“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men”
This past Saturday, the 603 Alliance held it’s all day and evening event called “Liberty trumps Socialism”. Well timed, in my opinion, given all of the talk on the Left about their racing towards Socialism. Liberty demands freedom and amongst the condition of being free is to be free from an intrusive, coercive, and overreaching government. Socialism, on the other hands, demands the exact opposite. Instead of raising up the Individual, the State becomes preeminent.
With Liberty, the Individual decides; in Socialism, the government decides. The Bigger the Government, the smaller the citizen.
Saturday was chockfull of speakers approaching this from various viewpoints: studied, anecdotally, fire and brimstone – but all were unabashedly for Liberty as our Founders defined it in their writings, in our Declaration of Independence, and in our Constitution (which was meant to divvy up any attempts at power concentration in recognizing that human nature craves power).
Socialism/Communism is the anti-Liberty path – at no time has it ever worked as it denies its subjects the liberty and freedom to make decisions on their own and for their own best interests – government proscribes what is not allowed (a long list) and what is (a short list). We have interviewed those who grew up on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain or who escaped from Socialist countries – they just can’t understand why America is turning into what they ran away from (and often losing everything in doing so).
Jose Cambrils is one of those latter people. His family escaped the clutches of Communism that brings only misery “for the people” (unless you are one of the elites of the Communist Party). He became the first in his family to get a degree, became an Engineering Manager at BAE, and ran for the NH House (he lost but will run again). You can see the gratitude in his face and in his voice of how much he loves this country and the Liberty values it still espouses. It is clear, however, that he sees the slow trickle of Communism into this country and is scared – for where else is there to go?
This is the kind of immigrant America needs – not one here for the government handouts, not just for a job, and not just for a “better life”, either. We want those that come here to be Citizens – casting off the failed policies of where they came from to embrace the ideas of American Exceptionalism that provide for freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of their own idea of Happiness (and not that which is being forced upon them).
