Throughout American history the ‘Price of Patriotism’ has been gargantuan and required incredible commitment and resolve to maintain.  There are those today who suggest that conservative ideological beliefs, traditional family values, morality, and the U.S. Constitution are ‘outdated’ beliefs from a bygone era to be dismissed as things of antiquity.  They laugh at what those of us who hold those values would consider ‘patriotism’ and consider us ‘domestic terrorist’ to be treated as common criminals and silenced.

            During the time the colonies were contemplating whether to ‘fight’ for Independence or remain subservient to the British Crown, American Patriotism was a costly position for one to adopt.  It cost more than most of us could possibly calculate in terms of money, social standing, political standing, and physical safety.  We find in studying history that a significant number of those who adopted the stance of ‘American Patriotism” lost position, property, family, and at times, life itself.  Yet those who treasured Freedom considered it a price worth paying to secure Liberty for those living at that time and posterity.  They considered it unacceptable to live in servitude to tyranny and although they looked for ways to compromise and reconcile with the Crown, they could find none that would not leave them servile so they opted to take the only steps available in an attempt to secure Independence, Liberty, and Freedom.

             Thomas Paine said, “These are times that try men’s souls.  The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.  What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.  Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated.”  He also said, “Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.”  Patrick Henry in his infamous declaration said, “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?  Forbid it, Almighty God!  I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!”

             Dr. Walter Williams said, “The framers gave us the Second Amendment not so we could go deer or duck hunting but to give us a modicum of protection against congressional tyranny.”  Robert A. Heinlein said, “Love your country, but never trust its government.”  Jacob G. Hornberger said, “Of course, the proponents of political tyranny are usually well-motivated. Those who enacted the gun-registration law in California point to criminals who have used semiautomatic weapons to commit horrible, murderous acts.  But the illusion – the pipe dream – is that bad acts can be prevented by deprivation of liberty.  They cannot be!  Life is always insecure.  The only choice is between liberty and insecurity, on the one hand, and insecurity and enslavement on the other.  The true patriot scrutinizes the actions of his own government with unceasing vigilance.  And when his government violates the morality and rightness associated with principles of individual freedom and private property, he immediately rises in opposition to his government.  This is why the gun owners in California might ultimately go down in history as among the greatest and most courageous patriots of our time.”  Thomas Jefferson said, “The patriot volunteer, fighting for country and his rights, makes the most reliable soldier on earth.”  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetuate it.”

            Men from every era, ethnic background, social strata, and political stripe have at one time or another, in our history, demonstrated an understanding of the value of our unalienable God-given rights that were enumerated in the Constitution by our Founding Fathers.  A document that begins “WE THE PEOPLE….”  A document that identifies ‘Unalienable Rights’ and establishes means to hold tyrannical overreaching and intrusive government in check and insists that the ultimate power and authority of America belongs to the citizens thereof.  Today, we have a government that does not believe that!  We have a President that has gone around the World trashing this nation and people, and recently in Tanzania declared that the Tea Party and conservative Republicans who were conservative Christians, gun owners, and held to what he deemed to be antiquated ideology of morality and self-determination were a small group and fit the description of ‘domestic terrorist’.  We have never had anyone serve as President of these United States who was so distant from American values as this man.  We have never seen a time when so many, in high office, want to so radically transform our American Heritage into something that would dismiss the Constitution, invalidate our traditional moral values, and destroy the sovereignty of this nation bringing us into subservience to the United Nations or some World Governing Body. 

             If we have ever had a time, since the American Revolution, when there was a need for True Patriots to rise up, band together, make their voices heard and have the resolve to stand for the long haul IT IS NOW!  If we fail to unify as a voice of reason, demand and defend Liberty and Freedom we will soon have neither.  Patriots it is in your hands!  Your country is being destroyed and as Dr. King said if we see it happening and remain silent we are as guilty as those who are perpetrating it.  We must be involved.  We must be diligent in prayer.  We must be committed to obtaining and retaining Liberty and Freedom.  It is up to us.  I do not have all the answers and sometimes feel I have no answers but I know one who does and to Him I am interceding for this nation.  I want a nation in which ALL CITIZENS can have “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”  I want a nation in which ALL CITIZENS can pursue the American Dream with a real hope that it is attainable.  I want a Constitutional Democratic Republic as was originally established. 

             God bless you and God bless America!

            Oh I realize that I have to theorize to hypothesize what Mr. Madison would or would not have thought or said regarding today’s Federal Politics but I am taking that liberty based on history and his own words.  As with anything that I or anyone else writes or says you have the right and liberty to choose to agree or disagree, but I hope to make you think and cause you to examine your perspective and views.  I believe it is good from time to time to reexamine what we think and why we think it.

