FREEDOM AND THE HEALTH OF THE REPUBLIC

FREEDOM AND THE HEALTH OF THE REPUBLIC

Those are the themes of two books that I enthusiastically recommend to the readers of this fine blog. The first book, Nanny State: How Food Fascists, Teetotaling Do-Gooders, Priggish Moralists, and other Boneheaded Bureaucrats are Turning America into a Nation of Children, deals with exactly what the title states. Although I have not finished reading this book I am very impressed with what I have read so far. Nevertheless, the author, David Harsanyi, deals with a subject that has been a great concern of mine for some time, the rise of the therapeutic welfare state and the corresponding loss of individual freedom and the damage this development is doing to the American character. Additionally, Mr. Harsanyi touches on something that has never ceased to disturbingly amaze me when he observes:

“The fact that politicians, bureaucrats, and activists long to be our parents is not new. What is inexplicable, though, is the swiftness with which Americans have allowed these worrywarts to take on the job. It’s a dramatic about-face from our traditional attitudes toward overreaching government. Some Americans (still too few) are beginning to wonder: When exactly did we lose our right to be unhealthy, unsafe, immoral, and intolerably foolish?”

Hmmm. Over to you Mr. C.K. Chesterton:

“The free man owns himself. He can damage himself with either eating or drinking; he can ruin himself with gambling. If he does he is certainly a damn fool, and he might possibly be a damned soul; but if he may not, he is not a free man more than a dog.”

What do you think John Wayne?

“Republic. I like the sound of the word. It means people can live free, talk free, go or come, buy or sell, be drunk or sober, however they choose. Some words give you a feeling. Republic is one of those words that makes me tight in the throat - the same tightness a man gets when his baby takes his first step or his first baby shaves and makes his first sound as a man. Some words can give you a feeling that makes your heart warm. Republic is one of those words.”

Read the book!

The other book is The Big Ripoff: How Big Business and Big Government Steal Your Money. This book details how, contrary to public perception, big business loves big government and regulation and how both parties, Republican and Democrat, love big business. The book also illustrates how taxpayers are footing the bill for this love affair. If you think regulations on business are there for your protection think again. Warning, don’t read this book if you don’t want to get mad.

Oh, by the Way, Gene Simmons, the front man for KISS, is coming out with his own edition of Sun Tzu’s Art of War. The only thing necessary to complete this circle of insanity would be for Gen Mattis to record a cover of Love Gun.