Freedom. What is it? Can we ever really have it?

My political views have changed over time, as I guess they do for most people. I was brought up by parents that supported Labour, as had their parents before them. My childhood was almost completely under Tory rule, with Thatcher being the first PM I could remember and then John Major all the way up until Blair took over, when I had become a working man.

My parents never had much money. My Dad came from Southall in Middlesex, which had become a totally different place to what is was when he was a boy. However, he didn't leave Southall because of way it became an enclave of India and Pakistan. Sure, I don't think he was all that happy that the video shop only sold Indian films, or that the whole character of the place was alien to him. He never had any problem with the new residents there, but as a young man, who had just married a girl from Sussex, they wanted what most couples want. A place of their own.

Now both my Mum and Dad had decent jobs, paying decent wages where they were. My Dad was a Butcher, while my mother was a secretary, fully trained in shorthand (do they even still do that?). They were having a good time, spending their wages, living the life young people should for a while. The desire to have their own home grew strong though, but the price of homes in the area (London) was very expensive to them then. It's funny, because we are in almost the exact same position, where young couples have to leave their home areas, due to the house prices being extortionate. Now they are falling again, but that's another story.

My Uncle had moved up to a town called Wellingborough and had told my Dad of how you could get your own detached house, with a garden for many times cheaper there. So like many, he made the move up to Northamptonshire and found himself a nice house on a new development. They were the first people in the house and they are still there today. So like all new couples, they had their home and after a while decided to have kids. I came a long and then it got tougher!

My Dad knew the wages would not be as good as they were in London, but he thought he would be O.K. Mum getting pregnant though, meant very soon, her also reduced wage, would disappear altogether. There was no way they could afford baby sitters and so my Mum was very much a housewife, but doing home jobs to try and help keep the place going. My Dad had to leave the job he loved, to work in a factory, simply because the trade of being a Butcher was dying and was very poorly paid in Wellingborough.

I almost feel guilty that I made things that much harder for my parents. Not because I was naughty, or bad, but simply because children cost money. Maybe in hindsight, my parents may have tried to do things a little differently. They did the best they could though and while we certainly did struggle, I think I had a wonderful upbringing. Money isn't everything, just having two caring parents can be enough and certainly, I thank them for all I have today.

I can safely say, that my upbringing had a major effect on me and the way I think. I started out believing as my parents did, that Labour were caring, while the Tories were nasty and only cared for the rich. After all, they took away my free milk at school and certainly it didn't feel like they were helping people like my parents much. The bottom line though, is my Mum and Dad realised they were responsible for themselves. They didn't expect the government to owe them anything, even though the government certainly took from them, via taxation. It always seemed that because they had their own home and Dad had a full time job, that this was deemed enough to stop them getting any benefits, other than those that everyone got like child allowance.

As I got into my teens, my parents started to get a bit better off. My sister grew up significantly better off environment than I did, while still not being well off, my parents now could afford to do things that they wanted for their children. Having a bottle of fizzy pop was a rare treat at one point, as was having fish and chips. Going on holiday abroad was totally off the agenda. My Nan used to help out by coming with us to Wales etc, always in caravans and always the cheapest one. One of my favourite holidays was in Hastings. Broke as usual, my parents booked us into a "shoestring" caravan. This was a caravan that should really be for the knackers yard, but they kept them running for families like mine. My Nan threw a fit when we arrived, with holes in the curtains and a less than polished look. It didn't matter though, it was just a place to sleep and we had 2 glorious weeks of solid sunshine.

The outdoor pool was fine because of this and we simply had a fantastic holiday, because instead of spending the money on the caravan, they had a bit to spend on ice cream and eating out. That seriously was a life lesson to me and one that shaped me. The following year, my parents finally managed to save up for a holiday abroad. Again it was the cheapest one they could get in Majorca, but the weather was great and while the other holiday makers moaned about the hotel and its food, we though it was fantastic. Sure we ran out of spending money with 3 days to go, but it didn't matter. Mum and Dad had provided this through their own hard work. It felt like we had made it, from being a poor family, to an average family.

Now, because of my excellent upbringing, I made it through University and started my first real job in Surrey. Unlike my parents, I had gone in the opposite direction and because I was free and single, I didn't have the pressures of having children to support. I still don't, but this may change now that my Wife and I feel ready to have them. Either way, I had a good job, that gave me pay rises every year. I bought my house just at the right time, as the housing market was only just picking itself out of the doldrums. It meant I could afford a decent sized terraced home, that would be an excellent first step on the ladder.

While my parents had the young and free lives for a short time, I have had it all the way until now really. I met Clare and we bought a lovely place together, that needed doing up. I sold my old house for 3 times what I paid for it and that gave us a great deposit for my current home. My parents have always wanted to move, but just have never had the real opportunity (until now really). If they had have moved, they would have been going sideways, instead of up, so they never really saw the point. They have no mortgage now and while my Dad was made redundant, they did what their parents never managed to do and that is build up some capital. My sister has very much taken the same sort of path as me, just via a different route. She also married a bit later and hasn't had children yet. She got a job as a hair stylist and bought her own home, but in Wellingborough.

