True Freedom

2002-7-6 05:46:00

True Freedom
My American Friends. I hope you had a good Fourth of July. And to those of you who are not Americans I hope you had as good one too, even though you did not celebrate a holiday.

On this day when many celebrate freedom and independence it would be a good idea to reflect on just what true freedom and independence is.

Unfortunately, illusion is increasing worldwide on just what freedom is and the dark clouds covering their vision is becoming so thick and so ubiquitous that the concept of false freedom is threatening to replace true freedom.

The two views of freedom are easy to state but hard for the masses to understand, yet the Lights must radiate the true principle to the masses or else the Dark Brothers will have their victory. The glorious vision of the New Age can only be manifested through the principle of true freedom. Without it, the coming age will be a mere repetition of the darkest of ages.

Just as there is Antichrist there is anti-freedom. The false view of freedom is as follows:

"I am becoming freer so long as my I have increased power to fulfill my desires, even this causes a decrease in the freedom of others by forcing individuals or groups to forfeit their desired freedoms"

True Freedom:
"I cannot fulfill my desires at the expense of the freedom of others because I am one with my brethren. If the whole is diminished then the freedom of each individual is ultimately threatened. I can only enjoy true freedom for myself when the power I use does not diminish the freedom of the group or the individual. I take my freedom the day I allow freedom for all - the day that my use of power heals, not hurts; empowers, not diminishes; sets free and not enslaves. I am free only if my freewill increases the freedom of the whole."

When one reads these two statements almost all will think they fit into the second category, but the true principle of freedom is so clouded by dogma and our own little desires that the majority fits in the first category in several areas of their thinking.

Abraham Lincoln understood these two views of freedom and was personally puzzled that so many otherwise intelligent people fell into the first category. Time and time again he heard southerners express the idea that they would lose freedom if they had to give up their slaves. Lincoln had difficulty having empathy for this idea since freedom in their mind depended on the slavery of an entire race and he commented on how faulty this reasoning was.

The idea of many in the Old South that fighting for the retention of slavery was a fight for freedom may seem odd to us, but it made sense to them within their framework.

They believed that their slaves increased freedom because:

(1) Their slaves did many menial chores and tiresome labor. The slave owner had more free time to work at enjoyable activities.

(2) The slaves normally received no wages so this gave the slave owner greater profits and more financial freedom. In fact it seemed that slave labor gave all the Southern States more financial freedom.

(3) They feared that if slaves were given their freedom that their own freedom would be threatened.

All of this was illusion. For one thing the North which had no slaves was richer than the South with slaves. The North also was not threatened by free blacks.

Then too, since the civil war in an atmosphere of freedom we have developed appliances and machinery that gives us much more freedom without slaves than any civilization had in the past with slaves.

It is interesting that all who seek to enslave the souls of humanity do so in the name of freedom. Even the most notorious of villains, Adolph Hitler sought to enslave the nations of the earth in the name of freedom.

Freedom for whom?

Freedom for the handful of people who agreed with him, but to the great detriment of freedom for the rest of the world.

So now it is obvious to all of us that the first category is illusion - right?

Wrong.

Just like the people of the Old South were caught up in an illusionary idea of freedom, even so do the people of today do the same thing. The only difference is the focus has shifted.

"But no one in the free world supports the idea of slavery or totalitarianism today. Surely most people will support the second view."

It would seem that way until one examines the new slavery which was prophesied by Isaiah:

"For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. Now therefore, what have I here, saith the LORD, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed. Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I. Isa 52:4-6

Here the Lord mentions the plight of the Israelites who were slaves in ancient Egypt, but in referring to the future he talks of a time when with no money is paid for the slaves (taken away for nought) and "they that rule over them make them to howl."

Isaiah says that this slave master will be able to boast: "I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped." Isa 10:13-14

So who is this latter day slave master who makes his subjects "howl?" Who is he who thinks he is clever in removing the "bounds of the people," (restricting property rights) "robbed their treasures" (heavy taxation) and "put down the inhabitants like a valiant man?" (treated those he robs as criminals if they do not cooperate).

And what is the attitude of the modern day slaves:

"...there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped."

Unlike the ancient Hebrew slaves, who wanted a deliverer, these modern slaves do not move the wing, open their mouths, or make a peep of resistance.

How is it that our situation corresponds to slavery?

The answer is quite simple. The first most glaring response is:

TAXATION
The average taxpayer in the United States (all hidden and obvious taxes considered) pays around 50% of his income to the government. Other nations fare even worse, paying up to 70% or more.

Before the Revolutionary War the United States had no income tax and the whole rebellion was ignited by tariffs imposed by the British without the consent of the governed.

