I am not a great person by any means. I have not found the cure for some terrible disease, nor have I created some new gadget that makes everyone’s life easier. I have not written a musical masterpiece nor a novel of breathtaking importance. I am just an ordinary average guy.

However, I do differ in that I have an insatiable thirst for knowledge when it comes to the philosophies and principles which guided those men known as our founding fathers. Not only were these men great thinkers by their own right, they were guided and influenced by many great thinkers from the past.

When I look around me today, I find a drought of thinking. I feel as though the world is entering another period of darkness of thought, similar to the Dark Ages. When I try to discuss the principles upon which our country was founded, I find myself on the receiving end of an emotional rant, or I get a dull, glazed over look as though I were attempting to explain quantum physics to a cow.

During my short respite from writing I once again read the book Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. This time, instead of reading it in just under two days I took my time to fully absorb some of the profound insights contained within that literary masterpiece.

I find it amazing, that over 50 years ago this woman was able to see into this nations future and almost predict the course that this country would take. In the story the powers that be create various agencies to control various crises that arise and put men like Wesley Mouch in charge of them. They bear a striking resemblance to the current myriad government agencies, each headed by a czar, each of them created to manage a particular crisis that our country has faced.

It is also amazing that, in both fiction and reality, with the assumption of powers by these people, the problems exponentially multiplied. Yet, when I try to explain that to people, that government is the problem, not the solution, I get this, dare I say it, stupid look on peoples faces.

Thomas Paine once said, “A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.” For generations now our country has allowed government to assume powers that were not theirs to assume. We have gone on, generation after generation, thinking that these powers did in fact belong to our government. We did so because we did not take the time to learn for ourselves what powers the constitution granted our government, and why they were so limited to begin with. We let our government think for us, and then give us their version of the truth. Then we swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.

I feel a deep foreboding, for I see what is beyond the horizon in this country. I feel as though I am defenseless against some unseen enemy who I am powerless against. That enemy being the ignorance and apathy of the people of this country.

There is a particular quote from Atlas Shrugged that I found quite appropriate. Hugh Atkinson is explaining to Dagny Taggart exactly how I feel now, “Fear? Yes-but it was more than fear. It was the kind of emotion that make men capable of killing-when I thought the purpose of the world’s trend was to destroy these children, that these three sons of mine were marked for immolation. Oh yes, I would have killed-but whom was there’re to kill? It was everyone and no one, there was no single enemy, no center and no villain, it was not the simpering social worker incapable of earning a penny or the thieving bureaucrat scared of his own shadow, it was the whole of the earth rolling into an obscenity of horror…”

Unfortunately for us, there is no John Galt to steal away all the great minds until the time comes to rebuild. It is up to us to do the thinking, and do it before our nation collapses in upon itself.

But I don’t see it though, not when people are more versed in the standings of their favorite football team, or the latest Hollywood gossip than they are on the Bill of Rights.

I don’t see it when half of this country so easily fell for the lies of one Barack Obama; when they let themselves be seduced by his promises of change instead of using a fraction of their thinking power to see beyond his lies and bullshit.

I don’t see it when the other half of the people in this country still believe that a return to GOP/conservative values will herald in the salvation of our nation. Not after the debacle that was George W. Bush.

With the Democrats having a majority in Congress, and with Congresses approval ratings in the tank, the odds are good that come November the Republicans may once get enough seats to regain control of Congress.

Allow me to ask a question, although I am pretty sure I already know the answer; Are people really that stupid that they are just going to replace the Democrats with Republicans and expect that things will suddenly get better? C’mon people, would you please just take a moment or two to think about how idiotic that sounds!

People weren’t happy with George W. Bush, and a Republican Congress, so they voted for Obama and a bunch of Democrats. Now they aren’t happy with Obama and the Democrats, so they are going to vote for a bunch of Republicans?

I am certain that there are those die-hard Republicans who are almost giddy with the prospect of regaining control of Congress. Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are probably having orgasms just thinking about it. It is to those who are not among the foaming at the mouth Republicans that I would like to address.

First of all, what exactly is it that you expect from your government? It is a serious question that, in light of the current state of our nation, should be given much more thought than it has been in the past.

Once you have given that sufficient thought, then you have to ask yourself if the Republican Party will best represent what you believe is the function of government.

How you answer those questions will be entirely up to you, but if you would give me the chance, I would like to explain how I feel. I consider myself a conservative. That does not mean I am a Republican, far from it.

In the Book of Matthew, Chapter 12, Christ states, “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.”

How does that apply to this train of thought? Simple, if a person, or a political party, claims to be conservative, but their actions are far from it, are they really conservatives?

The dictionary defines conservative as “reluctant to accept change: in favor of preserving the status quo and traditional values and customs, and against abrupt change.”

I would like for you to pay particular attention to something James Madison once said, “[T]he powers of the federal government are enumerated; it can only operate in certain cases; it has legislative powers on defined and limited objects, beyond which it cannot extend its jurisdiction.”

You know, sometimes when quoting our nation’s founders I use words that I am not certain people understand. I think enumerated may very well be one of them. According to the dictionary, enumerated means, “to name a number of things on a list one by one.”

Our government, both Democrats and Republicans, are equally guilty of expanding their powers to things that are not among those specifically enumerated by the Constitution.

Their claim that the general welfare clause of the Constitution authorizes them to do almost anything they desire is a huge misrepresentation of the intent of our founders. In a letter to Albert Gallatin, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.” There’s that word again, enumerated.

If that isn’t clear enough for you, James Madison, in no uncertain terms, stated, “With respect to the two words “general welfare,” I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.”

It should by now be apparent that our founders did not regard the general welfare clause of the Constitution as a catch all for them to use in justification of expanding their scope of power. Yet that is exactly what they have done.

Each and every Senator and member of the House take an oath, which states, “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”

Before I go any further, I want to make certain that people understand that although I am primarily discussing the abuse of power by our federal government, those elected to the various state governments also take a similar oath and are equally responsible for upholding the Constitution.

To continue, over the course of our nation’s history, our government has seen fit to pass laws which overstep the powers granted them by the Constitution. Often they justify their actions as necessary to stem some form of crisis.

Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel arrogantly stated what has long been accepted in D.C. as standard policy, “You don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste; it’s an opportunity to do important things that you would otherwise avoid.”

The recent passage of Universal Health Care Reform, the bailouts and government takeovers of banks and other private sector industries are only the most recent examples of our government exploiting a good crisis.

George W. Bush used the attacks of September 11 to initiate a long stream of legislation which, not only granted government powers it was never intended they have, but in the process trampled upon our 4th, 5th, and 6th amendment rights.

However, the practice of using a crisis to expand their powers did not start with Obama, nor did it start with Bush. Many of the social service programs we now take for granted would have been unthinkable a hundred years ago. Yet the Great Depression gave Franklin Roosevelt all the crisis he needed to implement his New Deal.

Hell, the exploitation of a crisis can be traced back to our second President, John Adams, with the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts. So using a crisis to further an agenda is nothing new. But it is something that Daniel Webster warned us about over 200 years ago, “Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions.”

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger gave an excellent example easily it is for government to utilize a crisis to do things people would not normally accept. In a speech to the Bilderberg Group in Evian France, Kissinger stated, “Today Americans would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order; tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told there was an outside threat from beyond whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will pledge with world leaders to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well being granted to them by their world government.”

In a speech to the House of Commons, in 1783, William Pitt stated, “Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is an argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.”

As long as the majority of Americans remain ignorant regarding the limits our Constitution imposes upon our government; as long as we tolerate their continued abuse of their power; as long as we continue to vote for more of the same from the two main political parties, we will continue to watch our liberty diminish and our governments control over us increase.

So, before you go to the polls this November, I would ask you to give these things a great deal of thought before casting your ballet for either a Republican or a Democrat. I would ask you to ponder something that George Washington once said, that being, “However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”

After you have pondered these things, ask yourself if the candidate you plan to vote for stands for the same principles as you do, do they represent the same vision of government that you believe in?

And remember, as Theodore Roosevelt once said, “A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.” If your character is of a nature that you prefer to let your government trample upon your rights, and control every aspect of your lives, go ahead and vote for a Republican, or a Democrat. However, if you value your rights and your liberty, seek out a candidate worthy of your vote.

I am not condemning the people who are beginning to get involved, nor the few good candidates they may find, and support, I am merely stating that the game has been afoot for too long, things have progressed too far, for a few changes here and there to have any real effect.

