Thoughts on Freedom: Jefferson Davis' Inaugural Address, February 1861

Gentlemen of the Congress of the Confederate States of America:

Called to the difficult and responsible station of Executive Chief of the Provisional Government which you have instituted, I approach the discharge of the duties assigned me with an humble distrust of my abilities, but with a sustaining confidence in the wisdom of those who are to aid and guide me in the administration of public affairs, and an abiding faith in the patriotism and virtue of the people. Looking forward to the speedy establishment of a provisional government to take the place of the present one, and which, by its great moral and physical powers, will be better able to contend with the difficulties which arise from the conflicting incidents of separate nations, I enter upon the duties of the office for which I have been chosen with the hope that the beginning of our career as a Confederacy may not be obstructed by hostile opposition to the enjoyment of that separate and independent existence which we have asserted, and which, with the blessing of Providence, we intend to maintain.
Our present position has been achieved in a manner unprecedented in the history of nations. It illustrates the American idea that government rests upon the consent of the governed, and that it is the right of the people to alter or abolish a government whenever it becomes destructive of the ends for which it was established. The declared purposes of the compact of Union from which we have withdrawn were to establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, to provide for the common defence, to promote the general welfare, and to secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity; and when in the judgment of the sovereign States now comprising this Confederacy it had been perverted from the purposes for which it was ordained, and had ceased to answer the ends for which it was established, an appeal to the ballot box declared that so far as they were concerned the government created by that compact should cease to exist. In this they merely asserted a right which the Declaration of Independence of 1776 defined to be inalienable. Of the time and occasion for its exercise, they, as sovereign, were the final judges each for itself. The impartial and enlightened verdict of mankind will vindicate the rectitude of our conduct, and He who knows the hearts of men will judge the sincerity with which we have labored to preserve the government of our fathers, in its spirit and in those rights inherent in it, which were solemnly proclaimed at the birth of the States, and which have been affirmed and reaffirmed in the Bills of Rights of the several States. When they entered into the Union of 1789, it was with the undeniable recognition of the power of the people to resume the authority delegated for the purposes of that government whenever, in their opinion, its functions were perverted and its ends defeated. By virtue of this authority, the time and occasion requiring them to exercise it having arrived, the sovereign States here represented have seceded from that Union, and it is a gross abuse of language to denominate the act rebellion or revolution. They have formed a new alliance, but in each State its government has remained as before. The rights of person and property have not been disturbed. The agency through which they have communicated with foreign powers has been changed, but this does not necessarily interrupt their international relations.
Sustained by a consciousness that our transition from the former Union to the present Confederacy has not proceeded from any disregard on our part of our just obligations, or any failure to perform every constitutional duty -- moved by no intention or design to invade the rights of others -- anxious to cultivate peace and commerce with all nations -- if we may not hope to avoid war, we may at least expect that posterity will acquit us of having needlessly engaged in it. We are doubly justified by the absence of wrong on our part, and by wanton aggression on the part of others. There can be no cause to doubt that the courage and patriotism of the people of the Confederate States will be found equal to any measure of defence which may be required for their security. Devoted to agricultural pursuits, their chief interest is the export of a commodity required in every manufacturing country. Our policy is peace, and the freest trade our necessities will permit. It is alike our interest, and that of all those to whom we would sell and from whom we would buy, that there should be the fewest practicable restrictions upon interchange of commodities. There can be but little rivalry between us and any manufacturing or navigating community, such as the Northwestern States of the American Union.
It must follow, therefore, that mutual interest would invite good will and kindness between them and us. If, however, passion or lust of dominion should cloud the judgment and inflame the ambition of these States, we must prepare to meet the emergency, and maintain, by the final arbitrament of the sword, the position we have assumed among the nations of the earth. We have now entered upon our career of independence, and it must be inflexibly pursued.
Through many years of controversy with our late associates, the Northern States, we have vainly endeavored to secure tranquillity and obtain respect for the rights to which we were entitled. As a necessity, not a choice we have resorted to separation, and henceforth our energies must be devoted to the conducting of our own affairs, and perpetuating the Confederacy we have formed. If a just perception of mutual interest shall permit us peaceably to pursue our separate political career, my most earnest desire will have been fulfilled. But if this be denied us, and the integrity and jurisdiction of our territory be assailed, it will but remain for us with a firm resolve to appeal to arms and invoke the blessings of Providence upon a just cause.
As a consequence of our new constitution, and with a view to meet our anticipated wants, it will be necessary to provide a speedy and efficient organization of the several branches of the executive departments having special charge of our foreign intercourse, financial and military affairs, and postal service. For purposes of defence, the Confederate States may, under ordinary circumstances rely mainly upon their militia; but it is deemed advisable, in the present condition of affairs, that there should be a well instructed, disciplined army, more numerous than would be usually required for a peace establishment.
I also suggest that for the protection of our harbors and commerce on the high seas, a navy adapted to those objects be built up. These necessities have doubtless engaged the attention of Congress.
With a constitution differing only in form from that of our forefathers, in so far as it is explanatory of their well known intents, freed from sectional conflicts which have so much interfered with the pursuits of the general welfare, it is not unreasonable to expect that the States from which we have parted may seek to unite their fortunes with ours under the government we have instituted. For this your constitution has made adequate provision, but beyond this, if I mistake not the judgment and will of the people, our reunion with the States from which we have separated is neither practicable nor desirable. To increase power, develop the resources, and promote the happiness of this Confederacy, it is necessary that there should be so much homogeneity as that the welfare of every portion be the aim of the whole. When this homogeneity does not exist, antagonisms are engendered which must and should result in separation.
Actuated solely by a desire to protect and preserve our own rights and promote our own welfare, the secession of the Confederate States has been marked by no aggression upon others, and followed by no domestic convulsion. Our industrial pursuits have received no check; the cultivation of our fields has progressed as heretofore; and even should we be involved in war, there would be no considerable diminution in the production of the great staple which constitutes our exports, and in which the commercial world has an interest scarcely less than our own. This common interest of producer and consumer can only be interrupted by external force, which would obstruct shipments to foreign markets -- a course of conduct which would be detrimental to manufacturing and commercial interests abroad. Should reason guide the action of the government from which we have separated, a policy so injurious to the civilized world, the Northern States included, could not be dictated even by the strongest desire to inflict injury upon us; but if otherwise, a terrible responsibility will rest upon it, and the suffering of millions will bear testimony to the folly and wickedness of our aggressors. In the meantime there will remain to us, besides the ordinary remedies before suggested, the well known resources for retaliation upon the commerce of our enemy.
  Experience in public stations of subordinate grade to this which your kindness has conferred on me, has taught me that care and toil and disappointments are the price of official elevation. You will have many errors to forgive, many deficiencies to tolerate, but you will not find in me either a want of zeal or fidelity to a cause that has my highest hopes and most enduring affection. Your generosity has bestowed upon me an undeserved distinction, one which neither sought nor desired. Upon the continuance of that sentiment, and upon your wisdom and patriotism, I rely to direct and support me in the performance of the duties required at my hands. We have changed the constituent parts, not the system of our government. The constitution formed by our fathers is the constitution of the "Confederate States." In their exposition of it, and in the judicial constructions it has received, it has a light that reveals its true meaning. Thus instructed as to the just interpretations of that instrument, and ever remembering that all public offices are but trusts, held for the benefit of the people, and that delegated powers are to be strictly construed, I will hope that by due diligence in the discharge of my duties, though I may disappoint your expectations, yet to retain, when retiring, something of the good will and confidence which welcome my entrance into office. It is joyous in perilous times to look around upon a people united in heart, who are animated and actuated by one and the same purpose and high resolve, with whom the sacrifices to be made are not weighed in the balance against honor, right, liberty and equality. Obstacles may retard, but cannot prevent their progressive movements. Sanctified by justice and sustained by a virtuous people, let me reverently invoke the God of our fathers to guide and protect us in our efforts to perpetuate the principles which by HIS blessing they were able to vindicate, establish and transmit to their posterity, and with the continuance of HIS favor, ever to be gratefully acknowledged, let us look hopefully forward to success, to peace, and to prosperity.

