The Conscience of Abe’s Turn freedom of speech, defense, and life

Jim Babka at DownsizeDC.org posted today to remind me that the Bill of Rights was ratified 217 years ago today.

It isn’t democracy or representative government that made America unique. The Greeks, the Romans, and the British had those things. The Roman Republic even had divided powers, with checks and balances which our Founders knowingly copied. But as far as we know the United States was the first country to incorporate such specific, individually-oriented limits on government power into its supreme law.

Of course, this protection only works if our politicians obey the law, and this obedience is something we must demand; it will not be given freely.

(Click here to read the whole article.)

I for one tremendously appreciate DownsizeDC and others who serve as the Conscience of America, always watching, always demanding that our politicians protect our rights, always working to make freedom a reality. Because if they didn’t do the work they do, we would have no hope of fair treatment from our rulers.

Always watching!
-TimK

P.S. Why not celebrate Bill of Rights Day by supporting the American Freedom Agenda Act, which repeals some of the egregious violations of our civil rights that the federal government has perpetrated.

P.P.S. I post about a lot of civil-rights abuses on this blog. It’s fortuitous that I closed this morning’s post with the thought:

Before we had a strong federal government, when the Constitution was being debated, there were the Federalists, who were in favor of having a federal government, and there were the Anti-federalists, who were against having a federal government. As you know, the winner writes the history. And today, in a government-school history class, you’ll hear that the Federalists wrote the Federalist Papers, a series of editorials which laid out the reasons why our system of federal government works. A little-known fact, not usually taught in government schools, is that the Anti-federalists also wrote a series of editorials, now known as the Anti-federalist Papers. You can find copies of The Federalist almost everywhere, in numerous bookstores, published in numerous editions; but you have to search for The Anti-federalist. It seems the Anti-federalists got the short end of the stick.

This is a blight on us. We should always remember the wisdom of the Anti-federalists and never just trust that our government will always work. Because the Federalist Papers were written by men who gave us the Constitution. But the Anti-federalist Papers were written by men who gave us the Bill of Rights.

I’ve been pondering this question ever since before the election, and I have not been hopeful.

During the campaign, Obama’s “civil rights” plank had more to do with removing rights than restoring them. Quoting from that page, he wants to:  read more »

If you think that President Obama will fix the mess that George W. Bush left us with, you might want to think again.

An article by Jim Babka at DownsizeDC.org reminds us of another good man who was appointed to power, and how his power contributed to this mess George W. Bush left us with. I’m talking about Alan Greenspan, who used to espouse sound-money principles, but who changed his tune once he joined the Fed.

What happened? The power of his office corrupted him.

Alan Greenspan was one of the many contributors to the boom and bust cycle in general, and to the current boom and bust in particular. Greenspan clearly knew better…

The free market philosophy was the victim of Greenspan’s betrayals, and now, like a battering husband, Greenspan has blamed the victim for the consequences of what he did.

The politicians will use this final betrayal to further expand their power, reduce your freedom, and increase government meddling in the economy. They will be able to use the words of the “great free market guru,” Alan Greenspan, to justify their actions.

(Read the whole article at DownsizeDC.org.)

It works the same for any office, even the presidency. Don’t expect Obama to be able to do anything to fix the mess past presidents have left us with. In fact, expect the opposite. Expect things to get much worse. Expect Obama to infringe our civil liberties more, to restrict free speech more, to demand more and more power for federal agents, and then to blame us for all of it. Because he’s not a god; he’s just another mortal man, a man with power.

-TimK