True Personal Independence

As another Independence Day approaches, experiences in my personal life remind me that while our Founding Fathers  secured a nation free of oppressive forces, the challenges we face increasingly tend toward tyranny. With a statement like that, I am sure, dear reader, that you expect me to talk about the many government take-overs, bail-outs, and stimulus programs. You may even expect a discussion on the evils of nationalized health care. And while I could definitely add a comment or two about these issues, I have remained intentionally silent over the past few months. I have recognized, as I watch the different viewpoints in the media and online, from pundits and journalists to bloggers, from so-called experts to the common every-day citizen; I have come to a peculiar realization: most of the attention on these items shrouds an individual from the source of true freedom.

There seems to be always someone outside to blame for our personal shortcomings and we are all-too-eager to take the focus off of ourselves and place it on the big things in order to mask the fact that we are not doing so well in our own lives, with or without nationalized health care; with or without equal so-called marriage rights; with or without secure domestic companies that create value for citizens within our borders. And the list goes on and on and on.

The FreeCapitalist Pledge suggests that individuals choose a different path, one that ultimately breaks the chains of political, intellectual, economic, and spiritual bondage if traveled properly. One of the choices one makes with the Pledge is to “think, to act, and to govern [one's] self.” We cannot do that when we blame outside forces for our failures.

Definitely, we must be vigilant to the forces that strive collectively  to take away our personal freedoms, but it is ever more important for us individually to so live our lives as to secure our own freedoms. A principle of prosperity teaches us that force destroys freedom. Mostly, as mentioned above, we look outside of ourselves for the manifestation of this principle. But if we look inside our lives with any degree of honesty, we will see instances where force prevails. From getting our families to behave in certain ways to in telling half-truths to our friends, our worlds are racked with tyranny and we are all at least to some degree little tyrants, even if we intend to accomplish good with that force. Where knowledge and persuasion end, there tyranny begins. July is the perfect month to resolve to more persuasive, freedom-loving ways in our own lives. Only once we accomplish this personally can we expect to impact it in a grander scale, be it in our communities, states, federally, or throughout the world.

The American Founders secured a form of government that, if enacted properly, guarantees the rights and freedoms of every individual. They began the revolution and accomplished much in the political realm. It is up to each one of us to complete that revolution in the personal realm. Save it by living it.