Near midnight March 21, now known as “Red Sunday” the House of Representatives voted to pass the Senate version of a national health care bill following many late night, behind closed-door deals made to buy or threaten holdouts and organizations amidst uncommon legislative trickery. Shame had no limits.
I join the millions across the country disappointed—even angered—with our Imperial Congress, which has voted to clear the way for the end of freedom as we know it in healthcare—government takeover of 1/6 of the economy. They have done so with full knowledge that this intrusion is not supported by the people and is not constitutional.
Following a year filled with tea parties and town hall meetings where Americans voiced their anger and distrust of this bill, Congress has continued to be flooded with emails, phone calls, letters, and faxes, as never before. Millions of formerly silent and trusting Americans from both parties became vigilant activists as they saw liberty threatened and their voices simply ignored. Yet members of both houses marched forward, hell-bent to give us what recent surveys say a vast majority of Americans did not want.
The demand of the people was as clear as it possibly could be: We do not want socialism, more debt unfairly passed to our posterity, or laws that only lawyers can read and that are hundreds, sometimes thousands of pages in length! (Sunday morning the Bill was approximately 2400 pages in length but by evening it was near 2700 pages.) There has not been such disregard for the people since the American Revolution when Parliament did similarly. If an Imperial Congress can do it on one measure opposed by the people, they can do it on any measure. At least half of Congress no longer represents the people or defends the Constitution they vowed to honor. Everyone in the House or Senate voting to take away our health care liberty should be removed from office at the earliest possible moment regardless of party. Those running for Congress in 2010 should not be supported unless they pledge to repeal this legislation at the earliest possible moment.
The California State legislature immediately must join the 14 sister states bringing suit to the Federal Government for abuse of power on the basis of this most serious violation of the 10th Amendment. Health care is not one of the enumerated powers in Article I, Section 8 and thus is an individual or state prerogative at best, as noted in the much-ignored 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Nor can it be justified as an extension of the commerce clause as some ignorantly suppose. We must take back our health care from the government that cannot even run the post office. If we do not persist in this fight, then our government will continue to hijack our economy and run it into the ground just like they have done with everything else they have power over.
Thank you fellow Tea Party Patriots who in 2009 demonstrated your commitment to the United States Constitution, the Founding Fathers, and to those principles that made us the freest and wealthiest land on the earth: limited government, fiscal responsibility and the free market. We assembled to protest the abandonment of that sacred document and these inspired principles it protects.
The Tea Party movement expressed itself most fully last April 15, when nearly 800 cities throughout the land demanded that both political parties stop the insane spending that was taking our children and grandchildren into massive debt before they were even born. Over a million gathered in the capitol alone. In Bakersfield the number exceeded 3,500. At no time in U.S. History was there a greater, more universal, and more grass roots outpouring of populous sentiment and anger toward both parties than on that single day. Millions gathered with the same message: slow down! The sky is not falling. What is right in America is still accessible.
Millions gathered again July 4th in a similar number of cities, and again on Sept 12 when at least 200 cities (23 in California) expressed contempt for lawmakers so willing to abandon our core values. These were smaller and fewer groups because so many joined the Tea Party Express assembling in Sacramento and eventually making her way through 33 cities becoming stronger as she went, landing 1.6 million angry patriots on the steps of the capitol on that same day. The message was crystal clear: return to the Constitution, limited government fiscal responsibility and free market solutions or resign. Let us not overlook the countless phone calls, emails and faxes we sent to legislators and others demanding a return to our core values.
In the meantime, last May our members successfully expressed themselves opposing irresponsible propositions in California. Nationally we comprised the majority in over 200 Town Hall meetings in August, voicing opposition to members of Congress on National Health Care. Not one of these 200 Town Hall meetings favored government takeover of healthcare. We were the strength and numbers behind the Town Hall Movement.
Moreover, it was Tea Party Patriots who rushed to help eliminate the Democratic supermajority in Congress by taking on Massachusetts, the mother state of National Health Care and of Ted Kennedy, the Father of socialized medicine. This victory sapped the strength of those who had so blatantly disregarded the will of the people.
