Last night President Obama held a press conference to attempt to convince all of us that this stimulus plan was the best thing for the country. Here are a few memorable quotes from that event....

“The Federal Government is the only entity left that has the resources to solve the problem”

     This is just not true. He seems to forget, or refuses to admit, that it was government policy, specifically Barney Frank and his cronies making mortgages available to people that shouldn't have had them and artificially low interest rates offered by the Federal Reserve that caused the bubble in the first place. As much as he wants to think that a hundred Bernie Matoffs, fat cats on corporate jets and retreats to posh hotels caused this problem, he is wrong. Government caused it because lawmakers are, for the most part, ignorant of business and capitalism. The “entity” that will get us out of this is the American people. If the government would stop confiscating our resources and regulating what we do with them, we would be out of this slump rather quickly. It happened in 1920 and 1987, it would happen today. Finally, I would remind President Obama that the federal Government doesn’t have resources, it’s broke and only by bankrupting the next generation or two is he coming up with these “resources”.

“No pork, No earmarks”

     That is all this bill is. It is a Democrat wish list of pork. He can call is anything he wants but the American people aren’t that stupid, they know pork when they see it.

“We inherited a trillion dollar deficit”

     I’m never sure where he’s going with this. I think he’s saying its a bad thing but yet he wants to quadruple it. “They spent too much so I’m going to spend more.” Does this make any sense? Doesn’t he see the burden this puts on all of us and our children? It is worth it to put the next two or three generations in bondage to correct a temporary downturn in the business cycle aggravated by Washington policy? This spending cannot go on indefinitely. We may think we are indestructible but what happened to Japan, Argentina and Zimbabwe will surely happen to us. When our credit score drops and we’ve printed way too much money, everything will come crashing down in poverty and hyperinflation.

“The winter of our hardship”

     Only a coddled American could look at our situation today and say this about it. No one born after the Great Depression has any inkling what hardship is in this country. The “poor” here, with their homes, cars, televisions and mobile phones, live better than a lot of the middle class in Europe. Yes, people have lost jobs and some have lost their homes but even if the Wall Street exec ends up moving from his mcmansion to public housing and lives on food stamps, it hardly qualifies as “the winter of our hardship”.   Hardship once meant the sacrifices people made to come to this country. The Pilgrims, half of whom died the first winter. Immigrants who arrived with nothing and worked in sweatshops for a pittance for years to save enough to have a chance at the American dream. Men who suffered and died on the beaches of Normandy or Iwo Jima, that’s hardship. What is hardship today? Not having cell service, not having a digital conversion box for TV, having to move from a 5000 sq. ft. house to a 2000 sq. ft. house. Most Americans have no idea what real hardship is and that is a testament to our system. However, if we continue down this path, we may very well find out soon enough.

“I inherited the deficit and this economic situation”

     What a whiner! Apparently the culture of victimhood in America has now reached the highest office in the land. If this bill passes and a year from now things are worse, what is he going to say? “George Bush screwed this up worse than I thought.”? Presidents are not elected to play the blame game, they are elected to lead.

“Philosophically, some people don’t think the government should be involved in the marketplace”

     I would like to remind President Obama that he lives in the United States of America and this country was founded by men who believed “philosophically”, and practically, that the government should not be involved in the marketplace. It was the meddling of the British government, through taxes and regulation, that caused their rebellion in the first place. The Constitution was adopted for the express purpose of keeping the government out of our economic affairs. The market, as defined by the individual choices of millions of Americans, works. It is self sustaining and self correcting and should be left alone. 

“Government doing nothing is not an option from my perspective”

     This dovetails with his statement the previous day that if the stimulus package didn’t pass that the effects on the economy would be “irreversible”. Fearmongering aside, his idea that the government has to do something all the time is also contrary to our founding principles. He made this statement after saying that is was right for government to be involved in Energy, Health Care and Education.   Hmmmm....let’s see. Government regulations keep us from using our own energy resources and gave us $4 gasoline last year. Government regulations and insurance have crippled the health care industry and government schools are a dismal failure. Sounds like it would be better if the government did nothing because their something is usually a disaster.

“There is no such thing as a free lunch”

     Ah, truer words have never been spoken. Unfortunately, when it comes to government spending, Washington seems to forget this. They think they can put off the day of reckoning forever, or at least until they’re dead (I was going to say out of office but it would seem most of them want to stay there until they die).   Just like the housing bubble and the stock market bubble, the bubble of deficit spending cannot last forever and it will fall with a crash larger than any we’ve ever seen. If Washington falls, there is no “entity left that has the resources to solve the problem.”

“The Federal Government doesn’t have complete control over that”

    Yet. This statement was made regarding housing. I ask you, what control should government have over housing? I don’t think it should have any. Housing prices should be set by the market and individuals should enter into private contracts for the sale or rental of such property. Where in that formula does the Federal Government belong? Of course, that goes for most economic and social issues in our country.

