Sunday, July 26, 2015

Drain the Swamp. End the Washington Cartel.

Today, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Orrin Hatch(R-ish UT) took to the Senate floor to chastise a fellow Senator for exposing the Senate Majority Leader's duplicitous ways. You see, in Washington DC, exposing the cartel that is the US government is strictly forbidden. What many in the parts of the country that actually produce and sell things see is a government for the government, by the government and of the government(with a few large corporate lobbyists thrown in for good measure). The people spoke during the election of last year that they wanted Congress to go in a different direction. All that Republican control has done is go along with most of Lord Obama's agenda. The Regime has been able to do most anything they wanted with very little push back from a Congress led by the opposition party. I suggest that a Congress that does nothing is most favorable compared to a Congress that does poorly by the voters that sent them to the cesspool that is Capitol Hill.

Senator Ted Cruz(R-TX), on Friday, July 25th, 2015 made a momentous speech from the floor of the Senate. He called out the Republican leader of the world's "most deliberative body" and laid out what the Senator said and then what the Senior Senator from Kentucky did. Senate Majority Leader(term used loosely) Mitch McConnell is just as big a problem in the effort to establish constitutional government as any of the Democrats are. Sen. McConnell has shown himself to be just as vindictive as his predecessor, Dingy Harry Reid(Commie NV). Sen. McConnell has shown no tolerance for conservative thought and his treatment of several freshmen representatives that voted with the will of their district is abhorrent. I can't do Senator Cruz's speech justice so I've included the link here. This is the best use of 20 minutes that anyone who is even just a little bit concerned about how our government is running can spend.

I don't care about the people calling for decorum in the Senate. I find the weak and mostly absent leadership provided by the Majority Leader and his counterpart, House Speaker John Boehner(R-ish OH), to be sorely lacking in intestinal fortitude and moral courage. These men have seen fit to make their time in government about them. They have forsaken their duty to the people that voted for them. Most Congress critters are only concerned with how they keep the lobbyists that direct campaign funds to their coffers, happy. The only thought they have to doing what is right is shortly before an election so they can go back to their districts(I hesitate to call them home districts, since many make their home in the Beltway) and say look at what I did. Most know that the idiot voters that are just concerned with pork barrel spending and welfare checks will keep voting for them just so long as they keep bringing home the bacon. This has to stop. The time for a Constitutional Amendment that mandates Congressional term limits is now.

Since most of our Congressional Representatives and Senators are in no hurry to vote themselves out of a job, it is up to the states to suggest such a remedy through the only vehicle we have left to reign in the federal government. An Article 5 Convention of States is our only legal recourse left. Opponents say that we should just elect better people. We have tried and once the beltway juju is applied, most elected officials that were thought to be of strong mind and body collapse like a cheap tent in a windstorm. Here is a list of the most senior(read mostly rotten to the core) Senators and Representatives:
RankSenatorSeniority dateFirst tie-breakerSecond tie-breakerCommittee and leadership positions
1Patrick Leahy (D-VT)January 3, 1975Ranking Member: Judiciary
2Orrin Hatch (R-UT)January 3, 1977President pro tempore
Chair: Finance
3Thad Cochran (R-MS)December 27, 1978[n 1]Chair: Appropriations
4Chuck Grassley (R-IA)January 3, 1981Chair: Judiciary
5Mitch McConnell (R-KY)January 3, 1985Majority Leader
6Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)January 3, 1987Former Representative (10 years)Ranking Member: Appropriations
7Richard Shelby (R[n 2]-AL)Former Representative (8 years)Chair: Banking
8John McCain (R-AZ)Former Representative (4 years)Arizona 29th in population (1980)Chair: Armed Services
9Harry Reid (D-NV)Nevada 43rd in population (1980)Minority Leader
Democratic Caucus Chair
10Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)November 4, 1992Ranking Member: Intelligence
11Barbara Boxer[n 3] (D-CA)January 3, 1993Former RepresentativeRanking Member: Environment
Vice Chair: Ethics

