I don’t know why I still have trouble believing what our government is doing to us “regular” citizens. It’s been happening since the beginning of our country, but it seems to be getting worse and worse as time goes on. We are supposed to be the land of the free. There is no real freedom in our lives today. Whether we admit it or not, every aspect of our lives is controlled by our government.
In a free society, freedom of choice on all levels acts to regulate all aspects of business and community. Even community services are provided for by freedom of choice.
When I was in college, I took a class on the history of languages. In this class, we were asked to write about an issue that dealt with language, but we were allowed to address any topic we hit on in the course. My focus was on the fall of the Icelandic Commonwealth. I will add my references when I can find the paper I wrote way back when.
I could not believe that working free society could voluntarily choose to submit to a king of another country, but that is exactly what happened in 1262. If you exercise your mind, as I do, you are also wondering, “What on earth were they thinking?” I can tell you what they were thinking. I have done the research, and I have come to the same conclusions as many others who have done the research. They were thinking that they would rather submit to a foreign king than let the religious bullies rule their lives and keep them paupers.
You see, their system of government worked very well until the Catholic Church moved in and changed their way of life. Up until this time, there were no geographic boundaries in their governmental system. Citizens were free to seek protection from any of the chieftains in the country. After the church moved in, the boundaries became geographical. Citizens had to pay to support the church in who’s boundaries they lived. They were essentially being taxed by the church.
Once a free society is being forcibly taxed, it is no longer free. The choice, then, is to whom they choose to surrender their freedom. In the case of Iceland, it was obvious they chose some foreign leader over their home grown zealots.