Governments Rot When Their Citizens Let Them (Part I)
Is an increasingly top-down political system, even at the local level, desirable? Could the Zeta gang and its offshoots thrive in any country with a still robust culture of democracy and freedom?
The U.S. Homeland Security Department has said that Mexican drug cartels, including the Zetas, have infiltrated 276 U.S. cities and represent the nation’s most serious organized-crime threat.
The National Drug Intelligence Center said the influence of Mexican drug gangs is “still expanding,” adding that they were more deeply entrenched than any other drug trafficking organization and operate coast to coast. [...]
In September [2010], the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) even posted signs along Interstate 8 in Arizona, more than 100 miles north of the border, warning travelers the area was unsafe because of drug and illegal-immigrant smugglers. The signs were posted along a 60-mile stretch of Interstate 8 between Casa Grande and Gila Bend, the major east-west corridor linking Tucson and Phoenix with San Diego.
Pinal County, Ariz., Sheriff Paul Babeu, whose jurisdiction includes the posted area, said Mexican drug gangs “literally do control parts of Arizona,” noting that gang members are armed with radios, optics and night-vision goggles “as good as anything law enforcement has.
“This is going on here in Arizona — 30 miles from the fifth-largest city in the United States,” he said.
Despite the failure and unwillingness of the United States government to enforce its own immigration laws, it has done a great job of preventing Arizona from helping to enforce them and punishing those who try — while simultaneously doing its best to turn Israel, the only reasonably free and democratic nation in the Middle East, over to the tender mercies of savages who would be delighted to emasculate the United States as well.
Many insist upon worshiping their own deity of Change; some, such as the New Black Panthers, more rabidly than others. Racist kinetic action? Nah, not with a post-racial president in charge. Many say that they want social change in the United States of the sort that brought much of Europe close to economic ruin. Meanwhile, as the United States struggles quite contentiously but not very well to get our own financial house in order, the dollar weakens and gold breaks $1,500 per ounce.
On the morning of Wednesday, April 20th, “Troy Polamalu has amazing hair, top-selling NFL jersey” was shown as the top story on Yahoo News. The point is not that Mr. Polamalu’s amazing hair is less than newsworthy, or even less than fascinating. It is that we have rather more important matters to pay attention to, and to ensure that our elected and appointed government officials deal with them on our behalf. Our basic liberties are eroding. Multiculturalism becomes the governmental and social norm. The authority of the allegedly most transparent government in history receives ever more expansive interpretations, its interpreters intent upon directing us along the paths they, in their infinite unwisdom, deem best.
But this is not all. Hot-button issues, no less a distraction than Troy Polamalu’s amazing hair, also play a significant role in ensuring the worst government possible — as I take up in Part II.
you are wrong the Clinton Clique will never relinquish power, it’s important to find out what the plan is: election fraud, artificial emergencies, or both? there is nothing they won’t do, so it’s important to be prepared, so you do need revolutionary type organization.
No need to form a partisan resistance, Mario;
The states will not let the State take _their_ power.
This is one of the many safeguards built into our system;
The Feds can govern only with the consent of the states,
because they have no internal army to enforce their rule.
Heh! Wait ’til you have to deal with the Dept. of Treasury.
The first step is the repeal of the 1965 Immigration Act. Without that done, everything else will fail.
Capital idea.
One way to make things a little better could be term limits for everyone in Congress. No one in Congress should serve more than 12 years. That should be enough time for anybody. And if these people are so dedicated to serving in Government, they can always run for some other position at the State or Federal level. That would be two terms as Senator and six terms as a Congressman. Nobody needs more time than that to make an impression on Washington.
Some people say that you would lose some good legislators if you had term limits. Prove it. If the person is good, they will always get elected to some form of office, again at either the state or federal level. But with term limits at least you have a chance, just a chance, that members of Congress will at least be cut off at the legs when it comes to long-term corruption. Senators Byrd, Kennedy, and Ted Stevens from Alaska are all examples (to name just a few) of Senators that have stayed way, way, passed their usefullness, except to generate more kickbacks and corruption for the people living in their states.
