"Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government." Thomas Jefferson
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It's Right Versus Wrong, Not Left Versus Right

Melanie Sturm | @ThinkAgainUSA Read Comments - 14
Publish Date: 
Thu, 07/03/2014

 

Imagine a 4th of July tradition like Hollywood’s where each year the Oscars pay homage to fallen stars.  Liberty-loving Americans would fete public servants who’ve honored Thomas Jefferson’s rule to “leave no authority existing not responsible to the people.”

 

Might celebrating trustworthy stewards inspire Americans to Think Again about our founders’ insights, ingraining a culture that prizes democratic accountability and lawful government, the one that transformed our risky political experiment into history’s freest and most prosperous society?

 

We’d be celebrating two recently passed stalwarts who put country and constitutional order before party: Senator Howard Baker, the Senate Watergate Committee’s ranking Republican who famously asked “what did the President know and when did he know it,” and Johnnie Walters, President Nixon’s IRS commissioner, who refused to target his “enemies list.”

 

Like our Founders, Baker and Walters understood that where equality under the law goes, so goes freedom. Therefore, the greatest threat to civil society and human potential is a powerful, deceitful and unaccountable government where the few rule the many.

 

That’s why the Founders designed a liberty-preserving system that fragmented and checked government power among equal, competing branches, conferring ultimate authority upon the people -- not our representatives.

 

Respectful of Jefferson’s rule, unlike many in today’s “Ruling Elite,” it’s doubtful Baker or Walters would stomach the IRS targeting Americans for their political beliefs, or the evaporation of email evidence critical to congress’ investigation -- called “a conspiracy theory” by the White House. 

 

Journalistic sleuths Woodward and Bernstein know that government accountability derives from an active media and an informed citizenry.  In comparing the IRS and Benghazi scandals to Watergate, they criticized the media for abandoning its constitutionally protected watchdog role, appearing instead to protect the government from Americans.

 

Public servants may arrive eager to drain Washington’s cesspool, but after harnessing governmental power and dispensing money and favors, they discover it’s a hot tub made inviting by politicians, bureaucrats, public-sector unions, lobbyists, donors, and the media.

 

Our greatest challenge -- and the biggest threat to the world’s oldest (and shortest) constitution -- isn’t a left versus right tug-of-war, but a struggle to wrest power away from those who collude at the citizens’ expense.  

 

Incentivized to invest in influence instead of innovation, Big Business (currently enjoying record profits) can buy access to trillions in spending, tax and regulatory favors. The result is a heavily indebted citizenry and a stagnant economy warped by cronyism, as evidenced by the 2.9 percent plunge in first-quarter U.S. GDP -- the worst non-recession contraction in over 40 years.

 

Not surprisingly, the small business sector that accounts for two-thirds of net new job creation is suffering as “business deaths now exceed business births for the first time in the thirty-plus-year history of our data,” according to a new Brookings Institution report on declining business dynamism.

 

While Wall Street and Washington boom, the rest of America suffers crisis levels of income stagnation, underemployment, economic immobility and government dependency, with a record 50 million living in poverty.

 

Yet as the American Dream slips beyond reach for ordinary citizens, those who oppose the Ruling Elite are labeled extremists, proving George Orwell’s adage that “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act.”

 

Consider last month’s Mississippi Senate run-off that spoilsman Thad Cochran narrowly won, thanks to crony donations and promises to keep the gravy train running, unlike his “extremist” opponent.

 

But who are the extremists? Those who advocate free markets, equality under the law, fiscal responsibility, constitutional adherence, in God we trust, and peace through strength – the campaign platform of David Brat, Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s vanquisher – or the Ruling Elite who subvert these guiding principles?

 

Though distressed Americans clamor for law, order and security on our southern border, slack immigration-law enforcement has accelerated unlawful migration. Exacerbating the lawlessness are lawmakers like Nancy Pelosi who called the deluge of illegal immigrants an “opportunity.”

 

Unfortunately, the opportunity is at the expense of working Americans, considering all employment growth since 2000 went to immigrants (legal and illegal), the Center for Immigration Studies reported.

 

Meanwhile, with Congress requiring border security prior to any amnesty, President Obama intends to act alone, as he did in 2012 when he indefinitely suspended deportations of 550,000 alien youths, granting them work permits. 

 

Commenting on Obama’s intentions following his twelfth unanimous Supreme Court rebuke for federal power over-reach, constitutional law professor and Obama-voter Jonathan Turley explained, the President “can’t say the solution to gridlock is you simply have to resolve it on my terms.”

 

Having overthrown King George’s unfair and arbitrary rule, our Founders established an America of, by, and for the people – not Ruling Elites -- stipulating that presidents “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”

 

Think Again – wouldn’t a shared allegiance to our constitutional order be the best way to realize a more perfect union, for “ourselves and our posterity?”

