German literary giant, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who lived during the time of the founding of the United States, articulated “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who think they are free.” We the people must face that reality if individuals want true freedom.

The Declaration of Independence states that all human beings have the inalienable right to pursue happiness. It does not say that individuals have a right to happiness, just the right to seek it out however the individual defines happiness. The Declaration of Independence also states that the only purpose for the existence of government is to make sure all individuals have this right secured, i.e. no one initiates force on another interfering with their right to pursue happiness.

What all this means is that individuals do not need any permission from their government to pursue their happiness. They may need permission from other individuals or private businesses, but individuals do not need permission from their government. One just cannot go into McDonald’s and grab themselves a hamburger. The individual must secure permission from McDonald’s by giving McDonald’s money in order to obtain the desired hamburger. Likewise, one cannot just go to his neighbor and take the neighbor’s calculator. The individual must secure permission from the neighbor to obtain the desired calculator. In neither case is the individual required to secure permission from a government official.

The reality in which the individual finds himself today is something quite different. Today, the individual must secure permission from government in order to go into business, get a job, build a house, buy and keep property, and get married among many other activities. As a matter of fact, there really is not much that an individual can do today without having to first obtain permission from a government official.

Although the individual is free to choose to purchase a hamburger from McDonald’s, Burger King, and a slew of other sources, for the individual to buy the hamburger from McDonald’sor others, McDonald’s had to first receive permission from government officials to offer the hamburger to the public in the first place. Had it not received that permission, the individual would never have been able to pursue his happiness through the purchase of a McDonald’s hamburger. One can apply this same scenario to any other business activity.

Individuals must even obtain permission from government to own property. Private property rights really do not exist.

However, the greatest permission slip that must be obtained by the individual from his government takes place every year on April 15. This is the day when the individual must receive permission from his government to keep whatever portion of the income deemed appropriate by government officials that is earned by the individual.

We the people must recognize that today’s reality is not what is described in the Declaration of Independence. What exists today is not freedom. It is enslavement. “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who think they are free.”

At least the following three activities must occur if America is to return to the tenants of the Declaration of Independence and individual liberty. One, the Federal Reserve System and the income tax must both be abolished. Government officials must be restricted from forcefully taking an individual’s income indirectly through inflation, which is caused by the Federal Reserve System and excessive government spending, and directly through the forceful extraction of the individual’s income through the income tax. By defunding government the individual will then be able to keep all of his income to decide for himself how that money ought to be spent in his inalienable right to pursue his happiness. Two, we the people must educate ourselves in the ideas of liberty learning and understanding the principles outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. Doing so will help recognize when government officials overstep their authority granted to them. Finally, we the people must stop requesting, begging, demanding, and accepting any government funding not authorized by the United States Constitution. Government has no money to give anyone except money that has already been taken from the individual in the first place. Government does not create wealth. Government redistributes the wealth created by the individual. By not requesting, begging, demanding, and accepting government funding individuals increase their ability to exercise their inalienable right to pursue happiness.

Individual liberty means the individual is free from having to obtain permission from his government to seek out his happiness. The price of individual liberty is eternal vigilance on the part of the individual to be sure that government officials do not interfere with the peaceful life of the individual; a small price to pay to avoid tyranny.