Wouldn't it be nice if the only tax we had today were a few tariffs? Instead of rebelling as did the Founding Fathers, most taxpayers would rejoice.

Another interesting point is that many of the slaves in ancient Greece, Rome and other states were allowed to keep 50% of what they earned and many eventually saved enough to buy their freedom.

What is the reasoning for this situation we are in where our tribute is higher than ancient slaves and often twice the amount of medieval surfs? The ancient slaves could buy their way out of their situation, but modern man is unable to do this at any price.

To understand this we need to look at the real cause of the rebellion of the Founding Fathers. The cause was not the amount of the tax itself, but there were two factors which very much concerned them:

(1) Taxation without representation.
(2) The fact that taxation could be increased without the consent of the taxpayer.

Unfortunately, we have this same situation today to an even greater degree with more arms of taxation than mere tariffs.

Many who pay taxes feel that they have no voice (representation) on how the money is spent.

On the second point, few taxpayers feel they have any say or influence regarding continuing tax increases.

Why is it that the modern slave master (governments of the earth) continues to raise taxes to the strangulation level?

The answer is quite simple.

They feel that their main job description is to spend our money in ways that will please their constituents. Since it is in the nature and disposition of almost all people to perform their job well, the various representatives seek spend money in creative ways that will please the voters and pressure groups. In attempting to spend money on as many voters and pressure groups as possible they find there is never enough money to go a round. Therefore, they seek to continually raise additional revenue through an increase in taxation

This drift takes us toward a major problem which is becoming a threat to civilization as we know it. It is this:

As the powers-that-be tax the many and give to the few, the few become the many and the many want more and more from those who are taxed. Finally we reach a situation (as exists now) where the majority of the people are receiving benefits from the taxpayer from which they are making little or no contribution. We are also reaching the point where about half of the people in the United States do not pay any income tax with the other half paying excessive tax. Yet those who pay little or no income tax reap entitlements from the tax.

Consider this: If we have half of the people paying no income tax, yet reaping payments from the tax - how are they going to vote?

Because they pay no tax - will they be concerned about increasing the tax "on the rich" and not so rich?

No. This group will be happy to elect representatives who will increase taxes because they are free from the increased tax, but have increase benefits themselves.

This puts the taxpayer in the situation of the ancient slaves. The amount they are taxed is not determined by themselves, but by freeloaders who pay no income taxes.

Those who support representatives who are for higher taxes are therefore in category one mentioned earlier.

Let me repeat it:

"I am becoming freer so long as my I have increased power to fulfill my desires, even this causes a decrease in the freedom of others by forcing individuals or groups to forfeit their desired freedoms"

Remember when we applied this principle to the Old South and how it made sense?

But if we apply it to people today making the same error many will be offended. Even so, let us continue.

A hot topic of the day in the U.S. is free prescription drugs. Many who do not pay income tax (or pay tax and want their share back) want to become freer by forcing others (the taxpayer) to forfeit their desired freedoms to buy them drugs.

There are hundreds of government give-away programs where the same principle applies. Those who receive feel they are obtaining greater freedom and overlook the fact that this freedom is at the expense of the loss of freedom of many others.

They are like the Old South who felt their slaves made them free and had no desire to free them.

"But," says a supporter, "many of the programs do so much good. People need prescription drugs, they need welfare, farmers need price supports, big business needs subsidies, the elderly need Medicaid, the sex life of the black beetle needs studied and so on. If we do not force people to pay for these programs through taxes then many will suffer."

That's what the Old South said when faced with freeing the slaves. "If we free the slaves, then all the benefits we receive from them will disappear, our way of life will change and we shall be devastated."

But the slaves were freed and it was not long before they were more prosperous than ever.

Would the same thing happen if the modern slaves were freed and were able to give consent to the system of taxation? If we eliminated "taxation without representation" so the taxpayer could not be forced to pay tax by those who do not pay (or receive more benefit than they pay out), would our system collapse?

On the contrary, things would get better. Much better. The economy would go through the roof and tax evasion would be reduced to a minimum because of true fairness.

The second way many of us are in a slave-like situation is:

TO MANY LAWS
Every year thousands of new laws are passed and virtually none of the old ones are repealed.

Each of these laws is a restriction of freedom. That is what a civil law does. It restricts.

What, therefore, should be our attitude toward law? Because law restricts freedom then to have the maximum amount of freedom we need the minimum number of laws.

Legislators should spend as much time figuring out how to eliminate laws as they do in making them until the nation works efficiently on only those laws which are essential to our well being.

If we were to educate the people on the right thing to do, most of the laws could be dropped and society would be the better for it.

Thus we have briefly covered two principles in establishing maximum freedom. Do not increase the servitude of others so you can benefit and keep only those laws absolutely essential to our well being.