On the Constitution and those whom we elect

George Mason, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry worked on the U.S. Constitution. They also drafted the Constitution of Virginia and, in it, they said, "No free government, nor the blessings of liberty, can be preserved... but by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles."

The Founding Fathers understood that the preservation of our liberty requires us to revisit the first principles with regularity. Yet, in Congress, the concept of liberty—in the sense in which our Founders used it—has long been forgotten. Surely, our politicians are to blame for this to some extent. But, more importantly, it is "we, the people," who are to blame for not reminding them frequently of this and other first principles.

We, the people, have taken our liberty for granted while the politicians that have "settled themselves" far away "in that federal city" (Washington, DC) and forgotten the principle of liberty for the people.

For this important principle the politicians have substituted the near surety of their own re-election by buying votes using taxpayer money through numerous and growing entitlement programs for corporations, unions, special interest groups and even individuals.

As we, the people, have asked (or, at any rate, allowed) the government to do more and more for us, we have willingly surrendered—step by step—more and more of our liberty. As the people kept asking, the courts and the politicians were more than willing to accommodate in exchange for their re-election. (Note: Re-election rates hover around 85 percent now.)

Now we have an over-reaching federal government that—unless ObamaCare is overturned—has demonstrated virtually unlimited power over the lives of the citizens. Unlimited power to compel us to do whatever the government chooses is TOTALITARIANISM, even if we still live in a "democracy."

It was the federal republic that was intended by our Constitution to defend us from this, but we have long ago lost site of that precious fact.

It's time to wake up America! Stop the madness!

Justice for all, not fairness for all, is what our Constitution seeks

Some men have a mistaken notion of justice and wish to substitute for justice their particular vision of fairness.

Justice is blind, and fairness cannot be measured but differently by each man and in each case. In America, we hold forth the promise of justice for all, not fairness for which there is no common standard.

Attempts by politicians to bring forth from government fairness rather than justice has tended, as we witness, to dispirit public virtue and promote the growth of public evils. This has been found true in everything from our exercise of law and the courts to the injustices perpetrated upon the American people—both high and low—through the various forms of public and corporate welfare.

Stop the madness!

Supposed “racist” founding of U.S. debunked with facts

This five-minute video is well worth watching if you’ve believed that our Founding Fathers were generally pro-slavery and that they thought blacks were subhuman.

Health care bill creates “ObamaCare University”

The program is unassumingly titled the “United States Public Health Sciences Track,” and it’s among the many items hidden inside the massive, 2,000-plus-page health care reform package adopted by Congress in 2010.

But it is anything but innocent.

Instead, it is a first-of-its kind, federally funded and federally administered civilian medical school that grants advanced degrees (post-graduate, post-doctoral and technology) in medicine, dentistry, nursing and pharmacy, among others.
 
It will be run by Obama administration officials, namely, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, who will determine the number of students who can enroll, and the Surgeon General, who will decide how to admit students, to recruit instructors and to write the curricula, among other tasks. Administration officials will act like college deans with the Surgeon General in charge of operations and the HHS Secretary in charge of funding.

[Sounds ghoulish, already, doesn’t it? Can’t you just imagine the powers this gives government over how and why health care is administered or withheld by medical professionals? Can you imagine what a Stalin or a Hitler might have done with such a tool in their hands?]

Like the grants and contract sections of the health care reform law that require the use of race-based criteria [really?!?] for awarding federal money to hospitals and schools for medical training programs, the Surgeon General is required to create race-based selection procedures for admitting students into what we’ve nicknamed “ObamaCare University.”
 
The more we know about the health care reform bill, the more unconstitutional and problematic it gets. The establishment of ObamaCare U and its race-based provisions reinforce the importance of striking down this law.

[Adapted from a report by Diane Cohen, an attorney with the Goldwater Institute Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation]

How about some good old political repentance from the GOP?