We have become a source to be reckoned with as we return to our basics. The sleeping giant has awakened. America desperately needs what we have to say before it is too late. It’s about liberty. Together Tea Party Patriots and 9/12 Project participants will return this nation to its core values.
Let us not be divided by political bickering. We will need all our strength in 2010 as we stop yet another stimulus bill (a.k.a. “Jobs Bill”), Cap and Trade, and Law of the Sea, each of which violates core values. In California we must get water to our farmers and ranchers in the Central Valley. Turn on the pumps and do so now! We must also join with the 35 other states placing an amendment in their state constitutions asserting that the federal government has no authority to tell states and their citizens to buy health insurance. Finally, we must rescind the ERAF legislation enabling Sacramento to rob money from counties, cities and special districts to balance their budget. There is much to do! Let’s make 2010 another great year for getting back to our basics.
“Outdated. Ancient. Irrelevant.” Those are some of the words used to describe the United States Constitution by many who wish to dismantle the freedom it protects. What many people fail to recognize is that at no other time in history has a nation been more prosperous, industrious, and innovative as America has been under the guidance of that document. At least 80% of all inventions on the planet came from our soil because the Constitution unleashed freedom and incentive as never before.
The answer to how we create jobs would be the same as the founding fathers: get the government’s nose out of business. Imagine if I offered my grandson an hourly allowance for mowing the lawn, and yet I required him to spend extra money on environmentally friendly gas, forbade him to work on days where the air quality was poor, and forced him to purchase health insurance, mower insurance, and unemployment insurance. To make ends meet, my grandson would have to double his cost. The whole operation becomes too expensive, so I lay off my grandson and hire the illegal immigrant down the street who will practically mow my lawn for free.
Excessive regulation smothers the free market, resulting in reduced profits, increased expense, decreased productivity, and devastating job loss. I watched Kern County’s version of this scenario play out on January 11, 2010, as I rushed to Sacramento to testify in opposition of the proposed 12.5% oil severance tax. I went in support of Assembly Woman Jean Fuller, along with some 350 industry workers, to fight what would have resulted in at least 7,000 lost jobs in Kern County alone. We think we have won this particular fight- for now. But the threat to the free market philosophy that provides our jobs is real, and there is no telling who Sacramento and Washington will choose to be the next victim of their self-imposed budget crisis.
President Reagan pulled us out of the most serious economic recession outside of our own since the Great Depression. The answer was Constitutionally based tax cuts, deregulation, budget cuts and a strict anti-inflation monetary policy. We must now do the same. We need to freeze additional hiring in all publicly financed entities just as the private sector does when the funds do not exist. California in particular needs to strengthen the borders, across which a half million illegal immigrants annually walk without penalty, taking jobs, draining social services, and costing the taxpayer an estimated 10.5 billion annually.
Most importantly, the free market needs a government-ectomy. George Washington said, “The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.” Marvel no more, President Washington. Our patience has been exhausted and we are ready to reclaim the free market and restore this great land to prosperity and liberty. After all, it’s about liberty.
Sept. 19, 1796, just prior to leaving the presidency, President George Washington issued his famous Farewell Address. In his usual stately manner as the father of this great nation he warned posterity of possible pitfalls that could undermine or destroy this great experiment in liberty. His warnings may well be timelier nearly 220 years later as we near his birthday February 22.
Avoid Debt
In strong terms he asked that we avoid debt. He said: “As a very important source of strength and security cherish public credit… use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasion of expense… [Use the] time of peace, to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear.” Today our national debt sits at over $12 1/3 trillion—the highest in our history. To put this in perspective, if we laid dollar bills on top of each other a trillion dollars would take us upward 68,000 miles into the sky—a third of the way to the moon. Twelve trillion dollars stacked on top of one another would take us to the moon and back twice. Obviously today neither party has taken Washington’s advice. Presently the debt per taxpayer is $113,151. We are spending our way into oblivion (See USDebtClock.org).
