Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Our Shame, Our Blame, Our Responsibility To Right Our Times Wrongs

"It is our shame, and our fault. We are the malfeasant ones. We are to blame."

From an excellent post by The Gunslinger, and Yes, it is our fault and we are to blame for the chaos enveloping us.

We The People gave it up, grandparents, parents and definitely ourselves, bit by bit, thinking we were getting something for nothing, free education (but 'educated' into ignorance of what was worth knowing and vitally important to be known), for govt provided services and care (but at the expense of our right to our lives and property and self responsibility), for govt stepping in and making us behave civilly (but at the expense of our no longer understanding what the meaning and requirements of civil behavior are)... but there is no free Free.

As dire as things are in the face of Obamacare's threat of total governmental control of our lives, there is a bright light, people are finally beginning to wake up across this country, finally beginning to see the peril we've let gain power over us... and that spreading awareness, if we will each work to keep it burning bright, we can turn it around.

Yes! We! Can!

As to the oft heard plaints "But the constitution says govt has the power to provide for the general welfare of the United States ...", the Preamble NEVER meant what it has been twisted into, a blank check for doing anything any petty politician pines for. If you have doubts of that, or are unsure of how to argue against such notions, read the Preamble here, and then scroll down and read what ideas informed the Founders, what understanding and concerns they had, and how such liberality was argued against before the Supreme Court, and particularly how an outstanding early Supreme Court Justice, Joseph Story, dealt with it, such as:

"§ 462. And, here, we must guard ourselves against an error, which is too often allowed to creep into the discussions upon this subject. The preamble never can be resorted to, to enlarge the powers confided to the general government, or any of its departments. It cannot confer any power per se; it can never amount, by implication, to an enlargement of any power expressly given. It can never be the legitimate source of any implied power, when otherwise withdrawn from the constitution. Its true office is to expound the nature, and extent, and application of the powers actually conferred by the constitution, and not substantively to create them. . . ."
Or the link from President Monroe,

"...The people, the highest authority known to our system, from whom all our institutions spring and on whom they depend, formed it. Had the people of the several States thought proper to incorporate themselves into one community, under one government, they might have done it. They had the power, and there was nothing then nor is there anything now, should they be so disposed, to prevent it. They wisely stopped, however, ..."

And the Commerce Clause NEVER was meant to allow govt to take control of all commerce related activities within the Nation, it was in response to the chaotic recriminations between one state and another in the original Confederacy (which brought several to the brink of war) which the Constitution corrected and replaced. As Madison stated,


"... separate attempts to raise revenue by duties on imports, soon appeared in Representations from her Merchts., that the commerce of the State was banished by them into other channels, especially of Maryd., where imports were less burdened than in Virginia. (See do. 1786).

Such a tendency of separate regulations was indeed too manifest to escape anticipation. Among the projects prompted by the want of a federal authy. over Comerce, was that of a concert, first proposed on the part of Maryd. for a uniformity of regulations between the 2 States, and commissioners were appointed for that purpose. It was soon perceived however that the concurrence of Pena. was as necessy. to Maryd. as of Maryd. to Virga., and the concurrence of Pennsylvania was accordingly invited. But Pa. could no more concur witht. N. Y. than Md. witht. Pa. nor N. Y. witht. the concurrence of Boston &c.

These projects were superseded for the moment by that of the Convention at Annapolis in 1786, and forever by the Convn at Pha in 1787, and the Consn. which was the fruit of it."
There Is No More Vital Action that you can take, now, today, than to read, study and come to understand our Constitution, and then talk to others about it, demand that YOUR elected officials explain how and why they don't understand it, or if they do, then demand of them to explain their acting contrary to it.

We're already seeing the destruction which change for changes sake can do, now it is time to put some effort into understanding what real change requires, and is required of us.

Leftist ideas are attacking our Liberty and Freedom, it is only the ideas of our Founding Fathers which can defend us against them. Learn what the Constitution of the United States of America means. Learn it and spread your understanding. America is the only nation ever formed upon Ideas, and the field of Ideas is the ONLY battleground upon which we can fight to can save it from destruction.


Can win this fight? Yes! We! Can!

3 comments:

The Gunslinger said...

"...but there is no free Free."

Most succinct and clear statement of the whole argument I've ever seen.

Well done!

The Gunslinger said...

By the way, I noticed one of your recommended books is Less Than Words Can Say.

One of the funniest books I ever read. And one of my favorites.

I actually broke my toe because of that book. I was laughing so hard, I walked right into the bed frame...seriously. Ouch.

I have two copies so that I can lend one out if absolutely necessary (to the very privileged)...and never have to be without it.

Van Harvey said...

Thanks Gunslinger.

“Less Than Words Can Say.

One of the funniest books I ever read.”

Fully agree… and applies to his other books as well – I have the print version of Less Than Words Can Say, and it and all the rest on my PocketPC – love that gizmo. I’m able to pass off it off to my wife and the world as a phone and internet appliance, but it’s actually a portable library several hundred books strong… I can read nearly anything, anywhere, anytime…bwah-hahahahah!!!

ahem. excuse me.

That site that link points to has them all, including his Underground Grammarian newsletters, and they all have you bust a gut… at the same time you’re crying over the intellectual atrocities he’s describing.