            When it comes to the ’lack of ‘transparency’ in contrast to what was promised by Barack Obama, that we would have the ‘most transparent’ administration in American history, I believe Mr. Madison’s own statements would help to conclude what he would think.  Mr. Madison, in a letter to W.T. Barry in August of 1822 said:  “A popular Government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”  Mr. Madison and our founders believed that it was not only good but mandatory that the government be forthcoming to the people and that it was not only good but essential that the people be informed.  They realized, as should we, that this may require the public to do some personal research but one of the responsibilities of government and elected officials is to provide access to information in keeping the ‘public trust’.  To suppress the ability of the public to know what is going on in Washington is the door to a “sham government” and will ultimately result in Tyranny.  Yet, today we are afforded less information than from any administration in history and we’ve had some pretty tight lipped administrations.  Sadly, too many voters just do not care so long as they get their handout or piece of the pie.

             When it comes to indiscriminate spending, welfare, subsidies, and some of the most outlandish expenditures in foreign aid I believe that Mr. Madison would have been outraged at what is happening.  Again, I go to his, own words as a basis for my conclusions which were echoed by many of our founders.  Mr. Madison said, in a letter to Edmund Pendleton January 1, 1792 – “If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the general welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one subject to particular exceptions.  It is to be remarked that the phrase out of which this doctrine is elaborated, is copied from the old articles of Confederation, where it was always understood as nothing more than a general caption to the specified powers, and it is a fact that it was preferred in the new instrument for that very reason as less liable than any other to misconstruction.”  Mr. Madison did not view the ‘general welfare clause’ to mean that Congress or the President should take tax-payer funds and use them to redistribute the wealth to people creating a Nanny State. 

            He further stated, on the House floor during the Cod Fishery bill in February 1792 – ”If Congress can apply money indefinitely to the general welfare, and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the care of religion into their own hands; they may establish teachers in every State, county, and parish, and pay them out of the public Treasury; they may take into their own hands the education of children, establishing the manner of schools throughout the Union, they may undertake to the regulation of all roads other than post roads.  In short, everything, from the highest object of State legislation, down to the most minute object of police, would be thrown under the power of Congress; for every object I have mentioned would admit the application of money, and might be called, if Congress pleased, provisions for the general welfare.”

             Mr. Madison’s objection should serve as a clear warning and evidence that the framers did not believe, as is being proclaimed by many on the left, that the ‘general welfare clause’ was a license for Congress and/or the President to create a Nanny State nor did they believe that every citizen had a right to ‘happiness’ as some have said only that they had the right to PURSUE HAPPINESS unimpeded by the Federal Government. 

             Mr. Madison also said regarding using tax-payer funds for benevolence, “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”  In the Annals of Congress, House of Representatives, 3^rd Congress, 1^st Session, Page 170 (January 10, 1794).  The Annals summarize speeches in the third person and Mr. Madison’s statement is as follows:  “Mr. Madison wished to relieve the sufferers, but was afraid of establishing a dangerous precedent, which might hereafter be perverted to the countenance of purposes very different from those of charity.  He acknowledged, for his own part, that he could not undertake to lay his finger on that article in the Federal Constitution which granted a right of Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”  The expense in question was for French refuges from the Haitian Revolution.

            I am convinced that our Founding Fathers would be totally opposed to what is taking place in Washington today and has been the norm for some time.  They wanted a very restricted and limited government and believed that any law or action MUST be in harmony and in obedience with the written Constitution of these United States of America.  This is foreign to most members of Congress and is most assuredly foreign to this President and his Attorney General. 

             We need men and women in Congress who will completely and strictly uphold the Constitution, follow the Rule of Law, and do what is right for America and Americans.  We, as citizens, need to pray diligently for our nation and seek the mercy and grace of God in these troubled times. 

             God bless you and may God bless America!

            Forgive me but that statement or question is so open ended one could go in a myriad of directions, and time nor tolerance would not allow me to exhaustively pursue it so I have one thing in particular in mind – Benghazi.  What is it about Benghazi that Barack Obama and his agencies within the government are so vociferously laboring to keep from Congress, the media, the American people and the world?  It must be enormous for them to go to the lengths they have and are going to.  What is it about this ‘phony scandal’ as Mr. Obama has labeled it that is so damning he dare not let the truth come out?  It must be of epic proportions and more than just negligence because he has survived over four years of negligence and come away unscathed.  There has to be something so revealing that he, the State Department, the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the CIA are working overtime to insure that it remains hidden.  What is it?

            Obviously, I do not know or I would be on the national scene and would be an immediate target of a drone assignation.  So, I openly declare that I do not know for sure but I am convinced that it must be something more than just dropping the ball, incompetence, or negligence.  It is far more sinister than that or they would not be going to the lengths they are to keep it hidden.

