President Obama, when he is not blaming former President George W. Bush for the problems in America, tends to blame Congress. At first, I thought it a bit curious that he would blame Congress, since his party, the Democrats, control one house of Congress—the Senate. Then it dawned on me. Most people, primarily due to lack of knowledge, believe that the Congress is controlled by the Republicans. Others believe that the House of Representatives, under control of the Republicans, is the Congress.
Folks, if you took Civics or Social Studies, depending on what it was called when you took it, you should remember, the Congress is made up of two houses—the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House members serve two-year terms. The Senate members serve six-year terms. The Speaker of the House, Representative John Boehner, is a Republican, and the Senate Majority Leader, Senator Harry Reid, is a Democrat. Mr. Boehner, as Speaker of the house, runs the House. His predecessor, in control of the House from 2006 until 2010, was Representative Nancy Pelosi, from California (San Francisco area), a very liberal Democrat. Senator Reid, as Majority Leader of the Senate, runs the Senate, and the Democrats control the Senate.
Mr. Obama would like for us all to believe that the Congress (House and Senate) has stopped all of the things he has tried to do to cause the economy to improve. For his first two years as President, his party, the Democrats, controlled both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Remember, they shoved Obamacare down our throats. They were able to do so, because the Republicans did not have enough people in either house of Congress to stop it.
The Republican Party, in control of the House of Representatives, has passed over twenty bills aimed at enabling American industry to create jobs. Harry Reid (DEMOCRAT), as Majority Leader of the Senate, has refused to bring a single one of them to the floor for a vote. The SENATE (read Democrats and Harry Reid) has blocked everything the Republicans in the House of Representatives have tried to do. If either Mr. Obama or Mr. Reid were serious about creating real jobs, they would bring these bills to the floor for an up or down vote.
Since the Democrats gained control of the House and Senate in 2006, they have failed to pass a federal budget, instead voting in “stop-gap” measures to keep the government running. Mr. Obama has not submitted a serious budget to the Congress (the House of Representatives and Senate) since he took office over three years ago. What he has submitted, Mr. Reid and the Democrats defeated in the Senate.
If you want to blame anybody for the ills of the American economy, and you don’t want to blame Mr. Obama, then you need to blame Senator Reid and the Democrats in the Senate. That is where the bottle neck is located (once you get past the bottle neck in the White House). They can ram through Obamacare, and they can take time to file lawsuits against Arizona, Alabama, and South Carolina to overturn their immigration laws. They can take the time to block South Carolina’s attempt to inject some integrity into our elections by requiring a photo I.D. to vote. Mr. Obama can find the time to take nineteen vacations in three years (at enormous taxpayer expense), but Mr. Obama and the Democrats in the Senate can’t seem to find time to pass a budget. It seems to this writer that the problem resides in the White House and the Senate. I would say it’s time to clean house in both houses—the Senate and the White House! Unfortunately, as long as our government robs Peter to pay Paul, they will always have Paul’s vote. When Paul outnumbers Peter, we will go down the drain.
Showing posts with label Senator. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Senator. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Do We Still Have Government of the People, By the People, and For the People?
Most of our elected representatives around the nation seem to have forgotten that we are supposed to be a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. They seem to believe that our government is responsible only for responding to the special interests and the interests of their respective political parties. According to the constitution of the United States, our government is responsible only for providing for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty.
Article I, Section VIII outlines the powers granted to Congress, and Article II, Section II outlines the powers granted to the President. In neither place, does the Constitution grant the power to our government to run roughshod over us. Nowhere does the Constitution grant to our government the power to force down our collective throat a healthcare plan which allows the government to control our very healthcare decisions. Some of the decisions may very well determine whether we live or die.
Nowhere in those articles will you find the granting of power to any branch of our government to decide that a politically correct agenda of going green should control how we drive to work, to the grocery store, or church or synagogue, or other place of worship. Nowhere in our Constitution does it grant to our government the right to use Al Gore’s junk science of climate change to force us to change our way of living.
Instead of simply deciding what they think is best for us, it is time our government listen to us, we the people. Instead of comparing our government to the governments of Europe, we should remember the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said, in 1787, that a comparison of our government with the governments of Europe “is like a comparison of heaven and hell.”
