Sunday, December 30, 2012

The Wisest Generation


The Wisest Generation

Much is written about the Greatest Generation, Generation X, Baby Boomers, and the like. Seldom do we drop back to the time of what I call the Wisest Generation. It was more than two centuries ago, at a time when our forefathers decided that “enough was enough”. It was 1776 when they drafted what became known as the Declaration of Independence.

The men of the Wisest Generation produced a document declaring their independence from Great Britain, a land they left to exercise their desire for freedom from what they deemed an oppressive government and society.

 We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Thus was born the Declaration of Independence and a United States of America.

It was a battle, of course. England wanted the colonists to pay taxes to the King. What was it providing in exchange for those taxes? Yep, nothing. The King saw the colonists as nothing more than a source of revenue. Sound familiar?

Over the next dozen years, the Wisest Generation knew that order and rules needed to be established within the newly formed organization of individual states. Over a lengthy period of time, after a lot of soul searching, the Constitution of the United States was drafted. Those working on that document had to look not only at the current state of affairs, but at both history and the future. After all, they didn’t want their sons and grandsons to have to go through the same turmoil a few years down the road.

These were some pretty smart people. Knowing full well that, even in their lifetime, man had come a long way, that situations would change, that additional rules would need to be addressed to deal with those changes, they left some wiggle-room. There was no way, in 1789, that they could have seen the coming of the automobile, and a need to issue licenses for motorists. That is why drivers do not have a constitutional right to drive a car. Every state issues driving privileges, privileges that you must earn. Privileges that can be taken away.  But, our Declaration covers that, too. All men are created equal. Laws are not adopted giving any person or group any more privileges than another. At least, that’s the way it’s intended.

It is amazing, then, that the Wisest Generation saw fit to include RIGHTS within the Constitution that could not be taken away. The First Amendment, for instance, guarantees us the RIGHT, not a privilege, to worship…or not…any way we choose. It guarantees us a RIGHT to say what we want. It provides us with a press that is free to report on the deeds or misdeeds of government, free from government control.

The Second Amendment, the one we hear so much about these days, was apparently important to the Wisest Generation, in that it guarantees us the RIGHT to have guns. The right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. The language is simple. The message is clear. Even William Jefferson Clinton would have trouble honestly (I realize that’s a tough word for Clinton to swallow) interpreting that sentence to mean anything other than what it states.

While times do change, and we must adopt rules to adapt and deal with new challenges, you would think, at least, that our elected representatives could understand our core values, and would take to heart what the men of the Wisest Generation did to ensure a future society free from oppression from within and beyond our borders. If they have any doubts, I strongly suggest that each of our elected representatives refer to that sentence in the Declaration of Independence that states Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.  How often do we need to remind them that they get their powers from us?

You would also think that a president, who claims to be a constitutional scholar would abide by the oath he took to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States”. And, repeating what Chief Justice John Roberts seemed to prompt as a question, “…so help you God?”.  Barrack Hussein Obama said “…so help me God”.

So help me God is not part of the official oath. Neither is there a requirement to use a Bible in the ceremony. But, it has become a tradition for most presidents taking the oath. It’s ceremonial, to be sure, and what many feel is a presidential guarantee that he takes to heart what he is saying, that he will honor his commitment to the citizens of this Great Nation.

Let’s hope so.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

New York and New Jersey want MY money???? For Sandy Relief????

Yeah, that's right. Hurricane Sandy caused a LOT of damage along the New England seacoast, leaving death and destruction in her wake. And, now the governors of New York and New Jersey think that the Federal Government should pay for that damage. By Federal Government, they mean you and me.

A question that some of the folks out there in North Dakota are asking is "what's in it for me"? Like, when did the taxpayers from either of these states send money to help them dig out from blizzards?

Ok, get off your defensive high horses. We are a United States of America. And, we take care of our own. That's one of the things that makes us special. We even send billions of tax dollars to all sorts of people in all corners of this world when they need help recovering from a natural disaster. It's the right thing to do. Right?

Not no, but HELL no! We don't have anything extra to share with those countries. We don't even have enough to take care of our own. Let me know if you find those outpourings of money or donations coming into this country when we suffer an attack from the likes of a hurricane, an earthquake, a flood, or forest fires that burn for months. But, let a third world country get clobbered, and you'll see tax dollars by the billions (dollars that we actually borrow from China, then repay with interest) going to their aid. Not to mention all of the good hearted people, many representing churches, who pack their bags and tools and head out to help rebuild.

Being politically incorrect and insensitve, but realistic, I'll tell you that, thanks to us, those places "devastated" by storms are oftentimes better off when we leave than they were BEFORE the storms.

So, where are the other countries when we get nailed? Why is the weight of the world on the shoulders of the United States? We certainly seem to contribute much more than our (I hate these words) fair share. It's like our president and his liberal socialist fiends (yes, that's the word...no "r") who want to let the minority of Americans pay their fair share so those who don't want to work don't have to.

Don't get me wrong. Or, if you want to, that's ok. If a person, a state, a society is in trouble, I'm all for lending a hand. And, I don't expect anything in return, except maybe a thanks. The key word here is helping. There is a big difference between a helping hand and a handout.

When you check out the list of countries on our handout list (aka, foreign aid), you might be surprised at just how much we give to whom. Countries that are not in dire straits. We give them money, we're told, because we want to keep them friendly to the United States. Why? Why do we need to be friendly with countries that could care less about us? Do you think, even for a moment, that any one of these friends would not stab us in the back, given a chance?

Well, now here's a real kick in the pants. Several countries HAVE offered us assistance. Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill disasters are two recent cases. But, we DECLINED their offers!!!! Can you imagine? We don't mind giving, giving, and giving. We don't mind taxing our citizens to death. We don't mind having the 2% of the richest people in this country pay their fair share to keep the masses from having to lift a finger. But, we won't accept help when offered? We don't mind borrowing money to give to other countries; we don't have a problem printing all the money we need.

Americans. We have a problem. And, its not one that has just happened. It's a problem that is decades in the development. And, unless we get our hands on the throat of this problem and choke the life out of it, this once great nation is going to continue its downhill slide to a point that it will, as many a great nation has done in the past, collapse from within and die.