I feel that far too many underestimate the enormity of the problem. They fail to realize that our elected officials are merely the tools of designing people whose goal is to see America reduced to abject poverty and its citizens reduced to the status of indentured servants to a select few elite.

When I try to explain this to people I can almost see what happens inside their brains. Warnings go off, sirens begin blaring, announcing, ‘that does not compute, that does not compute.’ For some reason people find it hard to believe that there is a small group of people who want to rule the world.

Even though history has given us numerous examples of empires that tried to expand their power to control the entire known world. There was Genghis Khan, ruler of the Mongols, Alexander III of Macedon, known as Alexander the Great, there was the Roman Empire under the Caesars, and of course there was Adolf Hitler who wanted to create an empire filled with perfect Aryan specimens. So why is it so hard to believe that there would not be those whose goal is to rule the planet?

These people, as evil as they may be, they are certainly not stupid. They have studied history and they know that empires created by military force will eventually fall. They have had decades, if not centuries, to study the rise and fall of empires, and they have indeed learned from their observations.

I don’t even know who sits at the top, who pulls all the strings, but I have heard numerous names and organizations tossed about in regards to this shadow government. Among the names I have heard are; The Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg Group, and the Illuminati. Then there are the Rockefeller families, the Morgan‘s the Schiff’s, and the Rothschild’s as regards to the individual dynasties who may be at the head of this plan for global conquest.

It really doesn’t matter who is behind this plan, only the fact that it exists. They have slowly infiltrated all aspects of our society and their control, or should I say stranglehold, is nearly complete.

They control our educational system and have slowly turned us from freedom loving people into global citizens who care more about society in general than in individual rights and responsibilities. They control the media which decides what we are told and what we consider news. And they have even found their way into our churches which no longer preach about the eternal punishment for the disobedience of God’s laws.

Just to give you an example, the company Monsanto, along with the Rockefeller family and Bill Gates, has built a huge doomsday seed bank on the island of Spitsbergen, Svalbard, in the Barents Sea. According to statistics, the bank will have dual blast-proof doors with motions sensors, two inch airlocks, and walls of steel-reinforced concrete one meter thick. There they will store over three million variety of seeds.

It has been claimed that Monsanto is genetically redesigning seeds to produce better yields for farmers. It has also been said that they have genetically altered seeds so that they will not reproduce after one or two crop cycles.

Do these people honestly think that they can do a better job of engineering seeds, and produce, than God? Also, why would they want to produce seeds that will not continue to produce generation after generation? Could it be because they want people to rely upon them for the worlds food supply, or could it be because they want to control the worlds food supply.

These are questions that people should be asking, but they aren’t. They aren’t because they haven’t been told about them by CNN, Fox News, or any of the other mainstream media outlets.

You see, we have become an ignorant, apathetic, amoral and immoral people who no longer care about individual rights and responsibility. When Hillary Clinton said it takes a village to raise a child, she wasn’t joking. The only thing is that the village is the government, as they have decided what our kids are taught, where their responsibilities lie.

The web of control over our lives is so complex and intertwined that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to entangle ourselves from it. Those behind the scenes have watched, and taken advantages of crisis after crisis, both naturally occurring and orchestrated, to gain more control over our lives.

These people have become so brazen in their disregard for us that they have even told us of their plans, and we have not even noticed. Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel once said, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” They have used these crises to implement laws, orchestrate takeovers of what were once considered areas that were off limits to governmental interference.

David Rockefeller even boldly stated, “We are grateful to the Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries.”

Back in 1971, Congressman John Rarick warned us that, “The Council on Foreign Relations is “the establishment.” Not only does it have influence and power in key decision-making positions at the highest levels of government to apply pressure from above, but it also announces and uses individuals and groups to bring pressure from below, to justify the high level decisions for converting the U.S. from a sovereign Constitutional Republic into a servile member state of a one-world dictatorship.”

Their plan was as perfectly executed as any strategy by a chess grandmaster who moves his pieces into the perfect position to execute his trap and checkmate his opponent.

You may call this all conspiracy theory if you wish, but what is a conspiracy? A criminal conspiracy is defined as when two or more people agree to commit almost any unlawful act, then take some action towards its completion. Any good conspiracy will go unnoticed until the crime has been perpetrated. Just because a person, like me, cannot provide you with the type proof that you demand, does not mean that the conspiracy does not exist.

People today seem to think that other human beings are just not capable of that kind of evil. They seem to have overlooked the events of history, particularly those times when conquering forces left a wake of genocide behind them. People are capable of all kinds of evil if left unchecked by those who claim to be righteous and God-fearing.

Anyway, that is why I feel that any change attempted at the voting booth will be ineffectual at best. It would be like trying to remove a sliver of a cancerous tumor out of your body, and hope that the cancer will not continue to spread.

Those who occupies the seats of power in our government have fallen prey to their own human weaknesses and their lust for power. They have become addicted to the abuse of their Constitutional authority, and the ability to look down in disdain upon us, their rightful masters, and pass law after law which further restricts our liberty.

The whole system needs to be torn down to the foundation, i.e. the Constitution, and rebuilt from the ground up. We need to severe the ties that these schemers have upon our government so that it can be restored to the limits imposed upon it by the Constitution.

Yet that can never happen until enough people realize the seriousness of the problem. And right now there just aren’t enough people willing to admit that the problem cannot be fixed at the election booth. People are just not angry enough yet.

I wonder how many people were alive back in 1968 when NBC began the showing of the film Heidi when there was still a minute left to play in the Super Bowl? The New York Jets held a 32-29 point lead over the Oakland Raiders, so the network thought the Raiders had lost, and began the movie. In that last minute the Raiders scored twice and won the game.

I wonder what would happen if someone today could hack into the media grid and wait until after the coin toss, wait until after the kickoff, then switch off all programming of the Super Bowl to something else; say CSPAN, or maybe even that women’s network, Lifetime? Can you imagine the outrage as over 50 million super bowl parties suddenly were stuck watching some movie about a woman with an abusive husband?

That is the very same type outrage we need to see in this country for anything good to come out of this grassroots movement. The concept of the Tea Party is a good start, but I have my doubts about their willingness to stand behind what they profess to be their core values.

Some of the groups may be that dedicated, but from the one meeting I attended locally, I do not get the warm fuzzy feeling I was hoping for. One person even went so far as to say that he was waiting for the groups tax exempt status before he do one thing or another. That shows me that there is a lack of conviction in his beliefs, that he is looking for protection before taking any kind of stand. Just the feeling I got, not a personal attack against this individual.

I wonder, if I were in charge of my local Tea Party group, and I decided that to be a member they had to join your local militia, had to go out and buy a rifle and ammunition, and devote one weekend a month participating in maneuvers, how many people would refuse to join, or delete their names from the membership roster?

Not that I am saying we should arm ourselves and declare war with our government, although it may end up coming to that. I am only questioning the convictions of those who say they stand for limited government and individual rights and liberty.

You see, I believe their will be a war for our rights and liberty. How, when, and where it will be fought I have no idea. I do think that there are still enough people who do value their freedom that if the government pushes them too far that there will be bloodshed. All that needs to happen is for a single event to occur which causes one side, or the other, to push just a bit too far.

In the first American Revolution it was the events at Lexington and Concord, when the British tried to confiscate the colonists arms. The second American Revolution it was when the federal government attempted to re-supply Fort Sumter because a U.S. Army Major had fled there after South Carolina declared that it was seceding from the Union. Numerous calls to Washington were made, asking that Fort Sumter be evacuated, only to be ignored by the government. When ships came to re-supply the Fort, they were fired upon and the Second American revolution had begun.

When, where, and what will cause the next revolution? I can’t say. I can tell you that America is like a pressure cooker with a malfunctioning safety relief valve. Our government cannot continue passing law after law infringing upon our rights and devastating our country without something giving.

When this war comes it will be ugly, and it will affect each and every one of us, no matter if we choose to take up arms, or not. There is a scene in the movie the Patriot, starring Mel Gibson, that people need to think about. In that scene, Gibson’s character, Benjamin Martin, states, “But mark my words. This war will be fought not on the frontier or on some distant battlefield, but amongst us — among our homes. Our children will learn of it with their own eyes. And the innocent will die with the rest of us.”

