"Each time we gather to inaugurate a President we bear witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution. We affirm the promise of our democracy."
-Obama
We are not a democracy. We are a REPUBLIC. At least that is what our Founders created.
"Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free. We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together."
-Obama
Is this a reference to the War Between the States and that that war was fought over slavery? Again, an incorrect statement. That war was fought over the principles of central government and limited government.
Slavery was on the decline due to the industrial revolution. It's demise here in America was hindered by Northern regulations and protectionist actions.
Let's not forget about the harsh black codes in the North. Let's not forget about the poor immigrant "slaves" working in the Northern factories. Let's not forget the Northern ships and port towns that made a fortune from the slave trade. And let's not forget all the Northern slave owners who sold their slaves ("property") to the South when they took Southern tax dollars and invested them into Northern factories and railroads.
We could have "made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together" without a war that cost over 600,000 lives. It would have been cheaper to have purchased the slaves freedom than to have fought that war.
"Together, we determined that a modern economy requires railroads and highways to speed travel and commerce, schools and colleges to train our workers."
-Obama
We do need these things, but not through government sponsored "internal improvements." These programs have shown to fail ever since the early 19th century. There were many states that outlawed these types of "internal improvements."
Yet again, "internal improvements" are the desire of people in favor of central government, not by those who call for limited government.
Ancient or modern economy, it doesn't matter. The principles are the same, only the technology changes. We need to reduce government regulations in our places of business.
"Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play."
-Obama
Free markets thrive when there is competition and a lack of government meddling domestically and internationally.
Free trade: A policy that allows consumers to buy from abroad just as freely as they can buy goods domestically.
Protectionism: A policy that discriminates between domestic and foreign goods and services. Protectionist policies introduce hurdles for consumers and merchants.
"Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune."
-Obama
If you are referring to our welfare programs and government aid initiatives, then no, I do not agree to that, nor did our Founding Fathers agree to that. The great people of this great nation can help our neighbors in a time of need, but it is not the government's job to take tax payer's dollars and use it for charity.
"Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government."
-- James Madison
“I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it."
-- Benjamin Franklin, On the Price of Corn and Management of the Poor, November 1776
"Through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can be cured through government alone. Our celebration of initiative and enterprise, our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, these are constants in our character."
-Obama
I have a hard time believing this statement. Since Lincoln took up where the Wigs and Hamilton left off, and with the Federalist victory in 1865, the Federal government has been the central authority. Through that victory, the power of the States and of the people, the other two branches of government, have diminished to the ever growing central authority.
"But we have always understood that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action. For the American people can no more meet the demands of today’s world by acting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism with muskets and militias. No single person can train all the math and science teachers we’ll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation and one people."
-Obama
The three branches of American government as outlined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are, (1) we the people, (2) the States, and (3) the Federal government. According to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, we have protected rights and individual freedoms. The Constitution also limits the power of the government. Our rights are preserved as long as the government doesn’t attempt to change the Bill of Rights.
According to the Ninth Amendment, “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” What does construed mean? It means “interpreted.” The Ninth Amendment protects our rights contained in all of the Bill of Rights. So, it is true that there are challenges and situations in the world today that might appear new or severe that calls for action, but that does not give the government the right to change our founding documents.
This plea presented by the president sounds more like a call to strengthen the central authority of the Federal government than it sounds like a call to ensure individual liberties. In fact, the tone of unity or “one people” has a subliminal message of socialism.
However, it is true that “we the people,” the first branch of American government, can do many great things to make our country great. But, what we need is to have the Federal government stop their attempts to usurp all power from “we the people” and the States. These two branches of the American government were designed to be a check and balance with the third branch, the Federal government.
The American people can “meet the demands of today’s world.” Since “we the people” banded together to throw off British rule, we have demonstrated that we can meet the demands of any time. The Founding Fathers put together a system that was designed to “meet the demands” of any problem facing the people in any time or generation. We do not need to change, but maintain and stand strong on the foundation already set forth by our brilliant Founding Fathers.
“For we, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it. (Applause.) We believe that America’s prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a rising middle class. We know that America thrives when every person can find independence and pride in their work; when the wages of honest labor liberate families from the brink of hardship.”
-Obama
Yes, it is true that the middle class are important, but the path that Obama and his administration hope to take to prosper the American economy for all is not the best approach. According to Prof. Don Boudreaux, “The path to a strong economy and a strong middle class requires the hard work and great entrepreneurial ideas of individual people acting in a free market.”
