Delve into this week’s must-read articles:

“An Unconstitutional Killing: Obama’s Killing of Awlaki Violates American Principles” by Ron Paul

“Awlaki was a U.S. citizen. Under our Constitution, American citizens, even those living abroad, must be charged with a crime before being sentenced.”

Makes you wonder how, exactly, Obama’s foreign policy differs from Bush’s and how in the world he ever won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Alexander Hamilton, in the Federalist Papers warned of this precise thing:

“Safety from external danger is the most powerful director of national conduct. Even the ardent love of liberty will, after a time, give way to its dictates. The violent destruction of life and property incident to war, the continual effort and alarm attendant on a state of continual danger, will compel nations the most attached to liberty to resort for repose and security to institutions which have a tendency to destroy their civil and political rights. To be more safe, they at length become willing to run the risk of being less free.”

“The Forever Recession (and the Coming Revolution)” by Seth Godin

“Job creation is a false idol. The future is about gigs and assets and art and an ever-shifting series of partnerships and projects. It will change the fabric of our society along the way. No one is demanding that we like the change, but the sooner we see it and set out to become an irreplaceable linchpin, the faster the pain will fade, as we get down to the work that needs to be (and now can be) done.”

“The Lost Decade?” by David Brooks

“…the ideologues who dominate the political conversation are unable to think in holistic, emergent ways. They pick out the one factor that best conforms to their preformed prejudices and, like blind men grabbing a piece of the elephant, they persuade themselves they understand the whole thing.”

“Loose Change Final Cut” is a documentary by Alex Jones detailing apparent evidence that the 9/11/01 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon may have been orchestrated by our own government.

Watch it and draw your own conclusions.

Here’s what I think about the possibility that 9/11 is a conspiracy:

It doesn’t matter.

Two reasons why it’s a red herring:

1. Whether it’s true or not, there are plenty of known reasons that we should be preparing for difficult times and fighting for freedom.
2. It’s more important to be prepared to replace conspiracies, incompetence, and injustice than it is to be fighting against them.

Dealing With The Knowns

We don’t know for sure if the Bush administration perpetrated a vast conspiracy in order to convince the American people to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

We don’t know about all of the back-room deals that happen in high-level settings that directly affect our freedom.

We often don’t know who we can trust in the media and the government.

But what does all that matter?

We do know America is heading rapidly towards bankruptcy. We know we’re swimming in pornography. We know that about 55 million babies have been killed since Roe v. Wade.

We know the 16th and 17th Amendments struck a crippling blow to the checks and balances of our beloved Constitution. We know the federal government has far more power than it was ever intended to have.

We know the executive branch is too powerful and that the judicial branch has begun legislating from the bench.

We know we’re dependent on oil from countries that harbor animosity towards us.

We know our education system is in shambles. We know the average American spends over $1.20 for every dollar that they earn, and that most of us consume more than we produce.

Aren’t the known factors enough to motivate us to prepare and to fight to restore the Republic?

What more do we need to tell us that we face serious trouble? How much more evidence is required to shock us out of our apathy?

Even if 9/11 was a conspiracy, it doesn’t change what you and I should be doing on a daily basis.

I don’t know how many conspiracies have cost us freedom.

But I do know that freedom cannot be perpetuated unless enough citizens have read and deeply understand the principles found in The Federalist Papers, Democracy in America, The 5,000 Year Leap, A Thomas Jefferson Education, Plato’s Republic, Aristotle’s Politics, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Les Miserables, War and Peace, A Tale of Two Cities, The Spirit of Laws, Hobbes’ Leviathan, Locke’s Second Treatise on Government, the writings of Shakespeare, The Wealth of Nations, The Prince, Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents, Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil, and hundreds of other classics.

I do know that strong families and communities are the backbone of all free nations and that you and I must do all in our power to build them.

I do know that to maintain a constitutional republic requires that its citizens become constitutional scholars.

I do know that our love of God must be stronger than our love of entertainment.

I know we must spend less than we earn and produce more than we consume.

I know that you and I have individual, unique missions to perform and that the world suffers if we don’t live up to our potential.

I know that the integrity of a nation — or lack thereof — is a direct reflection of the integrity of its individual citizens.

Our duty to live these truths remains regardless of conspiracies.

Preparing For Replacement

Of those who spend their lives investigating and exposing conspiracies and being angered by them, how many of them actually have the depth to replace them with sustainable forms?

Of those who rail against the Federal Reserve, how many have a specific plan to replace it?

Of those who hated George W. Bush or hate Obama, how many have the character and ability to replace them as President?

Awakening to injustice is but the first step toward freedom. Preparing for and being worthy of maintaining freedom is a far more important and arduous process.

Those who hate oppression are a dime a dozen; those who have the knowledge and ability to instill proper forms of liberty are worth their weight in gold.

Whether our current difficulties are the product of conspiracies, evil-doers, apathy, or plain incompetence, the road to freedom remains the same: common citizens living private and public virtue, becoming liberally educated, and instituting proper forms of government, then being vigilant about maintaining them.

The possibility of conspiracies does nothing to change the fundamental nature of freedom and what it takes to maintain it.

Suppose you had the power to change five things to make America better and more free. What would those five things be?

Your answers can range from government and politics to media and culture, and everything in between.

My Answers:

1. 1. Repeal the 16th Amendment. (This would eliminate the IRS and reinstitute a much-needed check on the federal government.)
2. Repeal the 17th Amendment. (This would reverse the trend toward destructive democratic socialism by taking power from the federal government and giving more to the states, where it belongs.)
3. Repeal the Federal Reserve Act. (To prevent the federal government from robbing the people through inflation.)
4. Get off foreign oil by investing in renewable energy. (This would do more to solve terrorism than anything else. Not to mention the environmental impact.)
5. Revive private and public virtue through classical liberal education. (This would significantly reduce dependency, apathy, and degeneracy, all of which are killing our Republic.)

What are your top 5?

I’m not sure who this guy is, but he’s got some really great ideas for a sensible foreign policy. Some think tank should track him down and hire him.

In his classic book Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness, Robert Greenleaf tells of attending a lecture in New York by the South African writer Laurens van der Post.

“It was a disturbing lecture about the vexing problems of that part of the world,” writes Greenleaf. “In the discussion period a questioner asked, ‘Colonel van der Post, I am deeply moved by what you say about the plight of your country. What can we do over here to help.’

Mr. van der Post’s response captures the essence of what I believe our foreign policy must be in the 21st Century:

“Cultivate your own garden and its fragrance will be wafted across the ocean to us.”