Nations are living organisms: biological – with an emphasis on logical – made up, obviously, of living, breathing people who share basic concepts of right, wrong, love, family, economics and social status. The health of the nation connects to the health of its members, physically, but also to the health of its beliefs, religious and otherwise. Some nations started because of religious beliefs, but most are or were tribal. Weaving through hundreds or thousands of years of history – perhaps “progress” – nations either progress evenly enough that its members accept, over time, their relationships to political power-holders, elected or otherwise. It is a function of “social status” noted earlier.
Wars change nations, usually by a form of cruel, expensive, bloody separation or segregation: almost purification. If there were some semblance of justice in the origins and results of war, stronger nations, healthier nations, will result. Former amalgamations of nations are distilled apart leaving nations comprised of people who more evenly – fairly – share the basic concepts of life and cooperation listed at the beginning of this observation.
Historians, of course, amidst their natural biases, justify or castigate wars along a spectrum of perceived fairness or righteousness in their origins. However, time reveals the health of nations following the wrenching of war, and the correctness of the new or modified nation’s composition. Is the society healthy? Do its members accept, if not reinforce one another? Is there a path for the divisions of social status to soften or encourage improvement of the economic and social status of its members? If so, that nation will retain its shared identity and ethical agreements.
The advent of writing and written “history” of nations and wars, began a process that has left “modern” peoples with an image, at least, often biased and one-sided justifications of conflicts over the past 5,000 years or so. The use of writing, long, long ago, was a tool of kings or emperors: ruling classes, certainly. The recorded story would automatically be told from the outlook of “rulers,” and then, only of the victorious rulers. As writing and reading spread through greater fractions of societies, somewhat truer, more accurate pictures of the how’s and why’s of wars have been “painted.” Throughout, the tendency for dominant elements of societies – governors – to control what those dominated know or believe about the nature of the world around them and, more specifically, about the workings and intentions/philosophies of their “governors,” themselves.
Occasionally – very infrequently, actually – only once, in fact, a nation is (was) formed based on the best of the philosophies and histories that human history had delivered to that point and place in time. To define that nation, the philosophies of individual sovereignty, responsibility, liberty and from-the-people authority to govern, and the reasons for employing those ideas, were written into the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and Bill of Rights of 1789. Underlying all of them is the tradition of Judeo-Christianity: 5,000 years of learning what are rights and wrongs and how honesty and honor can and should dissolve lies and hatred and disrespect.
Through it all the Bible has made clear that the most powerful relationship with God is an individual one. Fellowship and congregation are wonderful reinforcements for the individual’s ability to internalize the concepts of God and His rules for life and ascension. Without religious freedom the evolution of souls and the growth of individuals would be impossible. Without the lessons religion provides, the model for 2-parent families and effective fathering of sons and daughters, including economic security, would slip away. There are those, today, who think the government will take better care of children than will their parents. God forbid.
The Constitution is both a covenant and a unique, exceptional, partnership with the people – citizens – of the United States. Unique among nations and history, the CITIZENS of the United States formed the government of the United States. The founding had flaws, primarily slavery and slaves, themselves. The problem that the founders hoped would fade away became the gut-wrenching lever that separated the states. The Civil War became the awful medicine that commenced the cure of slavery fairly quickly, and the cure of racism that has progressed for decades afterwards. But, in both the forming and preservation of the Union, God blessed our nation with the wisdom and fortitude to earn the right of national identity.
Our identity depends upon our general grasp of the IDEAS, the philosophies that underlie our founding and why the Constitutional model is designed the way it is. As we select our representatives, governors and President, we should be looking for each of their understanding of our Constitutional Republic being a PARTNERSHIP that makes possible the success of every U. S. citizen. U. S. citizenship is the “Gold Standard” of all citizenships around the world. One of the prime tests of the right to lead Americans is whether the person seeking that power/status is prepared to defend the unique value of U. S. citizenship. Anyone who would dilute, or threaten that value, by definition is unqualified to lead us. Only U. S. citizens live under the protections and guarantees of the U. S. Constitution and those comprise the most valuable possession – personal property – of every citizen.
An example of PARTNERSHIP would be careful defense of our borders on behalf of every state and every citizen, with proper and strict control over non-citizens allowed to enter our nation. An example of TYRANNY would be loose or virtual non-control over illegal entrants. An example of PARTNERSHIP would be careful, balanced budgeting and management of the people’s money, taxes and banking/investment regulations. An example of TYRANNY would be $35Trillion in national debt and $1Trillion owed in interest every year. An example of PARTNERSHIP would be honest law enforcement and equal application/protection of the laws. An example of TYRANNY would be use of law enforcement agencies and even courts, to persecute people because of their beliefs or politics.
An example of PARTNERSHIP would be telling U. S. citizens the truth about government actions and legislation. An example of TYRANNY would be for the government or its agencies to lie to Americans… or to bring up for a vote legislation with more than the number of words than are in our amended Constitution.
Prudence feels that no one is making the right speeches that Americans should be considering and learning from. Consequently, it seems Prudent to construct one and give it to those who might benefit. A person who is receiving widespread attention should recognize his or her unusual opportunity to EDUCATE the populace. In the case of America, it is an opportunity to describe how the government is designed and the IDEAS that our Constitution embodies. Then follows the extraordinary opportunity to explain to the people how the person speaking will make the ideas of the Constitution come to life, guaranteeing the liberty and opportunity that are the inheritance of every citizen.
There are concepts of the Constitutionality and of the Declaration of Independence that should be clear and alive in the heart of every citizen. The first is that the principles of INDEPENDENCE from tyranny applies not merely to our governing entity, but to each of us, individually. That is, that the government has only as much influence over our lives AS WE PERMIT. In other words, the power that our federal government has must be GRANTED to it by we the people. It is done in stages by a process of REPRESENTATION. This means that we can select those we respect and who are honest and committed to OUR INTERESTS and not the interests of the government, any of its agencies or any political party. Thus, the lines of communication from “We, the People” should be short and unpolluted by the interests of those we elect to represent us or of those with whom he or she may be friendly. The interests of a political party should have no means of limiting or distorting the liberty, responsibility or legitimate economic opportunity of any citizen. There is work to be done to correct the sloppy intrusion of political parties into our freedoms and rights.
The concept of LIMITED TERMS for those we elect to any office, should be enshrined in law including amendment of the Constitution. The weaknesses common to all humans should be kept from increasing the power of governments to limit the liberties of citizens. In conjunction with limiting terms, the sources of campaign moneys should be limited, as well. Candidates running to REPRESENT the interests of a delineated, geographic group of citizens, should be limited to raising money ONLY IN THAT DISTRICT OR IN THAT STATE, if representing an entire state. The nature of representation would change abruptly if these strictures were in place. Imagine if a candidate for Congress could spend only that money raised in his or her district: no money from other states, no money from huge PAC’s, no money from foreign actors. That winning Representative would care very distinctly about the views and interests of the citizens who live in his or her District. How refreshing!
Regarding the Constitution, no one has spoken of its status as a COVENANT between the People and the federal government they were creating by adoption among the States. Essential to its role as a solemn agreement to do certain acts and to never do certain other acts, is the honesty of representation, individually and legislatively. Therefore, it seems far more Prudent to guarantee regular replacement of men and women serving as Representatives, than to merely allow the possibility of regular change. In order to effect elective change of representation requires challengers to expend huge amounts of money to overcome the “built-in” advantages of incumbency; this path leads to corruption of purpose.
As a COVENANT between peoples: those who are selected to govern and those who grant them limited authority and power, the Constitution is a PARTNERSHIP, as described in the Preamble: “We the People of the United States, [which is to say, Citizens] in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, [which is to say peace and safety inside the country] provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain [a most solemn and unshakable contract] and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
Clearly the Constitution was devised to enhance the lives OF U. S. CITIZENS! At no point does it convey a power to change governments in other countries, to involve the nation in over 150 military actions around the world, or to conflate the money of citizens with that of other peoples and nations. Nor, does it grant power to government types to transfer money from some Citizens to other citizens, or to transfer the money of Citizens to non-citizens, or to grant the benefits of citizenship – including Constitutional guarantees – to non-citizens, or to contract DEBTS burdening “the People” that exceed the financial possibility of prompt repayment.
