Government Is Not Our Friend

As I was driving home from the gym today I saw an Obama sticker on someone’s car that “Marlified” Obama’s face (you know - the red, yellow, and green colors associated with Reggae music). For some reason it struck me as odd… and wrong.

Over the past few months we have seen a lot of “flag waving” for Obama. People are excited. They are pumped up to see change. They hope that he will not be a “standard politician.” People have Obama stickers all over their cars and all sorts of people have waved Obama signs in support. When Obama won there were parties in the street and people were toasting (and buying shots) in honor of him.

Now don’t get me wrong, but I am glad that people are excited about politics and they are involved in politics. I think one of the greatest tragedies is that so many are not involved and don’t vote and never do vote. However, how should our interaction with our government be? What did the Founding Fathers want our – The People – relationship be with the government?

I grew up and I think that I had a pretty good relationship with my parents. Of course we traded words and made accusations like any parent does with their teenager. One thing was always clear in our home though – you mess up and you will pay the consequences. We are not your homies or your friends – we are here to make sure you stay safe, stay out of trouble, do well in school, and do well in sports. We know your standard and if we know if you are not performing to your standard (as in school) or acting a fool and getting in trouble (with the law or in school) then you are going to answer to those consequences (failed grades, detention, jail, etc.) AND you are going to pay for your wrong doing with US. That is just how it was. I will never forget my father felling me, “If you do right, we will be there to support you and give you praise. You mess up and we will have NO problem letting you face the consequences and then some.”

I hated that kind of philosophy growing up. While other kids got to go home and watch TV all night and go outside and play my mother would sit there and make me do my homework and then she would verify it. If I rushed it or did it incorrectly, I did it again. In other words, she was my boss. I also decided to do a few stupid things as a kid too – one of them going down the street and tearing up my neighbors property. While the other kids that helped me sat at home and watched TV, I went down to my neighbor’s house, apologized, and then cleaned up the mess. In other words, my parents made sure that rules (of courtesy and what is right and wrong in this case) were enforced. I never was friends with my parents and I hated it that I didn’t have “cool” parents like everyone else.

Now that I’ve grown I look back at that and I am more than glad that they were not my friends. I am good friends with them today because of what they were to me back then.

I feel kind of the same way about government. I think that our government was made to not be friends with us. Their job was to hold office and represent us. If they didn’t do that, then we ran them out of town (literally or via impeachment or special election, etc.). Furthermore, they gave us the First Amendment so that we could speak out against them and tell them that they were doing wrong. They gave us the Second Amendment so that if they didn’t want to listen, then we could defend ourselves against them. They gave us the Third Amendment so that the government couldn’t quarter in your home. They gave us the Fourth Amendment so that they couldn’t just come in our homes at will. And so on… Point is, they gave the power to the people, not the government.

Today with this Obama-fevor, I am scared that we are not providing society with our role in government – the watch-dog. You see, when we are friends it is easy to forgive-and-forget their misdoings. We have an emotional bond with them that allows us to overlook their blemishes. This simply is not the kind of relationship we want with our government, especially today.

I do not know about many of you out there but I am getting tired of our representatives having free reign. I want them to represent me. If they cannot do that, then they should be afraid of losing their job. Yet, that is not how it is. We continue to vote them in and never speak up against them. And now we have elected a President that we seem to have a very strong “friendship” bond with.

Look, I don’t care if you love every policy that he has put forth and hope he does more – you still cannot let him be your friend. You still have to be his watchdog. The second you don’t and they realize this, they will quit representing you and do their own thing. If we have no checks on our government, if we just trust that they will do right and act in our interests, then we give them unbridled power. Never good. And history can vouch for this.

Think about it.

IS THE GOVERNMENT ALLOWED TO BUY AIG?

Hello all, I have been a friend of our host for a little over two years, we disagree on several issues, but have generally the same Conservative-Libertarian small government view and we get along quite famously (or he is a GREAT actor).  I am very pleased that he has allowed me to author a topic for his blog and hope my topic generates interest and honest discussion.

 

The economy, it is said, is in shambles. There is some evidence that this is true, Bear-Stearns, Lehman Bros., AIG to name the current failures.  GM, FORD, and CHRYSLER are rumored to be begging uncle George to send them a cash bailout and I am sure everyone remembers that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were “too big to fail,” things look pretty bad.  Unemployment has “exploded” to 6.2 percent and Gas is around 3.75 a gallon.

 

Our Presidential options are on opposite sides of how to “fix” the economy and we have to choose in about 7 weeks.  Wow, we got a lot of crap on our plates!