And, after all, the old argument is still valid. If the president can only serve two terms, why can’t there be term limits in Congress?
What, so instead of the same power-hungry, entrenched little George IIIs we get a revolving door of politicians, lobbyists, and the well-connected?
No, what we need is a return to true representative government. It starts by repealing the 17th amendment and returning the Senate to a body that truly represents the individual states, not the special interests that funded their elections.
It continues with lifting the 435-seat limit on the House and returning the House to a body that truly represents the people. 435 people cannot adequately represent the interests of 300 million Americans. Yes, it would result in a House comprised of thousands (if you keep to Madison’s recommendation of 30-40,000 citizens per representative), but it also means that the two-party stranglehold is broken and each representative is closer to his constituents.
And of course, it ends with the abolition of the unconstitutional Federal Reserve and fiat currency, which will force Congress to live within its means.
“but it also means that the two-party stranglehold is broken and each representative is closer to his constituents.”
So instead of a small group of lackeys you get a massive one?
Pass.
yes exactly-
the pirahnas would be too busy interfering with each other and unable to focus on merely eating us.
the Constitution recognizes that there will never be ‘nobility’ at that level of competition.
a pet peeve is that corruption is never acknowledged in economic theory, and that lying is unaccounted for in history
‘human nature’- false preachers winning an audience by peddling whatever appeals to base or instinctive natures
after the audience is dust, the youngsters (and future descendents)
never realize their ‘history’ was a lie or coverup meant only for that long-past audience
Your cynicism may be warranted alzaebo but not useful. In most cases it only takes 3% of the population with a sacred commitment to inspire others to act. This is what is currently happening before our eyes with the Islamification of the Middle East.
In 1777 the New Jersey battle of Trenton inspired the birth of our nation. Many colonists even fought barefoot on that fateful Christmas day. Likewise, Wisconsin Governor Walkers’ stand against public employee (especially the teachers) union is our 21st Century Battle of Trenton. Notice the Wisconsin voters were NOT too stupefied by their public school education to see though the Dems efforts to steal the State Supreme Court Seat & nullify the legislatures’ attempts to curb union political power.
Check out the 535Project at http://www.Libertysoup.org offering therapeutic politics for the political soul of a free nation.
And you forgot McCain! How could you forget McCain? Especially McCain.
Knowing how old people fail in their personal hygiene, I’m glad I don’t have to work in Congress.
Term limits of names is only token opposition to the continuous agenda conspiracy anchored in the two party system of which both are morally corrupt. They proudly rave on while protected by golden parachute retirements and selectively whitewashed by biased TV media talking heads void of any soul and surrounded by other neurotics with a common treasonous agenda while abusing their first amendment right and tenets of basic journalism.
Where were all the megaphone genius journalists when the failed socialist presidential candidate announced fifty years ago that they didn’t need to continue trying since their complete platform had been taken up by the Democratic party and patience was all that was needed to succeed? What puny chance do voters have to make an intelligent choice based on media filtered half truth and unlimited smut with the best possible outcome being the lesser of two evils?
Little change should be expected until ad supported media is unfunded by service and product boycott to bring about the demise of agenda slanted reporting. Until voters become aware that the long touted wasted vote theory is the greatest threat to real fundamental change, the twp party system must get worse before getting better even with tea injections from an outside source.
The constitution has already upped you proposal and is the winner. It already states basically, that in the House side no congressman can serve more than two years and on the senate side, no more than six years…without having been elected or re-elected by the people of their districts.
The problem lies with the people who keep re-electing them, opting NOT to limit the time…so, it not a problem of the constitution or the government. The constitution ultimately gives all power over the government to the people!
