Out of all the things I was taught growing up, I am increasingly appreciative of the “the world doesn’t owe you anything” lesson.
I am watching as millions of young people, with more advantages than at any time in almost all of human history, are entirely convinced that they are unable to succeed because (insert political slogan here). There is a reason politicians want you to believe that you are oppressed and that the ONLY way you can project power is by becoming politically active. It’s because they benefit from that mindset.
Think about this for just a moment…
When a person becomes convinced that it is only through political action that they can become successful, the power over their entire future becomes political. Hard work, sacrifice, delayed gratification, saving, investment, all of it becomes insignificant compared to activism, protest, and political campaigns.
Politics is important in a free society to the extent that it is critical to ensuring that government stays within its proper boundaries and executes its very limited functions correctly.
But when it becomes the primary method by which people achieve their life goals, you are trading a genuinely free society for one where politicians intervene in all of your decisions and the only “freedom” you have is to cast 1 vote every 2-4-6 years for the people who will “represent” you.
And over time, it will become evident that even your vote is essentially irrelevant. Because if politicians and bureaucrats effectively control your access to medicine, education, and employment. If they can with very little difficulty deny you the right to engage in commerce, freeze your accounts or force you to do things you don’t want to, are you really “free” to even select your “representatives?” Or does it become nothing more than a democratic facade to justify a political elite running your life for you?
All this to say, that we had better get back to understanding that genuine freedom is NOT just having the right to vote, but the right to make decisions for our own lives free from government and political interference. And that means not only taking responsibility for our own lives but enjoying the process. Responsibility for one’s own life is not a burden, it’s a wonderful gift.
And when we appreciate that the “world doesn’t owe us anything,” we discover that buried beneath that harsh-sounding reality is the realization that a genuinely free society allows us to not only achieve success but in fact define it for ourselves in a way that a world dominated by political elites would never allow.
Written by: Nick Feitas
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