There has been a lot of soul searching in the wake of this election, and everyone is looking at the result in a different way.
No matter what you are thinking, and no matter what your perspective, I can tell you with 100% confidence – America is Not Dead.
How can I be so sure?
Because America has never been defined by a President, and certainly never defined by a single person. In fact – the greatness of America has never relied on elected officials at any level.
The greatness of America is that for the first time in human history free people came together and willingly formed a governmental system which was designed to protect individual rights. It is the individual that defines the United States –not a pseudo-monarch.
The founders designed a Constitution with the goal of protecting liberty and property for each individual – not heaping notoriety or significance on the President. For us to do this is to move away from what will restore the Republic. It isn’t about centralized power or ability in one man. It is about de-centralized power, and protecting the individual so they may pursue happiness in the way they see fit and drive prosperity for themselves and their family.
For generations, men in pursuit of power or some kind of collectivist vision for the Republic have sought to weaken this foundation of individual rights. And yes – at times they have succeeded.
But guess what? Our rights do not come from them. Our rights were not formed by them, and our rights cannot be taken by them. As long as my heart beats – I will defend the cause of freedom.
I’ve always loved the Mises Institute motto which they took from Virgil “Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito” Translated: “Do not give in to evil, but proceed ever more boldly against it.”
You see, our fight – the fight to protect individual rights – is bigger than any one man. It’s much bigger than Obama. This fight existed long before he was born, and it will last long after he dies. A free society requires personal responsibility and self-ownership. These ideas are challenged with each generation, and must be defended. Just look at the statists that came before us – Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and many more.
All the solutions for the future rest in protection of individual rights, not in waiting for a hero to show up at high noon and save us.
If you thought someone was going to ride into DC and wave a magic wand and fix all of the world’s problems – you were wrong.
If you thought that we could change generations of eroding liberty in just one election – you were wrong.
If you placed your hope and faith in a political party or politician to change your future – you were wrong.
We have everything we’ll ever need to fix the Republic right in front of us. All you need to do is look in the mirror, and ask yourself – who owns me?
If the answer is – you own yourself, then take ownership of your actions with your family, then community, then county, then state. You don’t need permission to do this, and you don’t need someone in DC to do it for you.
By starting with each individual, we can fix the country from the bottom up. It is about fixing the foundation – not some monarch-like figure head with a proclivity for abusing power. Firing Obama would have been nice, but it would never have solved what truly ails the Republic.
Our problems are much more fundamental than one man, so we should not dwell on any one man.
As I stated in my last post called, “Obama Won, What Now?”
“The fundamentals of what we must do to save the Republic were not going to change regardless of this election. We still have a path and it does not revolve around candidates or political parties. That paradigm must end. The path to substantive change requires these 3 steps I will discuss in great detail at a later time:
Step 1: Make Local Electoral Impact a Reality – win local, expand once successful
Step 2: Boost Impact with Policy Based Success – issues based coalition building
Step 3: Restore Federalism – with the combination of electoral impact and policy success from previous steps – start cutting the strings from DC that control our state
Duplicate in key states across the United States. Restore the Republic from the bottom up.
This path remains unchanged, and it can be done.”
America is definitely not dead because I know the vast majority of individuals who live in America still want economic freedom to provide for themselves and their families and personal freedom to choose the life that they want to live.
We need to work on better articulating a view of the world rooted in individual rights and protecting everyone’s ability to pursue their own respective American dream. People still want these things, and we should be willing to fight for them.
Mankind’s natural desire for liberty has not been extinguished, and so America most certainly has not died.
Chris-this won’t go over very well with you, I’m sure-but I just have to express my thoughts. Your statements about one man not being the answer to our country’s problems are a bit hypocritical, don’t you think? I couldn’t tell you how many dozens, maybe hundreds of times I heard or read Paul supporters say-very arrogantly and condescendingly- that Ron Paul was the ONLY MAN WHO COULD SAVE THIS COUNTRY. And I heard many of them say they weren’t going to vote at all or were voting for Gary Johnson in this election. It was ‘Ron Paul or none at all’ with many thousands of his supporters. They just couldn’t bring themselves to vote for “the lesser of two evils”. So-we end up with the much, much greater of two evils. Many of us realize that obama has and will continue to bring this country to a place that will be unrecognizable in another 4 years. Was Mitt Romney perfect? No. No man is. And I’m not going to rehash my thoughts about him being a capitalist and obama a socialist, etc. its all been said before. But it can’t be overlooked that many people that you and i both know-chose to make a point this year. And as a result-we will endure a very long 2nd term of a man whose intent to destroy this country will probably be realized.