“The national government is detached from what is going on in the surrounding community”

     President Obama said this about Afganistan. Perhaps he should look at his own house before he throws stones at theirs.

“Not everything we do is going to work out as we want it to”

    No, really? This boondoggle put together by short sighted politicians who have no concept of economics in an attempt to further their own power and ensure a dependent and hopefully grateful electorate couldn’t possibly have unforeseen negative consequences, could it? Perhaps a reminder that the Great Society destroyed the black family and gave us a permanent underclass might make the point. That Social Security is going to bankrupt the country if all this stimulus doesn’t do it first.   That Ted Kennedy’s HMO’s created a whole new set of problems in the heath care industry. Just a few reminders of how brilliant Washington solutions to whatever ails us usually turn out.

“Nobody is above the law”

     Except your treasury secretary, the previous nominee for Heath and Human Services and a few others in your cabinet. We are very close to becoming a “banana republic” where the powerful do as they please and give favors to their supporters, print money like toilet paper and expect the support of an adoring populace.

Now, a note from the peanut gallery..

“The so called terrorists”

    This was in Helen Thomas’ question about the “real” terrorist hiding in Pakistan. I can only credit President Obama for calling them what they are, terrorists, and not following her lead. What she would like to call them, I don’t know. Freedom fighters? Boy Scouts? They kill innocent men, women and children Helen! They are bad people and there is never an excuse for such actions!

     In conclusion, this massive government intervention is very bad for the country. If it, and the ones that will follow don’t break the bank, they will hasten the day when it will break. The founders had it right. If government just gets out of the way, the capitalist system will work and work well. There will be ups and downs but the wisdom of the people and our ability to learn from our mistakes will keep the system running. All this bill will do is trip us up. If we allow it to go through, if we really buy into Newsweek's contention that we are all socialists now, then our fall will be permanent and the government will keep the market down just like it does in France and other European socialist countries. We will no longer be the “Land of Opportunity” because all the opportunities will be managed by government bureaucrats. I don’t want to go there, do you?

Patrick Samuels

Author of “Memoirs of a Former American”

www.patricksamuels.com

 

Inauguration Speech

    My fellow Americans. It is truly a great privilege to have been chosen to fill this hallowed office and I am humbled by the faith you have placed in me to lead our wonderful country for the next four years. We are living is an amazing time where technology is advancing at a phenomenal rate and knowledge is expanding exponentially. Advances in medical science have made our lives not only longer but more fulfilling. I take great pride, as you do, that America has been in the forefront of so many of these advances and has done so much to share our bounty with the rest of the world.   It is our freedom and the resulting creativity and entrepreneurship that have given us these great blessings. God has not only blessed us with a bountiful land but imparted wisdom to the men who founded this great nation, men who recognized that freedom is the natural state of man and when government recognizes its limitations and protects the rights that are endowed to us by God, a happy and prosperous people will be the result.

     It would seem that that happiness and prosperity has been under assault during what can only be describe as a trying time.   The stock market has tumbled, putting many of our retirement savings in jeopardy. Housing prices are down, unemployment is up and the recession is getting deeper. Over the past year your federal government has tried a variety of things to get us out of this economic slump. Stimulus packages, bailouts, rescue packages, and nothing has worked up until this time. I propose to you that there is a good reason why nothing has worked. The government itself has been a major contributing factor to our economic woes. It is government manipulation of the free market systems that contributed to the housing crash and government ineptitude that led to last year’s skyrocketing energy prices. As the great Ronald Reagan once said, government is the problem, not the solution.

     Government cannot spend our way out of these difficult times by borrowing horrendous amounts of money from our children and grandchildren. We should not be burdening future generations with our mistakes.   It is time that we removed the problem and unleashed the power and ingenuity of the American people for it is you, not we who are in government, that is the true and lasting solution. We have strayed far from the founding principles of this nation and its Constitution for it has been the principles of liberty and limited government that made us a great and unique nation we are.   A return to those principles will ensure that America’s best days are still to come.

     To implement these ideals I will work with the congress on the following proposals. First, we will suspend all current bailout payments. We need to stop this horrible bleeding from the treasury that will only lead to a crushing burden on our children. Businesses will succeed or fail on their own, not because of any favoritism or lack thereof shown by the federal government. We will not leave businesses out in the cold, however. For businesses to have a fighting chance, we must remove the tax and regulatory burden from them so they will have a free hand to pursue the most profitable course. I am therefore proposing an elimination of the corporate income tax and an elimination of the following federal departments as a start, OSHA and the EPA, and a suspension of all regulations pertaining to them. Such oversight will be returned to the state and local governments where it belongs. I propose eliminating all subsidies of any kind for any business, including agriculture. Government should not be in the business of showing favoritism or propping up failing or obsolete enterprises.

