Time to choose, before Time runs out
The time has come for us to choose what we will do about the current state of our government, before time runs out. Our founding offered us the unprecedented and unique opportunity to form a government for, of and by the people where all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. This is the heart of American Exceptionalism–that our rights are derived from a Creator and not a king, thus they are subject to the immutable nature of a Supreme Being, not the fickle nature of a human being.
Our founding conceived and brought forth a republic where power is derived from the will of the people and not the whim of the elite, where public service for a short time was to be the attitude and motivation of those elected, not personal gain and position for a lifetime. We were a federal system, where the States were sovereign and retained power over all objects not specifically outlined in the Constitution as Federal objects which were limited in scope. The representatives of the House were derived from the people themselves from amongst their neighbors and the Senate was indirectly chosen by representatives of the people at the State level.
Much of this changed because of the trauma of the Civil War. State sovereignty was irreparably harmed; the 14th Amendment through years of judicial rulings has been used by the Federal government to encroach upon every aspect of our lives; and scandals were used by Woodrow Wilson era Progressives as justification for the direct election of Senators (17th Amendment), further diminishing the power of the States and the Republic.
Throughout the first half of the 20th Century, American founding principles were under assault with the advent of the new “isms”—Fascism, Communism, Totalitarianism, and Elitism. The philosopher elites and governmental leaders throughout the world seeking to create the “New Man” as a by-product of their utopian dreams ruled the day. The result, the bloodiest century in human history—World War I, World War II, the Cold War, Hitler slaughters 20 million, Mao-70 million, Stalin-more than 30 million—to name a few.
In the latter half, the remnants of these ideologies lead us into new deals and great societies that dominated the halls of academia and D.C., with judges and legislators twisting the plain words of the Constitution and morphing them into something the common man possessing common sense no longer recognizes.
At the dawn of the 21st Century there was reason to be hopeful. The Wall had come down and the Cold War was over. Advances in science and technology ushered in a new age of discovery and along with it economic prosperity advancing at a break neck pace. But less than a decade into this new Century, something has gone terribly wrong in America.
The multitude of sins that were salved by economic prosperity has now been exposed. The economic collapse has awakened us to rampant corruption in our government and related organizations that lie open like a festering wound. The systems our government has instituted to “help us” are failing: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Education. Our society is littered with the deplorable results of intrusive government programs and our politicians pay no price for the utterly pathetic outcomes of their handiwork.
And who is to blame? I’m sorry to have to confess this, but I am, We are. We the People. We, for who the cry of “Give me liberty or give me death!” has faded; We, who have allowed our vigilance to wane over what is taught in our schools where history has been rewritten with the insidious specters of “Political Correctness” and political agendas; We who consume our sitcoms and reality TV shows like those of old in the Coliseums who gorged themselves on the games as Rome burned. We, who are called “Astro-turf” by those who are supposed to serve us! Do they fear us? No! They disdain us.
But WE have awakened! From our slumber we are rising. It is time America! Time to choose and time to act! Time to renew and reinvigorate those “old” principles that many tell us are passé. Those “old” principles that have resulted in the most stable, economically prosperous republic in all of human history, where the greatest number of people are endowed with the most individual freedom and opportunity to pursue happiness. Man’s history is one of serfdom dominated by tyranny, monarchy, and dynasty, not individual freedom and liberty. Have we become so comfortable and complacent that we no longer remember this?
It is time for an American Renewal; Time to hold our politicians accountable; Time for them to fear us once again. Impossible you say? Can’t be done? Oh, yes we can! Our Founders designed it into the system — Vote the bums out! Whoever they are, wherever they are from, find and support virtuous people for public office that believe in, respect and fear us, the People! Where our government returns to doing what limited things it should do, so we can return to pursuing what we wish too. And if they don’t, throw them out, until we renew America once again as a Land of the Free and Home of the Brave, a shining city on a hill and the last best hope of mankind on earth!
“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.”
– Declaration of Independence
Copyright 2010 Julie Schmidt.
The American Muse 
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