What would happen if you drove up to your bank, or your local Wal Mart, and found they were closed, with armed U.S. servicemen blocking the entrance? How would you survive? Could you feed your family? Could you sustain yourselves for any amount of time without having to go crawling to the government for help?

Or would you begin robbing from your neighbors to feed your family? If war does once again break out amongst us, it will be that way. Stores will close down, food supplies will vanish. Even Satan’s legions will be let loose upon us, as gangs freely roam the streets to rape, pillage and kill, while our law enforcement officers stay home to protect their families. Martial law will be declared and looters and violators will be shot first, then questioned later.

It will come to that because for far too long Americans have put their trust in the Democrat and Republican parties to do what is in their best interests. Their faith in these people has been rewarded with treason against the people they represent, and against the principles upon which this nation was founded.

The cancer has spread so far, and so wide, that the old America is dying, it just doesn’t realize it yet. Whether a new America will be able to arise from what comes out of the coming storm, I cannot tell. That will be decided only when the victor is declared, and the remaining traitors hung for their treachery.

I think this explains my viewpoint pretty well. This is not a game for me, I understand fully the implications of my even writing this all down for others to read, and possibly learn from.

The U.S. Census Bureau runs a webpage called the Census Clock, where they estimate the current population of the United States at that particular moment in time. You can look for yourself at http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html but according to their estimate, at this very moment there are 309,899,182 people living in the United States of America. That’s a whole shitload of people, let me tell you.

I have to wonder, out of over 300 million people, how many of them are Americans? Before I go any further, I am not asking how many immigrants there are among those 300 million, just how many Americans.

You see, my definition of an American is probably a tad different than yours. The standard definition for American is one who is a native, or an inhabitant of the United States. According to that definition, anyone who is born within the U.S. and is issued a U.S. birth certificate is an American. That is the legal definition of an American, but it isn’t mine.

My honest opinion is that a person who is born, and resides here, is not necessarily an American. That little piece of paper called a birth certificate means diddly squat to me. As far as I am concerned it merely states that you were born in this country. It makes no mentions of whether you have, what I consider, the requisite qualifications to call yourself an American. The way I see it, there is a world of difference between someone who merely occupies space in this country, and someone who is an American.

Say you have someone who shows up for work every day, without fail, but during their 8 hour shift they don’t do anything. Would you call them a worker, or would you consider them as someone who is merely taking up space?

That’s the same way I look at people in this country. A citizen is someone who merely resides here, but a true American is someone who holds dear to the principles upon which this nation was founded, and is willing to die defending them.

Starting back in 1979, I spent the next thirteen plus years on active duty in the U.S. Air Force. At any given moment I could have been called upon to deploy half way around the globe to defend my country. Yet not once did the idea cross my mind that I would be fighting for the principles that America was built upon. If the call had come I would most likely have been scared shitless, but I still would have been proud to serve my country. Yet I would not have been fighting for the principles that I now consider the basis of what makes a person an American.

Even though since then I have read extensively the writings of the founding fathers, I had not come across a definition that described what I consider true patriotism…that is until just last week.

While doing some research I came across a quote that, to me, explains exactly what patriotism means. The quote was made by a man named George William Curtis, who at one time was the political editor of Harpers Weekly, and it states, “A man’s country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle; and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.”

Some might disagree, but that is how I define patriotism, loyalty to the principles upon which America was founded. I don’t care if you fly a flag at your home, pay your taxes, or haven’t missed voting in an election since you became of age, those things do not make you an American.

Nor does adhering to the rubbish that spews forth from the mouths of any number of political commentators. Part of being an American means understanding the founders intent for each and every Article and Clause of the Constitution, and the importance of each and every Amendment which form the Bill of Rights.

I was born a citizen of the United States in June of 1958, but it wasn’t until I reached my mid-forties that I became, by my own definition, an American. It wasn’t until I began studying, in earnest, the writings of those who founded this great nation, began researching the intent of our founding documents, and finally began questioning the actions of my government, that I became an American.

Since Mr. Curtis, and I, both are of the belief that a person’s country is not the land itself, but the principles it embodies, allow me to provide you with a statement made by our second President, John Adams, “Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives.” Maybe now you will begin to get a glimpse of what I consider my true patriotic duty as an American, to fight to the last breath defending the principles upon which this nation was founded.

Former President Theodore Roosevelt is quoted as saying, “We can have no “50-50” allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or his is not an American at all.”

I have often used that quote when discussing the fact that many immigrants to this country retain loyalty to their native land, but it applies equally as well to those who are natural born Americans, especially when they are just too damn lazy to spend the time to learn, and then stand up for the principles that are contained within our founding documents.

Another former president, Woodrow Wilson, once said, “You cannot become thorough Americans if you think of yourselves in groups. America does not consist of groups. A man who thinks of himself as belonging to a particular national group in America has not yet become an American.”

Our country is now so polarized between the two political parties that anyone who attempts to speak about the evils of both parties is ostracized. Third party candidates are looked upon as a wasted vote because no one wants to vote according to their principles, they want to be a team that stands a chance of winning.

Due to this blind allegiance to the two main political parties, we have repeatedly elected people who either do not understand the limits imposed upon them by the Constitution, or they just don’t care.

We have forgotten what it means to be Americans, and we have gotten what we deserved with representatives who flagrantly thumb their noses at the very document that grants them their authority to act on our behalf. People may still call themselves Americans, but to do so is akin to patriotic blasphemy.

A fellow named Robert J. McCracken once said, “We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls.”

When you say you love our country, can you say, and mean with all your being, what Adlai Stevenson once said, “When an American says that he loves his country, he means not only that he loves the New England hills, the prairies glistening in the sun, the wide and rising plains, the great mountains, and the sea.  He means that he loves an inner air, an inner light in which freedom lives and in which a man can draw the breath of self-respect.”

That inner light still lives, but it lives in very few of the 300 million people who reside within this country. If that light did shine in the hearts of more Americans they would realize that their government had declared war upon their liberty. They would most certainly not be content to sit for hours watching mindless television programming while their freedom was stolen from them by those who supposedly represent them.

They would understand what John Locke meant when he said, “… whenever the Legislators endeavour to take away, and destroy the Property of the People, or to reduce them to Slavery under Arbitrary Power, they put themselves into a state of War with the People, who are thereupon absolved from any farther Obedience, and are left to the common refuge which God hath provided for all men against force and violence. … [Power then] devolves to the People, who have a Right to resume their original Liberty, and, by the Establishment of a new Legislative (such as they shall think fit) provide for their own Safety and Security, which is the end for which they are in Society.”

If this nation were populated primarily by people who fit my definition of Americans, our legislators would long ago have found themselves in the unemployment line, if not in prison, or hanging from a lamp post.

Unfortunately there are far too many people who are willing to let their rights be taken from them as long as they have a roof over their head, food on the table, and idiotic television shows to watch.

So, you can either get mad about what I have said, or you can stop to ask yourself how the greatest nation on earth has reached such a pitiful state. You can read our nations Constitution and Bill of Rights, or you can continue seeking answers to our problems from the very people who are to blame for all of them. And if you are a true American you will come to the realization the it is we the people who have allowed these to desecrate our once great nation.

The question posed by the title is one that I have been asking myself for quite some time now. However, when the author stated that George Bush stood up for America, I found myself asking how much he really understood the extent to which our founding principles had been corrupted.

For someone to say that Bush stood up for what America stands for is a joke. Our rights have not been attacked as severely, (by the laws enacted by George W. Bush to fight his war on terror), since when Abraham Lincoln imprisoned thousands of people for speaking out against his war of aggression against the south.

Our system of government was genius in its simplicity, yet designed to preserve our rights, and limit the powers which government could assume. The job of Congress was to pass the laws. If they overstepped their authority, the President could veto them, or the Supreme Court could rule them unconstitutional. It was never intended that the President of the United States could legislate. It was his duty to see that the laws were faithfully executed, nothing more.

Yet for decades our Congress, and our President have been assuming powers nowhere to be found within those specifically enumerated by the Constitution. The President now routinely signs Executive Orders and Presidential signing statements which carry the full force of law.

For example, President Bush singed over 200 Executive Orders while serving as President, some of which he had no Constitutional authority to sign. For instance, On June 28, 2001, President Bush signed Executive Order 13219 which blocked the property of persons who threaten international stabilization efforts in the Balkans.

