A few notes about this very important day in America’s history (and my family’s as well).
Frankly, I think the Founding Fathers would be aghast at the exapnsion of the size and influence of the federal government in our daily lives. Here’s a link worth reading:
The Declaration of Independence poses many reasons justifying the split from the King and Parliament. In my view, the key reason for wanting to part ways with Britain and form a new government was:
“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.”
Let that sink in for a bit….. I would suggest that our current government is guilty of this and more. Many liken our current President to the King of England and see his abuses and those of the Congress like the King and Parliament from which we split some 237 years ago.
My belief is that the Independence our nation’s founders sought was from the meddling of a big government, far away, seen to be using the colonies as a tool rather than being a tool of the citizens. Today’s situation is similar in many ways. Our government in Washington, D.C., seems quite detached from the people that it is sworn to serve. We have a President and Congress who both treat the people in a condescending manner, at the least, and, it seems to me, with a total lack of respect. We are looked down upon as if we were too stupid to get out of the rain and only with the gracious help of the Federal Government can we even pass successfully through life. Proof of this lies in the fact that survey after survey, poll after poll show that the populous does not want “Obamacare,” thinks the recently passed Senate Immigration Bill is very badly written, and that efforts by many politicians to control guns will do little if anything to slow gun violence but will win votes in some areas, etc. In other words the politicians are doing what is good for them, not their constituents.
On top of all this, today most citizens don’t trust the FBI. or the IRS, or the State Department, and the list is growing. A recent Gallup Poll (June 1-4, 2013) concluded that 65% of Americans had confidence in Small Business, 57% had confidence in the Police, 36% had confidence in the Presidency, 34% had confidence in the Supreme Court, 20% had confidence in Organized Labor and only 10% had confidence in Congress. See the poll summary here. To me, this is a sad commentary and paints our government institutions in a very bad light.
Thomas Jefferson was once quoted as saying a revolution against tyranny is needed from time to time. This country is not so far away from that breaking point.
Would be a fantastic experience to be down in Gettysburg to witness this huge re-enactment. Here’s a great article looking back on the 150th anniversary of that great Civil War battle. Me? I’ll make time to watch one of my favorite all-time movies.
If Mark Levin and Sarah Palin were to want to use this 4th of July as the founding of a new Freedom Party to begin the dismantlement of the Republican Party and its corrupt establishment in Washington, count me in.
Finally, today is my Mom and Dad’s 60th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe people can be married to each other for that long without inflicting bodily harm on each other 🙂 but they’ve managed to do it! I’m so blessed to have had such wonderful parents to have given me the benefit of their wisdom, unconditional love and example. Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad, you’re the best!!
“Frankly, I think the Founding Fathers would be aghast at the exapnsion of the size and influence of the federal government in our daily lives.”
Had modern travel and communication been available to them, we might be looking at a whole different kind of government.
That said, the American people would be pretty aghast with them and their ways, too.
Comment by Rob — July 5, 2013 @ 9:28 am
Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad. 🙂
Comment by Rob — July 5, 2013 @ 2:26 pm
You’re probably right about what the colonies would have thought about all the events if Ben and John Jay and John Hancock werre all blogging from Independence Hall – can you imagine?
There’s no question thought that the FFs (and the Massachusetts rabble-rousers had a whole different opinion about British policy than the folks in New York City and the southern colonies – at least at the start – but even they eventually came around.
What started the American Revolution is nothing compared to what Washington is doing and forcing Americans to do. It’s nothing but very definition of tyranny, which is, as found on Dictionary.com:
1. The arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; despotic abuse of authority.
If the selective use of the IRS as a weapon against conservative groups to suppress their right to free speech and organize isn’t tyranny, then nothing is. Heck, not even the Brits had the nerve to try that!
Comment by The Great White Shank — July 6, 2013 @ 10:34 am
No one suppressed anyone’s rights. In order to have the chilling effect, the targeted group would have to know they were being watched. They didn’t until someone told them. What King George was doing in colonial times was real and far worse.
Comment by Rob — July 6, 2013 @ 1:53 pm
Actually, that’s not true, Rob. Take a look at what the IRS was doing – by using harassment, intimidation, and delay tactics on conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status they were suppressing these groups’ right to speech and organization. If you look at the kind of information the IRS was requesting from these groups – and only these groups – that’s the worst kind of government excess and abuse of power.
Comment by The Great White Shank — July 7, 2013 @ 6:29 pm
They don’t need tax-exempt status to organize or say what’s on their mind. They only need it to raise money. I don’t think it’s healthy to measure freedom or happiness in terms of money.
Comment by Rob — July 8, 2013 @ 4:45 am
I don’t think it’s healthy in any representative government where the IRS uses partisan politics and the power invested to them to decide who qualifies for tax-exempt status and who doesn’t.
Comment by The Great White Shank — July 10, 2013 @ 6:43 pm
Oh, it was definitely wrong but the damage done was negligible. It was discovered and corrected. Everyone needs to calm down a little. We can’t treat every misstep as the first step on the road to tyranny.
Comment by Rob — July 13, 2013 @ 9:27 am