In an age when politicians rush to take power from the people, the people seem willing to give it.

Freely give it.  Without hesitation.

It begins with the idea that the pursuit of your happiness is at odds with society.  As a free citizen of the United States, should you go to work everyday, in order to take care of your family?  Should you work hard for a successful career?  Should you want more for yourself and your family?  Should you choose honest means to pursue your happiness?  Of course -- that is the only moral choice for free men and women.  And it is your right, granted by God, and fervently acknowledged in the Declaration of Independence.

But not to those who covet power and want more.

Whether you call them socialists, communists, statists, collectivists or fascists -- they will tell you that your happiness is at odds with the good of society.  They will call it consumerism.  They will tell you it is not good for the environment.  They will tell you it is selfish to want things for your family and to enjoy the items you choose to buy.  They begin to make us feel guilt and greed for our successes.

And slowly they cherry-pick segments of the population to parade before the public.

To ridicule and deride.

They find what is useful for them, within the human imagination, and they use it.  Greed and jealousy become a sort of twisted public relations campaign against successful, talented people.

How?

They distort the idea that you have a right to work hard and attain what makes you happy, into their right to take from others to make you happy.  It is a system of orderly theft.  It encourages looting.

And it begins when free men accept the premise that it is immoral to have.  Whether its the SUV in your driveway, the lightbulb in your lamp or your corporate jet.  They use your dreams to turn you into useful idiots.

It's how the recent Congressional hearings played.

CEOs who accept the premise that their companies exist to create jobs, to have compassion for the public or to create wealth for the government are joining a collective suicide pact.  During the Congressional Inquisition, Citibank CEO Vikram Pandit explained his decision to cancel the delivery of a corporate jet they had ordered:

He has chosen to give up his right to demand that the government, Constitutionally, has absolutely no role to play in deciding whether a company should or should not buy a jet.  Instead, in a moment of abject recklessness, the CEOs of major companies everywhere are releasing their rights as free men, in favor of the premise that Congress can exercise it's "power of persuasion" to harass CEOs into making this kind of decision.

Remember, socialists in the government now have outrage and indignation on their side.  Businesses have compromised with the idea that they exist for the common good.  They have now agreed to the principle that they should exist to create a job for you.  Therefore, if a business is not creating a job for the common good, it is immoral.  And certainly then, being immoral and harmful to society...must atone for it's sin. 

Businessesmen who dare to go to work each day and build innovative, successful companies must not be allowed to make money, right?  Businesses that do make money for their employees cannot be trusted then.  So the government must take control, to ensure that the "common good" is sufficiently represented in the decisions that are made by such unjust companies.

It's why there was outrage that oil companies dared to make a profit, while gas consumers were forced to pay high gas prices.  It's why there was outrage that Starbucks bought a corporate jet, while announcing lay-offs of granola-eating baristas.  It's why there was outrage that auto CEOs would fly on private jets to Washington, while their companies were involved in financial crisis.  It's why there was outrage that financial firms are re-decorating their offices, while investors are losing money in the stock market. 

Because socialists have convinced the public -- and these amoebic CEOs -- that our wants, even our needs, supercede the rights of others to determine their own destiny.  They. Do. Not.

Where does the road of compromise end for these businesses that accept salary caps for CEOs, ditch their corporate jets, and allow politicians to paint them as immoral and greedy?  Compromising principles leads to surrender.  For oil companies, they can look forward to a government take over, as articulated by Congresswoman Maxine Waters.  For bank CEOs, they can look forward to being replaced by the government's own hand-picked chiefs, as articulated by Terry Moran of ABC News.  For automakers, they will be told by the government which cars they can, and can't, make. 

And Republicans who compromise with socialism...what is their fate?  Terry Moran made this comment to Obama: "I wonder, in coming into the presidency, maybe you were too nice. If I'm a Republican senator or a Republican Congress, I think you're a very nice guy but I don't have enough reason to fear you..."  Fear the President?  Republicans will only fear the President if they give away their rights as men of integrity, in exchange for compromise and pragmatism.  If they stand up for the rights of free individuals and stem the tide of government control that threatens every aspect of our lives, Republicans will not need to fear the President.  Because they will defeat him in the arena of ideas.

But the fight has just begun. 

Socialists have plucked businesses from the tree of liberty, and chosen to excite the public with immoral indignation at the free choices these companies have made.  It's a sign that mob mentality is easily frothed.

Dare to guess who will be the next "sinners" plucked from that tree?  Christians?  SUV drivers?  Global warming deniers?  Radio talk show hosts?  Homeschoolers?  Doctors?  Conservatives?  You?