How would the proper PARTNERSHIP work? Foremost, it seems Prudent, would be balanced, detailed budgeting of the people’s federal expenditure’s and revenues. We have not had that for decades. Every “budget” and “continuing resolution” to “avoid a government shut-down” has mainly been a mendacious attempt to buy votes for the benefit of those seeking re-election. That is not a partnership. Deficit spending creates inflation – period. Inflation (of the money supply without corresponding production of wealth) is a slightly obscure TAX on every citizen-taxpayer. Inflation dilutes the value of money by measurable and significant degrees. Fairly quickly, the “dilution” of dollar strength causes prices of commodities and final products to rise. What used to cost $5.00 now cost $6.00 or even more. In effect, a consumer has been forced to pay a $1.00 “TAX” on a $5.00 item. But… but… no one passed tax-raising legislation!
Inflation, it turns out, is a federal government program! The government gets to spend the money first, and at essentially the current, undiluted value. Hardly anyone else in the economy gets to spend the diluted dollars at their “original” value. Pretty soon, productive workers are feeling the effects of inflation by not being able to maintain their previous standard of living at their current pay rates and pressure for wage/salary increases starts to build. The employer has to respond but must also retain a profitable rate of gross margin. He or she must raise prices to stay in business. It is a vicious – and cruel – process. People in government who have BORROWED money to spend more than the government’s income would allow (also committing taxpayers to pay the INTEREST on the borrowing) will talk about “fighting” inflation as if they have nothing to do with it (after all, they don’t set the price on vanilla pudding). It is all a big vote-purchasing lie. What sort of “partnership” is that? Where in the Constitutional Covenant did “We the people” grant such a cruel power to “our” government?
Two admonitions pretty-well cover good government and the nature of government as a partnership: 1) Thou shalt not STEAL; and 2) Equal application – and protection – of the LAW. We have a few, but very, very few, opportunities to vote ourselves away from perdition.
The United States is a “leading” country whether we like it or not. Terms like “the American dream” are tossed about as though said dream were something everyone on Earth aspires to, yet we who are fortunate enough to be American (U. S.) citizens don’t even understand the meaning of the phrase. We don’t really grasp the meaning of “freedom,” either, yet we bandy the description of our homeland as a “free” country. It is largely a failure of education, steadily abetted by mass media whose employees tend strongly toward hating the U. S. and anyone who professes to love it. The past 12 months have highlighted these dichotomies, and exacerbated the weakness that underlies them.
Do we even know the trouble that awaits us? The accumulation of errors and poor assumptions since the Reagan Administration cannot be wished away; other nations, movements and belief structures have been preparing for our national weakening, and they are closer to taking advantage of us than ever in our history. Sadly, they have placed their allies among us and strengthened those who have come to hate our nation without their help. It could take a while, but let’s take a look at what seems to be “hot” around the world, now.
Ukraine is “hot.” For the conflict to go on for so long is a positive and a negative to both sides, not to mention the additional deaths and billions of added expense. The positive to Ukraine is due to its status as the clear underdog in the conflict. Its ability to hold out for so long, and to inflict huge damages on the invaders, are a significant plus. No one expected this scenario. The severe negative is its sustaining of widespread damage, the fleeing of millions of its citizens and inability to actually defeat Russia or reverse most of its losses to the Russians.
For the Russians, positives are more obscure. The Ukraine matter has hardened some alliances against NATO and the U. S., particularly with China, Belarus and Iran. Turkey, ostensibly a NATO Ally, has been watching how NATO and others are responding to the adventurism of both Russia and Iran. As a fairly close neighbor of both nations, Turkey is looking for any advantage for itself and if the West falters in its resolve and the Russians, in particular, gain strategic advantage, there’s no reason to expect Turkey to be firm in its Western alliance. The negatives for Russia include the exorbitant cost in materiel, men and arms for fairly small gains on the ground. Although Premiere Putin doesn’t see it, frequent reference to nuclear weapons in response to this or that conventional assist to Ukraine, is a sign of weakness, not strength.
Israel is “hot,” now, too, possibly with wider ramifications than the Ukraine conflict… at least in the next 12 months. The Biden administration, under the treasonous tutelage of Barack Obama, (Biden wouldn’t know a treason if he cut one down by accident) has taken sides with the most duplicitous, hateful and untrustworthy regime extant: Iran. Even the average American knows that there are not enough gifts, favors or treasonous pay-offs possible to convince Muslim fundamentalists to love America, freedom or individualism; and certainly not enough to shift attitudes toward Israel. Yet that is the policy path on which we have embarked. God save us.
Part of Iran’s anti-Israel, anti-American jihad is the desire to employ nuclear weapons. President Obama’s intention with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) was to put Iran firmly on the road to building nuclear weapons, and to secure an agreement that freed Europe and other nations to trade with Iran for oil and other products. The worst part was to cause these changes between nations WITHOUT the messy process of ratifying an actual treaty, yet adhering to the terms of the “agreement.” President Trump, very, very wisely, put a stop to the lethal progress of the “JCPoA” and sanctioned Iran significantly, slowing its economy to a point where it could not finance nearly as much terrorism as it wished, nor afford the added investment in centrifuges needed to enrich Uranium sufficiently to enable a nuclear fission explosion. President Biden, unfortunately, has done everything possible, including releasing huge volumes of raw cash to Iran, to restore Iran’s economy, its trade position on oil and its ability to increase uranium enrichment and to finance Hamas and Hezbollah against Israel and the Houthis in Yemen against, well, everyone.
Now, still worse, Biden and his “advisors” are bending the U. S. into knots trying to stop Israel’s proper reaction to Hamas’ vile and deadly attack on October 7th while feeding aid to the “innocent” people of Gaza, whoever they are. His administration has hired activist pro-Hamas, pro-Iran, anti-Israel people and charged them with “negotiating” with Iran and its terrorist surrogates. It’s hard to imagine being further off the pro-American team where one might presume the President of the United States would be. At the same time, an eruption of anti-Zionist / anti-Israel, anti-Jewish hatred has sprung up on campuses and in congested cities coast to coast. Federal response to abundant civil rights violations has been tepid, at best. Here we have a confluence of federal policy and personnel with college administrators who grew up hating the United States, who now “run” school communities beholden to governments that also hate the United States. Foreign countries “donate” billions of dollars to colleges and universities, who then accept thousands of Muslim students who are primed to sow unrest at the sight of a Star of David necklace or a yarmulke.
There appears to be a widespread – although shallow – movement to dissemble the ideas of America’s founding, even as it serves to set Americans against one another. Hatred has become a serious political strategy, and it is dependent upon managed mendacity. Lies about opponents must be repeated in more and more venues. Sadly, the same strategies are feeding the financial strength of major “news” organizations: America’s vaunted “free press” has largely abandoned its Constitutional role in keeping our divided governments honest. The greatest/worst examples of this dishonesty can be seen in the treatment of Donald Trump and of Joseph Biden, two recent, consecutive one-term presidents.
Joe Biden, almost throughout his long, long Senate career, built a solid reputation of playing loose with the truth. No better example exists than the story about his family that he told during his first campaign for President in 1987. He essentially lifted the story about British politician, Neil Kinnock’s family story of working its way up from poorly-paid mining labor. When this was exposed, earlier stories he had told about college class-standing and other less-than-true bits of his alleged history re-emerged, causing him to drop out of the contest. Michael Dukakis, of Massachusetts, also became embroiled in “misstatements” as he attacked Biden and then tried to deny the attack, resulting in his eventual loss to George H. W. Bush in 1988. Lot’s of lying in politics, evidently. Delawarians were relatively unperturbed by their Senator’s “misstatements,” returning him to the Senate steadily until he ran for President in 2008, earning the position of Vice-President under Barack Obama.
When Trump declared his candidacy in 2015, it was clear that the damages wrought by the Obama administrations, including on the border, with the JCPoA, the loss of Crimea and more, required a distinct change in direction. Hillary Clinton, no fan of the truth, herself, was the presumptive heir to Obama’s awful legacy. Trump won, as we know, and the screams to impeach him began before the inaugural crowds dispersed. Worse, the Clinton campaign, the DNC, CIA and others in the “intelligence” community, and the respected FBI, itself, had concocted the huge fraud of “Russian” collusion with the Trump campaign, resulting in his ability to defeat her. The charges were inflated by the so-called mainstream press and repeated as truth, over and over and over. Congress joined in the fraud(s) and funded the special counsel, former FBI director Robert Mueller, whose two-year “investigation,” which he, himself, may not have read, found, basically, nothing supporting the collusion premise. But it never stopped, and still gets quoted as truth. Both men’s campaigns accuse the other of lying, and there is some truth to both charges. What they lie about, however, creates important distinction.
