Archer, you bring up Jesus and being duped into believing he is the only path to saving our soul. I think you have misplaced the meaning of being "saved" besides...what has that got to do with seeking help in our daily lives? Do you think that if God thought we could all help ourselves (including helping ourselves into heaven), that he would have bothered to sacrifice his only son so that we may be "saved"? If you truely believe that you can help to save your own soul, then God us useless to you. If that's the case, have a nice eternity.

I know of at least two contrasting philosophies: John Milton's "No man is an island." and the anonymous: "The Lord helps them that help themselves." Personally, I don't believe that rejecting all help is a wise thing to do. Since the Buddha is considered very wise, I'm going to assume that there is more to this saying than meets the eye. One of Jesus' parables said something like, "Knock and it shall be opened, Ask and you shall receive." I have found that in real life, this is true. Most people are only too willing to help if you ask for it. The problem is thinking that you need help for every decision you have to make. As children, we were encouraged to ask adults for guidance, but as we grew into adults, we had to put away childish ways and rely on ourselves. Regardless of our religious beliefs, I see nothing wrong with asking our God for advice. Usually, after a period of meditation of this sort, the answers do come to us whether by picking up the answers from the ether where the knowledge of all ages is supposed to reside, or from our God. I don't believe that anyone can go through an entire lifetime without the assistance or help of people wiser and more knowlegeble than ourselves. I think to do so would make one mostly ignorant.

I have read Ralph and I never really understood where he was coming from except that he was one strange dude. To say that liberty is a slow fruit has me wondering "what the hell was he thinking?" Liberty is not a fruit to be picked off a tree when it is ripe. Liberty is what God gave us and what no man can give or take away. Maybe in his own way, Emerson knew that God is timeless and that what he gives to us is also timeless, therefore "slow"? Whatever...liberty is not something we wait to ripen, it is ours and it is present or not. Today, our liberty is being taken away from us in dribs and drabs and if we stand around like a bunch of sheep bieng led to the slaughter, it will be taken away from us. The sad fact of human history is that the only way to get it back is through bloodshed. Why the hell are standing around while the present adminstration daily strips us of our liberties in favor of free health care when we know damned well that there is nothing free in this world.

I wonder about that. The liberal/progressive educated historians today will do all they can to hide the truth. The truth was always there when it came to Woodrow Wilson and FDR but we never saw it until now. Almost seventy years has passed since Wilson was president and we still don't recognize the truth when we see it. Sixty years since FDR's successful programs that turned America into a socialist dependency. His ideas came from Woodrow Wilson (who by the way, we must not forget to thank for the UN). To progeressives then and today, the truth is relative. The only truth is that which moves their agenda forward.

I'm with E. Archer, NYC. We are nothing but poor schlubs who are caught in a "fixed" game. We have no chance of winning if we allow the "ruling class" to set the parameters before each election. Archer is right, there isn't a whit of difference between a Democrat and a Republican regardless of all the rhetoric. Basically, they are all after our money and our allegience which equates to power for them. We have to start from the ground up like our Founding Fathers did. However, I don't believe we have the committment to do anything rash. Look at the proud Cuban people under Castro. They are totally helpless and cannot hope to rise up and wrest the government out of the hands of their "ruling class" and neither can we. Obama knows this well which is why he is so successful at raping both the Constitution and the people of America with such impunity. The time for talk is over.

We should all expect to pay taxes for those things that provide for our safety and security from foreigners and home-grown groups who do us harm. This is called infrastructure: roads, bridges, dams, levees, police, and armed services. These are the things that society does not want to, nor is prepared to, take care of on their own. The problem with taxes begins when government entities think they can use them to alter our behavior to comply some grand scheme. Nowhere in the thoughts and letters that the Founding Fathers made public is there anything that recommends a tax on income, nor have they expounded on how great an idea welfare or Nationalized Health Care is. In fact they warned us against all such notions because they knew from experience in the "old country" they would make us slaves to the government. To all of you government "crack" babies who feel you cannot survive without the government's help, I say you should be ashamed of yourselves for being the greedy, selfish, useless slugs you are. Sure, there are those who are physically and mentally unable to care for themselves and I suppose government care is appropriate (only because so many peple are greedy, selfish, useless slugs who are too lazy to take care of those helpless family members). To you government "crack" babies: earn your own damn money and leave mine alone so I can provide what's best for my family, and with what's left over, I will be able to donate to worthy causes that will be glad to give you a helping hand so long as you do a little work in return.

I forgot to rate the quote. It is a hard kernel of truth. Starting with Wilson in the 20's and continuing with FDR, Carter, Johnson, and Obama, these "progressive" intellectuals (the product of the Ivy League schools) believed then and still do today that big government is the only way to control a citizenry who have the audacity to actually believe they have the right to pursue their own happiness. It amazes me that the biggest pirates (foreign banks and the Fed) who rob of us of our national wealth are not even considered for investigation and brought to justice, but it comes down to the little man who must buckle under to the powers of the government for their own "good."

"Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases. "-- John Adams Most of the problems we are experiencing today from D.C. is the problem of corruption in high places in government. Obama either has no clue about the evil of human nature, or he knows and has planned this all with the object of bringing our government tumbling to the ground. The more power that is centralized in government, the less we as citizens count in the decisions of those in the circle of power.

How many laws does a society need? Congress can't make enough laws fast enough, now the Judicial Branch must plug up the holes left by the incompetents in the Legislature; then as if this isn't enough, the Administrative Branch (the pres) has the power to make his own laws in the form of presidential edicts. All these "laws" incidently, exempt those who make them. The key phrase is "unduly restrain" Today's administration laments the fact that there exists a Bill of Rights which restrains them from telling "we the people" what we can and can't do. They howl about the restraints put on them by the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. "How dare a bunch of dead white rich people tell them how to run a government?" Rumor has it that BO is working feverishly to create a new and better Bill of Rights which will establish the rights of "groups" to replace the present outdated concept of the rights of individuals.