American Opportunity Alliance: Come for Social Liberalism. Stay for Wall Street Cronyism.

Pay attention to this story. Put the American Opportunity Alliance on your radar. Conservatives need to be wary and need to follow money from this group to Republican candidates.

A group of billionaires and multi-billionaires intent on pushing gay marriage and amnesty has started an effort to pump money into the Republican Party. The Politico report makes clear as well that these guys want to align Republican interests to Wall Street. As we see more and more every day, Wall Street’s interests are not the same as Main Street’s interests.

This group will push social liberalism within the GOP. They’ll start with gay marriage, but no doubt over time will transition to abortion rights. That’s the way these things typically happen. They’ll push amnesty too. And they’ll want to convince the GOP that what is good for Wall Street is good for America, which is less and less true these days.

By the way, it appears this group favors Thom Tillis in North Carolina, which means conservatives in North Carolina need to rally behind someone other than Tillis to get through the primary season.

This is troubling because, as we know, the party leadership in Washington listens to big money donors who diverge greatly from the GOP base on a host of issues.

Since the 2012 election, Singer has stepped up his advocacy for an overhauled GOP agenda. He donated to an immigration reform group, the National Immigration Forum; and last month, Singer and Loeb organized events, including one with the Human Rights Campaign, at the World Economic Forum in Davos focused on LGBT issues.

If you hear of money from the American Opportunity Alliance backing any candidate with significant dollars, raise the red flag for conservatives. Because the odds go up they’re going to turn out to be pukes in Congress.

RedState

American Opportunity Alliance: Come for Social Liberalism. Stay for Wall Street Cronyism.

VIDEO: Seib & Co.: Rubio on GOP Future

Sen. Marco Rubio explained to Washington reporters at a Seib & Co. breakfast his hopes for the GOP, saying the party should position itself as the bastion of economic opportunity, upward mobility and fiscal responsibility.

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VIDEO: Seib & Co.: Rubio on GOP Future

Republican Rep. Dale Kooyenga: “There are certain values that the state upholds. If the values aren’t consistent at the local level, there is an opportunity for the state to come in and say these are our principles and they are good.”

The conservative Wisconsin State Journal is again trying to alert fellow Republicans something is dangerously wrong at the Capitol. While Republicans vilified Madison for forcing liberalism on everyone else, ramming conservatism down our throats is A-Okay? Didn’t think so.

The line that stood out for me is this breathtaking rightwing authoritarian philosophical statement:

Rep. Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield: “There are certain values that the state upholds. If the values aren’t consistent at the local level, there is an opportunity for the state to come in and say these are our principles and they are good.”

Gulp! Sound frighteningly familiar? Sounds a lot like what we heard from so many despotic foreign leaders.

Reporter Matthew DeFour wrote this nice summary:

Since consolidating control of state government in 2011, Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican Legislature have enacted a series of laws that upend a bedrock of their party’s conservatism: the principle of local control. The GOP has wrested from local government’s control of cellphone tower siting, shoreland zoning restrictions, landlord-tenant regulations, public employee residency requirements, family medical leave rules for private companies and large soft drink bans, among other things. It instituted a statewide voucher program opposed by many school boards and has kept tight property tax caps on school districts and municipalities. The latest and perhaps most disconcerting example for many local officials is a bill introduced by Sen. Tom Tiffany, R-Hazelhurst, that would limit a municipality’s ability to regulate certain aspects of frac sand mining operations, such as blasting, damage to highways, and air and water quality.

“Many (municipal leaders) will tell you how terrible it is and how it’s the worst they’ve ever seen,” said Dan Thompson, executive director of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities.

But of course denial helps Republicans disconnect from their own hypocrisy:

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said “legislators always take into account local feedback when developing bills,” including specific bill language. “The concerns of municipalities are carefully considered…

When Republicans are whining about there being too much local control, well…..