 

All that said, I would like to add one more morsel.  Where did the Federal Government get the power to buy a corporation?  The AIG “loan” of 85 Billion for 2 years, causes the Federal Government to actually OWN 80% of AIG!  ON the pro side, many talking heads are saying this move could actually generate a profit for the Federal Government, the cons say, that “We the People” stand to lose quite a bit more than 85 Billion.  Regardless of which happens, lets analyze the original question “Where did the Federal Government get the power to buy a corporation?”

 

I have gone through the Constitution and the only thing I can find that could remotely be referenced would be the General Welfare Clause, so lets look at what that cause says. It states: 

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

For starters, here is an 1828 version of Websters American Dictionary definition of Welfare, and it very clearly defines the terms for individuals and States:  

WELFARE, n. [well and fare, a good going] 
1. Exemption from misfortune, sickness, calamity or evil; the enjoyment of health and the common blessings of life; prosperity; happiness; (applied to persons) 
2. Exemption from any unusual evil or calamity; the enjoyment of peace and prosperity, the ordinary blessings of society and civil government; (applied to states) 

I believe the “GENERAL WELFARE” clause as written in the Constitution is referring to States, not individuals. Article 4 section 4 is quite clear on what the Federal Government guarantees to each of the several states and that seems to support a “state” perspective with regard to “general welfare”.

 

Based on the premise that the General Welfare clause as written applies to the States, how does the verbiage allow a buyout?  The clause appears to cover things like a military, ensuring trade goods are accessible, and I would even add SOME infrastructure like a wall along the USA-Mexico and USA-Canada borders, levees in New Orleans and Galveston- anyplace where significant flooding is known to occur and Yes, arguably the existence of entities like FEMA.  Other than that, NOTHING, nothing at all directly or indirectly implies the ability to buy a corporation!  The “purchase” of AIG is Unconstitutional and each and every American needs to understand the implications we are facing.  In the early 20th century it took a Constitutional amendment to stop people from making and drinking alcohol, now smoking cigarettes are almost illegal in most states and definitely in all federal buildings and all that took was an act of Congress.  AIG has been bought by the Treasury department via the Federal Reserve to stave off an imminent and calamitous failure, the American people, WE THE PEOPLE, now own AIG and we never even had the opportunity to discuss it.  Our Government has allowed JP MORGAN to buyout Bear-Stearns, and the American people have backed the loan, again, I ask, how is that allowed under the Constitution?  If the Congress can deem a company “Too big to Fail” they also have the ability to deem a business “Too small to succeed.”  I for one do not want the ability to succeed OR the ability to fail to be controlled or intimidated by the Federal Government, the ability to succeed or fail are the forces that have driven America.

 

The Constitution is the foundation of this country, if we allow the Federal Government to buy or bail out Wall Street, we will lose our Republic completely and become a Fascist (State Controlled Capitalism) nation.

 

But, that is just my opinion, I could be wrong…

 

Written by: DJ

Our Government Should Play WoW

First off, it has been a long time since I’ve posted here. I’ve been pretty busy with school. I truly hate this class that I am taking. Which is sad because I really do love education. I just really do not like taking classes that I feel are near impossible.

In my spare time I have been playing World of Warcraft (WoW). Oddly enough, it is a game that I thought I would never play. I think for a long time I even actively refused to play. After all, everyone that I knew that played it was actively addicted.

The game is fun. However, there is an issue that just screams to be talked about. WoW is a free market system. There is no authorizing force that “drives” society. There is no government that makes everyone do what they want by taxing them and no government to tell them that if they don’t do something, that they will go to jail. People buy and trade goods. Some goods are hard to come by. So the demand for those goods are high and therefore the price for them rises. The goods that are readily available are not so expensive. When you go to buy something from other characters through the Auction House, there is a “tax” system in place. If you don’t like the tax, you can always go out and find the materials yourself, which could take months for you to train up that skill. Or, you can have your friends (who know that trade) help you out. Or maybe barter by just doing a direct trade with another character. In any case, there is a way to escape (circumvent) the taxes. Perfect! This is what we call a direct tax. THIS is how our country was originally set up. The government can tax what it wants, but not money itself. It has to give people an option of not paying the tax. On the game, when I kill a nasty looking blob of jello, and it drops “loot” of 1 gold… a little window does not pop up from the government telling me to give them 25 silver just because they want it. THAT is what our government does.

Every time you get your paycheck, that is what is happening, a little window is popping up and a little hand slides out and says, “Pay up bucko, or else we will repossess your car and everything you have.” Most of us just go, well, I like my car and I don’t want to hurt my family, so we just give the money to the hand and keep on living. But, what if you just stood up to that hand and said, hey, back off this is my money that I earned. In reality, you can do this. You don’t owe the government except what you choose to pay. If you choose to pay income taxes every April, then that is purely your choice. You are choosing to give your money to them. And this law supports this fact that you don’t have to pay income taxes unless you fall under a very specific group (you work for the government).