             CNN, of all sources, broke a story that the CIA is conducting monthly polygraph examinations on the survivors or agents who were in Benghazi to insure that they have not leaked any information to the media or Congress.  Why?  If it was a poorly produced and virtually unnoticed video that sparked this that would certainly not be necessary.  If it does not make any difference as suggested by Hillary as she angrily asked, “What difference does it make now?”  That would not be necessary.  If there was not chance or possibility of us rendering aid and support to the embassy and its inhabitants in time, this would not be necessary.  Why have they been relocated and even had names changed and are deemed to be in ‘witness protection”?  Why?

             CNN said sources informed them that the CIA had more than 20 agents at or near the U.S. consulate in Benghazi when Ambassador Stevens was killed.  In fact, the sources say that the CIA had 22 people in their annex the night of the attack.  Why 22?  Is this a normal number or was something else going on that Congress apparently did not know about.  Was this some covert under the table and behind the scenes operation?  I wish I knew and so should Congress, the media, the world, and the American people.  One source told CNN that there were 35 people at the consulate and annex with 7 of them wounded.  Obviously they knew it was an organized and well- orchestrated terrorist attack not some spontaneous riot as the result of a film or anything else.  What is it they do not want us to know?

             Let me float a possibility, one that came up in the very beginning and Senator Rand Paul asked Hillary Clinton while she was under oath if the United States was involved in transferring weapons out of Libya to Turkey or any other nation.  Hillary attempted to brush it aside and he persisted.  She then deflected it to the CIA or some other agency declaring that she did not know.  With all that is being revealed by one of the most liberal and Obama friendly sources, CNN, one would have to ask, is this possible?  We already know about ‘Fast and Furious’ a scandal and ‘illegal gun running scheme’ that Obama and Holder have been dirtied by.  We know that Mr. Obama does not regard Congress, the Constitution, or the Law as a restraint for him because he has demonstrated he believes he is superior to any of those.  I do not know if this was another ‘illegal gun running’ operation conducted or authorized by this President but it is something so dangerous to him and the Democrats that they are pulling out all stops to keep it secret. 

             If the Republicans and any Democrats who even remotely want to keep our Constitution intact and desire to serve America do not press forward and get to the bottom of this they should be booted out of office immediately.  If Barack Obama was involved in an ‘illegal unauthorized gun running’ scheme to provide arms to the Syrian rebels he should be indicted and tried on the charge of treason.  As a concerned American citizen I am ramping up my DEMAND to my elected officials that they pursue this with all the power and influence they can muster.  This Obama labeled ‘phony scandal’ is far from phony and IT MATTERS!

             May God bless you and may God guard and guide America.

            It’s called a real “Pay As You Go Plan”.  Oh I know it is not a new idea and one that Congress and the President claim they embrace but obviously they either do not understand what it means to “Pay As You Go” or they do not believe in “Pay As You Go”.  I am fully persuaded that it is the latter and they enjoy using rhetoric believing that we are so gullible and dumb that we won’t know the difference.  Sadly, they have been right so often one would expect that from them.

            If we roll back the clock to February, 2010 we find Barack Obama signing the federal requirement that the government only spend what it can afford.  But the day before he signed the authorization for $1.9 Trillion more federal debt.  Somehow those two do not compute UNLESS one has a different definition that any reasonable understanding of “Pay As You Go” and “Only What You Can Afford”.  The last one is where the rub comes in. “Only What the Government Can Afford” is the sticking point in this whole deal because Obama, the Democrats, and many Republicans seem to believe that the Government can afford ANYTHING and EVERYTHING.  The fact that we have over $17 TRILLION in National Debt not counting all the unfunded debt that we have in Medicare, Medicaid, etc. that is like a millstone hanging around the necks of all Americans and future generations.

             The President promised to “enforce” the PAY AS YOU GO or PAYGO which, in principle, requires all new spending to be offset by spending cuts, increase in revenue or a combination of the two.  Clearly Obama and the Democrats believe and desire to continually “increase revenue” without “cutting spending”.  After all, they have an obligation to keep the checks coming in for those from whom they have bought votes.

             Unfortunately, like all things Washington, this Law from 2010 is so riddled with exceptions and loopholes it is only an mirage having no substance or providing any hope of real balancing of the budget, spending cuts, or putting the government on a ‘monetary diet’.  It is nothing more than campaign fodder!  It is more spin and political double-speak to appease voters and divert the attention to something else while they continue to bury us in debt.      

