MyWay2

My Way
Page Two

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This next point is certainly no revelation, but I think that we need to focus on an issue that, if considered more
closely, more of those who lean left might make a course correction. The problem begins with a warped
premise, or paradigm. The concepts of charity and philanthropy have been corrupted by those who feel that
these virtues can be coerced or co-opted. The, Robin Hood, notion of taking from the rich and giving to the
poor has been appropriated by the left. It would do us well to remember that in the story, Robin Hood leads
an oppressed poor to take back from a corrupt rich (government) what had been unjustly stolen from them
through unrestrained taxation. Today's collectivists would have you believe a vacuous claim that all poor are
virtuous while all rich are corrupt.
Often the collectivist's argument against individualists is that we are heartless when we object to our tax
money, the product of our life's energy, flowing from our pockets to our fellow man's, in an amount and in a
manner determined by the government. This regardless of the nature and condition of that fellow.
We, as the productive and successful are viewed as merely lucky or fortunate, which may also be the case, but
is certainly not the predominate reason for our success. Our industry and effort is all but dismissed. That our
success comes from hard work, sacrifice, and responsible decision-making should not be ignored. Especially
as a portion of our income is confiscated and redistributed to the unproductive.
The lack of honor, virtue, and integrity is lost on those who see no problem with violating the sanctity, yes
even the sovereignty, of the individual. Thomas Jefferson recognized that it was our Creator who endowed us
with certain unalienable rights. When any political philosophy endeavors to alienate us from any of those
rights, they seek to take from us what the Creator has given. Can there be a more audacious act?
Americans are told that we have the unalienable right to, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but do we
really? How can anyone justify that the right to liberty does not include the liberty to keep that which we earn
by our sweat, risk, and prudent decisions? How can anyone argue that the right to do as we see fit on, or with
our own private property, so long as it doesn't infringe upon the rights of others, isn't a part of that liberty?
How can anyone think that the right to choose how one will protect, or care for one's own body isn't a sacred
liberty?
Too many people believe that they themselves might be trusted with liberty, but certainly not that guy across
the street. Some people are too dumb to handle freedom; they need the government to make decisions for
them. This elitist position is the same as that held by monarchs and tyrants throughout the ages. They are
kin to those who argued that cultures such as those in 1940s Germany and Japan could not handle Democracy.
They now argue that the Iraqis aren't up to freedom. Apparently they feel that Americans can't handle it
either. History continually proves these perpetual, paternal nay-Sayers wrong, just as the brave Iraqi people
proved them wrong during their recent elections, yet these "negativists" refuse to quit their futile but
dangerous pursuit toward some unattainable socialist utopia.
The collectivists act as if they own compassion, when what they own is a belief in a de facto race-less slavery,
or at the very least a subjugation to a modern monarch known as big government. It may not be slavery in
totality, but it is bondage to whatever degree your income is confiscated and in how many of your peaceful life
choices are regulated. I would argue that any infringement on liberty no matter how minor is an attack on
liberty as a whole.
The bottom line? If the collectivists get their way, your pursuit of happiness will be limited to a "happiness"
that is a heavily taxed and over-regulated. If I get my way, you are free to pursue your happiness peacefully,
as you see fit, and as the Founders and our Creator intended.

STEVE POMPER

AUTHOR

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