     It is time that we turned our back on the idea that a one size fits all approach implemented by your federal government and returned power and control over your life to you and your local and state representatives. I propose abolishing the Department of Education that has shown itself to be completely inept at improving education.   Based on last year’s energy crisis, the Department of Energy has shown itself equally incompetent and should be eliminated. The government should get out of the energy business and let the companies that provide it do so free and unencumbered in the marketplace.   The federal government should get out of the mortgage and insurance business, the transportation business and the delivery business. These are just a few examples of government getting involved in areas in which it does not belong and creating bureaucracies and programs that just waste money and create problems and dependencies. Those programs and and their budgets should be eliminated as quickly as possible so they are no longer a burden on the American people or our economy.

     Thomas Jefferson once said that Government should not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. Philosophically and practically, the federal income tax is just wrong as a way to support the functions of government. Your wages should be your own, they do not belong to the government first. I would ask the congress to consider a repeal of the sixteenth amendment and the adoption of a consumption tax that will not exceed fifteen percent.

     It is a domestic policy that supports freedom and capitalism with low taxes and minimal regulation, adhering the principle of equality under the law that will draw us out of this ditch and set us high on the hill once again.

      Our interaction with the rest of the world needs to undergo some profound changes as well. We can no longer afford, fiscally or militarily, to be the world’s policeman. It is time we brought our troops homes from places where they are no longer needed. Europe is certainly able to take care of itself and it is time they started paying for their own defense. Do we need troops in Japan or even Korea a half century or more after the fact? We need to support our democratic allies but we do not have to replace their defense budget with our own.

     To our enemies, a warning. We will defend ourselves, our allies and our interests with all the means at our disposal.   It is our responsibility, however, to ensure our freedom of action when necessary. Two situations hinder our ability to act freely in our self interest when necessary. The first is our debt. The fact that adversaries like China hold so much of our debt ties our hands in economic negotiations and our ability to take a stronger stance on behalf of human rights and other important issues. Debt is a burden on our economy and a national security issue and it is time not only to eliminate the deficit but begin to pay that debt down to a level where it does not hang over our head. The second is our dependence on foreign oil, particularly oil from the middle east. There is no question that the greatest threat to our security comes from radical Islam and terrorists are supported in a large part by countries that sell us a lot of oil. It is very hard to tell a county like Iran or even Saudi Arabia to crack down of terrorists when they know they literally have us over a barrel. It is time we opened up our great reserves of energy, oil, coal, alternatives, and nuclear and weaned ourselves off of middle eastern oil at least. Neither Macmuhd Amidinijad or Hugo Chavez should dictate our foreign policy because of our dependence on their resources.

     My administration will be marked by the following. Domestically, we will dramatically reduce the size and influence of the federal government allowing the free market to operate at it most efficient, unencumbered by burdensome taxes and regulations. Our foreign policy will be characterized by our support for governments around the globe who respect and support the natural rights of man, a comprehensive war on terrorism, and a strong stance against those who adopt an adversarial relationship with us, economically or militarily. For over fifty years we have walked the road to socialism and it has not worked. We have given up freedom and huge sums of money by slowly relegating the Constitution and the founding principles of our nation to irrelevancy and we have nothing of value to show for it. I will not fulfill the role of a properly elected despot who may do as he pleases with the government and its power. I have taken the oath of office and have sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States. That Constitution placed severe limits on the power of the federal Government and I see it as my duty to uphold those laws and principles. That means returning freedom and responsibility to you, the American people and by placing liberty and duty upon you I have complete faith that we will quickly emerge from these difficult times and become the shining city on a hill that the founders and all the great men who have led this country envisioned. God Bless America.

       One of the last places in America where the pursuit of excellence is encouraged and rewarded is in the sporting arena. On the field of play, be it football, baseball, basketball, bowling or whatever, competition is celebrated and the desire to win and even dominate is standard. There was a time, not too long ago, where this was normal in the economic sphere as well. Amidst bailouts, nationalization and redistribution, I thought it would be interesting to consider what it would be like if we ran and regulated sports the way the government now taxes, regulates and manages the economy.

    Let us propose a game between the currently winless Detroit Lions and the undefeated Tennessee Titans. It is a foregone conclusion that liberals would want the Lions to win the game. Their self-esteem must be in the toilet, after all. They must be feeling really bad and we need to turn those frowns upside down! And who do those Titans think they are? Do they think they’re better than every other team? They probably cheated to win all those games. It isn’t right that they made all those other teams feel so bad. Everyone should be able to be a winner.

     When the coin is supposed to be tossed, the Titans are informed the coin is not going to be tossed. The Lions will be receiving the ball first in both halves and the Titans will have to play into the wind the entire game, there will be no switching of end zones. When the Titans kick off, they do so from the twenty to give the Lions an opportunity for a better return. The Lions are allowed to play twelve men and have five downs to make a first instead of four. On a pass play to the sideline, the Detroit receiver only got one foot down in bounds but the rule is changed on the spot to make it qualify as a catch.  Even so, hapless Detroit goes four and out and has to punt.

