My freedoms

I hate that my freedom to raise my children how I see best is being taken away because everyone must be the same and because parents don't always agree on parenting techniques.  Heavenly Father knows each parent and he sent them to live with parents that would be best from them.  Who am I to say that a child holding a sign in the street didn't just learn their lesson and that their parents really are loving?  Who am I to judge another parent and say that they are doing it wrong?  I in no means condone any abusive parent, but I think sometimes we claim abuse when the child is just fine.  A friend of mine had CPS (child
 protective services) come over to her house because a neighbor saw this friend's child playing outside with no shoes on in the rain.  Was the child really in danger?  Really?  I feel like my neighbors could turn me in all the time (luckily none have yet...) It really feels like 1984 sometimes. 

I hate that my freedom to eat healthy foods is being taken away because the government knows what is best for my body (or at least the cheapest to make and the most profitable for them).  How can anything man-made be better than what God has made?  Why is it so expensive to find good healthy food, oh wait, because the government likes it when people do what they say, even if it makes us sick, so they subsidize the conformists. :( I've heard that they want people to register their gardens so they can tax them or somehow control them (but that could just be rumors...) Why can't the government just leave my food alone?

I hate that my freedoms regarding health care are limited.  I can go see a doctor yearly for free (well-checks are covered 100% by insurance), but if I want to see a natural healer it all comes out of my pocket.  Basically if I don't want to pay for drugs (that really do harm my body) than it comes out of my pocket.  Luckily I do have an HSA (health savings account) that covers these types of things, but insurance pays nothing and gives no discounts.  And why do we have insurance anyway?  Why do we not know how to save?  Why do doctors have to charge so much (fear of getting sued)?

I hate that my freedom to educate my children how I see best is being questioned. Education is best done locally, the more local, the better the education.  Our kids do not all need the same things to be successful in life.  They are individuals, not robots.  They need different things to accomplish their missions.  Being thrown into a classroom full of 30+ students they can't get the individual attention that they need and then for the federal government to throw national standards at them.  It just isn't what most kids need.  They need to be themselves, learn at their own pace, who cares if they want to study butterflies instead of frogs?  Who cares if they want to learn geometry before algebra?  Who cares, as long as they want to study and continue to learn?

My biggest question is why have we allowed the government to control so much of our lives?  How many of us have read the Constitution?  The federal government has taken so much more control than it is authorized to control.  All of the things that I have mentioned (and more) are given to the states to govern, yet the federal government has taken control, sometimes in small manipulative ways.  What are we going to do to win back our freedoms?  I know for me it starts with education, and then who I vote for, but I am sure that I could do more.  Sometimes it seems like the constitution is getting closer and closer to "hanging by a thread."

After putting that last thought I decided to do a little research on that phrase and came upon a Wikipedia article that declares it the "White horse prophecy," but I really like some of these quotes...

"In 1855, Brigham Young reportedly wrote that "when the Constitution of the United States hangs, as it were, upon a single thread, they will have to call for the 'Mormon' Elders to save it from utter destruction; and they will step forth and do it."^[7][17]
In 1858, Orson Hyde (another contemporary of Smith) wrote that Smith believed "the time would come when the Constitution and the country would be in danger of an overthrow; and ... if the Constitution be saved at all, it will be by the elders of [the LDS] Church".^[7][18]
In 1922, the LDS Church's fifth presiding bishop, Charles W. Nibley, stated that "the day would come when there would be so much of disorder, of secret combinations taking the law into their own hands, tramping [sic] upon Constitutional rights and the liberties of the people, that the Constitution would hang as by a thread. Yes, but it will still hang, and there will be enough of good people, many who may not belong to our Church at all, people who have respect for law and for order, and for Constitutional rights, who will rally around with us and save the Constitution."^[19]
In 1928, the LDS apostle Melvin J. Ballard remarked that "the prophet Joseph Smith said the time will come when, through secret organizations taking the law into their own hands ... the Constitution of the United States would be so torn and rent asunder, and life and property and peace and security would be held of so little value, that the Constitution would, as it were, hang by a thread. This Constitution will be preserved, but it will be preserved very largely in consequence of what the Lord has revealed and what [the Mormons], through listening to the Lord and being obedient, will help to bring about, to stabilize and give permanency and effect to the Constitution itself. That also is our mission."^[19]
In 2010, Elder Dallin H. Oaks spoke at a Constitution Day Celebration, warning about the importance of preserving the U.S. Constitution. To this end, he claimed that "all citizens—whatever their religious or philosophical persuasion" should maintain several responsibilities regarding the Constitution: understand it, support the law, practice civic virtue, maintain civility in political discourse, and promote patriotism.^{[20] "}