Watch the following video to “understand the truth about the economy.” The Federal government can help us to be more economically prosperous; they just have to keep out of our business.
“We understand that outworn programs are inadequate to the needs of our time. So we must harness new ideas and technology to remake our government, revamp our tax code, reform our schools, and empower our citizens with the skills they need to work harder, learn more, reach higher. But while the means will change, our purpose endures: a nation that rewards the effort and determination of every single American. That is what this moment requires. That is what will give real meaning to our creed.”
-Obama
Again, no, this is not the path to take. Government programs like Medicare/Medicaid, social security, Amtrak, the United States Post Office, the war on drugs and poverty, cash for clunkers, etc. have failed. They are “outworn programs” because they were being run by the Federal government.
We do not need the Federal government’s help to have new ideas or create new technology. We do need to change the tax code. We do need to reform our school programs. We can “empower” our people by leaving them alone. When they are left alone and able to engage in a free market, they will be greatly rewarded.
“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” — Thomas Jefferson
“We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity. We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future. (Applause.) For we remember the lessons of our past, when twilight years were spent in poverty and parents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn.”
-Obama
“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin
The Federal government can promote a “basic measure of security” if they would just promote free trade, lower taxes, and remove government restrictions from businesses, like minimum wage requirements. By forcing mandatory health care for the masses is only going to drive up the care costs and destroy the care available for our patients. Their meddling, in the name of “security,” is only going to make things worse.
“We do not believe that in this country freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few. We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us at any time may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other through Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, these things do not sap our initiative, they strengthen us. (Applause.) They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great. (Applause.)”
-Obama
It is not the government’s job to take care of us. They are not responsible for us, we are responsible for ourselves. Our family, friends, churches, local communities, etc. are our safety net in times of need or great tragedy. This whole push to protect the uninsured is based on inflated data.
Yet again, what we need is limited government involvement, not more of it. History has demonstrated how increasing government leads to less freedom. We should be encouraging Americans to be self-sufficient and give them the power to take care of themselves. We should not be teaching them to rely on the government for all their needs and protection.
“We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. (Applause.) Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms.”
-Obama
Our ancestors left a Constitution and Bill of Rights for their posterity. Do not try to destroy that any more than it has already been chipped away at.
As for climate change, that is a fact of nature as well. Science tells me that the climate is also changing on the other planets in our solar system. Science tells me that there was a great ice age once. Well climate change melted the ice and here we are today. Am I to believe that the climate change then was due to the discovery of fire by cavemen? Science tells me that the devastating storms arising in the world today are due to climate change. Religious people tell me that it is God’s anger for us turning our backs on Him. Either way, stop taxing us to “create” solutions to stop the storms.
“We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war.”
-Obama
Be careful on how much power we give the Federal government in the name of “security.”
“America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe.”
-Obama
According to George Washington in his farewell address in 1796, we should avoid “strong alliances.”
“It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world…Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.”
He and our Founding Fathers knew that long standing alliances were a danger to our Republic. That they would inevitably pull us into unnecessary and costly wars abroad. They were right. Maintaining “strong alliances” will only lead to more war.
If the government wants to promote international peace, then they should promote free trade.
“We will support democracy from Asia to Africa, from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom. And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice –- not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity, human dignity and justice.”
-Obama
One, we are not the world police.
Two, even our Founding Fathers did not support democracy and considered democracy a dangerous extreme to be avoided. The United States is not a democracy and was never intended to be a democracy. The United States is a republic.
Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts said at the Constitutional Convention that “the evils we experience flow from the excess of democracy. The people do not want virtue, but are the dupes of pretended patriots.”
“A democracy [is] the only pure republic, but impracticable beyond the limits of a town,” Thomas Jefferson, 1816.
“Give all the power to the many, they will oppress the few. Give all the power to the few, they will oppress the many. Both, therefore, ought to have the power, that each may defend itself against the other,” Alexander Hamilton, 1787. He also said that “pure democracy would be the most perfect government.” However, “Experience has proved that no position in politics is more false than this. The ancient democracies…never possessed one feature of good government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure, deformity.”
John Adams said that “there was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”
Let’s stay out of their affairs overseas if we can help it. If we are worried about those who cannot protect themselves, then let’s embrace the message on the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Let’s take them in and shelter them. Let’s offer them liberty in the land of the free.