Preserve Religion and Morality
Washington pleaded with the nation to keep religion and morality strong. He said: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports…. Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” The founding Fathers never supported the notion of separation of religion and government—only the separation of an organization of religion from government. What would Washington say of the immorality that prevails today?
Foreign Policy
Our first president even had advice with respect to how we should deal with foreign nations. He advised that our commercial policy “should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences…diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce but forcing nothing.” This is a far cry from the bullying tactics we’ve too often employed the last 100 years. But the warning about foreign aid was especially good. He basically told us gift giving in foreign affairs is a good way to be universally hated. He said it placed us “in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more.” Today there is hardly a nation in the world that does not have its hand out and when, after once giving, the amount is reduce or terminated we are hated all the more for it.
Special Interest Groups
He warned against the origin of “combinations and associations” whose intent was to suppress the desires of the majority in favor of the minority. He called them artificial power factions. We call them special interest groups. What would he say upon learning that a third of the cabinet of every president since Herbert Hoover belonged to the Council on Foreign Relations? Such factions, he said, “May answer popular ends and become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government….” The antidote for this, Washington explained, was “to resist with care the spirit of innovation” upon basic constitutional principles or premises no matter how flowery, appealing or “specious the pretext.”
Hold Leaders Accountable
Washington worried about posterity not holding their elected officials strictly to the limits imposed by the Constitution. He knew many would seek to undermine that document by twisting it to give power they could not acquire without the distortion. Sound familiar? He said: “But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed.” Today much of what the federal government does is not even mentioned in the Constitution. But freedom fighters are not likely to be popular, he said: “Real patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become suspected and odious; while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.” One need not look far for the tools and dupes; they seem to be everywhere. If we wish to return this nation to liberty and prosperity, we must adhere to the council of George Washington. We must choose leaders who strictly follow this formula, and we must continue to involve ourselves in holding these leaders accountable. After all, it’s about liberty.
We have a problem, California. Our house is on fire, and it is burning to the ground. Some refuse to acknowledge that this fire is dangerous. Some have chosen to bury their heads in the sand and pretend there is no fire. Some look directly at it, and while watching it destroy our livelihood say, “Don’t worry. That house is too big to burn down.” Others know the damage the fire will do, and condescendingly suggest we “grab a mop” to put it out.
Many have come to the rescue to put out the fire. A doctor or lawyer or some other respected professional may know how to put out a fire in theory; but I would prefer the firefighter who has been professionally trained, with his fire truck that is fully equipped with everything he or she needs to save my home from eminent destruction.
In the fight to save California’s house from burning to the ground, I consider myself to be the firefighter we need. The 25 years I have spent articulating freedom and adherence to the US Constitution in this community qualifies me to make such a statement. I come fully equipped with an arsenal of knowledge and the ability to articulate how the Constitution can save California. Many are asking me why I dropped out of the race for State Assembly, as I was the only candidate who came with a fire truck and water hose. Every audience I was privileged to address knew this, as did any and all who have known me and heard me speak over the years. But a funny and unfortunate thing about politics is that you cannot win unless that support turns into dollar signs, although we made a large dent in this race with our numerous volunteers and limited funds.
But the fight for liberty is not over for me. In fact, it is just beginning. The time for sitting idly by and watching as our liberty is confiscated from us one stifling law at a time is over. It is time to move beyond the four walls of my classroom, and beyond the party politics of any election. Real change will not come about in this country from the politicians; it will come from the people who demand it. But first we must arm ourselves with knowledge of our founding, and of the Constitution and how the principles therein can save our country and our freedom.
As a culture we have forgotten who we are, where we came from, and why those things matter. Through my website, LibertyUnderFire.org, I plan to share the wealth of information I have collected over the years with any and all who care about freedom.
If we do not act now, we will follow those in history who have given their freedom away to a government who promises the world in return. We must take back California and America now before the house burns to the ground and all that is left is the ash-dusted remnants of the freedom we can barely remember.