1John ConyersDMI-13January 3, 1965Dean of the House
Ranking Member: Judiciary
2Charles RangelDNY-13January 3, 1971
3Don YoungRAKMarch 6, 1973
4James SensenbrennerRWI-05January 3, 1979
5Hal RogersRKY-05January 3, 1981Chair: Appropriations
6Christopher SmithRNJ-04
7Steny HoyerDMD-05May 19, 1981Minority Whip
8Marcy KapturDOH-09January 3, 1983
9Sander LevinDMI-09Ranking Member: Ways and Means
10Joe BartonRTX-06January 3, 1985
11Pete ViscloskyDIN-01
12Peter DeFazioDOR-04January 3, 1987Ranking Member: Transportation and Infrastructure
13John LewisDGA-05
14Louise SlaughterDNY-25Ranking Member: Rules
15Lamar SmithRTX-21Chair: Science, Space and Technology
16Fred UptonRMI-06Chair: Energy and Commerce
What these two charts show is the need for new blood in the body that is supposed to protect the US Constitution and work within its limits to govern these several states. They have failed. 4 Senators and 11 Representatives have been in office for over THIRTY YEARS!!!!!!!!!! Sorry for shouting, but this can no longer be allowed. Members of Congress should receive no pension. A small severance could be paid to help them while they reintegrate into private life. There should also be a 10 year ban on lobbying for all members who leave office. The swamp needs to be drained.

Senator Ted Cruz is correct. The Washington DC Cartel needs to be broken up. This will not happen with out a great deal of pain but sometimes what is needed most hurts. Think of this as physical therapy for a broken country.

Listen to more of what Senator Cruz said below:

Sen. Cruz with Mark Levin

Sen. Cruz with Rush Limbaugh on the EIB network

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

My Pro-Life Story: An update.

With the release of the video of a Planned Parenthood executive describing the vile and disgusting way that aborted babies are disposed of, many for a fee, I felt the need to update a post I wrote several months ago. My nephew will be one year old in a little less than two weeks. He is trying to walk right now and is starting to talk( mama, dada and kitty). He's had a few challenges but he is still the best thing to every happen to my family. He has become a ham and knows when to pour on the charm(especially for the ladies). He's softened my dad's heart. He smiles readily and still has his mom and dad, and everyone else that meets him for that matter, wrapped around his little finger.

Every time I hear of a story like this, I think back to when my nephew was born. He spent better than the first month of his life in the hospital. I also know of parents who've had preemies born even earlier and their children have survived and are now thriving. My heart breaks for the babies that aren't given that chance. Babies over two pounds are generally viable with medical assistance.

I keep many photos of my nephew with me on my phone so that even when I'm having a bad day, I can look at him and know that there still is good in the world. Through trying times, I think of him. Sometimes it feels like the world is against us but God is still there and working in others to show us His presence.

No amount of legislation will change the hearts of those that continue to believe that abortion is a viable choice when it comes to birth control(Not having sex is birth control, but I digress.). It is clear that Planned Parenthood is just in the business of killing babies for the profit of it. We must work to make their business so reprehensible that there is no more need for Planned Parenthood. Until then, millions of babies are at risk of being chopped up and sold for their organs. Where laws were broken, Planned Parenthood needs to be charged, but we must make their business unprofitable by changing hearts and minds from a position of love for children and mothers. Join me in discussing this with your friends and relatives. We must no longer be silent about this important issue.

Find me on Twitter. Read my original post below.
Almost a year old, see the next pic below to see him shortly after birth.

Original Post:

I'm a big proponent of supporting my writing with facts to back it up. While there is a bit of that in this post, most of it just comes from my heart.

Last year, after helping my sister and brother-in-law move across the country, the family got a call from my brother-in-law on Sunday, July 27th telling us that my sister was being taken by ambulance from an emergency room in a small local hospital to a large hospital thirty minutes away because she had severe pre-eclampsia. She felt really bad that morning and had asked to be taken to the local ER. The doctor there found her blood pressure to be quite high. The only remedy was to deliver their baby. She was 30 weeks pregnant. Shortly after her transfer, she had an emergency cesarean section and my nephew was born. I was scared to death.

