Posted by
John Marino on Tuesday, September 15, 2009 10:00:00 PM
We began our journey in this country as a group of "misfits" who
dreamed of being able to practice and express our views unfettered in a
free country, whether we agreed with the ruling parties or not. We
accomplished this goal to its full fruition on July 4th, 1776. Our
founding fathers decided that there were certain "truths" that were,
and I love this one, "self evident"! Man that gives me a shiver! So
much of what I write seems "SELF EVIDENT" to me. I guess if it were
really that evident, we wouldn't have well educated judges and
political leaders so blind to it. We have lost the "unalienable right"
to such things as "liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Just as one
of our greatest presidents stated, "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
- Lincoln. We as citizens have allowed this to become the reality of
our government. Isn't it amazing how insightful some of our leaders
have been throughout history? Ben Franklin said, "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
This quote is directly referenced by the actions of our former
president Bush. The patriot act, while possibly beginning with good
intentions, was part of the beginning of our country's willingness to
let our government run rampant.
Make no mistake, I am not a
Bush supporter, nor am I an Obama supporter. I am a supporter of our
country. The USA needs more citizens who are focused on her well-being
rather than their political stance. If a label is required, I consider
myself at this point a Libertarian. "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" -
Declaration of Independence. Have we forgotten what our country was
founded on? YES WE HAVE, and we are unfortunately being reminded slowly
but surely in a most unpleasant way. Let's compare how our government
today is holding up against the responsibilities it was designed for.
In our country, you are now taxed for the purpose of supporting those
who legislators decide are worthy. Our money has been doled out to
schmucks on Wall Street, in Detroit, Mi., and many other companies in
many cities all chosen based on personal bias of the very members of
congress who voted to get the money from us. the word for this is
stealing. dictionary.com defines stealing as the act of to taking (the
property of another or others) without permission or right. Now, we
weren't asked if we wanted to fund a bail-out, so there goes the
argument for permission. Now the question is do they have the right?
Now I am not a scholar of the Constitution by any means, but I was
unable to find any passage in it that gave the government the right to
take our money to further their own interests or the interests of
anyone other than providing security to maintain our FREEDOM as a
country. How many people believe General Motors had to survive the
recession in order to secure our freedom? I would guess you might get
Obama to argue that point but not too many others,(maybe not even
Pelosi).
What about the things that are being championed now
pertaining to our health care system? While our health care system has
its flaws, it is the best in the world. Obama finally made a concession
in his health care speech the other night,(however subtle), that
socialization is not the answer. He conceded that the best answer is to
reform the current system, but then went on to destroy his credibility
by suggesting that the rest of us pay for health care for those who
cannot afford it by cutting spending in other places to compensate for
it. Sometimes I just feel like my head will explode the more I think
about the direction we are headed as a country.
In short, we
need to start holding our leaders accountable for encroaching on our
liberties and reaching far beyond the rights granted them by our
nations founding documents. Let not the immortal words of our wise
founding fathers fall on deaf ears! Stand up Americans! THIS IS OUR
COUNTRY! Take it back