Lies about the southern border, catch-and-release and the use of “parole” for those claiming asylum, are masking huge threats to national security, for example. Yet the Biden administration has lied repeatedly about the reasons he canceled everything that had been securing the border, the reasons he couldn’t gain control of the border, and even to having his Secretary of DHS lie repeatedly to Congress by claiming that the “border is secure.” A case could be made that the President has acted treasonously by aiding and abetting the illegal acts involved in entering the United States illegally and, worse, subsequently imposing expenses upon the States and their sub-jurisdictions in the care, feeding, housing and education of those illegal entrants. The cumulative effects of these illegal acts has been and continues to be detrimental to the interests and protections guaranteed by the Constitution to the CITIZENS of the United States and to no others. God forbid.
Accusations made against Mr. Trump, both in the press and in various court cases, are accepted and promoted as truths, and repeated as such, even when no evidence of the allegations has been presented; indeed, even when evidence in opposition to the allegations is made known, the repetition of the unfounded allegations as true, continues. The purpose? To manifest ever greater hatred for Trump and, by extension, for anyone who supports him or fails to agree that he is a danger to the nation because of all his lies. Politics has nearly ceased to be a thoughtful analysis of philosophies of governance, economics, taxation and diplomacy: it is now an argument of hatred for the “other” group, making the likelihood of “weaponizing” government against the out-group very high. This is the phenomenon we are experiencing right now with hate-motivated Democrats holding sufficient power to effect it. Our republic is in grave danger.
The means to engineer electoral wins will not be forgotten, either. Once successful, the likelihood that those methods and skills will be used in virtually all subsequent elections is very high. Coupled with the weaponization of government and the immense value of holding political power, the attraction of illegally “guaranteeing” the results of elections is practically irresistible. As the Trump campaign learned in 2020, stopping the certification of a fraudulent electoral win is impossible: everyone associated with the winner(s) is financially committed to protecting their win… including judges.
Those who engineered the Biden presidential certification have much to answer for. Combined with the fraud of Biden’s supposed mental acuity, their actions have placed America in its greatest peril. One fears that millions will die preventing our nation’s demise.
Democrats seem to approve of the concept of “Demographics is Destiny.” With their slavish pandering to people of color, Democrats promote excessive worry about any conflict between blacks, as the “oppressed” victims, and whites as the “white supremacist oppressors.” It is an ideal division-mechanism. Politicians like Barack Obama as the prime example, have convinced, if not themselves, millions of others that the United States is “too white.” The solution is to import more black and brown people who will be emotionally compelled to vote for the Democrats who brought them here. Now those pesky, reactionary Republicans will finally be consigned to perpetual minority status in government. Democracy be damned. In the leftist, divisive, anti-white view, white votes against Democrats are not worth as much as black and brown votes against Republicans. Therefore, anything that can multiply the impact of black and brown votes, is worthwhile. Anything, like voter ID and other anti-fraud measures are somehow anti-democratic and probably criminal.
Obama increased illegal immigration as much as he could, ostensibly to fulfill the demographic shift he dreamt of. The “DACA” executive order prevented DHS from deporting the children of illegal entrants (who were brought into the U. S. by parents who were illegal entrants), the parents of whom could certainly not be deported to leave their children here, alone. Despite the unconstitutionality of creating a “law” through executive order, DACA has persisted and been protected in federal courts. There is a great urge on the part of Democrats to provide “amnesty” to DACA protectees and millions of other illegal entrants, to be followed by “a path to citizenship.” Aha! Voters! Was “demographic destiny” true? Joe Biden has taken demographics to a level 20 or 30 times what Obama hoped for. The damage to our nation is yet un-calculated.
With Democrat strongholds pushing automatic voter registration when registering a car or obtaining a driver’s license (to make the roads safer, of course), is it possible that 200,000 of the estimated 10 MILLION illegal entrants since 2021 will vote successfully in the 2024 elections? In the face of widespread distortions in voting laws and practices in 2020, including fraudulent and legally uncountable votes numbering in the hundreds of thousands (estimates range in the millions), Trump lost the presidency due to certifications in five states that were determined by, altogether, fewer than 50,000 votes
Can full citizenship for illegals be far behind if he “loses” again? Will the demographic bomb go off in 2024? Or, will America pull back from self-immolation by ballot box? Maybe four years of sanity will usher in 8 years more and globalism and socialism can be rolled back amidst 100 other course-corrections that must be made to what the “Biden” administration has handed us. Perhaps U. S. citizenship can be returned to its “gold-standard” status among the nations and in the hearts and minds of Americans, ourselves.
Illegal entrants, or “aliens,” are, due to Democrat skulduggery, providing votes of a kind whether they go to the polls or not. Because Democrats have blocked corrections to the decennial Census process, all people resident, legally or illegally, citizen or not, in a State, are counted for determination of Representation, and, therefore, in the number of members of Congress to which a state is entitled. Even though only citizens can rightfully be represented in Congress, non-citizens are included in terms of apportionment, giving states like California, Illinois, New York, Florida and others, false apportionments. In some cases the presence of non-citizens in one state will deny legal representation of citizens in another state, thanks to the set limit on the number of Representatives in Congress. This is the worst form of disenfranchisement and it benefits primarily the Democrat party.
The Census is done on a ten-year cycle, time enough for FIVE Congresses to be seated, that embody distorted, un-Constitutional representation. Shame on the United States, THE nation that ought to be upholding the best of democratic republicanism. Our political process has become so corrupted that neither we nor anyone else wants it. We send our best young men and women overseas to restore or install “Democracy” where they die on foreign soil in the name of one-T-Democratcy.
The greatest shame is our failure to educate our young CITIZENS about our Republic and the Constitution and each citizen’s rights and RESPONSIBILITIES under it. This is why there are widespread, illegal demonstrations against Jews and Israel: those students are easily attracted to pro-Hamas agitators because of stupidity (that education can fix, presumably) and ignorance (that education can fix, presumably.) These students are horribly oblivious to the foolishness of their actions, chants and slavish adherence to lies and fabrications. How sad. How embarrassed their parents and college administrations must – or ought – to be. Laughingstocks, all.
Or is hate for America and all things Judeo-Christian so well ensconced in a large minority of Americans, that the natural next step is publicly demonstrating that hate? Clear-thinking is no part of hate, of course; slavish repetition of rhyming slogans of hate, however, is. Yet, when these profiles in courage are confronted with actual consequences for their ignorance – or stupidity – the masks they wear become even more significant. The demands they make of feckless “administrators” of their respective – not to be confused with respectable – schools always include “amnesty” for protesters, lest their fancy jobs upon graduation be impacted in the slightest. Heroes, all.
One wonders what actually motivates kids to demonstrate as they have, when so much about their persona and future is on the line? How do they think recruiters will perceive them? As brainiacs who will help their employers earn a profit and grow their businesses due to the sharp thinking and fresh ideas of this year’s crop of college graduates? Ehh, not so much. Somehow these students have “learned” a set of hateful falsehoods and become so exercised by these “facts” that they have attempted to upset their schools, their fellow students and tens of thousands of actual working people. What courage… what nonsense. “Hire those kids before our competitors snag them!”
A wise leader would make sure that any students on visas who shout, “Death to Israel! Death to America!” will promptly have their visas canceled and be escorted out of the United States, never to return. It’s a shame that such action isn’t taken, and that the mentality to take it doesn’t hold sway in Washington.
Republicans have a lot to answer for in the immigration mess we find ourselves in. No matter how slim the majority in the house was in 2023 and 2024, the “continuing resolutions” (not budgets, just stupid continuation of Nancy Pelosi’s last spending plan) were the only opportunities to force right action onto the Biden administration. What are Republicans afraid of? Why, not being re-elected… that’s all. The open border and the lies and illegalities that surround it, is the greatest threat to U. S. citizens and national integrity. Letting the government “shut down” to keep the border open would have put pressure where it matters. Republicans were afraid of “losing” the public relations contest: couldn’t take the “blame” the liberal press would have aimed at them. What courage.
Republicans’ plan is only to win the 2024 elections for President and Congress. Meanwhile, enemies of America are flooding across our borders at increasing rates. States, cities and towns are being forced to spend their resources to house and feed illegal aliens, plus to weaken their school systems attempting to accommodate hundreds of non-english-speaking students. Public facilities are being withdrawn from legitimate public use in order to house illegals. What extraordinary stupidity on the part of the Biden government. Thinking Democrats need no other reason to vote against Biden and those who support him.
There is no agency, Department, office or more than a handful of elected officials who should be deemed trustworthy by the American citizenry. $35 Trillion of “debt” placed on Americans’ backs should be proof enough of the mendacity of “the Federal Government.” Substantial changes can save us… tinkering with regulations and press releases will only hasten our demise as a once-great example of better ways to live.
