“The sand slithers on the ground like a snake and drifts hither and fro on the incessant wind.  It shifts and moves like thick molasses and fills the cracks and crevices in its path, always descending until it can descend no more.   Should the unwise build their home on a hill of sand, their home will be in the valley by the coming dawn, or buried for eons in a tomb, encased in the unrelenting grip of the ever shifting sand.” Ron Ewart

Lives, buildings and nations must be built on a solid foundation, or they are like a leaf on the ocean, subject to the mercy of the winds, the waves and the tides.  Lives come apart, buildings collapse and nations disintegrate should their foundation not be anchored to solid ground.

For human lives to work in relative harmony, they must have a foundation rooted in morality and at least one guiding principle that is described by: “….. do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  A more colloquial definition would be: “….. your nose ends where my nose begins.” Some describe the relationship between persons in a more biblical sense and subscribe to the religious connotation of good and evil.  No matter which way that relationship is described, the value of their belief is in the results that the belief secures.

Buildings on the other hand must have their foundation firmly embedded in bedrock.  The taller the building, the greater the need for direct contact with bedrock.  Many of the buildings that are built in the lower latitudes, north and south of the equator, are built out of adobe, mortar, straw and brick.  The problem is that when the earth shakes, as it does from time to time, adobe, mortar, straw and brick tend to come apart quickly, thereby sending the roofs and other supported structures tumbling down on the hapless inhabitants of those buildings, as just happened in Haiti and Chile.

However, in the more northern latitudes where tall, straight trees grow, the walls of many buildings are erected out of cut lumber.  When the earth shakes, as it does frequently all over the planet, the cut lumber twists and turns, but doesn’t come apart, thereby continuing to support the large roof structures, keeping the occupants at greater protection from collapse.

Tall buildings are erected out of concrete and steel and are designed to twist and flex in the wind, or if the ground shakes, as it does frequently.  Unfortunately, not too many buildings are designed to withstand the impact of a fully fueled air liner as we learned on 9/11.

Nations are no different than human lives, or buildings.  They are either rooted in solid principles, or they too come apart in the wind, or when the earth shakes, or when the occupants of the nation grow restless when government oppression and aggression reach intolerable levels.  A nation founded on individual liberty will, in theory, survive forever, if liberty is preserved, protected and defended.  The destruction of individual liberty to a naton, is no different than a giant earthquake is to buildings.  No free nation can withstand the collapse of individual liberty and will eventually enter the uncertain world of chaos and anarchy, or revolution, or civil war.

Whether human lives, houses, or tall buildings, there is one thing we cannot ignore, if our lives are to remain in harmony and our houses and tall buildings are to remain erect.  That irrevocable law is the general law of entropy which states that order converts to disorder over time.  There are exceptions to this law, but not when it comes to the natural deterioration of living organisms and structures.  We must maintain the foundation of our lives and our structures, or our lives will come apart and our buildings will eventually fall down.  The Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco, is constantly being maintained with paint and replacement parts.  If it wasn’t maintained, it would fall into the bay in decades.

Lives are preserved, protected and defended by faith, or by the adherence to the principles of harmony in relationships.  That faith or adherence to principles of harmony must be reinforced regularly as a form of “maintenance”, or the harmony will also fall into the bay in decades and maybe sooner when it comes to human lives.

The principles of freedom and liberty in a free nation must be “maintained” and nurtured as well and that “maintenance” needs to be a regular part of the lives that occupy that free nation.  The principles of freedom and liberty and their roots need to be a regular part of the education in our informative years.  That education of our roots has faded dramatically in the last 8 to 10 decades, and we believe by design.

As adults, we must be constantly involved in the processes that maintain that freedom, or Newton’s first law of motion comes into play, wherein it states that:  “….. every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.”   In other words, those in power will continue in the direction they are going, unless an external force (the people) is applied to them.  Unfortunately, in the last 100 years or so, not much “people” force has been applied to those in power and they have been going in the wrong direction for those 100 years, if the maintenance of individual freedom was their goal.  Political power begets more power and without an external force to inhibit it, the political power will grow until absolute power is achieved.   Once a certain threshold of power is attained by those in power, the amount of people force necessary to stop and reverse the growth of that power, rises exponentially.

America is now at that threshold and if we are truly the sum of what we build, what we have built is coming apart at the seems because of the lack of “maintenance” and “nurturing”.  Without intervention and deprogramming of those in power and many of our occupants of this once-great nation, the destruction of freedom in America is all but assured.  As in any building, deferred maintenance will eventually bring the building down.  We have been deferring the maintenance of liberty for far too long.  The longer deferred maintenance is allowed, the price to bring a life, building, or nation up to a sustainable level, grows by the day.  Today the price could be very high if a free and prosperous America is to be preserved.

If we are indeed the sum of what we build, we are running out of time before the “House” we built on freedom, liberty, sovereignty, free choice, free markets and a can-do spirit, will become buried in a tomb, encased in the iron grip of the ever shifting corrupt and political “sand”.

If you don’t want to see America’s ”House” collapse, check out our new YouTube video entitled: “Rise Up America“.

© Copyright April 10, 2010 - All Rights Reserved

~ The Author ~
Ron Ewart is the President of The National Association of Rural Landowners and nationally recognized author on freedom and property rights issues. Ron may reached for comment via email at r.ewart@comcast.net.

In addition, Ron can usually be heard on Tuesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. (ET) on Perspectives on America on The Micro Effect broadcasting network, as Jeffrey Bennett’s Guest. Tune in – you’ll be glad you did.

Perspectives on America can be heard from 6:00 until 8:00 p.m. (ET) Monday through Friday on The Micro Effect.