I think that there would be few things more beneficial to the Republican Party (GOP) than a general catharsis of heartfelt repentance among its politicians for their unprincipled behavior with regard to limited government, the U.S. Constitution, support for corporate bailouts, and their general propensity to succumb to pressure from special interests.

For GOP officeholders to simply stand before the public and say:

"We see where we are have gone wrong and have found that you, the people, are wiser than we thought we were.  Forgive us.  We are going to change our ways.  We are going to fight for YOU and return power to YOU and cease from our own corrosive power-seeking ways that have helped lead our nation to this brink of disaster and the collapse of sound government."

This would be a great thing, would it not? And it would, to a great extent, end the fears of erosion of GOP support by third-party conservatives.

The President and his Constitutional oath

The President (POTUS) solemnly swears to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. He does not solemnly swear to ignore, overlook, supplement, or reinterpret it.

On the Constitution and remembering first principles

George Mason, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry worked on the U.S. Constitution. They also drafted the Constitution of Virginia and, in it, they said, "No free government, nor the blessings of liberty, can be preserved... but by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles."

The Founding Fathers understood that the preservation of our liberty requires us to revisit the first principles with regularity. Yet, in Congress, the concept of liberty—in the sense in which our Founders used it—has long been forgotten. Surely, our politicians are to blame for this to some extent. But, more importantly, it is "we, the people," who are to blame for not reminding them frequently of these first principles.

We, the people, have taken our liberty for granted while the politicians who have "settled themselves" far away "in that federal city" (Washington, DC) and forgotten the first principles of liberty for the people. For these important principles the politicians have substituted the near surety of their own re-election by buying votes using taxpayer money through numerous and growing entitlement programs for corporations, unions, special interest groups and individuals.

As we, the people, have asked (or, at any rate, allowed) the government to do more and more for us, we have willingly surrendered—step by step—more and more of our liberty. As the people keep asking, the courts and the politicians are more than willing to accommodate in exchange for their re-election. (Note: Re-election rates hover around 85 percent now.)

Now we have an over-reaching federal government that—unless ObamaCare is overturned—has demonstrated virtually unlimited power over the lives of “we, the people.” Unlimited power to compel us to do whatever the government chooses is totalitarianism, even if we still live in a "democracy." It was the federal republic that was intended by our Constitution to defend us from this, but we have long ago lost site of that precious fact.

It's time to wake up America! Stop the madness!

Government: super-sized, over-extended and unrestrained

Over time, our national government has become over-sized, over-extended and unrestrained.

Politicians—and, sadly, most Americans—can no longer even recognize the federal government's constitutionally-limited roles and functions. Instead the government operates well beyond its means and far wide of its constitutional mandates.

If the government continues on its present course, unchecked by wise voters and self-restrained elected representatives, its actions will irrecoverably cripple our economy, permanently undermine our nation's prosperity, and lead us to financial insolvency. This will rob future generations of opportunity and liberty. It will destroy the "American Dream" for generations to come.

Is this the future you want for YOUR children and grandchildren? It is not the future I want for mine!

On the power of corporations, unions and other special interest groups

Corporations, special interests (groups) and lobbyists—bad as they may be—have no authority nor power to coerce a Congressional Representative or Senator to do that which hurts the taxpayer, damages the economy, destroys jobs, prolongs unemployment, increases the size of government or add to our deficit and public debt.

Only our elected representatives—only the politicians in Washington and our State houses—have the power to do these damaging things. Sadly, our elected officeholders come quickly to sanctify every act in pursuit of re-election above the sanctity of our U.S. Constitution or the good of the people and the American economy. It is by this wrong priority that the politician becomes readily “hooked” on the dollars offered to him or her by the special interests and take actions that damage the American republic.

Only WE, THE PEOPLE, have the authority to remove from office—by our votes—those officeholders who succumb to the siren sound of special interest money and influence.

