Protecting Our Freedoms

The following is Special to The Bold Pursuit ^sm  -- a Patriotic Perspectives feature

by Delia Lopez

We all want to be free and we all say we want everyone else to be free. The idea of forcing a fellow human being into slavery today is abhorrent to us. The theme of “Uncle Sam's Plantation,” by Star Parker, is slavery imposed by big government. “Uncle Sam’s Plantation” talks about people enslaved by a government whose main desire seems to be increasing the size and power of government. This system does not really help to improve the lives of the people they say they want to help. People who are trapped in the system of government aid and control know this better than any of us. A wise man once said, “The goal of any welfare system should be to eliminate the need for its existence.” That is a wise goal, meaning the objective is to empower people to achieve their dreams.



A secondary benefit of empowering people is the elimination of poverty in our nation. Children dream of growing up to be a nurse, a doctor, a fireman or even president. No one dreams of growing up to be poor. Our national welfare system has become a horrendous burden on the people paying for it – the United States taxpayers. For every $5 taken from taxpayers, usually less than $1 actually goes to a person in need and the funds are spent in an ongoing subsistence battle with no real end goal in the plan.

I wrote a more detailed explanation in my blog on how I suggest we approach the elimination of poverty and the empowerment of the individual. My plan starts with education. I spoke at the graduation of 2010 for Heald College in Portland, Oregon. They are working magic to educate and empower people – an admiral aspiration. Per an old proverb, ‘Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach them to fish and you can change their life.’

Consider this: two years in a community college costs approximately $10,000. Why can’t we re-create training schools that focus on needed professions so that a person could step into the school and two years later step out with the training to be a nurse or dental hygienist or any number of good paying professions? Steady and respectable employment empowers individuals to choose how to spend their lives.

Americans must take steps to stop our governments out of control spending. It is not benefiting us, and I see little evidence that uncontrolled government spending on foreign aid is making a much of a contribution in the world. The amount of money we spend in foreign aid is astronomical. In most cases, money allocated for international purposes is taken from the working class, and given to despots in foreign lands.

I call our war on drugs "Prohibition 2.” Prohibition did not work the first time; and it only made Al Capone and others rich. Prohibition created crime sprees, so why don't we learn? Look at history: we keep doing the same things over and over and expect different results. According to popular opinions, that is the definition of insanity!

Currently, we spend about $69 billion annually in the drug war; 88% of those arrested are only charged for marijuana possession. We also spend a bunch weeding ditches. Yep, 97% of the “weed” eradicated by the Feds is wild hemp, not an intoxicating substance. Hunters and environmentalists both oppose eradicating the wild hemp plant. The hemp plant provides valuable feed and cover for wildlife. Did you know that FIVE times more people die in the USA every year from prescription drugs (taken as prescribed) than all illegal drugs and the abuse of prescription drugs combined? I think the $69 billion spent on the ineffective War on Drugs is better spent elsewhere.

Now, let’s add the costs of the Mexican drug war to that tab. You often hear about American guns in the hands of the drug runners. What you don't hear is that those guns go from the American Government to the Mexican government and are sold or stolen by drug runners. Fully automatic weapons, hand grenades, rocket launchers and most of the gear associated with drug runners is not available at gun shops or gun shows. The El Gato groups you hear about were trained by the American government to fight the drug war for us, and then switched sides because the drug lords pay better. Our border patrol agents are held at gunpoint on American soil while the Mexican military assists the drug cartels.

More Americans are murdered and kidnapped on our borders than in Afghanistan and Iraq combined. We spend a trillion dollars a year fighting terrorism thousands of miles away while our borders are left wide open. Every year, thousands of OTM (other than Mexicans) are caught attempting to enter our country illegally. In a report by a Georgia journalist stated that of the more than 165,000 OTM's we caught, many of them were from the 16 suspected terrorist nations. Does it make sense to send our children to fight and die thousands of miles away while leaving our own border open and unprotected?

We the People need to regain control of our government and decide what we value. What is important to us, what is our goal and how do we plan to pay for it? Heaping debts on our children is unconscionable. Our government has grown to the point where it steals money from citizens to pay for whatever agenda they force into law. The creators of our Constitution created limits on the power of government in order to prevent such things from happening. We must return to following the principles of our Constitution and protect what we value: our Freedom.

Thank You,

Delia Lopez

Delia@dlopezforcongress.com

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