The Founders Response to the State of the Union Address

Fyodor Dostoevsky once said that sarcasm is “the last refuge of modest and chaste-souled people when the privacy of their soul is coarsely and intrusively invaded.” 

 

Obama gave his version of the State of the Union Address Tuesday January 28^th.  I gave my pre Address earlier knowing that there is much more at state in our Union than what Obama would talk about.  I have dissected many speeches and addresses over the years, usually responding with sarcasm, but this time I would like to have those who have much more wisdom, those whose voices are still very much needed and relevant to our time than they probably ever imagined to respond- Ladies and Gentlemen, fellow citizens, I yield the floor to our Founding Fathers in their rebuttal of the Obama State of the Union…

…The question for everyone in this chamber, running through every decision we make this year, is whether we are going to help or hinder this progress. For several years now, this town has been consumed by a rancorous argument over the proper size of the federal government. It's an important debate - one that dates back to our very founding. But when that debate prevents us from carrying out even the most basic functions of our democracy - when our differences shut down government or threaten the full faith and credit of the United States - then we are not doing right by the American people…

Many times argument and conviction to stand ground is necessary to keep government from passing restrictive bills which do little but give more power to the federal government thereby taking more power away from we the people- a little gridlock is necessary to keep government in check as James Madison said,  “An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others.”

Our Government was created to be a Constitutional Republic, NOT a democracy.  When our elected leaders refuse to listen to the people, when one side refuses to allow debate, the desires of we the people are ignored and are forced into a shutdown, this is their democracy, as Thomas Jefferson described as “nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.”

Those few who stood up to the mob; Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and a handful of others knew that “government in which the majority rules in all cases cannot be based on justice, even as far as men understand it” as Henry David Thoreau once pointed out.

…As president, I'm committed to making Washington work better, and rebuilding the trust of the people who sent us here. I believe most of you are, too. Last month, thanks to the work of Democrats and Republicans, this Congress finally produced a budget that undoes some of last year's severe cuts to priorities like education. Nobody got everything they wanted …

The President has certain duties as outlined in Article II of the Constitution.  George Washington, our First President, who was also beloved by the Continental Army over which he was General, had reservations about being appointed as president, so only by agreeing to serve two terms he consented. Yet he warned “It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism.”

The Legislative Branch, the Senate is given the job of passing a budget, which they, under the leadership of Senator Harry Reid have not done.  Raising the debt ceiling is not a budget.  Government has grown into a massive over bloated industry paid for by the labors of the people.  Our Founders had much to say about finances and budgets, but it was summed best by Thomas Jefferson who said “We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.” And, “A wise and frugal government... shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.”

Again, our government did not pass a budget, they argued over who would get, and who would have taken. Our Nation’s Veterans and returning Troops lost again with the Ryan-Murray bill which was passed by our Houses, and in the words of George Washington, "The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation."

..Inequality has deepened. Upward mobility has stalled. The cold, hard fact is that even in the midst of recovery, too many Americans are working more than ever just to get by - let alone get ahead. And too many still aren't working at all. Our job is to reverse these trends… what I offer tonight is a set of concrete, practical proposals … Some require congressional action... But America does not stand still - and neither will I. So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that's what I'm going to do…

It is not the job of the federal government to legislate pay scales, nor is it the duty of the executive branch to over step the Constitution and legislate from the Oval office. Again, Thomas Jefferson makes the point, “To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it” and, “Were we directed from Washington when to sow, and when to reap, we should soon want bread.”

…it is time to heed the call of business leaders, labor leaders, faith leaders and law enforcement - and fix our broken immigration system. Republicans and Democrats in the Senate have acted. I know that members of both parties in the House want to do the same… when people come here to fulfill their dreams - to study, invent, and contribute to our culture - they make our country a more attractive place for businesses to locate and create jobs for everyone. So let's get immigration reform done this year…

First of all, Unions and the Chamber of Commerce are not expert s when it comes to border security and people coming through the wide open border illegally. The Immigration Service and Border Guards would know better than the Chamber who belongs here and should be rewarded with jobs which plenty of Americans would be able and willing to do.  As for allowing those who entered our Sovereign nation illegally, “And what is proposed by the amendment is that they shall take nothing more than an oath of fidelity, and declare their intention to reside in the United States. Under such terms, it was well observed by my colleague, aliens might acquire the right of citizenship, and return to the country from which they came, and evade the laws intended to encourage the commerce and industry of the real citizens and inhabitants of America, enjoying at the same time all the advantages of citizens and aliens.” James Madison.