Yes! It is WE, THE PEOPLE, through our own lack of vigilance to our duty, that have allowed the evolution of a federal government that has forgotten our Constitution, forgotten limited government, and forgotten the need for sound money. And, it is WE, THE PEOPLE, who can and must fix it.

Change your politicians often! They easily dirty, and generally do so very quickly!

On totalitarianism properly understood

“If a president joins the powers of his office to his own willful interpretation of the Constitution, he steps away from a government of laws and toward a government of men.”

— Mike Pence (R-IN)

Of course, the same is true of every officeholder, every judge and every appointed bureaucrat. When Congress as a whole ignores the role of our Constitution—as it has—and forgets limited government, sound monetary policy, and the role of liberty and personal responsibility in American civil society, then we are on the road to totalitarianism.

We must remember that totalitarianism refers only to the state’s involvement “in all facets of society, including the daily life of its citizens.” The term “totalitarianism” has nothing whatsoever to do with the form of government—on the extent of government. A democracy or a republic may become as totalitarian as a dictatorship.

Citizens, be forewarned.

Asking for your help in the coming elections

In these times, perilous to liberty, I am asking you to help in the fight to restore a limited, constitutional government—our rightful heritage as Americans!
In the coming year, please help me and others take action:

• INFORM OTHERS - tell your family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors how and why limited government is important for our liberty and prosperity. (If you don't know why, find out now!)
• VOLUNTEER to help at least ONE candidate that is working for limited, constitutional government
• GIVE/SUPPORT - give at least ONE donation of $25 or more to a candidate who stands up for limited, constitutional government

Help stop the madness!

---

Let’s not give him one more chance!

A challenge to us, the voters

"The fact is that it's unreasonable of us to expect even principled politicians to vote against things like crop subsidies and stand up for the Constitution [because it is political suicide to do so, in many cases]. This presents us [the voters] with a challenge. It's up to us to ensure that it's in our representatives' interest to stand up for constitutional government." -- Walter Williams, "Future Prospects for Economic Liberty." Imprimis, Vol. 32, No. 9, Sep 2009: 1-5

On the legitimate role of government in a free society

“What is the legitimate role of government in a free society? To understand how America’s Founders answered this question, we have only to look at the rule book they gave us – the Constitution. Most of what they understood as legitimate powers of the federal government are enumerated in Article 1, Section 8. Congress is authorized there to do 21 things, and as much as three-quarters of what Congress taxes us and spends our money for today is nowhere to be found on that list.” -- Walter Williams, "Future Prospects for Economic Liberty." Imprimis, Vol. 32, No. 9, Sep 2009: 1-5

Concerning a Second American Revolution

May God forbid either another American Revolution or another American Civil War. The Civil War was fought over secession, and I have already expressed my views (at LinkedIn.com) on that, so I will not opine further here on that matter.

As to a second American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson warned us that it may be necessary to have a revolution every 200 years or so, just to set government again on a sound footing. Here, however, is the danger: This is NOT 1776 and we will never again, in this nation, have group of people like the colonists (many of whom had experience tyranny and oppression first-hand) nor such staid leadership as was present in our Founding Fathers. I cannot imagine what an ill wind might arise were we to take men of power and influence today and ask them to construct for us an entirely new Constitution.

You must remember, if one were to start an armed rebellion, we would not be supporting our nation and our Constitution, for even though many in the battle might hold to the ideals expressed in our present Constitution, it would be necessary to violently overthrow the existing government and establish an new one. That is the nature of violent revolution.

We have a method for changing our government in a non-violent way. You and I have forsaken that way through our own idleness and indolence, through self-serving and an unwillingness to fight the fight for liberty EVERY DAY instead of just when things "get too bad."

