It’s our fault we have waited this long. It’s our fault
we have not stood up for American exceptionalism and
passed down those traits which make America great. In
order to get things done we have to have the backbone to
tell those who are wrong, they are wrong, give the facts,
and move on. Many times those who are wrong do not
want to accept it so they push back. The push back is
where sometimes I think we falter. We do not like
confrontation and those who are wrong may not take it
well when pointed out by others so they raise a raucous
and in the past we have backed down. It is time for that
to stop. One person who might be wrong or offended by
something should not be able to control an important
conversation.
How did we get to a point in a country where our
rights including the right to freedom of religion which is
protected by the Constitution is being changed to
something more like freedom from religion? Christmas
trees are now offensive and cannot be put in public
places because one person is offended. How is this
rational? Having freedom of religion does not mean it
gives you the right that you will not see it around you,
less you be offended. This mentality is just petty, and so
are those people.
This mentality I think comes from people being so
scared to say what is right or wrong because someone
will take offense and is inherent in the reason behind the
statement saying it is best not to talk about religion or
politics. It is time we started talking about these things
and get past the awkwardness so we can face and
understand the real issues in these areas. We only solve
problems when we address them clearly, based on facts,
and not controlled by emotion. Supporting or joining a
political party and simply supporting without
questioning the authority, the reasoning, and facts is
detrimental to our way of life. Everyone at all levels
should be criticized and questioned and often.
To announce that there must be no criticism of the
president, or that we are to stand by the president, right
or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is
morally treasonable to the American public.
-Theodore Roosevelt
In 2009 we had a president who took an oath to
protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
This president stated on Chicago public radio in 2001
that quote “the Constitution was a charter of negative
liberties. Says what the states can’t do to you. Says what
the federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say
what the federal government or state government must
do on your behalf.”
Now answer me this question, how can someone
fulfill the oath to the Constitution if he does not
understand that the Constitution was created to protect
people from an oppressive government when his whole
goal is to do things to people or do things on our behalf?
His basic assumption is not only backward but insulting
to me in that he thinks we want and need things done for
us, let alone to us. So what is it he thinks the government
must do that the Founding Fathers were so ignorant they
obviously overlooked in 1787? I would like to know,
wouldn’t you? It is my understanding these so called
negative liberties imposed on the federal government are
essentially permanent handcuffs on the government to
prevent it from controlling the people and everything we
do. It seems the current administration has unlocked the
handcuffs with the assistance of the Congress and has
revoked these negative liberties to achieve their goals,
whatever they might be!
We can no longer trust, at least for the next few
decades, those who have been trusted with the power of
our government. The government exists of the people,
by the people, and for the people. It is time we the
people enforced this notion again. As stated in the
Constitution; the government can only act with the
consent of the governed. Do you feel like you have been
giving your consent regarding what the government has
done in the past few decades? I certainly do not.
When we as parents create and enforce rules on our
children, it is done because we actually do know what is
best for them based on our experiences, our beliefs, and
our culture. We know they do not possess the knowledge
or experience necessary to properly weigh risks and
costs involved in their actions so we take actions
limiting these risks and costs on them as well as on us,
the parents. This is the same approach I believe our
government uses to justify what they do to us; fully
grown United States Citizens. The problem for them is
that we are not their children! We should not be bound
to whatever rules they decide to put upon us based on
their supposed superior knowledge and their perceived
lack of ability to make proper decisions for ourselves.
When they do this year after year they are essentially
boxing in free people, making our lives more and more
confining with the expectation we will grow accustomed
to their changes and life will go on. What they fail to
realize is people accustomed to freedom will take this
kind of treatment for a long time. However a point will
be reached where people will refuse to be boxed in and
controlled any further. How far away is this tipping
point? I believe with the emergence of the tea party
movement in 2009 and the contempt shown toward
citizens by many representatives, we just might be there.
In January 2010, I made my first monetary
contribution to an out of state election candidate. It was
to Scott Brown, the MA Senate candidate in an effort to
do what I could to end the supermajority in the senate
which existed at that time to possibly derail the current
administrative agenda and stop the healthcare takeover.
He went on to defeat his opponent I am glad to say.
