Why would anyone in America seek to escape into a world of drugs?
Aren't we free and prosperous above all nations? Isn't this reality
better than a hallucination?
- Tragically, America is no longer the "land of the free and
the home of the brave." America's Founding Fathers would be the
first to see that we are
- • under tyranny, not free,
• and loving it, like dependent slaves,
• while simultaneously fearing it, and its violence.
If you were addicted to drugs and wanted help, you would be fearful
that your questions about rehabilitation and treatment might be reported
to the State, which will arrest you and imprison you with a psychopath
who will beat you and sodomize you for the next
20 years. You will not seek treatment. You will seek escape.
If you were a child in today's government-run schools, you would not
have hope. Your reality is not one of freedom and prosperity.
- You are the meaningless product of impersonal evolution.
- There are no moral absolutes.
- Your world is increasingly violent and immoral.
- There are no heroes, only "celebrities."
- Your purpose in life is to get laid, whether you want to or not.
Why not escape this meaningless, hopeless, impersonal life with
drugs?
A logical question.
Why is it Americans in 1776 were not asking such questions?
Both the Republicans and Democrats have completely forgotten the
original American Dream, and neither party has any idea how to achieve
it.
This political campaign is not about capturing an office. This
campaign is about recapturing a dream.
- What is "The American Dream?"
- • Is it to work two jobs so that more
than half of everything you earn can be taken by the government
and given to special interests and causes you don't agree with?
- • Is it to build a home and fill it with memories only to have
it seized by politicians whose campaign contributors want to build
a strip mall on your property?
- • Is it a 6% 30-year mortgage with a fixed rate?
("Wow! A fixed rate!")
No. None of these are the original American dream. They would all be
considered a nightmare.
Surprisingly, the answer can be found in a comparison of plants:
"Vine & Fig
Tree"
Under My Own Vine and Fig Tree, 1798
Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, c. 1910
Oil on canvas
Virginia Historical Society
Lora Robins Collection of Virginia Art
|
marijuana | poppies
|
Marijuana and poppies represent the path of escape.
"Vine & Fig Tree"
represents the path of dominion, harmony, abundance,
peace, meaning, and purpose
What motivated the Founding Fathers? What caused them to risk
so much -- their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor -- to
fight tyranny?
Answer: the idea of every American owning his own "vine
and fig tree," free and clear, and dwelling in safety
and peace, without being molested by princes or politicians, lawyers or
tax collectors.
And most important:
having a "firm reliance on the
protection of Divine Providence."
Today, our monstrous tyranny, the federal government, prohibits
America's public school students
As a result, increasing numbers of government-abused children
- seek the protection of the divine State, or seek escape in drugs
- participate in crime, or seek to escape crime-ridden cities with
drugs
- have a "renter"
mentality, or seek escape from litter, lack of repair, and
present-orientation with drugs
- have no vision of America as a "City
upon a Hill."
The "American Dream" is based on the Bible. It is a dream
which becomes a reality only when the religion undergirding it is a
living and vibrant faith.
America's Founding Fathers Knew This Dream
George Washington's Diaries are available
online at the Library of Congress. They are introduced with these
words:
No theme appears more frequently in the writings of Washington than
his love for his land. The diaries are a monument to that concern. In
his letters he referred often, as an expression of this devotion and
its resulting contentment, to an Old Testament passage. After the
Revolution, when he had returned to Mount Vernon, he wrote the Marquis
de Lafayette on Feb. 1, 1784: "At length my Dear Marquis I am
become a private citizen on the banks of the Potomac, & under the
shadow of my own Vine & my own Fig-tree."
This phrase occurs at least 11 times in Washington's letters.
"And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under
his vine and under his fig tree" (2 Kings 18:31).
It is also a phrase
from the prophet Micah, the idea of everyone owning property and
enjoying the fruits of their labor without fear of theft or political
oppression, of sitting peacefully under your "Vine
& Fig Tree."
Few Americans today have heard the phrase "Vine
& Fig Tree," but it sums up the American Dream
as it was dreamed 200 years ago. A few highly-educated scholars and
historians might recognize the phrase, but you would draw a blank from
the "man on the street." A few people living in New York might
have a glimmer of recognition. The prophecy from Isaiah, Micah's
contemporary, is memorialized in a
United Nations garden. Needless to say, our idea of "Vine
& Fig Tree" did
not come from the U.N.
Nor did any Americans in the past get the "Vine
& Fig Tree" idea from the United Nations. And
the interesting thing is, many Americans once had the "Vine
& Fig Tree" idea. The Bible was better
understood by most Americans 200 years ago than it is today.
"Vine & Fig Tree"
is a worldview.
Explore the "Vine & Fig Tree"
worldview in more detail here.
The American Dream: An Impossible Dream?
You might think that this dream -- owning your own property free and
clear, no mortgage, no IRS liens, no property taxes, and no fear of
invaders or conquerors -- is a "pipe dream." You might think
it's an impossible dream. But nearly every human being who settled in
America soon realized this dream, or had every realistic hope that in a
few years this dream would be lived by children or grandchildren. Two
hundred years ago, nearly all Americans lived this dream. It can be
attained again, but only if we stop believing the false promises of
politicians and stop believing that this dream is possible simply by
voting for Washington D.C. to hand it to us on a silver platter.