Now Wellingborough has come on in leaps and bounds and is one of the countries fastest growing towns. My sister moved house, but still in Wellingborough to a nicer place. Now she has gone one major leap further and moved to Canada. Again, because of the capital she built up, she has now managed to buy herself a place that would cost over a million here. I am immensely proud of my sister and what she has achieved.

My brother has taken a different route. He left school earlier and got jobs straight away. My brother is a grafter and will never let you down. He started going into being a toolmaker, but realised that this wasn't what he wanted. My brother has always had a deep respect for my uncle, who was in the armed forces. While my brother is the least aggressive person on the planet, he fancied a job in the RAF and that is where he is now and doing extremely well.

So what has all this got to do with freedom? Well, I am trying to paint a picture of how ALL of my family, became what they are. Not through government help or being told what to do, but through their own hard work and self reliance. My parents no longer support Labour. Indeed, Labour sickens them. They don't support the Tories either and neither do any of the rest of my family. They may not be as politically interested as me, but they all have come to the same conclusion.

Government has become a hindrance and not a help to the ordinary working man. Not only that, but it is destroying society and is creating an underclass. Now this may be unintentional, but whether it is or isn't, the results are the same.

There are whole families now fully reliant on handouts. Indeed, they have grown accustomed to it and are in the terrible position, of being encouraged to stay like it. The government of today thinks that stealing peoples wealth and then distributing it themselves, minus corruption and administration of course is the way to go. The worst part, is that if the government hadn't got us into this vicious circle, the same people would have done like my Mum and Dad. They would have HAD to have gone out and done it for themselves. There would be no alternative, because it was still worthwhile working for peanuts to start with, rather than just take handouts.

The government, who just does as their told by the EU now, has created this cycle, so that more and more people struggle to live on the money they earn. There comes a tipping point, where many people just give in and become a full dependent on the state. Because they can. You can't blame them, when the government makes it so hard to survive, with vicious over taxation. Taxation truly is stealing and when the side effect, is to create this underclass, things spiral out of control.

1) The underclass lose all respect for themselves, so they lose respect for others too. Sink estates filled with benefits claimants, who let the place run to ruin and cause mayhem on the streets. They have lost a little bit of their humanity, because they no longer have any respect, for any thing.

2) A working class, who struggle to keep themselves falling into the underclass. They are encouraged to put themselves in debt, then smashed down when the time comes to collect. All the people who lose their homes and jobs, must remember who put them in this position. It will be all to easy to fall into that underclass though, which will just make the problem worse.

3) A middle class, who really are just working class who have done slightly better. I put myself in this bracket, but everyone I speak to is SICK of being fleeced, for no benefit. We are the most abused class, because we have that bit of extra money that WE EARNED, that the government wants to get its grubby mitts on. They know that we won't vote for them anyway, so they put the boot in big time, to curry favour with the two classes above. Oh and the real class that benefits.

4) The Ultra Rich and powerful. They don't pay tax like the rest of us, because they are the ones pulling the strings. These are the real powerbrokers in society. Anyone who thinks "Democracy" is what decided government, simply hasn't been paying attention. All of the mainstream political parties are bought and paid for my the elite, who want to make sure they stay that way. Why do you think all parties turn out to be the same in the end? It's because they have the same pay masters.

When you see how much business spends on advertising and marketing, it really should ring alarm bells with people. Elections have buttons spent on them compared to what business spends, so this should be a clue that big business, and in turn the handful for ultra rich that control truly big business, think of the democratic process. They see it as irrelevant. Which it is.

The media perpetrates the myth though, because the media is controlled by the very same people. These people do not want the rest of us to earn our way to their level. That would mean them losing some of their wealth and they simply aren't going to allow that.

They have created a shell game, where they play people off against each other, based on fake ideologies and partys. The whole of society is currently built on a house of cards, that will come crashing down one day. Until people realise, that freedom means you have to be responsible for yourself, we are doomed to further pain. When you are responsible for yourself, then you are more likely to help others who truly deserve and need it.

Individual liberty, will spawn collective responsibility. However, the fact it will be based on freedom and choice, means it will last. For example, I don't have to give a penny to my family. I didn't have the choice of what family I got, but I am glad I got the one I did. For that reason, I show my gratitude by helping them whenever I can. We all can rely on each other, because we all know how we rely on ourselves. We know that someone REALLY needs help, if they ever come asking for it and they ASK, don't take it like the government does.

The worst part for this country as a whole, is it really is a collective that you CHOOSE to stay a part of, just like a family is. A strong, self reliant family will produce nothing but good. The same applies to a country.

More and more of the good types are leaving though. My sister has gone and Canada shall benefit. My parents will take their life long wealth their too. If I can ever persuade my wife, I will be off too. Even the hardworking immigrants are turning around and getting out, because they are realising the government here abuses the hard working and self reliant. They didn't leave their homes for that kind of treatment.

All that will leave left is the underclass and the parasites that need the State to exist. The Elites, won't care, they will be living in their tax free havens any, which should be a wake up call to us all.

If the ultra rich choose tax free havens, then why aren't we afforded that same luxury? The answer is because they don't want us to have what they do and have control over the mechanisms that keep us in bondage.