Polling consistantly shows that people are happy to send their congressmen back repeated…its just congressmen from other districts and States they want to have time limits! LOL
Absoultely. WE the idiots of this country elected this Leftist monster (to call him clown is a travesty and an insult to clowns everywhere) to the highest office of this country without knowing the first thing about this guy. Even worse, we warned by some, “just look at his associates, his alinsky background, read his books for crying out loud, read his manifesto on his campaign website, and you can SEE that he intends to drive this country into the ground and pour a truckload of warm concrete on top…” But we were too thrilled by the prospect of electing our first black president and too besotted by faux ‘centrism’ and ‘intellectualism’ or whatever the hell kind of cola he sold in order to get elected. We, as a people have failed in our most important duty as citizens. We elected this menace to the office for no reason at all … just because we FELT like … as if this is some reality dance show, and we granted the prize to a guy who never had even DANCED on the floor. If we go down the drown, and barring a miracle we WILL, we have only ourselves to blame. Not only did we elect this obvious enemy of America to the office, but we did not rise against him even after he showed his real colors (that is 48 hrs BEFORE he won the election, and counting). Total number of ‘Liberals’ are only 22% in this country, and if this guy won with 70% of popular vote, the remaining 48% must have their heads examined by some serious psychiatrist. Shame on all of us who voted for this guy. Shame on all of us who STILL don’t see the writing in the wall. Shame on all of who believe that this enemy can be stopped and defeated by ‘protests’ and ‘writing to the senator’ and ‘winning elections’ and ‘passing prohibitive laws’ and ‘by judicial orders’ … this guy uses all of those things, and all of america, as asswipes three times a day. Unless we the people directly “seek redress for a runaway govt.,” as is our fundamental right, we are all doomed.
When Ben Franklin came out of the assembly hall after drafting the constitution, someone asked him, “Dr. Franklin, what do you bring for us [americans]?” And the great one replied, “A Republic — if you can keep it.” Well, folks, at the risk of pointing out the obvious—we could NOT keep the Republic as mandated by the Constitution. We steadily, surely, and increasingly sold it to the enemies of this country for at least past 100 years. And to top that amazing suicidal feat, we elected this quintessential anti-american Leftist goon to the highest office of the country. Congratultions. We most likely don’t DESERVE the Republic that Ben Franklin had brought us that night.
Who is “WE”? got a mouse in your pocket? I didn’t vote for any of this crap, So when they start rounding up the “Other” I’ll be at the top of their list for sure.The Revolution has begun, you just don’t know it yet.
Can’t you see that the negatives you state are considered positives by his sycophants?
He’s an appliance that happens to be working just as intended by his manufacturers.
We most likely don’t DESERVE the Republic that Ben Franklin had brought us that night.
I will be the first to say that I agree with you, and that it is partly my fault. I think if we all acted upon that, we would have hope TO change.
First we need to dissolve the Federal Reserve; then take on the income tax. Build a secure border fence on the Southern Border; then one the Northern Border. Yes, end the 1965 immigration law and have a 10 year ban on poor immigrants. Eliminate dual citizenship; you can’t have two loyalties. Get rid of the Saudi-backed Madrassas. Infiltrate the Mosques and shut down ones that preach violence.
Gradually phase out the entitlement programs. Transition Social Security
to individual plans; Chile did it, why not the U.S.?
Chile succeeded since it had some patriotic soldiers in top command. They did the right thing and sent the traitors packing, starting with Allende. He would not go lightly, so got shot dead in the end. That certainly cleared the decks.
The immediate crisis is financial, and will be met by
the few (too few?) competent actors in government at all
levels; The people can identify and support these actors
in their subsequent efforts to cope with other problems.
As the Russian military axiom goes: Reinforce Success.
“Reinforce Success.” – Napoleon I (Bonaparte)
I am the Anon replying to secrev
Been there done that with few exceptions since 1955 hoping for the rampant slowly encroaching sewage on the hill to reach the level of undeniable proud stench prevalent there today never realizing that TV media would provide so much assistance. Its finally there now by any sane measure with near total TV support and only a few forms of objection arising from radio, internet and tea party sources. They’ve baked their cake, but didn’t expect to be required to pay for the top level catering.
Nicely written, Dan. You hit most of the high points. I’m looking forward to the next installation.
The first thing that came to mind was the decay of the education system that the Federal Government is responsible for, and has seen fit to try to administer from afar.
They are not teaching individual responsibility and growth anymore. They’re being taught, and forced, to submit themselves and their judgements to ‘minority groups’, which has the effect of forcing students toward groups that are ethnic oriented.