Beginning today, our nation inches closer to Fascism.

Notice anything different today?  Most folks probably won't.  Such is the way with creeping totalitarianism.

What's different today from yesterday?  June 30th, 2010 was the last day it was legal in the United States to ship cigarettes by mail.  Yet another freedom lost...a completely legal adult product is no longer able to be purchased online, by phone, or through a catalog, to be delivered to you in the comfort of your own home.

Why, you might ask?  Here's your answer:  When President Barack Obama signed into law the SCHIP expansion as one of his first acts in office, increasing tobacco taxes by up to 156%, he not only broke his campaign pledge that he would not raise taxes on anyone who made less than $250,000 a year, he also wanted to make sure you didn't have a legal way to avoid paying his tax increase.  Thus, our current Democrat controlled congress went to work writing another bill...and another bill means another law...and another law generally means someone is going to lose another freedom.  Voila!  In March of this year President Obama signed the "Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking" Act.

You see, the Federal Government always thinks that when there is a completely legal way to avoid paying their onerous taxes, say through the mail ordering of cigarettes from a business located on a tax-free Native Reservation, you are somehow depriving our elected "leaders" of money they feel should rightfully be theirs.  So, they must find a way to "close" that "loophole", so you can be gouged just like any other schmuck who walks into any convenience store in your town.

Oh, you can still drive out to any smoke shop on pretty much any Indian Reservation and buy your smokes tax-free.  So far, I guess our Federal government hasn't figured out a way to make that illegal without putting thousands of natives on the warpath.  Rest assured, the money hungry "powers that be" in Washington D.C. are working on it.

In New York State, a new law levying taxes on the walk-in sale of tobacco to non-natives is scheduled to go into effect September 1st.  J.C. Seneca, a Seneca Nation Tribal Councilor, has declared the state law "an act of war". The last time New York threatened to tax tobacco on tribal lands, there were threats of violence, and a state Thruway across tribal lands was closed after it was blocked with burning tires and debris.