Plato warned us millennia ago that for preservation of a republic there are ONLY TWO IMPORTANT QUESTIONS:

1. WHO gets to teach the children, and

2. WHAT do they teach them.

More than an hundred years ago, the American citizenry decided that state-run schools were an acceptable solution for the education of our children. Despite warnings to the contrary, the vast majority of citizens took the path of least resistance and surrendered their children to COMPULSORY MIS-EDUCATION promulgated first by the states, and then, ultimately (under Jimmy Carter), by the federal Department of Education.

When our children are educated by the state, what in your wildest imagination makes you believe that these children will not ultimately be conformed to believe that the government is the solution to EVERY PROBLEM?

This has gone on for so long now that even our colleges of education are wholly contaminated by this philosophy. Almost every new teacher and administrator comes into the state-run school system fully saturated with nothing but foolishness about government, economics, politics, the environment and more.

This present generation in the U.S. has never KNOWN tyranny, never FOUGHT AGAINST tyranny, never really STOOD UP for anything much more than their own SELF-SATISFACTION. (Sometimes that self-satisfaction involves making themselves feel better by "standing up for the poor" or "hugging a tree," but, in the end, it is self-satisfaction.) That's why it is much simpler to establish a solid constitution, a new government, free markets and a sound monetary policy in places like the Czech Republic today than it is to do the same thing here in the U.S. The people in the Czech Republic -- most of them -- experienced 40 years of oppression and tyranny and they know what they DON'T WANT again! Many in the U.S. electorate that voted for Obama, on the other hand, considered their vote of no more significance than casting a vote for their favorite on "American Idol."

I believe there is a way back. I have written an article that describes that way. It is available here.

Thanks.

In Opposition to the DHS Report Against 'Rightwing Extremists'

Here's a message I just sent to many in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate in reaction against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report regarding "rightwing extremists."

OPPOSE the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report that labels citizens opposed to new firearms and ammunition restrictions, returning veterans and other conservatives as "rightwing extremists" and associates them with white supremacists and violent anti-government groups. This is none other than a blatant attempt by DHS director Napolitano and the Obama administration to silence political dissent and other liberties granted under the U.S. Constitution.

AS A SWORN SUPPORTER AND DEFENDER OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION, YOU SHOULD CONDEMN THIS KIND OF RHETORIC BY THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION WITH A LOUD VOICE.

Obama's recent trip to Mexico City and recent Congressional debates make it appear that Congress and the Obama administration are MORE CONCERNED about Mexico and the SOUTHERN border of Mexico than they are about SECURING OUR OWN U.S. BORDERS, PROTECTING THE SANCTITY OF THE U.S. CITIZENS' (NOT illegal aliens') RIGHT TO FAIR AND HONEST ELECTIONS (NOT elections intentionally diluted by massive abuse and fraud), and OUR RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS.

It also appears that the Obama administration is far more prepared to LIMIT THE RIGHTS OF U.S. CITIZENS in the name of "homeland security" than they are prepared to stand against ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS or the foolishness of ENVIRONMENTAL EXTREMISTS. In fact, the Obama administration and FAR TOO MUCH OF CONGRESS appears to be populated with those who have SOLD THEMSELVES OUT to ENVIRONMENTAL PSEUDO-SCIENCE as an excuse of all manner of violations of STATES' RIGHTS, FREE MARKETS, LIMITED GOVERNMENT or even SOUND MONETARY POLICY.

GIRD YOURSELVES UP AND TAKE A STAND FOR THE U.S. CONSTITUTION by CONDEMNING SUCH ACTIONS BY FELLOW MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, THE FEDERAL COURTS or THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION.

What are YOU going to tell them? Something, I hope!

On Good Government

There is ONE and ONLY ONE good government: That is the kingdom of God -- for only God is omniscient, omnipotent AND beneficent. Since every human government lacks omniscience and omnipotence it, therefore, cannot be fully beneficent. The human government's limited knowledge is a de facto cause of its inability to know what is truly "good" under ALL circumstances for ALL people for both now and the future its actions will bring about.

