Firewall for Freedom

Firewall: a barrier inside a building or vehicle, designed to limit the spread of fire, heat and structural collapse.

The time has come to build a firewall for freedom. Each day, every day some new action by our federal, state or local governments with the willing complicity of certain large corporate and banking interests generates some rule, law, regulation or constraint that limits our liberty. Our citizens and our freedom are under siege. We are surrounded by interests who seek to enhance their own power and diminish ours. If seems as if our foes are bold, and our allies are ineffective. We are facing a conflagration that is obsessed with consuming our rights and our lives. The oxygen that stokes the all-consuming fire is our indifference and our ignorance. The accelerant that increases the intensity of the flames is our propensity for looking to government for solutions.

Firewalls must fulfill three functions: external protection, internal limits and damage mediation. The ideal firewall will prevent corrosive outside forces from doing harm to our liberty and our nation. In my view, the external component has already been breached and the destruction has been underway for many decades. The charred remains of our Republic are standing but teetering. The internal function is designed to protect the elementary core of the nation from total destruction, but the flames of socialism are flickering dangerously close to our inner essence. Minimizing the damage appears to be the current mode for our liberty firewall as so many of our freedoms and rights have been abridged by overzealous governments at every level of our nation.

Our firewall has been weakened, and the heat is gaining intensity. To avoid having our Republic consumed by the flames we must step into the fire and rebuild the firewall. Clearly that effort has begun on many levels through the liberty, Tea Party and affiliated organizations. The educational programs they have undertaken have informed thousands about the history and advantages of a constitutional republic. The reach must be broader and deeper for rebuilding the wall because the numbers of people who wish to save the nation must be significant and effective.

Educating and motivating the voting electorate represents the outer layer of the firewall structure. This reconstruction has begun but needs to be dramatically expanded in order to be effective. The outer layer is the first line of defense when the attack comes. It must be equipped for slowing the pace and the intensity of the onslaught while the inner core and the final shield adjust to the oncoming assault. The inner core….similar in function and substance to the EPA/OSHA-dreaded asbestos….is built for a longer-lasting endurance in the face of high-powered attempts to bring down our constitutional republic. Our inner core will be solidly intact if we can train, educate and arm the next generation with knowledge about the Constitution, the Declaration and their purposes. It is absolutely vital for the survival of our republic for the next generation to be informed and prepared to defend liberty and life. Under the present circumstances I would define the “next generation” as those less 40 years of age.

If you were to attend a number of liberty groups or Tea Party-affiliated functions, you would note that the demographics tend toward older citizens. Obviously soccer matches, school events and hefty work obligations may limit the time available for middle-life activists in the restoration movement. Despite their shortage of time, our groups of activists must find a means for educating and informing this next generation of leaders and restorers. We cannot allow their cohort to remain uninformed and uninvolved because as our generation tires or expires the torch will not be advanced. Our outreach to them must require a minimal time investment and a maximum of information. No long, drawn out meetings absorbed with minutiae and minutes will hold their interest. The sessions geared for them and others must start promptly, load them with historical and political data, and end promptly … preferably 90 minutes or fewer. Another option is to provide them free dvd or cd learning opportunities, but if cost is an issue, a lending library could be established for the purpose. We must reach them and teach while working within their time and priority constraints.

The final wall of our firewall is the final wall. If the external wall and the core are functional, but the final wall is faulty, we will merely retard our demise….not stop it. The final wall is the group of young people who are 25 or younger….all the way to infants. Statists, socialists, communists and humanists have been having their way with our young people for several generations. We must recapture the educational initiative. Clearly the best path is through their parents, but if that route is unavailable, then a more direct approach is needed. Animated dvd’s could be produced (preferably in a serial) and distributed through fairs, festivals, scout troops and other youth groups. Perhaps a direct-mail campaign could be developed to get them into the area homes, or some time on local cable access channels might be available. Will we be accused of brainwashing the crumb crunchers and rug rats? Yes, so what? Lombardi said it ”Winning is the only thing.” Aside from their personal salvation, the best gift we can give our grandchildren is a love for liberty and the passion to promote it.  It is our duty to God, our progeny and our nation.

