Wednesday, July 4, 2012

State of the Union

Every Independence Day I take the time to study the Constitution of the United States.  It gives me the opportunity to get to know in more depth the freedoms guaranteed in that document and the limited role of government authorized by it as well.  This year as I begin my study, my heart is weighed down with sorrow. 

The events of the last week have sickened me.  The Supreme Court in a move that stunned and shocked the Nation declared the Affordable Healthcare Act, a.k.a. "obamacare", as Constitutional.  This based on the premise that the government is given authority under the Constitution to tax the people of this Nation.  Though it is true that the Congress has the power to tax us, they don't have the power to regulate our lives and purchase habits.  A tax is a "tariff" if you would on a purchase.  A mandate is being told that you must do something. The dictionary defines a mandate as an authoritative command.  Let's see, the law states, buy insurance or face a penalty.  That sounds like a mandate to me. 

George Washington, our First President and great Statesman said this in 1796, "Towards the preservation of your government...it is requisite... that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts.  One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown."  I understand the desire to help others.  My heart burns within me to help those in need.  That being said, I understand that it is my duty to help those in need, not the governments.  The Constitution is plain in its delineation of powers.  The power or authority to help the needy lies in the people not in the government.  We cannot effectively preserve our Nation and neglect our Constitution.  We cannot seek for security and sell our birthrights.  We cannot give away our freedom and expect liberty.  If we continue to chop away at the Foundation of our Nation, we will shortly wake up to find that we are neither free or secure.  The enemy which we fight lives within each one of us.  That desire to allow someone else to take care of our obligations and to shirk our duty.  The laziness in which we view or exercise our Rights is causing a moral decay in this Nation that is epidemic.

We must fight off the natural man within us, and stand up and be men and women of resolve.  We must put our shoulder to the wheel and push along the cause of Freedom, or we will not be free.  We must turn the tide of socialism or progressivism and swing our Nation back to the Articles of the Constitution.  We must seek out men and women who know and understand, and then who love the Constitution and will fight for it. 

Our Nation is in trouble.  It's not Obama, although he is pushing it along very rapidly, but it is our Congress and Courts that are aiding in the destruction of this Nation.  Washington is full of liars and soothsayers.  Show me a true Statesman in Washington and I will work with that person to make a difference.  Show me a person in Washington with a backbone willing to make the hard decisions and I will support that person.  I am determined to see this Nation survive the attack from within.  I am determined to see this Nation forever remain a Nation United!

Friday, March 30, 2012

Let's Talk About Seniority

Here in Utah there has been a lot of talk about Seniority when it comes to political office.  Two years ago we heard it with Senator Bennett and this time around we are hearing it again with Senator Hatch.  So let's take a really quick look at seniority.

Hatch's claim is that he needs to be re-elected again because he has been in Washington for so long that he is the most senior Senator on the Senate Finance Committee.  He claims that his experience qualifies him to be able to lead the charge in saving America in our desperate time when our Country hangs in the balance ready to tip.  In 1976 (when I was two years old) Senator Hatch was elected to the US Senate. At that time he ran against an incumbent who had served three terms in Washington.  Hatch's main challenge to Senator Moss was that he had served too long and lost touch with constituents.  At that time Hatch supported term limits, at that point Hatch considered three terms too long, at that point Hatch promised two terms. 

Let's fast forward to 2012.  Hatch is still in office.  Now, unless I am completely math illiterate, 1976 to 2012 is not twelve years.  According to the Constitution of the United States, the term of a Senator in the US Senate is 6 years.  So that would mean that Senator Hatch's most recent bid for office would be his seventh term that he seeks.  What happened to he would only seek two terms, and that three terms had made Senator Moss out of touch with his constituents?  If three terms did that to Senator Moss, then what has six terms done to Senator Hatch?

I've had the opportunity to meet with Senator Hatch and I've exchanged communications with him, and I don't believe that Senator Hatch fully understands his role as a Senator for the State of Utah.  He has been duped into believing that his role as Senator is to centralize powers around the Federal Government.  He believes that his role is to ensure equality for all Americans.  He has helped expand the Government over and over again in size and expenditure.  He has worked hard to ensure that his Democratic friends will always look to him for support.  He has played the Washington game, and he has played it too long.

Now, let's really take a look at seniority. In the Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section III, we read, " ...each Senator shall have one vote."  Other than that I see no clause in the Constitution that says that the longer a Senator serves the more power he wields.  Therefore whether you are a recently elected Senator with only one day siting as a Senator or a veteran Senator with over 36 years serving, you only have one vote, wielding the same power and authority as any other Senator.  Seniority is of man, and unconstitutional in nature.  By saying that a newly elected Senator has no say in the Senate is to say that they have the right to silence the people of a State.  We, the people of the United States hold the power of government and we delegate that power to our elected officials to represent us, that is what a representative republic is based on.  Each and every Senator elected by their individual States, hold the same power and authority.  We don't send them to Washington to play games, and make friends, rattling  their swords in pretended indignation then retiring to their chambers to devise plans and schemes to quietly relinquish us of our Rights and Freedoms.  The centralization of powers around the Federal Government is anathema to the Constitution.  The powers of the Federal are specifically outlined and delineated within that document.  The problem is, and it is the same problem that I've decried many times, is that "We, the people of the United States.." don't know what the Constitution authorizes the Federal government to do.  They tell us what it tells them to do and we believe it.  If we were to read the Constitution we would see a very different job description that what we are told in schools and in the media.

