Many of the greatest generation, who fought in WWII were Democrats of the noblest type. My dad and my uncles were in that category. They never had to deal with a redistributive mentality nor one that puts government ahead of the people or our God. Yet, somehow the sons and daughters of the greatest generation and those even younger do not think it matters that our country has fallen to socialist progressive notions. Today it is OK to mock those trying to become successful and achieve the American dream. It is OK to ridicule God and the notion of goodness. Our parents would have none of that.
Another example close to home is that today's parents of recent college graduates ironically have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash or cosigned loans to support the undergraduate and graduate studies of their children. They encourage their children to do well and try to be at the top of the class. Yet, if they are at the top of the class, our President will mock their success and if they make a lot of money, our President and his Democratic cronies will wish huge taxes upon them as they enter into the class of the rich. Don't we want our children to be rich so they can also be beneficent and magnanimous in supporting the poor? In the short term, we want them to earn a few hundred thousand so they can pay off their student debts.
In other words, if we want our children to be successful, do we really want to have a president chastise them if they ever happen to become successful and perhaps even become rich, just because the guy next door did not work as hard? Is it wrong for our hardworking, high achieving children to not be able to enjoy the fruits of their endeavors? Must the guy next door get a huge share of what our children have achieved?
As a conservative Democrat, seeing all the rich progressive Democrats suggesting everybody else give up their wealth for the poor, I ask, why are they still outlandishly wealthy? Nobody seems to have an answer.
I clearly see our current national government trying to get larger so it can change the moral absolutes of our country, even our revered Constitution. Despite the fact that the Constitution demands it, I see bona fide laws such as many of our long-time immigration acts, pushed aside by the whim of the President. Though Law professors have declared his actions unconstitutional, If President Obama does not like a law, according to the White House, he will not enforce it.
At the same time, we all see the thousands of regulations and executive orders being used as substitutes for congressional legislation, though both types of actions are against the separation of powers provisions of the US constitution defined in Articles I, II, and III.
The United States Constitution is not perfect. It is more perfect than the prior US basic law documents known as the Articles of Confederation but it is not a perfect instrument of law. However, it is pretty darn good, and in many ways, along with the Declaration of Independence, it is actually poetic and inspiring to read. Some think it is deliberately inefficient. I think it is accidentally inefficient as is all human prose. The Constitution's imperfections are somewhat in the same category as a softball player, playing her second game. It is bound to be a much better game than the first, but it may never be perfect.
The notion of separation of powers devised by the founders had one major purpose: to prevent the majority from ruling absolutely, or as some like to say, "With an iron fist." Based on their life experience in the colonies, James Madison and the other patriots involved in the framing of the powerful notions in the Constitution, worked very hard to give no branch of the new government too much power.
The separation of powers thus gave the country a means of having countervailing powers for the purpose of checks and balances. In such a system, with all parties active, no one area of government can dictate to any of the others, and more importantly, none of the areas, separately or together, can dictate to the people.
Three branches are created from the Constitution. The Legislative Branch, composed of the House and Senate in Article 1; The Executive Branch, composed of the President, Vice-President, and the Departments, in Article 2; The Judicial Branch, composed of the federal courts and the Supreme Court, in Article 3. Though not expressly given its own article in the Constitution, a de-facto fourth estate is the free press and we might consider the people as the fifth estate. The people were always included in the thoughts of the founders to be active in their government as the ultimate in checks and balances.
Each of the three formal branches of the US government has certain powers, and each of the powers is limited, or checked, by another branch. Using countervailing power to get all parts of government working in synch was a very clever notion brought forth by the founders. Until recently, it has worked fine.
With liberal progressives beginning to talk openly about dumping the Constitution and moving on to a benevolent dictatorship or an oligarchy, or something that is more akin to the progressive / socialist mindset, it would help all Americans to reflect on what we now have and what we might not have if we choose to give it up after more than 200 years.
"Don't it always seem to go ... That you don't know what you've got ...'Til it's gone...They paved paradise...And put up a parking lot" – from Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi." There is no guarantee that there will be an America for any of our children in the future, and today's progressive Democrats are continually hoping for such a change. The more Americans choose to ignore their responsibility, and choose not to pay attention to the harmful acts of government, the more likely that America will become a big parking lot or something a lot worse. Ask Joni Mitchell what she meant!
Conservatives see the last four years as the beginning of the end for America, though the incessant creep to doom began years ago. Some joke and say: "Going, going, going, gone." It all depends on how many "goings" we get before we are gone as a nation.
As far back as President Ronald Reagan's time and earlier, there was concern about how well the US was adhering to the founding principles. Reagan had a way of articulating the concerns of the day while offering real solutions to help our nation continue as the shining star on the hill.
"You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done." Ronald Reagan—an excerpt from the speech known as "the Speech," in 1964.
"No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women." Ronald Reagan—an excerpt from his 1st Inauguaral Address in 1981. To exercise will and moral courage, it follows that Americans must pay attention.
Unfortunately, the very foundation of our republic is under threat right now and many Americans choose not to accept the obligation to pay attention. While America sleeps while awake, and its people have little concern for the daily affairs of our government, our country will have all it can do to remain free and independent. Thus it is time for all of us to pay attention and to do what we must to preserve our nation and our way of life.
It is difficult for any of us to argue for the principles of democracy, unless we are armed with solid facts. In this light, I am pleased in the early parts of this five part essay to offer one of the most pithy and succinct videos that I have seen as a great reminder of our founding government, and why it is as it is.
This video puts the very basics of our government in perspective and more importantly for the me-now-not-later crowd, it is shown daily at a time of your choosing (anytime) on youtube here.
It is truly excellent. Save the link it to watch it yourself, to show your kids, and/or your grandkids and/or your great grandkids. We conservatives need stuff like this to remind us of whom we are and what we are, and why we don't want to nibble on the slop that the progressive liberals and the corrupt press are serving up. For those not conservative, check yourself out another time. You may not be as liberal / progressive as you think.