As a cruise ship plows forward, forcing water aside, waves are created, however short-lived, and they are real… impermanent, but real. Perhaps that is because they last for more than a moment. From windows forty feet above, with the sun shining against the ship and water, there appear light and dark patterns – like lace – flashing into and out of view, only “real” because I have perceived their ephemeral patterns. Engaging someone’s consciousness: is that essential for reality?
Someone sitting at another window could not perceive the same tracery despite its reality to me for a flash of time. It’s much the same as Love or Anger or Sadness or a dozen… no, ten-dozen other emotions, the reality part, at least. Usually they flit across one’s being like a shadow, gaining reality only if your consciousness grabs hold and commits mental energy to one.
Suddenly, from a flash of fear or loathing of someone’s odd difference from your own self you have made a decision – a choice – to hate the different one, even for a few moments… a feeling that is no longer fleeting, but real. If left private, shared with no one else, it is neither bad nor good. While it may affect your own physiology, quicken your breath and pulse, you may choose from evil. You may release the ill-feeling before it becomes a belief. Only belief can render such a flash real.
Funny thing, belief. We all suffer from it, it is how we live. Faith requires it and Hope is made of it. Faith, compounded of hundreds of stories – ideas, really, that can’t be replicated or proven, on the surface, can’t be tested to establish some sort of “proof” for the benefit of others who doubt is premises. It need not be put to any test for those who have it. Faith is trust and that means trust in A source of the idea, or in THE source of the idea.
We, humans, live in faith. It surrounds our beings, functions and beliefs. Much is made of religious faith in this day of militant, feral atheism. Religious faithful especially are denigrated for beliefs in “mumbo jumbo,” although these besmirchments apply almost exclusively to Christians and Jews. One never sees “protesters” opposed to Hindus or Muslims or Buddhists. There are some opponents to Mormons: mostly a quirk of Christian intolerance – the same that underlay many wars, even AMONG Christians, but no worse than sectarian conflicts elsewhere. It has never been settled whether tolerance, per se, is good or bad. Tolerance of what?
But, in terms of faith, itself, those who trust in the solidness of soil, rocks, wood or ice are no less faithful, however shallow that faith may be. After all, if doubt creeps in, one need simply pick up another rock and have his or her faith restored. However, “science” shows us that rocks and other “solid” things are comprised of atoms which are mostly empty space, each part of which is a mere vibration of energy. So, how is it enough of these supposed “atoms” can hold up the weight of others of its kind, plus the weight of us, our rocks, cars and houses?
Well, let’s not worry about such things. Thank God they do… ummm, I mean, thank goodness. Same thing.
We trust in a lot of life we can’t control – or understand – so why is trust in God so singularly questioned? Does His / Her possibility threaten us? Is it because God proclaimed rules that humans are “commanded” to follow? Rules for Good and Bad and Love and Life and Death? One of those rules, that EVERY human once had faith in, Is “Thou shalt not steal.” It’s a pretty good rule, too: easy to understand and without compromise.
We expect, for example, to be impacted by government – an expectation that is so often realized that it becomes a “matter of faith.” We know government is going to limit or coerce us in matters of stealing and, frankly, in almost every action we take. We have FAITH in government’s intrusiveness for it is proven to us a hundred times each day… or, a thousand times, if we open our eyes and ears. It’s part of our belief system – giving us faith in the likelihood that “our” government will impact us similarly tomorrow. There is every reason to believe so.
Admonishing us to not steal implies the existence of private, individual ownership of “things,” “items,” “money” and so forth. In our illuminated existences we like to consider “rights” as something we possess, as well. Maybe we do… possess rights. How so? By virtue of birth? Do our parents give us these amazing, non-substantial things… these rights? Perhaps on a certain birthday?
If they are “parents,” in fact, they provide necessities like food, clothing, shelter, a bed, one hopes. Do children then possess a “right” to these things? Or must such rights be “earned? If earned, at whose expense? “Our” government says, “At all of our expense. We, collectively, will guarantee availability of these necessities for the children in our country whether or not their parents are able to – or choose to – provide them.” The government, in effect, creates those “rights” as extensions of the “Right to Life.” Really?
How can the government do this when it has no means (money) to do so?
This same government does its damnedest to pay for and otherwise facilitate abortion, although the government, per se, has no money. It would seem that “our” government has chosen to steal a thing from the “abortee:” its Right to Life, at the same time stealing the money needed to inflict the abortion, from all of the rest of us. Thou shalt not steal must have severe compromise built into it… hmmph.
One could leap to the presumption that the TWO parents of the human working to be born, had not only some right to copulate but, instantaneously, the OBLIGATION to provide for the child of their union. Further, it would be more honest and fair if there were some punishment or sanction for creating a child while denying any of the coincident obligations. Do they have a “right” to create an obligation for all of us not involved in the procreation? By whose authority?
Birth may be induced within a week or two of due date; other forms of early delivery may be employed up to two MONTHS earlier. In some jurisdictions the proto-mother can elect to terminate that life for convenience’ sake… even to the time of natural birth. Indeed there are instances of babies surviving abortion who have then been “eased” from life after delivery or while their heads are still in the birth canal… on the whim of the mother. That doesn’t seem different from murder.
Wasn’t that live baby a U. S. citizen by virtue of being born on U. S. soil? Who has the right to steal its Right to Life? Who can grant such a right to steal? Thou shalt not steal.
Does not the brand-new U. S. citizen have unalienable rights under the Constitution? Rights like Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness? Was there some point… a single breath, perhaps, at which “we, the People…” invested “our” government with the power to take those rights away from a citizen? That’s a major theft, it seems Prudent to say. That baby owned those rights; they were stolen from him or her. Thou shalt not steal.
Our we-the-People-created government has not only assumed for itself the power to grant the right to murder one’s offspring, a U. S. citizen, for no reason, but also to steal the Right to Life from the recipient of the abortion process.
To sell the idea of child assassination as a net “good” requires a remarkable re-making of beliefs. The person / mother who is responsible for the life gestating within her, almost always sees her own life, and Right to it, as precious, if not sacred. In the course of her re-education she is brought to a belief about the new person for whom she is responsible, that is completely different: her baby has no rights and she has no obligation to defend either the baby or the rights. She must come to believe that the baby is anything but a baby: it’s a mass of cells, like a tumor; or, he or she is a parasite, invading mother’s physical sanctity and convenience. Well, if the re-education is thorough, the removal of the invading mass is “health care,” albeit for only one of the parties involved. At least the parasite has no name and can’t feel anything… the proto-assassin hopes.
Sadly, tragically, this is not the case after just a few weeks of gestation.
Imagine a company the business of which were the aborting of kittens or puppies – say, puppies. The mother dog’s guardian (one cannot “own” another life form we’re told) knows the bitch has allowed to be done to her what dogs do, doggy-style, and is exhibiting signs of pregnancy. The guardian, not wanting the expense of another dog/puppy, or puppies, decides to have some convenient “health-care” performed on the pregnant bitch and the unborn puppies excised… like parasites. “Planned Puppyhood” might then sell the fresh, wet-iced organs of the puppies to “science” for research.
A neighbor of the guardian tells her that she hasn’t noticed “Buttons” running around for a few days and asks if everything is okay… with the dog? “Oh, yes,” says guardian, “she was pregnant and I took her to “Planned Puppyhood” for an abortion; 3 pups were removed. She’ll be home by tonight. Thanks for asking.”
The neighbor recoils in shock. “How could you do such a thing?” she cries. You could have let Buttons give birth and brought the puppies to a shelter! There are places that will take them and find them good homes. Oh, gracious, I feel terrible! I would have taken them!” Neighbor is crying.
“Oh for Heaven’s sake,” exclaims the guardian. Having those puppies would have been more trouble than I could put up with. I just don’t have the time, with work and all. What’s done is done and things will be back to normal going forward. Calm down. I still love Buttons.”
Neighbor shares the tragedy with others and local news gets the story. Do you think PETA and hundreds of pet-lovers and veterinary assistants will be picketing the guardian? Signs will call her a murderer and puppy-hater. She did, after all, STEAL the right of the bitch to give birth to her puppies and nurse them. Thou shalt not steal.
Probably, Planned Puppyhood would never get a permit to open a new facility in guardian’s county: dogs don’t contribute millions of dollars to political campaigns… at least the smart ones don’t.
