A plea and rallying cry for a new generation of freedom lovers! Now this is a slogan I can get behind! (Unlike the self serving plea of, “Don’t tase me, bro’!” shouted by a student who was resisting arrest)
Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not an anarchist. I just want to limit the government’s infringement on my life to those purposes outlined in the Constitution. And nothing more.
Here is a partial list of unconstitutional federal governmental infringements I don’t want:
- Government mandated healthcare purchases (Obamacare)
- The Department of Education and any federal education related mandates, funding, etc. (this is a job reserved for the states and we can’t afford all of our schools to perform like the ones in DC)
- Judicial appointees who interpret the Constitution as they’d like to see it written rather than as it is actually written
- A tax system that punishes job providers and rewards slackers
- Laws that aid one group at the expense of any other group
- Laws that reward bad behavior and punish good behavior
- A welfare system that traps people in poverty rather than assists them into independence
- A Congress that does not understand the Constitution and is afraid of declaring on every bill what enumerated power authorizes that piece of legislation
- Policies that set lower standards for minorities yet expect this to make them equal
- Laws that try to enforce equal outcomes instead of equal opportunity
- Subsidizing or protecting industries and businesses
I could go on, and I do on the rest of this site, but that should suffice for now.
When the government acts against the powers granted to it in the Constitution it is done for the purpose of moving power to the government at the expense of the citizens.
What do I want the federal government to do?
- Defend this country from enemies external and internal (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, National Guard, FBI, etc.)
- Enforce equal opportunity
- Protect property rights
- Ensure competitive business markets
- Limit itself to the powers granted to it in the Constitution
- Balance the budget and only fund those items designated to the federal government as defined in the Constitution
WWGWD – What would George Washington do?
Our founding fathers designed a very simple and limited federal government. What we have now would make them all physically sick! What would Washington say if he saw what our government had become? Or Jefferson? Or Franklin, Madison, or any of the Adams? They would look at the problems besetting our country and say,”You didn’t heed our warnings. Now you have made a government that causes or exacerbates all of society’s problems.”
Poverty became generational instead of temporary because the government introduced welfare. Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty and 40+ years later we are losing that war. Policies that deliver handouts and promote dependence on government programs destroy initiative and eliminates the self-satisfaction that one can only get from a job well done.
Crime increased because welfare rewarded poor decisions instead of rewarding hard work and independence. Hope withers in the absence of opportunity. There are few opportunities for those who do not take advantage of education and work hard to help a job provider earn a profit.
Education performance in America has declined despite having the best funded system and the best paid teachers in the world. This has occurred in part because the federal government instituted mandates and rewarded educational failure with more money. (Federal money doesn’t help students, it is largely given directly or indirectly to teachers who are not held accountable for student achievement)
Financial markets are in disarray because the government mandated a variety of policies and legislation. Giving mortgages to risky borrowers, setting up quasi-government institutions like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, bailing out failing automakers, inflating home values by setting federal interest rates too low, giving sweetheart deals to unions after they nearly ruin the American auto industry, unrestrained borrowing to fund ineffective economic stimulus, massive budget and national deficits, etc. are just a few examples of government interference that brought our financial system to near ruin.
Who do you trust?
Do you trust the founding fathers who risked torture and death for treason when they declared independence from Great Britain and devised the most unique and limited government the world has ever seen, or the politicians that have worked to expand the government? Limited government or unlimited government? Do we trust government solutions more than citizen solutions? Do we trust politicians more than neighbors?
Can we continue to put our trust in politicians that promise government solutions? Or do we elect a new breed of politician that will work to reduce the size, scope, and cost of government?
Here is a quote which sums up the perfection of the founding fathers effort:
“About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful. It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.” ~President Calvin Coolidge, July 5, 1926 at Independece Hall, Philadelphia
We must now find some new folks with the same vision, humility, distrust of unlimited government, and sense of patriotism embodied in our founding fathers. We must find some new Washingtons, Adams, Madisons, Jeffersons, Monroes, Patrick Henrys, Ben Franklins, and the hundreds of others who dared to dream of a country where citizens were free from a tyrannical government. Then, we have to hold them accountable.