Comment: cearlwriting@hotmail.com

www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Tue.& Wed., 6-7:00pm, 1370 WSPD, Toledo… www.wspd.com

 

"Raveling"

Some people derive immense joy from solving puzzles. They commandeer the entire dining room table to hold thousands of tiny pieces of cardboard … all of which are strikingly similar. They spend endless hours attempting to reconfigure the picture featuring the white kitty in the snow bank. Each little piece is uniquely shaped and hued in order to limit its application to one distinct position in the picture. While I am puzzled by those who enjoy such a painstaking pastime, I do, however, appreciate their patience and persistence. It is the type of calm tenacity that is necessary for restoring our constitutional nation. It requires a sense of how the final product will appear (vision) and a plan for choosing or discarding the various puzzle-pieces on hand (priorities). The title of this column is “Raveling” because our nation has been unraveling in so many ways.

We have witnessed a political leadership that has blatantly ignored their constitutional duties while, at the same, expanding extra-constitutional government to the point where our government no longer serves the people by defending our liberties, but has become an ominous threat to our freedom. Many have joined the chorus to restore our nation or to return to our founding principles, but those lofty goals are difficult to define and nearly impossible to achieve. “Raveling,” on the other hand, is a process whereby we “re-weave” the fabric of our nation. It involves the social fabric, the political and legal tapestry and the broadcloth of fiscal and economic responsibility. Each thread has to be grasped and carefully woven back into the whole cloth as designed by our Framers. Presently, reformers are concentrating on the political aspect. That focus is doomed to fail because the entire structure has to be addressed and repaired for the fabric to regain its former integrity. If the approach does not address the whole cloth, the shredded remnant will remain…incomplete, unfulfilled and inadequate. The greatest obstacle to a systematic reconstruction of the Framer’s original plan is the impatience of the citizens. As we discard the chains of statism and knit together the liberty comforter, the progressives, statists and socialists will agitate ferociously for a return to the massive state apparatus. The fickle nature of surly voters could easily undo the restoration movement, and the leftists would not fritter away their opportunities to resume the construction of the dominant state.

Reality has presented us with a seemingly insoluble quandary: go slowly and methodically to reconstruct a firm(er) foundation, or accelerate the process to minimize discontent and thwart a hostile big-government constituency. To follow the deliberate foundational route is the preferred one because the Republic must be rebuilt in a manner that will render it nearly fail-safe. All precautions must be employed to prevent the hijacking of individual liberty and personal opportunity in future eras. To successfully implement the methodical path will require a massive education program that draws in the citizens as active stakeholders in the historic reclamation and restoration undertaking. Selling a form of government can be risky because there are clusters of people who will seek to pervert the process to serve their own purposes. It is better to promote liberty…choice…freedom…opportunity as benefits for individuals rather than promote the collective benefits that might accrue from reigniting the Framers plan. The sizzle should be in the sale by promoting the cornucopia of advantages of working for one’s freedom and self-interest.

So the “raveling” process breaks down into two basically unsatisfactory options: a slow educational piecemeal effort while fighting intense rearguard skirmishes, or a wholly disruptive dismantling of the present leviathan followed by a reconstructive period with additional safeguards added to limit opportunities for mischief. The slow route is extremely susceptible to assault and sabotage, and the faster remedy could result in widespread chaos. Personally, I find the educational systematic method more appealing, but I am aware that the more abrupt reconstructive measure may be the best available option if our economic troubles bring the nation to its knees amid swirling turmoil.

As we go forward with this challenge to restore constitutional principles to our nation, it is my hope that I can work with some like-minded patriots to design educational methods and materials to assist other patriots, patriot/liberty groups and citizens with their efforts to peacefully transition from the freedom-stealing, opportunity-denying and constitution-undermining government of today toward a re-establishment of the Constitution of the United States as the premier and sole beacon for guiding our federal government. The educational project should be a transformational tool that equips the people to shift from the present state of too-big government to a slim, sleek constitutional republic that was developed by our Framers. There is no magic wand for ending the oppressive monolith we have today and replacing it with a federal government that values freedom and protects individual liberty. We must begin work today on “Wand Building 101.” Think about it and be prepared to participate. We must all become teachers. We must all walk in the shoes of the Founders and the Framers.

Comment: cearlwriting@hotmail.com

www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Next Wed,, Nov. 9^th, 6-7:00pm, 1370 WSPD, Toledo www.wspd.com