Let Me See If I Understand This Correctly…
May 8, 2009 - There is an old saying that goes something like, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” Folks, the putrid stench of rottenness abounds in the United States of America. Allow me to explain…
I am sure you have heard the age old question, what came first, the chicken or the egg? Well, let me rephrase that in modern terms. What came first, people, or government?
Our Constitution outlines the structure, and function of our government. The preamble to the Constitution states, “We the people of the United States…do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
When the pilgrims first landed here do you think that there was a government ready and waiting to govern over them? I hardly think that was the case. The fact is that we created our government. Nowadays, those who work in government are called politicians. How I despise that word! The truth is that they are no more than public servants, there to do our bidding, within the limits imposed upon them by the Constitution.
Author Mark Twain once declared, “The government is merely a servant — merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn’t. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.” Yet they can only follow orders that the Constitution authorizes them to.
Our Constitution contains, not only a specific list of powers that our government can exercise, but a list of rights that the founders felt were of such great import that government was not, under any circumstance, to infringe upon.
The Supreme Court even went so far as to say, “Constitutional rights may not be infringed upon simply because the majority of the people choose that they be.”
We, as citizens, are bound to obey the law, up to a point. When one law violates a higher law we have to ask ourselves which law we are going to obey. Or, as John Locke once said, “Any single man must judge for himself whether circumstances warrant obedience or resistance to the commands of the civil magistrate; we are all qualified, entitled, and morally obliged to evaluate the conduct of our rulers. This political judgment, moreover, is not simply or primarily a right, but like self-preservation, a duty to God. As such it is a judgment that men cannot part with according to the God of Nature. It is the first and foremost of our inalienable rights without which we can preserve no other.”
And just as we are duty bound to obey the law, so are those whom we elect to represent us in our government. They take an oath to uphold the Constitution, which itself states, “This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land.”
While the Constitution itself outlines the structure and specific powers granted the government, the preamble declares the purpose for our government, which was, “…to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity…” (emphasis added by author)
However, over time we have gotten complacent, and our government has gotten greedy. Those few specifically enumerated powers weren’t enough for them. They have enlarged the size and scope of government, to far exceed the intent of the founders.
The founders warned us about the perils of allowing government to amass such power. Even recently people have spoken out about the danger posed when our Constitution is disregarded. Professor of physiology at the University of Cincinnati, Martin H. Fischer, states, “Of all the supervised conditions for life offered man, those under USA’s constitution have proved the best.
Wherefore, be sure when you start modifying, corrupting or abrogating it.”
Nevertheless, we have allowed our government to assume all kinds of powers that they were never intended to have. I don’t intend to go over them all, as I have written ad naseum about them. However, I will state that the actions of our government, and our apathy about it, has led us to the point where our nation is on the verge of imploding.
Those whom we have elected to represent us, to safeguard our liberties, have made one hell of a mess of things. Now they are asking us to believe that they know what is best for us, that they know how to fix things if we only will trust them, and allow them to spend us into bankruptcy.
An ever increasing number of Americans aren’t falling for that shit any more. We are getting angry and more distrustful of everything our government tells us. The recent tea parties across the nation are a fine example of just how fed up people are with their government.
People are fed up, and they are speaking out, as is their right. Even Theodore Roosevelt, a former President himself, once said, “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.”
Then this government agency, whose authorization for existing is nowhere to be found in the Constitution, yet whose budget request for 2009 was over $50 billion, issues a report labeling all manner of Americans as extremists, and possible terrorist threats to America?
Former Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black once said, “The interest of the people lies in being able to join organizations, advocate causes, and make political “mistakes” without being subjected to governmental penalties.”
According to a report issued by the Department of Homeland Security, ordinary people who oppose such things as abortion, gay rights, illegal immigration, and the income tax are to be considered as possible terrorist threats. The report also states that those who support militias, and patriot groups who believe in government according to the principles of the founders are to be considered as extremists, and possible threats.
Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Dept. of Homeland Security says she stands behind the, so called, ‘intelligence assessment.’ Yet, Rep. Bennie Thompson, (D-MS), states, “This report appears to raise significant issues involving the privacy and civil liberties of many Americans-including war veterans…”
This intelligence assessment comes right after a document issued by the Missouri Fusion Center, which FOX News reported upon, “If you’re an anti-abortion activist, or if you display political paraphernalia supporting a third-party candidate or a certain Republican member of Congress, if you possess subversive literature, you very well might be a member of a domestic paramilitary group.”
Let me get this straight. If I believe in government according to the Constitution, if I believe in my right to keep and bear arms, if I oppose illegal immigration, and abortion, I may be a threat, a member of a domestic paramilitary group? I guess because I don’t fall for all the lies and propaganda spewed out by the mainstream media, and I get most of my news off the subversive internet, I am a threat to my nations security.
After all, according to a March 26, 2009 Dept. of Homeland Security document, the internet is defined as, “A term used to describe various information sources that provide a forum for interpretations of events and issues that differ radically from those presented in mass media products and outlets.”
So, if I don’t believe what I am being told by the network news, cable news, and most importantly, my government, I am a threat? Let me tell you what Frederick Douglass once said, “Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one‘s thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first strike down.”
William O Douglas, who served on the Supreme Court from 1939-1975, once said, “The privacy and dignity of our citizens [are] being whittled away by sometimes imperceptible steps. Taken individually, each step may be of little consequence. But when viewed as a whole, there begins to emerge a society quite unlike any we have seen — a society in which government may intrude into the secret regions of a [person’s] life.”
That was before the Patriot Act and its immeasurable damage to our civil liberties. That was before the Dept. of Homeland Security labeled me a possible terrorist threat because of my beliefs.
I am merely a man who believes, as did Thomas Paine, who once said, “Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.”
Professor of Law, Butler D. Schaffer, explained quite succinctly what is wrong with America today, “Our lack of constant awareness has also permitted us to accept definitions of freedom that are not necessarily consistent with the actuality of being free. Because we have learned to confuse the word with the reality the word seeks to describe, our vocabulary has become riddled with distorted and contradictory meanings smuggled into the language.”
Or, as Tom Braun said, “If you think we are free today, you know nothing about tyranny and even less about freedom.”
People such as myself are only trying to save our country from a corrupt government by informing the people as to the truth. If people would only listen, then as Jesus said in John, 8:32, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
But, as Solomon Short, a fictional character created by author David Gerrold once said, “Jesus only told half the story. The truth ‘will‘ set you free. But, first it‘s going to piss you off.”
I have been pissed off for a long time. It only gets worse, especially when my government decides that I am a threat to them because I stand for the principles that made this country into what it is. I just wonder, when are the rest of the people going to get just as pissed of as I am and put an end to our governments disregard for their duty to uphold the Constitution, and to represent the people, and to safeguard our rights?
I will be waiting in the trenches with all the rest of us ‘so called’ extremists.
“It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.” - Voltaire
Watching my country go down the drain…
“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?“
~ The Author ~
Neal Ross can be reached for comments at bonsai@syix.com. Visit Neal’s Blog at http://www.zombie-slayer.com/neal
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