Monday, February 10, 2014

Point of No Return


I am an optimist by nature.  I always have been.  I have been of the belief that anything that can be done can be undone.  In my heart of hearts I would still like to believe that, however, I have recently come to the sorrowful conclusion that the United States of American has quietly, blindly slid past the point of no return.

When our country came into being it was populated by rugged, double-tough individuals seeking a home - a place to live or die in freedom.  Their backgrounds were as varied as the countries from which they hailed, but they all came to these shores with a common dream - freedom.  These people were willing to endure every hardship known to mankind, every deprivation, every tribulation and sorrow, all for the promise of one simple ideal - Freedom.

Our fore-bearers starved to death, succumbed to rampant disease and were laid waste by the harsh elements of what would become our newly born country.  They buried their wives, their children and their kindred, but through all of their afflictions, the one thing they never buried was that one glimmering hope - the hope of establishing a country of free men for themselves and their posterity.  These men and women chose to give up the comfort of the known - of their friends and family, of their homes and their countries, and exchange it for almost certain death in a remarkably brave attempt to secure the one thing for their families that was impossible in their countries of origin - Freedom.  It was these people that bore our country, that travailed and labored to bring forth that legacy most rare - the legacy of freedom.  They paid the price for us to be free from the tyranny of our fellow man.  They paid for our freedom to succeed - or fail, without interference.  They paid for us to be free men, not citizens or subjects -but free men directing our own destinies.  They paid for our freedom with their very blood but it is we, their legacy, who have buried them.  We have laid to rest what they so valiantly bled and died for - our freedom.

So, why do I believe we have sailed past the point of no return?  Simply because we are no longer what we once were.  We are soft as butter, with no stomach for the harsh realities of real life.  We are weak willed and weak minded, perfectly comfortable being provided for by our kindly benefactors that want what is best for collective at the expense of the individual.  We live our lives in fear - fear of being responsible for our own selves. Can you imagine being willing to sacrifice yourself or your family for the betterment of your fellow man?  Can you imagine denying your children their next meal because you didn't have the money to pay for it?  Can you imagine providing for yourself without the help of food stamps, Obamacare or unemployment?  Can you imagine telling your government "this far and no farther"?!  Can you imagine having to work in order to eat?  Or not being able to go to the emergency room?  Or *gasp* not being able access the internet?  What about not being able to use your GPS to navigate your neighborhood?  Can you, for even a moment, imagine what life would be like without a supermarket, electricity or telephones?  How would your children survive without hall monitors and teachers solving their interpersonal problems?  What if you couldn't call the police?  How would you survive with no restaurants, butchers or dairies?  How would you manage to feed your family without prepackaged food and thermostatically controlled ovens?  What would you do without flushing toilets, hot water or washing machines?  How would you manage without your anti-depressants and pain killers?

Our ancestors built a free country with nothing more than their faith in God, their disciplined minds and their own two hands.  They bled and struggled and died for a mere idea - we won't tolerate a hang nail. They built a country while providing EVERYTHING for their own survival - food, clothing, shelter - we can barely bake bread, much less grow the grain needed to grind.  They raised sheep, spun their wool, wove the threads into cloth and dyed and sewed that cloth into clothing.  We can hardly thread a needle.  And while they provided for their every need, they built towns and churches, stores and roads.  They were disciplined and resolute and they built a nation of unparalleled renown.

What have we done with our inherited wealth?  One in seven Americans are on food stamps.  One in five American adults (not including children) are on psychiatric drugs.  49.2% of Americans are dependent on government assistance.  We have done what is always done with inherited wealth - we have squandered our legacy.  Our ancestors fought and died for our freedom and we have exchanged our freedom for dependency - for subservient serfdom.

This country, this melting pot of cultures, has risen from the humblest of beginnings to the heights of human achievement.  And in that heady pride of achievement, we have lost the very character that allowed our culture to soar with the eagles - our integrity, our vision, our will and sheer determination.  Most importantly, we have lost our faith and our faith has been replaced with fear.  With fear has come dependency and with dependency, tyranny.  And now we are too weak to think, to persevere, to fight.  The ease and comfort that was our pride has become the very disease that has brought rottenness to our inmost parts.  We are terminal.  Nothing short of a miracle will right this United States of America.