What business does the United States have in the Balkans? They never attacked us, so why did we have troops there, and why were we meddling in the internal affairs of another sovereign nation? Our founders never intended that our foreign policy was to be the worlds policemen, or the bringers of democracy to the world. Thomas Jefferson explained that policy succinctly when he said, “Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations–entangling alliances with none, I deem [one of] the essential principles of our government, and consequently [one of] those which ought to shape its administration.”

With that principle in mind, what business did the United States have sending troops to liberate Kuwait, or President Clinton sending U.S. troops the Balkans, and George W. Bush starting wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan, all of whom never directly attacked the United States?

John Quincy Adams, referring to America, stated, “She has abstained from interference in the concerns of others, even when conflict has been for principles to which she clings…Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.”

Not only has our government sent our troops all over the globe to keep the peace, or protect our so-called interests, but it has created a huge litany of agencies and huge bureaucracies that control everything from the air we breath to the roads we drive upon.

Each of these agencies is headed by what we have come to know as a czar, (nice name with communist connotations, don‘t you think?). Each of these agencies has the power to create rules and regulations that tell us what we can, and cannot do.

There is an AIDS czar, a foreign aid czar, an anti-poverty czar, an auto-recovery czar, a bank bailout czar, a birth control czar, a bird flu czar, and there is even a czar czar, whose job description states “Chief domestic policy advisor and Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council.”

Not only do these agencies dictate what we can and cannot do across a wide spectrum, but, by their very existence they are a drain on our nation. For example, the projected 2010 budget for the Department of Health and Human Services is $879 billion.

The list of agencies created by our government is endless, each of which we pay for by way of our tax dollars. You really ought to go take a look at how many agencies there are, which you pay for through your taxes. You would be astounded at the number. Check it out yourself at http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/All_Agencies/index.shtml

Our government has become so huge that the taxes it withholds from our earnings do not even make a dent in the interest borrowed to fund their operation. That‘s right, our government has to borrow money continuously just to function, and our taxes only pay a portion of the interest. Our government borrows from anyone willing to own a slice of America.

This huge debt, which now stands at over $13 trillion dollars which funds the operation of the behemoth that is our government is being passed on to you. In fact, each and every citizen in this country is responsible for $42,817 of this debt. So, your earnings, the earnings of your children, and all you possess have become the collateral upon the loans assumed by your government just so it can function. Think about that for a moment while you sip a beer and watch your television.

What makes me laugh is when I get these e mails from people, saying we only have a certain number of days until the November elections, and that we need to work hard to get candidate so and so elected and get candidate so and so thrown out. Honestly, when I read them I just want to turn off my computer and crawl back into bed, as nobody seems to get it. The system is FUBAR. (For those of you who do not know what FUBAR means, Google it, as I don‘t want to use the language here.) Our government is corrupt, polluted, and beyond any repair that a simple transfusion of fresh representatives will repair.

Anyone who believes that voting out a handful of candidates, (while replacing them with someone with an R or a D next to their name), has there head firmly planted where the sun does not shine.

Imagine you are making a pot of stew from a time honored family recipe. In the course of making your stew you add some bad ingredients, say some rancid meat. The stew would be ruined. It wouldn’t make any difference if you added more ‘good’ ingredients, such as carrots, celery, or potatoes, the stew would still be rotten. The only recourse is to throw the whole batch out, clean the pot, and start fresh.

The same conditions exist in our nation’s capital today, our government is corrupt, polluted, and poisoned. The fault lies not with the recipe, i.e. the constitution, but with the ingredients. So, no matter how many new candidates, (from either party) we add to the mix, the whole damn thing is rotten and needs to be thrown out, with a new government based upon the original recipe, started from scratch.

But even if we could accomplish that, (which in itself would be a miracle), there still is a much larger problem. Washington D.C. is merely a mirror which reflects the needs and desires of the people who elect those who work there.

If we want leaders who will ‘do things’ for us, then we will continue to get them. If we want leaders to make our lives safer, more comfortable, and more secure, then we will continue to get laws passed which will further infringe upon our rights.

Have you ever noticed how the large cities always seem to vote for the candidates from the Democrat party? Ever stopped to think about why? They do so because they need the programs that are the mainstay of the Democrat Party platform; more social services and assistance programs for the needy and underprivileged.

You know, Thomas Jefferson once warned us about big cities, “When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.” Have you ever stopped to think about the flip side, why the rural areas do not vote for Democrats? It is because they are, for the most part, self reliant. They can produce all they need to survive.

So, if we were to flush the system and get rid of every single incumbent in D.C. those people who rely upon the government subsidies would soon be clamoring for them to be reinstated.
For an effective change to take place, it has to first begin in the hearts and minds of every single citizen in this country. We have to begin relying upon ourselves for our sustenance, and stop relying upon government.

That will not happen as long as the people of this country remain ignorant of the principles upon which it was founded. It will never happen as long as we continue to allow immigrants to come into this country who have opposing ideas of what America should stand for.

Theodore Roosevelt once said, “From the melting pot of life in this free land all men and woman of all nations who come hither emerge as Americans and nothing else. They must have renounced completely and without reserve all allegiance to the land from which they or their forefathers came. And it is a binding duty on every citizen of this country in every important crisis to act solidly with all his fellow Americans, having regard only to the honor and interest of America…”

The author of the article I mentioned earlier seems to think that we are on our way to a second revolution. He is partially wrong, for it would not be our second but our third revolution; the second American Revolution did not turn out so well.

The Second American Revolution is more commonly known as the Civil War. It was not fought over slavery, but instead it was fought primarily over the federal governments imposition of crushing tariffs upon the South which benefited the larger cities in the North.

The Southern States only did what the original thirteen colonies did when they decided to secede from Great Britain, they sought to “…to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” Declaration of Independence.

They understood what Jefferson meant when he wrote, “Resolved, That the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their General Government . . . . and that whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force. . . . ”

But, instead of being allowed to secede peacefully, the acting President, Abraham Lincoln took our nation to war to prevent it. Not only did Lincoln, and his generals, engage the Confederate Army, they also targeted civilians on both sides. Those from the Northern states who opposed the war were imprisoned, while those from the south saw their property pillaged and burned to the ground by the advancing Northern Army.

I do not know whether the author of the article I mentioned has any clue as to the effects another revolution would have upon this country, but if he doesn’t maybe he ought to do some reading up on the atrocities committed by the troops under command of the federal government during the Civil War. It could very well happen again.

Needless to say, it would not be pretty, and there may not be an America left when it was over. But still, a question needs to be asked of all Americans. Are you willing to allow the government to suck you dry of your earnings to pay for all their unconstitutional programs, while passing laws telling you what you can and cannot eat, can and cannot say, or can and cannot do, or are you willing to shrug off the chains that bind you to them and take a stand for liberty?

Has America become a nation of cowardly indentured servants to an ungrateful government, or are there enough people left who have the backbone to say, as did Patrick Henry, “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! ”

As a result we, the people of these United States, have allowed our government to assume powers that it was never intended they have. You see, to understand how drastically our government has changed, we must first understand how it began, and what it was intended to do. That is why history is such an important subject for our children to learn. However, the history they are being taught is unfortunately more fiction than truth.

From the very beginning, there were those among the founders who felt that the system of government created by our Constitution was too weak to govern a nation, that more powers should have been granted the government for it to function efficiently.

Thankfully, the majority prevailed and our Constitution limited the powers granted to government to those specifically found in Article 1, Section 8. Still, from the time of our second President, John Adams, our government has attempted to enlarge its sphere of power.

With the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts, our government took its first baby steps towards enlarging its powers and diminishing those of the states, and the individual. Thankfully there were still those who still understood the intent of our Constitution, chiefly Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, who drafted the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions denouncing the Alien and Sedition Acts.

From the Kentucky Resolutions we read, “That if those who administer the general government be permitted to transgress the limits fixed by that compact, by a total disregard to the special delegations of power therein contained, annihilation of the state governments, and the erection upon their ruins, of a general consolidated government, will be the inevitable consequence.”

Our founders knew enough about human nature and systems of government, that that could foresee the danger of a government of unlimited power. It was for this reason that they constantly wrote about the need for the people to pay close attention to the actions of their government, and that is why James Madison said, “We are right to take alarm at the first experiment upon our liberties.”