     The Titans get the ball and Kerry Collins’ first pass play goes for forty yards. The Titans find out, however, that whatever yards are gained after ten, they only receive half of them.   A forty yard play now becomes twenty-five.   Receivers are being held on every play and the officials do not call it. Even with the deck stacked against them, the Titans move the ball the length of the field and score a touchdown. During Detroit’s next series, the Titans intercept the ball. Three plays later they score another touchdown but they are informed that it doesn’t count. The rule is that there can never be more than a one touchdown lead in the game.

     By halftime the score is seven to nothing even though Tennessee has been in the end zone four times. They are frustrated and demoralized.   The Lions are taking advantage of the officials attitude and cheating without consequence, every time the Titans meet with success it doesn’t count, they seem to be working for nothing. In the other locker room, the Lions are pumped up. Even though they have only sixty total yards in the first half they are exited because they are only down one touchdown against the mighty Titans.

     In the second half, the Titans’ offense is flat. No one wants to play hard anymore since nothing they do counts for anything. Their first three possessions are three and out. By the time Detroit gets the ball for the third time, the Tennessee defense is beginning to tire.   The Lions finally score touchdown. The officials then inform the teams that since Detroit has such a hard time getting to the end zone, their extra point is going to be worth two points instead of one. Tennessee now finds themselves one point down with four minutes remaining in the fourth. Collins tries to fire up his offense and they begin to move the ball again.   With thirty seconds remaining they have moved the ball into the red zone. As the clock ticks down, they line up for the game winning field goal. The clock shows eight seconds left just before the snap. Detroit calls a timeout but the officials do not stop the clock. They let it run down and declare the game over. Result; Detroit 8-Tennessee 7.

     The point of our little exercise is this. The object of rules in a game is to create a level playing field where people can compete and gain success commensurate with their talent, hard work and a little luck. If rules are only applied to one side, are changed in the middle of a game, skewed to assist one group at the expense of another or to punish success, no one is going to want to play the game.

     Thomas Jefferson rightly observed, “a wise and frugal government, which 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, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.” The purpose of government under the constitution was to provide a secure arena and basic rules for our endeavors and that was all. It was not to assist one group at the expense of another or to punish those who were too successful.   If we really want to get us out of our economic malaise we will return to that which made America great. We will reduce government control over the economy and our lives to Jefferson’s basics, stop subsidizing or punishing groups or industries with taxes and regulation and unleash the entrepreneurial spirit of man. 

Patrick Samuels

www.patricsamuels.com

Author of "Memoirs of a Former American"

Sugar Mountain, North Carolina June 27, 2031

     He knew they’d come, sooner or later, he knew they'd come. The dogs were barking loudly now, and he knew the day had finally arrived. As Carl Lee sat at his metal kitchen table in his small home in the mountains, he caressed the semi-automatic rifle before him. He had often wondered what would be going through his mind when he finally had to decide, when the choice before him was accepting a life of cowardice and bondage or if he would go out fighting for all he’d been taught to believe in. Would he, in the end, bow to the powers he had held in contempt most of his life or would he die a free man with integrity and honor, alone on the side of a mountain. If someone had told him thirty years ago he would be making this choice, he would have laughed. This was America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. This was the one place in the world where you were free to speak your mind, worship your God and defend your right to do it. A lot had changed in thirty years.

     Thirty years ago the vision of America’s founders was on life support. Twenty years ago it died. A man’s money was no longer his own, even his body wasn’t his. They told you what to eat, when to go to the doctor, how to pee in an environmentally friendly way. Then his favorite talk radio shows went off the air and the gays were celebrating marriage in the local courthouse. His own preacher was sitting in jail for hate speech because he had dared to condemn homosexuality from the pulpit. People were angry and frustrated. People like him who had no idea how a government elected by the people could do these things. How could they vote away the right to speak freely? How could they vote to kill babies and legitimize deviancy? No one Carl knew wanted any of it. Even when he saw the polls, most Americans didn’t want any of it yet the politicians in Washington just kept pushing ahead, doing whatever they wanted, the people be damned. 

     At first he figured, as did many others, it was just crazy liberal Democrats doing their thing. There would be a backlash and things would be put right. He should have known better. Washington has a momentum all its own and once something gets started, there’s no stopping it. Democrats, Republicans, it didn’t matter. Government got bigger and more intrusive every year and all the political promises to the contrary, it continued to this day. This, of course, became obvious to a lot of people. The few that had the means left. But most, like Carl, believed this was their country and they shouldn’t be forced out or forced to accept all this garbage. For a short time he held out hope in the secessionist movement. He went to a few meetings and rallies but the numbers were never there. Most people had become so dependant on Washington that they couldn’t imagine themselves willingly disengaging themselves from the government teat. They were slaves and could no longer even comprehend the meaning of freedom.