My nephew was barely larger than his dad's hand when he was born. At his lowest weight shortly after birth, he was three pounds. Seeing pictures of him with tubes and monitors all over was scary. Finding out after the fact that his mom, my sister, could have died if not for the quick action taken by her husband and then the medical staff hit me like a ton of bricks. After several days of monitoring, she was released from the hospital but my little nephew spent over a month in the hospital. He was strong though. He was on oxygen assistance for less than two weeks. He figured out how to pull the nasal cannula away from his face.

He was about a month and a half old and only five and a half pounds when I first held him shortly after he came home from the hospital. He was tiny and fragile but he was most assuredly alive and kicking. He wasn't quite a full term baby even at that time, forty five days after he was born. That first time his mom, my sister, placed him in my arms, my pro-life leanings became a full fledged passion.

The most disturbing part of this story is the fact that many babies of his gestational age are still killed by abortionists in this country. I can't even wrap my mind around the thought.

Fast forward to almost ten months later and little Wyatt Matthew is about seventeen pounds, has his first tooth and is starting to move all over the house. He can pick out the toys he wants (mainly to chew on) and he is eating baby food. He smiles and giggles now and has captured the heart of every person on both sides of his parents' family. He is the ultimate proof that life is a blessing. Ask anyone who comes in contact with him.

The point to all of this is to show that every innocent life is precious. The Congress has taken up House Resolution 36. It would outlaw abortion after twenty weeks gestation, in most cases. Why this is not supported by every person in Congress and all of the country will confound me until the day I die. Most abortions are done out of pure self interest. Don't let anyone fool you with the whole rape and incest argument. That is about three percent of abortions, at best.

I have no problem with birth control, so before you call me a misogynist or anti-woman, know that. People forget that there is a way to prevent pregnancy that never fails. Remain abstinent unless you are prepared for the consequences. No innocent unborn child should be made to suffer for the pleasure of a self-centered adult. If a woman is self centered enough to think that abortion would be a viable option to contraception, she should have herself sterilized. The same goes for a man. I know I'll get heat for what I just said but I think the point needed to be raised.

Before you say that I'm an anti-woman bigot again, I think that those women that choose to kill an unborn child through abortion need our prayers and those that are truly sorry and choose to repent from their ways deserve our compassion too. Those that continue to advocate for the killing of innocent babies need to be held up as the disgusting people that they are.

I realize that there are times when a pregnancy can cause risk to the mother, the baby or both. That doesn't mean that abortion should be the first plan of action. Termination of a pregnancy should be the very last option in the medical field. Doctors take an oath to "do no harm". An abortion is the exact opposite of that oath.

If we don't value the life of the most innocent among us, I feel we will lose our humanity altogether. It starts with education. Young people need to understand the consequences of sex. Sex is, at its most basic level, for procreation. This needs to be drilled into the head of every person. Yes, it is important in a relationship but the fact that the act was intended to create new life cannot be overlooked. Our culture has shown that physical relationships that aren't grounded in true care for the other person are doomed to fail. I don't understand the point of engaging in that type of relationship. Maybe I'm not "with it".

Unfortunately, we have leaders in this country that would be OK with allowing a baby that survived an abortion attempt to die. Our president defeated many attempts to outlaw that type of late term abortion while he was an Illinois state senator. Many so-called feminist leaders also stand for abortion on demand up until the second a baby is born. They hold up a woman named Margaret Sanger. She was the person who spawned the abortion mill called Planned Parenthood. She was in favor of eugenics(so were the Nazis), she was a racist of the highest order and even accepted a chance to speak at a Ku Klux Klan rally in 1926.