Education systems have been successfully diluting the intelligence base of all students, in order to have a more homogenous society. This is backfiring. Ethnic groups have felt threatened by the dilution, and have coalesced even more in response.
Discipline used to be a respected quality and expected from graduates at all levels. Not today. Discipline has become offensive and even racist.
And the Federal Government, through it’s legislators, has intentionally entered the education arena, as well as many other public arenas, where they can require remuneration for the ‘service’ rendered.
This is the ‘mission creep’ that you illustrate. It’s purpose is to subjugate the states. It’s the Federal Governments drug of choice that it peddles, knowing the States are loathe to break the habit; Wisconsin, for example.
It has been all too easy for these legislators to create their own full time jobs, tenure, benefits, and discipline system. They are their own supervisors when they attain the Federal Government level, and can appoint their own policing authority.
I could go on, but, I’ll save further comment for the next installation.
Excellent assessment Cybergeezer…what about solutions? Would love to hear your ideas…. http://www.Libertysoup.org has crafted innovative activist solutions to support “citizen sovereignty” and the republic. Check out the 535Project.
Hence, the name Libertysoup.org… therapeutic politics for the soul of a free nation.
WE? I didn’t vote for the guy. Lord, it was like the Obamabots were in a trance, my neighbors daughter went loony and drove to DC for the party! Now when I see her she looks away so she won’t have to talk to me. I think it starts in our hideous school system, it’s just a welfare ticket. The so called teachers are threatened if they don’t “teach” the agenda so the actual teachers don’t want to get into that rats nest. Unless we tackle that they will just keep pumping out the useful idiots and now they can’t hide it anymore, electing Obama proved it.
Many who voted for Obama were only considering how good they felt about themselves for electing the “first black president”, not about Obama’s lack of qualifications and experience.
Ironically, it appears that Obama himself believed his own press releases and considers himself to be somehow special, instead of simply hubristic.
That is all fine and dandy, but a citizen can only know so much and more to the point, can only investigate so much as to know what is going on. When the education system fails to teach children, but still passes them onward to graduation, it is hard for a parent to know what government they have as regards education until it is too late. Then we have the rest of government. A totally compliant socialist media that refuses to do the investigating that they are given special constitutional privilege so that they can do it.
When the government, through lies, cheating, stealing and every other propagandizing method finally goes too far, there is not any where near a tiny fraction of Americans willing to do what is factually required to take back the reigns of government let alone a majority. Even people on this blog and every other “conservative” blog refuse to face the reality of the situation, thinking we can win this electorally with out ever taking on the institutions which preclude us from ever making a change.
So, excuse me while I go to another part of the web because I think your little write up is nothing more than a bunch of bunk that is worth about as much as an inner city school child’s diploma.
Cynicism may be warranted but not useful. It only takes 3% of the population with a passion for our legacy of freedom to inspire others to act. The New Jersey battle of Trenton inspired the birth of our nation. Many of the soldiers even fought barefoot in the winter. Wisconsin Governor Walkers’ stand against public employee (especially the teachers) union is our 21st Century Battle of Trenton. Notice the public was NOT duped even though the Dems tried to steal the State Supreme Court Seat.
Check out the 535Project at http://www.Libertysoup.org.
Hence, the name Libertysoup.org… therapeutic politics for the soul of a free nation.
["Barack Obama currently has the worst approval ratings of his presidency."]
Yet, over 50% approve of Obama’s ‘centerpiece’ policy advancements. A majority wanted as Obama, a single payer government health care. An overwhelming majority does not want social secuirty, medicare and medicaid touched and on down the line. GOP activists forget they are not representative of the majority when it comes to national issues….and generally misinterpret a lot of polling data. The nation is concretely divided!
["Only 22 percent of Americans think the country is heading in the right direction."]
Yet, they cannot concisely and precisely tell you what they mean. Jobs high gas prices, the depressed economy and debt is not really a ‘direction’ as much as a domestic and global cyclical event.
I had hoped that the Tea Party folks were serious and [centric] to their earlier rhetoric towards reversing the ideology of socialism, and a government to large, assuming far to much authority….but that seemingly has been sidelined by one diversion after another.
