From the Other Side of the Edge….
Who Do You Trust?
By Joe Facinoli 

Who would you trust with your Rights? 

Who would you trust with your individual liberties, and your Rights??

Who would you trust with your Rights, your individual liberties, and with approval over all the personal choices you make in your everyday life???  

If you were given such a option, just who would you allow to hold power over your daily actions, movements, and decisions?    

And would it be anyone ??

Would you choose a group of men who had just fought, and won, against all odds, a war for their independence from a distant and tyrannical monarch, who controlled their economic livelihood, freedom, and future, partly by taxing the living snot out of them?? 

A group who, once casting off this overweight and overbearing tyrant, then created a document which outlined in detail, among many other important things, exactly how they would NOT allow that kind of dictatorial control to ever happen to them, their newly formed country, nor any future generations living therein, ever again??

Or,….would you choose to trust your precious Rights, liberties, and personal freedoms to a group of individuals whose only achievement has been to further an ever burgeoning, all knowing, all controlling, socialistic central government, which overburdens all infrastructures to progress (and taxes the living snot out of you) ?? 

A group which has created all manner of documents, in order to achieve their sole, stated intent to “even the playing field” by taking from the productive, energetic, and forward thinking among us, and giving to the non-productive, lazy, and unimaginative, who continually clog our pathways to economic accomplishment and independence?   

A fairly easy choice, yes?    But only for those who work hard, show initiative, create success out of failure, and think, ….clearly. 

Not so easy for those who believe they are fully entitled to share in the triumphs of others, merely for being born in the same area code.  

And this is where the rubber meets the road.  

Somewhere out there, in the perfect, ethical world of ethereal legal reality, there exists an intersection, which can make it all work, for everyone.    

Three moral truths cross paths at this junction.   Ain’t many signposts up there, nor instructions, but each of them makes our everyday lives work better, and helps define our concept of freedom.  

These are:   Rights,  Common Sense,  and Trust.  

Our Rights, as specifically listed in the Constitution, and despite the protestations of so many who now find them to be “inconvenient”, or worse, are natural and inherent.    Done deal, a given, and indisputable.  

But, although untouchable, they cannot be universally exercised, nor implemented, without the proper use of our practical friend (but annoying and bothersome to that second group, mentioned above), Common Sense. 

Not yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater, nor allowing crazy people to own guns, being two reasonable examples, among many.   Arbitrary checks and inspections, required on a knee-jerk whim,…..not so reasonable.  

And that brings us to the most complex of the three, and the glue that holds it all together.   Or it’s the grease, if you will, that makes the first two work in true unison.   That would be…..Trust. 

But just who can we trust?   Who would we trust?   How can we trust, anyone or any entity, other than ourselves, to decide which of our Rights should be modified or adjusted, if any, and when to allow for their proper and natural usage while not causing harm to others ??   

That is the slippery slope of all slippery slopes 

Especially for those who see an ever increasing trend towards socializing all elements of our lives, and to the complete disregard for not only those Rights which we are inherently given, but also for the sacred American document which legally guarantees all of them, without caveat nor exception, to any of them.  

By turning over the control for making exceptions to these rights, sometimes merely for the convenience of a particular group, or for modifying them because a small minority has a problem with one or more of them, the skeptical (and realistic) among us only sees that as giving unwarranted opportunity to those in power, to abuse that privilege. 

And the proof is in our history.   

Every time a door is opened an inch, for any sort of change, it is eventually blasted completely off its hinges, with stacks of legal precedents piled upon each other, to eventually make the original “Right”, nearly unrecognizable.  

No, the only way to make the Common Sense allowances to these unquestionable Rights, so incredibly pure and simple, is to start from the beginning.   Start with the very short, single paragraphs which we find in the Constitution, and then allow for only the most severe cases to call for even the smallest of modifications.   

Not everyone will like this, but it is the fairest way to go, and the one our Founders “instructed” us to use. 

So,…..just who do we trust for this task?   

Certainly not anyone in Congress, nor in government today, in any capacity.   Definitely not ANY lawyers, nor anyone in that profession, nor in the court systems of today.   And shouldn’t be anyone who lobbies, either, nor represents any outside factions, to any of these groups. 

Big business types, bankers, financiers, union bosses, church leaders, other clerics?   I don’t think so.    Too much turf to protect, for all of them. 

Hmm,…..that doesn’t leave too many others,………or does it?   

How about the forgotten people in all of these discussions?   The silent ones, who go about their jobs, and their daily activities, without a word, nor much of a complaint, and do the hard, ground level, day-in day-out grunt work, that makes this country great, and function so beautifully.   

Those dedicated ones who make it happen, for all of us, even with the interference generated by all of those self-important, narrow sighted groups, listed just above.  

The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, and their fellow small business owners.   

The truck drivers, the factory workers, the grocery store clerks, the sales guys and gals.   The REAL people, of all races, creeds, colors, and cultures, who make up the true majority.  

Those who have no time to pay any attention to the media, the polls, and the puffed up politicians, and who are the ones who suffer the most when that tiny aforementioned “elite” slice of Americans decides, all on its own, that it knows what’s best for the rest. 

Let that real group decide.   Let US decide.   And not the ruling class, not the oligarchy, nor the self-appointed and self-important.  

Who or what do I trust?    I trust in that document, that “list” of Rights, written almost 222 years ago but still valid, still current, still vital.   And in the guys who wrote them all down for us, so simply, so perfectly. 

But most of all, I trust in that intersection out there, ….somewhere.    The one with no street signs.    

Joe Facinoli

 (Joe can be reached at:  joefacinoli@gmail.com )

Intelligent Response Encouraged !!

© Copyright 2013, Joe Facinoli