A few years ago, HBO had a series about John Adams. It was a great illustration of how our country came to be. Citizens of the North American Continent went against England, one of the most powerful countries in the world. There were many disagreements amongst the American colonists on what to do about the overbearing English. But in the end they came to an agreement and joined forces to fight against the Redcoats. The Independence that the colonists fought so hard for was also independence for the individual, something unique for that time.
I am bringing this up because today we have infighting amongst ourselves on how to deal with a modern day threat – Socialism/Statism. Other labels we hear are the Progressives, the Left, Liberals, but we face the same threat. If those on the “Right” side of the aisle (Constitutional Conservatives as Vassar noted in a comment) do not unite, we will fail. As with the movie 300, we are fighting a Beast.
That Beast has been around for over 100 years and is trying to transform our country from what the Founding Fathers had laid out in our Constitution. We have been slowly, but incrementally moving away from the great experiment that is called the United States. For decades the Government has been taking away our freedoms, but we have also been guilty of giving them up. And now we struggle with a loss of faith in the America that our Founding Fathers established for us. The Government was founded to protect our liberty and freedoms, not to give out hand-outs, and have the citizens become dependent on the Government. A welfare state is being created from this dependency.
Too many in this country care more about who sleeps with whom in Hollywood, or who is the latest American Idol, than what is happening in DC. But there are many that are finally awakening from the sleep and joining the few that were standing guard. The Tea Parties and various other groups have made people look at what the Federal Government is doing. A phenomenal awareness has arisen among the people, more than I have ever witnessed before. The citizens are seeing incredible wasteful spending by their elected officials. When they cry for redress, they are ignored. It is almost as if Congress has forgotten they were elected by the people to work for the people.
The problem: there is much infighting among the groups that want to stop the behemoth in DC; people cannot hear what each has to say. Too much noise. We have fiscal Conservatives fighting the Social Conservatives. Libertarians fighting Conservatives and everything in between. We are all in this fight for the same reason, to stop the Statists from transforming the United States into something similar to a European Socialist state. We know we must work together, or separately we will fail. Common ground must be found; focus on the goals. What’s that saying, “Keep your eyes on the prize.” The prize is our nation, as we have known and loved her.
http://blog.stixblog.com
http://theminorityreportblog.com
http://redstate.com
http://uploadliberty.com
STIX 1972 you said it there is enouph power to and brain here to make it right together
Stix go back to school and try to pay more attention in your Geography and American History classes.
Yes, John and Warzone, you say good things.
But we on the right seem incapable of doing a 1/10 of what our founding fathers did to stop King George.
The enemy this time is far more dangerous and cunning than the British of 1776.
Alas, we seem incapable of taking the fight to him and are always content to remain on the defensive.
JOHN ryan you made a mistake ..your comment should have been address to me bye
YVAN,there is a time to talk and another to act..it will come in due time,all here are building a good product,bye
YVAN,there is a time to talk and another to act..it will come in due time,all here are building a good product,bye
Look, when I say action I’m not taking about anything violent or illegal.
I mean we need to do something other than just call our congressmen. That has and is getting us nowhere fast.
If if we can reduce the number of congressmen who’ll vote for this bill, they’ll just pass it by the slaughter rule. We need to start thinking-and acting-outside of the box.
To do otherwise is to surrender to their agenda.
YVAN may i say that thoses who will vote no ..will have the american rewards at the end and will have a chance to work for the americans interest again,bye
Which colony is the snake’s butthole? There seems to be an extra segment.
Stix1972, the International Socialists did begin to mount a serious campaign here in the US 100 years ago. In the 20’s and 30’s they began to infiltrate the federal government. During WW II, the Russians were aware of FDR’s plans before our generals, thanks to a hight percentage of spies embedded extremely close to FDR. The Verona Cables and the released formerly classified files of the KGB confirm these facts. Soviet Agents were also well entrenched in our Government in the 50’s & 60’s a fact confirmed again by released KGB files, during these earlier times and to this day the Left vehemently denies this. A fact that only casts further aspersions onto their loyalty and intentions.
