Saturday mornings are precious to me. While it is still dark I rise and brew a stern cup of coffee then retreat to my study. In the winter, I start the fire and bury myself under a down comforter to read. Slowly and carefully I have been working my way through The Federalist Papers.
Here is what I read this morning in Federalist 28: "...the whole power of the proposed government is to be in the hands of the representatives of the people. This is the essential...efficacious security for the rights and privileges of the people, which is attainable in civil society." I believe that in my core. Don't you? Yet, it is clear our representatives, for the most part, don't.
Read on: "If the representatives of the people betray (emphasis mine) their constituents, there is then no resource left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defence which is paramount to all positive forms of government, and which against the usurpations of the national rulers, may be exerted with infinitely better prospect of success than against those of the rulers of an individual state. "
The original intention of the Founders was for State governments to "in all possible contingencies, afford complete security against invasions of the public liberty by the national authority." Another check against abuse of power acknowledged and put in place by these men who understood the nature of man to impose his will on others. A nod to notion that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Yet, here we sit in California, a gerry-mandered, bankrupt state that continues to pursue failed policies of excessive spending and ever higher taxes and I ask myself, where is the redress for the invasion of my liberties? Of our liberties.
Follow me: When Mr. Obama took office, he promised: "Washington will have to tighten its belt and put of fspending," and he pledged to go through the federal budget, line by line. When he took office, the federal deficit for 2009 stood at $422B. By the end of October it was $1.42T. That is just the annual deficit. Think: we earned (taxes paid) minus we spent (total outlays) = annual deficit. The accumulated debt (money we owe other nations, our own citizens, all the holders of our debt--principal and interest) has soared from $6.3T when Obama took office to $7.5T ten short months later. (Wall Street Journal, Karl Rove) Meanwhile, despite public opinion to the contrary, our representatives continue to spend: health care, cap and trade.
If we want to see where this is going we only have to look at California. 12.5% unemployment rate (2.3% above the national average), a $12.5B tax increase last February to stem the deficit tide, yet it still grows. In 2007 (latest time period for which data is available) 260,000 Californians moved to states with "more opportunity." The state with one of the brightest business and innovation histories in the nation is now ranked the third worse among states for business climate by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation. I don't know if Sacramento understands that it is business that employs the taxpayers that pay their salaries, but it is time for a crash course.
Ahhh shucks, perhaps the concept is simply too complicated for the single-minded bureaucrats in Sacramento to comprehend.
In their prescient wisdom, the Founders got it deep in their core. Quoting from Federalist 28 again: "If their rights are invaded by either, (state or federal government) they can make use of the other as the instrument of redress."
That is, "...provided the citizens understand their rights and are disposed to defend them."
If you don't have a copy of The Federalist Papers rent a the John Adams DVD series and watch it with your family. You cannot help but be inspired by the passion of the men who Founded this Great Experiment. It is time for us to rekindle the flame. To defend our rights.
It is time to take our government--state and federal--back and return it to the hands of patriotic citizens with respect for the Constitution and the rights and liberties of average American citizens.
We owe it those who spent or lost their lives in pursuit of the ideals of this great country.
No comments:
Post a Comment