Planting
Seeds
Charlie Earl
We’re
getting close to my second favorite time of the year….planting time. College
football season is my super most bestest favorite time. Spring planting is
special because of the promise and potential in every seed in the garden. While
many of my posts center on government and the philosophical foundations of
governing, I find hope and renewal at planting time. Government steals our
freedom and our money, but the sun comes up, the rains fall and the little
seeds germinate. There is a promise hidden beneath the soil. If I trust God’s
plan and do my part through weeding, watering and adding nutrients, the garden
will flourish. It may not yield a bounteous crop, but it will provide enough of
our basic needs. The greatest yield is hope.
The Declaration of Independence was a germinating seed for an
emergent republic. The actual seed was provided by God Almighty, planted by
stalwarts such as Bastiat, Montesquieu, Adam Smith, Burke and other notable
thinkers. The tiny nuggets of freedom were watered by the blood of patriots,
the rhetoric of Sam Adams, the scribbling of Thomas Paine and the efforts of
George Mason, Patrick Henry and many of their contemporaries. Vital nutrients
have been provided by von Mises, Rothbard, Ayn Rand, Hayek, Milton Friedman,
and many other writers and voices who cherish individual liberty as designed by
our Creator. The seed was sown, watered and fertilized but yet, the plant has
become stunted and struggling to survive.
Our task as
the successors to this great roster of planters and nurturers is to diligently
maintain the garden in order that our crop may be harvested. When the need
arises, we must water the thirsty plants perhaps with our own blood or our
tears. We must be prepared to add additional nutritional material when the
seedlings of liberty are weak and starved. We can fulfill this task by warning
others, writing, teaching and forcefully defending liberty whenever danger
appears. Our most laborious job is weeding the patch when the enemies of freedom
invade the garden. The weeds are varied and numerous. Some have shallow roots
and can easily be pulled. Others, however, are firmly and deeply entrenched and
require a major commitment of time, effort and resources to dislodge them.
The weeds
represent a number of different philosophies, approaches and preferences. There
are some who are firmly convinced that bigger government can be liberating
because so many people are ill-equipped to extract significant meaning from
life. Other big-government proponents arrogantly assume that their formulas for
successful living are more worthy than others’. They believe the state must
coerce people into following the proper path. Another group of big-government
advocates simply believe they are ordained to command, to rule, and that others
should be forced to yield to their greater intellects and self-anointed
superiority. For some the lure of big government is the capacity to exercise
raw power and to reap huge benefits. These types represent the deep-rooted varieties
of weeds. They are extremely difficult to destroy and continue to return after
the garden has been cleared.
The
shallower invasive species are easier to remove because their existence is
based on simple personal self-interest (the “gimme” crowd), civic ignorance or
sheer apathy. Opening the doors to economic and social opportunity….better yet,
directing them to the doors of opportunity… may convince these weeds to ‘turn
over a new leaf” and embrace personal liberty. Education and awareness are
vital tools for reaching the little invaders and transforming them into
productive members of the garden. Not all of them will respond positively so
the weeding process must go forward as we limit their access to the garden’s
bounty. We must be ever-vigilant that the weeds do not choke the productive
plants and destroy the garden. We must necessarily dirty our hands, crawl on
our knees and nourish the plants we most desire.
Our harvest
may never come, but we’ll never enjoy the sweet taste of freedom if we do not
plant, water, and nurture then weed the garden. It would be great if we could
reap enough liberty to fill our storehouse and share with others. For the
moment, however, the goal is simply to clear the weeds from the garden.
Finally, I sense that this garden is an organic one….more natural and less
reliant on outside inputs.
Charlie Earl
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