            In my personal budget I have no choice but to adopt a “Pay As You Go” approach to my finances.  If I do not, the result will be the same as that of Detroit and many Americans who go bankrupt because, if my, “out-go” is continually higher than my “in-come” then I am upside down and living on borrowed time and borrowed money.  I am sitting on a ticking time bomb that will explode sooner rather than later.  For that to happen in government will have such a disastrous effect it will be far more than some austere tightening of the belt which we can survive, it will be economic collapse like not seen even in the ‘Great Depression.’ 

             Am I saying that “Doomsday” is coming economically for America?  I do not know for certain but all the signs are there. I do know that the current path that we are on is taking us onto a slippery slope that ends with an apocalyptic catastrophe economically.  That will, in turn, result in such anarchy and chaos that the ‘civil unrest’ will be uncontrollable and people virtually becoming a ‘law unto themselves’ with crime and mayhem being the norm rather than the exception in all cities and towns across this nation.

             The “tax & spend” approach that has been transpiring for too long now cannot continue because at some point we reach the line of demarcation when people can pay no more and attempting to force them to do so will result in 100% of society with their hand out for government to feed, clothe, and house them.  We MUST and I emphasize MUST adopt a “Pay As You Go” approach nationally and I suggest that with the national economic unsteadiness it would behoove each of us to do so individually.

 What do we do?  I am working toward several things:

  1.    Intercession for the nation and her leaders.

 2.    Diligently seeking information about what is going on and the actual and potential results of those actions.

 3.    Applying pressure to my elected officials and any elected official that will give me the time of day.

 4.    Seeking candidates to support who will honor the Constitution, seek to Balance the Budget, shrink the Size of Government, cut spending, respect the Law, and work to return this nation to being a Constitutional Republic as it was in the beginning.

            Are those enough?  I don’t know but it is what I can and am doing now.  As more comes to light that I can do I will do them.  I want to see this nation restored to being “One Nation under God” with “Liberty and Justice for All.”

            May God bless you and may God guard, guide, and bless this Nation.

            I know this is old news now but I want to rehash it just a bit if you will indulge me.  One has to wonder what the real motivation of Mr. Obama in delaying the implementation of the Obamacare mandate for businesses but not individuals.  I believe that the “devil is in the details” and ultimately we will see some very bad things for Americans who work and pay taxes coming out of this.  It has a design and that design is quite diabolical, in my opinion.

            One possibility, which all Republicans and opponents of Obamacare hope for, is that something will finally be laid at the feet of the Teflon President and help defeat the Democrats in 2014.  It could but with the “low information” crowd I would not bet the farm on it.  Instead when the employers dump health plans because they see a way out of the nightmare, the employees, media, and Democrats are going to call them every name under the book and it will further fan the flames of ‘class envy’ that Obama has worked hard to stir up.  If that happens then the most likely scenario is that they employees with the help of the Media and Democrats will blame the Republicans somehow and the sheep will buy it hook, line, and sinker.

             What is his real motivation beyond trying to help the Democrats avoid a good old fashioned “butt kicking” in the 2014 Elections?  I personally believe that his ulterior motive is to escalate and facilitate driving people out of private sector insurance and into the government run system of a National Health Care Single Payer System.  Once that is complete he will be able to virtually destroy the Private Health Insurance Industry then he can move to the next step of restricted, reduced, and denied health care for individuals he and those of his ilk deem prudent.  If you are a vocal conservative and have passed the age of 65 you can just about count on it you will have restricted and reduced, and likely denied care.  I know that I am cynical when I say that but what is it in this administration that would inspire me to be other?

            I have just about given up hoping that people will WAKE UP because there have been so many opportunities to do so and it has not happened.  Nothing from the IRS, NSA, Media, and other scandals has prompted people to actually blame Obama for this other than those who have been vocal about his politics and ideology from the beginning.  Oh, there are a handful, from time to time that come over from the dark side but by and large that number is relatively small.  His approval ratings are dropping and the majority of people do not trust him or government but when it comes time to vote they still vote LIBERAL.  To make sense of that is impossible from a rational reasonable viewpoint.

             Following the Alinsky motto – “The end justifies the means” and as Rahm Emanuel said, “You never let a serious crisis go to waste.  And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”  They will use and abuse even their sheep to get what they want and what they want is the dismantling of America and the fundamental transformation of this nation. They want to strip the Constitution of all its power and reduce it to nothing more than another of the many documents in government but meaningless and powerless.  They want to destroy the economic system of capitalism and free market that has made America what is was before this latest collapse economically.  They want to dismantle the military and reduce us to 2^nd or 3^rd rate status in the world and force us to become just another member of the Family of Nations under the governance of the United Nations.  They want to see Agenda 21 implemented in its fullest scope.  One way to reach those goals is to have such control of the lives of the citizens that they cannot breathe without the government’s okay.  That will be implemented, in a great measure, through Obamacare with all its nuisances, hidden mandates and regulations.

