Liberty Sense: Is This Progress?

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Screen shot 2013-04-19 at 2.49.12 PMHow have Bostonians gone from firing “the shot heard ’round the world” to being on “house arrest” with their city in “lockdown” in slightly over 200 years? Interestingly enough, it is 238 years almost exactly to the day.  Revere’s legendary ride took place April 18, 1775.  It’s hard to imagine how different history would have been had Paul Revere sought cover instead of riding through the New England countryside upon hearing that danger was approaching.  Even more ironic is the fact that the danger was the British army coming to disarm the patriots, thereby stripping them of one of their natural rights.  Gun control anyone?

The answer is simple:  this is “progress”.  Massachusetts is one of the most progressive  states in the country.  Partisan labels are unhelpful and nondescript in getting to the heart of the matter.  Basically, Americans can be divided into two philosophical camps – Conservatives and Progressives – each of which is best understood  in the context of the Constitution.

The Constitution was born of the Revolutionary experiment that ushered in a “new order for the ages” (Novus Ordo Seclorum – see back of $1 bill).  It consists of the fundamental and abiding principles that prescribe the optimal arrangement of political power to achieve a government of, by and for the people.  Conservatives believe in the preservation of that constitutionally-defined role of government embraced in the American founding.  Progressives seek to move or “progress” beyond the constitutionally-defined role of government in favor of an ever expanding government role.

Progressivism subverts the power of the individual to the collective state.  It erases the common cause of America reflected in the phrases “E Pluribus Unum” (from many to one – also on back of $1 bill) and “melting pot” and replaces it with “multiculturalism”.  Emphasis becomes what divides us instead of what unites us.  And we are to believe this is “progress”.

Personal Note: Tax Day 2013 – “The Perfect Storm”

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I don’t know when I’ve felt this unnerved about anything in the recent past. For the first time in 20+ years my husband and I filed a tax extension this year. Our tax filing proved especially challenging because we underestimated our withholding and changed an investment strategy from “pre-tax” to “post-tax”. Additionally, the small company another mom and myself started two years ago miraculously turned a “profit”, at least in an accounting sense. These three factors combined to form a staggering tax liability that left me “gasping for air” when I opened my accountant’s email several days ago. I refer to it now as “the perfect storm” both for the shear size of the amount owed and for the way it’s made my stomach churn since learning the news.

I want to cry but I know it’s as useless as “crying over spilt milk”. Plus I don’t want to worry my three kids. Like any kids, they get especially freaked out when mom cries. The thing that bothers me the most is that my kids are the reason I started the company. Several years ago I began worrying – almost to the point of anxiety – over the direction of our country. Deciding that I needed to take action, I started a small company called The Liberty Brand Co. with another concerned mom. We’ve worked tirelessly, without pay, for the last two years because we are devoted to our cause (Liberty’s kids) and convinced of its importance. We’ve funded our enterprise solely through personal savings.  Needless to say, due to the ignorance of accounting principles on my part we show a profit, despite the fact that we’ve spent far more than we’ve taken in. The thing that astounds me the most is that it increased my personal income taxes by more than the “profit” we produced! For all that work, I only made matters worse.

I look at my kids and know I won’t give up but I’m discouraged. I answered “the call” and have tried to steward it faithfully and to the best of my ability. To date I’ve fallen short. I just wonder if these are some of the feelings the founding fathers had when they “mutually pledge(d) to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor ” on a hot July day that was the antithesis of today – “Tax Day”?!