By Daisy Luther
Some time between throwing some burgers on the grill and shooting off fireworks with a beer in one hand and a lighter in the other, ask yourself this question:
How independent are any of us, really? We like to think we live in the “free-est” nation in the world, but do we really? Think about it.
The bottom line is, some places in the United States are freer than others, but we’re all still serfs paying fealty to lords.
Did you know that, as a business owner, when I write a paycheck of $1200 to an employee, it costs me $1399.91 and that she only ends up with $1042.12? Think about what we could all do with an extra $357.79 per pay period. I bet we wouldn’t go out fighting wars on other people’s soil with it. I bet we wouldn’t enrich politicians and weapons manufacturers with it and special interest groups with it.
I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of it.
I’m sick of being taxed locally on the business I created using absolutely no municipal resources, of being taxed on the wages I pay to my employees, of being taxed on the car that the bank and I own, of being asked for a list of personal property so the local government can tax me on that too.
Sick.
Of.
It.
Our government isn’t really made up of the elected officials that it purports. It’s made up, mostly, by people who sell their souls to huge corporations that have an interest in beneficial (to them) laws being passed and laws that would harm their businesses shut down before they ever reach the desk of the presidents.
As well, the supposed watchdog entities, like the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the United States Department of Agriculture are populated and led by those who have been hand-picked to support corporations, no matter what the detriment to the American people whom they pretend to protect. If Congress was like NASCAR, the members would have to wear uniforms emblazoned with their sponsors. However, Washington DC does not have the transparency of professional car racing, so we must guess at the sponsors of our “representatives.”
We are buried under silly laws with the sole purpose of generating revenue or adding to the slave labor force in the for-profit prison system. We must work most of our waking hours to be able to pay for our basic necessities. We are convinced repeatedly through entertainment and social media that we must have things that our ancestors would never have considered owning, much less requiring.
They have most people convinced that they must follow the food pyramid, the vaccine schedule, and the rules that force us to have licenses for every darned thing we do. We must pay for and be granted permission to feed ourselves, transport ourselves, build shelters for ourselves, unite in matrimony, and even to own pets.
Like some kind of frighteningly authoritarian parent, they assure us that it’s for our own safety, these breaches in our independence and that we must comply or face the consequences. They ground us by taking away our licenses. They send us to our rooms that just happen to be located in for-profit prisons. They don’t “allow” us to pursue life, liberty, and happiness because once we taste that sweet freedom, we won’t want to be under their oppressive thumbs anymore.
But some of us have seen the corporate government for what it is: a bully that reigns through fear of reprisal and grievous harm. They hold over us these fears:
Some people fear these things and believe these tales so thoroughly, they allow the government to enforce ridiculous, unconstitutional laws “for our own safety.” They say, “Better that I give up my rights as a human being and save the world from a terrorist.”
Whether you call it freedom, liberty, sovereignty, or self-governance, the point remains the same: if you’re reading this, you probably want to determine your own life, whether the result is success or failure. You want to have control over your ability to live, truly live, and not merely exist as a slave to the powers that be.
When’s the last time you read – actually read – the Constitution?
Please allow me to share an excerpt.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Now, I’m not planning to arm up and head to Washington DC to take over Congress, but I am continuing to withdraw my consent in every way possible.
Human beings are born with natural rights, every single one of us. We have the rights to life, liberty, and property. We have the right to benefit from our own work.
And if that’s not enough, there’s a back-up. You also have constitutionally-protected right to be free.
The 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery. This means that if you are a slave today, it’s either illegal, or you have voluntarily accepted your servitude.
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
You have a Constitutionally protected right to be free. If you aren’t free, then revolution is your motherlovin’ duty.
Counter Markets Newsletter - Trends & Strategies for Maximum Freedom
This isn’t about guns blazing, militias mobilizing, and guerrilla warfare. It’s about small personal acts of independence. The way you lead your life every single day can be a personal Declaration of Independence. By refusing to concede your natural rights, quietly and resolutely, you are performing a much-needed act of revolution.
