What Will It Be Next Year – Dependence Day or Independence Day?
Looking back on Independence Day weekend, I am reminded of everything our Founding Fathers fought for. I recently read Glenn Beck’s Common Sense and was blown away not only by the parallels between now and then but, also by the sheer lack of logic in DC over the past couple of decades.
America suffered from benign neglect and soft tyranny prior to the American Revolution. Our Founding Fathers were tired of taxation without representation and the obvious sentiment of the English King/government who only cared about padding his pockets and increasing his power, not the people he supposedly represented.
An underground movement began and there was no single leader, but several who were all involved in the name of freedom, liberty, and justice for all. They sacrificed life and limb to do what’s right for America and her citizens.
While celebrating our independence I was reminded that there is always the possibility that history can repeat itself. Our government is resembling the same soft tyranny that we fought to escape from. Many say they feel that the Constitution is an antiquated document; however, the document is more like a rule of law which takes into account the basic principles of human nature. I like using the analogy of business. As businesses grow and evolve they require standard operating procedures so that they run efficiently and effectively. Standard operating procedures are based upon lessons learned; much like our Constitution. As America grew and became more populated over the years, the soft tyranny from across the pond could no longer represent us, especially when their priorities were themselves. Through lessons learned, observations on human nature and government, our Founding Fathers saw the best way forward to make America the greatest country on Earth. It would be an absolute travesty if our country let the very republic and practice of democracy slip through our fingers due to our own apathy and complacency. All that our troops have fought for over the last 233 years would be lost.
I fear that America is becoming the frog in a pot and the temperature is being turned up gradually. Which means the frog will never realize it’s in hot water until it’s too late. As the greatest generation – those who fought in WWII – slowly leave us, baby boomers are confronted with an ever changing and challenging responsibility to our next generation. Much of the lessons learned through hardship and the traditional values are being lost. The next great generation (40 and younger) has to wake up soon lest our country be lost forever. Unfortunately, I see many of the younger generations being indoctrinated and deluded by political propaganda. I see children who are lazy and complacent and barely leave their house because Halo is more important to play than actual exercise and social interaction. Divorce rates are up because people run as soon as there is pain and troubles. We no longer live in a society of tough love but that of coddling and immediate gratification. If this sentiment persists there will be some very unpalatable changes to American culture – much of which is invariably being taken for granted today.
If we continue down this path we can expect Mommy Government to do everything from feeding us to changing our diapers. Gone will be the days of free enterprise, the entrepreneur, the days of choice in schools, and the choice of our own doctors. Gone will be the days of prosperity, America as a super-power, national security, and our entire American way of life. We could actually find ourselves waking up to a state-run radio or TV station. We will eat government regulated food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We can rest assured that we will motor down the government built highways in our government owned and regulated vehicles, making sure we aren’t leaving huge carbon footprints. Many of us will find ourselves working at a government job or a government contractor as the size of government grows and DC becomes the next metropolis. My weekly paycheck will be deposited into a government-run bank, and that government run bank will also control all of my car, home and student loans. My 401K will be regulated by the government after social security, medicare and medicaid fail. The stock markets will be run by the government who, after controlling all the financial institutions, will control the purse strings of this country. I will quit smoking because the government will control tobacco and eventually ban smoking nationwide. If my government car gives out on me and I get into an accident I will have to attend a government run hospital with government run health care. The government will provide questionnaires to receive the latest information on the public from the census, working on behalf of the government. My home will be government mandated with the passing of cap-and-tax, and I will not be able to sell it or build onto it if it doesn’t reach climate change standards. The light bulbs in my home will become a government requirement and the mercury in the allowable bulbs will kill those who break them. The government will run everything to the point that none of us will be able to take care of ourselves. The addiction ridden citizens of the USA will be “jonesing” for their government “crack” in the name of direction and entitlements. So I must ask, is this what our Founding Fathers fought for, is this what Americans wanted when they asked for “Change?”
It is time for a movement to take back this great nation. We need several strong leaders who have the charisma, the common sense, and the real American spirit to drive this message home by going around the media bias and straight to the hearts of Americans. We have already begun and as people get more fed up with politics as usual the more we see the tea party movement grow. This is the next grassroots movement and it will change the minds of millions! This past July 4, although the media didn’t cover many, if any, of the protests they were all over the nation. I attended a smaller one briefly on the way to a cookout and fireworks. More and more people are becoming disenfranchised with the entire establishment and the government in general. It’s time for ‘we the people’ to take back the country.