I know that I just used facts and that isn't allowed in this debate but I do hold out hope. The country has taken a pro-life turn that is contrary to what the elected Democrats and even a few Republicans have held as an issue not to be touched. All of those people that feel strongly about advocating for the protection of the unborn need to make our voices heard. This is a winning issue for politicians and they need to understand that. Call your and email your United States Representatives and Senators and urge them to support HR 36. Call the White House and issue your warning to President Obama. If Congress has the backbone to pass this bill and Comrade Obama chooses to veto it, Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC needs to laid under a siege by those of us that see it as our mission to protect innocent life. We need to stand up for what is right. With out life, nothing else matters.

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

So Much For Peace Through Strength

Today, I find myself slipping into a rather morose mood. I fear for our country and our world. Our "leaders"(term used loosely) have seen fit to cozy up to a government that has imprisoned our citizens, funded proxy wars and generally fomented a climate of anti-Western and anti-Israel hate. John Kerry(Lurch), who served in Vietnam, have sold our allies down the river. Frankly, I think this may very well be our generation's Neville Chamberlain moment. "Peace in our time" was a load of crap when Chamberlain talked of his agreement with Hitler and I feel that this agreement with the Mullahs of Iran is a pact of the same sort now.

Barack Obama(Peace Be Upon Him) has shown his true colors in pushing for this catastrophic deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran. The media covers for him by saying that this deal is about his "legacy". What about the American legacy of standing up to tyrannical regimes? Iran has had the shackles removed from their economy. They don't have admit to any military nuclear research. Their underground network of fortified nuclear facilities won't even be touched in this agreement. The International Atomic Energy Agency will have no teeth in Iran. All the US government has done is give Iran cover for ten years.



A good barometer of this deal is Moscow's pleasant tone toward the deal. Vladimir Putin is happy to see the United States marginalize itself on the world stage. China has no disagreement with this either. We are doing what our enemies want and at the same time, we are putting in jeopardy the existence of the only actual free state in the Middle East. Israel is the first target of an empowered Iran. If you think otherwise, you are going through life with your eyes closed. I agree with Senator Ted Cruz when he said, "If someone says they want to kill you...believe them." The last six and half years of foreign policy have been as disastrous as the last six and half years of domestic policy. By the end of his term, Obama will have added around $12 trillion to our national debt, weakened our health care sector, gutted our military readiness, reduced our clout on the international stage and generally made our country less safe from both external and internal threats. Just ask Putin, he'll confirm that he is pleased.

With every passing day, I am more and more convinced that the problem with our government is a public that has given up its actual power. There is no more consent of the governed. Citizens are now more like subjects in a medieval kingdom. The landowners are the government bureaucrats with the elected officials serving as the nobility and our president serving as the effective monarch. The people of the country have forsaken their duty. Some of it is because they have been indoctrinated in the leftist philosophy that government is a benevolent master to be worshiped. Some of it is due to a portion of the population that is too busy to concern itself with affairs greater than their own personal interests. Normally, I'd be OK with that philosophy, but Rome is burning and we need these people to join the bucket brigade. The vanguard is the small percentage of the population, patriots, shouting from the mountaintops that what our government is doing is wrong and will lead to ruin. This portion is marginalized by the government and media as being right wing, bigoted, racist, homophobic, sexist etc. to get them to shut down debate.

This one sided agreement with Iran may very well lead to an actual war. Israel is threatened every day by Iranian backed proxy fighters in the form of Hezbollah. Israel may find the need to take out Iranian nuclear facilities but the Obama administration has said they wouldn't allow Israel to defend its national interests and citizens. Our world is 180 degrees out of phase. Israel must be supported and Iran must still be marginalized on the world stage but we(the US government) have effectively turned that philosophy on its head. Iran, with sanctions lifted, will be able to enrich itself with its great oil wealth and trade at will with bad actors in Southwest Asia, East Asia and all points in between. It seems that, at best, the Obama regime has not taken into any of this into account or at worst, approves of this development. Frankly, I'm leaning toward the latter.

