- Apr 5, 2004
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I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
Make Memorial Day Mean Something
All Year!
"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 to 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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
(Declaration of Independence) Emphasis added.
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union,
establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common
defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to
ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the
United States of America." (US Constitution)
As you are enjoying this coming Memorial Day Celebration with all your friends and family take note how so incredibly few people talk about what is going on in this once great nation. Why do we, as a nation, celebrate when we are losing what we once though we had?
If you don't think so you better take a better and closer look!
and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
Why do we no longer take seriously our task, our duty, our responsibility and our moral obligation to protect and defend what the forefathers of our nation gave us, and what the people who we should be remembering and honoring on Memorial Day sacrificed in defense of our great Constitutional Republic which we are slowly losing?
It is, really, no wonder that most average citizens have given up and effectively surrendered to an over bearing, out of control, government. We now simply go to work, raise our children, go out and enjoy life from time to time (maybe even take a vacation) and we leave government for others to deal with because we generally shirk our responsibility. And then we celebrate Memorial Day once a year and pretend we really care about those people we honor.
Self government means just that! When you leave it up to others to govern and to deal with government you do yourself and your posterity a grave disservice and you, in reality, only pretend to honor those people who have given their lives in defense of your liberty on Memorial Day.
Many people, in fact, don't even know what Memorial Day is all about anymore, but they sure enjoy that picnic and being with their friends and family. Sure is fun, isn't it?
We as a nation have given up, surrendered! But we all have very good excuses for doing so, don't we? Despite all of what the people we "honor" on Memorial Day did for us. They must have had more time on their hands and more money in their pockets and less to deal with than we do, right? Thus, they were in a better position back when to sacrifice their lives to protect America, the Constitution and our liberties, Right? We just don't have time to do what the people we honor on Memorial Day did for us back then, Right?
As you know most people are already having a difficult time of trying to work full time to provide for and tend to their own and their family's needs. It has become almost impossible now to keep a vigilant eye on their government as well, Right?
Most people are concerned about how government works, plans and spends our hard earned tax money, (not to mention government's ever increasing encroachment into their lives) but it has become, for all practical purposes, impossible! Or that's what you might think anyway, Right?
Vote, what's that?
After all, we must start our vigilance with the election of our "representatives". We "elect" our local, state and federal government "representatives". But, in order to do so we are required to conduct interviews (of a sort) to find out which of the people will best "represent" our interests and values and we assume that when the successful candidate is "sworn in" to "serve" that they will do so according to and be bound to that "sworn oath" to uphold the US Constitution and/or the respective State Constitutions. They all are required to be "sworn in"! They all take swear a solemn oath! But, in most instances, that's where it ends and the oath is meaningless! Thus, the Constitution is meaningless to them and only an illusion to us!
But we really don't have time to do all this, Right?
#1) It would be impossible to think that each of us could conduct a personal interview with each candidate for each elected office for which we must cast our vote. The personal interview process is therefore impossible and we must rely on our personal knowledge of the candidates (which is very limited or nonexistent), public forums, media reporting and campaign material and rhetoric or reliance on private groups who may or may not have our best interests in mind.
Now, due to the campaign finance laws, many of the private groups are restricted in what, when and how they can inform the public about candidates. As a result of the most current "reform" of campaign finance laws a foreign owned "newspaper" has greater UNRESTRICTED freedom to influence "elections" that that of average US citizens. See www.takebackamerica.tv
#2) The most widely distributed and completely unrestricted source of information on candidates is of course the "major" media which includes radio, television, newspapers and magazines. These sources of course are not in the least reliable and it is proven that most people no longer trust the "media".
The "media" of course is no longer "reporting the news" as most people expect, but they in fact "filter" the news and generally present what is best for THEIR interests or THEIR agendas and occasionally throw in a sprinkling of other opinion or views to give an appearance that they are presenting all sides of a particular issue. The rest is pure ENTERTAINMENT. We of course have PLENTY OF TIME for that, don't we?
In campaigns for elected office the "media" often times will not even inform their readers of all of the possible choices that are offered to the voters. The most glaring example of this is if a candidate is not one of those offered by the Republicans or Democrats then they are not even considered despite the fact that now a full one third of the registered voters are not registered as either R or D.