In the year 1825, Thomas Jefferson drafted a document entitled, Draft Declaration and Protest of Virginia on the Principles of the Constitution of the United States of America, and on the Violations of them. Already, Jefferson saw the steps being taken by our government to assume unlimited power. From his draft I quote the following, “This assembly does further disavow and declare to be most false and unfounded, the doctrine that the compact, in authorizing its federal branch to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States, has given them thereby a power to do whatever they may think, or pretend, would promote the general welfare, which construction would make that, of itself, a complete government, without limitation of powers…”

However, in 1861 the southern states had had enough of the federal government, and declared that they were seceding from the Union. Much has been written about what we now call the Civil War, but most of what we are taught is an outright lie.

You see, even Abraham Lincoln had stated, “Any people, anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable, a most sacred right, a right which we hope and believe is to liberate the world. Nor is this right confined to cases in which the whole people of an existing government may choose to exercise it. Any portion of such people, that can, may revolutionize, and make their own of so much of the territory as they inhabit.”

You see, it was a universally accepted belief that a single, or group of states, had the right to dissolve their allegiance to the Union. Thomas Jefferson, in his first inaugural address, stated, “If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.”

Lincoln, although he proclaimed the same beliefs in his speeches, took our nation to war to prevent the states from exercising what was considered their right, to severe their ties to the Union. It was never about slavery, as Lincoln himself said in a letter to Horace Greeley, “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.”

Lincolns war of aggression against the south was a major blow to states rights, and the first serious step our government took towards consolidating its powers. Fast forward about a century and a half and we are witnessing another battle between the federal government and a states rights. As most by now probably know, Arizona has passed a law which basically mirrors existing federal law in regards to immigration.

Since passing SB 1070, the state of Arizona has come under attack from all sides. Neighboring states have declared that they intend to boycott Arizona, and the federal government is filing suit against them.

Let me ask you something. Say you live in a neighborhood that is experiencing a rash of home invasion robberies. You, and your neighbors have contacted the police in regards to these robberies, yet the police refuse to respond to your calls, allowing the robbers to do as they please. Would you not take matters into your own hands because the police are not doing their jobs of serving and protecting the public?

Well, that is exactly what Arizona is doing, albeit on a much larger scale. They are taking matters into their own hands because the federal government refuses to enforce its own laws.

So who is wrong in this scenario, Arizona, or the federal government? If you called 911 to report a robbery in progress at your home, and the police refused to respond, do you not think that you would have the right to defend yourself, and your property? That is all Arizona is doing, and they are being sued by the government for their efforts.

History has already given us an example of what happens when states feel the federal government no longer represents their wishes. Is it about to give us another? James Madison made it clear when he said, “Nor do I think that Congress, even seconded by the judicial power, can, without some change in the character of the nation, succeed in durable violations of the rights and authorities of the states.”

And that is exactly what has been happening since Lincolns war of aggression against the south, a change in character of the nation. With each successive administration government has assumed powers it was never intended they possess.

We witnessed Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, George W. Bush and his numerous laws passed to support his War on Terror. Now we have a questionably unconstitutional president, enacting takeover after takeover of businesses.

Due to liberal rulings by the Supreme Court, the General Welfare and Commerce Clauses of the Constitution have been expanded, thereby disregarding the specifically enumerated powers granted Congress by the Constitution.

Jefferson and Madison would be shocked to see how much power our government has assumed, especially since Madison himself proclaimed, “If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare, and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the care of religion into their own hands; they may appoint teachers in every State, county and parish and pay them out of their public treasury; they may take into their own hands the education of children, establishing in like manner schools throughout the Union; they may assume the provision of the poor; they may undertake the regulation of all roads other than post-roads; in short, every thing, from the highest object of state legislation down to the most minute object of police, would be thrown under the power of Congress… Were the power of Congress to be established in the latitude contended for, it would subvert the very foundations, and transmute the very nature of the limited Government established by the people of America.”

Our founders fought a revolution to free themselves from far less tyranny than we live under today. We tolerate the burdens placed upon us by our government because we have not been taught to cherish or liberty and our rights. For the most part, the words of our founders fall upon deaf ears. People would prefer to spend their time glued to their televisions, instead of picking up a book and reading about such inconsequential things as rights and freedom.

Thomas Jefferson must be weeping tears of sadness from the heavens above. Yet I would venture to guess that Lincoln is clapping his hands in glee.

I cannot say whether or not this nation can be saved, and honestly, I don’t know if the majority of the people in this country could handle life without all the government programs aimed at making their lives more comfortable.

The way I see my job is, not to force the truth upon you, only to provide you information to consider, or research on your own. Whether you choose to believe, or disregard what I say, is entirely up to you, I have no control over that.

When one is confronted with the truth, especially if it shatters what they believed to be reality, they have the choice of either accepting the truth, or choose to deny it. I am reminded of the scene from the first Matrix movie when Neo learns the truth about the Matrix. The truth was so shocking to him that he collapses, denying that what he has been told was possible. Yet no matter how much one denies the truth, it will still exist. Or, as Winston Churchill once said, “The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is.”

Well, here is another truth for you to consider, we have all been born into bondage and are slaves to an ungrateful master. Our chains may not be visible, but they still exist in the form of taxation and regulations upon nearly every aspect of our lives.

Thomas Jefferson once cried out, “My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy! ”

Samuel Adams also wrote, “The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men.”

Our founders understood the importance of liberty and were willing to pay whatever price it cost to preserve it for us. Each and every one of us, our parents, and their parents should bow our heads in shame for what we have allowed happen to this country. For it is we, the ignorant, uninformed, self centered, ungrateful people of this nation who have allowed our servants to become our masters. Under the guise of numerous claims; safer highways, cleaner air, crime free neighborhoods, we have gladly surrendered our rights for what we thought were laws designed to protect us. Instead they were simply more bricks being laid in the walls which will eventually contains.

I am often asked by people why I always look so serious. For one thing the truth about our nations situation is a heavy burden to bear, and thinking about it tends to bring about a serious expression on my face.

Secondly, I tend to live my life according to something said long ago by George Washington, “Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.”
You see, I judge people, not according to their skin color, their gender, or even their sexual preferences. I judge people according to their character, and by character I do not mean how funny or entertaining they are.

I make my judgments based upon how well they can be trusted to keep their word, do their job to the best of their ability, how much they are willing to help others, just to name a few.

That probably explains why my circle of friends is quite small, as I have not found many people with whom I share the same principles, and most of those that I have found I have never met face to face as they have been friendships made over the internet from like minded patriots. But, as George Washington also said, “Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation. It is better be alone than in bad company.”

You see, for far too long people have been told that their government, not only has the right, but that it is their job to make our lives better, more comfortable, and more safe. As Vladimir Lenin once said, “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.”

The truth is that our government, as it exists today, fears us. Seeing as how there are 300 million people living in this country and there are only 537 elected officials in Washington D.C. we certainly outnumber them.

But that’s not really why they fear us. They fear us because they know that their very existence relies upon our continuing to believe the lie that we need them to survive as a nation.

That is why they come up with so many names with which to categorize those who speak out against them. The Tea Party movement are derided as being Tea Baggers. Those who wish to see our nations immigration laws enforced are called racists or xenophobes. Then there are those who are called unpatriotic and, even, terrorists, because they do not support the war on terror.

George William Curtis once said, “A man’s country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.”

By that definition, there are very few patriots indeed, and we are the ones being labeled as a threat to the people, and to our nation by our government. While it is they who are the real threats to our country, and to our liberty, they who should all be taken out and charged with treason and hung from the lampposts in D.C.

You see, they fear us because there are many who still believe, as did the Federal Farmer back in 1787, “[T]o preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.”

They fear us, because some of us have taken the time to read the writings of the founders, and those from whom they themselves gleaned their knowledge. Men like John Locke, who writes, “whenever the Legislators endeavour to take away, and destroy the Property of the People, or to reduce them to Slavery under Arbitrary Power, they put themselves into a state of War with the People, who are thereupon absolved from any farther Obedience, and are left to the common refuge which God hath provided for all men against force and violence. … [Power then] devolves to the People, who have a Right to resume their original Liberty”

They should fear us, because if the people did learn the truth, that truth being, “Indeed, insofar as a statute runs counter to the fundamental law of the land, it is superseded thereby. “No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it.” Sixteenth American Jurisprudence Second Edition-Section

Even Abraham Lincoln, who took our nation to war to hold the Union together, who trampled upon our Bill of Rights in doing so, is quoted as saying, “If by the mere force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, it might, in a moral point of view, justify revolution.”

They fear us because they know that they are wrong, and we are right, and the number of people who recognizes that they are wrong continues to grow.