The Obama regime seems to follow the foreign policy of peace through appeasement. Appeasing an enemy that wants to kill you and your allies is nothing more than agreeing with the sentiment. Peace, as Ronald Reagan showed with the Soviet Union, can only be achieved through being stronger and more resolute than your enemy. A shot may never need to be fired if the country that seeks peace is known to be the most powerful and morally upright country in the world. World War One and World War Two showed the correct way to win a shooting war and the Cold War, after Reagan was elected, showed the correct way to win a non shooting war. Obama has shown no interest in learning from history and that will be our downfall. I'm afraid that our country, even if a good president is elected in 2016 and our Congress has a spine transplant performed(attention John Boehner and Mitch McConnell), is too far gone.

Our Dear Leader, Komrade Obama, has promised a veto on any action taken against the Iran agreement by Congress. If the Congressional leadership can't muster a super majority on this issue to override a Presidential veto, they are no good and should be replaced. Every elected official in Congress must work to override this bad deal. We know that are a few Democrat true believers that won't defy their Supreme Leader but all of those that care about our country and international peace must vote to deny the Obama regime their negotiated deal.

The only agreement that would be satisfactory would be strengthened sanctions along with the release of our people held unjustly by the Iranian regime. Nothing less would do. If Iran allowed an outside force to remove their centrifuges and fissile material, sanctions could be reduced. Sanctions should not be lifted altogether as long as Iran supports international terrorism. Why our State department, led by Lurch, was allowed to sit down with these people for any reason other than to explain how the cow ate the proverbial cabbage still baffles my mind.

The world's hope must be Israeli restraint until a new president, who doesn't dislike the Jewish people in Israel, can be elected in our country. Israel needs our backing to keep the whole region from descending into ISIS and Hezbollah backed chaos. Without a severe change in direction on the part of the United States, I fear for the stability of our world. This Iran deal will go down as the worst foreign policy decision since we decided that wars could be won by winning hearts and minds instead of crushing our opponents with superior military strength and letting the chips fall where they may in the aftermath. Our culture has become adverse to the idea of complete victory because of some misguided sense of fairness and social justice.

This will not and cannot end well if the majority of the American people continue to pay no attention to the direction that their government is taking them.

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Saturday, July 11, 2015

I Miss My Home


While our federal government sees very little value in federalism and reserving rights of goverance to the states as required in the 10th Amendment(see my previous post) of the United States Constitution, it is still quite evident that the states are still individual entities. I find that comforting. I have found myself in an eastern state and I'm questioning why. While I have had no overt issues with this new state, Maryland, I have found that people here are not as independent as those of the inter-mountain west. It seems that both coasts, where the majority of people in this country are found, have lost their will to want to be left alone unless they choose to interact with people. I have no issue with being around people but I do have an issue with not being able to get away from those same people. In Nebraska and Colorado, my two other states of residence, all it took was a short trip of 20-30 minutes and a person could be where there were no other people. A drive of 2 hours would lead you to places where you were almost guaranteed to not see another soul for miles. Some find that disconcerting. I find that ability to truly alone quite comforting. Follow along as I explore.

While most of the eastern US is held privately(no issues there), that also means that most of the eastern US is populated very densely as compared to the fly over states. Some people love the hustle and bustle. I find the rat race to be rather self destructive. I have found that trying to get all people to think and act the same way just depresses the will of those people to be what they want to be. One thing I notice out west is the people tend to choose where they live for more than just one reason. In the east, it is all about location to work or cost of housing or how their property helps in their quest to win the rat race. In the west, people value quality of life much more. Here, the popular thing is to go to where lots of people are. The National Mall on Independence Day is a prime example. How many people actually go there to celebrate the meaning of the day rather than just go to be part of the group? From what I saw, that number is quite low. It just happened to be the "thing to do" on that given day. Contrast this to visiting a remote mountain setting where you might go camping, hiking or fishing. The people that go there tend to have more of a personal connection to what they are doing and the setting gives them the ability to actually recreate, in the truest sense of the word.