So, as I suspect, many times the best person that has applied for the job of representing you is never even presented to you as a possible choice by the "media". They are simply ignored or ridiculed! In effect most "elections" are rigged by the hierarchy of Republican and Democrat parties and with the help of the "media". Many "Party" people know this and may or may not admit it.
Don't get me wrong here, I understand that there are many very good and conscientious Republicans and Democrats which currently hold public office; however, far too many are simply more interested in pleasing their respective parties hierarchies and being reelected than upholding their oaths of office and truly representing your best interests. Many of them now appear to go out of their way to violate the Constitution and do so without conscience.
Many elected "representatives" are now guided and driven less by the Constitution and more by consensus opinion (or polls) and not by their moral obligation to uphold and defend the Constitution as they swore they would do. Thus, we as a nation have become more and more an outright democracy rather than the democratically elected Constitutional Republic which we in fact are. (There is a huge difference I hope you know!) Thus, we see "poll" after "poll" on various issues and no discussion at all about how the issue jives with the Constitution.
I remember hearing one definition of democracy which is: 3 wolves and 1 lamb deciding what to have for dinner. That would be democracy where the majority (or consensus opinion) rules; however, in a Constitutional Republic, regardless of how the majority rules, the Constitutionally protected rights of the lamb would be protected. The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (better know as property rights or the fruits of our labor) are all suppose to be protected. Reread the Bill of Rights! How many of those rights are taken seriously by our elected officials anymore, much less defended?
#3) Aside from the elected officials, we must contend with a million or more "appointed" bureaucrats! These bureaucrats are appointed by our "elected" representatives. (See item #2 above.) These "appointed" bureaucrats set much of the policy of government or they advise your "elected" representatives how to set policy. Most times it is done without regard to the Constitution or is done to alter the context, intent and even meaning of the Constitution.
You have very little to say who those people are (most if not all of which are supplied by the Republican and Democrat parties hierarchies) unless you are a major player in the R or D party, which is only a few people in comparison to the total number of citizens. Most of the large multi-national corporations and the labor unions are "players" and many of them are players in both the Republican and the Democrat parties.
In other words, they play on both sides at the same time in order to hedge their bets and reap the greatest rewards from the system. That "system" has grown much too large for average citizens to participate in and has for the most part grown completely out of the control of the average citizens. Or so you may think!
Keep in mind that most of these "appointed" bureaucrats are very well paid and they are paid for with your tax dollars. Their "job" does not depend on making a profit and their only real incentive is to please the people who recommended them for the job in the first place (the R and D party hierarchies) and the "elected" representatives who appointed them (which are, aside from a very few, controlled by the hierarchies of the R and D parties).
There is very little incentive for any of them to be guided by the document that each must swear an oath to uphold and defend, but that few do in reality. That is the Constitution! After all, most of the elected officials ignore that oath shortly after swearing it and they very rarely "lead" by the Constitution's clearly written words and clearly documented intent.
There are too many examples of that truth! Such is the nature of government. Our Constitutional Republic was designed to restrict the power of government for this very important reason. It works well as long as the Constitution is upheld and not ignored or violated. Far too often and in ever increasing amounts the government (local, state and federal) encroaches on the Individual Constitutional Rights of the Citizens for which the Constitution was intended to protect. In ever increasing amounts the elected officials, appointed bureaucrats and, even more startling the Judges of the Courts ignore the Constitution and the citizens individual rights under the Constitution.
#4) It is our duty as citizens to protect our own Constitutional Rights! Government will not protect those rights for us unless they take seriously their sworn oath to protect the Constitution, which most often they obviously don't! Government never has and never will, it is entirely up to the citizens to do this and to hold the "elected officials" and "appointed bureaucrats" and yes, even judges accountable to their sworn oaths and to the Constitution.
