"If an act of government... violates the liberty of the people, it is of little importance who did it or how he came to have power to do it; it is of little importance whether a dictator gained his power by accident of birth, by force, or by the vote of the people." -- F.A. Harper Liberty: A Path to Its Recovery
In fact, it is of little importance if it is done by the legislature through the foolish or dastardly acts of the elected representatives of the people and merely signed into law by an equally foolish or dastardly president. The liberty of the people is still diminished.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Obama's Top Secret Motivation for a Federal Take-over of Health Care
Why is Obama so intent on getting universal health coverage in place as soon as possible? Is it just his socialist heart driving him to do what he thinks is the right thing to do for people?
Not on your life!
There is a hidden motive that has NOT been revealed in anything I’ve seen written about this administration’s hard-driving campaign for so-called “health care reform.”
What is that hidden motive?
The labor unions! In particular, there are the UAW (United Auto Workers) and USW (United Steel Workers) unions that have been clamoring for government-funded universal health coverage for nearly three decades. Then, do not forget how the federal government’s shared ownership of the GM and Chrysler with the unions’ trust funds plays into all of this.
Back in 1981, health insurance for union employees and retirees was costing U.S. automakers more than $400 per automobile. A few short years ago, that number had skyrocketed to nearly $3,000 per vehicle. Is it any wonder that Representative John Dingell (D-MI), Michigan's (and Congress's) longest-serving Member of Congress has been a champion of universal health care for more than 50 years -- that' right, since 1957. And, yes, it's the same Michigan that is home to Ford, Chrysler and General Motors. Is there a connection? Of course there is a connection!
Just imagine what happens if government-sponsored universal health insurance is made available. Suddenly the manufacture of automobiles at GM and Chrysler becomes about $3,000 per vehicle more profitable. Suddenly the unions have another $3,000 per vehicle to bargain for — again!
Make no mistake about it: Just like the “Card Check” legislation, universal government-funded health coverage is JUST ONE MORE PAY-BACK to BIG LABOR for the part the unions played in getting Mr. Obama into office in the first place.
STOP THE PAY-BACK! Contact your Congressmen and Senators and tell them that we cannot afford another multi-trillion-dollar political payback laid on the backs of the American taxpayer (the roughly 40% of us who actually pay taxes).
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Open Letter No. 3 to Michael Steele, Chairman, Republican National Committee
This third open letter to Michael Steele, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, discusses the things that must change if we are to move our nation back from the degraded state of its politics.
Read it here.
Read it here.
Open Letter No. 2 to Michael Steele, Chairman of the Republican National Committee
A second open letter to Michael Steele advocating a fresh look at how Republicans contest elections and manage the political battleground.
Read it here.
Read it here.
An Open Letter to Michael Steele, Chairman of the Republican National Committee
Not long ago, Chairman Michael Steele of the Republican National Committee published his "Blueprint for Tomorrow -- En-route to a Republican Revolution," outlining his view of the future for the Republican Party in the U.S.
I've written a letter in response to Mr. Steele's vision statement.
Read the open letter here.
I've written a letter in response to Mr. Steele's vision statement.
Read the open letter here.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Thoughts Worth Recalling
1.
In my many years I have come to a conclusion
that one useless man is a shame,
two is a law firm
and three or more is a congress.
-- John Adams
2.
If you don't read the newspaper
you are uninformed,
if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.
-- Mark Twain
3..
Suppose you were an idiot.
And suppose you were a member of Congress.
But then I repeat myself.
-- Mark Twain
4..
I contend that for a nation
to try to tax itself into prosperity
is like a man standing in a bucket
and trying to lift himself up by the handle .
-- Winston Churchill
5..
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul
can always depend on the support of Paul.
-- George Bernard Shaw
6..
A liberal is someone
who feels a great debt to his fellow man,
which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
-- G. Gordon Liddy
7..
Democracy must be something more
than two wolves and a sheep
voting on what to have for dinner.
-- James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)
8..
Foreign aid might be defined
as a transfer of money
from poor people in rich countries
to rich people in poor countries.
-- Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University
9..
Giving money and power to government
is like giving whiskey and car keys
to teenage boys.
