The Obama Agenda is Anti-Freedom

Barack Obama, Cory Truax

With Independence Day approaching, many of our minds turn to the concept of freedom, for that is what we celebrate. Indeed, America was founded on the then-novel and now taken-for-granted value of liberty.

Every idea floating around our Founders at the time of the nation’s birth centered on humans being free. Adam Smith called for freedom in economics and called us to trust “The Invisible Hand” that will guide the success of free-market capitalism. Colonists and pamphleteers spoke and wrote of a world where a distant government could not tax their earnings or interfere in their daily lives.

President Ronald Reagan over 200 years after the founding uttered these now manifestly true words: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” These last 233 years have served as a testament to this sentiment.

In a broad, ethereal, and sometimes conspiratorial way, we hear that we’ve lost rights in America. And while some have trouble defining the ones we’ve lost (I’m not one who has trouble identifying them), no one should have any delusion of the liberties that seem destined to be infringed sometime in the near future.

Of course, I’d like to spend my July 4th column celebrating and building up freedom, but I can’t with clear conscience do so. Instead, I’ll do what many already are and call your attention to the radically anti-freedom agenda of Barack Obama’s administration.

“Cory,” you may caution, “that’s a bit extreme to call him anti-freedom.” If that is your current reaction, I ask you to keep reading and explore with me the evidence of his policies and positions. I believe the case is unassailable: President Obama is anti-freedom.

Take as our first item of evidence President Obama’s most recent policy proposals: health care and cap and tax (also known as cap and trade).

On health care, the idea of introducing “a public (read ‘government) option” is institutionally designed to remove your freedom in choosing and securing health care. The idea’s absurdity and the president’s devious motives are all-too-easily identifiable.

The president claims that a “public option” will introduce a new competitor into health care and “drive prices down.” Ludicrous!

Mr. President, your agenda is showing. You want to introduce into the health care market an insurance provider that is allowed TO RUN A MASSIVE DEFICIT! Can Blue Cross do that? Can Cigna? Can any private health insurer run consistently in the red and stay in business? Of course not.

And that’s the point for you, sir. You intend to create a government insurance plan that, by its very nature, isn’t a fair competitor (once again it can be bankrupt and still be in business). The logical consequence is that every private health insurance company is put out of business leaving the all-encompassing, ever-expanding, and benevolent mother government to take care of us all.

The goal here is simple: remove your freedom to choose and secure your own health care.

Cap-and-Tax is no better. This system would punish every one of us for using any form of energy at any time. The idea is to control what car we drive, how much we drive it, our habits at home, and any other behavior possible. The surreptitious agenda is laid bare: control the people.

The stimulus package made this agenda clear as well. A great deal of the money borrowed and doled out to the States came with strings—more like thick steel cables—attached. Distributing this money concentrated power in D.C.—and most specifically with the executive branch. Many State leaders don’t realize it yet, but after these two years of gushing cash come to a close, they will be at the mercy of the federal government. It’s inherently anti-freedom.

The resentment of liberty doesn’t end there, though. Consider the Fairness Doctrine—or its new insidious form: localism. The very idea is to control what commentary we can hear, what people can own radio stations, and what broadcasters can say. Once again, the essential character of the policy is to restrict liberty of the press and speech.

Next, consider the colossally unpopular and undoubtedly unconstitutional idea of the Obama administration called “card check.” This policy would strip the nearly-sacred right of having a secret ballot on union votes. Yet again, the Obama administration could be on the side of people having freedom to vote their conscience without repercussion, but they take the side of anything but freedom.

Finally, upcoming hate crimes legislation—while intellectually defunct on several levels—above all else will quickly become an affront to freedom of expression. The dangerous track this legislation places us on ends with the criminalization of certain types of speech.

CONCLUSION

I believe the evidence is insurmountable, and the argument incontrovertible: The Obama Agenda is an anti-freedom one. And on this holiday when we celebrate freedom, let us not forget to be wary of a government constantly making plans to pilfer liberty.

I’ll leave you with this quote from President Thomas Jefferson: “A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned — this is the sum of good government.”
_________________________________________________
Find me on Facebook, and follow me on Twitter.

Please Share This Story!

Cory Truax @ July 3, 2009