The List of Things Americans Need To Do Starting Now to Save Their Country

Introduction

I love the United States of America. I love the Constitution. But our country is in a precarious position. We're on the edge of the future, and there are two ways to go: towards peace and joy for all, or towards the loss of liberty. As of now, we've already lost a lot of liberties, something nobody would have guessed could happen to the US of A prior to 9/11. Sadly, we haven't lost these liberties out of necessity. You see, you are deceived if you think giving up liberty for security is in any way reasonable. You are deceived if you think militant religious fanatics on the other side of the world are any threat to you or your neighbors. You have fallen for the hyperbole of the power elite and have taken their poison willingly. It is time to wake up.

The following is a prescription we need to take now for restoring this country to what it once was and still can be: a powerful nation of free people, working for prosperity and safe from the dangers of real enemies. Please discuss this document and the principles outlined at your favorite forum. You can link to this document, but please do not copy it and provide it elsewhere, as this is the first version of this document, and I suspect there will be minor changes as I receive feedback on it. Also, please feel free to print it and share it with those who might not have access to the online version. For this, I thank you in advance.

- Vigil, April 6, 2008

The List

1. Review the Grand Social Contract - First and foremost, and most important for all citizens: Understand your rights and obligations under the Grand Social Contract. Review it, sign it, take it to heart, and live it. Teach it to your children. Every new citizen of this country must be exposed long-term to the principles of the Grand Social Contract, so parents should begin introducing their pre-school age children to them. Then, school-age children should learn about the Grand Social Contract from kindergarten all the way to high school. Make these classes mandatory. The Grand Social Contract is the foundation for any long-lived and successful society. Get to know it, again, or for the first time. If everyone were to follow this Grand Social Contract, it would make the world a better place. We could eliminate most of the crime, poverty, and man-made stress. Basically, what it says is, you have a right to life and self-determination with regards to your person and your property. You retain these rights so long as you do not deprive others of those same rights. When you deprive another of his rights- when you violate the precepts of the Grand Social Contract- and are found guilty of such in a court of law, you give up your own rights, and you give up your citizenship in the society in which you reside.
2. Accept Personal Responsibility - You must accept the consequences of your behavior, from financial decisions to personal protection. Before acting, you must understand the potential consequences. Along with this, we need to stop awarding huge financial prizes to irresponsible people. If you gamble your money away, you can't sue the casinos. It's not their responsibility to stop you from gambling. It's your responsibility. If you buy a home you cannot afford, and then subsequently have to be foreclosed on, it's your problem... not mine. Not the governments. Nobody else's but yours and yours alone... and the mortgage company who lent you the money, of course. You should no longer compensate citizens for acting irresponsibly. This also means criminals cannot sue for damages from citizens who were protecting their rights (life and self-determination). If a criminal breaks his leg while perpetrating a crime on another citizen's property, the criminal HAS NO RIGHTS for damages sustained. Remember, in committing the criminal act, the criminal has given up his rights (life and self-determination).
3. Respect Individual Liberty - Individual Liberty means freedom and justice for every human being, regardless of race, sex, religious orientation, sexual orientation, country of origin, color of your skin, IQ level, financial status, and much more. We need to get out of classifying groups of people and start focusing on individual liberties. We need to recognize that every human being in the US of A is a citizen of the country (until such time as they violate their Responsibility (deprive another of life or self-determination)). That means that you are not a black woman- you are an American citizen, with the full rights and obligations of said citizenry. You are not a white protestant male- you are an American citizen, with the full rights and obligations of said citizenry. You are not a militant gay activist- you are an American citizen, with the full rights and obligations of said citizenry. The only group we all should be concerned with is that of American citizens.
4. Abandon Nanny State Government - This goes hand-in-hand with Accept Personal Responsibility, but aims at government. The government needs to get out of our personal lives. It is not the job of the government to protect you from yourself. If you don't want to wear a helmet when you ride a motorcycle, that's your right (self-determination). If you want to try to buy a house you cannot realistically afford, and a mortgage company wants to loan you the money to do it, that's your right. The government should not be involved in these decisions. Subsequently, when a citizen makes a horrible financial decision, it's not up to government to bail him out. It's up to the citizen and relevant businesses to work things out.
5. Abandon the System of Entitlement - This goes hand-in-hand with Accept Personal Responsibility and Abandon Nanny State Government. It is not the responsibility of the government to provide for your needs. When you get in financial trouble, the government has no responsibility to bail you out. In fact, the government should never take money from one citizen and give it to another. It is better to let Charitable Organizations manage charity, with appropriate oversight by the citizenry.
6. Constant Awareness - You must constantly be aware of what's going on in your government, from the local level up to federal. This means frequenting local government meetings, voting in all eligible elections, and getting your news from reliable sources. The mainstream media is not a reliable source for relevant news. Get your news from magazines and sources on the Internet.
7. Active Participation - You must participate in the process of government, even if only at the local level. History shows that if you do not actively maintain your liberty, it will be taken away. The Patriot Act is the worst legislation ever thrust upon a free nation. It gives the government far greater power than it needs, and invades the privacy of its citizens beyond reasonable need. We are on a slippery slope that, if we don't recover soon, will lead to significant restrictions on our personal liberties.
8. Elect Constitutionalists - The current Bush administration is a travesty. It is the worst government ever presiding over a free nation. Massive debt, undeclared wars, and invasions of personal liberty and privacy. The problem is, Clinton, Obama, and McCain are all of the same mold. They are all puppets of the elite powerful. They do not care about you. They care about power and money in their pockets. We need a new set of politicians in government. We need to elect leaders who understand what government is for. We need leaders who are not puppets to the powerful elite or corporations. We need leaders who actually care about protecting not only our lives, but also our personal liberties.
9. Stop Policing the World - It is not the responsibility of the American government to police the world. Doing so comes at a great price to our economy and our citizenry. We've spent trillions of dollars fighting in Iraq that could have gone to helping those in need here at home. Even worse, we've sacrificed over 4,000 lives in Iraq for no good reason. So what if Iran wants nuclear bombs? They're a sovereign nation and are free to act as they please. If they become a threat to our citizenry, then Congress can declare war. Then, we fight, and we fight hard. No need for troops on the ground. We have superior technology. Just bomb our enemies into oblivion. That's what war is for: stopping a threat. Just like with the criminals of our society, we should not coddle our enemies. Today, we need to bring our troops home or to allied soil and let them get back to what they should be doing: defending our nation, not policing the world.
10. Learn to Use and Buy a Gun - This is a strong suggestion, but not a necessity. A gun in a trained hand- and it can be your trained hand- is not something to fear. Guns are an effective defense against crime. Since it is not the job of the government nor the police to protect you, that means it's up to you. The police can only serve as a deterrent to crime. They can't, and you should not expect them to, protect you from crime. If somebody breaks into your home, a call to 911 is not going to help. In fact, it could get you killed. Instead of dialing the phone, pick up and cock a gun. Once the criminal is gone or dead, then you can dial 911. Our police force is very valuable for deterring crime and investigating crime, but they can't be everywhere all the time. That means you have to take your personal safety into your own hands. Stop depending on the local police and start counting on a Glock or Smith & Wesson. Statistics prove that an armed society is a polite society.
11. Abandon the War on Drugs - Legalize drugs. All of them. Pot, cocaine, meth. If a person is stupid enough to put something dangerous into their body for a temporary high, let them. It's their body (self-determination) and their life. Take the money out of the hands of drug dealers and put them into the Citizens' Coffers. Tax the sale of all drugs, like cigarettes and alcohol. Use the monies collected to educate the citizens about how dangerous and stupid taking drugs can be. Use it as a supplement to charitable organizations' work to treat those who are addicted and want to be free of drugs. In legalizing drugs we, 1) stop wasting billions of dollars per year fighting an unwinnable "war," 2) start making money from taxes on drugs, 3) stop the murders of innocent citizens and brave police personnel, and 4) stop the unlawful killings and intrusions by police into the lives of innocent citizens. Yes, drugs can be fatal. But remember that we must Accept Personal Responsibility. As a citizen of a free country, it is your right to decide to do or not do drugs. It's your body and you can do with it as you please, so long as you do not interfere with the rights of others.
12. Abandon the War on Immorality - It is impossible to legislate morality and retain individual rights. Morality is a code of behavior as defined by a worldview, and each person has an individual worldview. This is an issue of individual liberty. Stop allowing a religion to affect law. It is not right for the government to sanction and provide benefits for heterosexual marriages and disallow or ignore partnerships that fall outside the definition of "traditional marriage." That is infringing on the individual liberty of a class of citizens, and is against both the Grand Social Contract and the mandate of government. The government should be insuring individual liberties, not restricting a particular class' ability to self-determine their lives. The only thing we can legislate is criminal behavior against citizens. Some of the changes that would be made if we Abandon the War on Immorality include: legalize prostitution. It's a woman's body to do with as she pleases, so long as she does not violate the rights of another citizen. Allow gay marriages -or- we change the government's view of marriage to include any partnership between two (or more) consenting adults. Legalize suicide. If a person wants to die, what right do we have forcing him to live? In summary, we do not live in a theocracy, so we should not have the laws of a theocracy.

