Friday, May 29, 2009

Federal Borrowing Must Be Stopped…

The Federal Government is borrowing away our future and has taken away every American’s constitutional right to the pursuit of happiness. We can no longer stand by and watch our debt quadruple per family.

You now owe $546,668 as a family thanks to the out of control spending of this government, and it is mostly unconstitutional. How do you pursue your own happiness when the government has the ability to borrow in your name for things that bring no value to you?

The constitution allows for the federal government to borrow for things that are important to the nation as a whole, mostly defense. But when the federal government borrows from you as an individual to “buy” a car company it is obvious they have gone too far. When the government takes your money to give to others they deem more worthy they have gone too far. When the federal government takes our state and local tax money for educating our children they have gone too far.

The Federal government has gone too far. If I were to borrow $546,668 in your name I would be thrown in jail. None of this federal borrowing beyond our military is justified or needed. Our Governors must stand up for the rights of their states, and we as individuals must stand up for our rights to the protection of our property (hard earned money) and our pursuit of happiness. How can any family pursue their dreams when the federal government can take away our rights to a prosperous future by borrowing on our individual credit?

The tenth amendment and nullification of federal programs is our only chance. We must audit all federal expenditures on our behalf and determine the constitutionality of each federal expenditure. Then we need to nullify each program at the state level and reduce our federal tax burden accordingly.

The only way we can do that is each state must end individual federal withholding taxes and collect those taxes at the state level. Then the states can pay the taxes on behalf of their individual citizens. This will bring the balance of power back to where it belongs; in the hands of the states and individual Americans. With the state in control our state representatives will have greater ability to provide the services truly needed to run the state according to the citizens of the state. No more federal extortion to get our state funds back for our own use.

This is not a radical idea. This is an idea rooted in the US Constitution. What is happening now is a complete disregard for our constitution and especially our tenth amendment rights. Government programs are so much more manageable at the state level, and we have a much better chance of holding our state representatives accountable as opposed to holding a Federal Representative from San Francisco or a Federal Senator from Nevada accountable.

Our Federal system is broken. There is no true representation in congress when the rules are contrived to nullify representation from states that happen to elect a representative from the “wrong” party.

Does anyone feel represented anymore at the federal level? Did you approve $546,668 borrowing on your behalf? Do you want it to stop? Have your read the tenth amendment? Have you read the US Constitution?

Stand up and fight for the US Constitution and your rights. Let your governor know you want this federal oppression to stop. Read our constitution and start the ground work for a movement back to our future. We don’t need radical change, we just need to abide by the framework already in place; The United States Constitution!

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Closing Car Dealerships?

I do not claim to be an expert in the car industry but I have to ask how closing the places you sell your cars is good for business? My understanding is that dealerships are franchises that agree to carry the cars of the manufacturer whose logo they put on their buildings.

Dealerships have to meet criteria set by the car company by proving their ability to finance the purchase of inventories large enough to fulfill the local market needs for the cars they carry. They must be exclusive buildings for each brand. They must carry original parts with certified mechanics. They must be able to sell cars ethically.

What the car company gets from the dealer in return is the integrity of their brand and they don’t have to make the large investment it would take to have so many locations to manage around the country. They get the expertise of local business people that are closely connected to the community. They get a motivated workforce that is determined to sell cars for survival. They get data from the dealers on how to improve their products. It sounds like the car companies get the better deal in this relationship. So what benefit does Chrysler or GM or Ford get out of closing dealerships? Savings on some marketing costs? Accounting staff reductions to keep track of dealers? Someone help me out here.

The costs are mostly incurred by the dealers. They are highly motivated to sell their cars and take all of the risks in maintaining a healthy business. In a tough economy dealers adjust their cost structure based on demand to maintain profitability. How is that working for the big 3 car companies?

Reducing dealers is something that is best left to the free market not government bureaucrats acting like they know anything about the car business. I think the car companies need to adjust their union contracts, find new management that has the guts to go through bankruptcy to become healthy again, and throw the government bums out!

If not we will soon be getting the cars no one REALLY wants to buy; the “smart” car! Puke…

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Empathy Need Not Apply for the Supreme Court…

Justice is blind. Lady Justice does not care if we are Black, White, Hispanic, Chinese, Male, or Female, she only cares about the consistent and blind application of law to every individual American citizen. Justice Roberts at his nomination made the analogy of what a judge does to the role of an umpire.

An umpire at a baseball game does not care what the players look like, where they came from, whether they grew up rich or poor when calling balls or strikes. If the team that has more minorities than the other tries to steal second base during a game, the umpire does not need to show empathy to that team as he makes the call at second base because the call is the call. The rules are clear and must apply to every player the same.

To suggest that the traits of a judge need to include empathy, and understanding what it is like to be poor shows the ignorance of the president and media in selecting good judges for any court but especially the Supreme Court. Members of the Supreme Court are the ultimate umpires in legal disputes and understanding the constitution (the rules of the game), and applying them blindly is the only real qualifications needed.