Since the Left has ‘rewritten’ history and in fact, American History is no longer taught in our Public School Systems except in isolated areas where school systems have stood up to the teachers’ unions and Leftist propagandists; therefore, returning to public school as has been suggested by the effete snob trolls is a forlorn hope for anyone wishing to learn American History that is devoid of Leftist Propaganda. Their rudeness and manure slinging is typical of the Leftist, devoid of creative or constructive criticism, they resort to personal attack and obscenities and can offer nothing but regurgitated manure from the harpies of cyber world who are fed personally by the most obscene Leftist of all George Soros.
I appreciate your effort, I know from personal experience that articles improve with time. Continue writing my friend, as a comment from one of my early articles read, “We all speak with one voice”. Thank you, for the post.
By the way Skookum. I was just gigging you the other day when I commented. You knew that right?
jlfntx, yes I know. We must always remember that most of the regulars possess a cynical and sarcastic nature that is dipped in dry humor: this is one of the primary reasons I like this blog, if you don’t have the bark on and you can’t appreciate thinly veiled sadistic humor, you might want to hang out somewhere else.
Stix nice touch using the early American drawing, sometimes we need to explain the significance of the art work or photos. I have looked at my finished product several times and thought to myself, “why didn’t I explain the illustration?”, sometimes they are self evident and other times they represent a key component to the article. I was left wondering where I had seen the drawing before, please provide the details. I will be back on late tonight.
I look forward to your next article. Skook.
I hit the John Adams Link, unfortunately, I have very poor wireless service out in the country, but the photos were great. I missed the series, I will need to purchase it later on. That was a nice addition also, too bad I can’t get the full effect.
@Skookum:
The illustration, “Unite, or Die” also known as “Join, or Die”, is considered to be America’s first political cartoon.
It was created in 1754 by Ben Franklin and published along with one of his political editorials in The Philadelphia Gazette.
It reflects, of course, Franklin’s belief that the colonies would be unable to survive separate and apart from one another, much like the pieces of a snake.
Thanks AC, what an interesting bit of history: there is so much to read and so little time.
ccoffer
“Which colony is the snake’s butthole? There seems to be an extra segment.”
The rear portion of the snake is representative of the State of Georgia but rest assured that the anal orifice is currently located in DC. The teeth of the snake are located in the hands of the American voting public that will cast the votes to remedy this state of affairs in every village and town if America wakes up in time. ( In all 57 States! )
91F, partly cloudy and 1718 Hrs outside Kandahar right now. As Congress is about to betray the Nation, You are now the Guardians of the Republic. You that wield the vote are the Nations last resort. If you feel as I do that the Current Administration and Parliament of Whores have disregarded your concerns and violated your values and the Constitution or the Laws that limit their power, it must be You to make the difference on the Home Front.
Start here: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/congpowers.htm
There are Constitutional Limits to both Executive and Congressional Powers. It may not be taught in schools anymore but it was when I was at the age of reason in a rural school in Montana. The Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers and the State Constitution were required reading then. I don’t know what is in the current curriculum but I do know that more than a few folks are confused on a few points.
The rest is just common sense.
*You cannot spend more than you take in
*No Nation on Earth has ever been able to tax and spend it’s way into prosperity
*Government was created to SERVE the Citizens, NOT the other way around
*The Founding Fathers never intended to create an Elite Ruling Class of Career Politicians, instead a Class of Stewards of the Republic with limited Powers with the Power in the hands of the Citizenry and acting only within the “Consent of the Governed”
*The discontent of the Citizenry must he voiced at the ballot box and God help Us All if it has to get to the point of taking up arms to take the Republic back from those that are destroying it
May I offer this:
‘A republic, if you can keep it’ … or remember what that means
Star Tribune, September 15, 2005
By Cheri Pierson Yecke
Numerous surveys and polls indicate that students lack knowledge regarding both our history and our form of government.
To address this historical ignorance, U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., inserted a mandate into a bill in 2004 that requires students to be taught about the Constitution on Sept. 17 (or during the preceding week) each year.
While some would question this as imposing a federally mandated curriculum, others welcome it as a long overdue restoration of attention to the Constitution. Over time, semantic sloth and inattention have caused us to use words and concepts too loosely.