I think most Ron Paul supporters (like me) respected and supported him not as one man who could fix things, but as an individual embodying a philosophy we believed in.
In fact I wrote that here https://chrislittleton.com/2012/08/21/why-is-ron-paul-still-going/ which was picked up the Ron Paul campaign, and a bunch of other liberty minded and Ron Paul friendly sites. They obviously agreed with me – never the man, always the message.
I can also tell you I heard those words come from Ron Paul’s mouth when I was sitting with him in his office a couple years ago. We were talking about the way forward, and he thought the focus should be much less about the President and DC, and more about the states and the people. He made a point to use himself as an example, saying he could not fix the problems either.
He agrees with me – liberty rests in each individual, not in government and most certainly not in any one man.
Then I don’t think he made that message very clear to a lot of his supporters. Did he agree with them that Mitt Romney was the lesser of two evils-encouraging his supporters to NOT VOTE rather than vote for Mitt Romney? My whole point was just that a whole lot of his supporters DID think that he was the only man who could save our republic. And he did not discourage them from thinking that. Maybe to you-he said those words-but thousands of his supporters didn’t believe it. I know some of them. When he didn’t win the nomination-they dropped out and decided they were either not going to vote-or they would vote for someone else who had no chance of winning-on principle. You said it yourself-you worked with many people who said they absolutely would NEVER support Romney. Even though they knew that the only other choice was obama. Did that hand the election to obama? I don’t know. But a lot of “Christians” said they didn’t vote this year. They are either anti-Morman -or they believed that Romney was no different than obama. And that’s what the Paul supporters believed. It’s easy to say one man can’t change things when your choice didn’t win.
Ron Paul supporters refusal to support Romney had nothing to do with what Ron Paul did or did not say. In fact – he never pushed anyone to or away from Romney. Once he was out, he just stayed out of it. Of additional note – they are not blind followers of anyone, so his words wouldnt have made a difference.
They wouldn’t have supported Romney because they didn’t agree with his record in the past, nor his proposals for the future (more debt, spending, foreign intervention, expanded attack on personal liberties, etc). They didnt support him because of what he stood for. Pretty simple.
Many believe that Romney and Obama were no choices at all. It seems that millions of Americans felt the same way given that voter turnout across the country, and definitely in Ohio, was down in comparison to 2008.
Chris,
To a point I agree, but what President Obama has been building is a structure that goes against our Constitution. Now he has 4 more years to keep pulling us down to what they have in Europe and other parts of the world. His network of czars are already by-passing our “elected” Congress with mandates and laws that are the result of “Executive Orders”. President Obama is single handedly killing our nation and I am shocked at how many educated people have overlooked what he’s doing to us. I honestly believe we are headed to another Civil War because of what is currently happening in Washington. Texas has been threatening seccession for years and there is a movement for it that is picking up support. The Federal Government has failed to protect our southern border and states like Texas and Arizona have had enough. Along with that the multitude of taxes and regulations this administration is going to inflict upon us is going to kill our economy. We’re in deep trouble right now and I truly fear what kid of nation my children will be dealing with in their adult life.
Presidents long before Obama abused executive power. They set the precedence for this unconstitutional practice long ago. Did you know that George W Bush had 290 executive orders in his tenure, one of which was the 4th amendment killing arrest and detention of thousands of people after 9/11 with absolutely no charges whatsoever. In fact, Bush’s 290 executive orders is actually ahead of Obama’s 139 executive orders in his first term, with Obama not even on pace to beat him.
The republicans used executive orders and appointed “Czars” – just like Obama. He didn’t invent this stuff. He is just following precedence others before him set. I’m not saying its right, because I hate it. I’m just saying its not new. Liberty was under attack long before Obama, and both parties have plenty of blame to go around.
We have been heading this direction for years. The problem is not Obama. He is just the latest embodiment of the problem.
If we want real change, we’ve got to stop relying on DC, and we’ve got to stop hoping and praying for some benevolent dictator to step up. Change rests with the people, and their ability to stand up to tyranny and the courage to use their individual states as shields from this federal tyranny. Federalism is the key. Think local!
Chris,
I fully understand that Czars and EOs have been used by previous Presidents. I don’t agree with the practice because it does by pass the strengths of our Constitution regarding separation of powers. But I think more people need to be made aware of how these EOs are being used and that the Czars help President Obama carry out the rules and mandates in those EOs. I’ve been reading through his EOs and between his favoritism towards minorities and the stricter rules for so called “green energy” inititatives it’s only a small part on how he’s costing us more money and adding red tape to getting something accomplished. I’m all for “going green” but not at the expense of doing it right. Mandating it is not the best way to go about it.