The actions of our government today, the state of the
economy, and the security threats which exist have in
my opinion, nationalized the concerns of this U.S.
Citizen. I have faith I am not the only citizen who has
come to this conclusion.
What is the role of our government?
I believe the United States Government should be a
partner, not a parent of the people. It should not be a
provider for some citizens at the expense of other
citizens. The terrible approval numbers prove this
currently is how the government is viewed by the
majority of citizens. My thoughts of our government
when it takes actions are in terms of wondering just how
negative their latest legislative venture will affect me
because the positive aspects as touted rarely emerge. The
policies created by government rarely create outcomes
which make me happy but rather create more uncertainty
in my life. To exist in a permanent state of uncertainty is
no way for free people to live and yet this is where we
find ourselves today.
What would it feel like to have representatives, a
congress, and entire government we could trust to do
what is right regarding creating opportunities in the
context of protecting our freedoms instead of protecting
their positions of power? One can only wish I am afraid
to say. Protecting our freedom can no longer be a
spectator sport by the citizens of the United States.
Active and permanent participation as the duty of
citizenship must become the norm if we are to maintain
the liberty we enjoy.
One of the other problems with current government
is in order for them to push the need to create more laws
and regulations, they must continuously push the notion
things are bad in America. I am sad to say this tactic
works. We are many times lulled into believing a crisis
exists because we hear it day after day. The lawmakers
release statements to the press which are repeated on
today’s continuous news cycles. Eventually we get tired
of hearing it, tune it out, and try to worry about
ourselves and stop paying attention. Again I think this is
how we are taken advantage of. Lawmakers have all day
everyday to come up with new ideas to pursue while we
try to earn a living everyday and have scarce time to
watch over them. We work to feed our families and to
support the lawmakers’ ideas and programs with our
taxes. Well, it is really the other way around because
they take our earnings first for their ideas through tax
withholding and payroll taxes then we get what is left for
our families.
The way of thinking lawmakers have when it comes
to our earnings appalls me. When a tax cut is talked
about, those in government who oppose it say it is too
much of a cost. A cost to whom? If someone thinks of
letting people keep more of their earnings as a cost to
them, what does it say about how they think of all of our
earnings? They approach it from a stance where all of
our earnings is theirs to do with what they please. They
are inclined to take as much as they can up to the point
where people will not see it as worth it anymore to work.
This is how they have control of us and it is not right.
The government drives the people in its desired direction
by rewarding or punishing citizens’ action through the
use of the Income Tax Code. The Founding Fathers in
1787 did not give the Congress the power to tax our
incomes which remained the case until in 1913 when
that was changed with the 16th Amendment. Less than
100 years of taxes on our income and I ask, are we a
better, more opportunistic nation because of this?
It is not right to force us through the use of the tax
code to do what they happen to feel is right on a whim
year after year. The more we have to work to make up
for what they take from us, the less time we have to pay
attention to what the are doing. It is a vicious cycle the
Founding Fathers would never have supported. Fact is,
they did not support taxing the incomes of the citizens.
This change came about in 1913 along with creating a
central banking system, which was vehemently opposed
to by Thomas Jefferson during his time. This central
banking system called the Federal Reserve controls the
cost and price of money by interest rates and by having
total control over the country’s currency. This is central
planning and price fixing within our monetary system.
Although the Federal Reserve in name sounds like it is
part of the government, it is not. It is a totally private
banking entity which works in secret in pursuit of its
own interests, not the interests of the citizens of the U.S.
The Fed as it is called does not disclose its actions to
anyone, even the Congress of the United States. 1913
also saw the change in how Senators are chosen by
taking the choice away from the state governments in
lieu of direct elections. This drastically reduced the
power of the states in relation to keeping the federal
government in check. 1913 was a very bad year for
citizens’ freedom but very good for creating more levers
of control over the people by the government.
The privately-owned Central Bank is an institution
of the most deadly hostility existing against the
principles and form of our Constitution… if the
American people allow private banks to control the
issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by
deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up
around them will deprive the people of all their property
until their children will wake up homeless on the
continent their fathers conquered.
-Thomas Jefferson
This U.S. Citizen
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