For example, although many people refer to this country as a democracy, the word “democracy” appears nowhere in the Constitution.
This is because we are not a democracy, and our founding fathers used strong words to make it clear that we should never become one. Consider the following statements:
* Benjamin Rush: “A simple democracy … is one of the greatest of evils” (1789).
* James Madison: “Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths” (1787).
* John Adams: “Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide” (1814).
The simple fact is that the United States is a constitutional republic, not a democracy. It is inaccurate to use the two terms interchangeably. The source of authority and treatment of minorities are different for these two forms of government. In a democracy, the majority rules, meaning that there are no protections for minority rights. Whatever the majority wants rules the day. A republic, in contrast, is rule by law, and the law can protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority.
In a democracy, people hold the power to rule directly. Examples of democracy in action in this country include initiative and referendum, where the people vote directly on specific issues. Naturally, it would be impractical to try to administer an entire country if the people had to have a direct vote on every issue. According to Madison: “In a democracy, the people meet and exercise the government in person; in a republic, they assemble and administer it by their representatives and agents” (Federalist 14, 1787).
A republic is where people elect representatives who are responsible to them and who govern according to law. To quote Madison again: “The two great points of difference between a democracy and a republic are: first, the delegation of the government, in the latter, to a small number of citizens elected by the rest; secondly, the greater number of citizens, and greater sphere of country, over which the latter may be extended” (Federalist 10, 1787).
Previous generations clearly understood the difference between these words. When we say the Pledge of Allegiance, we pledge allegiance to a republic, not a democracy. The patriotic song that we sing is “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” not “The Battle Hymn of the Democracy.”
After the Constitutional Convention had finished its work in 1787, a woman asked Ben Franklin what kind of government had been decided upon. He replied: “A republic, if you can keep it.”
This week is a good time for our children to learn just what he meant.
(It may be a good time to refresh the memory of more than a few Adults as well)
— Cheri Pierson Yecke, Ph.D., is Distinguished Senior Fellow for Education and Social Policy at the Center of the American Experiment, a conservative think tank in Minneapolis.–
**************************************************
“A Republic if You can keep it” is a Benjamin Franklin quote from Philadelphia at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention in 1787 that should challenge You All at this point in time and is worth repeating for emphasis.
It is up to You now to Keep It or do nothing and allow it to slide into the abyss of destruction and the pages of history.
Regards!
Your Non Partisan or Politically aligned Humble Servant, Old Trooper…
In Oregon we see the tyranny of democracy at work in the recent referendum that placed on the public ballot for a simple majority vote the additional taxation of those that earn over $250,000 per year. Why was that particular number used, most likely to ensure it was sufficiently high enough that it would ensure that a majority of voters would not be impacted.
When enough individuals that earn more than $250,000 have left the State or quit producing will another referendum be instituted to fill the budgetary shortfalls of Oregon’s liberal spending social agenda? Will the amount of income required to be subject to the tax be lowered to say $150,000 while still guaranteeing that the majority of individuals are below this cut-off point?
Then $75,000, then $50,000, until there is no one left but the unproductive, lowest of income earners that have become addicted to their social programs and dependency on government?
This is what unfettered democracy leads to and why Madison, Adams and Rush were vocal in their condemnation of democracy as an evil force.
However, if Oregon chooses to implement such policies, as a State they have every right to do so, my freedom as a US Citizen, is to pack my bags and move to a State that is not so foolish. But, if such simple majority rule is imposed on all of us at a Federal level, where can I go?
OLD TROOPER thank you such a jewel coming from long time and still untouch by time…you know you have 7 hours after where i am ,bye
@Skookum: @Aye Chihuahua:
Yes I could have made a better tie into the use of the “Unite or Die” picture. I was tying to say how we on the right must not divide, or we will fail. I wrote this when I saw a whole bunch of inighting amongst many conservative blogs and friends. Mainly over a post that Vassar Bushmills wrote on Red State
Where there was much fighting over the abortion issue.
IF we divide we will fail, we must stand together against those that want to make this country a Socialistic state.
I will admit, I am not the greatest at writing, never was an English Major, my degree was in History.