As the article so aptly states, it the the fickle ‘people’ who have allowed the government and the nation to come to the circumstances it finds itself in today.
As I repeat over and over, the nation is broken from the bottom up…not the top down!
please cite your stats.
The stats and issues referenced are everywhere in the public venues…AND have been used by major media all along….I haven’t the time to go looking for all the polls that have been so frequently and publically used and well known by all sides.
The problem is a fundamental willful ignorance on the part of the people of the foundational Law of this nation, the Constitution. Every citizen should be ashamed to vote for a dogcatcher until and unless they read and understand it. All those who read it, understand it, and are not in denial will immediately realize that ~90% of what the Fed gov’t does is unConstitutional, from Soc Sec to Medicare, from HHS to the Dept of Education, from OSHA to EPA. Invoking the ‘general welfare’ clause or the commerce clause to justify any of these only reveals one’s ignorance/denial: the enumeration of powers and the 10th amendment blow such pretensions out of consideration. We should be having a national conversation how best to end Soc Sec, not how to ‘reform’ it. If we were miraculously to be so wise as to actually follow the Constitution, we would see a flourishing of businesses, small to mega-, that would create such wealth we wouldn’t know what to do with it. But we, the sovereign people of the United States, are like a wicked and lazy king, enamored of our bonbons, toys, and diversions, who has hired corrupt and venal ministers to run our nation while we frolic.
We don’t need to repeal anything, altho’ it would be OK to do so. All we need to do is follow the Constitution as written.
“~90% of what the Fed gov’t does is unConstitutional”
90% of what we have now wasn’t even thought up when the writers were writing the Constitution.
Forgive me for the crassness of this but our Founders were men.
Not Psychics.
So we must also draw the wise conclusion that at times our founders had no flipping idea what the country would be doing centuries down the line.
Interestingly enough, the Founders were wise, unlike most of our citizens. They KNEW they wouldn’t have a blankety-blank idea what might be going on in the nation at some point in the future. So they wisely put in place in the Constitution a mechanism for amending it should that be deemed necessary. E.g., if circumstances dictate that it would be wise for the States to collectively have a retirement, disability, and medical plan imposed on their citizens at gunpoint by the Federal gov’t, we can pass an amendment allowing for that. Until then, SocSec and Medicare remain unConstitutional.
IOW, your comment displays your ignorance of the Constitution.
I am aware of the ability to amend the constitution.
I’m also aware that getting a massive group to agree with anything is like teaching cats to brush their teeth.
Fact is that demanding a massive (and in this day and age unheard of) majority to do a laundry list of things just to allow a law to be passed insures that a large majority of laws will not pass simply due to bickering and not the merit or lack thereof of a law.
IOW the people equation louses up the system making the system clunky at best.
Yep, clunky by design. If you can’t get enough of those pesky people to agree to it, too bad, cause if it’s important enough to do something contrary to the Constitution, amend it, don’t break it. Otherwise we reveal ourselves as foolish lawbreakers. And just maybe those oh so important laws you want passed contrary to the Constitution aren’t so important after all.
I’d say the rotting of the American citizen/American electorate has been underway for a long time, culturally and every other which way.
The lousy, politically correct version of eddukashun we’ve been offering up in American classrooms over decades, much of it intentional, has come to fruition in the annointment of Obama.
I received this in email, reportedly written by an individual in the Czech Republic.
“The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr.Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America . Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.”
In September [2010], the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) even posted signs along Interstate 8 in Arizona, more than 100 miles north of the border, warning travelers the area was unsafe because of drug and illegal-immigrant smugglers. The signs were posted along a 60-mile stretch of Interstate 8 between Casa Grande and Gila Bend, the major east-west corridor linking Tucson and Phoenix with San Diego.
I’ve had some recent unwanted encounters, driving specifically that stretch of road. Nothing immediately life threatening, but enough to make me take a more northerly route now and avoid that area.
While our DHS head spins about the “safety” of the border, I’m with Paul Babeu, who finds Janet’s analysis ludicrous.