Source of Liberty

"Liberty has never come from Government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it."

Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States of America

The single greatest threat to financial liberty is rapidly becoming the State. 

The government of the United States of America was established for the express purposes of securing the liberty of the People.  For much of its history it has been true to that charter.  However, in recent years the government has been taken over by degrees with views that are envious and covetous of private wealth. This poisonous elixir is transforming our government from a protector of financial liberty into a predator seeking to take control of both the means of production and the wealth those means produce.

As Milton Friedman notes, economic freedom is foundational to political freedom.  While we engage in a struggle for liberty at the ballot box, those who cherish freedom must also take reasonable measures to protect their wealth against unreasonable search and seizure by a predatory government. Because the government has co-opted banks into becoming an enforcement arm of the fiscal policies of the US Government, those institutions can no longer play a significant role in your efforts to preserve your wealth.

When did it become the right of government to know every aspect of your financial world? The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has determined that income taxes are constitutional and the 16th Amendment to the Constitution made is so when it was ratified in 1913. Does the lawful nature of income tax give government the right to search your financial records without warrant or due process? It does not. And yet, that is where we are today. Through its private proxies, the banks, the US Government monitors every transaction you make that approaches or exceed $10,000.  As though a major transaction is probable cause for warrantless surveillance.

While we believe that it is appropriate for citizens to honestly declare their incomes for purposes of taxation, it is manifestly not appropriate for citizens to supinely place their wealth on a proverbial doorstep for the government, or others, to confiscate at their whim and will. Government has increasingly shown an ability and willingness to avoid or pervert due process of law to confiscate the wealth of citizens. It is not now, nor ever has been the duty of citizens to submit to the will of a predatory government, regardless of the social elements which may support such measures. The majority of the mob demanded the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth at the hands of the Romans. Neither their number, nor their volume made their demands moral or right.

The Constitution of the United States and The Bill of Rights established a structure of government that generally thwarted the unrighteous will of both the minority and the majority in their efforts to oppress the “other.” The chief principle it used to do this is the very limited rights ceded by the People to the government. At least since the days of President Wilford Woodruff those constitutional principles have been under attack by many who have expressly sworn oaths to defend it. We, here in the 21st Century stand in the path of a wave of tyranny that has been building within our country for more than 100 years. It remains to be seen if we will be up to the challenge to preserve our liberties for ourselves, much less for the next generation.

In our parent’s day millions of citizens went to war in Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Islands to directly combat the forces of fascism which sought to dominate the world.  After World War II the struggle continued in a “Cold War” which finally seemed at an end with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Unfortunately, the seeds of Communist tyranny, like tares amid the wheat, have been sown in the fields “behind the lines.” The Communistic Hippies of the 1960’s now hold the reigns of power in Washington and for decades now have overrun the halls of academia. They have indoctrinated many citizens and our children to believe that the oppression and poverty of Communism is good and the freedom and prosperity of Capitalism is bad.

To stand, and to win, in the face of such forces requires not only wit and resolve, it requires financial resources. If we cannot maintain our economic liberty, it is doubtful we will have the means to maintain our political liberty.