             Yes, ‘the devil is in the details’ and it will likely be too late when people finally realize what has happened.  I pray that I am wrong and that God will open the eyes of the blind politically and turn the hearts of millions to return to Him and the foundational principles upon which this nation was founded and has operated for over 200 years.

             May God bless you and may God bless America!

           I’m serious!  It is not politics that I have a problem with it is politicians.  I realize that it is virtually impossible to separate the political process from the individual politician and therein lies the problem.  Politicians, for virtually all of recorded history, have demonstrated their propensity for ‘untrustworthiness’ and their lack of resolve to be ‘trustworthy.’

           Politicians have, for as long as I can recall, demonstrated a drive to ‘serve self’ rather than be a ‘public servant.’  They seem to believe that once elected to whatever office they hold instantly makes them smarter than those who voted for them and gives them license to engage in the dirty business of political opportunism.  Their reelection becomes more important than the Constitution or their constituents.  Their position on the power grid becomes more important than the Constitutional duties they have been elected to perform.  They almost immediately begin to seek inclusion into the exclusive club of “Establishment, Elite, and Professional Politicians” and become completely deaf to the cries of those who voted for them.

           Politics is a necessary part of a Republican Democracy as was established by our Founding Fathers via our Constitution and Bill of Rights.  There is a process and that process is called politics.  There is a definitive method that is supposed to transpire in the introduction, passage, and enactment of bills that become laws.  Yet, each bill introduced in Congress comes out so filled with “pork” that it often has little or nothing to do with what the title of the Bill suggests.  That is because of politicians and their desire to participate in ‘cronyism’, satisfy ‘special interest groups’, and endear themselves to those who will line their coffers and help them secure a position in the political power hierarchy. That, my friend, is what politicians do to politics!

            Is it exclusive to one party?  Heavens No!  It seems to be the inherent characteristic of most if not all politicians once elected.  Few actually hold true to their principles throughout their entire time in elected office.  Most participate in some type of ‘graft’, ‘corruption’, ‘insider-trading’, ‘cronyism’, and ‘political shady dealing’.  The sad thing is that much of it is never brought to the view of the public and certainly not to the constituents who are charged with voting for or against these politicians.  They do it in the shadows and behind the walls of Congress or the White House and what comes out on the floor of the Chambers of Congress does not tell the whole story.  It is in the ‘back rooms’, the ‘bars’, and other venues that they cut their deals, plan their schemes, and build their networks.  It would be nice if somehow the voting public could know exactly what deals have been made, what buy-offs have transpired, and what the politicians actually do when they get behind closed doors.

             The quote by Robert A. Heinlein – “Political tags – such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth – are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.”  It seems that most politicians fall into the first category and want people (other than themselves) to be controlled and most of us fall into the latter category, they want us controlled.  That creates a great chasm between the voting public and the politicians but they still manage to either dupe enough people or enough people decide that they have little choice and vote them back into office.  I long for the time, that I will likely never see, when we can actually choose candidates based on their character and core beliefs rather than political party.  I long for someone to enter politics out of a genuine desire and with strength of character to protect and defend the Constitution of these United States of America.  I long for people who will pursue elected office that demonstrate integrity, character, and honor both God and the Constitution respecting the God-given and Constitutionally guaranteed rights, freedoms, and liberties we have.

             So, it is not Politics that bothers me it is Politicians!   May God watch over you, guard and guide you, and may God send forth people of character to lead this nation!

            When I’ve made this statement in front of Big Government Liberals and RINO’s I usually get the same question, “What do you mean LIMITED?”  Many of them will agree that the federal government of today is an over-reaching, over-bloated, over-spending, over-regulating entity but none of them want to change it if it means touching their “golden goose.”  It is the same old thing, “Well we have to be compassionate” or something of the like.  I’ve been told “You must have human compassion, help the needy, and protect our national security.”  I agree that the needy (the truly needy) should have help but that should come from citizens, churches, and local entities not the Federal Government making them wards of the state.  I totally agree that protecting our national security is important but sometimes I have to ask, “At what cost?”  When it is a government that has demonstrated narcissistic, tyrannical tendencies I have to dig my heels in the dirt and say WHOA!  I’ve known for a long time that once you let government through the door you never get them out of the house.  Once a program is begun it never seems to cease and certainly never gets smaller.  Big government is insatiable in its thirst and hunger for power, control, and money and if you give it an inch it will take ten miles.

