Presidential Candidates Threaten Our Freedom

In an address given on May 12, 1964, at a luncheon of the American Chamber of Commerce in Germany at the Hotel Frankfurter Hof, Frankfurt, Germany, the Honorable Ezra Taft Benson, former Secretary of Agriculture, spoke of three pillars of the American economic system:

1. Free enterprise . . . the right to venture . . . the right to choose.
2. Private property . . . the right to own.
3. A market economy . . . the right to exchange.

He stated that "Our economic order is not perfect, because it is operated by imperfect human beings, but it has given us more of the good things of life than any other system. ...our phenomenal material advances have been the fruit of our freedom -- our free enterprise capitalistic system, ... our God-given freedom of choice." (Ezra Taft Benson, 1969; An Enemy Hath Done This, p.24)

He went on to explain that the basic American concepts (beliefs, principals, and attitudes) are threatened by three groups:

1. Well meaning but uninformed people
2. Self seeking men
3. Those dedicated to the overthrow of our economic and social system.

In the current presidential race, we are presented three who are unqualified, and unfit to lead this great nation. All three of the remaining candidates in the race for president of the United States of America fall into at least one of the categories above.

Below I list detailed explanations that Ezra Taft Benson gave for the three groups of people that threaten our freedom. As you read them, think of how Hillary Clinton, Barrack Obama, and John McCain may fall within each group.

1. They "... see the shortcomings of our economic system and believe they can legislate them out of existence. They try to reach the promised land by passing laws. They do not understand our economic system and its limitations. They would load it down with burdens it was never intended to carry. As their schemes begin to break down, more and more controls must be supplied. Patch is placed upon patch, regulation is added to regulation and ultimately, by degree, freedom is lost -- without our desiring to lose it and without our knowing why or how it was lost." (Ezra Taft Benson, 1969; An Enemy Hath Done This, p.25)

Sound like Hillary, Barrack, or McCain?

2. They "... see in government legislation a way to obtain special privileges for themselves or to restrain their competitors. They use demagoguery as a smokescreen to deceive. These people have no love for freedom or enterprise. They would bargain away their birthright for a mess of pottage. They would learn the value of freedom only after it was gone." (Ezra Taft Benson, 1969; An Enemy Hath Done This, p.25)

Sound like the Clintons?

3. "Their philosophy does not stem from Jefferson, but is foreign to our shores. It is a total philosophy of life, atheistic, and utterly opposed to all that we hold dear as a great Christian nation. These men understand our system thoroughly -- and they hate it thoroughly. They enlist innocent but willing followers from the uninformed and the unprincipled. Through rabble-rousing and demagoguery they play upon the economic reverses and hardships of the unsuspecting. They promise the impossible, and call black white, and mislead with fallacies masqueraded as truth." (Ezra Taft Benson, 1969; An Enemy Hath Done This, p.25)

Sound like Obama?

What do we do?

"What we desperately need today is patriotism founded on a real understanding of the American ideal -- a dedicated belief in our principles of freedom, and a determination to perpetuate America's heritage." (J. Edgar Hoover, Feb. 22, 1962)

America "will continue to be a land of freedom and liberty so long as we are able to advance in the light of sound and enduring principles of right. To sacrifice such principles for momentary expediency -- often selfishly motivated -- is to endanger our noble heritage and is unworthy of our great American people." (Ezra Taft Benson, 1969; An Enemy Hath Done This, p.28)

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." (Samuel Adams, 1776; Great Quotations, p. 808)