What was the Question?

I feel like I should explain what the question is that "freedom" is the answer to.

Well, I guess it's obvious that I think it is the answer to a lot of things. Primarily I'm talking about how governments operate (although we can scale it down to businesses and households too). When faced with a crisis of some sort (and boy, can people dream up some crises!), our federal government usually feels the need to "do something" about it...to "fix" it. The problem with that is that governments are almost 100% incapable of fixing anything. The need can come from lobbyist's pressure, pressure from the voters in some way, or -- I would bet -- often times it comes from the need to feel like they're doing something useful and important. I mean, they feel like they have a job to do, and without some problem to solve, what exactly are they supposed to do? (I'll conveniently leave out any kind of kick-backs, bribes, pork, etc. as that is another discussion entirely -- let's just pretend we have angels representing us for now.)

The kind of question that "more freedom" is the answer to, is when you're trying to solve a problem -- a problem involving people -- and you ask "what's the BEST way to handle this?" Now, the way MOST people respond to problems is to restrict freedom in some way. This doesn't just go for governments, this is pretty much human nature. This is also the reason the progressive line of thinking persists after it is proven NOT to work time, and time again. People forget the lessons, or more often they think "oh this time/situation is different" or whatever and that all the lessons of history don't apply. The thing is is that the lessons of the past DO apply.

You see, because although we've evolved in many ways as a species (arguably), we're really the same people that our ancestors were. The human condition doesn't change. That's why ancient philosophy and The Bible are still relevant. They will always be relevant. Yes, we've learned a lot over the last 10,000 years, but we still have all the same desires and fears, etc. (generally speaking). Besides, you don't have to go back that far to look for the lessons; go back 100 years, maybe 200 if you're still not convinced. They get repeated over and over again because the truth is this: The right answer is not always the answer you want to hear.

Self-reliance

I'll borrow the title from Emerson's famous essay to address an issue that seems to be lost on a lot of Americans today. Watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOamUwmtIoU

I'm sorry Chris Matthews fans, but this guy is a joke. You do not want to live in a country where you're taken care of from cradle to grave -- or really any stretch there in between. The social state that he thinks is so great has been one of the greatest causes of our steady demise. Social security, welfare, medicaid/medicare, etc. Every single one of these programs is nothing but a drain on society. Worst of all, they don't even serve those they aim to serve. The weirdest thing is that I bet most people -- the general public and politicians alike -- really do know this deep down. However, for some reason (it's called political correctness), it is seemingly impossible to get rid of these programs.

It's easy to see why: As soon as someone makes a serious attempt to do so, they would be attacked for not caring about the poor or the unemployed or whoever. It's not a good reputation no matter what side of the aisle you sit on.

I want to be brief so let me cut to the chase: The societies with the highest percentage of people living in poverty, are those with the most controlling governments. I'll even leave out the out-right totalitarian dictators from this discussion and just focus on the simply socialist leaders who at least APPEAR to care for those they govern. Look at Europe; they've introduced various socialist measures over the last several years (decades?) now and demonstrated for US how NONE OF IT WORKS! Most Western European countries (who left-wingers love to point at as examples we should follow) have been sliding down economically due to their grand government measures (can you say universal healthcare?) Of course we could just look at Russia, but that whole communist experiment might as well have happened during Fred Flintstone's time since it's only just a history story now, rather than something to learn from.

The reason this struggle of ideologies continues is because what the liberals set out to do DOES give the appearance of helping those who can't help themselves. It DOES seem that giving money to people to "help them get by" is a good thing, but that idea is proven wrong every day in slums and projects all over the country. Since the "right" answer "appears" to leave people hanging, it still remains as unpopular as ever with losers everywhere.

People really can (and should) take care of themselves. Not just so they aren't a burden to others (that's secondary), but so they can have some dignity and live a better life. When they can't -- really, really can't -- help themselves, family, friends and neighbors have a responsibility to help. No family? No friends? Charities have always been around...funded by people who willingly give out of their hearts (tax breaks came later).