However they are also smart, they understand human nature. They understand that many people would be content to just see all incumbents voted out of office, and then they would go back to their lives, content that they had brought about a change in our nation’s capital.

Sorry to break the news to you, but the system is corrupt, and a change at the voting booth will do little, if anything, to fix the problem. The document upon which our system of government finds it’s charter is solid, but it has not been adhered to by those who swear an oath to do just that.

Without doing away with all the unconstitutional laws, without doing away with all the perks and benefits given to special interests, any change made by the voters will be a change in name only, not in the way things are done in our nations capital, and that is where the problem lies.

Our entire system of government is corrupt, believing itself to be above the law, and therefore the dictators of what is the law, and what is not. A perfect example of this is the question regarding the eligibility of Barack Obama to hold office as president.

Numerous lawyers have filed suit questioning his eligibility to serve as president. Members of the Armed Forces have refused direct orders because they question the authority from whence they came.

To this date the Supreme Court has refused to hear any of these cases. I find it incomprehensible that the highest court in this land would not want to get to the bottom of this issue of enormous import.

For the sake of argument I am remaining neutral on the question as to whether Obama is eligible to hold the office of president, I just find it unquestionable that the Supreme Court would not hear the case. Are they afraid of what truths would come out if they did?

The Court has ruled on everything from the legality to prosecute users of medical marijuana to the right of states to bar interstate wine sales, yet on the issue of someone who may be constitutionally ineligible to serve as president, they prefer to sit this one out. Unbelievable!

That is why our entire system of government is corrupt. Our representatives pass laws they are not authorized to pass. Our president signs into laws that our unconstitutional, then refuses to enforce laws that are. He also decides to take the law into his own hands by the use of Presidential signing statements and Executive Orders. Then there is the very court whose sole purpose was to determine the constitutionality of all laws, instead attempts to discern the spirit of the law, instead of the letter of the law.

We Americans have allowed this to happen because we have, up until now, benefited from the unconstitutional laws passed by our government. Now the whole house of cards is starting to fall apart, and we want change. The problem is that it may be too late.

Nineteenth century scholar Christopher Dawson writes, “A society rests in the last resort on the recognition of common principles and common ideals, and if it makes no moral or spiritual appeal to the loyalty of its members, it must inevitably fall to pieces.”

For far too long we Americans have abandoned those principles, instead allowing our government to run rampant over the limits imposed upon them by the Constitution, and in so doing, trample upon our God-given rights.

We have done so because we were too busy to take the time to learn those principles. Author Samuel Johnson once wrote, “Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it.”

And, as Thomas Jefferson once said, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”

Our fourth President, James Madison once warned, “It is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties. We hold this prudent jealousy to be the first duty of citizens, and one of the noblest characteristics of the late Revolution. The freeman of America did not wait till usurped power had strengthened itself by exercise, and entangled the question in precedents. They saw all the consequences in the principle, and they avoided the consequences by denying the principle.”

For far too long Americans have neglected that duty, and now we are paying the price for our neglect. I, for one, choose to live by the immortal words of Patrick Henry, who stated, “For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst and provide for it.”

The truth is out there people. You may not see it, but one day it will come knocking upon your door and introduce itself. Whether you are prepared for the things you will learn is a question only you can answer.

I too see a storm on the horizon, and from the looks of things, I fear what it may bring to our nation. However, the storm I see is not one brought about by nature, rather a storm of political, social and civil nature.

I see it coming, yet I seem to be able to do nothing to stop it. I feel as though I am sitting on a beach, watching a tidal wave approaching, knowing that it will bring devastation with it, yet powerless to prevent it.

The thing is, unlike storms generated by nature, this storm could have been prevented. In response to my last article, someone posted a quote to my blog which, for me, captures the essence of what is wrong with this country.

The quote reads as follows, “The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.”

I cannot be sure if the author of that quote intended it to apply solely to those who support Barack Obama, but as for me, I could quite easily have exchanged his name for Bush or Clinton and the quote would have applied equally as well.

If you have been paying any attention at all to what has been going on, you cannot help but see that people are angry and frustrated with their government. Statistics show the approval ratings of our elected representatives are at an all time low.

Unfortunately, there remain far too many who believe that we can fix all our nation’s problems at the voting booth. They believe that if we could just vote out all the incumbents then things would return to normal, and everything would once again be just fine in America.

People are fed up with the status quo, they want things to change in our nation‘s capital. Maybe that is why Obama succeeded, because of his promise for “change we can believe in”.

The problem today is that the majority of Americans vote based not upon facts, but upon emotional responses to issues that are important to them. People are under the misconception that government is there to solve all their problems and to ensure everyone gets the same chance at success as everyone else.

If they had taken the time to read, and understand the intent, of our founding documents, they would realize that they couldn’t be further from the truth. The purpose of government, as written in our Declaration of Independence, is, “…to secure these rights…” It was for their liberty and their rights that our founders went to war with to regain.

No where in our founding documents, or in the writings of the founders, is it mentioned that government was instituted to ensure that everyone succeeds in life. In fact, Ben Franklin clearly stated, “The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.”

I often get the impression that people think I hate this country. Nothing could be further from the truth. However, I value my rights above my loyalty to any political party, or the will of the people as imposed upon me by those elected to represent the people.

In a letter to her husband John, Abigail Adams once wrote, “I have sometimes been ready to think that the passion for Liberty cannot be Equally Strong in the breasts of those who have been accustomed to deprive their fellow creatures of theirs.”

Two months later, John Adams wrote the following in a letter to James Sullivan, “It is certain in Theory, that the only moral Foundation of Government is the Consent of the People. But to what an Extent Shall We carry this Principle? Shall We Say, that every Individual of the Community, old and young, male and female, as well as rich and poor, must consent, expressly to every Act of Legislation? No, you will Say. This is impossible. How then does the Right arise in the Majority to govern the Minority, against their Will?”

It is my belief, and I find myself in a minority, that the government has no right, nor legal power to deprive me of my God-given rights. Nor do I feel attachment, nor loyalty, to a government that does so.

In 1775, Thomas Jefferson and John Dickerson expressed the same sentiment, found in the following quote from the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, “…our attachment to no nation upon earth should supplant our attachment to liberty.”

Our problems exists because we have strayed from the principles which form the foundation for our system of government. If people would just take some time, and read the writings of our founders, they could not help but notice the word liberty used quite frequently throughout those writings. Today, liberty is just another word that people use, without knowing what it truly means.

The people of this country are too occupied in their own little worlds, seeking entertainment and self gratification. John Adams once wrote about this in a letter to his wife, Abigail, “Whenever vanity and gaiety, a love of pomp and dress, furniture, equipage, buildings, great company, expensive diversions and elegant entertainments get the better of the principles and judgments of men or women, there is no knowing where they will stop, nor into what evils, natural, moral or political they will lead us.”

Liberty and rights are words that are tossed about without people understanding what they truly mean. The dictionary defines liberty as the freedom to think or act without being constrained by necessity or force.

In 1859 John Stuart Mill wrote an essay entitled, On Liberty. In his work, Mill asserted that the only valid restrictions upon the rights of individuals were those that protected the rights of others.

Our founders understood these principles as they had read extensively about politics and philosophy.

In 1783, as George Washington was about to relinquish command of the Continental Army, and begin the retirement he so looked forward to, he wrote a Circular to the State Governments.

From that document I quote, “The foundation of our empire was not laid in the gloomy age of Ignorance and Superstition, but at an Epocha when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined, than at any former period; the researches of the human mind, after social happiness, have been carried to a great extent; the Treasures of knowledge, acquired through a long succession of years, by the labors of Philosophers, Sages and Legislatures, are laid open for our use, and their collected wisdom may be happily applied in the Establishment of our forms of Government…”

I defy anyone to find one elected official currently occupying a seat in our government, or in any of the political parties from whence they come, who that could be said about.

I defy anyone to provide me with one name of one member of Congress who, has shown by their actions, believes that the purpose of government is to leave us alone to do as we please without a dozen regulations or some form of taxation upon our activities.

You can’t do it, because there aren’t any. That concept is repulsive to government because their desire is to control every aspect of our lives. However, Congress is not alone in that aspect. Many people in this country find the concept of people being free to do as they please radical.

However, that is exactly what Thomas Jefferson meant when he wrote, “The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits.”

Jefferson was not alone. Our fourth President, James Madison, wrote, “The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted.”