-- P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian
10.
Government is the great fiction,
through which everybody endeavors
to live at the expense of everybody else.
-- Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)
11.
Government's view of the economy
could be summed up in a few short phrases:
If it moves, tax it.
If it keeps moving, regulate it.
And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
-- Ronald Reagan (1986)
12.
I don't make jokes.
I just watch the government
and report the facts.
-- Will Rogers
13.
If yo u think health care is expensive now,
wait until you see what it costs when it's free!
-- P.J. O'Rourke
14.
In general,
the art of government
consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens
to give to the other.
-- Voltaire (1764)
15.
Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics
won't take an interest in you!
-- Pericles (430 B.C.)
16.
No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in
session.
-- Mark Twain (1866)
17.
Talk is cheap...
except when Congress does it.
-- Anonymous
18.
The government is like
a baby's alimentary canal,
with a happy appetite at one end
and no responsibility at the other.
-- Ronald Reagan
19.
The inherent vice of capitalism
is the unequal sharing of the blessings.
The inherent blessing of socialism
is the equal sharing of misery.
-- Winston Churchill
20.
The only difference between a tax man
and a taxidermist
is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.
-- Mark Twain
21.
The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill
the world with fools.
-- Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)
22.
There is no distinctly native American
criminal class...
save Congress.
-- Mark Twain
23.
What this country needs
are more unemployed politicians.
-- Edward Langley, Artist (1928-1995)
24.
A government big enough
to give you everything you want,
is strong enough
to take everything you have.
-- Thomas Jefferson
[From my friend and colleague, Dan Smith.]
In my many years I have come to a conclusion
that one useless man is a shame,
two is a law firm
and three or more is a congress.
-- John Adams
2.
If you don't read the newspaper
you are uninformed,
if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.
-- Mark Twain
3..
Suppose you were an idiot.
And suppose you were a member of Congress.
But then I repeat myself.
-- Mark Twain
4..
I contend that for a nation
to try to tax itself into prosperity
is like a man standing in a bucket
and trying to lift himself up by the handle .
-- Winston Churchill
5..
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul
can always depend on the support of Paul.
-- George Bernard Shaw
6..
A liberal is someone
who feels a great debt to his fellow man,
which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
-- G. Gordon Liddy
7..
Democracy must be something more
than two wolves and a sheep
voting on what to have for dinner.
-- James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)
8..
Foreign aid might be defined
as a transfer of money
from poor people in rich countries
to rich people in poor countries.
-- Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University
9..
Giving money and power to government
is like giving whiskey and car keys
to teenage boys.
-- P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian
10.
Government is the great fiction,
through which everybody endeavors
to live at the expense of everybody else.
-- Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)
11.
Government's view of the economy
could be summed up in a few short phrases:
If it moves, tax it.
If it keeps moving, regulate it.
And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
-- Ronald Reagan (1986)
12.
I don't make jokes.
I just watch the government
and report the facts.
-- Will Rogers
13.
If yo u think health care is expensive now,
wait until you see what it costs when it's free!
-- P.J. O'Rourke
14.
In general,
the art of government
consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens
to give to the other.
-- Voltaire (1764)
15.
Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics
won't take an interest in you!
-- Pericles (430 B.C.)
16.
No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in
session.
-- Mark Twain (1866)
17.
Talk is cheap...
except when Congress does it.
-- Anonymous
18.
The government is like
a baby's alimentary canal,
with a happy appetite at one end
and no responsibility at the other.
-- Ronald Reagan
19.
The inherent vice of capitalism
is the unequal sharing of the blessings.
The inherent blessing of socialism
is the equal sharing of misery.
-- Winston Churchill
20.
The only difference between a tax man
and a taxidermist
is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.
-- Mark Twain
21.
The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill
the world with fools.
-- Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)
22.
There is no distinctly native American
criminal class...
save Congress.
-- Mark Twain
23.
What this country needs
are more unemployed politicians.
-- Edward Langley, Artist (1928-1995)
24.
A government big enough
to give you everything you want,
is strong enough
to take everything you have.
-- Thomas Jefferson
[From my friend and colleague, Dan Smith.]
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