There is an idea perpetuated that illegals are merely immigrants who desire a better life, and who are we to deny them of that right.  Being that the United States of America is a sovereign nation, a nation of laws which it is our Federal government’s first duty to uphold those laws to defend and protect the citizens of this country, one can hardly claim that all those millions who are here illegally deserve to be given visas or amnesty, when one can’t possibly know whom they swear their allegiance to. Thomas Paine said, “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; Tis dearness only which gives everything its value.”  

Those of us who have come through the system which everyone in Washington and the media claim to be broken, learn about the history and government of the United States before becoming citizens and then swear our oaths publically (in English) to defend and uphold the Constitution.  One who works to become a citizen values citizenship much more than those who sneak into this country, and for our federal government to consider rewarding those who are here illegally is not only an affront to those of us who love and honor our new home, but is dangerous in assuming that those who come here do so with good intentions. It is proven fact and admitted that terrorists sneak into our country as well, and to do nothing to secure our border is a dereliction of duty.

Theodore Roosevelt wasn’t a founding father, but he did have it right when it comes to loyalty to this nation if one desires to immigrate here. “We should insist that if the immigrant who comes here does in good faith become an American and assimilates himself to us he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed or birth-place or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American and nothing but an American. If he tries to keep segregated with men of his own origin and separated from the rest of America, then he isn't doing his part as an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. . . We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, of American nationality, and not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding-house; and we have room for but one soul loyalty, and that is loyalty to the American people.”

…In the coming weeks, I will issue an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay their federally-funded employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour - because if you cook our troops' meals or wash their dishes, you shouldn't have to live in poverty…

While many Americans are scraping to make ends meet, government grows, requiring more workers who are paid by we the people.  It seems like the sector which has the lowest unemployment rate in the nation is the Federal government in Washington DC.  Thomas Jefferson has something to say about that as well. “The multiplication of public offices, increase of expense beyond income, growth and entailment of a public debt, are indications soliciting the employment of the pruning knife.”

…Citizenship means standing up for the lives that gun violence steals from us each day. I have seen the courage of parents, students, pastors and police officers all over this country who say "we are not afraid," and I intend to keep trying, with or without Congress, to help stop more tragedies from visiting innocent Americans in our movie theaters, shopping malls, or schools like Sandy Hook…

Citizenship means obeying the laws, but when they go against Constitution, we have a sworn duty to uphold the Constitution and defend it. Our Founders were clear when they embedded the right to keep and bear arms in our 2^nd Amendment of the Bill of Rights.  The government has no right to infringe on the law abiding citizens of this country to keep and bear arms. The fact that these shootings are happening in areas of strict gun control- prove that an unarmed citizen is an unprotected citizen- whether it’s some crazy who decides to go on a shooting spree, or a government who is bent on complete control over the people. "I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them." George Mason

…for more than two hundred years, we have put those things aside and placed our collective shoulder to the wheel of progress - to create and build and expand the possibilities of individual achievement; to free other nations from tyranny and fear; to promote justice, and fairness, and equality under the law, so that the words set to paper by our founders are made real for every citizen. The America we want for our kids - a rising America where honest work is plentiful and communities are strong; where prosperity is widely shared and opportunity for all lets us go as far as our dreams and toil will take us…

Our Founders believed that all are created equal, but that doesn’t mean everyone will have equal outcomes. Fairness and equality are earned, whether it’s playing little league sports or competing for a top corporate spot.  Those who work hard should be rewarded for their work regardless of shade of skin or gender- but to force others to reward based on those qualities is not being fair and equal. To reward someone with the same trophy because we don’t want hurt feelings is not helping that person to become all they can be. We are all endowed by God, with gifts and talents which if given the freedom to develop- can achieve incredible things not just for our own personal gains but for all society. Government intervention by so called fairness and equality stifle those who work hard at developing their skills and gifts.

I leave you with this last word from Benjamin Franklin… “The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.”

 

C.A.E  2014

 

A New Year- A New Beginning but The Same Vision, Same Mission

"The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors; they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle or to be cheated out of them by the artifices on false and designing men." ~ Samuel Adams

A lot has gone on in a little more than a year since I wrote a New Declaration of Independence from the two party system of The United States. While we are not an official party, we do not have recognition in any state nor do we have candidates running on a Constitutional Freedom Party ticket, we are a party much like the various Tea Party groups, and our founding has a definite purpose, platform and mission to try and change the course which our country has found itself upon.