     So Carl and others withdrew. He bought this little place in the mountains. He disentangled himself from government control as much as he could, the official notices detailing his non-compliance piled on the mantle a testament to that fact. He still voted, hoping against hope the people he supported would turn things around, restore the liberty that once reigned supreme.   His final disappointment came with the gun ban three years ago. He held up his Glock 9mm. It, and all other handguns, were illegal. Single shot hunting rifles were the only legal firearms and those only after an expensive permit was acquired. How the second amendment could be so flagrantly disregarded was beyond him but he shouldn’t have been surprised since the first had been ignored as well. Last year the supreme Court ruled the ban constitutional and everyone was given ninety day to turn in their guns. That was when Carl decided to take his stand. They had tried to muzzle him, they had taken more of his property every year, they tried to make him accept their health care and other services and he had resisted. Now they wanted to take his right to protect himself. If he allowed them to do it he knew he would be completely at their mercy. He would be forced to rely on government for everything and he would have no power over the choices they made for him. That was unacceptable in America regardless of what Washington said.

    The notices came first, then a visit from the sheriff who was a friend of his. He warned Carl that if he refused to turn them over it would be out of his hands.   Carl understood. He tried to live as he always did but somehow he had the feeling he was living borrowed time, like a cancer patient who had been given three months to live and was still alive ninety-one days later. He heard scattered reports of other resisters being shot or carted off to prison. The news rarely mentioned the incidents and when they did it was always the good government protecting the people from some nut. He was not a nut but no one would ever know that. He believed himself a patriot standing up for his rights against a tyrannical power.

    He started at a shot in the yard, followed by another. The dogs no longer barked. Carl gathered the two weapons and walked into the living room. He sat down in the recliner, facing the door. He put the Glock on the table beside him and cradled the rifle in his hands, pointing it at the door. He began reciting the twenty-third psalm. There was a knock at the door and the federal agents announced their arrival. Carl paused for a moment and then shouted, “You can have my guns when you pry them out of my cold dead hands. God bless America!”

If you enjoyed the story.....

1. Forward it to all your friends and

2. You would also enjoy Memoirs of a Former American, a look at the next sixty years of American history.

    

Patrick Samuels

www.patricksamuels.com    

     It occurred to me the other day, as I have looked, as I often do, at the lack of correlation between the size and scope of the Federal Government and the limits imposed on it by the Constitution, that there is an interesting practical and philosophical parallel between the value of the dollar in our society and that of the Constitution. 

     We have, in this country, what is called “fiat” money. What that means is that the dollar is not attached to or backed by anything of real value. Once upon a time, this country operated on money known as “specie” or coins that had real value, mainly gold and silver. After the Civil War the federal government decided to standardize the great variety of paper money issued by banks or states with the dollar which represented a certain amount of gold. If one had a dollar one could trade that dollar in for an equal amount of gold. This is known as being on the gold standard. Using money that had real value worked for this country until Franklin Roosevelt decided to change the entire face and scope of the federal government and this massive grab for power included taking gold out of circulation. Theoretically, the currency was still backed by gold but gold could no longer be used in transactions because it was illegal to own. During the Nixon administration even this fiction was eliminated. The dollar is now worth.....what we think it’s worth. No longer anchored by anything “real” the worth of the dollar fluctuates based on a variety of factors and has, over the long run, declined in value...considerably.

     For one hundred years the constitution was the anchor of our republic. The warnings of the founders about a powerful central government were heeded. President Jefferson said “In matters of Power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” Like the dollar being chained to gold, our federal government was restrained by the Constitution and by the values, assumptions and fears of the founders.   It was the moral values of our Judeo-Christian heritage, the assumption that public service was to be just that, and the fear of a powerful central government that maintained the course of our country and bound men of ambition from “mischief”.

     Power, however, is a great temptation for those with even the best of intentions and the attempts to break the chains that restrained our government increased in intensity over time. In the past hundred years Christianity has been attacked and removed from the public square, public service is rare and statesmanship is nearly unheard of as officials have been reduced to pandering to special interests to keep their privilege, and the fear of a strong and expansive central government has turned into an embrace.   Every time the federal government expanded its power, every time it took on a new role, we, as a people, made the conscious decision to remove the chains and unleash the beast. Whereas the monster was once firmly secured to the rock that was the Constitution, we have now taken that role on ourselves. We now have a picture of a fire breathing dragon, flying above our heads as we, like the Lilliputians of Gulliver’s Travels, are holding onto the ropes thinking we still have control. 

