[quote]Zeke wrote:
Hello all. I have been a member here since 2002. I haven’t posted in all that time, not even a picture of my shoe. This is an important topic and I have something different to add than what is in the previous posts.
The political spectrum is usually talked about in terms of 'left' or 'right,' ranging from liberal to conservative. But this overlooks the more basic spectrum, and the one that is more important especially to America and Americans. All Americans, Democrat, Republican, Independent, whatever. This is the important spectrum; on one end is anarchy and the other is totalitarianism.
Our first government was founded with the Articles of Confederation. This form of government turned out to be to weak to be useful and was removed. It was to close to anarchy.
The next government was the one we are more familiar with, The Constitution of the United States of America. This government moved slightly closer to totalitarianism in the overall political spectrum, but still was centered around the idea of individual rights and liberty.
This worked well until somewhere around the 1850's. The United States was in the throes of the Civil War and this disrupted the election of Senators. Senators are elected to a term of 6 years. This is true today. Such a long term makes a Senatorial seat more valuable than a 2 year term that a Representative has, so there was more to gain from rigging a vote. Up until 1918 the Senators were elected by the individual State legislatures. This also made influencing a few legislators an attractive option for those inclined to such things. Many States were scandalized by State Legislators being bribed and blackmailed in Senatorial elections.
Ultimately, a Constitutional Amendment was passed, the 17th Amendment, that changed the election of Senators from the State Legislators to being elected by the constituents of the individual States. This removed a check on the Federal Government in the States interests were no longer represented in the Federal Government. Shortly after that the United States abandoned the gold standard for monetary policy. The ensuing years saw the New Deal, Great Society programs ect. Our Dollar has lost 96% or so of its purchasing power since then. Each one of these steps moved us further towards the totalitarianism end of the spectrum.
We are all Americans. I believe we can all agree on one thing; we don't want to live under a totalitarian form of government. I believe that we should be concentrating on how much power the Federal Government has and what its proper role is. Remember that the government can only give what if first takes from someone else. If the government can take from them they can take it from you.
If what the Federal Government takes does not ensure Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, do you really want to entrust someone that far removed from you and your neighborhood to make decisions for you that carry the force of law in your stead?
Throughout history governments have tended to be some form of totalitarian, ending only eventually in anarchy. It is very difficult to to balance a government somewhere between anarchy and totalitarianism that protects individual rights, but also protects the group. We have the longest running Republic in the history of the world.
Let’s not lose the United States of America by reducing it, and us, to totalitarianism of any sort.
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Fuckin A!!! WELCOME. Silent No More!
Somebody with your thought process and intelligence should come out of lurking. Bravo.
