Thursday, February 11, 2016

Just actions

 I hear the sales pitch al the time. You need this or that. The line most frequently used, that annoys me he most is, you deserve this ! You deserve a new car, a new house, a new smile and a new life ! Whatever product they are advertising, you deserve it. In other words, you are entitled. But, are you really ? Just what is it that you are entitled to ? Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That is the three things the founding fathers enumerated as being our basic right, our entitlement as human beings. We are entitled to life. No one has the right to kill us. Liberty is a bit more difficult to understand. Liberty is our ability to live free within a society without excessive or oppressive government intervention. Finally we have the right to pursue happiness. It is the definition of happiness that most often gets confused as it applies to the Constitution. They were not talking about just making yourself happy. The idea was to be happy you had to contribute to the society in a positive fashion. Happiness comes from just actions. That is what Jefferson, Monroe and others all felt. These men were all idealist in a fashion. You had to be to start a revolution.
 But back to those commercials. " You deserve this. " It is nothing more than an extension of this entitlement attitude that is prevalent today. Because you deserve it, you don't have to earn it. If it something you wish to purchase but can't afford, you deserve it anyway. No problem, I'll finance it for you ! That way you can earn it a little at a time. Then the effort lies in " keeping " your " entitlement. " What is lost in that statement is, an entitlement is something you are entitled to, without encumbrances. Having to pay back that loan is most definitely an encumbrance. This is becoming a way of life in America. Fact is, our society is now becoming based solely on those encumbrances. Our pursuit of happiness is pursuing the funds to pay for what we feel we are entitled to ( deserve to have ). All those advertisers contribute to that mentality with the hawking of their wares. We hear it almost 24/7. You deserve it ! And just who is the judge of whether you deserve that ? You are. Isn't that convenient. It is better than the alternative however, having someone else decide. And that is the premise of socialism. Let the government decide what I need or deserve to have. It is that, that our founding fathers were well aware of, and the reason for our constitutional republic. We do have a right to the pursuit of happiness as unencumbered from government intervention as possible. It does hinge upon one thing, the citizen. The citizen is required to assume personal responsibility for their actions within the society. The government does not legislate your happiness.
 The US Constitution lays it out nicely; "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America".
That sums it right up doesn't it ? Notice it says, to secure the blessings of liberty. And liberty is what ? To live free within the society, as a productive member of that society, unencumbered by the government. That is one of the three things you are entitled to by a divine right. Everything else you must earn through your own efforts. Just actions bring true happiness is the moral in all of this. Attempting to finance happiness is pure folly. Let us not forfeit our " happiness " for an entitlement.

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