     The problem is we have now taken a progressive view of the constitution, we treat it as a “living” document.   It, like the dollar, now has whatever value we feel it does. In reality, by treating the Constitution as a living document, we kill it. By assigning whatever meaning to it we choose, we give it no meaning at all. By seeking the “penumbras” we make its clear meaning and intent irrelevant. Our government now takes on roles that even the majority of us wish it wouldn’t but once the beast is unleashed, its growth and direction eventually resist our power to control. It is now lobbyists and special interests that feed the beast, determining its shape, size and direction. We have been reduced to a helpless maiden, shrieking as the monster plunders and restrains us, hoping that occasionally our cries are heard, and the monster pauses, at least for a moment.

      The good news is that in a democratic republic, we get the government we desire if we have the courage and the fortitude to slay the monster. Individually, there is little we can do. Collectively, “We the people” still have the ultimate power. We can say no to big government, no to excessive regulation, no to high taxes but we also have to have the resolve to say no to the largess we receive, we have to take back responsibility for our own lives, we must be brave enough to live as free people once again. We have the power to grab the beast and chain it again to the rock of the Constitution but only if we put off the garments of the helpless maiden and put on the armor of the bold knight. It is in our power to restore to this country the system of limited government that ensured our liberty as individuals and our greatness as a country. The only question that remains, are there enough courageous people left in the “land of the free and the home of the brave” to join the quest?

 

Snapshot of the Future Naples, Florida. January 29, 2019

     “Carl, are you alright?” Beverly Jacowsky looked at her husband across the table. They had been eating dinner when Carl had leaned back in the wicker chair, his face suddenly etched with pain. He looked down and began massaging his left arm. “Carl, what's wrong!”

     “I....my arm....I...I can’t breathe....” He was suddenly gasping for air. Beverly screamed as he fell off the chair, his face flushed and covered with perspiration.

     “Carl!” She yelled, running to his side. She grabbed the Emergency Response Device, or “ERD” as it was called, that was around her neck and pushed the button. She hoped it would work. Her mind raced back to a similar situation a few years ago that ended in tragedy.   The ERD system was one of the newer benefits of Universal Health Care, a monitoring system for everyone with a health problem that could turn into an emergency. Tens of millions of people took advantage of it, and not just older people. Welfare recipients, guest workers, undocumented immigrants, anyone who wanted one, even for the most spurious of reasons, was given the device. The idea was that if one was unable to call for help, a simple press of a button on a small device hung around the neck would bring help. It even sent out a GPS signal so emergency services would know just where the victim was. Within the first two years the system was overwhelmed and the projected costs had tripled. Poor mothers used it for children with colds, illegals used it for fender benders, psychiatric patients used it to warn the operators about the end of the world. When her friend Claire had used it after a fall in the shower, there was no response for twenty seven hours, the lines were so backed up. The paramedics found her dead from a blood clot that had resulted from the fall. Immediate treatment would have saved her life.

     Beverly’s phone rang and she answered it quickly. “Hello!” She didn’t realize she was still yelling.

    “What is the nature of your emergency?” asked the deadpan voice on the other end. The woman had a thick Spanish accent.

    “My husband, he just collapsed, I think he’s having a heart attack!”

    “What are his symptoms?” The voice on the other end was not just calm, thought Bev, but...bored?

    “He’s having trouble breathing, he said his left arm was numb, he’s sweating terribly. Please send someone!” she pleaded.

    “Can I have his Health Insurance Identification Number please, so I can verify your information?”

    “I don’t know! My husband needs help now!”

    “The Emergency Response Device is registered to Carl Jacowsky residing at 134 Ocean Way, Naples, Florida. Is this correct?”

    “Yes!”

    “Are you presently located at that address?”

    “Yes, please send someone!”

    “I am contacting emergency services now. The first available team will be sent to your location. Thank you for using the American Health Initiative Emergency Response Network. Have a nice day.” The phone went dead.

     Beverly couldn’t believe it. ‘Have a nice day?!’ Her husband was fighting for his life on the kitchen floor and she says ‘Have a nice day’ and hangs up?! She had heard stories from a few other people about the employees that manned the response center.   When the system had been set up a new federal workers union had been formed, the ERPU or the Emergency Response Personnel Union. But she thought they were simply isolated incidents. Surely if there was a widespread problem with the operators they would have heard about it on the news.

     Carl groaned. “Stay with me honey, help is on its way.” She patted his hand as tears ran down her cheeks. She knew the nearest fire station was only two blocks away so if the call went out quickly the paramedics should arrive in a few minutes. She continued talking soothingly to her love of forty seven years as he lay gasping for air on the floor. She sighed in relief when she heard the sirens. Within minutes she had let the paramedics in and they were assessing her husband, asking a myriad of questions and preparing to move him to the ambulance. She followed them out the door and watched as they loaded him in. As she moved to the back door of the ambulance, on of the medics stopped her.

    “I’m sorry ma'am, no one else is allowed in the emergency vehicle, government regulations. You can meet us at the emergency room, if you like,” he added as he closed the door and rushed to the driver’s side.

