We The People, The Constitution And The Congress

It’s the accounting tricks used in the financial scoring of the healthcare bill by our supposed representatives that makes me wonder if I’m still living in America. It’s the total lack, by many, of acknowledging the founding document that has made our country, the country that all other nation’s look to for guidance and example. It’s using our money to buy votes to pass a bill that more than two-thirds of us don’t want. It’s spending money that we don’t have for a healthcare bill which will probably cost three times more than it’s estimate. And finally it’s the arrogance exhibited by the majority of our elected officials that they can take away our right to choose our own course through life that will seal their fate in November.

Why are these people working so hard to take away our individual liberty? They must think that they know better than us how we should run our lives. Interstingly enough, government run healthcare never works as can be seen in England and Canada yet they are going to do virtually the same thing as both of those countries expecting a different result.

For me we stand at a crossroads in history. There have been many lives before us that have given all to attain here in this country for a moment in time what had never been accomplished in the history of man. Freedom & liberty for all in spite of what they look like, what religion they practice and what traditions they bring with them. And now because of our complacency we stand to lose all that was gained. Not just for us but every human being on our planet now and in the future.

Too many of our people don’t even know the first thing about the only document that protects them from an oppressive, suppressive government: The Constitution. It is a great document. Simple, to the point and all laid out to protect the individual’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If only we knew it and followed it and were totally unreasonable with our politicians following it too.

What happened to get us to this point? Where the federal government grows day by day, ever larger, all knowing, all encompassing taking over every decision for us that the founders never intended and is not allowed under the constitution. Maybe social security was the start of it under Rooselvelt. Then there was Kennedy signing an executive order allowing federal workers to unionize. Johnson creates welfare under the Great Soceity in the late 60′s. Carter signs  the Community Redevopment Act to get low income families into their own houses. Bill Clinton allows drug companies  in 1995 to market directly to consumers and lowers standards for loans covered under the Community Redevelopment Act. And then there was George Bush spending, spending and more spending. We can’t really blame all of these guys too much because we elected all of them. But then that brings us back to the beginning. Did we know the constitution and were we applying it and paying attention to who we were electing?

We have allowed people to run our schools who did not and do not believe that the constitution protects the individual’s rights but rather is used to protect their rights and those who think as they do. A little group thinking goes a long way in turning a document written to give the individual liberty upside down so it now takes liberty away from him. What a trick! And now for an encore we will make you believe the founders intended it that way. If it wasn’t so deadly serious it would be hilarious.

How do we turn this around? I would be lying if I said it would be easy. Just look around and see the mess we are in. But if we find tools that work we can make it easier. When we are talking education look for methods that have high statistics and get good results. Same thing with tax policy, foreign policy, banking policy and any other policy you can think of. Look at what has been done in the past and if it hasn’t worked let’s not do the same thing again hoping for a different result. But if it has worked, as in the constitution, well why not try to duplicate our founders intentions more closely rather than changing it into something else. As a very wise person said, ” If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” 

Getting more aligned with our Founders intentions concerning the constitution would not only be enlightening but also a heck of a lot of fun. Seeing people throw off the chains of dependence and cause good things to happen in their  lives and others is kind of like watching your kids grow into young men and women. It is rewarding. Watching people be successful is a real treat. And the things you can learn as you see what they create, well it’s fantastic!

Besides the right to choose our own destiny, another legacy the Founders left us with is the opportunity to improve ourselves through our interaction with each other, true education(not what we have in public schools),  and our churches. But in order to do that and actually become better men we cannot have government or elite politicians deciding for us and telling us what to do. Government fosters thinking alike and not looking to see what is actually there. It also punishes disagreement. So do universities and colleges. If everybody thinks alike and doesn’t look, where are the new ideas and the ideas that work going to come from? These ideas of course come from the individual not from a group of politicians or professors.

So shouldn’t we protect, defend and know the founding document that gives the individual the freedom to come up with new ideas and new ways of looking at the world: The Constitution. I say yes. I hope you do too.

Tom

The President Demands Reconciliation For 2700 Page Health Bill

I don’t know about you but I’m beside myself with the president continually ignoring the American people and that’s putting it mildly. The  arrogance is astounding. We do not want this liberty stealing, freedom crushing government takeover of our healthcare. A majority of us want this bill scrapped in favor of a clean slate. Sixty three per cent of us, a clear majority, favor much smaller bills targeting individual problems. We are communicating but the president is not listening. Here’s the president on the campaign trail explaining how you would get a healthcare bill passed in the senate and it’s not with fifty-one votes.

It is obvious to me that the president will not pay attention to what we are saying and thinks he can win a fight with us, the American people. Today he demands an up or down vote on the healthcare bill and claims that the republicans have used reconciliation similarly, implying that it’s okay to break the fillibuster rule for a two thousand seven hundred page bill that an average person needs a lawyer to interpret. Belive me I’ve gotten through about two hundred pages of the senate bill and it’s obviously written so that Americans cannot even with great effort understand what’s in it. Would you sign a contract for anything not knowing what you were agreeing to?

As far as the Welfare Act of 1996, well that passed the senate with seventy-four votes and the house with two hundred thirty two votes. The president needs to check his facts before accusing others of what he is about to advocate. Regardless this is false information and he should be called out on it. The 2001 tax cuts passed the senate with sixty-two votes and the house with two hundred thirty votes. That is not less than sixty votes which it would have to be in order for it to be reconciliation or an up or down vote. This again is false and misleading information. Check the vote counts out for yourself and you decide.

So, what do we do about it? Well one thing is for sure, we can’t just sit around and complain! How about calling, writing, e-mailing or actually going down to your reprsentative’s and senator’s office to demand they don’t co-operate with the reconciliation process. Give them common sense alternatives to present to their leadership and the president.  Another thing we can do is look for petitions to sign. At the American Center for Law & Justice there is a petition to stop reconciliation which will derail the bill if enough people sign it.  Also communicate to your friends, relatives and associates about what is in the bill that would’nt be good for them. Above all know your protection against a tyrannical government; The constitution.

Up to this point we the people have not allowed this bill to be passed. We can still be victorious. We stand for freedom & liberty for all Americans. Even for those who want to take those rights away from us. If that’s not love of our countrymen I don’t know what is. Remember, the healthcare bill is just part of an agenda that will leave us with very little freedom and almost no liberty at all. Where government decides how much you can earn, what you can eat, how you should take care of your kids, what they are taught in school and who instructs them, what kind of procedures you are allowed to have if you get sick and maybe, eventually, what you can say. Look for yourself and check out the cap and trade bill, the education plan and of course the healthcare bill. (This bill is no longer on line. I wonder why?) Be the one who knows the answers and help convince others to act.

We can take this to a conclusion that secures  every American’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That is my goal. I’m sure it is yours too.

Tom