Oppression by the Army

Alexander Hamilton asked in Federalist 26:

It has been said that the provision which limits the appropriation of money for the support of an army to the period of two years would be unavailing, because the Executive, when once possessed of a force large enough to awe the people into submission, would find resources in that very force sufficient to enable him to dispense with supplies from the acts of the legislature. But the question again recurs, upon what pretense could he be put in possession of a force of that magnitude in time of peace?

Although he couldn't have conceived of it at the time, because he couldn't have conceived of the utter erosion of the Constitution and its sharply-defined limits on Federal power, Mr. Hamilton missed the point. The army that the Executive is using to "awe the people into submission" is not the military army, but the army of bureaucrats and regulators that has been mustered by the Executive Branch over the past several decades, an army which has grown massively, by leaps and bounds, in the past 18 months. Thus, the Executive, aided and abetted by a compliant Congress, seeks to and is achieving its submission of the populace.

Even when they could not foresee the future, the Founding Fathers' wisdom and prescience was formidable.

The Democrats Simply Cannot Govern

Can we all agree, whatever the merits or not of this health care bill, the Democrats simply cannot govern? I mean, the Republicans screwed up pretty bad from 2000-2006, but the Democrats since then have utterly failed. They had a filibuster-proof majority for a year and couldn't pass their President's signature legislative goal. They can get the mandate and the power but are so corrupt, unrestrained, and let's face it, stupid, that they can't try for something that is not so overreaching that the majority of the country doesn't recoil in disgust.

How many incremental reforms could they have enacted by now, so that we could have already seen whether or not they would help and then decide, based on empirical evidence, rather blind trust in empty platitudes, whether or not to let them continue? There's this old idea that you should be able to demonstrate in at least some way you can actually do the job you're trying to be hired for.

I mean, let's say your car was working pretty consistently, but was only getting half the gas mileage it was supposed to. Would you trust a novice mechanic who says, "Sure, I can fix your problem, but I'll have to completely rebuild the engine, replace the transmission and put on monster truck tires and fuzzy dice... and you have to start paying me now but you won't get your vehicle back until 2013?"

Of course not, but a good chunk of the country will seemingly accept an equivalently absurd claim about health care reform. Instead, of small but meaningful changes, we have a President over a year into his term who still has an empty resume, and members of Congress who could be chastised by Heidi Fleiss for giving her profession a bad name.

There's a reason Congress' approval rating has stayed pretty consistently under twenty percent for the last two years,and pretty consistently under thirty-five percent for the last five years. Too bad it doesn't seem to matter.

Another Letter to My Senators

Dear Senator Warner/Webb:

I feel I am once again compelled to write to demand an end to yet another insane and reckless plan about to be foisted upon us by Congress. Congress may not be competent, but you are not stupid:

YOU KNOW this so-called reform will cost literally trillions more than you claim. Just look at Medicare and Medicaid, and frankly, everything else Congress has done in the past half century. NOTHING costs what you people claim it will cost.

YOU KNOW this so-called reform will not do what it claims to do. NOTHING you people try to do ever works very well and it always costs an order of magnitude more than you claim it will. My favorite saying in the past several years has been, "If it weren't for unintended consequences, Congress would be of no consequence at all." You know there is much truth in that statement.

YOU KNOW that this system is promising to magically create "free" health care out of thin air. If Congress were able to do anything that wasn't totally laden with waste, fraud and abuse, then you would have demonstrated it by reforming Medicare and Medicaid as a demonstration that you have any justification whatsoever to tinker with such a huge fraction of the total U.S. economy.

YOU KNOW that this so-called "reform" is as much about grabbing power and further allowing yourselves to micromanage our lives in ways that are contrary in both spirit and letter to the Constitution of the United States.

YOU KNOW that the majority of the country does not want this bill. You know that should this bill pass, you will suffer tremendously at the polls and I, and millions of others, will work to do everything I can to make sure this happens.

YOU KNOW that it is totally irresponsible, to the point of being suicidal, to attempt such a radical transformation of America in the midst of an economic crisis that is largely the result of Congress in the first place.

YOU KNOW that real reform could be done with precise, targeted laws that could then be benchmarked and that information could be used to plan further corrections. You know you cannot try some crazy mad-scientist (excuse me, mad-legislator) type gamble and bet the well-being of our economy and even our very lives on a long shot just to score political points with the ignorant.

