Prudence

A lack of prudence, combined with an erosion of our natural rights, is killing our culture and our nation

Prudence:  [...]  2. caution with regard to practical matters; discretion. 3. regard for one's own interests. 4.provident care in the management of resources; economy; frugality. (Dictionary.com)

Anyone who's ever had an arm in a cast knows what happens to the muscles in that arm:  They atrophy from disuse.

Prudence has suffered a similar fate due to the progressive cast our government has encased our lives with.   A dense encrustation of laws that legislate our every activity down to the last iota leave us no discretion to reason things out for ourselves.  Safety nets that turn into hammocks, bailouts, and lawsuits that reward stupidity have practically eliminated the need for prudence.

We careen about with no care for the consequences because lawyers can justify our behaviors based on fairness and special pleading for special categories, we can escape credit card debt, and serial impregnators inspired by pop culture get off Scott free while taxpayers foot the bill for their prolific breeding.  Predators are coddled by the state while victims get the shaft.


A Gross Injustice
82 year old Robert Wallace shot a thief in the head as the robber and an accomplice were absconding with his lowboy trailer in the dark of night.  The Wheatridge, Colorado man is now up on multiple felony charges to include attempted murder.

The natural right to property includes the right to defend it, even with deadly force.  To say otherwise renders the right invalid.  "Let the cops handle it," some say.  OK.  If they fail to retrieve your property, can you sue them?  No.  So when the state takes away your right to shoot a scumbag who is making off with your property, the state also violates your God-given right to property.

What about the case of an honest mistake?
"What if the thieves were really just two guys picking up a trailer someone offer to loan them, and they got the address wrong?" 

Good question.  Now I have one for you.   Would you just hook up a trailer in the dead of night or in broad daylight without checking with the people in the house first?  As President Bush 41 would say, Wouldn't be prudent.  You make damned sure everything is square before you haul off somebody elses property.

What if it were a prank?  How would you feel if you shot a prankster?  I'd feel pretty bad, but I'd also tell any survivors that stealing other people's property is not a prank, it's a crime.

If federal, state and local governments respected our rights to defend our property, there would be an increase in prudence among honest people, and tragic mistakes would be rare, as would larceny.


We are no longer serious about serious things
We argue over trivialities of pop culture and sports, while we take our eye off the ball when it comes to safeguarding our fundamental rights.  If you cannot defend your life, your liberty and your property, you are not a free man.  You are a slave of the state, and you are subject to the whims of marauding malefactors who respect nothing.

A state that allows failures to pay for their own losses...  A state that recognizes the rights of free people to defend their lives and property...  That is a state that will eventually produce a prudent people.  Darwinism we can believe in.

For an excellent essay on the subject, read Ralph Waldo Emerson's Prudence.