Walker spokesman Tom Evenson said other changes, such as ending residency requirements and the soft drink provision, are meant to protect individual freedoms, Evenson said.

Nice to know our state GOP is protecting our freedom to shop:

Republicans have long promoted themselves as the party of decentralized government and local control. UW-Madison political science professor emeritus Dennis Dresang. “But boy, recently, that’s really going out the door. What we see from the tea party types and the radical right types is, ‘I’ve got an idea, I’ve got an agenda, and it really ought to apply across the board.”

How do Republicans rationalize their authoritarian behavior?

Republicans … say many of the recent moves to limit local control derive from a different party plank than local control — deregulation.

If you want to know what the guiding philosophy of our rightwing authoritarian one party government is right now, Rep. Dale Kooyenga made it perfectly clear:

“There are certain values that the state upholds. If the values aren’t consistent at the local level, there is an opportunity for the state to come in and say these are our principles and they are good.”

“Rightwing Authoritarian” is a term defined in this recent blog post. Check it out.  

Democurmudgeon

Republican Rep. Dale Kooyenga: “There are certain values that the state upholds. If the values aren’t consistent at the local level, there is an opportunity for the state to come in and say these are our principles and they are good.”

VIDEO: New Poll Finds People Are Delaying Retirement

From a 77-year-old chef to a 96-year-old fishmonger, many people who are at or beyond the age of retirement are choosing to continue working, a new poll finds. (Associated Press)

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VIDEO: New Poll Finds People Are Delaying Retirement

A Missed Opportunity This Past July 4th

July 4 refers to the day the Declaration of Independence from the British monarchical yoke was issued by some 56 noted individuals who risked their lives, fortunes, and their sacred honor for it. Several thousand American colonists fought and perished over a seven year period so that their posterity will live in a free nation governed with the consent of the people to secure their rights as free people.

The first ten amendments to the US Constitution ratified in 1791 contained the Bill of Rights that prohibits transgressions by the federal government into individual life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

In 2013, some 237 years later, the people have lost most of what was enshrined in the US Constitution. The federal government, instead of being limited in scope as intended, has become a dictatorial national government. Patrick Henry opposed the adoption of the Constitution as he feared the uncontained growth of the federal government by destroying the sovereignty of the individual states. He was right!

The American people lost their way in the early 1900s and allowed the concept of big government to come to fruition and to destroy the core principle of federalism during the Woodrow Wilson administration with the enactment of direct federal government taxation of Americans and the simultaneous removal of state representation in Congress by instituting the direct popular election of the Senators.

Article 1, Section 1 is in tatters as Congress has illegally delegated its legislative powers to such unelected agencies as the EPA, IRS, FCC, FDA, and the other hundreds of agencies with the full approval of the US Supreme Court. People did not bother to punish those politicians but accepted the despotic bureaucratic rule that we find today.

The First Amendment is just about erased. Political correctness depending upon the whims of the favorite political groups is allowed to override that right of free speech and declare it hate speech. There is no religious freedom today. If you do not practice what the national government dictates appropriate, you and your group will be punished with the help of the myriad of agencies it controls.

How about the freedom of the press? The government spies on the reporters, tries to intimidate their families, and prevents them from reporting anything unfavorable to it. Wilson jailed some of them for being against the American entry into WWI. Lincoln also did so in the Civil War.

The Second Amendment, whose presence in the Bill of Rights is for preserving freedom (not for hunting or sports shooting), is under severe assault. A national government that has gone rogue will disarm the citizens so that they can be turned into subjects.

The Fourth Amendment is extinct. Americans gave that up in the name of security. The US government with the guidance of the Supreme Court has eliminated the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures without the required warrants based on probable cause. The president maintains a kill list that includes American citizens, deploys armed drones to exterminate them, or apprehends them to be detained indefinitely under the Patriot Act. What an insult to all the true patriots who secured our freedom to use their identity to crush the very freedom they fought for.