We, as a people have to start caring enough for this Country if we are to regain our sovereignty as a people.  If we continue to lay our rights aside for the sake of being able to get a free lunch, we will find ourselves in the shackles of tyranny, and the only way to regain our Rights will be through the shedding of great amounts of blood.  It's time that we wake up, and wipe away the scales of political blindness.  That we put aside political correctness and we begin from this day to do what's right.  If we are to preserve this Nation for our children and our childrens'  children we must demand that our elected officials begin to listen to us, rather than to party bosses and special interest groups.  We, the people must demand adherence to our Constitution.  We, the people must demand action within the halls of Congress.  We, the people must be willing to put our sacred honor, treasure, and lives on the line to win our Freedoms if that becomes necessary, for sitting placidly on the side lines of life hoping that someone else will take up the fight in our defense will only get us more of what we see and slowly the chains of despotism will ensnare us and we will wake up one morning decrying the loss of Freedom.

My fellow Americans, I will not sit idly by and allow it to happen.  I call all to rally around our Standard of Liberty, that grand old flag, that banner of Freedom.  Stand shoulder to shoulder.  Stand with a firm determination that you will weather the storm which lies ahead.  Together we can turn the tide, together we can remain a Nation United.  

Saturday, March 17, 2012

What Matters Most

I have asked myself over the past year or so of not writing, what matters most to me.  The answer has always been the same, Freedom.  Freedom matters most to me and we are watching our freedoms erode before us at an alarming rate. 

My lack of writing has not been based upon the fact that I like what's going on and I feel pleased with the direction of the Country.  There could be nothing farther from the truth than that.  The truth is, that I've been trying to get my legs back under me after suffering the effects of what is happening in our Country.  Job loss and financial woes have caused serious difficulties in life and last year I was restructuring and rebuilding.  I often said, I have to write about that particular issue, but found myself so weighed down by things that the time was hard to come by.  I must also confess, that I was discouraged by the fact that no matter what I did or said, everybody seemed to continue down the same path of self destruction as always. 

As we've entered into this election year, I find myself again pulled into the world of politics.  I was once again elected to represent my Precinct as a State Delegate for the Republican Party.  I find myself discussing politics more frequently.  I listen to the advertisements for all the candidates and can't help but think, Heaven help us.  The candidates for the various offices are very selective with what they share.  For example, Newt, he loves to tout himself as a Conservative and moral crusader for America.  He points the finger at Mitt and says he's a flip-flopper and not fit for office.  Well Mr. Speaker, you yourself have flipped-flopped on issues based off of your "moral compass" which seems to point the direction that you think that people want it to point.  He takes heat for impeaching Clinton while he himself was having an affair at the time and had left his wife before for another love interest leaving her battling cancer.  I believe that he was justified in overseeing the impeachment since Clinton wasn't impeached for infidelity, but for perjury.  There is a difference there, but you won't hear that from the media.  That is besides the point and a tangent that I didn't expect to go down.  Newt's infidelity shows that he has no self-control and believes that he should have what he wants regardless of societal limits or a sense of right and wrong.  What would keep him from dong what he wants if elected to office and removing even more of our Sacred rights.  He decries Obamacare as unconstitutional, but has always declared that he believes in single payer universal health care.  I believe that his opposition to Obamacare is based off of the fact that he couldn't implement it, and he wants to pander to what he deems to be the simple minded electorate.

Now, I don't have issue with just Newt, let's look at Mitt.  Mitt is a flip-flopper as well.  His "world" view is based off of the level of office he is seeking.  His level of Conservatism is based off of the same thing.  There's something about Mitt that just doesn't jive right.  His argument for supporting the Massachusetts health care law although based upon a Constitutional fact that it is a State's Rights issue is still flawed in that he is taking away the right of the majority to extend "rights" unto the minority.  The right being removed is that of Freedom and the "right" being extended is the erroneous right that everybody deserves health care.  There is no right to insurance.  That is a basic fact.  If he is unclear as to the difference of what is a right and a privilege then he needs to study up on things and then come back once he has the definitions correct.  Man does not create rights, our rights are given us by God.

And, as for Rick Santorum, well he is just not ready.  I supported him for the longest time and then lost interest when he got off topic and began to just rub me the wrong way.  There is just no other explanation for my loss of interest in him.

I won't even get into Ron Paul.  He's not the man, and I don't believe that he will ever be the man for the job.  I can see him as the Treasury Sec, but that's about it.  He would clean things up in that post.

Each one of these candidates has their strengths, but most are not ready in my mind.  Do I think that the Republicans have a chance, maybe a slight one.  I don't want to see Obama in another term, but unless the Republican candidates get on topic and fight with truth, fact, and passion for them they don't stand a chance against a man who will not be questioned on anything that he does. 

My message to the candidates of today is to stand on the issues.  Be bold and be true to yourself and to us.  Stop trying to give us what you think we want to hear and declare what needs to be said.  Be courageous enough to stand on the unpopular side of the issue.  If you feel that you are standing alone, I guarantee you that you are not.  Santorum did that at the beginning of his campaign and that is why I supported him, then he changed.  Be men of honor, be moral, be ethical, be Americans.  And may we ever remain a Nation United!