You and I Will Pay the Piper

Last week, I read the following: “What if we told you those dollar bills in your wallet were not money? Well, they are not. They are the national currency of the United States.” The bills in our wallets only have value because we believe there is also a corresponding value of gold stored in a safe place for each of the bills we possess. Our currency is really IOU’s distributed by our government!

I often purchase a common chocolate wafer snack bar. Recently, this bar doubled in price. Why did a twenty five cent snack suddenly become a fifty cent snack? Please tell me that you didn’t immediately scream: ‘Company Greed’. Wrong! It happened because the value of the national currency all Americans hold on faith in our wallets is declining. More unsecured “Federal Reserve Notes” in circulation equals less value. More currency in circulation results in higher prices for everything including the cost of doing business. You have noticed this trend, haven’t you?

Our government is daily stealing our currency’s value, stealing our future and stealing our faith and trust. We are continuously being sold the insane notion that our nation’s multiple trillions of dollars of debt is of no matter because we can simply print more. “How do you develop a strategy against insanity? How do you fight those who act against their own self interest? What weapons can penetrate the ignorance which our elected progressive leaders wrap around themselves like a proud mantle?” 
Understand this: Our faith in our elected progressive leaders will continue to be used against us and it is not them but us who will ultimately pay the piper his due.

The "We the People" Map

I remember when we had safety and trust and how it felt. We were proud. We believed. We were unique. We knew that if we followed our map all problems could and would be solved. Yet today, we seem to be losing that map piece by piece. We are also losing our national sense of direction and purpose. “We” is repeated and repeated here because “We” is followed by “the People” in our constitution. We are those people! This makes the events we view in today’s Washington even more frightening. The recent words and images on display in Washington present us as a country reduced to a war of words, name calling, labeling, posturing, clear ignorance of the Constitution and even lies by the President. These images provide the “We the people” a front and center slide show of a very rapidly changing constitutional map with a bleak future

“We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” (September 17, 1787).

To these historic words we added The Bill of Rights. (December 15, 1791) The Bill of Rights extended the people’s confidence in the government and were created “in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers”.

The “Then” and “Now” comparisons used below paint two different pictures of “We the People”. The words above remain the same today but their meaning and their promise is changing.

Then: Our Framers specifically chose a limited executive, legislative and judiciary government. The creation of the Bill of Rights made it complete with specific checks and balances and limitations for each branch and very specific rights granted to people and states.

and Now: Our government grows larger and larger with each passing day. “We the People” are increasingly being taken care of much as a good farmer tends to his livestock and we demand more. States now have no choice except to bow to ever demanding “government can do it better” and “you are wrong” rules and mandates.

Then: Our Founders were either Federalist or Non Federalist. The Non Federalists feared a centralized and powerful government. To reduce Non Federalists’ fears, our first senators, were elected by state legislatures rather than by a direct citizen vote. Those senators served at the pleasure of the state and not the government and were expected to faithfully represent state desires and not his own or the desires of others. Centralized power was, indeed, limited with specific checks.

and Now: The 17^th Amendment was passed by Congress on May 13, 1912 and Ratified on April 8, 1913. We destroyed the Framers intent. Some senators clearly do not even try to protect the state from the government and they all seek continued status in its chambers. States’ rights are clearly being limited and, our government has now grown to those levels feared and rejected by the Non Federalists.

Then: The focus of the Supreme Court was specifically limited to “all Cases in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution”. The Court’s Justices had identified limited responsibilities.

and Now: Today, these judges experience lifelong appointments and function well beyond their intended purposes.  The court’s judges have chosen not to be limited to decisions to “support” and “protect” the Constitution and contribute to the expanding federal influence. I must admit I simply do not understand why five to four votes are as good and as permanent as nine to zero votes.

The “Then” and “Now “ guide above also reveals increased citizens, elected leaders and Supreme Court Judges claiming our Constitution and Bill of Rights are quaint and antiquated and are not representative or workable today. We call them Progressives and/or Liberals.  They propose the adoption of different beliefs. Since the 17^th Amendment became law in 1913, we can clearly trace the progress of these beliefs which change the purpose for and application of beliefs in the Framers Constitution. Read about their goals and the claimed benchmark achievements from President Woodrow Wilson through the 100 years to Barack Obama and you will reveal a planned piece by piece Constitutional Republic versus Utopia value struggle. Unlike our Framers secure and clear path the Utopian path is very steep, slippery and dangerous and has always failed.