The facilitators of abortions, that is, proto-mothers (women don’t actually receive abortions, they participate, but the recipient of the abortion is the baby: the abortee, as it were) have developed a great faith in the new meanings of words they’ve been re-taught. The multiple aspects of Life and Humanity NOT being those things MUST BE TRUE. If they aren’t… OMG! Not that they intend the meaning of “OMG” literally, it’s a social media thing, the meaning of which has been stolen by vulgarity.
Apparently, “our” government has perfected stealing and, usually, when theft is the subject, money is the object, in most people’s minds. Some person steals your wallet and everything in it and they have not only your cash but your credit cards and identity. He or she could steal even your house as well as drain your bank account – stealing from your future. God forbid. Clearly there are multiple crimes possible and, let’s hope, “our” government will harshly sanction the thief in every case. After all, everyone recognizes the truth and justice of Thou shalt not steal. Just consider how firmly “our” governments deal with shoplifters after they steal from store-owners.
“That’s not a fair sarcasm,” some automatically say, “those people have insurance against theft.”
Sounds like a definition is being stolen right from under us: “stealing” isn’t stealing if the victim is wealthy, or insured, and not known face-to-face. No kidding? Thou shalt not steal.
Moreover, if “religious” people think that rule is sacred, having come from God – especially Jews or Christians – then to Hell with that. We’re not going to have religious doctrine shoved down our throats, it’s un-Constitutional. Now they’re stealing the meaning of “Constitution,” too. But, back to the money thing.
A truly clever group would want its theft of EVERYONE’S money… I mean, if they had a very damned good reason to pull that off, they would find a way to hide the theft and their hands in it from… well, everyone. To do that they’d have to steal some word definitions such as “Inflation.” Every public commenter, including the smart ones, say “inflation” when they mean “price increases.” Generally the “rate” they talk about is the rate of increase or decrease measured by the “CPI,” the Consumer Price Index. The true “CPI” is comprised of a market “basket” of things that consumers can’t avoid buying in the normal course of providing for themselves and their families. Our government has stolen the meaning of this measure.
The “basket” includes food, cleaning products, clothing, housing, energy, TV, phone and internet services, insurance, transportation, taxes and accounting, health care and medications, maintenance and household services, banking and credit services, education and child-care. There are more, but sustenance and advancement are possible from that list.
Everyone but the wealthy elite agonizes over rapid price increases for items in the market “basket.” It’s heard everywhere: “Eggs used to be 99 cents a dozen, now they’re $4.79!”
“Inflation is high,” someone replies. News commenters refer to the “rate” of inflation as the average rate of, say, 3 and ½% as proof that “our” president’s policies have “brought down” the rate of “inflation.” What a wonderful piece of work. All are misusing the term, “inflation.” By repeated, round-the-clock misuse, the meaning of inflation has been stolen. Here’s a little lesson:
Inflation means inflation of the money supply… simple. Inflation, by itself, doesn’t mean the increase in a price… of any thing. It does, however, REDUCE THE VALUE of all the dollars there are sloshing around the economy: one of the greatest thefts ever devised. Only governments can do that. Thou shalt not steal.
Inflation is a government policy. It’s not caused by changes in the weather or lunar cycles. Politicians decide to use inflation to their advantage, either to buy votes or to cover up errors they have made with other policies. “We, the people” are the last and least consideration when inflation is being contemplated. Any legislation that increases federal spending, cannot, by definition, “reduce” inflation. To say otherwise, perhaps by naming said legislation an “Inflation-Reduction Act,” is a complete lie, told by politicians to their constituents from whom they have just stolen monetary value of savings and pension plans and liquid cash assets. It is not only mendacious, but cruel. Thou shalt not steal.
But, why do prices go up after the government inflates the money supply? Supply and demand: the very essence of economics, trade, valuation of goods and services and, wait for it, TAXES! The insidious economics of “our” (federal) government results from constant “deficit spending:” spending more to operate the government than tax receipts and other revenues can cover, which sounds pretty stupid. But in order to do that, the government borrows the difference, virtually on a daily basis, for which it incurs an interest obligation – all done on “our” behalf.
That interest obligation is now greater than ONE TRILLION DOLLARS per year, and growing. Most of the money borrowed to fill annual “budget” gaps is basically air… (see: https://www.prudenceleadbetter.com/2020/09/27/knife-edge-election/) … for which we pay real-money interest. It’s the theft that keeps on stealing. When your favorite politician sends you some re-election mail, be sure to send him or her a check, won’t you?
Inflation automatically, in a sense, causes reactionary DE-flationary effects, bringing balance back to the supply of dollars and the supply of goods and services to be purchased. The fastest adjustment is the higher price of things. Eventually, the price of labor also rises. All of these increases generate – wait for it – higher tax revenue! It’s a miracle! Or, it’s a policy… who’d have thought?
So, who can commit such a crime? Who benefits from this theft? Who can even DO the crime? “Our” government, that’s who. The rate of inflation IS high, BUT, and this isn’t good news, as a percentile increase, even the last FOUR presidents have been unable to increase the rate more than a total of 100%!
“Really? Where did it go?” one asks. Why, to the greatest deflationary mechanism ever invented: DEBT! It’s now over $35 Trillion!
“Whose debt is it?” you could rightly ask. Well, it’s YOURS, mine, all of ours. “How will we repay it?” could be the next logical question.
“We can’t unless we run surpluses in the federal budget for the next 50 years or so.”
“When will we do that?” Also a good question. Likely answer:
“Never. Our Reps and Senators will have to change their habits and, right now, their habit is to get re-elected and they have to buy a lot of votes.”
“So, it’s a debt that will never be repaid?”
“Yes. It’s indistinguishable from theft. In this case, the money has been stolen from generations into the future, to whom the thieves will never answer.” Thou shalt not steal.
Along the path of perpetual debt many meanings of words and principles have been stolen… and rights, as well. To maintain the lie of theft-as-debt, we are paying interest, which is a “current” obligation, competing with federal departments, like Defense, for limited resources, along with other key obligations comprised of horse-shit, chicken-shit and bull-shit, not to overlook the mountain of citizen and illegal welfare we feel compelled to pay.
Our “representatives” (a questionable term) have aided in this multi-generational embezzlement for decades, as it buys their votes, too. Aside from a handful in either House: a dozen in the Senate, perhaps thirty in the House of representatives – both parties have facilitated and voted for repeated deficit-spending packages, including “continuing resolutions” that merely continue rates of spending that exceed revenues… over and over and over. They lie, in other words; indeed, they fail to represent our interests TO or AGAINST the government, as directed by our Constitutional covenant. Instead they represent the government to us! They have stolen the term, “representative,” one of the worst of thefts. $35 Trillion. Thou shalt not steal.
Kidnapping is the most heinous of THEFTs and, if there are degrees of heinousness, kidnapping a child is a still greater level of evil. Yet, every weekday we willingly pass off our children to “public” education systems where ideological and unionized teachers and equally warped administrators divert children’s beliefs away from those of their parents. If a person’s beliefs are taken from him or her, it is a theft of the most personal property. Uniquely foul is the daily effort to make children question their own being: boys aren’t actually boys; girls not actually girls. For shame.
Such “teachers”… no, “educators,” are the worst thieves possible: willing to steal children’s selves. Ultimately, they are willing to perfect the theft by having kids be subjected to chemical sterilization and, if they can reach the nadir, surgical mutilation. In the process they may even get to rejoice the theft of the children from their parents, altogether. Oh, the glory! Once a thief… Thou shalt not steal.
The most precious commodity in the World, hard-won and yet expansive, is United States citizenship. Our history as a nation, and as colonies prior, is as well-recorded as that of any nation. Our reasons for independence from our British colonizers and the philosophies upon which we have based our form of government – unique among the nations – are also well-recorded and, indeed, among the best studied in the World.
Sadly, our own citizens – there are some – are among those LEAST AWARE of our own remarkable history and founding purposes. To our shame we have fallen into the communist trap of politicizing our past… not that we can change it, but great effort is being made, even in schools, to change our beliefs about it. With new beliefs rampant – not new truths, new beliefs, we can create new tensions, divisions and social decay in the present. It’s a “plan” of action for some, part of which is the denigration of citizenship and of the United States, itself.
The “plan” has a greater purpose than attacking our nation and citizenship in it. We can see it actively pursued daily and hourly: the denigration of fellow citizens as being somehow “White Supremacists” for our belief in the values and purposes of the U. S. A. That epithet can erase any truths we might speak, as though anyone ACCUSED of White Supremacy is so vile that he or she need not be listened to or acknowledged for our opinions about, well… anything. That is, even if our statements are true and evidence-backed, our having been accused of white supremacy makes them automatically hateful and UN-true. Tails we win, Heads, you lose. What are the values of U.S. citizenship that people have died to protect?