The larger government grows and the more the government is unwilling to adhere to the Constitution and to their sworn oath to uphold and defend it, the harder it becomes for average citizens to hold them accountable. Not only that, the government, as a result of being out of control, requires more and more of the "fruits of the labor" of its citizens. Citizens are required to work harder and longer as a result and have less time and resources to remain vigilant and to hold government officials accountable. Government feeds upon its citizens and, in addition to requiring more and more of the citizens resources, places more and more onerous restrictions on the citizens and places more roadblocks in the citizens way to hold government accountable.
"Public meetings" and "public hearings" occur on a daily basis and are increasing in number and frequency. But we don't have time for it, do we? It is seemingly and increasingly impossible for average citizens to attend all of these "public meetings" and "hearings" and if they do they find in most cases it is an exercise in futility.
For the most part, the people that do attend are employees of government agencies and bureaucracies or elected officials or their paid employees and staff. All of these "public" meetings and "hearings" for the most part are dominated and controlled by people which are being paid to do what they do or by those who benefit from what they do. They are al paid with your tax dollars!
If, in the rare cases anymore, concerned citizens do rise up and attempt to get involved they must do so at the expense of earning a living by taking time off of work to attend. Of course that's not their only expense! The average citizen must bear the expense of their precious time away from their families and their recreation just to read, learn and prepare to attend these meetings.
Attending a public meeting or hearing may require only an hour or two and many require a full day or more depending on the location of the meeting. However, there is much more time required of each citizen to prepare.
Many citizens attend meetings of private groups prior to the "public meeting" in efforts to learn and understand increasingly complex subjects, issues and topics and about the proposed policy, regulations or laws that will be dealt with in the "public meeting".
Much of the policy, regulations and laws are almost if not completely uncomprehendable and some are so cleverly disguised so as to not even hint of their true nature or intentions. Large corporations or special interest groups hire very well paid people to read, understand, lobby government and attend meetings. Those costs of course are simply passed on to the average citizen who is their customer. However, average citizens must bear all of the expense and burdens. But we don't have the time or the money, do we?
So, why not just give up? That's what most of us do and that is the factor that most government officials and bureaucrats expect you will do, that is eventually, even if you do get involved, you will grow tired of it and simply give up or run out of money. They're right you know, because most of us have. (Or so you may think!)
They knew you would eventually! Is there anything wrong with that? After all you're busy and there are other things you need to do, right? So let's all just give up and let our children and grandchildren deal with it when they are in an even weaker position than us, right?
I say let's surprise the hell out of government! This Memorial Day talk to your friends, family and neighbors about our duty as citizens! Make the time and use your money all year to get involved and to support those people and groups that are on the front lines of defense of the Constitution and our liberties!
Send government a message by spending your time educating yourself and those around you and by showing up for as many of their meetings as possible and demand that they adhere to their oaths and let them know you are watching every move they make. You are in a much better position to do so and to serve and protect your liberties and those of your posterity if you do.
We are doing our children and grandchildren and beyond a terrible disservice by pretending we care about the people who sacrificed and/or died in defense of our liberties at the same time we allow government to ignore the Constitution and encroach further into ours and their rights, freedoms and lives and if we remain too busy to deal with it and remain silent and disinterested! How busy are you now? Is it worth the alternative? We are slowly going to finding out!
If you think nothing is being done, you're wrong! And you can help!
Seek out those groups of people who still understand the importance of our Constitutional protections and of being vigilant. Seek out and support those who sacrifice their time, money and lives working for you and our posterity and give them all the help and support you can.
The "news media" wouldn't dare lead you to believe that something is terribly wrong in America! That there are in fact many people dedicating their lives to YOUR children and grandchildren as well as their own.
Isn't it about time you did something beyond voting occasionally? Let's celebrate Memorial Day all year!
Vigilance is contagious! Liberty is not free! The Constitution is just words on paper and it can not defend itself! That is up to you!
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.txt
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union,
establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common
defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to
ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the
United States of America.
Thomas Jefferson's Account of the Declaration
Read the lengthy excerpt from Thomas Jefferson's autobiography that talks about the days leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the history of the document, and various other factors which involved the authoring of the Declaration. It also includes several drafts of the document. This easily navigable section is well worth the visit.