Is anything left of the 5th Amendment? I am afraid nothing is. The government can demand and get confession in some cases to prove a political point. Look at the case of Mr. Libby, who was prosecuted for providing a false statement when the government’s desired outcome of pinning him as the source of the leak of an obscure CIA operative failed.

Private property rights were protected by the 5th Amendment in cases of government exercising eminent domain to confiscate private property for public use. The US Supreme Court, with Justice Souter of our own New Hampshire, broke it wide open when he declared that it was constitutional to take private property under eminent domain for the purpose of allocating it to another private party approved by the government. It was the Kelo case of Connecticut.

With government and the Supreme Court working in tandem, no rights that enable freedom of the individual can be safe. It is how the law is turned on its head to do the exact opposite of what it was originally intended for.

The 6th, 7th, and the 8th Amendments are routinely violated. In some cases, nobody pays any attention to them in our courts.

The 9th Amendment clearly states that those rights that are not enumerated belong to the people, and the government cannot touch them. We don’t have any rights. We are searched at airports in the most flagrant manner without any protest. We are told what we can take in our private possession and how much while traveling. We are told what type of electric bulb we are allowed to use at home. We are now told that we must buy the appropriate health insurance required by the federal government and enforced by the IRS.

The 10th Amendment died a long time ago starting with the Civil War, the adoption of the 17th Amendment, and the unlimited taxing power (16th Amendment), the confiscation of property rights and now confiscation of personal rights. States are merely servants of the national government doing its bidding at local levels.

So tell me again why the 4th of July has any real meaning today? Turning the country around to inspire our people to embrace individual liberty as ordained by the Declaration of Independence is a very long, long shot.

Photo credit: snowlepard (Creative Commons)

Please share this post with your friends and comment below. If you haven’t already, take a moment to sign up for our free newsletter above and friend us on Twitter and Facebook to get real time updates.

Western Journalism

A Missed Opportunity This Past July 4th

A Missed Opportunity This Past July 4th

July 4 refers to the day the Declaration of Independence from the British monarchical yoke was issued by some 56 noted individuals who risked their lives, fortunes, and their sacred honor for it. Several thousand American colonists fought and perished over a seven year period so that their posterity will live in a free nation governed with the consent of the people to secure their rights as free people.

The first ten amendments to the US Constitution ratified in 1791 contained the Bill of Rights that prohibits transgressions by the federal government into individual life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

In 2013, some 237 years later, the people have lost most of what was enshrined in the US Constitution. The federal government, instead of being limited in scope as intended, has become a dictatorial national government. Patrick Henry opposed the adoption of the Constitution as he feared the uncontained growth of the federal government by destroying the sovereignty of the individual states. He was right!

The American people lost their way in the early 1900s and allowed the concept of big government to come to fruition and to destroy the core principle of federalism during the Woodrow Wilson administration with the enactment of direct federal government taxation of Americans and the simultaneous removal of state representation in Congress by instituting the direct popular election of the Senators.

Article 1, Section 1 is in tatters as Congress has illegally delegated its legislative powers to such unelected agencies as the EPA, IRS, FCC, FDA, and the other hundreds of agencies with the full approval of the US Supreme Court. People did not bother to punish those politicians but accepted the despotic bureaucratic rule that we find today.

The First Amendment is just about erased. Political correctness depending upon the whims of the favorite political groups is allowed to override that right of free speech and declare it hate speech. There is no religious freedom today. If you do not practice what the national government dictates appropriate, you and your group will be punished with the help of the myriad of agencies it controls.

How about the freedom of the press? The government spies on the reporters, tries to intimidate their families, and prevents them from reporting anything unfavorable to it. Wilson jailed some of them for being against the American entry into WWI. Lincoln also did so in the Civil War.

The Second Amendment, whose presence in the Bill of Rights is for preserving freedom (not for hunting or sports shooting), is under severe assault. A national government that has gone rogue will disarm the citizens so that they can be turned into subjects.

