Our history is filled with many act of patriotism, many of which would be labeled seditious; today, some would even be called terrorism. One such act, the Boston Tea Party, was inspired by the philosophy that it is immoral for a government to tax its citizens without allowing for adequate representation of those citizens in government. Ideas such as this gave birth to our republican form of government; however, over time our involvement as citizens has been diminished and handed over to bureaucrats. These bureaucrats are non-elected officials who have been assigned the power to administer our "national" resources and manage trust funds that contain "forcibly collected contributions" from our citizenry. To understand the dangerous practices that Congress, The Chief Executive and the Judiciary have allowed, one must first understand the basic principals that provide the foundation for the greatest federation in history.
The United States of America is a federation of, currently, fifty sovereign states. The individual citizens of these states empower their state to enumerate a small percentage of its powers to a central, federal government. The compact between the states has come to be our Constitution. During our Constitutional Convention our founding fathers debated many delicate issues, some were resolved, others were merely a compromise. The compromises have lead to conflict and confusion throughout our history, most notably The War for Southern Independence (commonly referred to, in error, as The Civil War). One of the hotly debated issues was the nature of the new government. Would it be Federal or would it be National. A Federal government would be an official body designed to enforce and protect the individual rights of each state, from sates as large as Virginia to states as small as Rhode Island. A National government would be an official body that would enforce and protect the individual rights of each and every citizen. Our government today resembles a National government; however, our Constitution created a Federal government. It is unreasonable to attempt a representative republican form of government on a scale as large as the current geographic and demographic status of The United States of America.
Our congress, at least that which represented the sates that maintained membership in the Union during the War for Southern Independence (of which my state is not one), "enacted" the fourteenth amendment to our Constitution. It is important to note that this amendment was enacted by Congress and not ratified by the states, since the states previously belonging to the Confederacy were not allowed to participate in the process. This is especially bizarre since the Confederacy was invaded because the Union did not believe the states had a right to secede, yet, those same states were punished by having their representation in Congress and their sovereignty forcibly removed. The Constitution is a compact amongst the states; any member of the federation has a right to abrogate its membership from the federation. The Constitution also provides a method for the ratification of amendments. Both of these Constitutional principals were compromised by the Congress of the United States of America during and after the War for Southern Independence. By compromising these principals, Congress paved the way for individual rights to be encroached upon and Constitutional law to become secondary to the power of the government. A very dangerous and Un-American practice.
The fourteenth amendment created a concept of citizenship of the United States. Prior to this amendment residents of each state had citizenship in the state of their residence. Citizens of each state enumerated certain powers to the state of their residence. Every state in the Union enumerated powers to the Federal government. Therefore, each citizen of a state that is part of the Union has enumerated certain powers to the Federal government. It does not mean that each citizen belongs to the Federal government. Only the states are members of the Federal government. The individual citizens are governed by their state of residence and local government only. This amendment gave Congress and the Federal government the power of a National government. This allows for more control over individual citizens and opens the doors for abuse of power and even tyranny.
The fourteenth amendment laid the premise that allowed Congress to enact the sixteenth amendment. This amendment allowed Congress to apply the power, enumerated by Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, to individuals. The Constitution gives Congress the power to "lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises . . ." from the states that created the Federation, not from the individual citizens of those states. By creating the Citizen of the United States, Congress allowed itself to extend the coercive powers of Article I, Section 8 to the individual citizens. This is the legal turning point, which changed the nature of the American government. The government was no longer Federal, it was now National. This is the first step toward Fascism, a very Un-American concept.
In our Preamble to the Constitution is written the phrase; " . . . promote the general Welfare . . ." This phrase takes on a whole new meaning in a National government, than it had under a Federal government. Welfare is the satisfactory state, health and prosperity, and well being of a person, society, etc. and the maintenance of members of a community in such a state. By promoting the general welfare a Federal government is responsible for securing and protecting the rights of the states that are members of the Federation. The state's responsibility is to protect the rights of its individual citizens. The general Welfare is promoted by the employment of a capitalist free enterprise economic system and the protection of all members of said system from the danger of physical, brute, coercive force and the guarantee of property rights. The phrase means something entirely different when applied by a National government.
A National government promotes the general Welfare by redistributing wealth in order to provide for those who for whatever reason are incapable, unable or unwilling to provide for their own welfare. In this case a National government is promoting a welfare state. In so doing it is abusing its coercive powers, it is not protecting property rights and it is most certainly not promoting Capitalism. This type of system is Socialist, one step away from Communism (again, an extremely Un-American concept).
The sixteenth amendment allowed the National government to acquire more and more power and economic influence. Powers not enumerated to the government by the Constitution. As a result, Congress and the Executive branch passed numerous laws that were socialist in nature; one of these laws was the Federal Social Security Act of 1935.
Please think about the following, after reading the preceding text.
1. Does Social Security promote individual retirement or suppress it?
2. How can a system that pays benefits from current income survive during demographic shifts, such as the upcoming Baby Boom generation's retirement?
3. Other than following the laws of the Constitution and ensuring that your rights end where another's begin and vice-versa, does the government have a right to make an action "compulsory" for your own "good"?
4. Does the "Federal"(?) government have the right to collect an income tax from an individual citizen?
5. Does the "Federal" government have a right or an obligation to provide welfare services to citizens who, for whatever reason, cannot or will not provide for their own prosperity?
6. Can the United States of America continue to exist as a republic with a capitalist economy if the "Federal" government persists in its employment of fascist-socialist methods?
The United States of America is your country, the government is given certain powers by you. You as a law abiding citizen have the right to demand that your government uphold the principals this nation was founded upon. Social Security reform is un-American. We should eliminate the system by reducing the benefits until they are gone. In order to be fair, those who paid into the system their whole lives should continue to be compensated, the others will have to pay for those that received benefits before the system began collecting income. I don't mind loosing my "investment" (4 credits a year for over ten-years) because I know that it won't be there for me anyway. Instead of waiting for this system to collapse and take our country with it, I would rather eliminate it now. Give me LIBERTY (from socialism) or give me death!