    Beverly was dumbfounded for a moment and then rushed back into the house for her keys as the ambulance sped away. She arrived at the hospital fifteen minutes later and rushed to the emergency room. It was packed. A cacophony of voices met her, some English, some Spanish. She rushed to the desk and pushed to the front of the line, enduring the remarks of those she displaced. The woman at the desk didn’t seem to care.

    “My husband, Carl Jacowsky, could you tell me where he is? He was brought in by ambulance a few minutes ago.”

   “Could you spell that please?” The woman sounded bored and annoyed. Beverly spelled it out as the woman typed. “I’m sorry, we have no record of an admittance under that name. You might want to check out front, we are really backed up today. Next!” Beverly was rudely pushed aside by a large Spanish woman. She hurried out the door to where a row of ambulances were parked, engines running. There must have been more than ten. She quickly walked down the line until she recognized the driver that prohibited her from riding along. She quickly went to the back door and banged on it. A muffled curse came from the inside and then the door opened up. Carl was still on the gurney, hooked up to various machines.

    “Why is my husband still here?!”

    “Ma’am, you shouldn’t be here. We are waiting for an opening, please go wait in the emergency room.”

    “I’m not leaving my husband!”

    “Ma’am, the rules are..”

    “To hell with the rules! Why is my husband still here!”

    “Brad, call security,” stated the medic, turning to his companion. Suddenly, one of the machines began beeping insistently. “Code!” yelled the medic. The next five minutes were a blur to Beverly. Needles, paddles, shouting, more electronic beeping. Then all was calm, only one machine buzzing a long even tone until the medic switched it off.

    “Time to call it. 6:18.”

    Beverly fell to here knees behind the ambulance. The red glow of the emergency room sign competed with the orange glow of the sunset. Carl was dead.

 

     This election is an historic one, there is no doubt about that. But aside from the issues of race and gender, it is the principles and ideals at stake that have the potential to rapidly and fundamentally change the character of this nation. For the first time in our history we may elect an avowed socialist. Although vehemently denied by Senator Obama and his supporters, there is no question that he, and the Democrat leadership, have this goal in mind. They have envied the enlightened “success” of European socialism and admired the likes of Fidel Castro, Hugo Chaves and, in the past, Joseph Stalin. Since the days of Franklin Roosevelt they have become experts in class warfare, inciting the poor against the rich, the “middle class” being loosely defined so as to garner their support as necessary. Senator Obama admitted in an unguarded moment with “Joe the Plumber” that he embraces the concept of redistribution of wealth; “To each according to his need, from each according to his ability” as Karl Marx said. He and the Democrats believe, and have for a long time, that the Federal Government is the proper avenue for the solution to every problem be it health care, education, charity, mileage standards, free speech and anything else one can think of. They have pledged to grow government, raise taxes on the successful to do it and borrow the rest. They are supporters of the fairness doctrine, gun control, infanticide, and gay marriage. If Senator Obama is elected and Harry Reid gets his senate super-majority there is no question that along with Nancy Pelosi, they will implement this agenda with a speed not seen since the New Deal and pack the Supreme Court with judges who will advance their ideals long after they are gone.

     If Senator Obama is elected, it will only be by the slimmest of majorities, just as all presidential elections have been in recent years. If he is fortunate, he will get fifty three or fifty four percent of the vote and the press will declare it a landslide and say “The American people have spoken, we want socialism!”   But for the nearly half of us who will not vote for socialism, what are we to do?   For those of us who do not want to see our wealth taken from us and given to others, who want to keep our choices in heath care, who want to have options for our children’s education and want to have venues where we can speak out against these and many other government intrusions, what are we to do? 

    This very scenario was, in fact, the greatest fear of the founders of this country; the tyranny of the majority, the rule of the mob. Unfettered democracy was seen as just a great a danger as that of the tyranny of an all powerful king. As Socrates found, a democracy can vote to have you drik your own poison. That is why the founders choose a constitutional republic with very specific and limited powers divided between three branches of government. As long as the role of government was limited by the elected leader’s respect for the Constitution and the people’s moral character to hold them accountable, there was no way America would accept the socialist, communist or fascist experiments of Europe. After George Washington who set the example for leadership by stepping down at the height of power, there was little danger of dictatorship either.

     All that changed during the tenure of Franklin Roosevelt. FDR was a president for life who exercised dictatorial powers through a myriad of government agencies he created, with the assistance of a friendly congress. The constitution was no longer the clear and unquestioned law of the land but had become a document that was malleable, in some ways was out of date, and could be reinterpreted to support just about any desire of Roosevelt and his friends. It was at that time many of the American people abandoned the principles of a constitutional republic and embraced the socialist principle that and individual’s welfare and happiness was the responsibility of the central government’s and not their own. By encouraging class warfare, distributing money from the treasury to their supporters, and taking nearly absolute control of the education system the liberal Democrat party has systematically incorporated more and more socialism into our society.   In fact, they have been so successful that even Republicans now attempt to buy support with social programs. There are few politicians from either party who speak out for the vision of the founders and even fewer who openly advocate dismantling the system. After all, who is going to get elected by promising to take away government benefits?