The Fourth Amendment is extinct. Americans gave that up in the name of security. The US government with the guidance of the Supreme Court has eliminated the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures without the required warrants based on probable cause. The president maintains a kill list that includes American citizens, deploys armed drones to exterminate them, or apprehends them to be detained indefinitely under the Patriot Act. What an insult to all the true patriots who secured our freedom to use their identity to crush the very freedom they fought for.

Is anything left of the 5th Amendment? I am afraid nothing is. The government can demand and get confession in some cases to prove a political point. Look at the case of Mr. Libby, who was prosecuted for providing a false statement when the government’s desired outcome of pinning him as the source of the leak of an obscure CIA operative failed.

Private property rights were protected by the 5th Amendment in cases of government exercising eminent domain to confiscate private property for public use. The US Supreme Court, with Justice Souter of our own New Hampshire, broke it wide open when he declared that it was constitutional to take private property under eminent domain for the purpose of allocating it to another private party approved by the government. It was the Kelo case of Connecticut.

With government and the Supreme Court working in tandem, no rights that enable freedom of the individual can be safe. It is how the law is turned on its head to do the exact opposite of what it was originally intended for.

The 6th, 7th, and the 8th Amendments are routinely violated. In some cases, nobody pays any attention to them in our courts.

The 9th Amendment clearly states that those rights that are not enumerated belong to the people, and the government cannot touch them. We don’t have any rights. We are searched at airports in the most flagrant manner without any protest. We are told what we can take in our private possession and how much while traveling. We are told what type of electric bulb we are allowed to use at home. We are now told that we must buy the appropriate health insurance required by the federal government and enforced by the IRS.

The 10th Amendment died a long time ago starting with the Civil War, the adoption of the 17th Amendment, and the unlimited taxing power (16th Amendment), the confiscation of property rights and now confiscation of personal rights. States are merely servants of the national government doing its bidding at local levels.

So tell me again why the 4th of July has any real meaning today? Turning the country around to inspire our people to embrace individual liberty as ordained by the Declaration of Independence is a very long, long shot.

Photo credit: snowlepard (Creative Commons)

Please share this post with your friends and comment below. If you haven’t already, take a moment to sign up for our free newsletter above and friend us on Twitter and Facebook to get real time updates.

Western Journalism

A Missed Opportunity This Past July 4th

A Missed Opportunity This Past July 4th

July 4 refers to the day the Declaration of Independence from the British monarchical yoke was issued by some 56 noted individuals who risked their lives, fortunes, and their sacred honor for it. Several thousand American colonists fought and perished over a seven year period so that their posterity will live in a free nation governed with the consent of the people to secure their rights as free people.

The first ten amendments to the US Constitution ratified in 1791 contained the Bill of Rights that prohibits transgressions by the federal government into individual life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

In 2013, some 237 years later, the people have lost most of what was enshrined in the US Constitution. The federal government, instead of being limited in scope as intended, has become a dictatorial national government. Patrick Henry opposed the adoption of the Constitution as he feared the uncontained growth of the federal government by destroying the sovereignty of the individual states. He was right!

The American people lost their way in the early 1900s and allowed the concept of big government to come to fruition and to destroy the core principle of federalism during the Woodrow Wilson administration with the enactment of direct federal government taxation of Americans and the simultaneous removal of state representation in Congress by instituting the direct popular election of the Senators.

Article 1, Section 1 is in tatters as Congress has illegally delegated its legislative powers to such unelected agencies as the EPA, IRS, FCC, FDA, and the other hundreds of agencies with the full approval of the US Supreme Court. People did not bother to punish those politicians but accepted the despotic bureaucratic rule that we find today.

The First Amendment is just about erased. Political correctness depending upon the whims of the favorite political groups is allowed to override that right of free speech and declare it hate speech. There is no religious freedom today. If you do not practice what the national government dictates appropriate, you and your group will be punished with the help of the myriad of agencies it controls.

