What’s It Going to be, Fear or Freedom?

June 30, 2024

June 2024

Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Really? The best our nation can put up for election to the highest office in the land are these two elderly men?

How did we get here politically? Fear. I believe that, for decades, we’ve all been the unwitting participants in a social experiment that has crept into most levels of government. Think about the timeline of your life to this point. How many times have you handed over some kind of freedom in return for a promise that the government will protect us from a fearful circumstance that they are touting? Such protections always bloat the government and are rarely paid for, but instead increase spending and put more burden on taxpayers while often not delivering on their original promises.

Here’s a national example. After 9/11, we had good reason to fear terrorism. One of the government’s answers was to take the freedom of transportation across our country and turn it into a nightmare with the institution of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). This agency basically projects the attitude that we need to fear each other. When you travel on a plane, you are now treated as though you are a criminal until proven innocent by a myriad of obstacles including removing certain clothing, shoes and full body scans. After that, you are allowed to travel. The fear of the infinitesimally small risk of an incident on an airplane has caused us to hand over our freedom. We could go on about the Patriot Act and other results of 9/11, but there is only so much room for this column.

During the great recession of 2008, we were fed the fear of economic collapse. If the government did not help the auto industry, we’d be sent back to the dark ages. So they opened the checkbook and helped selected giant private industries while turning a blind eye to small businesses who were also struggling. Did that promise end up mattering to those who lost their livelihoods and financial freedoms when GM shuttered their Janesville Assembly Plant anyway? At a national level, to be fair, most of those loans were paid back by the automakers. But since when does a government decide which industry is too big to fail and then still allow them to throw people out of work while using taxpayer dollars?

Covid-19. In Wisconsin and even in Rock County, all power to impact commerce, leisure and religion was placed in the hands of unelected health officials and administrators who were following “guidance” from more unelected Federal officials, the CDC. What happened is unelected government officials, with lack of meaningful oversight by local elected
representatives, took over all aspects of your work, worship, public discourse and even health care. This is not how this is supposed to work.

Rock County residents are forced to endure ever-increasing taxes foisted on us by public officials, many of whom offer you only the fear of what bad things will happen if they don’t get the money from your pockets that they feel they need, more than you. To change the trajectory, we need to face the (sometimes) irrational fears we’re presented with and take back our freedom to vote, not just for the most polished and well-known candidates, but for those who will actually seek to protect our financial and personal freedoms. Fear or freedom. It’s your choice.

Announcing a NEW video from RCF!
If you are interested in the advice of someone who has experienced the tyranny of North Korea, and now the perilous freedom and liberty in the United States, please listen to our interview of Ms. Yeonmi Park earlier this year. Go HERE to listen to her amazing story and advice to all Americans. You will not likely forget her story, nor how important your freedoms are, if you take a few minutes to listen. Please share this video with others who you feel may benefit.

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Partisan Potholes?

Partisan Potholes?

Let’s go on an election year scavenger hunt. First one to get a photo of all these items wins. Ready? Okay. Take a photo of a Republican pothole on your street. Next, a Democrat pizza box. A Republican dentist office. A Democrat snowplow. A Republican fire hydrant. A Democrat elementary school. You get the point, right? Living our everyday lives in our local communities, the hype on social media regarding elections will likely have little, if any, real impact once the elections are over. Most of us are concerned about LOCAL priorities: Quality education for kids in our neighborhoods; Police and Fire personnel who protect us; Business owners who bring value to our communities; Community leaders that look out for us. At the community level, we share similar goals that are not exclusive to a particular political party. School board members, city council representatives, alderpersons, mayors and county board supervisors are not partisan offices because those leaders need to serve the majority of their citizens and not just a select group. At the state and federal levels, partisan division in Wisconsin, like many states, is at an all time high. That will likely be demonstrated again in November, although there is hope that some issues may be causing us to rethink our positions. Feelings on things like high voltage power lines, power generation facilities, data centers, land use and more are crossing traditional party lines and people are looking to elected officials for leadership on the issues that affect them rather than just towing a party line. That’s fantastic news. Along the same line, some folks in Rock County will see five referendum questions on their ballot. If you consider the real “ask” of those questions and not the political spin around discussions of them, you will quickly see their passage or failure will also have an impact on your life and your financial situation (in the case of school referendums).
Local Impact Over Party

Local Impact Over Party

There’s good news in Rock County and the surrounding areas this election season, but it has very little to do with the people on the ballot this fall. This fall’s election is all about politicians. State and Federal candidates will all promise to make your world better, only to get reshaped by the hyper-partisanship that exists at that level. “But, Bill,” you say, “you told us there was good news.” There is. But to see it, we might have to look beyond partisan politics and personal feelings. Locally, the data center debate has stirred strong emotional responses between those for and against such projects. But something else has also happened. The people rediscovered that local government officials are elected to serve them!
Let Freedom Ring!!!

Let Freedom Ring!!!

Let freedom ring!! As we celebrate America’s 250th birthday we would do ourselves well to consider the freedoms the founders of our nation envisioned and whether that vision is still clear. I was reminded recently of how easy it can be to let the constant social-political noise of (social) media cloud our thoughts and feelings. That sentiment was further backed up by a few recent reports I’ve read as the world comes to America for the World Cup. Many visitors are simply fascinated by our way of life, our opportunities and our culture. What would our viewpoints be if we encountered our country for the first time over this holiday from somewhere far off?
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