Two-hundred, thirty-four years ago, our Founding Fathers together signed a document declaring that a people are free to determine their government and that, in fact, government is only allowed by the will of the people.
"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 of 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."
One very key ingredient in the quest for freedom was to break away from an oppressive government in order to establish one which derives its power from the people.
To wit: "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..."
The word consent was fittingly and justly utilized by these astute men.
Though not a perfect foundation, as women were not afforded these same rights and all men (people) were not treated as equals as some were, rather, still enslaved.
However, their perception of government was remarkable.
These very learned men knew, through study of history, what a government must and must not do and should and should not do in order to survive.
And so, these 13 individual states united together to establish and form a democracy giving only certain powers to the federal government while keeping anything not specifically granted it to the states and to the people.
As the decades progressed, however, the federal government has grown to the point that individual liberty and the rights of states and citizens have been eroded and become limited. That is exactly what they did not want and, in fact, warned against.
America is still a truly great nation.
However, it is a nation where the will of the people is not followed. It is one where special interest groups wield unusual power over decisions affecting every person living in Main Street USA. It is one where back room deals in the hallowed halls of Capitol Hill decide the most crucial of actions and where billions upon billions of dollars are added to legislation to capture votes.
If pork and earmarks are needed to garner the necessary number of votes in order to pass then must not the legislation be flawed?
The taxpaying citizens of these United States of America desire a "more perfect union," not a larger federal government where their voice is no longer heard.
In order to achieve this end our elected public servants (not public rulers as some have tried to become) would be wise to re-study the very documents that were written and are the foundation for this nation and to then act as statesmen, not as politicos whose main objective is to become re-elected.
Over For Now.
Main Street One
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