Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others.
~ Thomas Jefferson

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Whose fault is it, really?

There are many who attribute all of today's problems to one generation. "Kill the Boomers, it's all their fault!" Each generation, as it becomes the current adult generation, could make the same claim. We could go on to say it was due to those of us who allowed Woodrow Wilson and FDR to push us over the edge into socialism, especially with Social Security and then Medicare, but also with the Federal Reserve system, with allowing the Supreme Court to create law ever since Marbury vs Madison.

Many folks claim it is our fault because we didn't elect the right people. To a certain limited extent, this is correct. We have seen that it is possible to elect people who are not beholden to the Democrats or the mainstream Republicans. We proved that in 2010, with a number of Tea Party candidates being elected. And then look what happened. That's right, nothing. Allen West supported renewing the Patriot Act, NDAA, the Pickford legislation giving billions to blacks who never farmed a day in their lives, and other things which run counter to everything we believed he stood for when he was running for office. With the possible exception of Rand Paul, who does appear to stand firm upon his principles, it was a bust.

The political system in America is a creature that is cunning and survival-oriented. It knows how to manipulate and divide the people of this country so they cannot effectively use the only tool we have available to fix things - our vote. How to deceive people who might vote for the right representatives if they weren't lied to, distracted by false claims and bribed by creating whole groups of people who have been taught to think they are entitled to "free stuff", stolen from the productive.

I read a neat paraphrase of Karl Marx's exhortation: "From each according to his ability. To each, according to his need." It goes like this: "From each, according to his gullibility. To each, according to his greed."

Here is an article written by Charlie Reese that is once again making the rounds of the Internet, although it was actually originally written in 1984, back during the Reagan administration. It points the finger where the blame truly lies, but makes the same mistake of thinking we can vote our way out of the problem. Still, it is a well-written condemnation of Congress, The President (whichever one), and the Supreme Court.

545 vs. 300,000,000 People

By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The President does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

If the Army & Marines are in a foreign country it's because they want them in a foreign country ...

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees...

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!


We often deride people who state the problem clearly, but offer no realistic solution. Since I actually do believe voting is worthless - except in this one instance where we simply MUST remove the cancer that is killing America, the Obama administration - I will offer a solution I have written about before. It is the only tool we have left that might make a difference: jury nullification.

We talk about "the Three Percent" - 9 million out of 300 million people. If far fewer than 3% - say 1 million out of the 150 million+ who are eligible for jury duty (one tenth of one percent of that number) - would vote to acquit whenever one of us is being tried for the unConstitutional laws and regulations that we are hammered by every day, it would be sufficient. Go to FIJA.org, read about the process, and do what you can to convince family and friends of how effective this might be. If we can't stop Congress from passing bad laws, if we can't keep SCOTUS from creating bad laws from the bench, if we can't stop the President from writing Executive Orders, or the EPA and BATF from producing bad regulations they can control us with, then we can at least protect each other from the consequences of those laws, orders, and regulations. Think about it, people.

1 comment:

  1. Do you think doing away with both parties would help?

    CDP

    ReplyDelete

Sorry, folks. I was completely ignorant about comment rules. Anyone can post, but I'd prefer a name, even if it is made up. Anonymous posts just seem cheap, if you know what I mean. Also, if you want to argue a point, that's fine. Cheap shots and name calling towards me or another person commenting (ad hominem) is rude and will get you banned. Other than that, I'd love to get some comments.