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Friday, June 18, 2010

Stand up for freedom - 1

For the last two years I have watched as the individual freedom that we take for granted in this country has been reduced in dramatic ways. Axioms that defined the USA are no longer true. Our method of government has shifted. Freedoms that are guaranteed by the Constitution are in jeopardy. Unless something is done quickly, the American way of life may be changed forever.
I realize that this sounds like an alarmist rant, but unfortunately, it is all accurate. Let me explain.
First, it was always a pillar of the USA that we had, to use Lincoln’s structure, government of the people by the people and for the people. Simply put, the people are in charge, not Washington. Those in the government were public servants; the public were not servants of the government. This is being turned on its head.
This began in earnest with the TARP bill. This was sold both to the American people and Congress as a plan under which funds would be set aside to buy so-called troubled assets to get those assets off the balance sheets of shaky banks. The federal government would buy the mortgages and mortgage backed securities at issue and then hold them to maturity and collect what they could from the underlying assets. The TARP bill was passed in a crisis atmosphere during the 2008 election campaign.
Of course, almost immediately after the bill became law and three quarters of a billion dollars was set aside to fund it, it was completely changed by the executive branch. Instead of buying troubled assets, as the name of the bill suggests, the government began buying the banks themselves. A big chunk of the banking industry was nationalized without there even being so much as a vote in congress to authorize it. A bill that was never intended to authorize the takeover of banks was twisted by the president into a use that Congress would never have authorized.
Right after Obama took office, we got the first assault from his team. The stimulus was sold to the public as funding of a bunch of shovel ready jobs and some other programs to create jobs. It too was rushed through in the euphoria that surrounded the Obama inauguration with little care about the enormous cost and little attention paid to the details. Instead of creating jobs, however, this was a payoff to the main constituencies of the Democrat party. Public employees had their salaries and benefits guaranteed. Academics got funding for all sorts of quack studies. Few, if any jobs were created.
Next came the first Obama budget. Again, the money flowed through Washington more quickly than anyone could ever imagine. Debt was followed by more debt. But no one paid any attention to the desires of the people to slow down the orgy of spending.
After some other events, we got to the birth of the Tea Parties. These were just ordinary Americans who wanted to express their concern at the out-of-control spending in Washington. For their efforts, these folks were demonized as right wing nut jobs. They were Nazis according to Pelosi. They were evil mongers according to Reid. They were dangerous according to the liberal media. The government that is supposed to represent the people spent its time trying to stamp out the people’s movement.
When Healthcare became the main issue, there was no question where the people stood. Poll after poll showed large majorities opposing Obamacare. Scott Brown even took Ted Kennedy’s seat in Massachusetts. Did that stop Obama and the Obamacrats? Did they listen to the will of the public? We all know the answer. Government for the people was abolished in favor of government that “knows better than the people.” If you oppose Obamacare, you are labeled a racist. If you oppose Obamacare, you are a troglodyte. If you oppose Obamacare, you are to be ignored or suppressed.
But that is not where the problem stopped. The people clearly did not want the Gitmo terrorists brought to the USA. So what did Obama do? He ordered just what the people did not want.
The people clearly want something done to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Obama ignores this.
The people want the dignity of the United States preserved. Obama instead abases the USA and apologizes for things that never happened. He throws allies like the UK, Honduras, Poland, the Czech Republic and Israel under the bus. He cozies up to enemies like Venezuela, Iran, Cuba and China. And while he gets nothing for his efforts, he does great damage to the USA. And he ignores the will of the people.
Now we have the oil spill. Obama is now at the point where he has some problems getting things through the Congress. So what does he do? He now ignores Congress as well as the people. Just yesterday Obama demanded an escrow fund and a payout mechanism for claims from BP. He then announces the result as a completed agreement.
Obama forgets that only Congress can pass a law. Only congress can set up a compensation mechanism for claims. Only congress can move forward with this entire scheme. But Obama does not care. No longer is it government of the people. Indeed, it is not even representative government. Now it is just a dictatorship by the president.

We cannot allow our republic to be subverted by Obama, Bush or any other president. There has to be both the rule of law and the rule of the people. We need to take back the government. We need to oust those who ignore the will of the people. We need to rid our government of those officials who think that they are the government and not just representatives of the American people. We need to get rid of those who think they are in Washington to amass power and wealth rather than carrying out the people’s business. We need to start anew with a new group in power.

This is not a call for a Republican victory in November. Certainly, the Pelosi-Reid – Obama group have to go. That is without question. This is, rather, a call for the election of a new kind of representative—or more precisely the old kind of representative, one who listened to constituents and then followed the will of the people. The stakes are simply too high to ignore this any longer.

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