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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 to 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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refuted his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred. to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. --And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
--John Hancock
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
Make Memorial Day Mean Something
All Year!
"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 to 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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
(Declaration of Independence) Emphasis added.
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union,
establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common
defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to
ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the
United States of America." (US Constitution)
As you are enjoying this coming Memorial Day Celebration with all your friends and family take note how so incredibly few people talk about what is going on in this once great nation. Why do we, as a nation, celebrate when we are losing what we once though we had?
If you don't think so you better take a better and closer look!
and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
Why do we no longer take seriously our task, our duty, our responsibility and our moral obligation to protect and defend what the forefathers of our nation gave us, and what the people who we should be remembering and honoring on Memorial Day sacrificed in defense of our great Constitutional Republic which we are slowly losing?
It is, really, no wonder that most average citizens have given up and effectively surrendered to an over bearing, out of control, government. We now simply go to work, raise our children, go out and enjoy life from time to time (maybe even take a vacation) and we leave government for others to deal with because we generally shirk our responsibility. And then we celebrate Memorial Day once a year and pretend we really care about those people we honor.
Self government means just that! When you leave it up to others to govern and to deal with government you do yourself and your posterity a grave disservice and you, in reality, only pretend to honor those people who have given their lives in defense of your liberty on Memorial Day.
Many people, in fact, don't even know what Memorial Day is all about anymore, but they sure enjoy that picnic and being with their friends and family. Sure is fun, isn't it?
We as a nation have given up, surrendered! But we all have very good excuses for doing so, don't we? Despite all of what the people we "honor" on Memorial Day did for us. They must have had more time on their hands and more money in their pockets and less to deal with than we do, right? Thus, they were in a better position back when to sacrifice their lives to protect America, the Constitution and our liberties, Right? We just don't have time to do what the people we honor on Memorial Day did for us back then, Right?
As you know most people are already having a difficult time of trying to work full time to provide for and tend to their own and their family's needs. It has become almost impossible now to keep a vigilant eye on their government as well, Right?
Most people are concerned about how government works, plans and spends our hard earned tax money, (not to mention government's ever increasing encroachment into their lives) but it has become, for all practical purposes, impossible! Or that's what you might think anyway, Right?
Vote, what's that?
After all, we must start our vigilance with the election of our "representatives". We "elect" our local, state and federal government "representatives". But, in order to do so we are required to conduct interviews (of a sort) to find out which of the people will best "represent" our interests and values and we assume that when the successful candidate is "sworn in" to "serve" that they will do so according to and be bound to that "sworn oath" to uphold the US Constitution and/or the respective State Constitutions. They all are required to be "sworn in"! They all take swear a solemn oath! But, in most instances, that's where it ends and the oath is meaningless! Thus, the Constitution is meaningless to them and only an illusion to us!
But we really don't have time to do all this, Right?
#1) It would be impossible to think that each of us could conduct a personal interview with each candidate for each elected office for which we must cast our vote. The personal interview process is therefore impossible and we must rely on our personal knowledge of the candidates (which is very limited or nonexistent), public forums, media reporting and campaign material and rhetoric or reliance on private groups who may or may not have our best interests in mind.
Now, due to the campaign finance laws, many of the private groups are restricted in what, when and how they can inform the public about candidates. As a result of the most current "reform" of campaign finance laws a foreign owned "newspaper" has greater UNRESTRICTED freedom to influence "elections" that that of average US citizens. See www.takebackamerica.tv
#2) The most widely distributed and completely unrestricted source of information on candidates is of course the "major" media which includes radio, television, newspapers and magazines. These sources of course are not in the least reliable and it is proven that most people no longer trust the "media".
The "media" of course is no longer "reporting the news" as most people expect, but they in fact "filter" the news and generally present what is best for THEIR interests or THEIR agendas and occasionally throw in a sprinkling of other opinion or views to give an appearance that they are presenting all sides of a particular issue. The rest is pure ENTERTAINMENT. We of course have PLENTY OF TIME for that, don't we?
In campaigns for elected office the "media" often times will not even inform their readers of all of the possible choices that are offered to the voters. The most glaring example of this is if a candidate is not one of those offered by the Republicans or Democrats then they are not even considered despite the fact that now a full one third of the registered voters are not registered as either R or D.