How about the freedom of the press? The government spies on the reporters, tries to intimidate their families, and prevents them from reporting anything unfavorable to it. Wilson jailed some of them for being against the American entry into WWI. Lincoln also did so in the Civil War.

The Second Amendment, whose presence in the Bill of Rights is for preserving freedom (not for hunting or sports shooting), is under severe assault. A national government that has gone rogue will disarm the citizens so that they can be turned into subjects.

The Fourth Amendment is extinct. Americans gave that up in the name of security. The US government with the guidance of the Supreme Court has eliminated the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures without the required warrants based on probable cause. The president maintains a kill list that includes American citizens, deploys armed drones to exterminate them, or apprehends them to be detained indefinitely under the Patriot Act. What an insult to all the true patriots who secured our freedom to use their identity to crush the very freedom they fought for.

Is anything left of the 5th Amendment? I am afraid nothing is. The government can demand and get confession in some cases to prove a political point. Look at the case of Mr. Libby, who was prosecuted for providing a false statement when the government’s desired outcome of pinning him as the source of the leak of an obscure CIA operative failed.

Private property rights were protected by the 5th Amendment in cases of government exercising eminent domain to confiscate private property for public use. The US Supreme Court, with Justice Souter of our own New Hampshire, broke it wide open when he declared that it was constitutional to take private property under eminent domain for the purpose of allocating it to another private party approved by the government. It was the Kelo case of Connecticut.

With government and the Supreme Court working in tandem, no rights that enable freedom of the individual can be safe. It is how the law is turned on its head to do the exact opposite of what it was originally intended for.

The 6th, 7th, and the 8th Amendments are routinely violated. In some cases, nobody pays any attention to them in our courts.

The 9th Amendment clearly states that those rights that are not enumerated belong to the people, and the government cannot touch them. We don’t have any rights. We are searched at airports in the most flagrant manner without any protest. We are told what we can take in our private possession and how much while traveling. We are told what type of electric bulb we are allowed to use at home. We are now told that we must buy the appropriate health insurance required by the federal government and enforced by the IRS.

The 10th Amendment died a long time ago starting with the Civil War, the adoption of the 17th Amendment, and the unlimited taxing power (16th Amendment), the confiscation of property rights and now confiscation of personal rights. States are merely servants of the national government doing its bidding at local levels.

So tell me again why the 4th of July has any real meaning today? Turning the country around to inspire our people to embrace individual liberty as ordained by the Declaration of Independence is a very long, long shot.

Photo credit: snowlepard (Creative Commons)

Please share this post with your friends and comment below. If you haven’t already, take a moment to sign up for our free newsletter above and friend us on Twitter and Facebook to get real time updates.

Western Journalism

A Missed Opportunity This Past July 4th

A Missed Opportunity This Past July 4th

July 4 refers to the day the Declaration of Independence from the British monarchical yoke was issued by some 56 noted individuals who risked their lives, fortunes, and their sacred honor for it. Several thousand American colonists fought and perished over a seven year period so that their posterity will live in a free nation governed with the consent of the people to secure their rights as free people.

The first ten amendments to the US Constitution ratified in 1791 contained the Bill of Rights that prohibits transgressions by the federal government into individual life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

In 2013, some 237 years later, the people have lost most of what was enshrined in the US Constitution. The federal government, instead of being limited in scope as intended, has become a dictatorial national government. Patrick Henry opposed the adoption of the Constitution as he feared the uncontained growth of the federal government by destroying the sovereignty of the individual states. He was right!

The American people lost their way in the early 1900s and allowed the concept of big government to come to fruition and to destroy the core principle of federalism during the Woodrow Wilson administration with the enactment of direct federal government taxation of Americans and the simultaneous removal of state representation in Congress by instituting the direct popular election of the Senators.

