Big Government's Encroachment in Our Lives and Liberties

Americans would never allow our exceptional nation that our Founder’s fought for and established for the sake of exercising our Divinely-given rights of freedom to fall under the soft tyranny of an over-bearing, intrusive, and anti-capitalistic government. At least we American’s wouldn’t tolerate this should these changes from liberty to tyranny be enacted in one fell swoop, right? Unfortunately we Americans have allowed this to happen incrementally over many generations though. Frighteningly we are now at a critical point in the history of our nation where our way of life, our American way of life, is nearly over because of this incremental encroachment of government upon our liberties.

We have allowed the federal government to become so big and so powerful that it literally has control over a vast majority of the private sector economically and control of the population in so many other horrifying ways. The unfortunate part to all of this is that most Americans do not even realize this has happened yet. We are one despot being elected to the presidency away from being in a completely fascist state. Don’t believe me? Look what our neglect in understanding our history, economics, and holding our elected officials responsible has wrought!

First, the two government sponsored enterprises of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are said to be responsible for, depending on the source, between 70% to 90% of all housing loans in the country. The fact that these two companies were given lines of credit from our federal government and no SEC oversight was required of them was the very catalyst for the current economic recession in which we now find ourselves. Basically our federal government has an interest and indeed ultimately control of the loan for a vast majority of everyones’ home in America.

Second, with the passing of Obamacare this year, the federal government has in effect put in place a plan that will ultimately insure that 30+million people are added to the health insurance rolls while providing price fixes and disincentives to doctors and other health care providers. This means that you will have more people seeking health care and less people providing that service. The law of supply and demand dictates that prices for services will go up and/or rationing of available services will occur accordingly. This, of course, is what the government intended as private health insurance companies will ultimately no longer be able to make a profit and stay in business in the coming years. The result will be a fully managed, government-run health care system once the last private health insurer fails. Uncle Sam will dictate who gets what finite services and when. Further, the health care industry in our country is responsible for around 30% of our nation’s economy.

Third, a barely mentioned addendum to the recent health care act was that ALL student loans are now offered ONLY through the government. One can no longer go to a private bank to get a student loan. The government has the power to dictate who will get these loans, decide if the school you choose is “accredited” for your education, and could even conceivably one day approve or deny your loan based upon your desired course of study. This is an extraordinary shift in power away from the people to the government. If the government is in charge of one’s education, they can also determine the “type” of education you are to have and which colleges are worthy of having students that are there on student loans.

Fourth, the recent financial reform was another complete farce and further put control over a huge swath of our nation’s economy into the government’s hands. Rather than correct the problems of corruption and lack of adequate oversight in the financial system, all this act did was to ultimately give the power to the president to unilaterally (now without even the need for congressional approval!) decide if a private company is “risky” and its subsequent failure might negatively impact the nation’s economy. The president can then nationalize the company and have the government operate it like what has been done to GM, Chrysler, and various other financial institutions. A private company can now be seized by the government on the say of the president alone!

Fifth, there are those in government which are ardently working to enact the inaccurately named “Fairness Doctrine” and “net neutrality” in order to dissuade or control the free speech on our radios, televisions, and even internet. A government that has a say in what a citizen can say is no longer a protector of liberty.

Sixth, the federal government is desperately trying to pass cap & trade legislation in order to control the energy sector of our nation. Such an act would transform our energy policy, purportedly to help bring about cleaner and greener energy, but ultimately raising the costs of gasoline, oil, and electricity substantially. This will result in calamitous effects, especially for the poor and lower middle class as they struggle with the exorbitant rise in costs to heat their homes or drive to work.

Seventh, the government wishes to even control many of the jobs in this nation by providing hand-outs and incentives to unions. (Note, how President Obama neglected GM and Chrysler’s debt owed to investors, stock-holders, and vendors only to award many of the assets of the companies to union control!) Further, the Democrats are strongly pushing for card-check legislation to be passed which would essentially eliminate the secret ballot and open up dissenting voices to intimidation etc. when a vote is taken to form a new union in a work place.

So in summation, we Americans have allowed our government to get so gargantuan and intrusive that it now has or is working towards having control of our homes, our health care, our education, our banking and indeed our businesses, our right to free speech, our energy, and even our jobs. At what point do we stand up and say enough? What has happened to America that so many of our citizens don’t recognize this usurpation of our freedoms, but have actually celebrated and desired the government to take care of all of their individual needs from the womb to the tomb?

America was founded as a nation by rugged individuals that understood and desired only liberty. They would look at us with scorn and disgust for what we have allowed this greatest of all nations ever founded by mankind to become. Thomas Jefferson was right when he said,  “A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have.”

A Man of Faith

A few weeks ago, a good man and friend of mine that has returned to the Catholic faith decided to join the Knights of Columbus, which is a fraternal organization of Catholic gentlemen dedicated to Christ, Church, and service to the community.

