Quote of the Week

"If you meet someone that is an asshole, he is probably an asshole. If everyone you meet is an asshole, it's probably you." Dr. H

As the government continues to destroy the economy and subsidize incorrect behavior, individuals will have to learn to get along with one another. The welfare/warfare state will have to be dismantled. In the interest of recovery we will have to learn to depend upon one another rather than turning to the government for 'relief'. The producers will not create jobs and wealth in this country if they are continually demonized, taxed, regulated and frowned upon. The hoops that you have to jump through to start a business even in a small rural town is staggering.

In the early days of our country we had assemblies. These were not government, but community get togethers where books could be discussed, or kids (or adults) could perform, or if there was a gripe between two members of the community, a court was assembled. This court was made up of neighbors acting as judges, or even a jury. This is the right to assembly that is discussed in the Bill of Rights, the first amendment.

What we need is assemblies. We need a non-governmental court system where we can put politicians on trial. It doesn't make much sense to have a government agency judging another government agency. We need an independent judiciary, where the participants are assembled for a trial, and may never be assembled exactly the same way ever again.

I had hoped that churches would fill this void, but they are too worried about membership activity and the concomitant financial donations to confront disharmony and political lawlessness.

So that is it. If everyone you come into contact with is an asshole, it may be you. Get over yourself, everyone has problems, it is time to choose to be happy despite the treatment that life gives you. And start practicing the ancient principle of reciprocity, or the golden rule in all of your interactions. Happiness will follow.

Patrick Henry Quote

“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people,

it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -

lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.”

--Patrick Henry

The founding fathers did their best, (nice try Pat). However they didn't place enough teeth in the Constitution. There were no specific penalties for not abiding by its limits. The Constitution cannot defend itself, it must have an informed and educated populace that is dedicated to the defense of individual liberty, that is willing to stand up to the politicians, and level charges against them if necessary, in order to preserve our Constitutional Republic.

Article 1 (election and powers delegated to the Legislature) Section 8 lists 18 clauses. It is one long sentence separated by semi-colons and ending with a period. The founders placed a great deal of faith in that period. It was a stop sign, as those 18 powers listed both the upper and lower limits to Legislation. It is therefore also the upper and lower limits to actions that can be taken by the Executive branch (President) and it also outlines the guidance that the Supreme Court can use to judge the Constitutionality of an action.

The American people have too long left the government to not only create legislation but also to be the judge of the legislation's lawfulness (that is, whether or not the legislation is in harmony with the principles of limited government clearly written in the US Constitution).

Now that we have over two centuries of experience with this attempt at limited federal government and we have seen that even an explicit list limiting the powers of government will not discourage usurpation of power. Even a Bill of Rights clarifying those limits "in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added" (quoted from the preamble to the Bill of Rights); and the replacement of worthless paper currency for gold and silver money; and the destruction of the free market domestically; and witnessing the wars (killing of 'foreigners') and democides (killing of their own citizens, see http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/welcome.html ) that it is impossible to write a document which will limit government to a reasonable and "lawful" level.

Therefore I must conclude that the risks of no federal government whatsoever are less than the risks of even a Constitutionally limited government.

We are fast approaching the time when the socialist's dreams will come due, when there is not enough of a remnant of the free market left to support the socialism. It will not be pretty, but it is necessary in order to learn the lessons necessary to return to freedom, and to hopefully preserve it.

If you want to be part of the solution, then YOU must read and study the founding documents of our nation, as well as the books that the founders read. You must take responsibility for yourself, for your education and for the education of your loved ones. Then you will be able to recognize the unlawful programs when they are presented to you and you can then stand on principle. There are too many intellectual parasites out there, don't ask the insipid questions in order to try to find a shortcut to education, there isn't one. Don't believe the politicians, don't believe the college professors, find out for yourself by reading from the classics. Your education must be earned by you no matter how much money your family has, no matter how much you wish it wasn't so, no matter how much you might whine about it, that is how it is. So get busy.