Article 1, Section 1 is in tatters as Congress has illegally delegated its legislative powers to such unelected agencies as the EPA, IRS, FCC, FDA, and the other hundreds of agencies with the full approval of the US Supreme Court. People did not bother to punish those politicians but accepted the despotic bureaucratic rule that we find today.

The First Amendment is just about erased. Political correctness depending upon the whims of the favorite political groups is allowed to override that right of free speech and declare it hate speech. There is no religious freedom today. If you do not practice what the national government dictates appropriate, you and your group will be punished with the help of the myriad of agencies it controls.

How about the freedom of the press? The government spies on the reporters, tries to intimidate their families, and prevents them from reporting anything unfavorable to it. Wilson jailed some of them for being against the American entry into WWI. Lincoln also did so in the Civil War.

The Second Amendment, whose presence in the Bill of Rights is for preserving freedom (not for hunting or sports shooting), is under severe assault. A national government that has gone rogue will disarm the citizens so that they can be turned into subjects.

The Fourth Amendment is extinct. Americans gave that up in the name of security. The US government with the guidance of the Supreme Court has eliminated the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures without the required warrants based on probable cause. The president maintains a kill list that includes American citizens, deploys armed drones to exterminate them, or apprehends them to be detained indefinitely under the Patriot Act. What an insult to all the true patriots who secured our freedom to use their identity to crush the very freedom they fought for.

Is anything left of the 5th Amendment? I am afraid nothing is. The government can demand and get confession in some cases to prove a political point. Look at the case of Mr. Libby, who was prosecuted for providing a false statement when the government’s desired outcome of pinning him as the source of the leak of an obscure CIA operative failed.

Private property rights were protected by the 5th Amendment in cases of government exercising eminent domain to confiscate private property for public use. The US Supreme Court, with Justice Souter of our own New Hampshire, broke it wide open when he declared that it was constitutional to take private property under eminent domain for the purpose of allocating it to another private party approved by the government. It was the Kelo case of Connecticut.

With government and the Supreme Court working in tandem, no rights that enable freedom of the individual can be safe. It is how the law is turned on its head to do the exact opposite of what it was originally intended for.

The 6th, 7th, and the 8th Amendments are routinely violated. In some cases, nobody pays any attention to them in our courts.

The 9th Amendment clearly states that those rights that are not enumerated belong to the people, and the government cannot touch them. We don’t have any rights. We are searched at airports in the most flagrant manner without any protest. We are told what we can take in our private possession and how much while traveling. We are told what type of electric bulb we are allowed to use at home. We are now told that we must buy the appropriate health insurance required by the federal government and enforced by the IRS.

The 10th Amendment died a long time ago starting with the Civil War, the adoption of the 17th Amendment, and the unlimited taxing power (16th Amendment), the confiscation of property rights and now confiscation of personal rights. States are merely servants of the national government doing its bidding at local levels.

So tell me again why the 4th of July has any real meaning today? Turning the country around to inspire our people to embrace individual liberty as ordained by the Declaration of Independence is a very long, long shot.

Photo credit: snowlepard (Creative Commons)

Please share this post with your friends and comment below. If you haven’t already, take a moment to sign up for our free newsletter above and friend us on Twitter and Facebook to get real time updates.

Western Journalism

A Missed Opportunity This Past July 4th

A Missed Opportunity This Past July 4th

July 4 refers to the day the Declaration of Independence from the British monarchical yoke was issued by some 56 noted individuals who risked their lives, fortunes, and their sacred honor for it. Several thousand American colonists fought and perished over a seven year period so that their posterity will live in a free nation governed with the consent of the people to secure their rights as free people.

The first ten amendments to the US Constitution ratified in 1791 contained the Bill of Rights that prohibits transgressions by the federal government into individual life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

In 2013, some 237 years later, the people have lost most of what was enshrined in the US Constitution. The federal government, instead of being limited in scope as intended, has become a dictatorial national government. Patrick Henry opposed the adoption of the Constitution as he feared the uncontained growth of the federal government by destroying the sovereignty of the individual states. He was right!

