Liberty and Justice For All

I often wonder what became of the America I knew as a boy.  Growing up in small town America I was exposed to scenes of family, caring, community spirit and most of all a commitment to sharing in what it was that made American life the envy of the world.  What happened over the last 40 odd years?  Where is the sense that we can expect our children to grow up with the same opportunities that we were presented with during our childhood?

I remember my Grandfather piling all of us grandkids into the 1973 Grand Fury III and taking us to town for pizza.  I also remember sitting on my grandfather’s lap when Neil Armstrong made that historic first venture onto the surface of the moon.  Every Fourth of July my grandparents would host a huge celebration at their house, friends and family from as far as a hundred miles would show up.  There would be food, music and always the talk of politics as well as the latest trends.  We would go to Ridgewood and watch the parade.  In those days the parade consisted of tanks, jeeps, marching bands and all of the institutions were represented that America was proud of.

I reminisce about those days and long for them again.  When I think back it seems as though the pace of life was slower, more remote.  I think we had a sense of who we were as Americans and as individuals.  I believe we knew our place within the world stage and we led by instilling in others what made America great.  America had all of its morals basically in the right place and we as a people believed we had a purpose.  We had resilience within our core chemical makeup, we had flavor and we believed the dance would never end.

Wake up America before it’s too late to get our way of life back!  We have been stuck in a vortex of governmental spending, out of control spending that has hindered my way of life, your way of life and your children’s children’s way of life.  Do you remember Watergate?  That’s all I heard for months from almost all the adults around me.  This wasn’t a crisis of epic proportions like what we have going on right now, this was the president of the United States lying to the American public and then covering it up.  For those of you that are too young to remember or were not taught this in school, President Nixon was impeached for the cover up!  So now that we have a president that has a crisis of epidemic proportions and a debt crisis spiraling out of control why are so many Americans sleeping in a toxic recipe of apathy?  Why aren’t more Americans outwardly concerned and outspoken?  Why is it that on election night, most Americans will be at home instead of at the polls?  Why America?

Everything begins and ends in this country with people like you and me.  It was once said, “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”.  That was Abraham Lincoln reminding us of our intrinsic rights as Americans and as human beings.

We have let this happen over the last thirty years or so, I am speaking about our complacency in believing that our government is doing what is best for us.  In most cases our government isn’t doing what is best for us, they are doing what are in their lobbyists best interests.  These are the same lobbyists who put up the money as campaign contributions to get our elected officials into higher office for their benefit, not ours.  Yes, we all vote with the confidence that things will change but reality sets in.  Therefore the next election cycle comes along and wham, less concerned Americans show up at the polls.  In essence we have been blinded with our eyes wide shut and we have allowed ourselves to go comatose on a national level!

Look around you at the state of our affairs as a nation.  9.2 % unemployment, the knowledge that we may be in for a double dip recession.  There is a priori of information that shows what has taken place.  Look at how the environmentalist groups have almost stopped research and development, hindered small business throughout America and even slowed our own oil exploration to a mere trickle.  Lobbyists come in many forms however the environmental lobbyists are the bane of American society.  I defy you to research on the internet what some of these groups have done in the United States and in South America.  You will be appalled at what you discover.

The stimulus package was a joke!  Billions of dollars flowed into the hands of the already wealthy while home owners, small business owners and middle class Americans bore the brunt of a scarce job market, higher prices and if that weren’t enough, they had to deal with banks that were not lending money.  If you wanted to start a small business, forget about it, getting capitol was and still is like pulling teeth from a rhinoceros.

Why do we as the American middle class voter, the people who carry this country, allow riders to be attached to important bills of legislation?  Riders are usually created as a tactic to pass a controversial provision that would not pass as its own bill.  Riders are most effective when attached to an important bill, such as an appropriation bill, because to veto or postpone such a bill could delay funding to governmental programs, causing serious problems.  Some of these riders have absolutely nothing to do with the legislation being passed, yet our politicians attach riders to get something for their constituents or lobbyists that may gain votes or future campaign funds for them.  The end result of this game is that a lot of your tax payer dollars go to fund rider programs that very few Americans gain from.   A bill should be passed or rejected on its own merits and if it doesn’t pass it should be amended to reflect its substance in the context of what is best for the American people.

To fix our country is going to require a lot of hard work, effort, stamina and bipartisan compromise.  This country cannot afford to be consumed by the petty differences of so few when the needs of the many seem insurmountable.  Our elected officials need to work together to fix what they and their predecessors got us into and yet I feel that we as Americans are culpable in this catastrophe as we have allowed this to happen over our lifetime.  The evidence is all around you.  Watch the video below from Joe Lieberman, he predicted in 1994 that we would be bankrupt NOW, in 2011!

I know plenty of business owners who over the last three years have postponed their vacations or planned family getaways to spend precious time at their businesses ensuring they didn’t falter.  Yet our elected officials have faltered on the business of government and they still took their summer recess.  Are you starting to see that big government is running like a business, its running amuck and your tax dollars are supporting their lavish lifestyles and their hoity-toity jet sets to their summer vacation homes?  They do this in the midst of a national crisis while the rest of toil away hoping and praying that things improve.  Your own President has had more vacation time in two years than most Americans have over a six year period and this is not even counting his days away playing golf!  You can watch that video below as well!

I believe we are far too politically correct.  Whatever happened to calling a spade a spade?  I believe that over the last thirty years we have been subverted from within. Subverted by the same people that point fingers in your direction if you reference any item that is truthful but makes reference to ones sexuality, transgender, gender, age, group, religion or any other item deemed inappropriate by the granola crunching tree huggers to speak about.  Hey, whatever happened to free speech in this country?  I think the activists from the extreme left, (I don't need to name the group) have slowly tried to chip away at this right as well.  If we continue down this path it will lead us into the opposite direction of salvation.  I believe it's called TYRANY! 

Our basic core values as Americans have slowly been eroded and they have been replaced with a belief that we will all be better off if we can have access to a quick divorce and cohabitation is now promoted as the alternative to marriage.  You cannot reference God in schools.  The pledge of allegiance has even undergone bastardization whereby our children are now fighting back against their own school boards to use the term God.  Please read the pledge allegiance below and see if this offends you!

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

When are we going to wake up and take back OUR country?  When is the revolution going to start?  It starts here, today, right this moment!  Don’t let another minute go by without really examining what is going on in our nation’s capitol and determine for you if this is really the direction we can afford to move.

Today more than ever we need a fiscal conservative in the White House and we need to have our Congressmen and Women along with the senate working to achieve what our founding fathers worked so stridently for.  Our founding fathers fought for this country for a purpose.  Today we need our future secured in the knowledge that our elected officials will fight for this country against the same old adversaries better known as TYRANNY AND OPPRESSION.   

David