by Fred Hernandez
American taverns of the eighteenth century were not just a place to visit, they were a daily necessity. It was a place to eat, travelers stopped in to freshen up with food and rest, a place to meet and discuss issues affecting their lives. In the same way our own tavern style politics in Custer County is a way of getting the community together for fun filled and educational discussions on matters that affect local lives day after day.
On Thursday night, April 15, the Custer Citizens for the Constitution (CCC) presented the Liberty Rocks monthly forum at Tony’s Mountain Pizza with a mind-boggling presentation centered on the erosion of personal liberties of which we should all be keenly aware.
The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Ann Barthrop starting with a heartfelt invocation by Reverend Hal Crossley, Vice President, Board Director and Spiritual Adviser of Silver Cliff’s Lighthouse Pregnancy Resource Center. The Pledge of Allegiance followed immediately after prayer and the guests, numbering close to the fifty mark, sat down for their favorite “ale and tucker” as goes the Australian slang.
At the onset, Chairperson Ann announced the sad news that one of the guest speakers, Ms. Danielle Neuschwanger, the young lady who is vying for the Governor’s Mansion, had called in with regrets that she would not be able to grace the occasion. Many guests were clearly disappointed. However, after it was learned she had visited with relatives only days before and they had tested positive for the china virus, Danielle, out of an abundance of caution and concern for her many supporters, decided it prudent to forgo all her appointments for the next few days. Everyone was in accord. She has promised to do a rain check for the next event planned; whatever that event may be. We are sure to be seeing her very soon and CCC will keep everyone informed accordingly.
The evening’s main presentation was then made by a really talented young lady, Ms. Becky Olson, who has done extensive research, and continues to research, on a topic that is mostly unreported; property rights and taxes. For an hour and fifteen minutes Becky eloquently delivered a lecture that could have easily been the envy of any university professor. With the help of visual aids on the big screen, she weaved in and out of subjects pertaining to the overreach of government which most thinking Americans are already aware of. Rights come from God. We must not forget. In fact, society need not exist since rights are the relationship between man and nature. To own property is a natural right and that in itself is an inducement for strong and stable self-government. The people cannot be sovereign and cannot have self-government if we do not have these rights which are the impetus to create, to build, to increase, to flourish and thrive. That power rests on each individual. Each person is sovereign. The Government’s sole purpose is to protect the rights of the people. And, while some might argue that property rights per se is not in The Constitution, it clearly speaks about “our stuff” and “the fruits of our labor”. Due process, therefore, is needed to take property and property must be always secure or liberty does not exist. No one should be able to coerce anyone else to do something on their behalf. Therein lies the core of collectivism when a hundred or more years ago the notion to use the power of the government to control people manifested again. It produced concepts such as central planning, expansion of police powers, price regulation, minimum wages and other forms of subtle abuse of freedom for self-determination. Therein came the idea that individuals exist for the ‘common good’ which in turn gave way to Keynesian Economics such as a central bank (which are really privately owned) that set monetary policies, sets interest rates, prints money and creates what today we know as economic “bubbles”; diametrically opposed to Austrian Economics which has no central banks, which limits Federal government powers, which is based on commodities solidly backed by gold, silver and such hard assets. It relies on free market forces, induces government to curb spending, prevents government from saddling future generations with debt and eliminates, as much as possible, mis-allocation of resources.
The interesting lecture by Ms. Olson cites the Mises Institute, after the name of a 19th Century economist and recommends visiting the website. She also highly recommends the book “The Creature of Jekyll Island”, the spit of land off the coast of Georgia, U.S.A., once owned by the rich and powerful. It was said that the owners of the island had one sixth of the wealth at that time. It was on this very island that the idea of a Federal Reserve was born.
Today we can see a slow but steady encroachment of government as it conditions the population to accept collectivism, the idea that the individuals themselves have no intrinsic rights and that everything has to be geared towards the “common good”. You almost feel it as a kind of ‘death by a thousand cuts’ in these government rules, regulations and fees such as: income tax, property tax, eminent domain, red flag laws, civil asset forfeitures, subscription based services, ride share services, city bike rentals, pod housing, Medicare for all, universal basic income, free college, identity politics, censoring “hate” speech, revising/erasing history, disarming law abiding citizens, smart cities, green new deal, public health emergencies (pandemic, masks, vaccines, vaccine passports, lockdowns), globalism, world citizens, corporate facism, silencing freedom of speech, rule by ‘experts’, The Great Reset, homeowner associations and on and on. The china virus which was used to their advantage had politicians shutting down our rights to make a living and took away our precious freedoms. No one has the right to infringe on your right to make a living. In our struggle to right the untenable situation, let us think local as the battle is fought at our level, in our own county, in our towns. For those who find learning about these issues interesting, it is recommended that you visit the following websites for further educational, interesting and mind-expanding knowledge: Yure Bezmenov, Hegelian Dialectic, Cloward Piven Strategy. In fact, Cloward and Piven were the professors of the 44th President who used that knowledge effectively to divide the country.
The presenter, Ms. Becky Olson may be contacted at olsonrebeccaj@gmail.com