The American people lost their way in the early 1900s and allowed the concept of big government to come to fruition and to destroy the core principle of federalism during the Woodrow Wilson administration with the enactment of direct federal government taxation of Americans and the simultaneous removal of state representation in Congress by instituting the direct popular election of the Senators.

Article 1, Section 1 is in tatters as Congress has illegally delegated its legislative powers to such unelected agencies as the EPA, IRS, FCC, FDA, and the other hundreds of agencies with the full approval of the US Supreme Court. People did not bother to punish those politicians but accepted the despotic bureaucratic rule that we find today.

The First Amendment is just about erased. Political correctness depending upon the whims of the favorite political groups is allowed to override that right of free speech and declare it hate speech. There is no religious freedom today. If you do not practice what the national government dictates appropriate, you and your group will be punished with the help of the myriad of agencies it controls.

How about the freedom of the press? The government spies on the reporters, tries to intimidate their families, and prevents them from reporting anything unfavorable to it. Wilson jailed some of them for being against the American entry into WWI. Lincoln also did so in the Civil War.

The Second Amendment, whose presence in the Bill of Rights is for preserving freedom (not for hunting or sports shooting), is under severe assault. A national government that has gone rogue will disarm the citizens so that they can be turned into subjects.

The Fourth Amendment is extinct. Americans gave that up in the name of security. The US government with the guidance of the Supreme Court has eliminated the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures without the required warrants based on probable cause. The president maintains a kill list that includes American citizens, deploys armed drones to exterminate them, or apprehends them to be detained indefinitely under the Patriot Act. What an insult to all the true patriots who secured our freedom to use their identity to crush the very freedom they fought for.

Is anything left of the 5th Amendment? I am afraid nothing is. The government can demand and get confession in some cases to prove a political point. Look at the case of Mr. Libby, who was prosecuted for providing a false statement when the government’s desired outcome of pinning him as the source of the leak of an obscure CIA operative failed.

Private property rights were protected by the 5th Amendment in cases of government exercising eminent domain to confiscate private property for public use. The US Supreme Court, with Justice Souter of our own New Hampshire, broke it wide open when he declared that it was constitutional to take private property under eminent domain for the purpose of allocating it to another private party approved by the government. It was the Kelo case of Connecticut.

With government and the Supreme Court working in tandem, no rights that enable freedom of the individual can be safe. It is how the law is turned on its head to do the exact opposite of what it was originally intended for.

The 6th, 7th, and the 8th Amendments are routinely violated. In some cases, nobody pays any attention to them in our courts.

The 9th Amendment clearly states that those rights that are not enumerated belong to the people, and the government cannot touch them. We don’t have any rights. We are searched at airports in the most flagrant manner without any protest. We are told what we can take in our private possession and how much while traveling. We are told what type of electric bulb we are allowed to use at home. We are now told that we must buy the appropriate health insurance required by the federal government and enforced by the IRS.

The 10th Amendment died a long time ago starting with the Civil War, the adoption of the 17th Amendment, and the unlimited taxing power (16th Amendment), the confiscation of property rights and now confiscation of personal rights. States are merely servants of the national government doing its bidding at local levels.

So tell me again why the 4th of July has any real meaning today? Turning the country around to inspire our people to embrace individual liberty as ordained by the Declaration of Independence is a very long, long shot.

Photo credit: snowlepard (Creative Commons)

Please share this post with your friends and comment below. If you haven’t already, take a moment to sign up for our free newsletter above and friend us on Twitter and Facebook to get real time updates.

Western Journalism

A Missed Opportunity This Past July 4th

A Missed Opportunity This Past July 4th

July 4 refers to the day the Declaration of Independence from the British monarchical yoke was issued by some 56 noted individuals who risked their lives, fortunes, and their sacred honor for it. Several thousand American colonists fought and perished over a seven year period so that their posterity will live in a free nation governed with the consent of the people to secure their rights as free people.