Once again, from George Washington’s Circular to the State Governments, I quote, “These are the Pillars on which the glorious Fabric of our Independency and National Character must be supported; Liberty is the Basis, and whoever would dare to sap the foundation, or overturn the Structure, under whatever specious pretexts he may attempt it, will merit the bitterest execration, and the severest punishment which can be inflicted by his injured Country.”

After reading the preceding quotes, one cannot deny that the protection of our rights and our liberty were the primary reason our founders established our system of government.

Yet compare that vision to our government today and you cannot help but conclude that our government is no longer cares about protecting the rights of the individual.

We are controlled and regulated, given just enough freedom to think that we are free. Johann Wolfgang Van Goethe once wrote, “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” He could have been quoting directly to Americans today.

So, in returning to the quote which began this article, our problems are created by those whom we elect to represent us. But who are those officials ultimately accountable to? We the people. If we the people elect fools, it is because we choose our representatives foolishly.

As long as people look for government to enact new laws to ‘fix’ things in this country, then we will continue to see things get worse. With each new law that is passed, our government adds another link to the chains that bind you to them as slaves.

As Jefferson said, “Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate and systematical plan of reducing us to slavery.”
I honestly don’t know if we can save this country from the damage that has been done to it. The damage done, the cancer that has spread throughout government, may be too extensive for us to repair by simply voting out all incumbents.

I am a relative newcomer to the political arena, but there are others who have been fighting this battle for decades. They have cried out for people to wake up and listen before it is too late. Their voices have consistently fallen upon deaf ears.

So, here we sit, facing crisis after crisis, all the while looking to those who caused these crises to solve them for us. All the while those who have been trying to warn you of the real problem are labeled as radicals, extremists, mad dog militia members, and even domestic terrorists.

The very same thing happened over two hundred years ago in the Declaration and the Causes of the Necessity of Taking Up Arms, “The general, further emulating his ministerial masters, by a proclamation bearing date on the 12th day of June, after venting the grossest falsehoods and calumnies against the good people of these colonies, proceeds to “declare them all, either by name or description, to be rebels and traitors, to supercede the course of the common law, and instead thereof to publish and order the use and exercise of the law martial.”

Yet their love of liberty was of more importance to them than life itself. They held fast to their beliefs, and the result was that we were given the birthright of being born in a country where our liberties and our rights were the foundation upon which our government was built.

They believed, as do a few of us today, that “We are reduced to the alternative of chusing an unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated ministers, or resistance by force. — The latter is our choice. — We have counted the cost of this contest, and find nothing so dreadful as voluntary slavery. — Honour, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them, if we basely entail hereditary bondage upon them.”

The ignorance and apathy of the American people, is the ONLY place upon which the blame may be placed. As long as we continue to seek out leaders to solve our problems, our problems will continue. It is only when government stops meddling in areas it was never intended they meddle, that our nation can stand a chance of recovering.

As much as I pray for the people to realize this simple principle, I am not holding my breath for it to happen. As William Lloyd Garrison once wrote, “The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal and hasten the resurrection of the dead.”

My recent writings may have been a bit harsh towards the Tea Party movement, but it was never intended to be a personal attack on my part against those who have become aware that something is wrong in this country, and they want to see it fixed.

Although a lack of decent television programming is the primary reason I don’t watch much TV, I am a big movie buff. The Matrix trilogy is probably my all time favorite series of movies as it is both thought provoking, and full of action.

In the first movie, there is a scene where Morpheus, played by Laurence Fishburne is speaking to Neo, played by Keanu Reeves. Morpheus tells Neo, “What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad.”

That is how I felt, long before I started writing articles, long before I began writing my elected officials. I always questioned things as I was growing up, which often caused me problems as I grew up. However, it was a character trait that I could not seem to change.

Growing up I was somewhat of a loner. I never got involved in sports and therefore was not part of the ‘in’ crowd at school. However I was not a trouble maker so I did not hang around with those who were. Although there may be some who disagree, I also was not very smart in school. My dad used to always tell me that God gave me a brain, why wasn’t I using it? So I didn’t fit in with the bookworms who spent all their time studying. Therefore, I kept to myself, which gave me plenty of time to think. I just wasn’t thinking about politics at the time.

Once I enlisted in the military and was responsible for my own actions, I did begin to pay a bit more attention to the things my government said, and did, as these things had a direct effect upon my life.

On my 18th birthday my parents had taken me down to the country center so I could register to vote. I registered as a Republican, not because they stood for the same things I did, but because my parents were Republicans. I didn’t know the difference between the two parties, and quite honestly, could have cared less.

Somewhere in my life, something must have changed, although I can’t, for the life of me, recall what caused it, or when it happened. Suddenly I began to pay much more attention to the affairs of my government. I began by writing letters to my elected representatives concerning the two issues which, at that time, were of the utmost importance to me; illegal immigration and gun control. It was at this stage in my life that I began noticing the distinct differences between the two political parties in this country.

However, it wasn’t until I bought my first computer, and got connected to the internet, that my eyes were really opened to some of the things which I now write about. Suddenly, all this information was available to me and my mind began soaking it up like a sponge.

I won’t deny that there were times that I fell for some pretty silly sounding conspiracies, but that is part of the learning process. Since then I have learned to check, and re-check info before I accept it as being valid.

Maybe it was my inquisitive nature that caused me to seek out the truth regarding what my government was doing, compared to what it said, but regardless, I have since then been on a mission to open other peoples eyes to the things I have discovered.

Our countries survival as the land of the free is at stake if I am not successful. A good friend of mine runs an e-mail group and she always says, “I am not trying to tell you what to think, just to think.” Well, that might be paraphrasing her words, but the idea is the same.

And that is what burns my ass, excuse the language, the most about the people I meet, and the rest of the people in this country. They just do not seem to want to think! Maybe it is because they feel safe inside their own little cocoons, safe from the nasty truth they might find if they did begin thinking for themselves.

There is another exchange that takes place in the first Matrix movie between Morpheus and Neo, and it goes like this:

Morpheus: What is the Matrix? Control. The Matrix is a computer-generated dream world built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this.
[holds up a Duracell battery]
Neo: No, I don’t believe it. It’s not possible.
Morpheus: I didn’t say it would be easy, Neo. I just said it would be the truth.

Learning the truth about my government was not an easy thing for me either. I stumbled along the way many times, accepting the lies and propaganda which spewed forth from the mouths of people like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Bill O Reilly. However, once I had figuratively swallowed the red pill, and opened my eyes to the reality of what is going on, it wasn’t long before I realized that they were nothing more than shills and spokespersons for the status quo.

That is all I ask of people when I write my articles, that they step outside their comfort zone, put aside their feelings towards their chosen political party, or candidate, and examine the facts. If they do this, the facts will stand on their own merit.

However, if you continue to read my articles, allowing your sympathies and prejudices get in the way you will, most likely, reject what I have to say without giving it further thought.

There are so many questions out there that should be answered, yet far too few people are demanding answers for. Therefore those that are can easily be labeled as nut cases, extremists, and other sundry terms designed to cause people to ignore these serious issues.

Most people have this character trait where they want to belong to a group, and they will accept the groups opinion, and beliefs, as their own. They will not rock the boat, ask questions, or do anything which would cause them to lose their status within the group.

That is the power of political parties. They know that the majority will go along with the general party platform, whomever the candidate within that party is. We are constantly told that an alternative party has no chance of succeeding.

However, our founders distrusted political parties. George Washington once said, “However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”

Thomas Jefferson also stated, “I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to Heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.”

These were wise men, far wiser than the crop of corrupt life long politicians we have to chose from today. If one truly cares about the future of their country, they should heed those words, and stop relying upon a political party to guide their thoughts and opinions.

We are not a democracy, we are a republic. Our government was instituted for a very limited purpose, to manage, and defend this nation, not to micro-manage the lives and welfare of the citizenry.

Going back at least to 1913, with the passage of the Federal Reserve Act, and the questionable ratification of the 16th Amendment, each successive administration has further overstepped their constitutional authority. With each successive administration, new laws have been passed which grant more power to the federal government, taking away power from the individual states, and stripping us of our God-given rights.

That is why I get so upset when I hear people say that we need to vote for a Republican to undo the damage that Obama has done to this country. What about the damage done by Bush and his illegal wars, did the Obama administration undo that like they promised? Did the Bush undo the damage done by Clinton?