YOU KNOW that, I, and millions of others, consider in this age of terrorism and geopolitical uncertainty that the biggest dangers to this country are the CONGRESS and the WHITE HOUSE. And you know that it is largely only the radical or gullible or ignorant people who support what you are trying to do.


The free citizens of this great Republic, being familiar with and loyal to its history and the principles upon which it was founded, both of which you treat with disdain, or perhaps ignorance, demand that you start to return to these principles, and stop trying to dismantle the greatest and most successful experiment of governence on the face of this Earth:

WE REJECT your insane dabbling in radical socialist transformations to try to correct a system that largely works fine.

WE REJECT your claims that is necessary to demolish 100% of a system that is only a problem for less than 10% its participants.

WE REJECT your utter contempt for the founding principles of this country and the contempt with which you treat the majority of the electorate, whom you claim to serve.

WE REJECT your complete arrogance of setting yourselves us to be a group of elites who simultaneously insist on micromanaging every aspect of our lives while blatantly exempting yourselves from living under the odious morass of rules that you so blithely dump on everyone else.

WE REJECT being lorded over by a group of people who are overwhelmingly corrupt, a group of people who are overwhelmingly self-serving, a group of people who are overwhelmingly inexperienced in actually creating value and wealth in society, a group of people who are overwhelmingly the complete and diametric opposite of those brave and wise men who risked their very lives to create and secure this great Republic which you so are carelessly and callously trying to destroy.

WE REJECT this legislation and demand that you go back to the drawing board and attempt to fix actual problems instead of your usual modus operandus of creating more problems.

Pop Quiz

CBO Director Doug Elmendorf said: "In the [health care reform] legislation that has been reported, we do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount. And on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs." Mr. Elmendorf added, ". . . the federal budget is on an unsustainable path, because federal debt will continue to grow much faster than the economy over the long run ... under any plausible scenario."

Given that the CBO has a reputation for being objective and nonpartisan, what would be the choice of a sane, honest politician, attempting to act in the public interest?

1. Reevaluate health care reform, taking into account the fact that Americans are satisfied with their healthcare in the range of anywhere from the 60%-85% range according to different surveys. Maybe things aren't so bad after all, especially since you've already run up a bigger deficit in 6 months than the last President did in 8 years. Give things a chance to settle down and hold a huge public debate how best to address the problem when recovery is well under way.

2. Consider a piecemeal approach that would address the most chronic problems first, such as helping ensure that people who don't have coverage, but need it, and want it, can get it. Following that, implement a series of measures to rein in the tremendous amount of fraud and waste in Medicare and Medicaid. Couple increased services and entitlements with true cost-cutting reforms for a truly cost-neutral plan going forward.

3. Take measures to decouple health coverage from employment, which would allow much more freedom of choice and would not penalize people who are laid off (COBRA is extremely expensive), or who work in a volatile industry and change jobs often. Foster other means of collective bargaining for insurance that doesn't depend on a person's employer or union to help those people who are unemployed, self-employed or who don't have the best choices in health care provided by an employer.

4. Ignore the advice, plunge wildly ahead with another 1000+ page bill that will be passed without being read by anyone voting on it. Load the bill up with all kinds of pork, guarantee huge cost overruns, completely ignore the cries of common sense or the constituents, blaspheme the Constitution, and generally treat the economy like a bunch of thugs wielding crowbars and chains beating a poor victim to death in the back alley somewhere. When the victim cries for help, whack him good, be sure to break some bones, and tell the victim you _are_ helping him. Make sure the blood doesn't splatter on your Armani. When things go exactly as expected and reform makes things worse, blame your opponents or the rich.

If you chose 4, congratulations, you have undergone enough intellectual and moral devolution to qualify for Congress. For bonus points, make seditious comments against the military, kowtow to our enemies and steal candy from babies.

The Senators Respond

Well, after my strongly worded plea to Senators Warner and Webb, I eventually received replies from both.

I did not care for Senator Warner's reply. It was extremely generic and made it sound to me like he had every intention of voting for the Cap-and-Trade bill. He mentioned the seriousness of the so-called global warming program, and said that the science "supports" the need for "dramatic changes", but briefly mentioned that this need must be balanced with economic considerations.