So, why are you paying taxes? Seriously…

Pay Uncle Sam At The Pump

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Gas Prices are going up. We all know it. They have been going up for some time now, so I don’t know where the surprise is coming in at here. In any case, Congress has recently put Big Oil under the microscope because they made a large amount of money last year. And indeed, they did! However, should we, the American Gas Buyer, be griping at them for making such large amounts of money?

My answer – no, and if you do, then you are severely uninformed. Here’s why.

Between 1977 and 2004, the oil industry’s domestic profits totaled $643 billion, after adjusting for inflation. For the same time period, [State and Federal] governments collected more than $1.34 trillion, after adjusting for inflation (link). Um, hello? If you don’t understand what I just wrote, then check out the graphic.

So who is causing the high gas prices? The government! Think about it… the oil companies actually have to work for getting that gas to you. They have to find it. Find out how to get it out of the Earth. Buy expensive equipment to drill. Have a way to obtain and hold all the oil they get. Refine it. Ship it.

And what does the government do? They see the gas truck pulling up to ExxonMobil and they slap a tax on it – a tax that is 2-3x higher than the profit that the oil company is making. BS. Pure and simple smoke screen. It is OK to cry about someone making “too much” money, but it is rude and inconsiderate to even speak about how the government is making twice as much. And for what? What is the government spending all that generated tax money on anyways? I surely don’t see it!

If you want to complain about how much the CEO and VPs are making a year, well that is a different story all together. This is about when we buy a gallon of gas, who is getting how much money. And what everyone doesn’t tell you is that the government is making more than the oil tycoons… Period.

Listen very carefully to parts 3:30-3:41.

Where Have All the Leaders Gone?

I found this article and man-o-man is it a gem! I am going to repost here in-whole just in case something happens to the original found here. Below is the article in it’s entirety.
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I Had Enough?

Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, “Stay the course.”

Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I’ll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!

You might think I’m getting senile, that I’ve gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don’t need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we’re fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That’s not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I’ve had enough. How about you?

The discovery of a new element – Governmentium

Research has led to the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312 …

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Breaking The Chains of Governmental Slavery

Well, she’s gone… Here is a scan of my envelope. Yep, pretty busy. I sent it certified mail with return receipt. This way the IRS can’t say that I never filed.

Let’s see what happens in the next few months!

On another note… as usual, my roommate keeps asking if I filed or not. He said that he is tempted to do it as well as it would be nice to have the extra money. My response? Don’t do it for the money, do it because you think it is the right thing to do.

Furthermore, if you think that paying taxes is wrong, you had better get a new definition of what you think our government is supposed to do. If you think it is supposed to be our mommy/daddy (whatever you prefer) and they are supposed to take care of us via social services and make life fair via things like AA – then you have to accept the fact of taxes. Your taxes support those programs. If you do not believe in taxes, you have to view government as simply some entity that makes laws that the people demand and has no (or very little) influence on our everyday lives (and that life sucks and that we have to deal with it on our own).

Five Things the [US] Government Should Not Be Involved In

After a recent discussion with someone, I decided that I am most decidedly against bigger government. As I have said before, “Less government is good government” (notice that I did not say no government as I am not an anarchist). Following is a list of five things that I think that government should not be involved in or have anything to say about it.

1. Marriage. Marriage is between you and whoever or whatever you want. If you want to marry a donkey, then go for it.
2. Foreign Entanglements. Countries are going to fight amongst themselves so long as there are countries. Then when we do away with countries (and borders and sovereignty) we will be fighting amongst our factions and clicks. So, why bother fighting other people’s battles? In other words I am a non-interventionalist.
3. Education. If you want to go to school, then go. If you don’t want to go, then don’t (such as just learning some sort of trade. I’m fine with that). Quit making these retarded “standardized” tests that, well, IMHO, hinder some of the accelerated students and frustrate the others because their talents are elsewhere.
4. Religion. There should be no tax-exempt religious organizations. I think that government support of religious institutions is problematic especially when someone claims a “non-standard” religion, or a non-religion (atheism). Should they too be tax-exempt? Furthermore, if you are a politician, I could care less about what you practice. If you make good laws, then you are the one for the job…
5. Child rearing. If my child does something retarded like go to the grocery store and smash a can of Pepsi on the floor. He needs to be spanked (and then hugged). He will remember the spanking and remember that you are the boss when it comes to the rules. (However, the hug will reinforce the love and acceptance of oneself even when they know they’ve disappointed you). I don’t need the government telling me how to raise my kids or that I can’t discipline them.

I’m sure that there are more, but this is what is on my head right now…