 

 

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I link to an article that

I link to an article that represents what I feel as a person that sympathizes with the tea party (the little guys) and despises the crony capitalism of both political parties. It is time that the citizenry awaken to what is being done to us. An example of the abhorant practice of race baiting done by both political parties in order to retain the status quo was quite evident in the recent Mississippi Senate rate and those of both political parties should support the investigation into who is responsible and their significant punishment. Our country needs to elect those who stand for the integrity of the votes of both political parties. The link takes you to an article that well expresses my personal feelings; please do not miss reading the linked article.

My very open minded son, who is a musician, has spent some time in China and just returned from another month there, where he again mingled extensively with the people (so called little guys). He sees parallels between the top down government in China and ours. In China the people are fighting the same battle as the tea party here; we and they want to have representation that is 'for the people' not for the bureaucrats. It is amazing what one learns when one travels in an uncontrolled environment; the people are open and reveal what we don't learn in the mainstream media. We can not continue falling into the trap of allowing ourselves to be manipulated by false charges of racism, etc, etc. We must have the opportunity to have our votes count toward candidates who actually want to fix our problems. The shame of the Mississippi vote is that it degraded all Americans before the world; this instigation of fear and hatred, reviving of old wounds originally perpetrated by Democrats and now attributing them to others, must be stopped. We all deserve to live in peace and harmony with our neighbors of all races without having politicians and their minions stirring the pot every two to four years.

http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2014/07/05/im-a-conservative-...
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The Obama administration have

The Obama administration have abuse their power more than all of the presidents in my lifetime combined yet the major news programs rarely give even a minute to theses scandals. The IRS and the NSA spying alone would have resulted in Republicans impeaching George W Bush.

I fell upon this excellent

I fell upon this excellent article by Melanie Sturm which inspired me to post my thoughts on this 238th American Independence Day:

Tears in my eyes. Prayer on my lips. Hope in my heart for this country that we love. May God bless America with His merciful forgiveness, protection and guidance. May We The People repent and humbly seek His face, and give Him reason to bless us and provide us with His providential care.

So very thankful today and always for all that this day means to patriotic Americans, and for the sacrifices of those who do fight, and have fought, to preserve and pass on the American Ideal.

Once again your Think Again

Once again your Think Again article is outstanding.

While I may be slightly prejudiced, your writing is easy to read and makes so much common sense to us at least. I enjoyed all your incredible points, very well made and documented, and the logic you deliver.

One of the most shocking comments was "all employment growth since 2000 went to immigrants". I would say that point is unknown to virtually every American.

This is one of your best

This is one of your best columns ever. You are so spot-on it's painful. And wonderful.

You are incorrect about our

You are incorrect about our founders, and apparently you do not understand the meaning of the word terrorist as it does not mean what you think it does. Indeed the word terrorist did not come into use until 1795 in reference to the Reign of Terror initiated by the French Revolutionary Government, and the British considered us to be rebels.

Just FYI, Thomas Jefferson did not sign the US Constitution and Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris, Gouvenor Morris, Roger Sherman, Alexander Hamilton and many of the others who did sign it , also did not and never had owned slaves. Again, what has that to do with today's issues? If you think the US Constitution is invalid, and I do not, what rules do you think we should live under? I think it is you who needs to wake up.

There has to be a standard to

There has to be a standard to determine right versus wrong. Our standard has been the constitution for 238 years but without virtue and faith we end up not even knowing the definition of "is".

Os Guinness proposed that there is a freedom triangle whose legs are freedom, virtue, and faith. With any of the legs impaired the triangle collapses. Who determines virtue? Apart from Judeo/ Christian scriptures society makes up its own code and the ruling elite determine that code.

Here we are!

to the British they were

to the British they were terrorists. Thomas Jefferson owned slaves as did Washington. All were while males. The US constitution is invalid because of many of the recent supreme court rulings and corporate America. Wake up.

You who are applying today's

You who are applying today's mores to the Founders are being dishonest here, as you should know form US History that NONE of the Founding Fathers were any kind of terrorist and that most of them did not own slaves. Moreover, how does your assertion change the issue at hand and the attack on our rights are free men and women? Is the US Constitution now invalid because of the actions of a few in the past? Does the outcome of the Civil War and the passing of the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment, the 14th Amendment, the 15th Amendment, the 19th Amendment, the 24th Amendment, the 26th Amendment, the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Acts Right not matter? If so, what rules would you prefer to live under?

Obama said recently that the

Obama said recently that the Republicans will need to move to the center if they ever hope to win the White House again.

Because the extremist GOP-e (think: Thad Cochran) is waaaaay out of step with the sensible, mainstream middle-of-the-road American views of: free abortion, open borders, government controlled healthcare, tax audits for political opponents, non-traditional marriage, and deference to Islam -- you know: the Motherhood and Apple Pie stuff that made this country great.

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