Saturday, October 20, 2007

Who owns my life?

Do I? That is what I have always thought and what most people think. Well, most Christians would say that their life is no longer their own. But, I'm not talking about spiritual submission. I'm talking about freedom and slavery. Am I free or am I a slave? I started thinking about this topic earlier this year. I am ashamed that it had never occurred to me before. I always thought that I owned my life and no one else had a right to it. When I joined the Army when I was seventeen, I placed my self in submission to my superiors and temporarily gave up my right to make some fairly large choices. But the choice to put myself in that position was mine. I wasn't drafted. I am married, so someone else has a pretty big claim on my life. But again, that was my choice.

I went through a major change in my world view earlier this year and started reevaluating just about every belief I had always accepted. I had some major revelations, but one of the most astonishing was that I was not the only entity with a legal claim on my very life. And I had no choice in the matter!



What does it mean to own my life? That means I own my body. (no, I'm not going into an abortion argument) What does it mean to own your body? I am responsible for taking care of my body and for taking responsibility for its actions for good or for ill. What does my body do? It works. Whether it labors for breath or $2.13 an hour plus tips, it is working. Work is the function of our bodies. And money is one of the products of our work. If the government says that it is entitled to my money before I am, what is it saying about the ownership of my body?

Flashback six months ago. I downloaded From Freedom to Fascism from Netflix. It is a great movie by Aaron Russo about the Federal Reserve. I HIGHLY recommend it. From there, I researched and came upon Ron Paul. He was the first person I have ever heard that actually said under the current system that the government owns our lives. I actually jumped up and down in my living room and screamed, "Finally! Someone else is saying it!" They have it on the books and can call upon us at will. That is what the draft is. We do not have sovereignty over our own lives. That is what the income tax is. We do not own the fruits of our labors. We belong to the state and they allow us to keep what we do.




If you want to own your life again, I strongly urge you to research Dr. Paul. If your eyes are opened, decide what you are going to do. Who would have thought that talking about freedom in the "Land of the Free" would be such a controversial topic?

2 comments:

M said...

Are we free when the government is allowed to listen to our phone calls, when a news channel won't give us the straight information and when the poor are only free to live on the streets. Take another look... people are hurt, sick, and dying and if someone can just give a helping hand and lift them up for a while and help them, you can realize that the money you worked for isn't important because you can help someone and when you need help, you can be helped. I say YES to raising taxes, Yes to public health care and no to the Republican administration and No to Ron Paul.

But that could just because I was raised with the American ideal that it's nice to help others.

Go Kucinich.
But as the Republican censorship goes, I suspect this'll be deleted by the blog owner.

Suze said...

Hi melbel. With which point did you have an argument? Obviously, the government should not be eavesdropping on its citizens. Of course, there should be a better system to shelter the poor. I do agree that our health care system is broken. No where in my post do I deny that. I live in New York where subsidized health insurance in my county is $550 a month for two people. That's over 6 thousand dollars a year. I live in a very small two bedroom apartment. We have a child, so the second bedroom is mandatory. We pay $900 a month rent, plus utilities. That's eighteen thousand dollars a year just for housing and health insurance. Now, add car insurance, gas, groceries, telephone and clothing. It rapidly becomes ludicrous. If one of us was to become disabled, we would be in danger of being homeless, ourselves. This is not the result of a healthy economy. It is the result of the devaluation of our buying power. This is the direct result of disregarding the Constitution. It contains protections for our currency that have be disregarded.
This is why I say you should investigate what Dr. Paul says. You may not agree with his stance. I don't agree with everything he says. But, if you believe in Freedom, there are some fundamental issues you should familiarize yourself with.
If, on the other hand, you want your dear Uncle Sam to take care of you from cradle to grave, then there is not much hope for you. Even if you don't remain a slave of the state, there is always someone waiting to take advantage of someone who won't take care of themselves.