We all get caught up in the day-to-day activities that often define our lives. The simple tasks of each day, not to mention the unexpected and sometimes urgent calls or demands for attention, subtract a significant amount of time from our daily lives. I must be one of the best examples of this easy math, for by the time I take care of normal errands and tasks, respond to a flood of e-mails and telephone calls, as well as make my own, most of the day is gone – eaten away by a thousand little slices of time.
Yet, the important things in life remain: family, friends, self, and accomplishing major life goals. At the same time, most individuals forget to make time for probably one of the most important things in their lives, the one thing that actually makes everything else possible. For without it, and as history has shown over the millennia, there would be hard times, much insecurity, and significant misery and unhappiness. The “thing” referred to is, of course, freedom.
Most persons, and this includes those on the United States Supreme Court, think of freedom in only the political sense – and a narrow sense at that – without considering economic freedom of equal importance. Freedom should span the entire spectrum of human life. It should not be thought of as an unimportant, even irritating, subcomponent of life, to be kept in one’s closet and trotted out for display only on special occasions.
Freedom is the current of air that, in flowing through those societies who permit it to flow, gives the lift to society’s wings. From true freedom flow order, prosperity, happiness, and hope for future betterment. As Pierre-Joseph Proudhon once notably wrote, “Liberty is the Mother, not the Daughter, of Order.”
Just look at once-impoverished Hong Kong. After the Chinese civil war ended in 1949, the British Colony of Hong Kong consisted of mostly bare rock, few natural resources, and hordes of refugees fleeing from the mainland Chinese Communist government. But what Hong Kong did have in its favor was the rule of law under a stable British colonial administration, a truly free market unhampered by onerous government rules and regulations, and the consequent unleashed energies of its population. Today, fifty plus years later, Hong Kong is one of the top economic engines of the World.
To get a feel for how impressive freedom’s accomplishment in Hong Kong really is, just compare Hong Kong with Brazil. In contrast with Hong Kong – indeed with almost all countries of the World – Brazil is a land of plenty when it comes to natural resources. Rich in timber, minerals, and fertile agricultural land, Brazil is also blessed with the energy resources to make use of them. It ranks fifth among all the countries of the World in size. Yet, with all of its suffocating rules and regulations, an undependable judicial system (meaning no true rule of law), and overbearing bureaucracy, Brazil does not even come close to Hong Kong in per-capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP). As of 1997, Hong Kong ranked 28th in the World with a per-capita GDP of US$27,466; while Brazil ranked 64th with a per-capita figure of US$5,717 – that is, almost one-fifth of tiny Hong Kong’s.
The United States, whose prosperity and strength were built upon a foundation of freedom, now resembles more the Brazilian model than the Hong Kong model. It is not difficult to predict where America’s future might lie given its increasing propensity for adding layer upon layer of rules, regulations, and laws onto an already prostrate body politic. Equally bad, if not worse, this burdensome government presence is growing at the exact time that the economy needs more freedom and not less. Unless the government eases up its death grip, our economy will move from very bad to worse – soon.
So, realizing the importance of freedom to your life, your future, and your children’s lives and futures, you can easily see that protecting freedom would be a natural addition to your daily or weekly “to do” list. That is why it has always been hard for me to fathom those persons who are completely oblivious to its importance – or, even worse, those who do realize its importance, but do nothing.
Without true economic and political freedom – not the lip-syncing, empty mouthing of platitudes that pass for confirmations of freedom or the pressure-group driven entitlements that forcibly take from one person’s pocket and put it into another’s, but the real thing – we can all kiss our comfortable existence good-bye. The preservation of freedom, now more than ever, must take first priority.
I extend to you an invitation, then, to reconfirm your commitment to freedom and to the National Health Federation. Join us in taking action every single day for the rest of your life to preserve freedom. For those of you who are Federation members as well as for those of you who are future members, we need each and every one of you to make an effort to protect our freedoms. Act to protect not only our health freedoms, but all of our natural, true freedoms. Call or e-mail us today and ask what you can do to help. Or, better yet, tell us what abilities, skills, and contacts you have that can be put to use through the Federation.
When asked about his written work, famous science-fiction author Robert Heinlein simply responded, “It’s an invitation to think – not to believe.” I am inviting you to think, and having thought, to then act. Before it’s too late.