We are, like many in other groups, made up of concerned individuals, coming from all backgrounds. While most of us are Bible believing Christians, we have similar views on social issues, defense, foreign affairs, and Israel among other issues; and we all realize we are in danger of losing America as our founding fathers meant it to be. To be blunt, we have already lost it, as it has not been a Constitutional Republic for many decades, but it has still been the freest nation in the world, and if we don’t try and change things, it will no longer be the beacon of freedom and liberty that it has been since the first pilgrims landed some 400 years ago.

When I have a hard time trying to write, whether for my blogs or articles for PolitChicks, I pray, read the Bible, read the wisdom of those who gave us our nation. I have been praying for direction for a while, as more and more of our grip on our Republic slips farther away. I have been, still am as I write this, praying for guidance, direction and words to remind myself and others of why I began this ‘mission’ and for direction on what I am meant to do.

This past year has been a rollercoaster for me. I have never been a driven person. I have always tried to do well at whatever I do, doing what I figure needs to be done. But I have never been driven, at least until just a little over a year ago when I saw people I care about began to lose hope. People I have never met face to face, but spending time talking to them over the past few years, I have come to know and love some of these people and some have become closer than family to me, some my best friends. Something made me, someone who couldn’t yet vote, want to do something.

Ordinary, average people don’t normally step out of their comfort zones. Too often, people care more about the latest reality show stars (whatever some producer’s version of reality is), or which Hollywood starlet has lost her baby bump fat. The point is, too many people know more about some chick named Kim something than they do how many rights are listed in the 1st Amendment of the constitution.

I am ordinary, average, but I have been finding myself stretched, sometimes to near a breaking point, for the last year because for once in my life, something bigger than my own life is at stake and I have found something which has driven me.

Something that has never happened to me has been happening more and more the past few months. People have been referring to me as a leader. In all honesty, that scares me because I am no leader. Leaders are strong, commanding, bold; knowledgeable and wise, a guiding force with the ability to have others willing to follow, they are trusted and authorative. There are already plenty of people out there who are leading. Often over the past year I have wondered what in the world was I thinking trying to do anything when so many others have a stronger presence, much more knowledge and wisdom, connections, a base, and who have been working already to try and change the course of things. In other words, I have been asking, "Lord, what is my purpose? If You have a plan for me, here I am, but surely there are better ones who can and already are doing more than I."

(Before anyone wonders if I hear strange voices in my head and believe God is talking to me, be assured that no, I don’t hear God that way, at least I never have yet. But does God talk to me? Yes; in ways that can only be Him.)

What I have, is a vision born of passion. A vision of the future based on the past, and all I can do is hope to share it with others and hope they will share with more. This group, this organization- our platform, our foundation, and our mission is not about me. It never was meant to be. While I have had to stretch beyond my comfortably obscure zone, to get this organization off the ground, it has always been my hope that it is going in the direction which God wants it to go, but also where someone or others better than me would take hold and run with it, unless I am the one to run with it. But there are so many gifted and courageous people out there who could make a bigger impact, a bigger difference. All I want is for the Biblical foundation which it was built on, and the passion which I began to remain unshaken and never forgotten.

Why did I begin? It began and continues for a few reasons. One, our nation has forgotten her Christian roots and heritage.

Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in Democracy in America that "Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith."

Ronald Reagan once said, "If we ever forget that we are One Nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under."
I could go through a litany of examples of how America began as a Christian nation- from the Mayflower and earlier, to the charters of the colonies, and State Constitutions, and quotes of our Founders, but the point is, America is going under, and the reason is pure and simple- America has forgotten we are a Nation of Biblical principles, whose foundation was on Jesus. People in America once had a strong faith in Him, and that made America the freest for all faiths and philosophies.

The Founding Fathers understood that social issues do matter, and that when morals and godly behavior are engrained in society, people will elect godly and moral people to represent them. Too many in our society today, and for decades, have come to believe that their rights come from the federal government, that character no longer matters and as long as they receive "free stuff" from the government, they are free. Too many people have made government their god, and too many in our government have made a career of something which was supposed to be a service to represent, and have become as ruling princes, miniature deities who know what’s best for all.

"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." Benjamin Franklin.

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John Adams

We must bring our nation back to God. We must bless God if we ever expect to have moral representatives or a society in which they learn that rights come from God, not government, and that by government giving rights, government can and will take them away.