The first ten amendments to the US Constitution ratified in 1791 contained the Bill of Rights that prohibits transgressions by the federal government into individual life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

In 2013, some 237 years later, the people have lost most of what was enshrined in the US Constitution. The federal government, instead of being limited in scope as intended, has become a dictatorial national government. Patrick Henry opposed the adoption of the Constitution as he feared the uncontained growth of the federal government by destroying the sovereignty of the individual states. He was right!

The American people lost their way in the early 1900s and allowed the concept of big government to come to fruition and to destroy the core principle of federalism during the Woodrow Wilson administration with the enactment of direct federal government taxation of Americans and the simultaneous removal of state representation in Congress by instituting the direct popular election of the Senators.

Article 1, Section 1 is in tatters as Congress has illegally delegated its legislative powers to such unelected agencies as the EPA, IRS, FCC, FDA, and the other hundreds of agencies with the full approval of the US Supreme Court. People did not bother to punish those politicians but accepted the despotic bureaucratic rule that we find today.

The First Amendment is just about erased. Political correctness depending upon the whims of the favorite political groups is allowed to override that right of free speech and declare it hate speech. There is no religious freedom today. If you do not practice what the national government dictates appropriate, you and your group will be punished with the help of the myriad of agencies it controls.

How about the freedom of the press? The government spies on the reporters, tries to intimidate their families, and prevents them from reporting anything unfavorable to it. Wilson jailed some of them for being against the American entry into WWI. Lincoln also did so in the Civil War.

The Second Amendment, whose presence in the Bill of Rights is for preserving freedom (not for hunting or sports shooting), is under severe assault. A national government that has gone rogue will disarm the citizens so that they can be turned into subjects.

The Fourth Amendment is extinct. Americans gave that up in the name of security. The US government with the guidance of the Supreme Court has eliminated the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures without the required warrants based on probable cause. The president maintains a kill list that includes American citizens, deploys armed drones to exterminate them, or apprehends them to be detained indefinitely under the Patriot Act. What an insult to all the true patriots who secured our freedom to use their identity to crush the very freedom they fought for.

Is anything left of the 5th Amendment? I am afraid nothing is. The government can demand and get confession in some cases to prove a political point. Look at the case of Mr. Libby, who was prosecuted for providing a false statement when the government’s desired outcome of pinning him as the source of the leak of an obscure CIA operative failed.

Private property rights were protected by the 5th Amendment in cases of government exercising eminent domain to confiscate private property for public use. The US Supreme Court, with Justice Souter of our own New Hampshire, broke it wide open when he declared that it was constitutional to take private property under eminent domain for the purpose of allocating it to another private party approved by the government. It was the Kelo case of Connecticut.

With government and the Supreme Court working in tandem, no rights that enable freedom of the individual can be safe. It is how the law is turned on its head to do the exact opposite of what it was originally intended for.

The 6th, 7th, and the 8th Amendments are routinely violated. In some cases, nobody pays any attention to them in our courts.

The 9th Amendment clearly states that those rights that are not enumerated belong to the people, and the government cannot touch them. We don’t have any rights. We are searched at airports in the most flagrant manner without any protest. We are told what we can take in our private possession and how much while traveling. We are told what type of electric bulb we are allowed to use at home. We are now told that we must buy the appropriate health insurance required by the federal government and enforced by the IRS.

The 10th Amendment died a long time ago starting with the Civil War, the adoption of the 17th Amendment, and the unlimited taxing power (16th Amendment), the confiscation of property rights and now confiscation of personal rights. States are merely servants of the national government doing its bidding at local levels.

So tell me again why the 4th of July has any real meaning today? Turning the country around to inspire our people to embrace individual liberty as ordained by the Declaration of Independence is a very long, long shot.

Photo credit: snowlepard (Creative Commons)

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Western Journalism

A Missed Opportunity This Past July 4th