Many people believe that revolution requires that they lead a march, stand in front of a crowd with a bullhorn, or form a militia. They feel like it’s a job for the Julian Assanges and James Wesley Rawleses of the world.
They’re wrong. You don’t have to be a person with thousands of followers on Twitter and Facebook. You don’t have to be a person with a military leadership position on your resume. You need not get yourself arrested on the steps of the White House, go to prison forever for telling an unpopular truth, or stare down a bunch of scary-looking thugs in jackboots.
But you do have to do something.
You can’t just sit there and complain unless you really are just another armchair Rambo.
The way you lead your life every single day can be an act of revolution. By refusing to concede your natural rights, quietly and resolutely, you are performing an act of revolution. Walking the walk doesn’t always require civil disobedience or militia membership. It requires your consistent determination not to let others infringe on your own freedom.
It doesn’t matter if you are a soccer mom from the suburbs, a college student in a dormitory, a church-going dad and husband, or a person who has found themselves homeless through the ongoing economic crisis – by living resolutely, you are performing an act of revolution.
Don’t get me wrong – we need the Julians, the militias, and the JWRs. We need the people who stand in protest. We need those who expose wrongdoing. We need the organizers, the shouters, the big personalities, and the leaders. But these are not the only ways to revolt. If every single person was off organizing their own rally, there’d be no one left to march in it.
What it is imperative upon us to do is to find our compass and follow it.
We must make ourselves immune to control by not needing what “they” hand out. We have to be armored against the way everyone else lives and choose our own paths. We must stubbornly refuse to participate in the hoop-jumping that is everyday life in America. By all of us who believe in liberty doing this, we form an army of stubborn non-participants in the status quo.
The most revolutionary act is to be self-sufficient and in need of nothing that the government can provide for you in exchange for some small liberty. This list of insurrections is by no means comprehensive.
For even more ways to cease your support of a government run amok, check out 50 Ways to Starve the Beast.
As Albert Camus, a French philosopher and author said, “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”
If you see something wrong, don’t just ignore it. Say something about it, and keep saying something until it changes. Whether this is some process that infringes on your privacy, a job requirement that impedes your health, or another injustice, pursue it relentlessly. Ask questions publicly, write letters, and use social media to bring pressure to encourage a change.
If you’re currently taking the easy way through life, if you recognize yourself as a slave, STOP. You don’t have to continue like that.
According to the Declaration of Independence, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
That means that you don’t have to accept the unjust laws. That means you don’t have to quietly take it, muttering under your breath that it isn’t right, but not daring to raise your voice. That means that “they” are only in control of you if you allow it.
Independence isn’t something you celebrate one day a year. Independence is the way you live your life, every single day, refusing to submit to that which makes you beholden to or less than someone else.
There are nearly 330 million people in the United States. (source)
Only 3% of the population fought in the Revolutionary War, and 10% actively supported them.
If 9,900,000 people quietly and peacefully revolted by withdrawing their consent to be governed by tyrants we could not be silenced.
If 33,000,000 people supported those revolting, we could not be stopped.
The government might be watching us, but we can watch them right back.
Make the way you live your life a revolutionary act. Show people what freedom really means, and may it will catch out.
Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, gun-toting blogger who writes about current events, preparedness, frugality, voluntaryism, and the pursuit of liberty on her website, The Organic Prepper, where this article first appeared. She is widely republished across alternative media and she curates all the most important news links on her aggregate site, PreppersDailyNews.com. Daisy is the best-selling author of 4 books and lives in the mountains of Virginia with her two daughters and an ever-growing menagerie. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.
Subscribe to Activist Post for truth, peace, and freedom news. Follow us on Minds, Twitter, Steemit, and SoMee.
Provide, Protect and Profit from what’s coming! Get a free issue of Counter Markets today.