August 17, 2009 – Let’s say for a minute you live in one of those gated communities filled with tract houses that all look the same. The rules of this community are simple. You are free to do as you wish within the boundaries of your property, as long as your actions do not hinder your neighbors from enjoying the same rights.

One day the entire community gets together and decides to hire a landscaping firm to come in and maintain your yards for you at a small fee per household.

Now you are still free to do as you wish with your property, the landscapers will just maintain the property according to the terms stated of the contract.

For awhile they do what they are supposed to, cut your grass, trim your shrubs and prune your trees as required. However, slowly they begin to assume responsibilities that were not part of their original contract.

For instance, they tell one resident that they cannot plant their rosebushes next to the sidewalk because children might be injured if they run into your yard. They tell another occupant that they cannot have all those trees in their yard because the neighbors are complaining about all the leaves in the fall. Then they tell another that they cannot have their vegetable garden in the back because it is not fair that they enjoy fresh produce while all their neighbors are doing without.

These landscapers begin neglecting their duties and begin acting as enforcers of common opinion. They bring in crews to cut down certain trees, dig up other people roses, and plow under people’s vegetable gardens. They raise their monthly fees because they say the cost of providing quality service has gone up.

One street says enough is enough, and they decide to terminate the contract. These landscapers say that they cannot do this. To prove their point they raise the price of water to this particular street, making it too expensive to maintain their yards. Eventually the residents of this street are forced to let their plants die.

That gated community is the United States. The landscaping company is our government. The ability to do what we want with our yards is our individual liberty. The contract between the two parties is the Constitution.

Our government has assumed powers that are not in the original contract with we the people. They have used strong arm tactics to enforce their rules and regulations. They have taxed us into poverty to pay for all these things. Now some states are saying enough is enough.

Alaska has told the federal government to confine themselves to the original contract, the Constitution. In April the Alaska House passed HJR27 which “claims sovereignty for the state under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States.”

As of this writing 33 states are considering, or have passed in some manner, similar resolutions reaffirming state sovereignty according to the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution.

The Tenth Amendment is one which not many people are that familiar with. It states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”

Referring back to our gated community, that means that if it isn’t stated in the contract, the landscaping firm has no authority to do it. In the United States it means that if the Constitution does not clearly define a certain power, they government cannot legislate upon it, that power is left to the states.

Now say in our gated community certain streets were successful in negating the contract with the landscaping firm. They were once again free to do as they please with their yards without interference.

Then one day a majority of the people on that street say that they don’t like the way that you have maintained your yard. They don’t like the fact that you have planted all those flowering shrubs that attract all those bees. So they tell you that you have to dig them up and replace them with something that won’t attract bees.

Do your neighbors have the right to tell you this? If you remember, the initial rules of the gated community, you were free to do as you wish within the boundaries of your property, as long as your actions do not hinder your neighbors from enjoying the same rights.

Such is the power of the states over the individuals living within them. The Tenth Amendment states that the powers not specifically delegated to the federal government are left to the states, or to the people.

Yet our country was built was built upon the principle of individual liberty, as long as our actions do not infringe upon the right of others to enjoy those same rights.

Therefore, neither the federal government, nor the states may pass a law which violate a single right of the individual.

The Second Amendment is a prime example of how everything has gone wrong within our system of government. The Second Amendment states, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Do you even know what infringed means? It means to take away, or encroach upon a right. That is exactly what our state, and federal governments have done.

The Second Amendment means that you and I have the right to keep guns. It also states that we have the right to bear those arms. Both those rights have been infringed upon.

How many gun control laws have been passed which infringe upon that right which is so clearly defined by the Second Amendment? This is a right which our founders secured for us, and it is something we are free to enjoy as long as our actions do not infringe upon anyone else’s rights.

There has been a lot of discussion regarding the meaning, and the intent of the Second Amendment. To clarify things I suggest people read the Founders’ Second Amendment by Stephen Halbrook.

Just as in our gated community, the landscapers took it upon themselves to enforce rules they had no authority to enact, so has our government done the same. We have agencies within our government whose sole purpose is to enforce these unconstitutional laws passed by our government. The BATF is a prime example, going after violations of firearms laws with the ferocity of Nazi Stormtroopers.

The problem in this country today is simple, people have forgotten the purpose for which their government was created. We now feel that it is the role of government to take care of us as individuals. We now vote for people who make us the best sounding promises, for things that they have no power to act upon.

Everything is now for the common good, and anyone who stands up for individuality is looked upon as an outcast, a rebel, and now, a domestic terrorist. Yet it was the very same type individual who fought and died during our nation’s fight for independence. It was the same belief that individual rights were to be held sacred which gave birth to this great nation.

Our nation is going to hell, and more rapidly than I could have ever imagined. Unless the people of this country return to the belief that we the people hold the ultimate authority, not the government, this nation will continue on its path towards totalitarian rule. Unless we once again begin to believe that our rights are worth fighting, and possibly dying for, this nation will continue to deteriorate. I’m a fighter, how about you?

Where Will My Writing Take Me?

Yesterday my wife went to a get together for a friend who had just gotten out of the hospital. When she got home she told me her former supervisor had asked about me. He had said that he really admires me for my writing skills and wonders where it will lead me.

This isn’t the first time people have told me that I am a good writer and that I should try to make a career, or at least make some money from my talent.

Let me tell you something, I don’t do what I do for fame or profit. I would much rather be going fishing, or tending to my bonsai. I do what I do because the people of this country have neglected their responsibilities and allowed their government to overstep their authority.

I do what I do for the same reason a person would take a crowbar to another in the attempt to pry their head out of their ass.

So, in answer to the question, where are my writings going to take me, allow me to present the following scenario.

The year is 1781 and General George Washington has surrendered to General Cornwallis at Yorktown. After a long string of defeats at the hands of the British forces Washington surrendered to save what remained of his tattered Continental Army.

Upon surrendering, the first act of the British was to round up the leaders of the insurgence. They were all tried, and found guilty of treason against the crown. Such notables as Thomas Jefferson, drafter of the Declaration of Independence, Samuel, and John Adams, the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and the Continental Congress are all scheduled to be hung for their crimes.

I am waiting!

I know that isn’t how things went down, but it could very easily have happened that way if the British had won.

You see, although the American Patriots were fighting for their perceived liberty, they were in fact fighting against what was still considered to be the legitimate government over the colonies.

Therefore, people such as myself, and a host of others, who devote their time and energy to writing these articles may one day find themselves in the position of being elevated from mere nuisances to being classified as enemies of the state.

That is not a position to be taken lightly and not one I look forward to. Yet, just as did the patriots of the American Revolution, we believe in standing up for our God-given liberty, even if it comes at the cost of our lives.

So you see, I don’t care if I become rich or famous. I only want to pull enough heads out of the sand so that more people will begin to take a stand against the non-stop infringement of our liberty, and the abuses of power by our government.

That is all I want. If I/we are successful, that will be payment enough. However, if we are not, then we will not go quietly and without a fight. And, if we are unsuccessful, you may soon find out that we were your last hope for holding on to your freedom.

Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders and says “OH SHIT!!…. HE’S AWAKE!!”

“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