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. 1Timothy 2:1-3
We need to pray. We need to pray for our nation, for the people, for our leaders. We need patriots to be praying every day. ^{We need an awakening.}

The other reason I began the Constitutional Freedom Party was for Action. It began and continues, will always be for those who have given so much to gain it, fight for it and retain it. What is it?

It is a country which has been the most blessed of nations, one that to millions of us is still exceptional, one that I have called home and now belong as a citizen. It is freedom given by those who came here hundreds of years ago. It is Liberty- inalienable rights given by God, which those who helped to fight the tyranny of the British Monarchy embedded into our Constitution. It is the men and women who have fought to preserve, and millions who have given their lives to keep. It is the shining city, which drew me and millions before me from all corners of the earth. It is a chance to live, to pursue happiness, and for so many, a chance to live without fear of tyranny and despotic leaders.

Our founder’s voices are alive today more than ever. They give us our future if we pay attention to their words written in the past. We must fight to keep what they have given us. They gave us a Constitutional Republic for a reason.

I will never presume to know why so many people have volunteered for military service. I know various reasons given, but many have given up so much when they have sworn the oath. Others from the not so distant past had no choice- for them it wasn’t voluntary, but they still did their sworn duty willingly and suffered much because of so much, but whether voluntary or drafted, so many say they would do it all again. There are still those who are getting sent to places around the world, places seemingly forsaken by God and all that is good. Yet they go because they know there are still things and people worth fighting for. They all have their reasons, and there are others who take their motto De oppresso liber seriously, loosely translated, Freedom out of Oppression.

Isaiah 1:17, Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow.

I started this for all of them- those who came before me, those who fight now. For those I know, those I am friends with, those I meet, those, their brothers, who never made it back- I started this for them. While I love this country with all my heart, my heart breaks when I see our present government sending our best off to various hell holes to suffer and bleed while our nation is being destroyed from within. I am angry at too many who have allowed it to be taken little by little over the past few generations. And I am angry that more Americans still don’t care what they are giving up.

We are at a most critical time, more than any other time since the Revolution, perhaps the Civil War, we are at a point in time where I have never been more afraid for our country and those who fight for her as I am now. We are on the edge of the narrowest precipice and it is the American people who must decide which side we will travel down.
It is evident that God has used men and women throughout history to change courses of events; from Esther, in the Biblical days to Joan of Arc and Abigail Adams.  And no, I don’t imagine myself as like any of these, but it is possible that some of where He has been leading me is to a realization that even ordinary unknown people can make a difference, even if not huge history rattling events. Is it possible that as Esther, God has brought me to the United States for such a time as this? I don’t know what I can do- but I am an American now. I wasn’t when I began this journey a year ago, but I am now because I wanted to be an American if it comes to fighting for America alongside fellow patriots.

I pray there will be another way of retaining and regaining our nation as the Founders intended. I have and will continue to speak about America’s exceptionalism, about the importance of our Constitution, about the Founder’s intent. I pray, but I also know as the Founders did and millions of men and women since, that anything worth having is worth fighting for- that much is required to gain and keep it. To echo Thomas Paine, "If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace."

I swore my oath in front of a judge a couple of months ago, but that oath has been in my heart since the day I came to the United States. I will do whatever is required to uphold and protect the Constitution, and keep the Liberties granted by God from being taken by a handful of men and women in Washington.

I share too much and see too much pain from those who have and keep this country’s freedoms for me to sit and let it all be taken from them. To see friends sent out all over the other side of the world for a bunch of self-made tyrants who give themselves awards and rewards to each other for a job well done in dictating to We the People while our best are put in ever more harm’s way.

No Way. No More.

I can’t do much of anything on my own to change the course, but whatever it takes, whatever God would have me do; I will follow the path which has been stained with the blood of Christ, and with blood of those who gave me freedom if that is the only course to retain Freedom.

There is nothing noble about that, although Patrick Henry, my favorite founder stated so well, "We are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of Nature has placed in our power... the battle, sir, is not to the strong alone it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave."

I began this message by quoting Samuel Adams. Let me end with one more from him. "It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds."

I am irate. Irate at a lazy, willfully ignorant people who have forgotten and ignored the gift they have had in being born and living in the greatest nation on the face of the earth. I am irate for my friends who are sent to hellish places in deserts most of us will never see, fighting evil yet knowing people here at home ungratefully trash our Country. I am willing to do whatever needs to be done to set those people’s minds and hearts to burning for knowledge and truth about their nation and their nation’s God. But I am just one. Who will come with me?

It’s time to get our Country back.

 

 C.A.E "duckie" 2014