             The founders of this Republic understood that the federal government had to be LIMITED or it would become TYRANNICAL.  That is why they attempted to place the ultimate power in the hands of WE THE PEOPLE and limit the size and scope of all three branches of government.  They choose three branches as a means of checks and balances hoping that we would remain diligent and involved in government and giving oversight to politicians, but we have been far less than diligent.  The idea of LIMITED GOVERNMENT is a theme that is so intrinsically woven into the fabric of the Constitution that it is impossible to miss.  Just a cursory glance at how the First Amendment begins identifies that theme – – “Congress shall make no law…”  The founders believed, and so do I, that the only real source of governmental authority must naturally and exclusively come from the consent of those governed – WE THE PEOPLE.  Yet, politicians of all stripes seem to believe that they are the sole source of authority and once they walk the halls of Congress or the White House they forget their campaign promises, the wording of the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

            It is the Constitution where WE THE PEOPLE have expressed explicitly that the federal government is to be LIMITED to only those things that are clearly defined as powers given to them by us.  In order to achieve LIMITED GOVERNMENT the founders instituted a three branch system of government which is the doctrine of “separation of powers.”  They feared and warned of allowing any branch to gain too much power and exercise too much authority.  They knew and we are finding out that to allow this is to open the door for TYRANNY.  In the monarchies of old, the central power of government was in the hands of the monarch and today we have a President who believes his office makes him a regal, a Congress that believes the same but believe that they are also members of the ruling gentry, and a Court System that has bought into the same doctrine viewing themselves as the arbiters of the Constitution.  James Madison declared that the “accumulation of powers” was by definition TYRANNY!

             Under our Constitution and Bill of Rights, the President is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, giving him a powerful position in a time of war.  But even in that the founders were concerned that this would be too unlimited and in an effort to limit the power that one branch had provided that Congress had to ‘declare war’ not the President.  So if the President tries to launch a war effort that Congress believes illegitimate they can pull the plug on it by refusing to continue funding the deployment.  Likewise if Congress passes a law that the President believes is either ill-advised or unconstitutional he can VETO it. Congress can override that veto but it takes a two-thirds majority in both houses to accomplish that and it is very difficult to do.  The Supreme Court then has the power through judicial review to overturn laws that are unconstitutional.  That sets the stage for some dramatic confrontations but most of the time it opens the door to compromise from the varying and differing branches.  When we complain about ‘gridlock’ we need to remember that the founders knew that their checks and balances would produce a certain amount of that to work.  So, all gridlock is not necessarily bad it just might be the system working.

            A key element in our system working and having LIMITED GOVERNMENT is FEDERALISM.  In our federal system there are some key powers held by the centralized national government and others are reserved exclusively for the individual and various state governments.  In truth, American federalism existed before the Constitution.  The 13 States or Colonies had already grown accustomed to wielding their individual power, autonomy, and authority and were not at ease in turning over those powers to a federal government.  If you think about it the American Revolution was, in part, a revolt against a distant all-powerful centralized government so what would be a reason to recreate anything that would be potentially tyrannical?  The founders knew that in order to preserve a union and have a nation that had a chance of survival they had to have a centralized government with certain powers and responsibilities but strove diligently to LIMIT THAT GOVERNMENT.  Federalism helped to bring that into reality.  This was where the division of powers between the states and the national government came into play and was, in truth, a compromise.  The goal was to equip and empower the national government to do a limited job and enable the states to retain their sovereignty and autonomy.  In this we had a check and balance between the state governments and the national government both limiting the power of the other.

             Today, we have drifted so far from that foundation that it is hardly recognizable. The power grabs, corruption, and cronyism that exists in Washington and most state governments is repugnant and repulsive.  It is a far cry from what we were found upon and should be desirous to return to.  I am committed to keeping pressure on my elected officials and touch as many people as possible trying to rekindle the desire to return to a Constitutional Republic in America.

             May God bless you and may God bless America!

            I could easily ask, “What would Jesus do?” and that would be appropriate but from a strictly constitutional perspective I ask – “What Would Jefferson Do?”  Just a few days ago some Top Secret information was released to the press that shows that the NSA’s data mining was far more extensive than first thought and that the court giving oversight has been rubber stamping whatever Eric Holder wanted.  It revealed that the operatives in the NSA, not the court, the supervisors, or even the Attorney General could, on their own, make the decision to “snoop”, gather information and use it.  That is pretty lax and creates so much room for incredible abuse that it is, to say the least, ALARMING!

            The Patriot Act was written with a built in design to attempt to balance “civil liberties” and “privacy” with the need to do surveillance on an active terrorist or suspected terrorist.  It is quite clear that has been tossed aside and the NSA, FBI, CIA, and who knows what other agency has trampled on our liberties and privacy in the name of security.  The Constitution that our founders gave us along with the Bill of Rights does not give this kind of authorization to Congress or any federal agency but they ignore the founder’s intent and the clear wording of our constitution and do what they desire.  Is it all in the interest of keeping America and American’s safe?  HARDLY!  As we have seen with the EPA, the IRS, and now the NSA this material is used for political purposes against individuals, businesses, and organizations that are in opposition to the current administration’s policy and agenda.  IS THAT ACCEPTABLE?  Not to me but then I’m not a “low information” voter and exercise the ability and right to think for myself.