As a nation, we have passed the point of no return.  The nation that we love is no longer.  There is hope however.  Although our inheritance may be depleted, our future is our own.  The future is what we choose to make of it.  After the inevitable "crash", when the smoke has settled, we and our children will choose a new future for ourselves.  We will choose to live our lives as free men or we will choose to settle for "safety and security".  We will choose to live for an idea or we will die in slavery and subjection.  What our future looks like will depend upon me and my children, upon you and your children.  Will you raise the bar and teach your children to govern themselves and provide for their families?  Will you live your life in faith rather than fear?  Are you willing to suffer for what you believe to be good and true?

Our country is past the point of no return, but our people are not.  Choose you this day a future to own.

24 comments:

  1. Well said, my sister, echoing thoughts I've held for a very long time.

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  2. All the more reason to move the heck outta here!!

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  3. Thank you....very searching for one's own heart.

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  4. Very eloquent. We have become soft and I agree with your conclusion that as a Country, we are past the point of no return. As you state, we must focus on our families and also do what we can to educate those friends, family, and neighbors around us that by being dependent upon a Government that is all too willing to micromanage our lives, we are losing the very Freedom that our forefathers sacrificed so much to give us.

    All that being said, our Hope and Future is bright if it is built on the Solid Rock!

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  5. I agree with you. I am on a limited income but working hard to get my baby house paid off an more off grid. Thank you for your blog, I have learned slot.

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  6. Well, I like the Internet and my telephone; I plan to enjoy them for as long as I have access to them. But I CAN imagine a life without them-- I didn't even see the Internet until 1998, and though I enjoy it, I regularly imagine (rather rosily) unplugging it. I'd miss the phone a bit more-- but not so much that I'll EVER ask dear old Nanny State to pay for it.

    I'm pretty fond of indoor plumbing and electricity, too-- but I've got plans in place to do without them.

    I really, really, really hope I don't have to go to war against a tyrannical government-- you're right, I have no stomach for killing a bunch of kids that were either idealistic or desperate enough to join the military. Consider me a conscientious objector in the culture wars; I won't go for them unless I have no moral alternative.

    I wouldn't be quite so hard on antidepressants. Used properly (too bad far too much of our medical establishment doesn't use them properly), I've seen them keep good people functioning well through bad times-- and then go away, just like any other medical treatment. The problem isn't the medication, or that people use them. It's that people ABUSE them to silence the legitimate discontentment they (or others) feel at the current state of affairs, or to further the illusion that everything should be polite and smooth and happy all the time.

    Decry the social ill that gives people no choice but to use medication to facilitate the suppression of their every negative feeling. NOT the people who are just trying to survive.

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  7. I applaud your optimism and unwillingness to admit to such a depressing conclusion about what once was the finest, best, most freedom loving nation of its time and perhaps of all time. I came to the same sad conclusion not that long ago myself. Now all my efforts are on preparing to survive the inevitable collapse of our society into chaos and despotism. I pray God's strength and protection for all who seek His face and seek to see the promise of the Constitution realized. Long live the Republic!

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  8. I enjoy this type of dialogue, it is opening up in America in response to the Government nearing/reaching the line drawn in the sand. I do be the question: What does a future modeled after these Freedom loving fore-bearers look like? If I take your words at face value I see nothing but a dream to return to a world from the past. This is short sighted in my opinion. Our fore-bearers didn't leave their countries and homelands to swear off modernity and the advances of an ever evolving collective human advancement. If this is what you are eschewing then we need not look further that the middle east and the ideologies that value a primitive culture.
    I agree with much of your general assessment of the problems. Many people have and many more are arriving at that understanding. What is lacking is a modern template to overlay on our society that doesn't just sound like reminiscing.

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  9. In some of my discussions with my peers we have agreed that we are the first generation that are leaving our children worse off than our parents. I am very sad for that but am also glad that I will probably not live long enough to see it all implode. That is if I am lucky!