     So what are those who don’t want to go down this road to do? For those who believe in the founding principles of this nation-very limited government, individual freedom and responsibility-what do we do if we see little hope in a return to those principles? What is a minority, even a large one, to do when its freedom and principles are no longer protected by the constitution and an all powerful government will force it to accept the confiscation of its property and limitations on its liberty?

     Option number one. We hope that President Obama and his accomplices in the congress so overplay their hand that enough of the American people wake up and realize that this is not where the nation should be going and, as some conservatives hope, the people elect another Reagan. That may well happen but we need more than the Reagan and Gingrich revolutions for as we can see by where we are, they were mere speed bumps on the road to socialism.   If the elections of 2010 and 2012 are negative reactions to the policies of Obama, Pelosi and Reid, the reformers need to actually dismantle the beast, not merely try to tame it. If it is merely sedated or restrained, it need only await another Obama to awaken it in another ten or twenty years. It is my opinion, with the amount of irresponsibility in Washington, financially and otherwise, we may not have that long before our great nation collapses. If that happens the world will lose a great stabilizing influence and it may become what it was in the ninetieth century, a world of poor nations ruled by dictators (kings) competing for supremacy by force of arms. Only this time the nations will be Russia, China and the US and the weapons will be much more terrible.

    Certainly we want to avoid such a fate but our politicians in Washington seem to be running headlong into the abyss. While some see it and there is probably a majority of people who believe that Washington is a large part of the problem, how many will vote for a candidate that vows to eliminate their little piece of the government pie? Is there any real hope that we will be able to reverse the voracious appetite of government and put it on a crash diet? That brings us to option number two, actually a favorite of the left when they don’t get what they want, leaving.   Now this is fine for the left who have more socialist places like Europe to go to but where does one go when one is seeking a modern state where liberty, opportunity and the rule of law are standard? Once upon a time, one came to America, but if America is no longer that place... There are no longer unsettled frontiers in which to begin anew as there were for our forefathers. For the more wealthy among us, the options are more diverse, as they always are for the wealthy, but for the vast majority of us, conservatives and libertarians among the great middle class, leaving the country does not seem a viable option without a great degree of sacrifice.   And why should we leave? We are supposed to be living under a contract called the Constitution and if the present government is operating contrary to that document, then it is illegal and we have the right to resist. 

     Which brings us to option number three. If leaving is not a viable option and the national leadership is unresponsive at best, and destructive at worst, revolution is often the final resort for the oppressed. Such actions can run the gamut from the relatively bloodless fall of the Soviet Union to the bloodbaths of countless coups throughout history.   In America, the Soviet Union is probably the best model but without a catalyst, a crisis in which the national government demonstrates its utter incompetence and is unable to solve, the mass of people will continue to tolerate the most egregious attacks on their liberty. With such an entrenched power, the Communist party in the Soviet Union and the liberal/socialist ideals endemic to both parties in the United States, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to foment a real revolution without that crisis yet no one looks forward to the collapse of the country that will result from it.

     Finally, option number four. This is an option that has a long and checkered past within our history-secession. Getting the colonies to cooperate in the beginning, the threat of southern secession under President Jackson and its realization during President Lincoln’s time are all viable historical examples. Even today there are movements or parties in various states that support secession. To those who see no hope of changing the government from within, are attached to the land of their birth and do not want to wait for a horrible crisis to overtake us all, this may be the most reasonable option. I have no doubt that this is a more difficult option to mentally realize today, as opposed to during the civil war, for state loyalty no longer preempts that of the country as a whole. But there are many people in red states who see the tyranny of the blue states in the Northeast and West as insurmountable and, as things progress and liberty becomes bound more tightly, they may see this as the only viable option to return at least some part of the nation to the constitution and avoid the calamity that befalls the rest of the nation as a result of straying so far afield of our founding principles.

    Whether Senator Obama is elected or not, the march of this country toward socialism will continue, he will merely accelerate the pace to a sprint. What will the great minority of us, those who love liberty and believe in the founders vision, do about it? We will simply protest loudly as we are swallowed up by the relentless march of liberalism? Will we hope that the American people suddenly choose to vote against their immediate self interest and politicians will develop enough backbone to dismantle entrenched bureaucracies and limit their own power? Will some of us escape and seek out some new place where freedom still reigns? Will our coming collapse lead to a new and glorious revolution that returns us to our roots or lead to even darker days? Or will some have the courage to leave the union in an effort to maintain the founder’s original vision and avoid the worst of this great country’s misfortunes? Only time will tell.

Patrick Samuels

www.patricsamuels.com