Tea Party Photos & Videos from different locations over the weekend:
Go to Michelle Malkin’s site for streaming of the Dallas Tea Party which drew crowds up to 37,000!
Phoenix, AZ:
Boston, MA:
Denver, CO:
Fort Lauderdale, FL:
Houston, TX:
A Couple From Maryland:
New Mexico:
Rochester, NY:
Tulare, CA:
What Do We Have Here? Bank of America Will Accept California’s IOUs
What a surprise! Bank of America, now owned mostly by taxpayers will be accepting California’s IOUs.
California, one of the most solvent states is of course good for their debts/sarc.
This really should have been expected – a state-run bank accepting an insolvent, soon-to-be-bailed-out-state. Seems like monopoly money to me! This is similar to a false economy, where government interference and regulation make free markets anything but FREE/REAL.
Ponzi scheme has become my favorite catch phrase. It effectively seems as though California is issuing it’s own fake currency called IOUs, although it is already insolvent, to pay back at a later date – of which, will never happen. Bank of America is already suffering and got into trouble the last time it bought a toxic company and toxic assets, as did many others – but here it is doing the same thing again. Insanity = Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.
Bank of America Corp. says it will accept warrants issued by California’s state government through July 10.
BofA says the state’s budget crisis prompted its decision.
“To support our customers, while giving the state legislature additional time to pass a budget, we will accept California state-registered warrants — or IOUs — from existing customers and clients,” Charlotte-based BofA (NYSE:BAC) says in a written statement.
It is always important to ask “Why” in these very odd and overwhelming times.
Why would Bank of America, who is already in financial trouble and dire straights, accept California IOUs, which it will probably never see? Why does this seem incredibly like the forced situation of Merrill Lynch? Is Bank of America doing this as a favor to the US government? Should I assume that Bank of America will get more bailout dollars if it accepts such a risky investment?
My biggest “beef” with this scenario: who is supporting Bank of America? The government! And where does the government get its money? The taxpayers! It’s not ok by me, that my money is being used to help bailout California due to its liberal/progressive policies that it enacted on the state.
“It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder.” ~ Frédéric Bastiat 1801-1850 “The Law”
The DoD Thinks Protesters Are Terrorists
It reminds me of the old junkie commercials from the 90′s… “Nobody said ‘I want to be a terrorist when I grow up.’”
I certainly never thought myself a terrorist or involved in terrorist activities, but that’s not what the DoD manual says.
On the last 2 pages of the DoD manual, (PDF here) obtained by the ACLU, they state that protests are considered low-level terrorism. That means that Tea Party protesters, abortion protesters, and even David Letterman protesters are considered terrorists.
The DoD refresher course/manual begins:
“Anti-terrorism (AT) and Force Protection (FP) are two facets of the Department of Defense (DoD) Mission Assurance Program. It is DoD policy, as found in DoDI 2000.16, that the DoD Components and the DoD elements and personnel shall be protected from terrorist acts through a high priority, comprehensive, AT program. The DoD’s AT program shall be all encompassing using an integrated systems approach.”
The first question of the Terrorism Threat Factors, “Knowledge Check 1″ section reads as follows:
Which of the following is an example of low-level terrorism activity?
Select the correct answer and then click Check Your Answer.
O Attacking the Pentagon
O IEDs
O Hate crimes against racial groups
O Protests
***
The “correct” answer is Protests.
Of course the left-wing blogs like Salon associate this with “fascists” on the right. However, fascism is left-wing and totalitarian. Fascism can go left or right. It’s incredibly disingenuous to blame a group based upon the actions of lone “crazies” like Tiller’s killer. I could say the very same thing for the Arkansas murder of the Army recruiter for the left, or what we learned about the Holocaust Museum shooting (although the below shows a lack of research or knowledge of the shooter’s political leanings, blaming it on the right).
…thus giving the government under the rubric of fighting domestic terrorism unrestrained and unsupervisable power to suppress legitimate political activities, the unleashing and justifications for Christian fascists to murder those they do not like (such as the assassination of Dr. George Tiller and the killing at the Holocaust Museum a few days ago) – this news adds further fuel to the fire.
