Life's Inanities and Ironies

During the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key wrote a song about a star-spangled banner waving over the land of the free. Is this land still free? Are you free to earn a living as you see fit? More and more jobs now require a license to practice. The licensing board, made up of your would-be competitors, can block your entry because they better connected politically than you are. Are you free to enjoy the fruits of your labor? The government takes roughly half of everything you earn. In addition, the government is encumbering your future earnings (and the earnings of future generations) by amassing ever increasing debt. Are you free to use your property as you see fit, as long as you do not infringe on the rights of others? You are required to get the permission of bureaucrats before you can build anything on your own property. Even if you submit to all of the government's use requirements, your home and property can be taken from you in favor of a "public use" (such as a fur...

I am posting this in the hopes that those who have never read it will take the time and realize that once again our nation is at a cusp that may call on us to make sacrifices to keep our Liberty once more. "Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death" "No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope that it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen, if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It i...