Friday, July 9, 2010

CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED

Thomas Jefferson, paraphrasing from James Madison’s “Virginia Declaration of Rights” began the US Declaration of Independence with the following:

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 when any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government

Later, in an indictment of King George, he included:

The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states.

The most important words in the foregoing paragraph are that the government derives it’s just powers from the consent of the governed.

The most interesting issue with the latter paragraph is how much our current professional politicians parallel the injuries and usurpations of King George.

At this point, I want to ask a number of questions:

1) Do you give your consent for a government to create more than 13 TRILLION DOLLARS in public debt which it forces its citizens to repay? If so, continue to vote in the incumbents and party line legislators (of both major parties) who are responsible.

2) Do you give your consent for the government to create more than 80,000 pages of Federal regulations which determine and limit every movement you make in your daily lives? If so, continue to vote in the incumbents and party line legislators (of both major parties) who are responsible.

3) Do you give your consent for the creation of more than 70,000 pages of Tax legislation which determines how much you will send to the operation of the government every year? If so, continue to vote in the incumbents and party line legislators (of both major parties) who are responsible.

4) Do you give your consent to a government which creates an agency to decrease the importation of foreign oil at a time when we imported 20% of our oil and now spends more than 16 BILLION dollars per year to have us import more than 75% of the oil we use annually? If so, continue to vote in the incumbents and party line legislators (of both major parties) who are responsible.

5) Do you give your consent to a government which is hiring more than 15,000 IRS agents who are being tasked with the responsibility to find and prosecute the businesses and business owners who do not comply with the recently enacted health care legislation? If so, continue to vote in the incumbents and party line legislators (of both major parties) who are responsible.

6) Do you give your consent to a government which writes and enacts legislation which has more than 2700 pages of rules and regulations in spite of the fact that most, if not all did not read the legislation before voting in favor of enacting it? If so, continue to vote in the incumbents and party line legislators (of both major parties) who are responsible.

7) Do you give your consent to a government which is tasked with defending our shores, yet allows more than 250,000 aliens to illegally cross our borders without consequence? If so, continue to vote in the incumbents and party line legislators (of both major parties) who are responsible.

8) Do you give your consent to a government which in a warped attempt to protect and defend our shores, chooses to ”nation build” by waging war against countries which have different views of how a government should operate? If so, continue to vote in the incumbents and party line legislators (of both major parties) who are responsible.

9) Do you give your consent to a government which limits the term of the President, but allows its national legislators to serve indefinitely and pass laws which undermine outsiders attempts to serve the government? If so, continue to vote in the incumbents and party line legislators (of both major parties) who are responsible.

10) Do you give your consent to a government which dictates legislation to the states rather than accepting direction from “these United States”? If so, continue to vote in the incumbents and party line legislators (of both major parties) who are responsible.

If, on the other hand, you do not give your consent to be governed by an overreaching legislative body of professional politicians whose main interest is their own self preservation, I implore you to go out into your neighborhoods, find the best, most responsible members of your community and vote them into office.

There is a better way to operate this Republic and if we, the citizens of these United States, don’t wake up and change the course of the nation, in a very short time -- within the next 20 years -- there won’t be a nation left. The answer, in my opinion, is to return political power and the ability to collect and administer taxes to the individual states. This is not as radical an idea as it may sound, and it is much easier to enact than many might think. It is also an idea which will, if applied properly, will encourage business creation, job growth and American exceptionalism. Detailed explanation to follow.