Here, I can walk through woods that were preserved inside a city setting. While the woods are real, the intention was rather contrived. It was a planned area so as to give the people the feeling of being farther away from their neighbor than they really are. Out west, if you go on a hike, there is a chance that you could be miles from the nearest road. The difference is quite stark. There is only a few places here where you can survey your surroundings and see for more than a few hundred yards in any direction. Arlington National Cemetery and the National Mall are a few of the only places in this whole area where someone can survey the area. In the west, any small rise will give you the ability to see for miles on end. At times, you can see over 100 miles. It's all about perspective. Traveling all over this country has now given me a perspective I never truly had. I now truly believe that the folks that choose to live in the flyover states are really the only free people left in the US. Frankly, being forgotten about by the powers that be might be the best thing about living in a low population state.

The ability to self determine is something I find lacking in the east. People here either tend to be set in their station in life or they are obsessed with obtaining power to lord over others. There isn't much room in between those goals. State and local governments see to it that there is little room. In the west, you are allowed to carve out a niche. People tend to be more resourceful. I find very little of that here. When the vast majority of people work in government or in support of the government, innovation is punished and the ability to maintain the status quo is celebrated. Finding a way to secure more taxpayer money is seen as successful. It makes me ill.

After much soul searching for the past several days, I will do what ever I can to move back to the inter-mountain west. Rather than move back to Colorado, which has been and still is being infected(or infested, either works) by people from both coasts trying to simultaneously escape leftist, high tax coastal states and bring the same philosophies that made them leave their former homes to Colorado, I think Wyoming, Utah, or Montana will be the states I look toward. Wyoming holds some of my best memories and is the most rugged and independent state in the Union, outside of Alaska. There are fewer people in Wyoming than any other state and the population density is lower than all other states except fore mentioned Alaska. Wyomingites have an independent streak that is shown by the laws that they have enacted to protect individual rights. Governor Matt Mead has shown himself to be one of the greatest defenders of the individual of any governor in the United States. Perhaps the best evidence of this was his signing of bill that has become known as Constitutional Carry in 2011. The bill passed the Wyoming House and Senate with huge majorities. The state has voted for a Democrat in presidential elections only once since 1952 and the election of 1964 was seen as a sympathy vote for Lyndon Johnson because of JFK's death shortly before that election. Romney won by a 40 point margin in 2012.
Small Town Wyoming
The reason this is weighing on me heavily is that I feel out of place here in the east. My views clash with almost everyone in the state of Maryland. The new governor here is a decent man who, even after a devastating cancer diagnosis, has pledged to help move the state out of the total leftist cesspool that it has rested in for decades. The problem he faces is Maryland also has a legislature that is, on average, 65% Democrat and quite opposed to legislation that advances the cause of general liberty. The states to the north and east of here are no better. I'd consider moving to the South, but humid, hot weather and I are mortal enemies. Most places out west will allow for a difference of opinion. Here, in the east, if you don't tow the leftist line, politically correct line, your livelihood could even be jeopardized. Even most Republicans that come to Washington DC are swept up in the PC washing machine and are basically neutered by the political machine. Don't get me wrong, there are a few decent folks here, but most are military and are just biding their time until they can leave for points south or west. My step brother and his family are one such family. They are looking at Arizona after his wife is done in the military. I don't blame them.
I choose this over what is below. No matter how creative man is, God is infinitely more so.

The mountains have seeped into every pore of my being. I think I took them for granted for the last few years of my time in Colorado but now that they are gone(Don't tell me that the Blue Ridge Mountains are actual mountains. They are foothills that serve as a barrier to those that don't have a yearning to be free). I miss seeing the stars at night from a campsite so dark on a moonless night that every star in the sky seems to explode toward you. I miss feeling the air cool as soon as the sun goes down. I miss seeing the sun set behind granite peaks. I miss thin air and prairie grass. I miss seeing herds of elk and pronghorn. I miss seeing roads that go for miles and miles and miles without a town only to pass through a little, tiny town to do it all over again. I miss being able to enjoy hiking without feeling like the air wants to crush you. I miss being able to open my window in my bedroom at night. I miss it all. 
A Grand Teton Sunset
The Mountain Sky at Night

