanitarian work. The trip goes thru the third world area of Copper Canyon to visit the Tamarah indians. Filled with helping people and moment by moment adventures. When he is not in Mexico he teaches wilderness survival. He doesn’t do it for money and he certainly doesn’t do it for prestige. He does it because its his passion, his dream.

As he asked his brother in law the “How was work today?” question I thought I saw a twinkle in his eye. “Oh you know, its work.” was the long faced reply. He brother in law is a banker.

Neither one leads a life the other should be leading. But one has a job, the other a dream come true.

After the humorousness of the moment was gone I was left deeply impressed by what I had seen. And it made me think a lot about my life and those around me.

I am sure most have heard the quote;

“Most people spend their lives working at a job they don’t like, to get money they don’t need, for things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.”

This may be an extreme statement on first hearing it, but for most it rings partially true.

Many people lead a life wishing they could do or be something they aren’t doing. They have a dream that they want to live, and yet when asked if they are living that dream they aren’t.

I believe everyone has a dream. Maybe from childhood, maybe not, but its real none the less. Dreams are important to an individual. When talking to people about their dream they come alive, their eyes sparkle and their voice gets excited. And then comes a statement I am sure we have all heard and said, “Oh well, maybe someday.” and the sparks are gone, the passion fizzles out and they go back to life just thinking about their dream.

Men and women all have a dream. Not just some or those who have thought about it or have been told they should have one. I mean ALL. Every single person if you search long enough has a dream inside them. And most of them aren’t living it.

The excuses for not living a dream are wide ranging. No money, no time, no resources, no skills, no support. In other words, no reason.

Why don’t we live our dreams?

Simple question, hard to answer. The answer is hard because it is so elusive. You really can’t tell why exactly. The excuses we use are just that… excuses. So what is the real reason? Fear? Laziness? Lack of faith?

If you are scared well… you should be. Living a life of dreams is scary. Not in the spooky sense. But in the difficulty and challenges. Its not easy and you will  be tried, talked out of it, have road blocks put in your way and cross into unknowns. Yes it is scary. But worth it? Completely.

As for being lazy there really is no other reply then to get off your rump and start working. This life is short and there is no time to waste.

There is an old western quote that says;

“The cowards never started and the weak ones died on the way.”

At least start. Then you can figure out the rest as you go. But the truly strong start living their dreams now.

If we live a life without faith then it is no life. You were given your dreams for a reason and there is no power that would give you dreams and desires only to not give you a way of fulfilling them. Have a little faith.

“To dream anything you want to dream. That’s the beauty of the human mind. To do anything that you want to do. That is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself to test your limits. That is the courage to succeed.” - Bernard Edmonds

We are limitless in our capabilities, endless in our resources and have and untold potential to build anything we can imagine. So why hold back?

What is the one thing that makes you come alive? The one thing you would die for, or more importantly, live for?

What is your dream? And what do you need to do to start living it?

Move the Cause of Liberty by (1) subscribing to the Sentinel, a free weekly newsletter boldly illuminating the principles of freedom in a darkening nation, and (2) pledging your Life, Liberty, and Sacred Honor to the Cause by signing the Declaration of Dependence.

Copyright © 2008 by The Cause of Liberty. All rights reserved.

So leave everything you know and carry only what you fear.

Daily we face the onslaught from the media. A murder here, a rape there. Illegal immigrants taking your jobs here; globalism outsourcing your job to over there. It is called news. Fundamentally, however, it is fear-mongering — and if succumbed to, it is fatal to our soul.

Both political parties attempt to play on fear, portraying the opposition candidate in the most negative light possible to the point where this campaign has become more immature than a kindergarten shout-down (”My dad can beat up your dad!”). In order to achieve support for means that we know are questionable, those in office instill fear of the unknown or the different. Fundamentalism Muslims are referred to as “Islamo-fascists” (a convenient compounding of any word to denigrate the former term).

Our current economic situation is a result of fear…fear of work, fear of hard times, fear of the housing market plunging more deeply. This fear will cause us to operate from a position of expediency. Expediency resulting from fear pushes us towards means that seem to be fixes to the fearful problem, but are really methods that will, like termites, slowly eat away at our structural foundation.

In the years of the Roaring 20’s, economists (mainly following the theories of Irving Fisher) were convinced that slowly increasing the money supply would allow for continued expansion of the economy without increasing prices too much or causing any damage to the financial and industrial structures. However, an economist in Austria (Ludwig von Mises) was writing a contrary view, contending that increasing the money supply, thus lowering interest rates and making borrowing cheaper and more attractive than savings, might just pull the rug out from under the glass table on which the economy sat. He felt that “if monetary policy pushed ‘market’ interest rates below the ‘natural’ rate, the central bank could create an unstable business cycle that could lead to financial disaster” (’natural’ rate of interest defined to be “the rate that equalizes the supply and demand for saving based on the social rate of time preference”) [Skousen--The Big Three in Economics].