No! With each successive administration our country has moved closer and closer to the point where the federal government will be all powerful, controlling every aspect of our lives.

As they move closer to this point, the opportunity for us to retake our republic grows slimmer and slimmer. If we continue sticking to traditional methods, relying upon the Republicans to fix the problems caused by Democrats, and vice versa, there will come a time when the only way to save this nation will be to take up arms in its defense.

I don’t want to see that happen, but if people don’t wake up, and do it damn quickly, that is what is going to happen.

So yes, I do get a little upset at people, even the Tea Party, when I hear them speak in generalities and an adherence to the principles of conservatism as eschewed by the Republican party.

There is a corresponding side to this, which I won’t go into now. But if you wish to read my thoughts on it, you can do so here: http://www.zombie-slayer.com/neal/?p=296

One of the things that was brought up as a result of my articles, and the subsequent discussions was one of the platforms of the Tea Party movement; Constitutionally Limited Government.

That is all well and good, keeping government from overstepping their specifically enumerated powers, but what about the flip side, their unwillingness to enforce the laws they are Constitutionally authorized to enact?

As everyone is probably aware of by now, the federal government has sued the state of Arizona due to their passage of SB 1070. Arizona ONLY passed that legislation because the federal government has not done its job of enforcing the very laws they themselves passed.

Therefore, since there seems to be so much concern over the limits imposed upon government by the Constitution, I would like to discuss this from the flip side, the federal governments refusal to do one of the few things it is authorized to do, set and enforce immigration law.

The Constitution authorizes Congress to pass laws in regards to ‘an uniform Rule of Naturalization’ as per Article 1, Section 8. It does not say that once this law, once passed, cannot be modified, or amended, only that Congress must ensure that the law be uniform.

Title 8 of the United States Code is where the codified version of immigration law, passed by Congress, can be found. This is the law, and all public servants who swear an oath to uphold the Constitution, are bound to uphold this law.

According Chapter 12, Subchapter II, Part 1227, under the heading of Deportable aliens, our nations immigration laws clearly state, “(a) Classes of deportable aliens Any alien (including an alien crewman) in and admitted to the United States shall, upon the order of the Attorney General, be removed if the alien is within one or more of the following classes of deportable aliens: (1) Inadmissible at time of entry or of adjustment of status or violates status (A) Inadmissible aliens Any alien who at the time of entry or adjustment of status was within one or more of the classes of aliens inadmissible by the law existing at such time is deportable. (B) Present in violation of law Any alien who is present in the United States in violation of this chapter or any other law of the United States, or whose nonimmigrant visa (or other documentation authorizing admission into the United States as a nonimmigrant) has been revoked under section 1201 (i) of this title, is deportable.”

That’s the law people, anyone who fits into any of those categories is considered as a deportable alien. It does not give any consideration for the fact that they have lived, and worked, in the United States for a specific amount of time. If you are in this country in violation of any of the legal processes for entering this country, you are a deportable alien. PERIOD!

Therefore, the federal government is guilty of not enforcing its own laws. Until the law is amended, or new law enacted, it will continue to be guilty of not enforcing its own laws.

So, any and all talk about immigration reform, a pathway to citizenship, is just smoke and mirrors, designed to cover up the fact that they have been negligent in their sworn duties, and due to their negligence, upwards of 20 million people are now living in our country in violation of our law.

In attempting to sue the state of Arizona one has to look beyond the emotional issue of immigration itself to see how this lawsuit has serious implications as to the relationship between the states, and the federal government.

States rights and their sovereignty has been disputed going back at least to the Civil War, when the federal government went to war with the southern states for exercising the very same right that the nation as a whole had when they went to war with Britain for their independence.

Our nation’s Declaration of Independence states, “Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience [has] shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations,  pursuing invariably the same object,   evinces a design to reduce [the people] under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”

Just as our nation was well within its right to seek to throw off the chains of oppression by Britain, the southern states were well within their rights to secede from what they considered to be an oppressive federal government. However, the federal government did not see it that way, and they went to war, killing thousands of people in the process, for as Lincoln said in his inaugural address, “I hold, that in contemplation of universal law, and of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual.”

However, the question of state sovereignty can be readily answered if one considers the wording of the Constitution itself. Article 4, Section 3 states, “The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.”

Notice how it distinctly differentiates between Territory or other Property belonging to the United States, and any particular states? The states are not possessions of the federal government. They are individual sovereigns, who, in coming together, created the federal government to oversee the affairs of the union of the states according to the specifically enumerated powers found within the Constitution.

Furthermore, Section 4 of Article 4 states, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.”

If the federal government was to be omnipotent, why would the Constitution allow for each state to have its own government? What would be the need? Furthermore, this section guarantees that the federal government shall protect each state against invasion.

I don’t know what you call it, but in my book 20 million foreign citizens, coming into my country illegally, is clearly an invasion. Where is my governments in regards to protecting my state from such a massive influx of foreign invaders?

The federal government has clearly been negligent in enforcing its own laws, and by being negligent, they have put the individual states in the position of taking matters into their own hands. So far Arizona is the only border state whose Governor, and state legislature has had the spine to stand up and say that they are not going to tolerate it any more.

I know without a doubt that my Governor may have played the big he-man action hero in the movies, but when it comes to doing what is right for my state, he has the spine of a slug.

Now, since it has clearly been established that our federal government has been negligent in their responsibility to enforce their own immigration law, and due to that negligence, the states have suffered the burden of dealing with the fiscal, and social costs of all these illegal aliens, let us for a moment take a look at what the Bill of Rights says.

The Ninth Amendment states, “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

This means that although the Bill of Rights specifically outlines ten rights of the people, those ten rights are not the only rights the people retain. Samuel Adams once said, “Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: First a right to life, secondly to liberty, and thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can.”

All Arizona is doing is defending its property from people who should not be there in the first place. They are exercising their right to defend their property, a right that was considered by our founders to be a natural right, and therefore unalienable.

Finally, at the very heart of this whole matter is the implications of the federal government suing the state in regards to how it will affect the interpretation of the Tenth Amendment.

The federal government is basing its entire case upon the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, which states, “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”

However, the Tenth Amendment states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

The wording of this amendment is of particular importance. It does not declare that the state cannot enact law which mirrors federal law, only that the state retains all powers not prohibited to them by the Constitution.

In discussing the Tenth Amendment in Congress it was debated whether or not to insert the word expressly before the word delegated. If that had happened, it would clearly imply that unless the powers were clearly defined by the states, they did not have them. Since both Houses of Congress refused to insert the word, the intent was that the states retained all powers not specifically prohibited to them by the Constitution, to include passing their own laws which may mirror federal law.

There are many laws, especially in my home state of California, which mirror, or exceed those imposed by federal agencies. Of particular note are the stringent EPA regulations in California, far stricter than anything imposed at the federal level. Yet the Department of Justice has yet to sue the state of California for overstepping federal environmental protection law.

If you ask me, this whole lawsuit has a twofold purpose. First it is being undertaken because the illegal alien population are largely dependent upon government programs for their sustenance. If they were to be deported, as required by U.S. Code, Title 8, then the federal government, especially the Democrats, would loose a large constituency that relies upon them for their sustenance.

Secondly, the federal government has a proven track record of assuming powers not delegated to them, and infringing upon both individual, and states rights. If won, this case would set a precedent that would, for the most part, do away with the Tenth Amendment entirely.

So, although the Tea Party movement may be specific, and generalized in their call for limited government, this particular lawsuit should be one in which they are very concerned about, and therefore very outspoken in regards to.

It may seem like I have chosen to go to war with the Tea Party movement, but that is far from the case. I am only trying to educate those who may be participants in that movement that there are issues which go beyond generalities that are of grave concern for our nation, and our rights.

It is far too late in the game to be speaking in generalities. We all need to make our voices heard, in unison, whenever we see a threat to our rights, and our liberty. In closing I would like to leave you with a quote by John Stuart Mill and his treatise entitled Representative Government, “”A people may prefer a free government, but if, from indolence, or carelessness, or cowardice, or want of public spirit, they are unequal to the exertions necessary for preserving it; if they will not fight for it when it is directly attacked; if they can be deluded by the artifices used to cheat them out of it; if by momentary discouragement, or temporary panic, or a fit of enthusiasm for an individual, they can be induced to lay their liberties at the feet even of a great man, or trust him with powers which enable him to subvert their institutions; in all these cases they are more or less unfit for liberty…”