First among all is the protection and guarantee of unalienable rights under our exceptional Constitution. Nowhere else on this planet are people so protected – at least in intent – as in the United States. The most common relationship of governments to citizens / residents of their countries is one of dominance and control and subjective law enforcement. Despite the declamations of Barack Obama and others, the United States IS exceptional and our history proves it. Nowhere else has ANY nation fought a civil war in order to improve its legal structure and end slavery. Indeed, in many places, SLAVERY is still practiced! Even more, it is practiced here in America because of the Mexican cartels and the open-border policies and misfeasance of the Biden administration! Sex slavery and indentured labor is taking place under the guidance and policies of one our most racist presidents since Woodrow Wilson. To our shame… and his.
Next among exceptional protections is equal application of the laws. We have virtually emasculated this protection to our long-term danger. No one is “free” if some are punished according to the law while others, for non-legal reasons, are not. That is, if some are punished extra-legally or only through unusual stretching of word meanings in order to craft charges upon which unique prosecutions may be based. In the latter cases, the typical Constitutional protections are rendered inapplicable for some citizens. Perfect examples of this can be seen in the recent New York State conviction of Donald Trump for financial fraud where, in fact, no fraud occurred and no damage was done to anyone taking part in the questioned transactions. As part of his “judgment,” the judge required that the full value of his outrageous fine must be posted in cash or bond in order to exercise the common right of appeal. The Attorney General for the State of New York had campaigned for that office on a promise to “get” Donald Trump because of a series of unsubstantiated opinions of his political statements and policies during his 2017 – 2021 term as President.
The standards of jurisprudence should apply EQUALLY to all citizens of the United States, else the unique value of U. S. citizenship is cheapened to worthlessness. The politicization of law is the corrosive undermining of the United States that cannot be accomplished by external enemies… only by those of our neighbors who have turned against their own country: purveyors of treason.
In the current atmosphere of “open borders” and conscious failure to enforce immigration law, so-called “Constitutional rights” are being freely sprinkled upon illegal aliens, including, but certainly not limited to, guarantees of legal representation if charged with a crime. That is, upon encouragement for political reasons, to breech our legal, national borders, those entering our country ILLEGALLY, are immediately offered legal representation at the expense of the legal residents of the country. Adding to the IN-justice of government promulgated law-breaking are the cash and other direct benefits to people who have no statutory right to those benefits.
The concept of PRESENCE is, step-by-step, replacing the rights of CITIZENSHIP. Various regulations and laws have been emplaced that prevent agencies of governments that are legitimized by the votes of CITIZENS, from even asking about citizenship status in matters as diverse as drivers’ licensing to renting of housing, census surveys, qualification for public welfare, and, effectively, VOTING! One can fairly question how these rights, privileges and expenses can not only be legally conveyed to illegal entrants, but such questionable conveying may then be hidden from the citizenry on whose behalf, ostensibly, the government agents doing the conveying are supposedly SERVING (“public servants,” they). “It’s the law,” they say.
There must be something wrong with this. The “rights” of illegal entrants have taken precedence over the rights of citizens… citizens who are the ONLY LEGAL CONSTITUENTS of elected officials at any level of government. That is, the covenant between government and those who CREATED the government can apply only to citizens, the protection of citizens, the protection of the rights of CITIZENS and the protection of the property of CITIZENS. There is NO COVENANT with non-citizens. Whoever says or acts differently is a traitor. Simple.
Recent acts by leftist jurisdictions are diluting citizenship at an accelerated rate. In various cities non-citizens are being permitted to vote in “local” elections. Residents of Washington, D.C. even went to court to challenge an ordinance that permits non-citizens to vote in local elections and for ballot measures, even to serve in city government offices! Logically, and what ought to be, reasonably, they argued that U. S. citizens have a right, protected by the Constitution, the 5th and 14th Amendments among other provisions, to govern themselves. Therefore, no non-citizen should be able to govern them. The judge, displaying an all-too-common ignorance and bias against Constitutional Republicanism, ruled that since the plaintiffs had not articulated any damage to themselves, THEY HAD NO STANDING to bring the suit! The reasonable among us would immediately see that any non-citizen’s vote that opposed a citizen’s vote has disenfranchised the CITIZEN. This sounds – and is – illegal to do. Judge, are you paying attention… to anything?
In the immediate travesty-treason of the effective elimination of immigration laws and border protections, U. S. citizens have watched an estimated NINE MILLION illegal entrants swarm into U. S. territory with no meaningful resistance from the federal authorities whose legal charge is to prevent those very actions and results. To pour burning salt onto an open national sore, Democrats have fought off a recent attempt by Republicans to require that Constitutionally mandated census counts be limited to CITIZENS, only. What is the result of this intentional ignorance of the Constitutional covenant with the citizenry of the United States? A foul and subversive distortion of the Electoral College and other “representative” relationships of cities, states and citizens to the federal government.
The Democrat subversion effectively changes the number of representatives in Congress to which a state is entitled under the Constitution! Any reading of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, makes clear that it is the CITIZENS of the United States who are ratifying and PLACING THEMSELVES SUBJECT TO the conditions and RIGHTS embodied therein. Illegal entrants DO NOT HAVE THESE RIGHTS regardless of levels of empathy or sympathy from actual citizens. Ours is a nation of laws… until it isn’t. Shame on ANYONE who claims otherwise or who acts to unseat that truth. For shame.
Compounding the subversion of representation, the counted presence of illegal entrants distorts the number of Electoral College votes to which a state is entitled in the election of a President. This effect shifts elections to works of fraud. They are automatically tilted toward left-leaning states where the largest, strongly Democrat cities are located. It has the potential of disenfranchising large fractions of the states, where the election of Presidents is supposed to reside. It is such a blatant crime that reasonable people cannot believe it is actually happening. Democrats walk among us and even look like regular citizens. They live and work in our neighborhoods. Normal Americans who are concerned with external threats to our existence as a free and self-governing Republic, can’t imagine that fellow citizens would be working so deviously against the existence of our nation and our Constitutionally protected unalienable rights.
How wrong we’ve been. It would be Prudent to fight back and reclaim the legal basis of the United States. We have citizenship, after all. May God bless America.
Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States, Oil on Canvas, Howard Chandler Christy
There is a term that is never heard in modern discussions about governance and government and citizens and citizenship. People who care – and pundits who often do not – spend much breath on politicians and on certain policies, issues, fads and economic problems… but, none employs the term, PARTNERSHIP. It is worth our consideration.
Understanding the place of partnership in the American system requires our grasp of the Constitution and its original intent. The Constitution is a COVENANT, not a LAW, necessarily, but a sacred agreement between the people who ratify it – us, at every election – and the people to whom we have granted power to create and protect an orderly society. It’s a bargain… an agreement to treat people equally under the laws that are passed ON BEHALF OF THE CITIZENS, the private half of the covenant, and it is a set of boundaries to restrain the human tendencies of those blessed with political, legal power, the public half of the covenant, to protect the citizens and to sanction those who commit criminal acts.
This is all well and good, but it is not the real story of the formation of a Constitutional Republic. Why establish a nation, no matter how beautiful or philosophical? Is it because God instructed mankind to take dominion over the Earth, so why not this piece of it and why not our self-selected fraction of mankind? That’s too much hubris for any group.
No. The Constitution was created because people had already formed – and fought for – a nation and national identity called America. People had moved here and were moving here to create better lives in a basically Christian and capitalist format, and their society could neither protect itself or its members without an agreed set of rules and bounds, recognized from within and without. As the Declaration of Independence had proclaimed, upon separation from an unjust form of dominance, the right to “…assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them…” It is part of the Covenant that the existing population clearly proclaim its claim to certain territory AND the right to govern themselves as they see fit. A Covenant.
It seems Prudent to describe that covenant as a PARTNERSHIP. It is formed to protect the SUCCESS of the citizenry or, at the very least, to protect the opportunities to succeed for each citizen and family. Any government that ceases to “partner” and commences to “provide,” will shortly become tyrannical, for its “provider” attitude is based on a belief in the incompetence of its citizen-partners. It is a tiny slide from that attitude/altitude to believe that those at a “lower” altitude of competence will need rules to live by. This is not to say “rules” to avoid criminality, at least initially, but rules to govern daily, family and personal life. Almost abruptly, the sanctions for failing to follow rules governing one’s person, become new laws, the breech of which demand sanction as if criminal: a “police” state.