Senator Webb's response was much better in my opinion. He more strongly balanced the rhetoric for environmental concerns with mentions of the many obvious down sides to this legislation. It looks to me like the statement of someone who is seriously considering the issue, and is willing to acknowledge that there will be many, serious side-effects from this plan.

Both may vote either way, but from these letters, I would suspect Senator Webb is more likely to vote against this horrible bill than Senator Warner.

Of course, since the carbon-dioxide-phobics never mention the very reasonable alternative of nuclear power, which proves to me that none of them are interested in anything more than they are interested in harming the American economy. Besides, isn't water vapor a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2? And why won't any of these flat-earthers, excuse me, _hot_-earthers acknowledge that the climate has levelled off and has been getting slightly cooler for the last decade.

Those inconvenient truths...

I've been following the science at sites like Watts Up With That and there's no doubt in my mind that not only is the debate not over, it's changing rapidly and not in the direction the end-of-the-world types are so invested in.

The day the correlation between the global warming issue and political spectrum (left vs. right) isn't almost perfect is the day I'll start considering the science has something conclusive to say.

Independence Day? Independence from What?

Independence Day may have finally outlasted its legacy. Independence Day may have finally outlived its meaning. Our country may not even deserve the right to celebrate this holiday any more, this recognition of a declaration of human sovereignty, this recognition of a declaration of inalienable rights that can be granted or refused by our Almighty Creator alone, this recognition of a declaration that each and every person has a right, and a duty, to govern himself, to hold himself to a moral standard, defined by God and recognized and codified throughout the history of Western civilization, to be, in a word, independent.

Is it hypocritical to celebrate Independence Day when our government is far more oppressive, far more restricting of our rights, far more confiscatory of our property, than the government from which our national forefathers originally fought and gained independence?

How can the citizens of this country, in good conscience, and without hypocrisy, celebrate the founding of a Republic which no longer exists, the brilliant yet simple Constitution written by men of wisdom, based upon the eternal and objective truths, which is essentially irrelevant, the ideals of individual liberty and of a limited government with narrow enumerated powers which are mocked relentlessly by the sprawling, unholy behemoth whose existence blasphemes against the idea of a government "of the people, by the people and for the people"?

How can this country pride itself in its recognition of the unique nature of man, who owes his will, intellect and many inalienable rights to his Creator, and yet confer personhood unto corporations, nonhuman and artificial entities which can engage in any manner of illicit or immoral behavior for which their human constituents are often as not never held to account?

How can we citizens even consider the idea that we remain independent? How can we consider the idea that we have not, through ignorance, through neglect, and often through choice, slowly but surely parceled off our independence, our liberties, bit by bit, over the decades, but rapidly increasing in recent years and months, for security, for convenience, for "fairness"?

This President and this Congress are a mockery of everything Independence Day stands for. This President, who if not a literal alien, is an alien to the American experience, an alien to the America ideals, an alien to everything that sets, or used to set, this country above and apart from every other... this President who was instructed at the feet of Marxists, this President who has associated with racists, terrorists, and criminals of all stripe, this President whose success, whose career, whose election had nothing to do with his merit, his accomplishments, or any other quality than his brazenness, his duplicity and his corruption. This Congress, charged with dispensing the legislation of our government, based upon and limited by the Constitution has become a marketplace of influence, buying and trading their very own power, compromising with each other how best to squander the riches they confiscate, not representing us, but using us to further their own interests, their own agenda.

These scoundrels must hate the idea of Independence Day. These dastards must take offense at the very idea of a free citizenry. These parasites must rail and chafe against the idea that each and every person in this great nation, for which hundreds of thousands gave their lives, can and should govern themselves. These would-be tyrants should denounce Independence Day, if there were any morsel of honesty in their words. Instead, they would have us celebrate Dependence Day. They would have us recognize that we owe our well-being, our livelihood, even very existence to the State. They would hold it as self-evident that the State's inalienable rights are to determine who lives and who dies, define morality and impose it at the point of a gun, and to pursue not equal opportunity among the governed, but equal results.