Well during the first degree ceremony to initiate my friend into the Knights, I heard one of the other Knights speak about the "Romanian" that would be joining that evening as well. I had the privilege to shake my friend's hand after the ceremony as well as the hand of the "Romanian". I thought little more about it until this last weekend.

You see, we had a short retreat early Saturday morning for the 43 members of RCIA that would be officially joining the Catholic Church during the Easter Vigil Mass later that evening. (The Mass was beautiful and very joyous to watch as these good people glowingly went through the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and first communion, by the way.) Anyway, after the retreat, I noticed the "Romanian" was helping some other volunteers to prepare the church for the Easter Vigil that evening.

At one point, I went up to him to thank him for his work in helping to prepare the nave for that evening. It was something that I did as a spur of the moment after-thought as I was walking past him. I am so glad that I stopped and took the time to talk to the "Romanian", who goes by the name of John. Our conversation that transpired was amazing and inspiring.

John began to tell me his story of how he came to America. He had grown up and lived in the Transylvania region of Romania for most of his 61 years behind the iron curtain of the cold war.

John lived under the very brutal dictatorship of Nikolae Ceausescu. Ceausescu was one of the very evil rulers of this Soviet Union satellite nation that seemingly delighted in the persecution of his people. In particular, there was no place for God and Christianity in Ceausescu's Romania, just as there was not in any nation trapped behind the iron curtain.

Well, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the people of Romania overthrew Nikolai Ceausescu and his wife Elena and executed them both for their crimes perpetrated against the Romanian people; A people that were severely punished or killed for choosing to worship God during Ceausescu's reign.

John said that he always believed in Christ though, even despite the knowledge that should that become public, he would possibly suffer a horrible fate.

Well John relayed how he eventually came to the United States seven years ago. He did his best to tell his story in his broken and poor English. (Unfortunately my Romanian skills are non-existent). John spoke of his faith and the magnificence of God, Christ, and the Church and how lucky we are without even knowing it that we are free to worship God as we please. It is something that seemed to amaze him how many people took this basic tenet of freedom for granted here.

John further told me and showed me pictures of his two stunningly beautiful daughters, who both are professional models in California, and of his beloved twin grand-daughters. He is exceptionally proud of his family and the fact that his daughters have taken advantage of America's blessings and have availed themselves of good college educations as well.

He inspired me with his marveling at our nation's freedoms and blessings. Although I am very aware of the exceptionalism of this last great nation that still is a shining city on the hill, admittedly I too take many of our freedoms for granted. John in his broken English and with emotion in his eyes and his hands clasped as if in prayer reminded me that our freedoms are indeed blessings from God and that they must be fiercely defended. And he is a man that knows of which he speaks. I am grateful to him and to God for this divine reminder!

These Freedoms We Hold Dear

I have always been impressed and utterly amazed with the brilliance of many of our founding fathers of this most exceptional nation ever founded in human history. As I have stated in previous posts, there are many reasons why the United States of America is so exceptional when compared to every other nation on this planet. Our freedoms, as protected by our founders when forming the foundation of America and its government, is perhaps the most important of them all.

Our founders set the foundation for a nation that was not based on a monarchy or even a class system as were most European nations of that era. With a strong reliance on John Locke, our founders believed in natural law and that our rights were derived from God and not from other men, and especially not from government.

The founders in their brilliance created a masterpiece in our United States Constitution which had the purpose of limiting the powers and rights of the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. In other words, its purpose was to tell the government what it specifically was allowed to do and what it was not allowed to do.

Further, the Constitution specifically enumerates the rights of We The People that the federal government must enforce and cannot usurp. Those rights and duties that are not specifically enumerated as being under the purview of the government are reserved to the States or the people, as per the tenth amendment to the Constitution. The federal government is not authorized to regulate or legislate on any issue not specifically authorized in the Constitution, or so it is use to be and should be still.

Evidently our federal government has forgotten our history and has chosen to ignore the wisdom and profound law of the land in our Constitution. They do so at their own peril and even more importantly at the peril of our nation. It was for the exact same usurpation of rights, egregious taxation, and soft tyranny that our founders risked and fought a revolution after declaring that they no longer would live under the rule of a tyrant king.

They stated this in the following excerpt from the United States Declaration of Independence:

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 to 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 shown 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. (emphasis is mine)

With such timeless wisdom espoused in the Declaration of Independence and the fact that there are scores of millions of Americans that still know, honor, and are willing to sacrifice to ensure that this greatest of all nations does not end up on the ash heap of history, one has to wonder if President Obama and those in congress that continue to govern against the will of the governed see the potential dangers they are fomenting on our country.

Now I am not one that has ever been radical enough to think that a new revolution could occur in my lifetime in America, but if those in power continue to thwart the Constitution and the will of the people with their hoax and chains they can believe in, then perhaps a real tea party could indeed be the result of their intransigence.

For those neo-liberal statists out there, beware! Believe me when I tell you there are a hell of a lot more Americans that know and love their country than there are of you one-world Utopian types, and we will not allow America to become just one more of the many other un-exceptional nations of the world.