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I was recently a guest on a talk radio show in Denver. During our talk, the host said something about the liberals seeing the best in man, and conservatives seeing man as fallen. Something about this statement bothered me until I realized it was too general in nature.
Collectivists, liberals, socialists, or whatever you call them only see the best in man when they are looking at themselves, whom they see as the ruling elite. Everyone else is, in their eyes, incapable of managing their own affairs, let alone taking care of the affairs of the Almighty State.
Individualists, or conservatives, or whatever you want to call them, believe that man is fallen and should be watched over very carefully when it comes to power over others, while enjoying complete freedom over their own affairs. This is completely in line with Biblical principles and human nature as exemplified by Lord Acton's famous quote "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely". When we have power over no one but ourselves, any corruption harms no one but ourselves.
Collectivism has given rise the worst in human nature, remember the Soviet Union, Cambodia, etc.? This ideology has spawned the largest increase in the size and scope of central governments over the entire world, and the atrocities committed by these corrupted officials are unequalled in history.
Individualism combined with government limited to specific areas is the surest recipe to freedom and prosperity for the largest number of people. The people must, for the most part, be honorable and responsible for their own actions. Lacking this, government must by necessity grow larger and more intrusive in order to maintain the peace.
The collectivists at the top of the heap, with the reins of power in their hands, are well aware of all of this. Their goal is power for the sake of power; the rest is rhetoric to dupe the people into supporting them until such time as they no longer need it. Then the truth comes out, but by then only in whispers.
The United States and the rest of the world are at a critical period in history. Do we return to the principles that made us great or continue to allow ourselves to be pushed down the road to slavery under the United Nations? Make no mistake; the U.N. is intended to be the seat of totalitarian world government. Think of the horrors committed by this ideology magnified to a global scale, and no place to hide. We must stand and fight, or submit.
On the other hand, think of what it would be like in a United States where you were in control of your own life. No more asking a bureaucrat for permission to work to support your family, no more having half of your income stolen by your government, and much of the rest being devalued by that same group through the machine called inflation. Think of wars being extremely rare, as we would have no enemies such as we have today due to our interventionist foreign policies. Imagine freedom. Is it worth spending your time and money for, or will you finish reading this, turn on the TV and open a beer. The choice is yours, but the entire world will reap what is sown by America in the next few years.
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Pat Baska
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