This President and this Congress do not see themselves as representatives of the citizenry, but as our superiors, our masters, our instructors. They do not see themselves as bringing the ideals of their constituents from across the land, and coming together to hash those ideals out to determine the proper way for the great men and women of this country to govern themselves. No, they see it is their duty, in fact their right, to determine for us what our ideals should be, to determine how best it is for us to live our lives, to determine ultimately how best we can serve them, so they in their benevolent wisdom can nurse us on the teat of their moral superiority, ensuring that the efforts of no one result in any greater benefit to him, than to his fellow.

While denying the dominion, even the existence of God, these would-be saviors, these would-be overseers, these would-be nursemaids have claimed for themselves the very mantle of the Almighty. Our leaders would claim for themselves a moral authority that is His alone. They claim for themselves a superiority in kind and degree over the governed that is His alone. They claim for themselves an oblation of time, talent and treasure which is owed to Him alone. They claim for themselves all these things for the benefit of their subjects, subjects who they believe are incapable of taking care of themselves, subjects who must be forced to do those things which their leaders in their wisdom decree best.

They claim for themselves the right, the authority and the power to nullify any consequences of a person's behavior, so that all might be made equal, in the name of fairness. They claim for themselves the duty and the privilege to determine what each person should receive, to protect each from the actions of the other, but to also protect each from the actions of himself. They claim for themselves, and will soon achieve, if we continue to let them, the power to reduce all of us from sovereign persons in the eyes of God to subhuman animals, smothered in a ever-loving, ever-caring, ever-controlling arms of Mother State.

And we have the nerve, the gall, the stupidity to celebrate independence?

My Letter to My Senators

Senator Warner/Webb:

I have read with great alarm and disgust that this insane and reckless "Cap-and-Trade" Bill has passed the House.

I cannot for the life of me understand how members of Congress can, in good conscience, vote for bills with hundreds and hundreds of pages, with thousands and thousands of items, each one of which has the potential to radically damage our rights, our economy and the very functioning of this country.

If there is any hope for maintaining what little sanity in this country, and what little respect we citizens have left for our national legislators, and what little remains of the Constitutionality of this great country, I insist that you vote against this bill, and do everything within your power to convince your fellow Senators that this bill is utter folly and is tantamount to economic suicide.

I have no doubts that you are aware of the frustration, anger and disgust that is unprecedented towards the reckless antics of the last few Congresses, and especially this current one, and a President who acts more like some kind of tinpot banana-republic dictator than the leader of the Free World. I feel as if you folks, as a whole, are treating this country as nothing more than a big piñata, battering it, and us, relentlessly to see what goodies you can expose as it ruptures. The people have spoken against the bailouts and yet it did no good. The people have spoken out about the so-called stimulus and yet it did no good. The people have spoken out against earmarks and yet it did no good. Frankly, I wonder if there is anything we can do any more to stop the literal rapine of generations' worth of wealth in the support of mindless rhetoric, shameless demagoguery and outright lies coming out of our government these days.

It seems to me that Congress, as well as this President, have abandoned all pretense of abiding by the Constitution's specific enumeration of limited powers to the federal government. I feel utterly betrayed at the brazenness of these bills, the gall of passing something that members haven't even read, that members literally could not read in the time given. If anyone else in the world were to perform his job in this way, he would be fired for negligence, but for a Congressman or Senator, this is Standard Operating Procedure. To me it is a mockery of the duties and responsibilities of such important jobs, and shows willful abandonment of the oath to protect and defend our Constitution.

Our President and this Congress are systematically dismantling everything that made this country great, that made this country unique in the history of the world, that has allowed this country to become the most free, most productive and richest country in the history of Mankind. We are witnessing the end of our Republic as it has existed for 230 years, but which in the past decades has become further and further distanced from every idea upon which it was founded.

If our Founding Fathers knew what this country had become they would be ashamed and disgusted, too. They would especially be ashamed at the degeneration and devolution of their successors to the high offices of the Republic who have let politics and greed become the defining ideals of the United States. They would be shamed at the flagrant violation of each and every item in the Bill of Rights, with the exception of the Third Amendment, with the ease at which Congress rationalizes every power grab, every clear disregard for the intent of the Constitution, every show of contempt for the sacred ideals of limited government, of the people, by the people and for the people, confident in the knowledge that nothing will stand in their way.

Please vote against this legislation and do everything you can to convince your fellow Senators to reject this Bill. It will do nothing to help the environment, but do practically everything possible to ruin our economy, and thus, this country.

Rick Gutleber
Leesburg, VA