There are only two kinds of people in this world, those that believe that there are two kinds of people in the world and those that don't. Okay, just kidding, but in all seriousness there are simply "individualists" and "collectivists". If you believe that you know best how to run your life, and you respect and defend that right for others, then you are an individualist, enjoy abundance in your life. If you think that some bureaucrat, politician or think tanks knows what is best for you, then you are a collectivist, and you will live with your scarcity of resources.

How to control people.

Throughout history there have always been people that wish to control other people. These attempts proved to be unsuccessful until governments and religions were created. With only a couple of exceptions governments and religions control behavior by promising to insulate people from the natural consequences of their behavior and of the fear of death. Create sin (any activity that people naturally choose to engage in), and then create repentance and saviors. Create a law (call anything a 'crime' which does not serve the interests of the government) and then build prisons to house those that choose to break them. Exemptions are given out according to your religious/political connections. Priests or Senators can abuse children, or have adulterous relationships with little fear of repercussions. They steal and call it voluntary contributions and taxes.

There are some actual sins and laws, but they come down to the golden rule of reciprocity. When you harm another person then that person should be made 'whole' again in order for justice to be served. (Read "The Law" by Fredrich Bastiat available online).

It is a sad state of affairs when a politician can buy votes with the taxpayers money. It is time to remove the idea of universal suffrage. Only those people with a vested interest in living in a free society, productive property owners, should vote. Others are just parasites that sold their birthright of freedom for a bowl of pottage. They hope to cast a vote that would allow them to receive more from government than they pay. In other words they hope to take part in enslaving their fellow citizens. Democracy is a shell game that gives us some semblance of self determination, when in fact it is just another wedge to divide the populace.

Remember the children of Israel that voluntarily placed themselves in bondage to the pharaoh? Our freedom has been purchased at the price of the welfare state. Social security has enslaved our aged population, free health care has enslaved our working class, government schools have enslaved the minds of our youth. Don't expect a Moses to arrive to clean up our mess. (Heck Christendom cannot even agree on the what constitutes the ten commandments.) Government grants, corporate welfare (where your customer is the government) and government retirement programs are also overpriced and inefficient welfare programs. These programs emasculate the veterans and capitalists that fear 'biting the hand that feeds them'.

No one could really call our military presence in over one hundred foreign nations a 'defensive' action. We have a department of defense, but this department deals mostly with offensive actions overseas. When we were attacked on 9/11, their assets were elsewhere. So in the interest of clarity I propose that we change their name to the department of offense. We could shorten this up, to Department of Government/Department of Offense to simply DOG/DOO.

All that we need to do to be free again, is to no longer accept the welfare handouts. If there were government programs that no one used, they would disappear. We are in control of our own destinies if we will but act like free people and stop giving credence to the taskmasters.

Nice thought anyway...

Pigeon Poop

Congress no longer relies upon the discreet political powers found in the US Constitution (Art. 1 Sec. 8) but since the reconstruction era after the war of northern aggression they are also over laws economical. If their successes in this field were not impressive enough, they have recently taken on control of the environmental fluctuations caused by the cyclical output of the sun and declared Carbon Dioxide a poisonous gas. These superpowers should not be wasted on selfish concerns like growing bananas in North Dakota (a state with little political clout anyway) but instead this control over natural law must be used for the betterment of all of mankind. Of course I speak of the millions of dollars of damage that is taking place each year due to pigeons pooping on building and the statues of government demigods. It is time for the federal government to show its true superpower status and stop the mess created by these foul fowl. Perhaps their bed partners in the war on terror could find a workable and overly expensive solution, Boeing Birdy Diapers, General Electric statue electrification to zap the beasts, Catalytic Converters/poop misters by McDonnell Duck Douglass. Or how about self cleaning statues? It is time to spend billions solving a million dollar problem. We could issue every 10 year old male a pellet gun and put a bounty on the creatures, but this is way to close to freedom and teaching young people to use firearms and take personal responsibility is not in the best interest of government.
So here is the real question. If the US Constitution in general, and specifically Article 1 section 8 (clauses 1-18 inclusive) does not describe both an upper and lower limit to federal powers, then is there any limit to the government's powers?