Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:33 pm by globalturbo
Monday, October 15, 2012
What We Gave Up
Dan and Sheila Gendron, Contributors
Activist Post
America taught the world to be manufacturers. We honored the ingenuity
of those who sparked the industrial revolution. We filled our country
coast to coast with factories that gave meaningful jobs to the people.
People who could feed their families until their bellies were overfull
and live in a nice place with the wages they were paid. But we gave it
up.
We gave it up by encouraging the factories to leave America behind to
set up in other countries with grand tax incentives for leaving their
dedicated employees in the lurch. Gone are the venues of production
that gave us a tangible way to dig ourselves out of any economic
problem. We allowed it to slip through our fingers until it was no
longer available when we needed it. We could have stopped it. We
should have stopped it.
America taught the world to be farmers. The great expanses of arable
land within our borders fed many of the hungry of the world. Our
reserves of gain kept us assured that we would not starve, and that we
could afford to feed our families. But we gave it up.
We gave it up by depleting our stockpiles to drive up
prices. We gave it up by allowing big agribusiness to buy out the
independent farmers and then pollute the soil – as well as our bodies –
with genetically engineered, patented seeds, protected by the government
who should be looking after the interests of the people, but don't. We
could have stopped it. We should have stopped it.
America taught the world to be innovators. If the encroaching future
presented a problem, we put our heads to work and created something that
helped us leap into the future while overstepping the “problem”.
Nothing could stop our forward march. There was a future of promise for
our children. But we gave it up.
We gave it up by being contented to sit before the television for more
hours than we speak with other humans each week. We gave it up by being
contented to purchase the distractions, the toys that were dangled
before us instead of carving out the spiritually fulfilling lives we can
have. We gave it up by giving our children over to the “public
schools” (read: training ground for future slaves) where they learn to
repeat, not to think. (The point is not what you can remember – it's
what you can DO with what you remember!) We could have stopped it. We
should have stopped it.
America
taught the world freedom for the people. Generations of us grew up
knowing that those around us, those who were “in authority” were limited
in their power by a document – cherished as the only governmental
document that mentions happiness as a God-given right – that says that
we may speak, follow a religion, move about the country and in and out
of it, publicly air our grievances and opinions and be secure in our
homes and persons without fear of interference by the government.
We were the shining example to the world that when given such freedoms a
country flourishes by the works of its people. We became, as a
country, rich in scientific knowledge, rich in the arts, rich in
athletics. We also became rich in economy, which, unfortunately, took
reign over all other riches.
Will you give up your freedom next? Will you stop giving your opinion
because someone may hear you say it and report you? Will you stand in
line to be groped or shown naked for the privilege of boarding a plane –
or entering a prom, or walking through a mall, or driving down the
highway, or....? Will you limit what you say in an email because you
don't want to set off the NSA's email reader? Will you choose another
religion because the one that feels right to you isn't on the approved
list? Will you take the pharmaceuticals because natural remedies are
outlawed? Will you eat the poisons because it's against your town
ordinances to have a garden in your own yard? Will you take the chip in
order to buy or sell? Or will you say “NO” at any cost? Some things
are worth standing up for.
And will you take the best of whatever led us to this mess we are in
today, throw away what has proven useless and add new ideas for the
future? It's up to you. It's you who will be affected by the outcome –
either way. It won't help to say, “We should have...”
Read other articles by Dan and Sheila HERE.
Dan & Sheila are the authors of Surviving Survivalism – How to Avoid Survivalism Culture Shock, and hosts of the free podcast, Still Surviving with Dan & Sheila.
For questions about space in their Intentional Survivalist Community
or other survivalist issues, they can be reached at
surviving@lavabit.com.
Thanks to: http://www.activistpost.com
What We Gave Up
 |
| Anthony Freda Art |
Activist Post
America taught the world to be manufacturers. We honored the ingenuity
of those who sparked the industrial revolution. We filled our country
coast to coast with factories that gave meaningful jobs to the people.
People who could feed their families until their bellies were overfull
and live in a nice place with the wages they were paid. But we gave it
up.
We gave it up by encouraging the factories to leave America behind to
set up in other countries with grand tax incentives for leaving their
dedicated employees in the lurch. Gone are the venues of production
that gave us a tangible way to dig ourselves out of any economic
problem. We allowed it to slip through our fingers until it was no
longer available when we needed it. We could have stopped it. We
should have stopped it.
America taught the world to be farmers. The great expanses of arable
land within our borders fed many of the hungry of the world. Our
reserves of gain kept us assured that we would not starve, and that we
could afford to feed our families. But we gave it up.
We gave it up by depleting our stockpiles to drive up
prices. We gave it up by allowing big agribusiness to buy out the
independent farmers and then pollute the soil – as well as our bodies –
with genetically engineered, patented seeds, protected by the government
who should be looking after the interests of the people, but don't. We
could have stopped it. We should have stopped it.
America taught the world to be innovators. If the encroaching future
presented a problem, we put our heads to work and created something that
helped us leap into the future while overstepping the “problem”.
Nothing could stop our forward march. There was a future of promise for
our children. But we gave it up.
We gave it up by being contented to sit before the television for more
hours than we speak with other humans each week. We gave it up by being
contented to purchase the distractions, the toys that were dangled
before us instead of carving out the spiritually fulfilling lives we can
have. We gave it up by giving our children over to the “public
schools” (read: training ground for future slaves) where they learn to
repeat, not to think. (The point is not what you can remember – it's
what you can DO with what you remember!) We could have stopped it. We
should have stopped it.
taught the world freedom for the people. Generations of us grew up
knowing that those around us, those who were “in authority” were limited
in their power by a document – cherished as the only governmental
document that mentions happiness as a God-given right – that says that
we may speak, follow a religion, move about the country and in and out
of it, publicly air our grievances and opinions and be secure in our
homes and persons without fear of interference by the government.
We were the shining example to the world that when given such freedoms a
country flourishes by the works of its people. We became, as a
country, rich in scientific knowledge, rich in the arts, rich in
athletics. We also became rich in economy, which, unfortunately, took
reign over all other riches.
Will you give up your freedom next? Will you stop giving your opinion
because someone may hear you say it and report you? Will you stand in
line to be groped or shown naked for the privilege of boarding a plane –
or entering a prom, or walking through a mall, or driving down the
highway, or....? Will you limit what you say in an email because you
don't want to set off the NSA's email reader? Will you choose another
religion because the one that feels right to you isn't on the approved
list? Will you take the pharmaceuticals because natural remedies are
outlawed? Will you eat the poisons because it's against your town
ordinances to have a garden in your own yard? Will you take the chip in
order to buy or sell? Or will you say “NO” at any cost? Some things
are worth standing up for.
And will you take the best of whatever led us to this mess we are in
today, throw away what has proven useless and add new ideas for the
future? It's up to you. It's you who will be affected by the outcome –
either way. It won't help to say, “We should have...”
Read other articles by Dan and Sheila HERE.
Dan & Sheila are the authors of Surviving Survivalism – How to Avoid Survivalism Culture Shock, and hosts of the free podcast, Still Surviving with Dan & Sheila.
For questions about space in their Intentional Survivalist Community
or other survivalist issues, they can be reached at
surviving@lavabit.com.
Thanks to: http://www.activistpost.com