            As I look at some of the statements made by Thomas Jefferson regarding LIBERTY I have to believe that he would be leading the opposition to what is happening today.  Let me give you a few select quotes from Mr. Jefferson:

•  July 1774 – – “The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.”
• Jun 1775 – – “Our attachment to no nation upon earth should supplant our attachment to liberty.”
• July 4, 1776 – – “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.”
• December 23, 1791 – – “I would rather be exposed to the inconvenience of attending to too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.”
• October 20, 1820 – – “The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave.”
• “The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”
• “The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it.”
• “I am not a friend to energetic government.  It is always oppressive.”
• “What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance.”

           So when I ask – “What Would Jefferson Do?”  The answer should be clear from the above quotes and multitudes more that can from his mouth and pen.  Thomas Jefferson and the other founders said the incredible danger of an ALL POWERFUL, OVER-REACHING Federal Government and continually warned us of it.  They put checks and balances in place that have been overlooked, disregarded, and despised by the Political Ruling Class.  It is time that WE THE PEOPLE flex our muscle and SEND THEM HOME at the next election.  We need fresh blood in Washington to even have a hope that we can restore the Republic.

 May God watch over, guard, and guide you and may God bless America again!

            With a rogue administration who views the United States Constitution as a hindrance to their desired agenda the Constitutional Right of “State Nullification” becomes, a very current need and a must for today.  If the various States do not exercise this right this current government led by Barack Obama will plunge American into a state of dictatorial tyranny like never before seen in this nation’s history. 

             State Nullification is that the states can and must refuse to enforce unconstitutional federal laws.  It has been exercised by some states with challenges in court by the administration but is something that hopefully every state will practice in the days to come over the rogue actions of this administration.  The Department of Justice and the White House would have you believe that this was not what the framers had in mind but Thomas Jefferson would disagree.  If you examine the draft of his Kentucky Resolutions in 1798 you will find this word “nullification.”  Mr. Jefferson not only believed that the states had the right to do so but that it was mandatory for them to do so as the “rightful remedy” for wrongful, unconstitutional, and diabolical federal laws and actions.  Mr. Jefferson stated that when the federal government expands beyond its constitutional powers and violated the constitution the states were “duty bound to resist”. 

             Thomas Jefferson did not invent the idea for we find in the historical writings of Federalist supporters of the Constitution at the ratifying Convention of 1788 in Virginia assured Virginians that they would be “exonerated” should the federal government attempt to impose “any supplementary condition” upon them.  Simply, that if the federal government should attempt to exercise a power over and above the ones the states had delegated to it they had the right to refuse.

 The basic principle they based this on was:

1. The states preceded the Union.  (The Declaration of Independence speaks of “free and independent states” that “have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do.”  The ratification of the Constitution of the United States was not done by a single vote but by each individual state, each assembled in a convention.
2. In the American system no government is sovereign. (The citizens of the states are the sovereigns, something that Barack Obama, who is supposedly a constitutional scholar, does not understand, ignores, and most assuredly disagree with.  The people within the various states apportion powers between themselves, their state governments, and the federal government.  That action is exercising their sovereignty.
3. Since the people of the states are sovereigns, then when the federal government exercises a power of dubious constitutionality on a matter of great importance, it is they themselves who are the proper disputants, as they review whether their agent was intended to hold such a power.

            James Madison expounded in his Virginia Report of 1800.  It is something that too few are willing to exercise on too many occasions and it is up to us to force our states to step up to the plate and exercise the right of nullification when the federal government goes rogue as it is today.

            Thomas Jefferson warned that if the federal government is allowed to become a monopoly on determining the extent of its own power, we have no right to be surprised when it keeps discovering new ones.  James Madison in his Report of 1800 reminded all Virginians and should remind us today, that the judicial branch is not infallible, and some remedy must be found for those cases in which all three branches of the federal government exceed their constitutional rights. 

            I realize that some will argue that “nullification” violates the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause but there can be no doubt that Jefferson knew and understood the Supremacy Clause and believed that it applied to constitutional laws not unconstitutional ones.  Today we have a government, and a President that is operating as if the Constitution was simply a list of suggestion not regulations controlling the scope and power of the federal government therefore it is vital that the various states exercise their Right of Nullification whenever there are Unconstitutional Laws and Executive Actions issued from Washington and the White House.  I would encourage you to put pressure on your state officials from the Governor down to the State Representatives to act whenever the Obama Administration or any Administration implements or attempts to implement UNCONSTITUTIONAL LAWS or EDICTS.  We the People are the ones the Constitution gives the power to but unless we exercise our rights and our states exercise theirs the federal government will continue to grow larger, more powerful, and become more and more tyrannical.