So, as I suspect, many times the best person that has applied for the job of representing you is never even presented to you as a possible choice by the "media". They are simply ignored or ridiculed! In effect most "elections" are rigged by the hierarchy of Republican and Democrat parties and with the help of the "media". Many "Party" people know this and may or may not admit it.
Don't get me wrong here, I understand that there are many very good and conscientious Republicans and Democrats which currently hold public office; however, far too many are simply more interested in pleasing their respective parties hierarchies and being reelected than upholding their oaths of office and truly representing your best interests. Many of them now appear to go out of their way to violate the Constitution and do so without conscience.
Many elected "representatives" are now guided and driven less by the Constitution and more by consensus opinion (or polls) and not by their moral obligation to uphold and defend the Constitution as they swore they would do. Thus, we as a nation have become more and more an outright democracy rather than the democratically elected Constitutional Republic which we in fact are. (There is a huge difference I hope you know!) Thus, we see "poll" after "poll" on various issues and no discussion at all about how the issue jives with the Constitution.
I remember hearing one definition of democracy which is: 3 wolves and 1 lamb deciding what to have for dinner. That would be democracy where the majority (or consensus opinion) rules; however, in a Constitutional Republic, regardless of how the majority rules, the Constitutionally protected rights of the lamb would be protected. The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (better know as property rights or the fruits of our labor) are all suppose to be protected. Reread the Bill of Rights! How many of those rights are taken seriously by our elected officials anymore, much less defended?
#3) Aside from the elected officials, we must contend with a million or more "appointed" bureaucrats! These bureaucrats are appointed by our "elected" representatives. (See item #2 above.) These "appointed" bureaucrats set much of the policy of government or they advise your "elected" representatives how to set policy. Most times it is done without regard to the Constitution or is done to alter the context, intent and even meaning of the Constitution.
You have very little to say who those people are (most if not all of which are supplied by the Republican and Democrat parties hierarchies) unless you are a major player in the R or D party, which is only a few people in comparison to the total number of citizens. Most of the large multi-national corporations and the labor unions are "players" and many of them are players in both the Republican and the Democrat parties.
In other words, they play on both sides at the same time in order to hedge their bets and reap the greatest rewards from the system. That "system" has grown much too large for average citizens to participate in and has for the most part grown completely out of the control of the average citizens. Or so you may think!
Keep in mind that most of these "appointed" bureaucrats are very well paid and they are paid for with your tax dollars. Their "job" does not depend on making a profit and their only real incentive is to please the people who recommended them for the job in the first place (the R and D party hierarchies) and the "elected" representatives who appointed them (which are, aside from a very few, controlled by the hierarchies of the R and D parties).
There is very little incentive for any of them to be guided by the document that each must swear an oath to uphold and defend, but that few do in reality. That is the Constitution! After all, most of the elected officials ignore that oath shortly after swearing it and they very rarely "lead" by the Constitution's clearly written words and clearly documented intent.
There are too many examples of that truth! Such is the nature of government. Our Constitutional Republic was designed to restrict the power of government for this very important reason. It works well as long as the Constitution is upheld and not ignored or violated. Far too often and in ever increasing amounts the government (local, state and federal) encroaches on the Individual Constitutional Rights of the Citizens for which the Constitution was intended to protect. In ever increasing amounts the elected officials, appointed bureaucrats and, even more startling the Judges of the Courts ignore the Constitution and the citizens individual rights under the Constitution.
#4) It is our duty as citizens to protect our own Constitutional Rights! Government will not protect those rights for us unless they take seriously their sworn oath to protect the Constitution, which most often they obviously don't! Government never has and never will, it is entirely up to the citizens to do this and to hold the "elected officials" and "appointed bureaucrats" and yes, even judges accountable to their sworn oaths and to the Constitution.