It is possible, of course, that we may experience the emergence of a Founder’s type leader and the return to what “we” once believed a life time ago. In this spirit, I close with the words of Walt Kelly’s cartoon character, “Pogo”. 
“Sir, we have met the enemy and he is us.”

Published in The Alpena News on October 12, 2013

Liberty is most important word for country

This was written because of growing personal concerns about the dangerous places that our nation’s progressive elected leaders are taking this nation. I could avoid these concerns by saying and doing nothing or simply stating to others that I am only one person and can do nothing to prevent what is happening. However, the words of Martin Luther King keep blocking the possible paths leading to an escape from my personal responsibilities. He said: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” I choose, therefore, to share “Things That Matter” for your consideration.

Without question, The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights and Amendments numbered 11 through 27 all matter. Name a commonly overlooked word carrying the weight and promise of vast historical and personal importance that also matters.  No, that word is not democracy. Democracy does not appear in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution or its amendments. The word is Liberty.

Read your nation’s treasures and rediscover for yourself that Liberty is an “unalienable Right” and the government is merely the employee whom we have historically hired to “preserve and protect” this “Right”. Liberty is not a Supreme Court ruling, a Presidential exemption, a Congressional law or a governmental agency mandate.  Liberty was “endowed by your creator” and that really does matter. You are American citizens and you have responsibilities and voices. Remind yourself and others of what you and few others on this earth possess.  Always remember that Liberty can be taken away through stealth as well as by force. Those who follow progressive ideals are following paths which are designed to marginalize what was fought for, acquired and now taken for granted. I believe Liberty matters.

Printed in Alpena News on Saturday, March 15, 2014

Ten Cannots and Seven National Crimes

1913 was a turning point year for Progressives (now called Liberals) and President Woodrow Wilson. In one year they accomplished the following: On February 3, 1913 Congress ratified the 16^th Amendment allowing the government to lay and collect taxes. On April 8, 1913 Congress ratified the 17^th Amendment which changed the appointment of a state senator to a direct vote. On December 23, 1913, the Federal Reserve was born. It can print money anytime it deems necessary. Woodrow Wilson of 1913 and our Barack Obama are kindred liberal statist personas separated only by 100 years. “Statist” is the principle or policy of concentrating extensive economic, political and related controls in the state at the expense of individual liberties.”

Three years later, William John Henry Boetcker a German immigrant who had become a naturalized citizen and Presbyterian minister published his “The Ten Cannots”.

“You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.”

“You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.”

“You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.”

“You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.”

“You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.”

“You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.”

“You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.”

“You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.”

“You cannot build character and courage by destroying men’s initiative and independence.”

“You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.”

His “Seven National Crimes” came later.

“I don’t think.”

“I don’t know.”

“I don’t care.”

“I’m too busy.”

“I leave well enough alone.”

“I have no time to read and find out.”

“I am not interested.”

            Read again Boetcker’s words written in defense of personal freedom and responsibility!

This appeared in The Alpena News on Saturday, February 22, 2014

Suicide Watch

There is no doubt that a democracy and a republic are different. Our Founders knew and understood this difference. This knowledge helped them to sculpt chip by chip the eventual guiding principles for the United States of America and to reveal those principles as more than mere words. Consider these two quotes from men who were there when it all began. At the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, a lady asked Dr. Benjamin Franklin “Well Dr. what have we got a republic or a monarchy?” “A republic”, replied the Dr. “if you can keep it.”  John Adams, our 2^nd President, also spoke clearly when he was asked about democracy. “Democracy while it lasts is more bloody (sic) than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that does not commit suicide.”

Chip, chip, chip and then it is gone. A nuclear senate is but another chip in the one hundred year assault on our republic’s foundations. While it may appear to you that our republic is still tightly within our grasp, it is, nevertheless, being assaulted by those individuals who would have it changed to a democracy or even a utopia for the greater good and political gain. Our Founders removed chip by chip to reveal a promised lasting beauty. Today’s elected men and their chosen party chip, chip, chip to deface that beauty and to enhance their liberal statist power. If they succeed “We, the People” lose. It really is as simple as that.

Note:  The Alpena News Used this headline: We keep chipping away at our republic.