The Federal Observer

A week or so ago, the Teamsters Local 601 held a meeting for the employees of the company which employs me. The reason for the meeting was so that the employees could introduce suggestions for the union to bargain for during the upcoming contract negotiations.

Out of over 500 employees covered by the union, only around 20 people showed up. The next day at work, one of the women who attended was complaining about how hardly anyone cares enough to get involved in their union meetings.

I couldn’t let that comment slip by, so I said, “Welcome to my world. Now you know how I feel. It infuriates me because people are too lazy, or just don’t care enough to read the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or any of the writings of the founders. They won’t bother to read learn about the legislation their elected officials propose. Yet they don’t hesitate to whine and complain about how high their taxes are, or how bad things are in this country. The anger you feel now doesn’t even come close to how I feel each and every day.”

You would think that someone that frustrated with their co-workers would at least understand the concept I was trying to get across. Yet she astounded me by saying that she isn’t interested in politics, just the affairs of the union.

I find that absolutely mind boggling, the fact that a person could get that worked up about lack of participation in a union meeting, while at the same time be so indifferent when it comes to what their elected officials are doing.

While it may be true that a union may be able to directly improve your life by negotiating for higher wages and improved benefits, outside the job they have hardly any affect at all upon your life.

The government, on the other hand, has passed laws that restrict your actions, regulated the things you can do, taxed you, and infringed upon your liberty. Doesn’t it seem logical that you would want to know what your elected representatives are doing? Unfortunately, it appears that people care neither about things that affect them on the job, or the things that affect their country as well.

People need to seriously ponder something George Washington once said, “Citizens by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of AMERICAN, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations.”

People seem to think that just because they are born here, or have a piece of paper saying that they have become a citizen, makes them an American. They seem to think that they are entitled to certain benefits, that these things are owed to them. The mere fact that you live, work, and pay taxes in this country is not enough.

Ben Franklin once said something that everyone who calls this country their home needs to understand, “The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.”

Writer George William Curtis once said, “A man’s country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.”

If I were to call you unpatriotic, I am almost certain that you would take great offense at my charge. Yet it seems perfectly acceptable for people to call me unpatriotic because I question the actions of my government. Yet if patriotism is loyalty to the principles upon which this country was founded, who in fact is really deserving of the title?

The Constitution which outlines the functions of our government grants them specific powers, beyond which they have no legal authority to act upon. On top of that, our founders added a Bill of Rights, outlining certain rights that were unalienable, meaning that they could not be taken away from us, or infringed upon.

So, when I write to my elected officials, complaining about the unconstitutional laws they pass, which either overstep their legal authority, or infringe upon my rights, am I to be considered unpatriotic?

When I criticize the actions of my elected officials, am I to be considered unpatriotic. I think not! Theodore Roosevelt 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.”

Yet because I have taken the time to read the writings of our nation’s founders, because I speak out against the many infringements upon my rights, because I call for a return to the principles contained in the writings of our founding fathers, I am labeled a radical.

H. L. Mencken is quoted as saying, “The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.” Despair is a dangerous place for anyone to be. Despair causes people to take extreme measures to return to what they consider normalcy.

Since we have taken the time to learn the principles upon which our system of government was founded, we understand, better than most, how that very system is self destructing.

We understand that when our government passes laws which it states is for the general welfare of the country, it is perverting the meaning of the general welfare clause of the Constitution.

We recall that James Madison warned, “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 …”

We also know that Madison also said, “With respect to the two words ’general welfare,‘ I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.”

We also remember that Thomas Jefferson warned that, “Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.”

We remember the words of John Adams, who said, “But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty once lost is lost forever. When the People once surrender their share in the Legislature, and their Right of defending the Limitations upon the Government, and of resisting every Encroachment upon them, they can never regain it…”

Finally, we remember the words of Thomas Jefferson, who explained, “The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”

For far too long our government has been expanding its powers far beyond the intent of the founders, all the while chipping away at our rights. You have to remember, that even if you don’t care, these rights they are infringing upon are yours as well, and as Adams said, “Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.”

That is why we take offense at our government sticking its nose into areas it has no legal authority to do so. That is why we get mad when they pass law after law which infringe upon our rights. That is why we feel so strongly about our right to keep and bear arms. Jefferson told us that “The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it.”

In 2002, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard the case of Silveira v. Lockyer. The Court ruled that the Second Amendment does not guarantee individuals the right to bear arms.

However, Judge Alex Kozinski, in his dissent, stated the following, “The majority falls prey to the delusion—popular in some circles—that ordinary people are too careless and stupid to own guns, and we would be far better off leaving all weapons in the hands of professionals on the government payroll. But the simple truth—born of experience—is that tyranny thrives best where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people.”

He went on to say, “The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed—where the government refuses to stand for reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once.”

There are many that feel that the doomsday that Judge Kozinski spoke of is near, that people will soon have no recourse but to take up arms to defend whatever rights they retain. I pray this is not the case, but from the looks of things, I fear they may be right.

Getting back to my initial point, it is we the people, collectively, that have allowed our country to reach this point where violence is a very real possibility. Our apathy, and our ignorance are the reasons why our government has assumed all these unconstitutional powers, and infringed upon our rights to the point where they are almost nonexistent.

We so easily fall for the propaganda spoon fed to us by those who represent us, and their lapdogs, the mainstream media. These people we elect to represent us proclaim with loud voices their support of the Constitution, and their steadfast resolve to protect our rights and our liberty.

Yet Fischer Ames had something to say about traitorous scoundrels such as those who sit in our nations capital, “I am commonly opposed to those who modestly assume the rank of champions of liberty, and make a very patriotic noise about the people. It is the stale artifice which has duped the world a thousand times, and yet, though detected, it is still successful.”

The truth is, we have been duped. We have fallen for the notion that all that our government does is for the common good of all. There is a term for this belief, it is collectivism. Collectivism is defined as a moral, political, or social outlook that emphasizes interdependence of every human in some collective group and the priority of group goals over individual goals.

In the centennial edition of Ayn Rand’s book, Anthem, the author makes the following comments regarding collectivism, “The greatest guilt today is that people who accept collectivism by moral default; the people who seek protection from the necessity of taking a stand, by refusing to admit to themselves the nature of that which they are accepting; the people who support plans specifically designed to achieve serfdom, but hide behind the empty assertion that they are lovers of freedom, with no concrete meaning attached to the word; the people who believe that the content of ideas need not be examined, that principles need not be defined, and facts be eliminated by keeping ones eyes shut.”

Read that as many times as you must for it to sink in, for it is at the crux of all that is wrong with America today.

Yet, thankfully, there are those of us who still value our individuality, and our liberty. We are they, who live by the words spoken by Daniel Webster in 1850, “I was born an American; I will live an American; I shall die an American!”

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

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This entry was posted by The Publisher on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 8:01 AM and is filed under Book of Ross. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.