The larger government grows and the more the government is unwilling to adhere to the Constitution and to their sworn oath to uphold and defend it, the harder it becomes for average citizens to hold them accountable. Not only that, the government, as a result of being out of control, requires more and more of the "fruits of the labor" of its citizens. Citizens are required to work harder and longer as a result and have less time and resources to remain vigilant and to hold government officials accountable. Government feeds upon its citizens and, in addition to requiring more and more of the citizens resources, places more and more onerous restrictions on the citizens and places more roadblocks in the citizens way to hold government accountable.
"Public meetings" and "public hearings" occur on a daily basis and are increasing in number and frequency. But we don't have time for it, do we? It is seemingly and increasingly impossible for average citizens to attend all of these "public meetings" and "hearings" and if they do they find in most cases it is an exercise in futility.
For the most part, the people that do attend are employees of government agencies and bureaucracies or elected officials or their paid employees and staff. All of these "public" meetings and "hearings" for the most part are dominated and controlled by people which are being paid to do what they do or by those who benefit from what they do. They are al paid with your tax dollars!
If, in the rare cases anymore, concerned citizens do rise up and attempt to get involved they must do so at the expense of earning a living by taking time off of work to attend. Of course that's not their only expense! The average citizen must bear the expense of their precious time away from their families and their recreation just to read, learn and prepare to attend these meetings.
Attending a public meeting or hearing may require only an hour or two and many require a full day or more depending on the location of the meeting. However, there is much more time required of each citizen to prepare.
Many citizens attend meetings of private groups prior to the "public meeting" in efforts to learn and understand increasingly complex subjects, issues and topics and about the proposed policy, regulations or laws that will be dealt with in the "public meeting".
Much of the policy, regulations and laws are almost if not completely uncomprehendable and some are so cleverly disguised so as to not even hint of their true nature or intentions. Large corporations or special interest groups hire very well paid people to read, understand, lobby government and attend meetings. Those costs of course are simply passed on to the average citizen who is their customer. However, average citizens must bear all of the expense and burdens. But we don't have the time or the money, do we?
So, why not just give up? That's what most of us do and that is the factor that most government officials and bureaucrats expect you will do, that is eventually, even if you do get involved, you will grow tired of it and simply give up or run out of money. They're right you know, because most of us have. (Or so you may think!)
They knew you would eventually! Is there anything wrong with that? After all you're busy and there are other things you need to do, right? So let's all just give up and let our children and grandchildren deal with it when they are in an even weaker position than us, right?
I say let's surprise the hell out of government! This Memorial Day talk to your friends, family and neighbors about our duty as citizens! Make the time and use your money all year to get involved and to support those people and groups that are on the front lines of defense of the Constitution and our liberties!
Send government a message by spending your time educating yourself and those around you and by showing up for as many of their meetings as possible and demand that they adhere to their oaths and let them know you are watching every move they make. You are in a much better position to do so and to serve and protect your liberties and those of your posterity if you do.
We are doing our children and grandchildren and beyond a terrible disservice by pretending we care about the people who sacrificed and/or died in defense of our liberties at the same time we allow government to ignore the Constitution and encroach further into ours and their rights, freedoms and lives and if we remain too busy to deal with it and remain silent and disinterested! How busy are you now? Is it worth the alternative? We are slowly going to finding out!
If you think nothing is being done, you're wrong! And you can help!
Seek out those groups of people who still understand the importance of our Constitutional protections and of being vigilant. Seek out and support those who sacrifice their time, money and lives working for you and our posterity and give them all the help and support you can.
The "news media" wouldn't dare lead you to believe that something is terribly wrong in America! That there are in fact many people dedicating their lives to YOUR children and grandchildren as well as their own.
Isn't it about time you did something beyond voting occasionally? Let's celebrate Memorial Day all year!
Vigilance is contagious! Liberty is not free! The Constitution is just words on paper and it can not defend itself! That is up to you!
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.txt
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union,
establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common
defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to
ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the
United States of America.
Thomas Jefferson's Account of the Declaration
Read the lengthy excerpt from Thomas Jefferson's autobiography that talks about the days leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the history of the document, and various other factors which involved the authoring of the Declaration. It also includes several drafts of the document. This easily navigable section is well worth the visit.
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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 to 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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refuted his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred. to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. --And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
--John Hancock
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