The far left fails to realize the gravity of this for all of America, not just some political ideology. We all protest and we all stand up and fight for what we believe in. To be considered terrorists for our voice is something we should all be concerned about.
600 Tea Partiers Greet Nancy Pelosi in Houston, TX
I would probably be there protesting her taxpayer funded Botox, or her addiction to lying.
National Sales Tax Anyone?
Sounds like our very own EU VAT coming to the U. S. of A. How lucky we are that the usual common sense of Congress and the President is kicking in! When the economy is recessed and there is the possibility it could get worse with an impending bond implosion or inflation in the coming months, why not raise taxes on everyone?
I know that liberals see this as a great idea. They can raise taxes on all those evil fat-cats, actually wind up hurting the middle and lower class, all to pay for their own fiscally irresponsible habits.
As lawmakers toy with the idea of an across-the-board sales tax on just about everything, tax reform advocates are starting to drum up opposition with the same fervor they employed during last month’s anti-tax tea parties.
The idea of a national sales tax was once unlikely. But now that the federal government is doling out billions in stimulus spending and bailouts, and looking for billions more for health care reform, the prospect could be gaining some traction.
The frenzy over the idea kicked up after a Washington Post article Wednesday reported that Congress is starting to pay closer attention to this largely academic proposal and that the Obama administration, though shushing speculation, is soliciting advise from supporters of the idea.
“It should certainly raise alarm bells that they think they can inject it into the debate,” said Phil Kerpen, policy director at Americans for Prosperity.
The value-added tax, or VAT, as it is called, amounts to a tax-on-everything — or TOE, for the acronym-inclined. It’s a tax on goods that’s applied in pieces throughout the chain of production and distribution and results in an increase in the cost of virtually everything you buy.
The fact that the United States has dug its own hole regarding our debt where Bush and Obama combined can be blamed for a lot of it (I should also state that the liberal congress who has been there since the end of 2006 is also a huge culprit when it comes to voting on and setting budgets). The National Debt is around $11.3T and growing at a steady pace, while the GDP is somewhere between $13 & $14T, seeing negative growth and possible stagnation in the out years. This spells disaster for anyone in financial analysis, who understands debt ratios.
Inflation at this point is inevitable and that will mean higher prices for every American. Each individual household is also responsible for $668,621 based on the latest article out of USA Today. This obligation includes the total federal debt obligations per household as well as the average debt obligation for an American household at a personal level. My question is this: With median household income below $60K in the U.S. (if debt was all your income was used on – no taxes, no food, gas, clothes, shelter etc.), – do you think Americans would be able to pay that off in their lifetime? Buhbye American Dream…
The sad fact is that Americans became spoiled – the government was not a good role model, and the sense of saving and living within one’s means quickly flew out the window.
What USA Today, because it’s biased, fails to do is disclose the fact that 2008 alone cannot be blamed for the debt obligations of American citizens tied to the government like serfs. The Stimulus package, the omnibus package and the budget of Barack H. Obama has increased deficit spending unlike anything this country has seen and his debt obligation alone is more than all presidents in history combined. His out year budgets are also something to shriek at – he did not have to spend this much money, although the liberal propagandists will spin it and continue to say it was a crisis and he had to do what was necessary because he inherited this mess – I call Shenanigans! Use Reagan’s model to dig out of a recession/depression – not FDR’s fallacious one, in which he hurt rather than helped.
It should be no surprise to anyone that in order to balance the budget and pay off this debt, taxes have to be raised. Taxes have to increase to sustain the ever increasing size of government and due to the large drop in tax revenue for 2008 filing it really was an inevitable idea of the beltway gang.
Raising taxes while people are already hurting will make things much worse. This proposal of a sales tax, much like the EU VAT, will be dreadful on our economy and on average regular “Joe’s.”
Rasmussen just conducted a poll asking Americans what they thought about a national sales tax at this point in time. A whopping 68% of respondents were against the tax and only 18% approved. If the White House is really using polling data to govern it may want to take a look at this one!
If the U.S. VAT passes I’ll be happy to point out to the young college-aged waiters that they no longer get tips – just like Europe! 
You voted for it!