According to the Seneca Tribe, the new Federal law banning mail-order cigarette sales which goes into effect today threatens up to 1000 jobs on the Seneca Nation alone.

Thus, another job and freedom killing measure from our Democrat leadership is in the books.   Native American rights are again trampled.   And the citizens of the United States don't even wince.

Is freedom really that controversial?

After Rand Paul, the son of Libertarian stalwart Texas Congressman Ron Paul, overwhelmingly won the Kentucky Republican Senatorial nomination, becoming a force to reckon with in the upcoming Senate race, critics eager to brand both Paul and the TEA Party movement as racist went to work picking apart every word Rand Paul has ever said in an attempt to marginalize both Paul and TEA Party activists.

Anyone who knows about Congressman Ron Paul of Texas, or about the Libertarian political philosophy, knows that according to the tenets of Libertarian thought, government's role in the lives of the people it's charged with governing is to be minimal.  Basically, depending upon the source, Libertarian thought states that for the most part, people should be free to act as they please, as long as those actions to no physical harm to others.  The government that "governs least, governs best".

For instance, Libertarians believe that there should be no laws regarding the use of drugs by individuals.  What someone chooses to put into his or her own body should not be government's concern, even if it is harmful to the person.  But as soon as that person, say, takes to the road in a motor vehicle, putting others at risk, then the use of the police force and court system to take that person off the road is fine and dandy.

In a nutshell, the right of a person to swing his fists around him or herself stops at the point those fists contact another person's face.  Take any political decision and apply this litmus test, and you can easily judge what the Libertarian thought will be on the matter.

Libertarians are also "free marketers" to what might be called an "extreme".  Government should have no place in the regulation of the marketplace or workplace.  Everything involved with the production and selling of goods and services should be pretty much left up to the folks involved.  If a product is shoddy, eventually no one will buy it, and the company making it will either improve the product or go out of business.  If an employer runs an unsafe workplace, word gets around, and people will neither want to work for that employer, nor purchase it's products, thus, either the employer will change, or again, go out of business.

One noted Libertarian radio talk show host, Niel Boortz, has even gone so far as to say there should be no government regulation, nor licensing, of those who practice medicine.

 As someone who also believes that a mostly unregulated free market is the best and most stable way to run an economy, I myself question the use to government force to modify natural balances which occur in the production of goods and services.  Our agricultural system has been operating under strict, government imposed price and production controls for the better part of a century, for instance, and all it's done is run the family farmer out of business, consolidate the production of foodstuffs into the hands of large, multi-national corporations, and the market prices of agricultural products still suffer from wild swings due to worldwide supply and demand.  The only difference is that farmers and ranchers are forbidden to do much about it here in the United States, while other nations can quickly adapt to market conditions.  U.S. farmers and ranchers are thus put at an unfair disadvantage.  In other words, all of the government controls upon agriculture have simply not worked.

It should come as neither surprising, nor should it be controversial, that Rand Paul has made statements concerning the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which indicate that he wouldn't support such a measure if it were to come before Congress today.  Pretty much any Libertarian of whom I'm aware feels the same way, and there are writings of Libertarian thinkers going back to the very beginning of Libertarianism which document that belief.  There is nothing new here.  Libertarians believe that government has no business using it's force to determine the hiring practices of private business.  It's the right of the employer to hire or fire anyone the employer wants to, for whatever reason the employer chooses.

Is racism abhorrent?  It certainly is.  Does racism exist?  It certainly does.  Is everyone who doesn't support government intervention in issues involving race a racist?  Absolutely not.  Can government regulate what is in man's heart?  No.  If a person is going to hold racist personal beliefs, the best the government can do is to regulate the outward appearance of that person, by regulating his or her actions.  Government has had very little success in changing the inner workings of man.

Just as Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" of the 1960's engaged the Federal government in an "all-out war" against poverty, and poverty rates have remained for the most part unchanged for 40 years, there is really no evidence that the actions of government have had any effect on what man truly believes about his or her fellow man based on race.

Just because someone doesn't believe the government should have the right to forcefully determine the hiring practices of private business, doesn't make him or her racist.  To date, not a single shred of evidence has come to light to indicate Rand Paul has racist bone in his body, nor that he's ever made a personal decision in his life that took race into account..  The current controversy involving Rand Paul's statements is merely political fodder being used by the left in it's continuing attempts to brand the TEA Party movement as a racist movement.  Apparently, we're supposed to just ignore all the blacks, Hispanics, Asians, middle-easterners, Jews, and young people in TEA Party crowds, not to mention all the blacks, Hispanics, Asians, middle-easterners, Jews, and young people who speak at TEA Party events.

Don't fall for the distraction.  The TEA Party movement is about getting government OUT of the hands of career politicians and bureaucrats who have become fat, lazy, and uncaring about our personal freedoms, and about getting government back INTO the hands of people who will quickly respond to the will of the public at large, who will take our personal freedoms into account.  It's about returning government to it's constitutionally limited "roots", and getting government out of our pocketbooks.

Leftists are desperate, and running scared.  As practitioners of "situation ethics" they will use any tactic, no matter how vile, in order to attempt to hold onto their power over us.