As I have watched the news over the past few months I often got
this tight and unsettling feeling in my stomach. This had happened before but not quite as strong as this. I have spent my
life loving my country, loving God, loving my community and loving my family. Of course I am not perfect but I try to do the
right thing when opportunity arises. Last year on Veterans Day at a high school football game I had this same uncomfortable
feeling when the National Anthem was being played, retired veterans marched onto the field and the people in the bleachers
not only didn’t stop talking and making noise but got louder and shouted over the music! Maybe it’s my military
experience, or because I was an Eagle Boy Scout, or because I was awarded the National Sojourners’ Award when I was
in high school, or maybe it was that gut feeling we all get when we know something is wrong! I
think anyone who knows the sacrifice of our founding fathers understand. I stood up turned around and shouted, “Could
you please show some respect”. It actually worked and the crowd stood up and was silent. I am not a scary guy but sometimes
it takes the individuals in the world to stand up for what is right! I truly believe that the feeling that many of us have
inside is because we know that America is not only suffering but she is weeping over the blatant attacks against the principals
for which she stands and which have protected us for so long.
I will try not to bore you with stats or figures but I would like to take a common sense approach to shed some light on the
attacks against the fundamental principals set forth in our constitution and attacks on what we know in our gut is right and
just. This country is great and we should look at the reasons why and go back to those original principals that were made
by men who were students of governments and created the strongest nation on the face of the earth! Yes that’s exactly
what they did and it’s because of the values which these men wrote directly into our constitution that have made this
nation so great. To think that because this is a new day and age that these principals need to be changed does not hold water.
Not to say that some laws haven’t had to be changed but the principals are for the good of all Americans. There have
been attacks on our nation’s values for years but never have the attacks been so obvious. I am going to point out some
of these attacks and how irresponsible they are.
To begin with I am a
carpenter, father, and husband, have no college education and love my country and what it stands for. I
have always thought it was funny hearing people say that we live in a democracy but the word does not appear anywhere in our
constitution. Just to let you people who are shocked to learn this know, we live in a Republic! It is not by accident that
democracy doesn’t appear. A democracy means everything is decided by a popular vote or mob rule. If a majority of people
want to convict a person of a crime in a Democracy he gets convicted. In a Republic it has to be a unanimous vote in a court
of law to convict a person. The safeguard that our founding fathers made to ensure we would not become a Democracy was to
create a Republic, which means “The Law”, our Constitution was written to
protect the people from Government and our Judicial system is in place to ensure our Government follows the guidelines and
laws of our Constitution. Our Judicial system has been failing to do their job and protect the people from the government.
These men wanted a small government and had a disdain towards democracies because they saw personally how they had destroyed
nations. Our government is there to protect our borders, govern the people and protect the people. Remember
that the Government works and answers to all people not the majority of people! This was their dream!
First off let’s
use simple situations that even a child understands. After all we are dealing with basic personal responsibilities. You wake
up one morning and mom says lets go open you a savings account. Great! Your very own bank account! She
then explains to you that savings are very important and you should always plan for the future. If you don’t want to
work forever or burden your children when you get older and can’t work, then you had better save! Really mom, thanks
for the advice. So you start to work and put away money and you figure out that if you save so much a week
in an interest baring account, maybe invest a little in mutual funds or other means and you stick to it, that you, and your
wife by now, can retire at age 60! That’s a responsible plan! But then your mom says and by the way, you know that boy
that lives down the street? Yes. Well he isn’t very motivated and doesn’t appear to be very responsible. So you
and the other 20 kids in the neighborhood are going to have to take about 5% of that extra money that you were going to save
and put it in a special account for that boy too! What mom? Mom says, yes son and there may be more boys that we don’t
know of yet or may not even be born yet so that number may go up! What mom? But I am doing what I am supposed to do aren’t
I? Yes son you are but…….well it’s just fair. Oh and by the way you remember that 5% that the 20 of you
boys are going to be paying? Yes mom. Well if you get a really good job or your boss gives you a big raise and you start making
more than the other boys……Yes mom,….. well, we may have to let a few of those lower paid boys not pay
their share and you will have to pay extra to pay for them too! BUT MOM! Settle down son it’s…….it’s……well
it’s just fair I guess. Welcome to Social Security, an attack on prosperity and the promotion of irresponsible behavior!