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  10. I don't think we're past the point of no return, though I can see how it may seem that way. Predicting the future, is at very best, a iffy sort of thing. Way too many variables. A lot of the people I work with are Millenials, and the generation before-and they're hard-working, polite types. I work near a college campus, and the same thing-I have yet to meet a rude person.
    From what I've observed, the worst freeloaders/entitlement types are the 1970s models-thirty and forty somethings.
    The Internet may turn out to be one of the greatest aids to freedom ever invented. Many things that could be easily kept hidden by so-called public servants(of any country) in the past can be dragged out into the open for all the world to see. Want to know how to do something? Find something? The Internet, is at least, a great starting point.
    Could I live without it? Sure-I did until 1997. Without a cell phone? Sure-I did until 2002. Could I live without a lot of conveniences? Sure-I have at various times in my life. I'm easily amused, so I can always find something to do. Books just require a light source to operate.
    I did without a car for three years (you'd be surprised where you can go, how far, and how much you can haul on a bicycle).
    One thing I find sort of scary is the number of adults who don't know where things come from. I had to explain to a educated woman(who had seen a local power plant and the huge pile of coal beside it) that the power plant burns the coal to boil water to run the steam turbine that turns the generators (well, alternators) that provides electricity for a large chunk of our area. She had no idea...

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  11. "we have squandered our legacy." Yes Enola, 'squandered' is the word. Our family is 100% in agreement with yours.

    America abandoned God in 1962 and is now bleeding out. We truly believe He lead us to where He wants us. Why? We don't know nor need to know. We have faith. Looking at all our homeschooled children every Sunday gives us so much encouragement. Job #1 right now is keeping them safe and preparing them to mold their future. Like our Pastor reminds us, God does His best work with His 'remnants'
    Montana Guy.

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    1. American abandoned GOD with its UNGODLY constitution way before 1962..

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    2. I like when the govment gives me stuff

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    3. The government isn't giving you anything but what it takes away from other people.

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    4. @Anonymous 11:47: If you like free stuff from the government, you'll love the free FEMA bus rides. Send us a postcard.
      Montana Guy

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  12. Stand strong in the knowledge that your ancestors survived the Tribulations of history and you have passed on the skills of self determination to your children . You may never know how many people have been inspired by your blog .

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  13. A big AMEN to this. Hope to see you sometime after the smoke clears.

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  14. Excellent Enola, just plain excellent. My wife and I just finished watching "The Pacific" and I've often thought about our forefathers sacrifices. They paid a most expensive down payment and we seem to be too lazy to make the necessary installments. God help us!

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  15. I am more optimistic regarding the spirit of our ancestors. I'm less optimistic about our belief that technology will save us beyond the Blessed endowment of oil.

    Look at Connecticut - they passed tyrannical laws to register firearms and magazines. Optimistically there was 25% compliance. Mind you, NOT complying with BIG government tyrannical overreach IS a felony.

    In the revolution that freed us from the tyranny of England less than 3% actually participated in overt resistance. A greater percentage were in support and took less active rolls.

    Today we can look the numbers of folks participating in Obamacare - mostly those that are sick and truly have no other option. The rest of the participants are already in the system through their employers. How many of those healthy Obama voters are going to pony up the cash to get "covered" when they expected to get free stuff when they voted from him? I know a few and none are.

    Those officially in charge are scrambling. They don't have the funds, they don't have the man power, they don't have the resources, they don't have the support, needed to clamp down and really control America. They have taken over the press but few pay attention and those that do realize it is a total sham.

    I doubt the house of cards will survive long as is. It won't be a tidy affair but I suspect those (the majority) who are of a higher moral standard will endure and those that have sold out will find themselves in a circumstance far less than they anticipated.

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  16. I totally agree with all you say -- and you said it most eloquently.

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  17. I totally agree with all you say -- and you said it most eloquently.

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  18. Excellent post, thank you for sharing your thoughts. Very thought provoking & echos our own position here in Australia.
    Regards, Keith.

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