Mises predictions were ignored and the Federal Reserve in the U.S. continued to increase the money supply and lowered interest rates below the natural rate such that structural imbalances were introduced into the economy, contributing to the Great Depression.

Fast-forward to the 1990’s, a time of great economic growth and increases to the money supply as demonstrated by the decreasing interest rates imposed by the Federal Reserve over the last 18 years. What are we facing again? An economy that isn’t saving because the cost of borrowing was cheaper than it should have been is loading the investment market with mortgage-backed that are described as “radioactive toxic waste.” Fear of the economy slowing down during the 90’s and the early 2000’s gave impetus to regulators to adjust the money supply to such a degree that it is likely to have dropped the market rate of interest below the natural rate of interest, leading to the instabilities we’ve seen over the last few months, coming to a head these last ten days.

We know that in order to prosper we need to save. However, we buy into the information spoon-fed to us by a media that is inherently a business and operates on a 24-hour news cycle, thus it is not only subject to fear-mongering, but media is also an objective participant in the generation of economic fear. Politicians also aren’t hesitant to promote fear since our fear gives them greater power as we feel a deeper need for security and every politician will tell us that “changing horses midstream” is a dubious and dangerous proposition.

I started this post with a line from Bruce Springsteen’s ironic warning entitled Magic. We need to listen to the warning voice by holding onto “everything [we] know and [letting go of] what [we] fear”. We must recognize that fear, as described in the following lyrics, is a dangerous thing and if allowed, will turn our heart black and take our God-filled soul and “fill it with devils and dust.”

Now every woman and every man
They want to take a righteous stand
Find the love that God wills
And the faith that He commands

Well I’ve got God on my side
And I’m just trying to survive.
What if what you do to survive
Kills the things you love?
Fear’s a dangerous thing.
It can turn your heart black, you can trust;
It’ll take your God filled soul, fill it with devils and dust.

Decisions based on fear using expediency instead of principles will most often destroy those fundamental principles. Let us be aware of what is seen and unseen and make decisions based on principles and re-establish liberty.

Move the Cause of Liberty by (1) subscribing to the Sentinel, a free weekly newsletter boldly illuminating the principles of freedom in a darkening nation, and (2) pledging your Life, Liberty, and Sacred Honor to the Cause by signing the Declaration of Dependence.

Copyright © 2008 by The Cause of Liberty. All rights reserved.

These days have produced some great ironies. Not the least of which is the current scene on Wall Street: The “free market capitalists” are the ones at the helm when we have the biggest fiasco of the financial system to date, and they are proposing a bail-out? The free marketists created the very system which will result in the biggest regulatory intervention ever: so far $1 trillion proposed to bail out the Wall Street financials.

Ironic that under Bush, the conservatives allow the governmental bail-out in the first place. Furthermore, the RTC (governmental commission to oversee and take in conservatorship of the assets that are upside down) and other heavy-handed governmental regulatory agencies that will come from this are far more heavy-handed than the regulation repealed by the GOP in the 80’s!

Ironic that while the Chinese have worked to “privatize” their biggest banks over the last decade, the US of A has just “nationalized” it’s biggest banks!

Ironic that the American taxpayer will bail out the CEO’s of Wall Street, whose taxes the American taxpayer, through the representatives, voted to decrease!

Ironic that the American taxpayer will bail out the biggest financial giants whose shares are widely held by foreigners!

Ironic that Morgan Stanley, an age-old American financial, is being looked at for purchase by a Chinese bank.

It’s ironic that John McCain who has defended the SEC and the “down-regulate” culture of wall street now calls for Chairman Cox to be “fired!” Further ironic that he was considering Cox for his VP.

Ironic that Bush spent us into uncharted deficit territory, while Obama is vowing to cut spending and cut taxes on the middle class.

Ironic that during the Clinton years, we saw more economic growth, less governmental spending and saw an expansion of global trade activity, while during the Bush years we’ve seen more spending, less growth and a decrease in our ability to expand trade.

It’s ironic that the mean income of the majority of the conservative voting block is “middle class” while the two groups of voters for Obama are “wealthy/upper class” and “lower class/poor” — yet, Obama is proposing a sizable “middle-class tax-cut.”

Furthermore, irony strikes broadly in politics these days: The “family-values” party nominates a man known for NOT being a family man and a woman who chooses to run for the highest office in the land right after having a baby!, while the other party’s two nominees are well known family men.

The party who claims to defend fighting for the rights of women misses the opportunity to nominate the first woman to the highest office. While the other party chooses a woman to run as VP.

The minority nominee is the most educated in the running. The minority nominee has the most statesman-like temperament.

While John McCain accuses Obama of being inexperienced, he chooses a green governor of a small state who’s only other experience is mayor of a town of 7,000 people.

