Generally speaking, I agree with most of what Jacob G. Hornberger writes and posts on his Future of Freedom Foundation blog and I appreciate the impact he is having in this chaotic world we live in. Sometimes, though, I am compelled to poke a stick at it, as in this case.
“But the fact is that neither Republicans nor Democrats are the root cause of America’s fiscal woes. Instead, the root cause is a systemic one — the welfare-warfare state, regulated-managed economy system, and national-security state system that have come to characterize our nation.”
Hornberger is correct in that neither Republican nor Democrats are the root cause, but then he errs when he lays the blame squarely on the system, the system that has become a monster, which threatens to destroy everything that we prize and possess as freedom-loving and free people, and which the average American votes to endorse and continue every two years without fail. Unfortunately, it is seen in the way he describes it by far too many people who ought to know better and, maybe do, but prefer not to notice. After all, their way of life might be threatened if they did notice and acted on that knowledge.
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” — Upton Sinclair
No, the system is not the cause of the disease, it is a symptom, a manifestation of the sinful nature of mankind which demands to have more than what is rightfully gained and given. To put it bluntly, greed, and when people give in to the greedy impulse (temptation), it does not matter who pays so long as they get what they want. This is nothing more than a continuation of the sin committed by the First Couple, Adam and Eve, who had everything they needed, but were not satisfied with that and grabbed for more. Whether the story of the Garden of Eden is true or only a metaphor is irrelevant. The principle is the same and people today still operate in that mode and pattern.
Consider what is offered here. The system teaches us from the get-go that it holds the key to life, liberty, and prosperity. All we have to do is engage with it, make our requests known (either through political action and agitation or by filling out the proper forms), expect that it will hear our prayers and supplications (by delivering to us what we ask for), and sending the bill to someone else we don’t even know. In essence, this is very similar to a person, an obese, lazy, irresponsible person who refuses to live in a healthy manner, but depends entirely on the advice of licensed medical practitioners who tell her to “Pop a pill and make an appointment for your next visit on the way out.” After which, of course, the bill for the “service” is submitted to Medicaid or Medicare, and while the “victim” patient may be required to pay a small portion, the bulk of it is paid by everyone else. The system we live in today, from stem to stern, is shot through with this kind of thinking and there is very little done to counteract it or change it. We have become, as a society and culture, dependent on the system to provide for us and we reward it by surrendering our lives to it, body, soul, and spirit.
It is a Beast and we are marked by it.
In the beginning (see Genesis 3), God told Adam and Eve that they were not allowed to take a bite of the apple, the forbidden fruit, but were expected to take Him at His word. However, as soon as they found out that there was another option available to them which promised more, they took it without question and the consequences of that decision are still with us today. In a very real sense, the Serpent still whispers in our ears the same thing which was spoken to Eve. “Do you lack for anything? Seems like God isn’t really being fair by keeping that from you, doesn’t it? Don’t you deserve to have whatever you want or desire? Well, then, just put out your hand and take it. After all, someone else will pay the bill.”
And we do. In fact, politicians are elected, not because they are incorrupt, uncompromised, and honest, but because they promise to deliver more than their opponents, who are running flat-out to give us what we think we want. It is not so much a question of voting for the lesser of two evils, but more along the lines of voting for the one who promises to give us the most. And who promises to send the bill to someone else, preferably someone who is richer than we are.
Greed. Envy. Covetousness. Perhaps even a dollop of malice and a desire for revenge. Not a good base on which to build a country, a society, a world.
Hornberger continues,
“So long as Americans choose to continue this dysfunctional way of life, federal spending and debt will continue to soar, regardless of whether Democrats or Republicans are in charge.
This is where the soul-searching has to take place among the American people.”
I completely agree with this and have been saying this for a long, long time, but the method I propose does not begin with a community agreement, but with the individual person, at the very bottom of his soul where he lives and, afterward spreads out into the society at large, affecting that in a positive manner. Like ripples spreading across a pond after a stone has been thrown into it. Or, perhaps, more personal, like yeast which is mixed into a lump of bread dough causing it to turn from an inedible mass into a delicious loaf, preferably eaten straight out of the oven and dripping with butter.
We are saddled today with a warfare-welfare state, a regulated-managed economy system, and a national-security state system, not because it has been foisted on us involuntarily, but because that is the route we decided to travel. Because we, as individuals, bought into the idea that we can have what we want without personal responsibility, that taking from those we don’t know to support our lifestyles is not a moral wrong, that force, fraud, and violence are to be preferred over the clear order given and expanded on–“You shall not… You shall not eat the apple. You shall not steal. You shall not worship anything besides the Truth, which I AM.” Changing this to a corrupted form that “You shall not steal, except by majority vote” does not invalidate the basic truth that every sin, all the time, is a form of theft in some way or another and this society and culture are fully complicit in the practice of it.
“And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.” — 1 Samuel 8:18
Your king. The one you chose for yourselves. The one you begged to have. The one who promised to give you everything you wanted so you voted for him. Or her.
We, the People, live in a society in which nearly everything has been brought under the control of government. We are nearly completely dependent on this “king” for our protection, our sustenance, our health, even our very lives. The worst part of it is that the system we have built is the one we have built. Our king, which we chose for ourselves. Exactly the way we wanted it.
And there is no relief. God, no matter how many prayers we utter in anguish and heartache, is not going to hear us because we have not learned yet what it means to worship a false god. We are not likely to until we have been wrung out so there is nothing left to turn to — except God, Who has been there all the time, patiently waiting until we get our heads out of our collective ass and significantly change our ways. — https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2022/07/03/we-want-a-king-give-us-a-king/
The only way to exterminate the system which rules us is to change ourselves, to root out the mendacious impulse we have to take from others to benefit ourselves. The root cause, as Hornberger calls it, stems from our own soul and that is the first place to begin correcting the problem, to begin the healing process of a mortal disease of which only the symptoms are usually addressed and, if they are, always blamed on someone else.
Poor Roger's Almanac 