Rhetoric vs. Logic

Here are the facts: 

Here is the assumption I urge you to make concerning said facts:

So where is the logic? Where have you attempted to make such a compelling argument that I have no choice but to agree. Oh wait, there was no argument presented. My mistake, this was an informative video not one making a case for any agenda {sarcasm}.

 Regardless of the political or religious leanings, a video that proposes to be informative but is actually designed to be persuasive is a LIE. I can only imagine the elitist mentality of the lecturer who thinks that the average viewer is moronic enough to buy the rhetoric in the absence of logical argumentation. Unfortunately, the lecturer may be correct in the approach to spreading propaganda. Play to self-love, emotion, preconceived notions and you have a recipe for success.

"One thousand Frenchmen can't be wrong!"

Lest I forget, we are not creatures of logic and reason. Few of us have been gifted and made responsible in its use, but the morass of people are more attuned to their emotions. So I will make my logical and rhetorical case for liberty. In this case specifically for economic liberty.

"Let Freedom Ring!"

I love my American freedoms. I enjoy a prosperity and liberty, the likes of which, the world has never seen. Oh you say, my freedoms are being eroded. 'Tis true. But I say since when? Oh you mean since we fought for our liberty about 200 years ago. Boy that was eons ago {sarcasm}. Hmmm, actually that is relatively recent history, so when I say that I enjoy these freedoms that my forefathers fought for, it's a true statement. Keep things in context. Pax Americana (think about it).

On the other hand, we have been complacent with our liberties and the ironic thing is; is that we actually have the liberty to be complacent if we want to. But there is just one little problem. With privilege comes responsibility. We are a privileged and lazy people. But we cannot be both of those indefinitely. We will either continue to be lazy and lose our privileges or we must bear the burden of responsibility that being a free people entails.

I vote liberty. Every time.

Work sucks, I know. But it's a necessary evil and I will take the liberty and responsibility together.

Laziness leads to less.

What do I mean? Less: liberty, wealth, time and satisfaction. Human nature wants and wants and can never be satisfied. There are people who seek power, money, influence, or some combination if not all of them. Laziness tends to allow these people to amass great power, fortunes, and influence at the expense of those who are unwilling to work for a piece of the same. The more people vying for power, the less any one person will acquire; which, if you think about it, is why the founders set up a congress rather than an American 'king.' Decentralize the power as much as possible.

Money gets tricky. Because it is tied to power, wealth begets power and power begets wealth. But in either case, preventing the centralization of power will, at the very least, prevent power from being used to create wealth [of an individual, not the wealth of nations]. Barriers to enter the market restrict the nation's wealth. Again this goes back to politics. Power corrupts. Central planners are primarily concerned with taking care of themselves. Everything they say to the opposite effect is a smokescreen designed to keep the lazy entrenched in a slavery they do not realize that they are in.

Influenced by entertainment. That is the average American. That is me. For me to say otherwise is a lie. That is you. How comfortable are you with facing truth? We are easily influenced. Want proof? I don't need to prove anything. The proof is in the pudding. Advertising and marketing. Does that answer the question? If it didn't work, Superbowl slots would not cost so little {sarcasm} for 30 seconds of air.

So there you have it. The ground work. From here I will go deeper into the logic of why liberty actually works. But at the core we do not want liberty. We want to be entertained, amused, or pleasured. Logic says liberty is the best choice. Our feelings say otherwise.

"But won't people starve to death if we don't have welfare?" I appreciate the liberal charity in wanting the best for our fellow humans, but I will posit that more liberty, not less is the answer to true humanitarianism.

"So you want the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer?" God forbid. I want the responsible to get richer and the lazy to get poorer. How is it right to take from one person that which belongs to them and give it to someone it does not belong to? The IRS is legal theft. But it does not fulfill the modern day role of Robin Hood either. "The wealthiest are taxed the most and that is given to the poorest right?" SMH. If only…The extreme wealthiest know how to shelter their riches from taxes. And how do they know how to do that? Simple. They designed the constructs. This is why government and corporations being in bed together is so bad for the common person. If and when I get rich, I will be excluded from the most elite circles where you learn the tricks of how to hide your money from the tax man. We don't tax "them," we tax "us." The wealthiest of us are the ones in the highest tax brackets, the modern "royalty" know how to play the game better than we do.

I don't want to play the game. I want to get rid of the rules and have the freedom to work hard, own my piece of America, and make it my paradise. More to follow; and dream about the paradise we will never have if we are unwilling to work harder and smarter than we have in the last 230-ish years since we fought for LIBERTY.