What Do You Have to Lose?

I have been thinking about a woman’s evaluation of her life in America since yesterday. It resonated within my soul because she echoes what I have felt now for 12 years. I thought about reprinting her story but I will give you a small portion only because it is important that you read it in its entirety:

I have watched as our elected officials enter Congress as ordinary folks and leaves as multi millionaires. I have watched my blue collar husband get up at an ungodly hour every day and come home with an aching back that we pray will hold out long enough to get him to old age in one piece. Outside of shoes, socks and underwear, almost everything my family wears was bought used. We’ve been on one vacation in 12 years.

We don’t have cell phones, or cable, or any sort of streaming services, just a landline and internet. We hardly ever eat out. Our house is 1400 square feet, no air conditioning. I cook from scratch and I can and I garden and I raise chickens for eggs and meat and I moonlight selling things on Etsy. Still it is barely enough to pay the bills that go up every year while service quality and the longevity of goods goes down. What I just described is the life you can live on 60K a year without going into debt.

At last calculation, when you consider all of the federal, state and local taxes plus registration and user fees, Medicare and SS payroll taxes, almost a third of what my family earns is stolen by the govt each year. What’s left doesn’t go far, just enough to cover the basics and save a little for when the wolf howls at the door.

I could also make a list of sacrifices and grievances but what is the point? It will not change how we got here.

I do have a firm belief in Liberty and a nation as envisioned by our founding fathers. I also know that our freedom is in serious jeopardy. We are not going to vote our way out of this attempted coup. Donald Trump may pull a rabbit out of his hat but no claims about who won the election should be considered until at least the electoral college votes.

Donald Trump asked Black Americans what they had to lose by voting for him. And he delivered prison reform, higher Black employment and higher wages. I want to expand this concept: what do you have to lose by standing up for freedom? No one wants to be enslaved but at what point will we recognize slavery. George Washington was asked why he was fighting against his lawful monarch? He replied that he was paying taxes without any representation in government. When you are forced to pay a portion of the fruits of your labor for nothing, the percentage of the payment is not relevant for you are still a slave.

Today we pay a third or more to a government that has enslaved and vilified us. How dare we believe in God? How dare we define marriage or gender? How dare we question the wisdom of the children running the government? How dare we question how our children are educated? How dare we question censorship or propaganda sanctioned by the government or social media?

The time to stand up is now. I dare to question everything including the continuation of a evil government. I understand that there can be no compromise with evil: anything that they promise if we submit is a lie. We have a small window to watch the coup unfold and then the country will be on fire. I believe that the mother in Ohio who penned the above story and I are not alone. But even if I am alone and there is no one behind me, my heart is set on restoring Liberty to our children.

David DeGerolamo