Local bluesman Kipori Woods has a song that goes like this "Like Crabs in a Bucket; Just can't get to the top. I don't recall the rest of the lyrics and could not find them on the internet. To me, It reminds me of the Matrix, particularly, "You are a slave, Neo"
All of this got me thinking, how much freedom have we lost? I know as Americans that we have much more freedom than many in repressed societies such as some countries in the Middle East, China and North Korea and thank God for that.
However, if we draw some comparisons to earlier Americans and to our founders, how would we score on the freedom scale. Those earlier Americans were in many way more self sufficient (out of necessity) than we are today. Most of them grew quite a bit of there own food whereas most of our food today comes in shrink wrap containers and was just flown in or shipped from somewhere a long way from where we live. In fact, when Thomas Jefferson was not drafting the Declaration of Independence, he was back at his homestead farming and writing about vegetables and the like.
I would imagine that busybodies or bureaucrats could not tell those earlier Americans what they could or could not do to their own property. You never saw the episode where Ned Olsen told Charles Ingalls that he could not build a new barn without the proper permit and without the blessing of the planning and zoning committee. I can imagine that land was not taken by imminent domain to build condos that often. As the EPA had not even been conceived (back then we still governed based on the Constitution), those earlier Americans were never stopped from irrigating their farms because of a snail darter. Most of those early Americans carried firearms and would not put up with such nonsense.
Early Americans were, as a whole, more devout and Christian than our society today. As a result, they prayed whenever and wherever they liked. They were not "plugged in" to the world system as many of us Christians are today.
As I resolve to live a life of increased freedom, I urge you to do so as well. To quote my brother "It's all about freedom.
Finally remember the words of Jesus Christ: "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed". (John 8:36)
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