I think that Wyoming needs to be my new home. I want to go to a state that respects the individual over all other entities. There is little room for actual individualism here in the east. People here think that individualism is wearing your hair in crazy unnatural shades or wearing clothes that scream aloud that you want to be seen. That is a false sense of individualism. True liberty is the ability to govern yourself and do what you see fit to do because you want to, not because anyone says you have to. True liberty comes with the responsibility to be good to your neighbor. In western states, there is still a sense of duty to be a decent neighbor with the understanding that each person should be left alone unless true need comes into play. Family and friends are meant as one's support system. Not government. My time here in Maryland will be short. As soon as it is possible, I will head back west in order to save my sanity and my soul. It also helps that Wyoming doesn't have any state income tax.

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Friday, July 3, 2015

Independence Day?


Tomorrow is the 239th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. While the celebration of Independence Day is normally a joyous event, we should also look back on the what and why of that day. We should also see how that relates to our country and world today. Before we can do that, a refresher on the previously mentioned document is in order.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. 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. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. 
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. 
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. 
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. 
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they 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. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
   Button Gwinnett
   Lyman Hall
   George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
   William Hooper
   Joseph Hewes
   John Penn
South Carolina:
   Edward Rutledge
   Thomas Heyward, Jr.
   Thomas Lynch, Jr.
   Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania:
   Robert Morris
   Benjamin Rush
   Benjamin Franklin
   John Morton
   George Clymer
   James Smith
   George Taylor
   James Wilson
   George Ross
Delaware:
   Caesar Rodney
   George Read
   Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
   William Floyd
   Philip Livingston
   Francis Lewis
   Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
   Richard Stockton
   John Witherspoon
   Francis Hopkinson
   John Hart
   Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
   Josiah Bartlett
   William Whipple
Massachusetts:
   Samuel Adams
   John Adams
   Robert Treat Paine
   Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
   Stephen Hopkins
   William Ellery
Connecticut:
   Roger Sherman
   Samuel Huntington
   William Williams
   Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
   Matthew Thornton

Now that we've reviewed this document, applying it's lessons to today's circumstances can begin. 

Many parts of our government have become destructive to the end goal of protecting the individual liberties that the formation of this loose collection of states was intended to achieve. Especially in terms of the regulations and rules imposed by unelected bureaucrats and the process of legislating from the bench in our federal and state courts. Our country has shed much blood to ensure that government based upon the central tenant that the individual has the right to Life, Liberty and Property(before signing changed to pursuit of Happiness)  and that those rights would not perish from the earth. 

Regulation

When the country was formed, the idea was to regulate government so it could do little to regulate the individual. That idea has been turned on its head. Now, we have myriad federal and state regulations. My main point deals with the idea of federal regulation, because the states should be independent from the federal governments regulations on in-state issues and the state to state issues should be dealt with in a methodical manor as not to usurp those states and their right to self govern. 

We now have the Dept of Commerce, Dept of Agriculture, Dept of Energy, Dept of Education, Dept of Interior, Dept of Homeland Security, Dept of Health and Human Services,  Dept of Housing and Urban Develpment, Dept of Transportation, Dept of Veterans Affairs(a whole book could be written there) and all the many agencies, known as the alphabet soup of Washington DC, that fall under those departments' respective umbrellas.  When this country was founded and our first president took office, there were only four cabinet positions. Those were War(now Defense), State, Treasury and Justice. Most of these departments serve only one purpose and that is the purpose of existence. They exist to keep on existing. The way they do that is by creating a need for perpetual funding by making up problems that wouldn't exist if not for the department that was created to fix the problem. The departments, for the vast majority, are duplicates of mirror departments in most of the states. Why have 51 agencies when 50 would suffice? Ronald Reagan warned of this in his 1964 Speech, A Time for Choosing.


