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"The only way to be happy, is to give happy."

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Freedom isn't free, and it also isn't a right. It is a privilege that must be fought for on a regular basis. Growing up I was taught that the United States was the most free country in the world. While that may have been true in my childhood, it is no longer. What men and women died to acquire and preserve, politicians and well-meaning but ignorant policymakers and activists have either directly dismantled or allowed to erode.

Don't take my word for it. Check out the Wall Street Journal and Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom for 2009. The United States is now 6th! and Canada 7th! What an outrageous shame. Sadly, the situation only worsens as the philosophies of socialism, collectivism, levelling, special-interest pandering, statism, corporatism, and cartels squeeze the freedom from the average, unsuspecting citizen.

Posted in Politics

8 responses to “Freedom Slipping Away”

Abraham

June 8, 2009

Thank you Chris for standing for truth and placing your lamp post high on the hilltop for all to see. Your example has inspired and influenced many. May God continue to guide your path. Well done good and faithful. Your purpose and design encourages us all. Thank you for setting the example and showing us a better way.

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Skipper

June 8, 2009

Hi Chris, It is so easy for us to set back and not realize that our freedoms are slipping away. Many of us are excited about where we are and what we have. We are so infatuated with the present that we fail to see what is coming down the road. I did not realize that the amount of freedom in this country has slipped away. Thanks for the heads up. Now I need to spread the message and tell others the truth.

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Mary Anne Markel

June 8, 2009

Hi Chris,
When you shared this information this weekend I was shocked, and realized I have become complacent in taking this freedom for granted. No more. I am newly grateful for the sacrifice my father, uncles, cousins and current friends have/are making for the freedom I enjoy. I will not let them down and will do my part here to bring freedom to those who want it.
Mary Anne

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Phyllis Hoff

June 8, 2009

Chris:
You sharing this from stage this week-end was an eye-opener for all of us.
It is even more important than ever to get the TEAM media in everyone’s hands.
I believe that is what each one of us can do right now.
As Terri mentioned on stage and on CD’s, we are so blessed that you hold yourself and all of us to such a high standard of excellence.
Thank you and May God Bless.

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John Dickinson – Team One Purpose!

June 9, 2009

Chris,
When I heard about the US not being #1 of the economic freedom countries of the world, it didn’t really surprise me that much.
I know an outdoor enthusiast who wants to start his own business doing outdoor adventures. He was looking into all of the licensing and insurance costs and was dumbfounded. For example, a place in Colorado that does zip lines, it would cost the customer about $300. You could do a similar zip line activity in Costa Rica for about $30. The increases in licenses and insurance are to cover litigation costs. With this being said, he will not be starting his outdoor adventuring business.
Who wants to do business where governments want to place enormous roadblocks to profitability?
Thanks for everything!
John

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Cathy – proud member of Team Rascals

June 9, 2009

Chris,
Team culture is alive and well, and I witnessed it in Louisville and Charlotte at the airports hours after the function was over. Here’s what happened:
There were two planes leaving for Charlotte, two hours apart. The first one was supposed to have about 100 people, including Orrin and Laurie, on the first leg of their journey home to Florida. (They told us.) Their plane didn’t work, and the pilot had to fly it to Dayton to be fixed, stranding 100 people. These people stood in an hours-long line, laughing and talking like they hadn’t a care in the world and didn’t have anywhere else better to be.
At one point, I went over to Orrin (during a rare time when he was alone), and commented on what I was observing from our adjacent gate, and said how proud he must be, seeing all that. The huge smile I got in return was worth the minutes of gathering up my nerve to say it!
While their situation was still being resolved, our flight was called. And broke, too. Ours was broken bad enough so we all missed our connections, but not bad enough to not be able to fix, those of us who elected to stay with the plane (primarily those from the Team) went on to Charlotte. The same thing with the hours-long line happened there, only several hours later, rather deeper into the late evening. And this time, a poor couple from Claude and Lana’s Canadian Team was caught in it. They were first in line, and still being helped when it was our turn, almost at the end. And yet, their smiles and good attitudes were still there, and everyone talked and laughed and shared about the favorite parts of the function.
The poor airline folks on the ground in Louisville and Charlotte, and the crew for our flight just don’t know what hit them! I heard one of the other folks on our plane contacting one of the flight crew, because she just couldn’t get over how jovial we were all being about the whole thing. (I contacted the lady across the aisle, one of about 4 non-Team people on board, using the same method!)
Keep it up, Chris!! You’re coming through, loud and clear!!!

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Nick

June 12, 2009

Chris,
I have a question regarding freedom in a countries economic policy. In this article, you state that the more freedom a country has, the better, and that unlimited freedom is beneficial to a country and its citizens. However, the way I see economic freedom is parallel to LTC Dave Grossman’s speech “sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs.” In this parable, Grossman asserts that while most people are good, and do not want to harm others (sheep), there are others who do (wolves). To protect the sheep from the wolves, there are sheepdogs placed throughout society to fight the wolves when they try to harm sheep. Obvious examples of sheepdogs are our military, policemen, and firemen. They protect the US citizenry from bodily harm. However, there are also wolves who do not try to physically harm sheep, but try to steal their money and destroy their lives. Examples of a thieving wolf are Ken Lay and Bernard Madoff. To protect us from these wolves, the government had put regulations in place to prevent wolves from being able to harm us. This forces underhanded people to “play by the rules.” Laws that make businesses transparent and stop them from exploiting workers. Freedom is a great thing, but the irony is that freedom can only exist inside a set of basic constraints and rules that force people to play fair and not to cheat the system. We need sheepdog regulations to prevent the wolves from harming the sheep. It’s exactly like grossman said; the sheep don’t always like the sheepdogs because they are similar to wolves until a wolf tries to harm a sheep. This current depression is a great example of when the wolves go unchecked, and the harm it causes in society. When Reagan removed governmental controls on industry, he played the part of a wolf, and opened the door for the current economic tsunami that hit our country. When this happened, the citizenry flock to the sheepdogs (the way we flocked to Obama to reinstate the regulations that Reagan removed) Curious for your thoughts. God bless

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Chris Brady

June 12, 2009

Nick:
Your question is an astute one. It is the reason I say I am not a Libertarian, because Freedom all by itself without limits is a dangerous thing. Within limits and within God’s laws, freedom is a wonderful thing. But it is not an absolute. For instance, we are not free to harm or infringe on another person’s freedom. The ultimate combination, in my opinion, is the Rule of Law protecting the sanctity of the individual, the right to LIFE (no abortion, infanticide, or euthenasia), LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT of HAPPINESS, and Freedom and Liberty within those confines. (That last one, the pursuit of happiness, is strange, and has been eloquently debated as an Enlightenment idea that is counter to an understanding of God and His scriptures. It originally said Right to Private Ownership of Property, which is an economic term and more to the point of what our government is trying to take away. The pursuit of happiness is fine in a sense, but it is so nebulous as to be un-guardable against governmental encroachment, and also is suggestive of an inappropriate goal. Happiness should never be the goal, but the natural outcome of pursuing one’s purpose in life. Happiness comes from “giving happy” to others, from fulfillment of worthwhile endeavors, from service, not from the direct pursuit of it. But this is all getting pretty far afield, perhaps I can cover more of my thoughts on this in a future article).

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