That being said, the BEST HUMAN GOVERNMENT is self-governance. That is, that every human being would always do what is proper and just and good. In such a case, no other human governance would be required.

Since human beings, unfortunately, do NOT always do what is proper and just and good, therefore, we rely upon a just government to enforce rules of law that we deem to be proper and just and good. We also rely upon governments to defend us from external attacks from other nations that would do us harm.

Working from these underlying matters, we may conclude that the BEST HUMAN GOVERNMENT is the government that GOVERNS LEAST -- that ONLY interferes when human beings do not perform that which is proper and just and good upon their own will. All other matters should be left to the individuals.

Problems arise in democratic societies when the elected assemblies become unrestrained by either their own integrity (to know and understand what is proper and just and good) or the rule of law. In our case, we have such an imperious assembly (Congress) that has, for the most part, abandoned the rule of law (in the U.S. Constitution) and is no longer impeded by either a sound judicial branch or an administrative branch that heeds the Constitution.

A Reminder to Some Democrats in the House

Here's a letter I just sent to several Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives:

Wasn't it Barack Obama that told us that any stimulus plan should be "TIMELY, TARGETED AND TEMPORARY"? Which parts of "targeted" and "temporary" does the Democrat party NOT understand?

Wasn't it Barack Obama that said, "I'm cutting more than I'm spending, so that it will be a net spending cut." Would you please respond by telling me how that math works with what the Democrats have just done?

And wasn't it Nancy Pelosi that said (three years ago): "[W]e'll go forward with civility, with honesty, with integrity and with fiscal discipline. No new deficit spending, no new bridges to nowhere, heaping mountains of debt on our children..." Please check with Speaker Pelosi to see which parts of this statement she intends to actually perform -- or was it ALL LIES?

The same kind of TRICKERY on the American citizenry that leads the DEMOCRAT PARTY to "move as quickly as possible and write as vaguely as possible" (Tom Daschle) so that Congress may foist upon Americans whatever it chooses -- without having to actually face the citizens or the opposing party in public debate on the issues. Have you NO CONSCIENCE? Have you NO HONOR? Have you NO CONCERN FOR THE CONSTITUTION of the United States of America?

How can you, by any stretch of the imagination, call yourselves PUBLIC SERVANTS?

What are YOU going to tell them?

What About the U.S. Constitution?

Here's what I told more than 50 members of Congress in a letter sent today:

"Until the 1930s, the Constitution served as a major constraint on federal economic interventionism. The government's powers were understood to be just as the framers intended: few and explicitly enumerated in our founding document and its amendments. Search the Constitution as long as you like, and you will find no specific authority conveyed for the government to spend money on global-warming research, urban mass transit, food stamps, unemployment insurance, Medicaid, or countless other items in the stimulus package and, even without it, in the regular federal budget." -- Independent Institute senior fellow Dr. Robert Higgs

"Americans have long ago abandoned respect for the constitutional limitations placed on the federal government. Our elected representatives represent that disrespect." -- economist Walter E. Williams

"[W]hat could possibly be more reckless than spending a trillion dollars you don't have on a plan that you have no evidence will work? What could be more irresponsible than doubling the generational debt for your partisan pet projects in a time of crisis? And what could be more selfish than stifling debate by deploying fear to induce voters into supporting it all?" -- columnist David Harsanyi


PLEASE THINK ABOUT OUR CONSTITUTION -- WHICH YOU ARE SWORN TO UPHOLD -- WHEN YOU DO WHAT YOU DO!

What are YOU going to tell them?

A Thread from a Linked-In Discussion

James:

2009 and a New President

Hello All,

How do you think the new year and new administration will effect either the industry you are in or your company indirect or directly?

Personally, I am in the banking industry, I am unsure what all this means for the banking industry.

Me:

DECLINES in personal liberties, national security, free enterprise, free markets, the benefits of capitalism and the value of the U.S. dollar.

INCREASES in taxes, federal regulations, socialist policies, fascist polices and risks to U.S. interests abroad.

