The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

To The Eagle:

 I realize it is hard to get agreement in any group of people.

 But...what would happen if each and every one of us in the USA and perhaps the world over just decided to ignore the governing agencies and went back to taking responsibility for our own lives?

 What if people remembered that not too long ago there were no handouts and people made their own way through honesty and hard work? Yes, I realize there were dishonest people and they were tolerated to a point then the vigilance committee met and the person was dealt with.

 The idea I want to explore here is: What if people started helping themselves? What if rather than waiting for and depending on handouts, people started taking responsibility for their own lives and future?

 How much control over your life would anyone else have if you were generating the income and doing all the other actions to care for yourself and your family? And if communities were working together to solve their problems and care for the people living and working in their area would there be need for outside assistance? Would there be need to even acknowledge or put up with outside influences of any kind?

 And as far as government goes, what if this country went back to being a republic, based on free enterprise? A government that was truly of the people, by the people and for the people. As an example, if a person had a good idea and it was found useful by others then they would use it too. The originator of the idea would receive the income resulting from their idea and hard work. The point is if you start a business and make a lot of money, you keep what you made. However, if you choose to sit and do nothing then you have the option to chew tree bark and eat weeds growing wild in the fields and road ditches. Please note theft would just not be tolerated or allowed.

 Also in a society of this nature, those who were truly disabled in some way would be given every opportunity to find something they could still do that was useful to the group overall, and they thereby would still be a productive member of the group.

 This is not intended to be a comprehensive, all-inclusive plan for a better civilization. It is intended to get folks to really look at the idea that there are other options available than what the political folks of today would have us believe.

 What if you were allowed to keep the money you made? What if government was a small group of people from your community with the purpose to create common sense guidelines for the group to operate in? What if serving in the government was an honor and a trust? What if any requests for public funding from its citizens had to be sound, well planned, activities that had to be approved by the citizens who would then fund it? What if every person in any governing position had to live by the same rules as everyone else in that group? What if violation of the honor and trust of serving on the governing body had a penalty of instant and irrevocable removal from the group one was entrusted to govern?

 What if money were treated as a medium of exchange only? What if any attempts to treat money as a commodity to be bought and sold were ignored because it was understood that violating the basic purpose of money will eventually destroy its value, like the federal reserve notes of today. What if money was an idea backed by confidence used as a convenience in transacting exchanges of goods and services?

 Oh my! What if?

Ben Elkinton

Cathlamet