Based on the behavior of most of the Democrat members of Congress who have held town hall meetings, I believe they fear and distrust the people who dare to question their “judgment”. Well, let’s look again at Thomas Jefferson who said in 1824, “Men…are naturally divided into two parties. Those who fear and distrust the people… Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe…depository of the public interest.” In 1787, Jefferson stated, “Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers…alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.”
On the other hand, Alexander Hamilton seemed to subscribe to the attitude of so many members of the liberal wing of today’s Democrat party. He said in 1787, “The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right.” He went on to say, “Nothing but a permanent body can check the imprudence of democracy. Their turbulent and uncontrolling disposition requires checks. Take mankind in general, they are vicious—their passions may be operated upon… Take mankind as they are, and what are they governed by? Their passions.” In 1783, Hamilton said, “I have an indifferent (low) opinion of the honesty of this country, and ill forebodings as to its future system.”
When our government assumes it has the right to assume power to do whatever it deems possible, it should again learn what Thomas Jefferson said on February 17, 1791. He said, “I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground—that all powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states, or to the people. To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specifically drawn around the powers of Congress is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition.” In 1787, Jefferson had stated, “I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive. It places the governors (those doing the governing) indeed more at their ease, at the expense of the people.”
My fellow citizens, this is not the way to govern in a democratic republic such as the United States. The way our government has chosen to govern is more akin to the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) than it is to anything our founding fathers ever envisioned! Ask your Senator or Representative if he or she believes that our government should govern strictly according to our Constitution. If the answer is anything other than a resounding, “Yes!” then you need to replace that person in the next election.
Blessings…
Article I, Section VIII outlines the powers granted to Congress, and Article II, Section II outlines the powers granted to the President. In neither place, does the Constitution grant the power to our government to run roughshod over us. Nowhere does the Constitution grant to our government the power to force down our collective throat a healthcare plan which allows the government to control our very healthcare decisions. Some of the decisions may very well determine whether we live or die.
Nowhere in those articles will you find the granting of power to any branch of our government to decide that a politically correct agenda of going green should control how we drive to work, to the grocery store, or church or synagogue, or other place of worship. Nowhere in our Constitution does it grant to our government the right to use Al Gore’s junk science of climate change to force us to change our way of living.
Instead of simply deciding what they think is best for us, it is time our government listen to us, we the people. Instead of comparing our government to the governments of Europe, we should remember the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said, in 1787, that a comparison of our government with the governments of Europe “is like a comparison of heaven and hell.”
Based on the behavior of most of the Democrat members of Congress who have held town hall meetings, I believe they fear and distrust the people who dare to question their “judgment”. Well, let’s look again at Thomas Jefferson who said in 1824, “Men…are naturally divided into two parties. Those who fear and distrust the people… Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe…depository of the public interest.” In 1787, Jefferson stated, “Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers…alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.”
On the other hand, Alexander Hamilton seemed to subscribe to the attitude of so many members of the liberal wing of today’s Democrat party. He said in 1787, “The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right.” He went on to say, “Nothing but a permanent body can check the imprudence of democracy. Their turbulent and uncontrolling disposition requires checks. Take mankind in general, they are vicious—their passions may be operated upon… Take mankind as they are, and what are they governed by? Their passions.” In 1783, Hamilton said, “I have an indifferent (low) opinion of the honesty of this country, and ill forebodings as to its future system.”
When our government assumes it has the right to assume power to do whatever it deems possible, it should again learn what Thomas Jefferson said on February 17, 1791. He said, “I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground—that all powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states, or to the people. To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specifically drawn around the powers of Congress is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition.” In 1787, Jefferson had stated, “I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive. It places the governors (those doing the governing) indeed more at their ease, at the expense of the people.”
My fellow citizens, this is not the way to govern in a democratic republic such as the United States. The way our government has chosen to govern is more akin to the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) than it is to anything our founding fathers ever envisioned! Ask your Senator or Representative if he or she believes that our government should govern strictly according to our Constitution. If the answer is anything other than a resounding, “Yes!” then you need to replace that person in the next election.
Blessings…
Labels:
constitution,
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govern,
government,
healthcare,
Representative,
republic,
Republican,
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