            May God watch over, guard, and guide you and my God bless America again!

            As I look at the “Gang of Eight” and their Amnesty, Pathway to Citizenship, or whatever you want to call the bill before the Senate it is bad on so many fronts and levels that I do not have time to enumerate all of them.  Suffice it to say that when you have a bill that is almost a thousand pages long you know you have a problem in not only understanding, interpreting, but enforcing the measure effectively, efficiently, or even as the framers of the bill intended.  When you have a measure that puts “Border Security” behind “Amnesty” you have the cart before the horse.  When you have a bill that has triggers that only kick in if Janet Napolatino of Homeland Security says they are not doing a good job, you know that the bill is a farce at best.  When you have a bill that Barack Obama, the Democrats, the media, Karl Rove, and RINO’s like you know that there is probably something in it that is not good.  When you have a bill that the “Promises” far exceed the actual “Bill” you have a bad bill and one that is not only wrong but dangerous for America and our National Security.

           Barack Obama said, in support of the bill, “The time is now to give young illegals a pathway to citizenship.”  He did not call them ILLEGAL only that they broke the rules getting here and should not be allowed go GAME THE SYSTEM.  I find that laughable in that this President is one of the chief GAMERS OF THE SYSTEM on so many fronts that he would even suggest that the ILLEGALS are going to pay any penalty.  He refuses to enforce our IMMIGRATION LAWS now and has rendered the ILLEGALS to a mind-set that says, “We are not going to be prosecuted or deported so why not GAME THE SYSTEM.”  They already have FREE – education, health care, welfare, and in many cases vote so why would they even care about LEGAL STATUS?  Most of them do not care about American citizenship or America they are here for what they can get and they are getting it FREE OF CHARGE!

             I find this bill a tool to expose the true colors of “so-called” conservatives in Congress and identify them for what they are – Political Hacks who are only interested in projecting an image and thinking, mistakenly, that they will secure the vote of the illegals in future elections.  No, the blacks vote En masse for the Democrats and Obama, the Hispanics vote heavily for the Democrat Liberal Agenda, as do most of the other “so-called” minorities.  Republicans you won’t get their vote by trying to press this type of legislation and you will lose some of the conservative vote in the process.  The end result is that your vote totals will decrease not increase.  You will grow the government again, and this situation with ILLEGALS will not be solved, the border will not be secured, and we will be talking about this again in a decade or so.  It will be costly and is ill-advised.

            We MUST secure the border if we are to have any hope of solving the ILLEGAL problem with regard to immigration.  Anything short of that and ahead of that is a bad idea.  My Senators and Congressman know how I feel but now is the time to advise them again because the bill is being debated in the Senate and they will add a few amendments that will allow them to say, “Well we fixed the issues and now I can support it.”  This is a very bad idea, because the amendments WILL NOT FIX the problem or the bill.  IT is time to SAY NO to this legislation, focus on Border Security and then we can talk about what to do about the ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT problem.  That being said, I still have a problem with the ILLEGAL component of the problem.  When did ILLEGAL become a good thing?  When did it become honorable to BREAK THE LAW?  When did increasing the voting base of the Democrats and the Liberal Left become a desirable thing for any Conservative, American Patriot?  Sorry, but Senator if you vote for this bill you made it to my NO MORE LIST.  Same goes for you in the House of Representatives. 

             I am not anti-immigration but I am against this piece of legislation.  If someone wants to come here LEGALLY then you are welcome.   If you make an effort to become assimilated into our American Society then you are welcome.  If you obey the Laws you are welcome.  BUT if you come here ILLEGALLY you should never be granted a pathway to citizenship ignoring your crime.  SECURE THE BORDER first then let’s talk about the Immigration problem.

             We are told that these people are in the “shadows” and to find out WHO THEY ARE we have to give them AMNESTY.  I find that almost laughable seeing as how our government can track all of us LEGAL CITIZENS via phone, email, etc. but can’t discover who these people are without AMNESTY.  That is such an incredible indictment on our investigative abilities it is a crime or at least a crying shame.  No, this is a political football and nothing more.  Even the RINO John McCain admitted that this bill will not garner ONE VOTE for the Republicans it will only say, “Look at us we don’t hate Hispanics.”  We don’t, but we do not endorse ILLEGAL ACTIVITY including immigration and that is not, hating someone it is supporting the United States, our Laws, and Constitution.  Sorry Mr. McCain you and Mr. Rubio along with all the other RINO’s have missed the boat on this one.

             May God be with you and may God bless America again!