What It’s All About

Several hours before the birth of my daughter, the news of the terrorist bombings in London reached the television in the delivery room. Prior to this tragic news, I had taken a bit of a vacation from following the news as closely as I usually do. I have found that occasionally taking a break from the news (whether its talk radio, newspaper, television, or the blogosphere) is good for one’s sanity. The world is a very dark and scary place sometimes and this darkness is amplified in the news every single day.

With the upcoming birth of my daughter, I did not want the weight of these realities on my mind. Preparing for this new addition required my attention. The rest of the world and its ills would have to wait. Besides, the birth of a child is a joyous time (and it very much was) and nothing was going to take that away from us. Truthfully, even with the tragedy in London hours earlier, I did not spend much time dwelling on it.

Now that my ‘news vacation’ is over, I have return to my usual news junkie ways. Why? Why do I care so much about liberty, philosophy, politics, and the state of the Union and the world? Why not just go through life like so many others do and pretend like everything is okay and allow other, ‘better informed’ people follow the news and tell me what I should care about and how I should vote?

The answer is I have tried and failed. I do not trust others to tell me what I should think and I value my ideals too much to put them in the hands of others. Look where they have taken us. We live in a country that once valued individual liberty, personal property rights, free speech, and a free market. These other ‘better informed’ people have replaced these ideals with a paternalistic it-is-for-your-own-good approach to governing, limiting one’s personal property rights to a majority (read mob) vote, passing legislation abridging free speech on many fronts, and incrementally moving the free market to one similar to the European socialist model.

The juxtaposition of the birth of my daughter and the terrorism that happened on that very same day made me pause and think, “What is my need to stay informed and express my views all about?” What it’s all about is doing what I can to make my country and world a better place for my three children.

Where will we be in the war on terror when they reach adulthood? How many times will we be hit in that time?

Will America remain the leading superpower on the planet as a beacon of hope for others who desire freedom or will China or some other anti-liberty nation take her place?

How many more areas are left for the federal government to involve itself in our lives? Will my children have the right to peaceably assemble for redress against the government? Will they have the ability to write or speak freely without fear of violating some campaign finance law such as McCain-Feingold? What will the long-term effects be from Kelo on them if people do not rise up and take private property rights back from the government? Will they have the right to bear arms to protect themselves from predators or a tyrannical government?

These are the reasons I pay attention to the world around me. If those of us who are of the belief that Life, Liberty, and Property are essential to pursuing happiness won’t take a stand who will? If we do not act, the forces of political correctness and tyranny will eventually take over.

Someone once said that the opposite of love isn’t hate, its apathy. I love my family and my country far too much to be apathetic about either.