Well-Informed Citizens

                    The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is the importance of being well-informed citizens.  We must do our own homework and learn the truth instead of simply believing everything someone tells us.

                    Americans have been told the importance of being well-informed since the day Benjamin Franklin said, "A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved.  It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins."

                    To our parents and grandparents, Will Durant said, "We Americans are the best informed people on earth as to the events of the last twenty-four hours; we are not the best informed as the events of the last sixty centuries."

                    What would Will Durant think of Americans today who know instantly of events happening anywhere in the world?  As he said, we are well informed about what is happening today, but we are not well informed about history.  Since history tends to repeat itself, we would do well to study it.  We would do well to understand what caused the collapse of great civilizations such as Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, and the British Empire.

                    Recently Senator Jim DeMint said, "I just want people to know that if they want to change the direction of the country, they can do it, but only if they're active, informed, and engaged."

                    We need to be able to read between the lines and discern between the truths and lies being told.  The Obama Administration keeps spouting lies in order to keep Americans in the dark about what really happened in Libya and why our Ambassador was killed.  Our Department of Justice refuses to give us the information we need to know about what really happened and why in the Fast and Furious operation.  I personally do not believe anything this administration tells us because they tell so many lies!

                    In my estimation, our national leaders are a bunch of "snake oil salesmen" much like the one depicted in a 1948 cartoon entitled Make Mine Freedom.  This Cold War-era cartoon uses humor to show the dangers of communism and the benefits of capitalism.  I believe that this cartoon was used in schools to educate the youth of our nation about the differences of the "isms" and should be shown to the youth once again.

                    This original cartoon was given a twenty-firstcentury update in 2010 that includes news clips showing how far America has drifted into socialism since the days of our grandparents.  The news clips show that we have a well spoken man in the White House right now who is just as smooth as the snake oil salesman in the cartoon.  There are many American citizens who are mesmerized by cheap, well-spoken words and who are willing to sell their freedoms for the empty promises.  When you watch the cartoon, imagine Barack Obama as the salesman who tries to convince Americans that communism and socialism are good.  Imagine Milton Friedman as John Q. Public who points out that communism and socialism are good only in theory but fail once they are put into action and that capitalism brings freedom to succeed or fail on our own.

                    Both versions of the cartoon show that once the people are informed and see clearly, they do not want the snake oil of isms.  When people really understand the pain and suffering caused by communism and socialism, we reject them quickly.  An example would be the rejection of Obamacare:  the more we know about Obamacare, the more we do not want it.  We must do our own homework and become educated and well informed citizens.  America as we know it is depending on it.