“It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began. For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. (Applause.) Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law –- (applause) — for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. (Applause.) Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. (Applause.) Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity — (applause) — until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. (Applause.) Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia, to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for and cherished and always safe from harm.”
-Obama
Equality and liberty for all! I agree with that concept. So, let’s guarantee equality and liberty; however, first let’s look at excessive governmental practices today that restrict our liberties. Ask yourself these questions.
- Why are sick people who use medical marijuana put in prison?
- Why does the federal government restrict the drinking of raw milk?
- Why can’t Americans manufacturer rope and other products from hemp?
- Why are Americans not allowed to use gold and silver as legal tender as mandated by the Constitution?
- Why is Germany concerned enough to consider repatriating their gold held by the FED for her in New York? Is it that the trust in the U.S. and dollar supremacy beginning to wane?
- Why do our political leaders believe it’s unnecessary to thoroughly audit our own gold?
- Why can’t Americans decide which type of light bulbs they can buy?
- Why is the TSA permitted to abuse the rights of any American traveling by air?
- Why should there be mandatory sentences—even up to life for crimes without victims—as our drug laws require?
- Why have we allowed the federal government to regulate commodes in our homes?
- Why is it political suicide for anyone to criticize AIPAC ?
- Why haven’t we given up on the drug war since it’s an obvious failure and violates the people’s rights? Has nobody noticed that the authorities can’t even keep drugs out of the prisons? How can making our entire society a prison solve the problem?
- Why do we sacrifice so much getting needlessly involved in border disputes and civil strife around the world and ignore the root cause of the most deadly border in the world-the one between Mexico and the US?
- Why does Congress willingly give up its prerogatives to the Executive Branch?
- Why does changing the party in power never change policy? Could it be that the views of both parties are essentially the same?
- Why did the big banks, the large corporations, and foreign banks and foreign central banks get bailed out in 2008 and the middle class lost their jobs and their homes?
- Why do so many in the government and the federal officials believe that creating money out of thin air creates wealth?
- Why do so many accept the deeply flawed principle that government bureaucrats and politicians can protect us from ourselves without totally destroying the principle of liberty?
- Why can’t people understand that war always destroys wealth and liberty?
- Why is there so little concern for the Executive Order that gives the President authority to establish a “kill list,” including American citizens, of those targeted for assassination?
- Why is patriotism thought to be blind loyalty to the government and the politicians who run it, rather than loyalty to the principles of liberty and support for the people? Real patriotism is a willingness to challenge the government when it’s wrong.
- Why is it is claimed that if people won’t or can’t take care of their own needs, that people in government can do it for them?
- Why did we ever give the government a safe haven for initiating violence against the people?
- Why do some members defend free markets, but not civil liberties?
- Why do some members defend civil liberties but not free markets? Aren’t they the same?
- Why don’t more defend both economic liberty and personal liberty?
- Why are there not more individuals who seek to intellectually influence others to bring about positive changes than those who seek power to force others to obey their commands?
- Why does the use of religion to support a social gospel and preemptive wars, both of which requires authoritarians to use violence, or the threat of violence, go unchallenged? Aggression and forced redistribution of wealth has nothing to do with the teachings of the world great religions.
- Why do we allow the government and the Federal Reserve to disseminate false information dealing with both economic and foreign policy?
- Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority?
- Why should anyone be surprised that Congress has no credibility, since there’s such a disconnect between what politicians say and what they do?
- Is there any explanation for all the deception, the unhappiness, the fear of the future, the loss of confidence in our leaders, the distrust, the anger and frustration? Yes there is, and there’s a way to reverse these attitudes. The negative perceptions are logical and a consequence of bad policies bringing about our problems. Identification of the problems and recognizing the cause allow the proper changes to come easy.
“Being true to our founding documents does not require us to agree on every contour of life. It does not mean we all define liberty in exactly the same way or follow the same precise path to happiness. Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time, but it does require us to act in our time. (Applause.)”
-Obama
Liberty is liberty. There are no “centuries-long debates about the role of government” that need to be addressed, unless there are attempts to strip Americans of their rights. Especially when a “crisis” arises that calls government to action.
Once such “centuries-long debate” might be that of the Second Amendment. King Henry II of England in the twelfth century ordered that all Englishmen keep weapons to protect and defend his realm.
It is here where the “right to bear arms” was born. It is from this decree that it became English common law.
Recent shootings do not require an action in our time that will repeal our citizen’s rights. There is no debate here, we have the right to bear arms and that will not be infringed. End of debate.
No comments:
Post a Comment