Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories. Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 14, 1781
America, over numerous decades, has in fact degenerated into something other than the Republic which was established by and for the people. As we were busy working, building our lives, our families and incomes, our form of governance was usurped by those whom we dutifully elected to represent us in Washington. We have become a people merely dictated too by the legislative and executive branches of our government. Those we have elected to office have grown arrogant. They have come to believe that they know what is best for us and therefore now simply tell us what we need and what we shall receive, all through their self-professed omniscience and benevolence. The attempt to use a Deem and Pass strategy in the House to move the President’s health care bill to his desk, when not enough support for the bill could be found, should have been a wakeup call for all Americans. The final passage of the health care legislation through bribery and intimidation and all the while 72% of the American people were in opposition to it, further indicates just how weak and ineffective our representation has become.
We have thus far trusted our representatives to act in our best interest. We have trusted these few representatives with far too much, for far too long. We entrusted them to safeguard that which is our national heritage and a unique form of governance, only to have been betrayed by them, as they grasp for more power. The representatives we have entrusted with our governance have far exceeded the restraints placed upon them by us through the US Constitution, and they have moved well beyond what we the people, have historically acknowledged as their role.
If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute. Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791
We must listen to the words of men like Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine. These champions of the American Revolution and of the formation of this nation as we know it, had the threats to their freedom fresh within their minds as they wrote and spoke these words. We on the other hand, have grown quite distant from such threats and have also grown complacent in defense of our hard-attained freedom. We have come to trust our freedom will exist always and forever.
For us to believe our freedoms will always exist and that they are not regularly under attack, even by our own elected representatives, is to invalidate the great knowledge, experience and insight of those who formed this Republic. These men were well aware of what a government, not by the people or for the people, was tyrannically capable of doing. We can no longer stand by and trust that our elected representatives will lookout for our best interests. They must remain under our continual scrutiny or we must watch our self-governing nation further degenerate or disappear in its entirety.
Again you are proving to be a terrific wordsmith, and I praise you for your ability to put thoughts like these into words. For over a year now I have thought that this attack on our freedoms cannot continue as it is going, that a rebellion would surely occur, and the truth is one did begin, but it was a nonviolent one, much to my surprise, and it has morphed into a phenomenon which has come to be named the Tea Party. I, for one, am proud to be part of it, and come November 2nd, its effect will be completely known. Now we have to be vigilant that the newly elected representatives of this country, don't take it for granted just like those in the past. It used to mean serving this country, and either they do as have instructed, or the next election cycle, we will get them voted out, and try again, till we get it right again.
Only when their gov't pensions, SS, medicare, medicaid, free Obama care, food stamps, welfare, student loans, etc. are taken away from them. The Gov't won't be the one taking these things away, the Bond market will. And it won't be pretty.
If you want to be, press one. If you want not to be, press 2
Republicans are red, democrats are blue, neither of them, gives a flip about you.
Again you are proving to be a terrific wordsmith, and I praise you for your ability to put thoughts like these into words. For over a year now I have thought that this attack on our freedoms cannot continue as it is going, that a rebellion would surely occur, and the truth is one did begin, but it was a nonviolent one, much to my surprise, and it has morphed into a phenomenon which has come to be named the Tea Party. I, for one, am proud to be part of it, and come November 2nd, its effect will be completely known. Now we have to be vigilant that the newly elected representatives of this country, don't take it for granted just like those in the past. It used to mean serving this country, and either they do as have instructed, or the next election cycle, we will get them voted out, and try again, till we get it right again.
I'd like to think the Tea Party candidates will do "as have instructed" but I don't hold out much hope. I am hopeful conservatives will take the House and the Senate only because I don't think it's ever a good idea for one party to have so much power. I tend to agree with the following article speaking of "revolutionary politicians":
Prepare To Be Betrayed
The larger problem occurs once they take office. Here is where the serious problems begin. They are leaned on by their new colleagues, the party elites, related financial interests, the press, and the entire system of which they are now part. Are they going to make themselves enemies of that system, or are they going to work within the system in order to achieve reform, and not just for one term but more terms down the line? Doing a good job means being part of the structure; doing a bad job means being an enemy of the very system that they now serve.
Which choice do they make? The same choice that everyone else in office makes (Ron Paul being the lone exception in all of human history). It is for this reason that newly seated "revolutionary" politicians will betray those who put them in power. It happens like clockwork, same as day turns to night.
That doesn't mean that all is for naught. What will change the prospects for freedom in this country is a growing and society-wide awareness of the issue of freedom and the role of the state in wrecking that freedom, and the civilization to which it gives rise.
HEARTLESS wrote: They choose rebellion when its clear the system can't be corrected from within.
You are spot on Heartless! So we'll wait and we'll watch the newly elected revolutionary politicians. I hope we see the system corrected from within, but I'm not holding my breath (i.e. Scott Brown, MA and the 2006 elections). So if/when correction doesn't happen, it may be time for a rebellion.
"There are too many examples in history, even in our times, of how good ideas triumph over coerced rule. A people who resent and resist all forms of government control cannot finally be subjugated. And government control is far more vulnerable than it first appears. It can be toppled in the blink of an eye when the people it is attempting to control decide they have had enough. Then, even government agents turn against the state."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/pre ... al155.html
Actually those on the uber-Left may think it is time for rebellion too, kill the rich! No one needs to make more than $100,000. The goverment is just a tool of the capitalists, etc. Be careful starting a rebellion, you might not get the results you want.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