Lately, since, say, 1964, American politicians have concerned themselves more with countering or imposing incompetence-inspired “rules” for everyone’s life. Prudent contemplation shows this to be true. Combined with a relatively communistic takeover of education at all levels, the average intelligence, competence, maturity and self-reliance of Americans born since 1960 has plummeted. At the same time, as the administrative state has found reason to multiply the number of rules necessary to enable less competent citizens to survive, those who are more competent and politically connected have become wealthier and commercially controlling, often allying with government to impose even more rules on those of lesser economic standing… rules that political forces have been unable to impose. This is called Fascism, a slightly different-colored form of socialism, but still a police state
How refreshing it would be if a candidate for, well… ANY office, would introduce two rare policies into his or her campaign rhetoric and promises: clear, open honesty, and determination to render his or her future office as a tool for PARTNERING with citizens so that each might be more successful in life. Partnership and truth-telling. What remarkable promises to make, let alone fulfill.
How would a government-citizen partnership operate?
First, it would examine weaknesses in current systems, but that implies that it knows what the countervailing strengths ought to be. We could start with strong families.
There is no structure, program or law in the world, let alone in the United States, that is more effective in creation of “good” children and adults, than functional FAMILIES. At risk of offending a few, those are families with a married mother and father, who are able to provide for themselves and their children. Every threat to successful child-rearing is dramatically lessened in a married-couple environment. Sadly, our own governments, federal, state and county / municipal, are geared up and funded to encourage single-parent family units – the opposite of what actually works the best. We know this to be true in every single jurisdiction, yet we keep growing the socialist, administrative welfare state.
Should our “governors” choose to become partners in our success, the welfare state would be the first place to reform almost everything that comprises it.
The overarching question for any successful society as for any family: “How are the children?” – obviously connects with the state of education, public and private. A true partnership between citizens and government would dictate that government schools, at least, be employed to perform their primary educational mission, while reinforcing the desires and intentions of parents. Fighting with parents over alternate ways to raise children is a decided breech of that partnership covenant implied in the Constitution.
Economic freedom is the key social pillar of success in the modern economy. Partnership by a government granted its powers by the people, would imply that government would neither punish citizens through taxation nor destroy the value of the money they earn. Clearly, Washington and the 50 States’ governors have a long way to go to restore partnership in place of financial serfdom. Not only are those on welfare rendered financial serfs, but so are most taxpayers. On our behalf, our “representatives” and governors have contrived a debt greater than the economic output of the entire nation, soon to require payment of nearly ONE TRILLION DOLLARS in annual interest payment. No effort is underway to reduce that debt or to reduce the deficit spending that adds to it. This is a strange partnership.
Economic independence from the government and from welfare, should be the goal of the government in a Constitutional Republic. That is, the success of our Constitutional structure can be measured only by the reduction in dependence upon that government. A bloated, largely uncontrolled administrative state is the glowing example of FAILURE of our Constitutional system. The only reason it has survived as long as it has is its ability – shrinking ability – to coddle the population and businesses with borrowed “money” and comforts. Now that a roughly communistic presidency has been installed, the ability of the government to continue on this path is nearing its end. Both internal and external forces are gathering against the administrative / executive state. The partnership promised by representation is dissolving with every failure to budget the people’s money, and with every thousand-page “bill.” Soon the nation will be unable to afford to defend itself.
The FIRST job of partnership is to protect the citizenry, not the last.
A true partnership… which is to say, the truth of the Constitutional covenant, would be marked by partnering with every CITIZEN to facilitate his or her enjoyment of the RIGHTS guaranteed by the Constitution. Sadly, the federal and states’ governments are currently consumed with using the Constitution and tens of thousands of laws and rules to CONTROL the people rather than helping each succeed in life. “Expertly managed failure” is how our governors measure their success, not ours. Our success merits some form of punishment amidst a set of accusations and sanctions, even to the point of separating us from our own children. Soon, Americans will be looking for partnership with fellow citizens in order to return our Constitution to supremacy. Certainly the present government will not do so.
May God grant us the ability to accomplish restoration through elections, and the strength to prevail should they fail.
After the past 3 years of criminal malfeasance on the President’s part, malfeasance that has spread throughout “his” administration, it is time for all Americans to admit to the gross damage that inserting Biden as president has caused. Democrats have nothing to be proud of – and much to answer for – in the matters of the 2020 elections. The possibility that Biden was fairly elected dwindles almost daily. A fair observer should concede that Trump’s suspicion of unprecedented election fraud and wrong-doing is well justified. His frantic attempts to reverse the certifications of “votes” were justified actions of a chief executive officer. Unfortunately, there is neither time nor mechanism to expose distortions as grand and effective as those employed in 2020. January Sixth played out as the phenomenal political hatchet that certain rabid leftists and anti-Trumpers had only dreamed-of hitherto.
As a result of the various crimes and distortions of 2020, Joe Biden and a gaggle of idiots came into power, including for the third time, Barack Obama. Biden, it is clear, has neither the thoughtfulness nor mental capacity to contrive the policies his administration is following. He has never understood history. Neither has he ever judged the nature of foreign leaders properly, accounting for decades of poor decision-making through his Senate and Vice-Presidential tenures. Worse, he is personally weak, leaving him easily manipulated by stronger personalities like the aforementioned Mr. Obama. His declining mental sharpness places the United States’ existence as a world power at existential risk. Woe are we.
It is hard to isolate a single Biden failure to discuss, but it seems Prudent to consider the open borders policies he has fostered. One must ask oneself, “Why in God’s name would anyone with influence in the U. S. promote or favor or allow such policies?” There are two reasons that have been stated over and over in multiple ways, neither good for the USA: 1) Change the demographic majority of our population (white’s need not apply); and 2) Divide the U. S. against itself and weaken it economically. Accomplishing the first will install Democrats forever in power – priority 1 – and accomplishing the second will enable globalism to replace Independence. For shame. We can see a dozen other leftist, anti-American policies working toward the same goals in education, communications, medicine and constant erosion of religious thought, but none will achieve the two main goals as rapidly as Biden’s flood of 10 MILLION or more illegal entrants.
The premises under which Biden acted to carry out Obama’s long-time plan, derive from “Executive Orders,” and were illegal in and of themselves. An executive order by a president can, legally and constitutionally, impact only the executive branch in terms of how the LAWS, passed legislatively and signed into law by a president, shall be executed. An executive order may not prevent the faithful execution of the laws, or set them aside in favor of un-legislated directives put forth by a president on his or her own initiative. However, as Mr Obama is confident of, there are few remedies available in the case of a president’s abuse of power. The only one is “impeachment” in the House followed by conviction by two-thirds of the Senate – a never-accomplished set of actions. No Congress has yet had the political will to carry through an impeachment (allegation) to actual conviction, even when laws have been broken by a president. Hence, “Biden’s” open border policies have remained in place for more than 3 years despite the breaking of and failure of enforcement of, immigration laws.
Millions of words have been spoken and written about the unfolding tragedy and dangers of the failure to enforce our border and immigration laws… except two: “I’m sorry” (for damaging the Nation, the States and hundreds of communities), spoken by Joe Biden. Oddly, no State, even Texas, has yet sued the federal government for imposing costs on States and municipalities in the furtherance of illegal federal actions. Another suit could be filed in federal court concerning those same States and municipalities being forced to not enforce their own laws on behalf of their own citizens. Nor has Biden, himself, been impeached in the House. An illegal travesty continues unabated.
At some point, when the Chinese Communist Party dictates, there will be an horrendous terrorism event inside the United States, perpetrated by some of the thousands of Chinese who have walked into the U. S. and by some of the thousands of entrants from terrorism-sponsoring Muslim countries. Everyone will be upset and casting blame, perhaps even at Joe Biden, who will be long gone or oblivious when it occurs. When it does those Democrats who engineered the certification of Biden’s electoral vote count on January 6th, 2021, will finally offer two words about the open borders policy: “Who, ME?”
Our Constitution has seven Articles, or “topic sections,” in a sense. The longest and most important, is the first. It describes the bi-cameral Congress. While both Senators and Representatives are members of Congress, we have customarily called Representatives, “Congressmen or Congresswomen;” Senators are Senators. However, members of both “Houses” are members of Congress. Congress OUGHT to be the most important of the three branches of government. It represents the people of the States (Representatives) and the States, themselves (Senators), at least that is the original design. That design has been weakened variously and repeatedly by those who don’t trust small-r “republicanism.” Those are they who proclaim that the United States is a “democracy,” which is intentionally NOT the basic covenant embodied in the Preamble or in the Constitution, itself.