It’s ironic that the man who fought for campaign-finance reform is now being out fund-raised by his counterpart because of his own rules.

Ironic that the party in favor of a “free press” cloisters their VP nominee, Palin, from any exposure to the press.

Ironic that Palin, a staunch opponent of sex education in schools — even if it’s limited to teaching abstinence — has a teenage daughter who is pregnant.

Ironic that McCain calls Obama “elite” while the combined net worth of Obama and Biden is a fraction of the networth of Palin, and Palin’s net worth is a fraction of McCain’s!!

Ironies that may shift the entire political and economic field.

Have something important to say? Light a fire on the Cause of Liberty blog.

Move the Cause of Liberty by (1) subscribing to the Sentinel, a free weekly newsletter boldly illuminating the principles of freedom in a darkening nation, and (2) pledging your Life, Liberty, and Sacred Honor to the Cause by signing the Declaration of Dependence.

Copyright © 2008 by The Cause of Liberty. All rights reserved.

Alex, skilled and energetic, wants to jump as high as he can and perform tricks. Libby, unaware of her surroundings, jumps wildly, often upending Avery. Avery has a good time, yet she’s at risk from her older, heavier, more capable siblings. Much of the time was spent cautioning Alex and Libby to be careful with Avery. In fact, the experience revolved around catering to Avery, the youngest, weakest, and least capable in our family.

One adult and three kids on a trampoline — a microchosm of society, or at least what it should be. The following are the lessons I identified:

1. Cater to the weakest.

Just as we cared for baby Avery on the trampoline, in the ideal society, individuals voluntarily serve and uplift the weak, the poor, the aged, the disabled. Competition and cooperation go hand-in-hand; competition increases quality while cooperation ensures peace and stability. Competition should never create ill feeling; cooperation should never create dependency. The goal of this ideal isn’t to take the strongest down to the level of the weakest; rather it is to uplift the weak to increased capacity, thus raising all of society without creating wide discrepancies in social status and/or wealth distribution.

2. Create outlets for all skill levels and interests.

While the ideal caters to the weakest, it also allows for full expression of every individual, including the most talented and capable. The disease of socialism is that it tends toward mediocrity, tearing down the able in the name of “helping” the weak. In the ideal, catering to the weak is never done at the expense of the strong. In the case of our trampoline experience, we took turns so that each child could do what they wanted and grow on their terms. Alex took a turn alone, doing flips and aerials. Libby did her crazy thing. Then, I held Avery in my arms and we all jumped together. No desires were sacrificed, Avery was protected and made to enjoy the experience at a higher level than she could alone.

Think of this concept in a public school setting. Inevitably, in a class of 25 or more students, the “slow” learners get left behind, while the “fast” learners quickly become bored. Both the weak and the strong suffer.

Imagine a setting where each individual is allowed to learn and progress on their own terms, at their own speed. Then, having grown, they help others to do the same.

3. Protect rights.

Just as my youngest daughter needed to be protected from physical danger posed by her siblings, the ideal society has a strong institution that protects the rights of every individual. Keeping individuals safe from harm from others is not the same as giving every individual the same material goods.

4. The ideal is for all of this to happen at the level of family and community.

Politicians and bureaucrats in Washington have no intimate knowledge of, nor a relationship with, the members of our communities. While families and community members voluntarily serve each other, the federal government relies solely upon force to institute “goodwill.” Top-down, removed-from-the-source charity always tends toward bureaucracy, wastes money and misemploys resources, and depends upon force as its animating factor.

Ideal charity is animated by voluntary love, is based on intimate relationships, makes the most productive use of resources as possible, and creates independence from dependence, and interdependence from independence.

Conclusion

So who cares? There’s no startling revelation here. What matters is what we do with this knowledge, not what we sit and ponder on. Be a bridge-builder: Identify where society is, where it should be, then quietly and powerfully insert yourself in the middle. Find people that need to be served and serve them. Help the unemployed develop skills and find employment. Help addicts find freedom. Care for your aged parents in your own home instead of sending them to a retirement center. Be active in your community. Be true to your spouse and loving to your children. Teach your children the importance of service, especially through your example. Remove the need for federal government force by replacing it with family and community-centered voluntary charity.

The next time you’re disgusted with federal government waste, deception, and/or force, turn that disgust into positive action by building your family and community. The stronger our families and communities, the less involved and smaller the government can be. And spend some time jumping on a trampoline — there’s no telling what you’ll learn.

Move the Cause of Liberty by (1) subscribing to the Sentinel, a free weekly newsletter boldly illuminating the principles of freedom in a darkening nation, and (2) pledging your Life, Liberty, and Sacred Honor to the Cause by signing the Declaration of Dependence.

Copyright © 2008 by The Cause of Liberty. All rights reserved.