Here are a few examples of why our current federal government has become an entity that our forefathers would have rebelled against:

The DEA Strikes Again – Agents Seize Man’s Life Savings Under Civil Asset Forfeiture Without Charges

Rep. Bishop, Utah farmers fire back on federal groundwater proposal


These few articles serve to illustrate what a government that is concerned with power rather than individual rights will do if left unchecked. One of the reasons that large corporations that the left loves to rail against are so successful is for the reasons stated in the articles above. The large companies can afford to hire people in charge of compliance with regulations and licensing issues. Many small businesses don't have the manpower or funds to be able to comply with both state and federal regulations. The beauty of state regulation is that a business, should it so choose, can move from a state that has overly aggressive regulatory practices to a state with less onerous business rules. This isn't the case for federal regulations. States were intended to be the laboratories of self government. They simply aren't allowed to be any longer.

Fees, or just another word for Taxes 

When taxes are imposed by Congress, no matter how much we don't like them, they are done so with the authority that Congress is granted by virtue of the elective process and the consent(loosely at times) of the governed. When a bureaucracy establishes fees in order to engage in commerce or sometimes even just to go about your own business, that agency does so arbitrarily. When a panel of a majority of nine unelected judges say something is a tax, just for grins, they do so with no consent from the governed. Examples of this are everywhere. Here are just a few:



We aren't represented by the courts or the regulatory agencies. We, the people have little to no redress to these groups that impose undue costs on us. They serve to lord over a populace that has been, for the most part, too compliant to push back. When government holds the ability to raise our cost of living, while degrading it at the same time, with no recourse at the ballot box, that government must be challenged and changed. When those that we elect don't reign in the federal bureaucracy, they must be held to account in their next elective cycle by having primary challenges from those that have shown the will to cut the size and scope of government intrusion into the ability of a state to govern itself. Also, they need to be able to fight for each individual to have the freedom to determine what is best for that individual from an economic standpoint. All of these regulations and rules set forth by the federal government serve to reduce competition in the marketplace, increase dependency on the agency that has been given power over that aspect of the marketplace and generally make it impossible for innovative new ideas to be made a reality by any company or entrepreneur, outside of the largest and most well connected corporations. When making a better mousetrap is made to be cost prohibitive before the production even starts, the better mousetrap stays in concept form until a large company is able to buy off or figure out a way around the regulatory hurdles set in place by the federal bureaucracy. 

If a state has a regulatory climate that is antithetical to doing business at a good and decent cost, local and state elections have shown to actually fix those areas (at least where leftists loons don't control everything). Wisconsin has been a great case study. Utah has also shown great strides in making their state friendly for business. States that have little to no corporate and individual income tax tend to invite investment. States that have higher tax burdens don't. That is the beauty of giving the states the ability to determine what is best for that state. California, for example, might highly benefit if its west coast slid into the ocean(I kid...sort of).

I guess what I'm getting at is the majority of people of the several states are no longer placing value on the concept of independence from a great central authority. We have replaced King George with Uncle Sam. This is the uncle that ruins family reunions and acts out at funerals. He's the uncle that you don't really want to talk to anymore. He has a few honorable traits(uniformed service men and women come to mind) but on the whole, he is destructive, just for the sake of destroying things. When government is just about the next funding bill and saying a reduction in the rate of growth is a cut, it is time to reign it in. 

On this Independence Day 2015, let us recommit ourselves to working for the principles that made our country great, namely respect for the individual and for the states that those individuals choose to live in. The states were intended to control the federal government, not the other way around. I encourage all that read this to check out the #COSProject. Also, become active in letting your government representatives know how you think. Don't be diplomatic or shy about it either. Politicians need to remember that they work for us and not the other way around, as is the case in so much of our country. Also, you needn't care when some leftist troll calls you a racist, sexist, bigot or enemy of the government. The flak just means you are over the target.

Celebrate Independence Day tomorrow by reading the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States and remembering that our nation's founding was to throw off an oppressive government. We are being called to do the same thing again. 

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