About Me

As of April 6, 2008...

Call me Vigil. I was born in and currently live in Texas (which also makes me an American citizen), the greatest state in the nation. I believe strongly in every human being's right to life and self-determination. That's why I wrote this article. That's why I hope it and the Grand Social Contract get disseminated far and wide.

Some of you might be surprised to find I'm a Bible-believing Christian, considering my stance on gay marriage and the legalization of drugs. I believe in Jesus Christ as my Creator, Savior, and Sustainer. I believe the Bible is His personal revelation to mankind. I believe Jesus was a great example of how we should live and how we should treat others. I think His sacrifice is one of the most significant expressions of love for an unlovable race. Most importantly, I believe strongly in every human being's God-given right for self-determination. God is not a cruel dictator, but many of His followers are. God never forces the will, but many of His followers do. But it's irrelevant what you believe about God or religion. What's important is that you respect the life and self-determination of other citizens in your society.

(As a side note to my fellow believers: it's time we get out of the "control others" crusade, for God never gave us that mission. He never said to spread fear and hate, He said to spread the Word... and that Word is love.)

I'm a single father raising two teenagers, so I don't have a lot of personal time right now. I go to my job, which I love and I've had for over 16 years. I'm not rich, but it's an objective. I'm not married, but hope to be one day. I'll be 40 years old in September, 2008. I believe all people desire two things: peace and joy. No matter what religion you are, what sexual orientation you have, what color skin you were born with, or what country you were born in, you want to be at peace and be happy. I believe we can be, if we would all just understand and accept the Grand Social Contract. I just want peace, and I want to be happy. I want this for my children. Don't we all? Let's find the way, then, to get along.

If you'd like to contact me, please send me an email.

Discussion Groups

If you start a discussion regarding this document, or even regarding the Grand Social Contract, please let me know! I will add you to a list of place where people can go to discuss this document.