People need to start watching this closely because I firmly believe he’ll make wider use of these EOs now that he knows he won’t be re-elected in 4 years.
I totally disagree. While America is not defined by a president, it most certainly is and has been defined by their actions. And as a nation we have given up our freedom because of our lack of involvement over the years. And have allowed those who would take our freedom from us the ability to do so. We have allowed our elected officials to do whatever they wanted to while we sat back and watched it happen because we thought that they still loved our country and ‘that’s not so bad’ when they offered assistance to those in need. Which then became a way of life.
so, you agree – the people sat back and let elected officials take power they had no ability to take. therefore, it remains up to the people (not corrupt politicians) to fix things.
america’s greatness has never been found in DC, nor will its future.
The problem is not the “elected officials”. The elected officials are a result of the problem. The problem is the majority of people would rather have freebies than freedom and the ignorant people of this country who ignore or deny the things our government does.
Ignorance is definitely part of the problem, but once again – DC is not going to fix this.
Each of us should be an ambassador for freedom. Freedom is contagious and incredibly powerful. Once a mind is freed (how Matrix of me), it can never be fooled again.
I’m not saying we dont have work to do, but I have found more freedom-friendly, liberty loving people in the last few years than I ever thought existed, and I have found an ideological r3volution booming on America’s college campuses the likes of which I have never seen.
The philosophy of liberty is alive and well. In fact – its rising oh so quickly.
People rejected Romney, but certainly did not embrace Obama. Both parties got fewer votes than 2008. Doesnt sound like a much a mandate for any kind of philosophy to me. Sounds more like mutual disgust…a thirst for truth in the population.
People are primed for the right message. A message rooted in liberty. Its just not going to come from DC or most elected officials. It has to come from us.
I hate to be a downer, but lets face the facts. If “the vast majority of individiuals” wanted freedom, then Obama would not have won.
For the first time in American “history free people came together and willingly” chose a governmental system which was designed to TAKE away individual rights. America is not lost because of one man, no one man, no outside country could have taken away our spirit and our freedom. Only, We the People could have destroyed ourselves – and the majority of “We The People” did just that on Tuesday.
You’re wrong about it even being a majority. There is definitely a small, tireless minority who effected the outcome of that election. No doubt.
However, less than half the country even voted, and only about half of those voting supported Obama.
And, I can tell you from running a huge voter ID program this year based in issues – a huge chunk of those who support Obama, but do not support his ideas. Talk about cognitive dissonance. It was incredible.
So yes, Obama won an election, but look at any research you like and you’ll see American’s don’t support his ideas.
In fact – its not even a reason people voted for him or most politicians. People cast votes out tradition, loyalty, history and plenty of emotional reasons. Lots of polling and research proves this to be true.
Check out this video showing a bunch of Obama supporters who dislike all his positions, but still support him. https://chrislittleton.com/2012/10/26/video-obama-supporters-oppose-his-policies/
Yes – he was elected, but his ideology is not supported. Americans just need to get over all these silly party labels, and start actually voting their principles. We’ve be a better place overnight.
I think one of our jobs is to market freedom friendly ideas in a much better way. Romney did not even come close to embodying freedom, so he isnt exactly a good test case.
[…] AMERICA IS NOT DEAD […]
I’m sorry to have to contradict, but America as it was bequeathed to us by the Founders is no more alive than a man who has jumped from a plane at 30,000 feet without a parachute. Once the Supreme Court has been packed, the last vestiges of the Constitution will be swept away. We already have many facets of a police state in place, with more to come – TSA, universal surveillance of the Internet, NDAA. . . .
Obviously those things are HUGE problems. No argument.
I’m merely saying America is not dead as long as we are willing to fight. America’s heart and soul rests with the people, not elected officials.
Things can be fixed, and it was never going to happen in DC. It’s got to happen in the states first. Fix the states and you fix the Republic.
You want to stop TSA or the NDAA – get your state legislatures to give DC the finger. Make them try to enforce these laws. The states can, should and are doing this in a number of instances.
We passed an Ohio Healthcare Freedom Amendment in Ohio in 2011, which was placed on the ballot through citizen’s initiative in the largest volunteer signature gathering effort in Ohio’s history. We then won at the ballot with 66% of the vote, and now have the strongest legal hurdles in place to prevent implementation of any of that state based portion of Obamacare, including the health exchanges which are the key to fining employers in any state.
No exchange – no fines.
This was done through individuals willingly coming together to stand against tyranny, and using their state as a shield against federal tryanny.
There is a path. I have been down the road, and want go down it again and again!