Your
baby sister turns 15 and again mom has her sit down for a serious conversation regarding the birds and the bees. Mom, you
don’t have to tell me about this stuff, I had sex education in school! Yes dear but I would like to just make sure you
understand the consequences of making adult decisions. Mom you have raised me with morals, brought me to church and you have
been a good mother so stop your worrying! Well a couple of years go by and little sis comes home one day and says, mom…..I
think I may be pregnant! What!.....How did…..when…….are you sure? Well yes mom I went
to the doctor and he says I am. Well about 7 months go by and sis has a beautiful baby boy.
Mom says to her, do you remember those stories about when your father and I first got together and had your brother?
Yeah. Well we stayed with grandma and grandpa about 5 years, saved up some money, your father got a good job and we
were able to go out and rent our first home. That’s the great thing about family. It sure is mom! I am so lucky to have
you! Well sweetie, things have changed and parents and family no longer have to be burdened with being responsible parents
after you turned 17! What does that mean mom? Well that means that Auntie Gov says she will take care of you! Here in America
around 1934 we all got an Auntie Gov. Really and she will take care of me? Well that’s what she says. You don’t
even have to go out and get a full time job! Well mom isn’t she going to charge me for living with
her? Yes but she has a special thing called income based rent on her house which is only 30% of you gross income. Does she
have rules? Yes of course as long as you make less than 50% of the average gross local county income let’s say $60,000,
then if you make less than $30,000 you qualify! Actually since you have a baby you can deduct another $480 per month so you
could actually make $35,760 and still qualify! Great mom, then Bobby and I can get married and live there……hold
on sweetie, you and Bobby can’t do that! Why not mom? Well even though Bobby is still finishing school he has that part
time job making an extra $5000 a year and that would mean you would make too much money and Auntie Gov. will kick you out..so
marriage is out of the question! That seems wrong mom! But what about doctor bills? Don’t you worry Auntie Gov. will
take care of that too! She will even give you help with groceries and your utility bills! Really Mom Wow
Auntie Gov must be like a millionaire! No actually Auntie Gov. doesn’t have any money of her own! Really mom? Then how
can she afford to pay for it? Well she is going to force all our neighbors to pitch in……well not all the neighbors…….just
those who have good jobs and are trying to provide for their families like your brother. Wow mom how can
those people afford to take care of their families and take care of me? Because…well….Auntie Gov. says it’s
fair! Doesn’t sound fair mom! You know what mom? What dear? I am going to do my best to raise my baby, get a great job
and save my money so I can go out and get my own place so those successful people don’t have to pay for me anymore!
Well sweetheart that may be hard to do. Why mom? First of all if you get a better paying job you will no longer qualify and
Auntie Gov will kick you out. Well then mom I will save my money until I have enough to go buy my own place! No sweetheart
Auntie Gov. says we can’t have investments or large savings or you get kicked out. What? Mom that sounds more like a
trap…… how do I ever get on my own if I can’t get a better job, get married and save enough money to go
out on my own? Well sweetheart why on earth would you need to…..Auntie Gov. says it’s the successful people’s
duty to pay for your house, your groceries, your medical bills and your utilities. Wow mom I sure am glad I am not one of
those successful people! I mean look at how much money they work for that pays for people they don’t even know! It doesn’t
seem right! Well sweetie it’s not about being right or wrong….. just or unjust……charity or theft…….it’s
all about….well………making it fair! Fair fair fair you know what? If you and your brother have any
more questions why don’t you call Auntie Gov. and ask her to explain! Let me introduce you to Welfare, Medicare, Housing
and Liheap programs!