James:

I am interested in hearing where this has all been stated. Is this a generalization or factual based statements on the new president. Also, I do see that the opposite of what your stating has not work over the past 8 years, so are you proposing what needs to happen?

Me:

Well, the previous administration inherited a recession, was afflicted by the economic outfall of 9/11/2001, and still managed to bring us 24 (or was it 26?) consecutive quarters of sustained growth with almost no inflation.

The new administration intends to takeover 15% of the U.S. economy via a federal health care program, which will INCREASE taxes; INCREASE federal regulation of the health care industry; REDUCE our individual liberty to choose our own path to health care; REDUCE the free market and free enterprise incentives to health care excellence in the U.S.; and emulate the socialist policies of other nations that have government-run health care. (That's just one example.)

Furthermore, the current economic stimulus package -- falsely so-called -- is nothing more than a virtual fire hose of money thrown at special interests and public works, and accompanied by "tax incentives" -- most of which are nothing more than the redistribution of wealth, since they are giving the so-called incentives mostly to those who DO NOT pay federal income taxes at all.

If the federal government intends to CONFISCATE THE MONIES of the wealth-producing populace through its foolish tax policies, at least DO NOT also insult our intelligence by telling us that the politicians are now going to HELP US by returning to us some small portion of what they have taken!

Yes, my statements are based on FACT -- historical facts. NOWHERE IN HISTORY has an economy been "stimulated" by confiscatory tax policies. NOWHERE IN HISTORY has socialism or fascism been demonstrated to improve the economy of any nation. Socialism, as instituted under the Soviet regime, managed to make the world's largest wheat EXPORTER (Russia) into the world's largest wheat IMPORTER (U.S.S.R.) in a matter of a few short years. (Were it NOT for the grace and supply of the U.S. government and the productivity of American agriculture, the Soviet government could not have survived for the 70 years that it did without major wars of aggression to seize new lands that it could pilfer and destroy.)

Show me any nation on earth where BIG GOVERNMENT has led to MORE personal liberty? Despite what President Obama said in his inaugural address, the SIZE OF GOVERNMENT DOES MATTER. The fact that a larger government, by its nature, results in or feeds upon more regulation is de facto evidence that BIG GOVERNMENT leads to a reduction in personal liberties.

Are we all looking forward to the day when the government's intervention in the auto industry gives us the grand selection of automobiles that was available to the typical citizen of the Soviet Union, and we, like the Soviet citizen, must "apply for" a vehicle and wait a year or two to take delivery of it?

Are we all looking forward to the day when the government's meddling in markets and confiscatory tax policies remove all incentives to excellence amongst our manufacturers? Then, perhaps, one day we will be just like the U.S.S.R. where the most common cause for house fires was -- of all things -- exploding television sets!

Are we all looking forward to the day when the government's ill-conceived "green" policies drive the price of gasoline to $5.00 a gallon or higher? Meanwhile, our food prices skyrocket because we've made our machines competitors for our food supply through government subsidized ethanol programs.

I wish -- even HOPE -- that I am wrong in my assessment. Meanwhile, I have grave concerns that I am not.

Congress Gets a Pay Raise???

Under existing law, as part of a deal to give up outside income from speeches and other sources, Congress receives an automatic pay raise unless it votes otherwise. In January, Congress will receive a raise of $4,700 to an average of about $174,000 (plus all the perks).

I don't think Congress deserves a pay raise, so this is what I told them:

I oppose giving Congress a pay raise this year because they have NOT been doing their job. Congress' job is to maintain a government competent to defend the rights of citizens against oppressors both foreign and domestic; and to limit its own powers so as to render it (the federal government) harmless to the liberties of those it governs.

The current economic debacle is clear evidence that Congress either does not KNOW its duties to U.S. citizens or it has entirely lost its way in pursuing those duties.

What are YOU going to tell them?