Every July 4th Americans celebrate their independence. They hold parades, politicians march with veterans, and spectators wave the flag. But all these symbols seem to say that wars, politicians, and flags are what made America great. None of these things, however, are even unique to America. They are all too common, everywhere in the world.
What was unique about America’s birth was the new nation’s commitment to individual freedom. And America’s greatness is proportionate to that freedom.
Free people create great things. They have done so in the past, and they are doing so now. This is what the Downsize DC Foundation wants to celebrate on July 4th, and on every day thereafter.
That’s why we’re launching the new DownsizeDC.com on our nation’s birthday. This new site will be the educational arm of the Downsize DC movement.
There will be two active Downsize DC websites. While Downsize DC DOT ORG will continue to lobby to Downsize DC, the new Downsize DC DOT COM will show people why DC should be downsized . . . in the interest of Human Progress.
Because America’s greatness is proportionate to Americans’ freedom.
Our two Downsize DC websites will have different tones.
- Dot Org will often be negative, yelling “Stop” and “Repeal” and “Cut” and “Shut down.”
- Dot Com will largely be positive, celebrating the great things free people do to make things better, and the potential that greater freedom has to cause even greater American greatness.
Many organizations lament the loss of freedom, as they should. And Downsize DC Dot Org joins in this lamentation, and fights against the trend. But Downsize DC Dot Com will celebrate and show what freedom is actually accomplishing all around us.
There will be several running themes to what you will find here on Downsize DC Dot Com. Two of the most important will be “The Race,” and “The More-with-less Revolution.”
“The Race” is an unrecognized contest between the constructive power of voluntary action, and the destructive power of centralized control. Free people are producing miracles everyday, while centralized control by Big Government is wreaking havoc. Can free people continue to create miracles and solve problems faster than Big Government sows destruction? We will report on this titanic race between these two mighty and opposed forces – Human Progress through voluntary action (some call this freedom) and Big Government.
But frankly, we’re betting on freedom to win “The Race.” And this is largely because of “The More-with-less Revolution.”
Free people are finding new ways, everyday, to do more-and-more with less-and-less. This ever expanding increase in discovery, innovation, creation, and problem solving is so-far vastly outstripping the harm done by government’s centralized control.
— Government takes more-and-more from us all the time. But our quality-of-life improves anyway, because freedom causes innovation that allows us to do more-and-more with less-and-less, even while our government pillages us.
— Government tries to control more-and-more things all the time. But freedom constantly innovates to find new ways around these regulations, to render them obsolete and pointless, and to actually solve the problems the regulations were intended to address (but never do).
Politicians fail but free people succeed. The State blunders, but sovereign individuals innovate. Big Government moves slowly, but Liberty moves fast. Bureaucracy is stagnant, but freedom evolves. Government does less-and-less with more-and-more, but the free-market does more-and-more with less-and-less. What our government destroys, our individuals and voluntary communities fix.
As we’ve been prone to say, “Big Government hurts, but Liberty works.”
We believe the miracles and progress caused by our freedom will always remain slightly ahead of the destruction wrought by coercive government. But a continued lead for freedom over government in “The Race” is not enough for us. We want to widen the gap. Because the bigger the lead Voluntary Action has, the more Human Progress will result. We must . . . Downsize DC . . . in the interest of human progress.
At Downsize DC Dot Com you will learn about . . .
- The continuous and tremendous inventions and innovations in health care and the environment that will enable all of us to lead longer, younger, and healthier lives.
- Wonderful solutions to the energy crisis, that will also reduce pollution.
- Innovations that will dramatically reduce manufacturing costs, making even the most cutting edge advances more accessible to everyone.
- Compassionate initiatives by churches, charities, and civic groups that are going on each day, and producing remarkable results.
- Private security solutions to deal with problems of crime and terrorism.
And so much more.
Success for us is defined as bringing private solutions into the public mind in such a way that political solutions seem clunky, expensive, damaging, and far inferior by comparison. Because we want your freedom to win “The Race” by a mile.
You will find the first examples of the achievements and possibilities of human freedom in the next entry. And we hope you will return to this site for more on a regular basis.