People have delusions
that if you are against housing, welfare etc. that you hate people. It saddens me to hear this propaganda
that is preached to Americans by its leaders and the media. I believe these programs are designed to entrap, demoralize, segregate,
take away motivation, promote immorality, destroy Christianity, remove hope and to vilify, create anger and spite towards
those who succeed or believe there are better ways to help people. What sickens me the most is that there is a new spokesman
promoting this hatred and he is our President. At the same time President Obama is trying to expand the
welfare programs exponentially by creating Government Health Care. Now I have heard all kind of arguments that this is what
America is all about. Well if you read the Constitution I don’t find any of this in there! Actually it goes against
what it says. An accurate way to understand this is by listening to the words of the Architect and main author of our constitution,
Thomas Jefferson "I predict future happiness for Americans if they can
prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
If
you stop and listen I am sure you too will hear America Weeping.
"Mr. Speaker, I have as much respect for
the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living, as any man in this House. But we must not
permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance
of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity.
Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we
please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right to so appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent
appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after
the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I have never heard that the government was in arrears
to him. Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money
as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as a charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said
we have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this
bill, but I will give one week's pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to
more than the bills asks."
- Congressman Davy Crockett
Here is more proof direct from our founders. You don’t have to
look hard. Until the New Deal era,
a general acknowledgement that individual social welfare, more specifically the use of public monies for the purpose of charity
by the national government, was unconstitutional on the national level prevailed in government. Charity was known not to be
an enumerated power nor one reasonably implied by the "necessary and proper" clause and therefore considered unconstitutional.
Yet around the time of the New Deal, government began overlooking this clear unconstitutionality. The Supreme Court temporarily
checked this until the Court Packing Scandal led to pro-welfare rulings by an incapacitated court, fearing dismantling by
FDR and therefore under duress, in 1937.
"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which
granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents." - James Madison criticizing an attempt to grant public monies
for charitable means, 1794
"If
Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is
no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one, subject to particular exceptions." - James Madison, 1792
"The Constitution allows
only the means which are ‘necessary,’ not those which are merely ‘convenient,’ for effecting the enumerated
powers. If such a latitude of construction be allowed to this phrase as to give any non-enumerated power, it will go to every
one, for there is not one which ingenuity may not torture into a convenience in some instance or other, to some one of so
long a list of enumerated powers. It would swallow up all the delegated powers, and reduce the whole to one power, as before
observed" - Thomas Jefferson,
1791
"No
legislative act … contrary to the Constitution can be valid. To deny this would be to affirm that the deputy is greater
than his principal; that the servant is above his master; that the representatives of the people are superior to the people
themselves; that men acting by virtue of powers may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid." - Alexander Hamilton, Federalist 78
"[I must question] the
constitutionality and propriety of the Federal Government assuming to enter into a novel and vast field of legislation, namely,
that of providing for the care and support of all those … who by any form of calamity become fit objects of public
philanthropy ... I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for making the Federal Government the great almoner of public
charity throughout the United States. To do so would, in my judgment, be contrary to the letter and spirit of the Constitution
and subversive of the whole theory upon which the Union of these States is founded." - President Franklin Pierce, 1854
"I can find no warrant
for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and duty of the General Government ought
to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which is in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit."
- President Grover Cleveland, 1887
And the quote that baffles even me:
"As
a matter of fact and law, the governing rights of the States are all of those which have not been surrendered to the National
Government by the Constitution or its amendments. Wisely or unwisely, people know that under the Eighteenth Amendment Congress
has been given the right to legislate on this particular subject, but this is not the case in the matter of a great number
of other vital problems of government, such as the conduct of public utilities, of banks, of insurance, of business, of agriculture,
of education, of social welfare and of a dozen other important features. In these, Washington must not be encouraged to interfere." - Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
1930
