I have written on this before, and here is an update. Is psychology or your personal well-being patriotic? Is it essential to our being self-governed and free?
Liberty talk show host Dennis Prager has said often that being happy is a duty. He didn't say self-indulgent, he said not being a drag on others. His book is titled Happiness Is A Serious Problem, and he follows up with frequent essays and devotes on-air hours to the subject.
I add updates to my material, too. Most authors do.
Let me preface my update this way: since the sixties, I saw my friends' homes deteriorate and, in broken hearts, they became angry liberals. This started my observation over decades. There is no question that broken-hearted anger is at the root of most political activism directed against the United States, with the opposition playing defense. Who is the aggressor?
The aggressor picks a fight with freedom because independence is irksome to these impaired persons. In a never-ending state of anxiety from old resentments, they search for relief, and some believe it will come in the political arena. Hence, they seek control.
Years ago, they had the very same unhappy experiences we all have, only they could not work them through like the rest of us do. In the sixties, we called this excess baggage. Hang-ups. Seeing the country free bugs them, because there are hundreds of symbols which irk them. I believe the word is offend them. They act on the belief that if they destroy symbols which bug them, they will find relief from their anxierties. They confuse offensiveness with over-sensitivity in an old resentment, and when this meets political clout, you have a genuine threat to the nation: People with power who get things backwards.
Alright, John, where's that update?
The update is that 2011 will see painful solutions to the impaired's foibles that got us into this mess. Americans will need to discern the helpful and necessary pain from the business-as-usual boondoggles of clever lying and looting of the public.
.. and we will need to go through some sort of national root canal.
The impaired will tell us that it is hate (I bet it feels like that to them!) but the majority who are not as impaired against our country (about 80% of adults by some estimates) will know better, will recognize what needs to be done and will be willing to undergo it as one nation. They will know the difference between facing reality and nonsense, backward programs built on being forever out of touch with reality.
Already, Americans are remarking that the adults are taking charge.
We need to be clear: it's going to be painful on all fronts because we are under attack on all fronts. On these, the impaired will be shouting the loudest, but we need to want independence more than they want to cling to their wounds. The adults in America [the citizens, not the servants] will understand and know intuitively a righteous repeal of bureaucracy from continuing a boondoggle.
I believe that what we are all looking for is greater independence from our public servants, safer streets, and smaller government. Yes, it could be painful, but I think most Americans will bear the brunt of the cure if they see it working.
Quote me on this: there is no problem anywhere on the earth which cannot be solved better in liberty than under any other system.
The repeal of gun control throughout the United States is a necessary first step to smaller government.
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