Before we dig deeper into Article I, we must illuminate the problems inherent in “democracy.” Like many, you have probably been convinced to revere democracy when, in fact, it must be carefully constrained in order to serve the government proposed by the Constitution, a real vessel for reverence. Prudence would instruct that democracy is only a mechanism for selecting our representatives, the most crucial of the members of Congress.
Inevitably, the more power allowed to democracy, the more likely that the government will become authoritarian and no longer a partner with its citizens in their success. Democracy gains power from majority action, only. The majority rules in “a democracy.” There are no protections for minority interests. The intended partnership role of our government of the people, by the people and for the people, will quickly degrade to protection of the government and the governors, which we see now in 2023. What has this to do with democracy or the Senate?
The Senate was originally designed to represent the interests of the STATES, whose sovereignty in our FEDERATION, was paramount for many in the Convention and many in the country (and still should be). Every State had its interests and every Senator had reason to respect the will of his or her State’s legislature. In other words, Senators had to answer to a very small set of representatives of their State’s population. Those worthies ought to have had the needs of their States uppermost in their minds, and could not be ignored at the times of choosing their Senators. Senators were supposed to be responsible to their States’ interests.
The Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1913, a most dangerous period for our Republic and for republicanism. It changed the election of Senators to statewide popular voting – pure democracy with almost no accountability, in fact. Since then, the quality of Senators has declined significantly, on average. Democracy places more power in the hands of power and money “brokers,” as it were. Being accountable to everyone has meant being accountable to no one… no one, that is, except the leaders of the Senate and their control of their parties, and of sources of campaign funds.
Pure democracy also is subject to temporary, sometimes mob-like majority emotions. This was recognized in ancient Greece and is an even greater threat in the world of social media, 24–7 news media and widespread (planned) ignorance of reality and history. The mechanism of a Republic filters out those emotions. Citizens must choose the best among them to represent their interests TO the government; States would go through two stages of selection: first to their legislatures and Governors and then to their subsequent appointments of Senators. The Senate, with its longer terms, limited membership and fractional replacement, should be the more thoughtful and, dare we say, wise house of Congress. It’s design is intended to prevent emotional response and to be more accountable for its actions. Much of that “shock-absorber” function was thrown out with the switch to direct election in 1913. For shame.
Still, there are two houses of Congress and both must approve legislation, ostensibly a brake on foolish ideas. In the two-party fog of war, however, and the lack of limits on terms, it serves more effectively to stop good ideas. Abortion, for example can be hotly defended while balancing the budget is set aside. Worse, the Congress has, since the end of the Civil War, rushed to devolve its responsibilities and hand them to the (unelected and virtually un-fire-able) administrative state. About three-fourths of the federal “budget” is in the realm of entitlements or pensions, and “State-aid,” Federal dollars paid out to a thousand programs that States ostensibly control (or misapply). Those dollars twist the sovereignty of states and the thought processes of representatives and senators: No state should receive an unfair allotment of federal largesse. Federal dollars come as if by magic, with many of them being borrowed from the unbelievably distant future, sidestepping the responsibility of raising taxes to obtain them. Congress, both Houses, have “bought into” this sham. There is little statesmanship to point to among the whole number of them.
The most important power of the House of Representatives is to initiate any raising or, as virtually never happens, reducing of revenues. This includes raising taxes or changing tax rates. The Senate must concur, including amendments to bills, so they are nearly as involved in budgets as the House, including in terms of shucking responsibilities in favor of the administrative state.
Other powers of Congress include BORROWING against the full faith and credit of the United States; Coining money and regulating the value thereof; Set uniform rules of naturalization (for legal immigrants); to regulate commerce with other nations and among the several States; to promote the advancement of the sciences and protect invention and copyrights; to declare war including raising the Army and the Navy; to provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the laws of the United States, and to suppress Insurrections and repel invasions. Among other things.
The Congress is also charged with making laws necessary to effect Execution of the laws passed for operation of the Government and any agency or Department thereof. This last has proven to be the greatest threat to the “Blessings of Liberty” ordained in the Preamble. Hence the administrative and nearly perpetual state, busy passing regulations that are enforced as if at the status of enacted Law. For shame.
The discussion of Article I has, unfortunately, been mostly a rendition of what is failing in Congress and in the operations of Congress, and how far afield from the intentions of republican governance Congress has strayed. It is intensely advised, and Prudent, that Americans study Article I and reflect on history and the events of the past 30 years or so. Congress needs reconstruction as much as the South did in 1866, for it has engaged in insurrection against the Constitution, attempting to overthrow it by divesting Congress, itself, from its responsibilities. The United States is nearly $34 Trillion in debt.
Americans are, to a greater extent than at any time since the “Great” Depression, unhappy and untrusting of others. For all of our history as the United States of America, we have shared several senses of hope: economic, health, safety and cleanliness. We might also add a sense of religious hope. These hopes have slowly been… and are now quickly, being erased from our shared beliefs. It is unsettling.
Our origins as a people are exceptional as are our philosophies of governance and religious freedoms and numerous other rights protected by the Constitution. The fundament of American exceptionalism is that the government(s) are formed and defined by the people. Yet, since the beginning, those forces that believed the exact opposite: that governments are formed to control the people, their styles and means of living and their status in society, have been hard at work to undo the exceptionalism that once defined us. Starting in 2020, the virtual Communist enemies of America have believed that success is within their grasp and, sadly, very many Americans, particularly young Americans, agree with the destruction of our culture and nation.
We are losing our hopes.
Every person has grown up with a pattern of habits and beliefs imprinted by or in reaction to our parents or guardians or lack thereof. Other key people and childhood friends and classmates – and TEACHERS – all contributed to each of our belief structures and general outlooks and reactions to problems and opportunities. Huge industries of psychologists, child-psychologists, counselors and psychiatrists have developed to channel our feelings, guilts or irrationalities relative to our upbringing. In one way or another, at some level, we are, all, “screwed up” and seeking someone to blame for how we are. How is it, then, that most of us have, throughout the history of the United States, turned out so well?
Indeed, through the times of greatest tests: The Civil War, various economic crises, World Wars One and Two and the Civil Rights movement, Americans have impressed the world with our drive to “do the right thing.” Perfectly? Naturally not; but, overall we used to tend toward the best response to challenges – personally and nationally. Was it a miracle? Was it a set of millions of coincidences? Were children raised more perfectly then?
A qualified “yes” to the last question, but it was no accident that most of us grew up reasonably rational and morally straight despite our imperfect parents and circumstances, and the fundamental reason was culture.
We had a beautiful culture based in honesty and responsibility. The rest of the world envied it and struggled to emigrate to our land of opportunity. Our laws were equally applied, mostly, and our contracts were honestly enforced, mostly, and our private property – the fruit of our labor – was fairly protected by civil authorities, mostly. We rewarded initiative and success and, mostly, forgave failure for those who strove to do better. We honored churches and charity and respected marriage – even encouraged it in policy. We respected learning and the learned, and the inventors who kept our economic future bright. Parents could reasonably expect their children to have better lives than they had. It almost sounds funny to recount these “American” qualities.
Our culture was the best there was, in our capitalist democratic republic, and we tried to share it with others. Americans, individually, were enormously charitable toward one another and with the rest of the world, and we supported our nation being the same toward other peoples. American citizenship was a golden possession, yet anyone who applied to be one had to meet only the simplest tests and commitment to be welcomed into our nation as an equal possessor of our “gold.” Our basic Judeo-Christian ethics made us tolerant. What have we done?
In spite of obstacles, our young people used to grow up in pretty good shape, and the reason was culture. Schools, churches, libraries, police departments, pronouncements from the work of Congress, the military branches, radio programming, music and lyrics, television programming and news reporting, and even cinema… all reinforced our shared cultural beliefs. Today? Today, nearly all of these institutions challenge, if not tear down, our basic cultural norms. Parents are nearly alone in their efforts to pass our culture along to and in their children. What have we done?
As society becomes, almost daily, less and less honest, and our institutions less and less trustworthy, young people facing difficulties tend toward immediate suicide or the long-term suicide of drugs. Adults seem to have no valid response to this. Indeed, we allow for policies that make drug-addiction SAFER! We don’t even want to enforce sanctions for criminal behaviors! What are we doing?
None of what is going wrong is inevitable or guaranteed by the Constitution. We human beings created the mess we’re in and we can “un-create” it the minute we decide to be adults, again. What are we going to do? God save us.