If Major League Baseball started hiring umpires that made calls based on empathy and an understanding that the teams that always lose need special considerations to win the entire league would fold. No one would ever go to a game again because the rules are what make it fair, and if the application of the rules is not evenly applied then people watching will have no confidence in the integrity of the league.

By nominating a person like Sonia Sotomayor based on the “qualification” of empathy the integrity of the court is in question. Will she rule differently for Black people than Hispanic people? Will she be more empathetic to women than men? Will she favor the poor over the rich? If she does favor specific groups and you are not in the group being favored how will you feel?

There is a reason Lady Justice is blind; there is no reason a president should be…

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

We hold these truths to be self evident…

That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness – That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

These words and the meaning behind them are becoming more and more relevant every passing day. These words taken from our Declaration of Independence are timeless and deliberate in their recommendation in restraining government for all time. Jefferson believed these words should be used for all time, ready to be resurrected, in times when they again began to ring true for the people of this nation. In other words, our founders if alive today would be considering the same words against the current Federal Government actions being thrust upon us today.

These founders knew human nature would again find a way to undermine the document they worked so hard to establish. They understood no document could withstand the desires of those men determined to take power over others; benevolent or not. They understood that circumstances of the times could be manipulated to encourage the people to give up certain rights in crisis. They understood that in order for this document to survive the people would need to maintain morality and diligence in holding their elected officials accountable. They understood there would come a time when our posterity would be threatened by the actions of their father’s inability to restrain their desires. They understood that no matter how hard they tried to restrain the evil tendencies of government there was always the possibility it could happen. They wrote these words in the declaration that would remind us why they chose the path they did.

Brilliant is the only word for the intelligence of these men in the understanding of human nature. Brilliant was the design they worked so hard to achieve for the thing that became the “American Dream”. Brilliant was their instinct to know the true inefficiencies of government and doing their best to limit the scope of the inefficiency. Brilliant for their time. Brilliant for all time.

We are watching this historic brilliance being over shadowed by today’s ignorance and a willingness to put all historical lessons aside about the outcome of intrusive government. The lessons that are so clearly documented and casually observed throughout today’s society illustrating government failure, yet we are allowing more investment in the scope of government looking for a different outcome. This is insanity.

Read the Declaration of Independence, read the US Constitution, read about the history of this glorious nation and think. Think about how far we have come and how fast we have created the greatest nation in the world. Our country is built on the simple brilliance of investing our future in individual freedom, free markets, and limited scope of government interference, not on the destructive principle of collective utopia, and hoping for a different outcome from the failure that is sure to be. We are reversing the brilliance of this nation but if you read the documents of our founders there is no other conclusion you can come to; brilliant…

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

What Makes Us Poor?

It is certainly not the amount of money we have. There are people that make a simple living that could be considered rich. They are doing the work that fills their souls and gives them a sense of purpose and well being. They may not be able to own a Mercedes but they drive a car that they can afford and gets them from place a to b. Too often we equate being poor with money but I will argue in America no one is poor because of a lack of money but a sense of envy.

Education is the number one quest that can make us rich or poor. Not just education to help us get a better job but the education that helps us discern between material wealth and spiritual wealth. We have generations of individuals that can’t think analytically or at all on matters of great importance. You know them when you meet them not by whether they have a Harvard degree but how they communicate what they are feeling. People that lack education are poor. And again it is not a formal education but a life spent ignoring the lessons that are right in front of us.

Some of the smartest people I have met in my life did not have a great formal education but spent their life learning and growing, reading and listening, and finally applying their common sense. Today in our inner cities and not so inner cities we have seen education plummet to the lowest common denominator which has given us a citizenry that no longer understands the basic elements of human nature, economic literacy, the ability to analyze without bitter emotion, and is focused on the trivial. We have watched our country become poor both economically and spiritually.

Dependence on others for your happiness is a sign of true desperation. Too many people confuse compassion with the shackles of government assistance. It is important to be compassionate to people who need a helping hand, but it is criminal to encourage people to rely on the shackles of government assistance for their existence. There is no greater creator of the poor than government programs. There is no greater thief of individual dreams than government programs. There is no greater threat to freedom than government programs. There is no greater threat to the existence of man than government programs.

Values and morals is the foundation of wealth. People that do not believe there is a creator of man are poor. The thought that man is all powerful is a recipe for the extinction of man. Our country is based on the Judeo/Christian principles with a sensitivity that religion must be balanced carefully with civic governance. That does not mean an exclusion of all things moral and religious. Without morals and religion we are poor in spirit and hope. Our entire system of government falls apart if we do not recognize that we are all “endowed by our creator” equally.

We have become poorer by systematically removing religion from our social fabric.
What makes us poor? Trusting others to provide the happiness we desire. Is that not what our politicians are selling today? If we buy what this administration is selling we will all understand what it means to be poor…