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Five Simple Ways to Avoid Foreclosure

One of the "talking points" of the left wing is the need for government to take better care of those who are hurting financially.  What they fail to mention is that much of the higher corporate taxes they propose to address such issues will go into the hands of many Americans who are hurting as the result of their own irresponsibility (dare I say stupidity?).  Talked about most frequently is the need to offer mortgage assistance to those who can't afford their mortgage payment.

Perhaps a better alternative to increasing taxes on business which will result in even more jobs being lost, we should return to the common sense approach to mortgage management.  Here are five profound ways to avoid experiencing foreclosure and requiring a government rescue:

1.  Take the time to learn about mortgages, interest rates, and your local housing market.  When you sign a mortgage you are making a promise to repay what is likely to be the largest amount of money you've ever borrowed.  Don't sign stupid.

2.  Purchase a home you can afford.  I know, this is complicated (geez).  You should buy a home that will allow you to make your mortgage payments, stay current on all of your other financial obligations, AND put money into savings each month.

3.  Never, never use an "Adjustable Rate Mortgage" or "Interest Only Mortgage" to get a lower payment.  This eliminates budget predictability and puts your financial well-being into the hands of the Federal Reserve which, by the way, is accountable to no one.

4.  Don't use the equity in your home for luxuries or pleasure.  Leave your equity alone.  It is likely your largest pool of savings and should only be used for crisis situations.  Many people facing foreclosure today are in that situation because they squandered their equity on vacations, plasma televisions, and other frivolous expenditures.  If you want a vacation or plasma television, save for it.  Don't spend stupid.

5.  Keep the equivalent of six months earnings in an emergency savings account to be used only if you lose your job.  If you followed step 2 properly, you should have been able to save every month.   Don't use it for vacations or plasma televisions.  It is your safety net to keep your bills paid should you lose your job.

I know that people do find themselves financially debilitated by unexpected and catastrophic events.  But I believe that many of America's economic and social problems could be solved without the heavy hand of a large federal government that takes from the rich and gives to the poor, if people were simply taught to use their brains and apply common sense to the living of their lives.

Principle of Freedom #6 - Human Equality

  All Men are Created Equal

"That all men are born to equal rights is true.  Every being has a right to his own, as clear, as moral, as sacred, as any other being has....But to teach that all men are born with equal powers and faculties, to equal influence in society, to equal property, and advantages through life, is as gross a fraud, as glaring an imposition on the credulity of the people, as ever was practiced by monks, by Druids, by Brahmins, by priests of the immortal Lama, or by the self-styled philosophers of the French Revolution."
~John Adams

"The goal of society is to provide 'equal justice,' which means protecting the rights of the people equally:

At the bar of justice, to secure their rights.

At the ballot box, to vote for the candidate of their choice.

At the public school, to obtain their education.

At the employment office, to compete for a job.

At the real estate agency, to purchase or rent a home.

At the pulpit, to enjoy freedom of religion.

At the podium, to enjoy freedom of speech.

At the microphone or before the TV camera, to present views on the issues of the day.

At the meeting hall, to peaceably assemble.

At the print shop, to enjoy freedom of the press.

At the store, to buy the essentials or desirable things of life.

At the bank, to save and prosper.

At the tax collectors office, to pay no more than their fair share.

At the probate court, to pass on to their heirs the fruits of life's labors."

~W. Cleon Skousen (The Five Thousand Year Leap, pg. 105)

Source: The Five Thousand Year Leap; W. Cleon Skousen

 

   

Principle of Freedom #5 - Divine Dependence & Responsibility

All Things Were Created by God, Therefore upon Him All Mankind are Equally Dependent, and to Him They are Equally Responsible

"In his famous Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke pointed out that it defies the most elementary aspects of reason and experience to presuppose that everything in existence developed as a result of fortuitous circumstance."
~W. Cleon Skousen

"The real wonder is that so many difficulties should have been surmounted...with a unanimity almost as unprecedented as it must have been unexpected.  It is impossible for any man of candor to reflect on this circumstance without partaking of the astonishment.  It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution"
~James Madison (Federalist Papers, No. 37, pp. 230-31)

"While I was in America, a witness who happened to be called at the Sessions of the county of Chester (state of New York) declared that he did not believe in the existence of God or in the immortality of the soul.  The judge refused to admit the evidence, on the ground that the witness had destroyed beforehand all the confidence of the court in what he was about to say.  The New York Spectator of August 23, 1831, related the fact in the following terms: 'The presiding judge remarked that he had not before been aware that there was a man living who did not believe in the existence of God; that this belief constituted the sanction [in law, that which gives binding force] of all testimony in a court of justice; and that he knew of no case in a Christian country where a witness had been permitted to testify without such belief.'"
~Alexis de Tocqueville (Democracy in America)

Source: The Five Thousand Year Leap; W. Cleon Skousen

 

   

Principle of Freedom #4 - The Necessity of Faith

Without Religion the Government of a Free People Cannot be Maintained.

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports...And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion...Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail to the exclusion of religious principle."

~George Washington

"I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there; in her fertile fields and boundless prairies, and it was not there; in her rich mines and her vast world commerce, and it was not there.  Not until I went to the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.  America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."

~Alexis de Tocqueville
 

Source: The Five Thousand Year Leap; W. Cleon Skousen

Principle of Freedom #3 - Virtuous Leadership

The Most Promising Method of Securing a Virtuous and Morally Stable People is to Elect Virtuous Leaders

"But neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.  He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man."  ~Samuel Adams 

Source: The Five Thousand Year Leap; W. Cleon Skousen

Principles of Liberty

One of the best books that I've read about the founding principles of the United States of America is a work entitled, The 5000 Year Leap, by W. Cleon Skousen.  The book is divided into two parts.  Part one is entitled, Structuring a Government With All Power in the People and part two is entitled, The Founders Basic Principles.

There are 28 basic principles which shaped our founding father's approach to building this republic.  I will begin here with a series of 28 posts.  Each one will be a simple statement of principle and I'll post them twice a week.  Ask you read each principle, ask yourself if this is still a guiding principle that our elected leaders are following today.  If the principle has been abandoned, ask yourself why.  And then think about what you can do to help restore that principle as a compass for our restoration to a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Principle of Freedom #1

"The only reliable basis of sound government and just human relations is 'natural law.'"