Posts Tagged ‘United States Congress’

Does the federal government work for us?

“Politics is the art of making your selfish desires seem like the national interest.” ~ Thomas Sowell, Hoover Institution, Stanford University More than 200 years ago, the states united and wrote a contract, the Constitution, creating an employee, the federal government; and that contract outlined specific tasks the federal government would perform for the states’ […]

Gun control – the wrong discussion

“Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories.” ~ Thomas Jefferson, 1781 A Connecticut man murdered 20 children and 6 adults, gun control proponents again advocating that disarming law-abiding citizens will solve the problem. And though I believe their logic is folly, […]

“Other people’s money”

“Socialist governments do traditionally make a financial mess. They always run out of other people’s money.” Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister, 1979 – 1990 She added, “. . . They’re now trying to control everything, . . . reducing the choice available to ordinary people.” Does this sound like our government since the 1940s when […]

Reclaiming the Constitution – Part V

In 1804, the United States Supreme Court claimed absolute control over the Constitution, declaring only it could decide the Constitution’s meaning and neither the president nor Congress could overrule it. More than 100 years later, through sheer intimidation, President Franklin Roosevelt got the Supreme Court to use this control to give Congress powers not in […]

Unlimited power – Part III

Since ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791, the Supreme Court has found a constitutional answer to every case brought before it. Doesn’t it seem unlikely that a document prepared in the 1700s could address all issues for more than two hundred years? We currently have nine justices, none elected by the people, all […]

Where are you from?

The other day a friend and I were talking about immigration. He immigrated to the United States, is an American citizen but never refers to himself as a something-American, a hyphenated-American; he is just an American. My great-grandfather emigrated from Prussia in 1852. And like my friend, I don’t consider myself a Prussian-American; I am […]

Another price of ignoring our borders

Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said Arizona’s treatment of illegal aliens “violates inalienable human rights.” And Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderon, recently rebuked the United States Congress, saying Arizona’s illegal alien law is a “threat to civil rights and democracy.” When did living in a country illegally become an inalienable human right, a civil right? Further, while chastising […]

Fundamental rights of Americans

The government, determined it knows what is best for us, continues expanding its role beyond its constitutional authority. It has little need for the Constitution because over 60 years ago the Supreme Court ruled that the founding fathers erred and actually meant for the general welfare clause of the Constitution to be a specific enumerated […]

It’s our Constitution

Contrary to the wishes of Congress, the Supreme Court and the lower courts, “we the people” in our capacity as jurors and state legislators have the power to nullify laws we find unconstitutional. Did the founding fathers opine on this power? In 1790, James Wilson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and […]

Supreme Court – Constitutional guardian or Guardian Council?

Does the  Supreme Court submit to the authority of the United States Constitution, as it should?  Or, is it complicit with Congress, functioning beyond its constitutional powers? In 1803, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Marshall, trying to preserve the checks and balances in the Constitution said, “To what purpose are powers limited, and […]

Who really has the power?

“The United States Constitution has proved itself the most marvelously elastic compilation of rules of government ever written.”                            –President Franklin Roosevelt   Did the founding fathers create a “marvelously elastic” Constitution as Roosevelt suggested?  No, they created the antithesis, granting their new government limited powers, enumerated to prevent it from evolving into another all […]

Spending the people’s money

“Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal  with a big appetite at one end and no sense of  responsibility at the other.”                                  − Ronald Reagan  Is it an appropriate use of taxpayer money to fund a “tattoo removal violence prevention program,” a Sparta Teapot museum, a program to communicate with extra-terrestrials, the Pleasure […]

The healthcare agenda

Why is the government continuing to push healthcare reform, ignoring, dismissing and disparaging anyone who disagrees?  Why have so many members of Congress refused to have town hall meetings during the August recess?  Why are they afraid to face us, their employers? Even if we ignore the United States Constitution and agree that healthcare is […]

Is it too late?

Is it too late for the United States of America?  Are we doomed to follow the timetable Sir John Glubb outlined in “The Fate of Empires,” surviving about 250 years?  Or, are we different from the failed empires he studied?  The outcome is our choice.  We are unique among the nations of history.  We designed […]

The czars of the U.S.S.A.

In his inaugural address of 1801, Thomas Jefferson near-prophetically described our current government saying, “Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this […]

Is the government the new “company store?”

How well does the government manage our money?  Do our elected leaders spend it responsibly and frugally, as they should?  Sen. Charles Schumer answered these questions saying, “Let me say this to all the chattering class that so much focuses on those little, tiny, yes, porky amendments:  ‘the American people really don’t care.’”  He was […]

Role of the Supreme Court?

A Justice of the United States Supreme Court is retiring.  A chance to re-shape the court.  A chance to change history.  Wait a minute.  Don’t the above statements suggest the United States Constitution is flexible, open to interpretation, no need to amend it?  Dare I suggest the primary role of the United States Supreme Court […]

The Socialist States of America

Sir Winston Churchill  said, “(Socialism’s) inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”  To this Margaret Thatcher added, “The problem with socialism is that at some point you run out of other people’s money.”  Shared misery and not enough “other people’s money.”  Doesn’t that sound like the agenda the United States Congress has for us? Congress unashamedly follows […]

Can we tax our way out of irresponsible debt?

 Congress believes irresponsible debt and spending is needed to rectify the problems created by irresponsible debt and spending. Further, it believes raising taxes to pay for its irresponsible debt will actually stimulate spending.         My father was raised on a farm in eastern Nebraska, sheltered from this unique congressional economic theory. He lived through the […]

What should we ask Congress?

Last week President Obama reprimanded Wall Street CEOs’ for their outrageous salaries and spending, saying they must show “restraint and responsibility.”  Should he have admonished Congress instead, because it puts Wall Street executives to shame with irresponsible spending?  Moreover, Congress displays righteous indignation toward companies going on extravagant junkets and sponsoring lavish conferences, while it […]