Today I am pleased and honored to introduce a guest Author for whom I have the greatest respect. He is a true intellectual thinker, and a red blooded American Patriot.
With no further ado, Guest Author William Chandler
An Open Letter to Congress
Dear Sir or Madam:
For over 35 years, I have been a citizen of the greatest country in
the history of the world based upon the freedom given by God-fearing
individuals. Countless peoples have come to our shores seeking a
better life away from their own governments. Some of these
governments are relatively free, even modeled after our system to a
large measure. For years, persons have been streaming across our
southern border at great peril to themselves to get here in order to
have the opportunity at the life we as Americans enjoy.
However, sadly, in my lifetime, I have witnessed this proud nation
decrepify for the sake of “The Good of the People”. Lenin and the
Bolsheviks drove out the Romanovs and established a Socialist system
with a rapid military coup. You are responsible for engineering the
same type of coup through legislative and judicial means, and in a
more painful way. Just as in a nightmare, we can see what is
happening to some of our fellow citizens, we yell at him or her not to
listen to you, but like a hypnotic zombie enthralled by catch phrases,
buzzwords, and a sympathetic media, they continue to respond, and you
continue to tailor your messages to fit what you think we want you to
say. This is slow and painful, like watching a child or spouse
falling down a well and feeling powerless to rescue the victim from
it, even with arms outstretched.
What is worse, I am sure the vast majority of you are doing this with
the noblest of intentions. However, you have failed to recognize the
true meaning of our Republic. We elect you. You serve us. It is not
your responsibility to rely on focus groups, polls, and targeted
audiences to shape our thinking. As a person who has chosen to make
a living designing our laws, it is your burden to ensure that those
laws you make fall under the strict guidelines of the Constitution and
do not conflict with it, both in word and spirit of the document you
swore to uphold and defend.
Members of your body have chosen to attack and vilify those
professions which you deem contrary to your agenda. For many,
insurance is needed for our cars, our homes, our lives – and yet, for
the want of minutia, you have chosen to demonize health insurance, when it
is tort reform that should be addressed. One of the staples of our
society, the ability to take wild risk and push ourselves beyond the
limit, has now been curbed in the financial sector for the want of
those who have chosen not to have that opportunity. You have
egregiously and blatantly embellished the ability to redistribute
billions of dollars on multiple occasions, often to things that are of
such little importance, one must wonder how much the people paid you
to reallocate those funds in their direction.
You have recently extolled the virtues of Canada and Great Britain,
and modeled the aforementioned “Stimulus Plan” after a similar
recovery act in Japan, which, I might add, forestalled their recovery
for over a decade. If I wanted to live in Canada, England, or Japan,
I would live there. I live here. I like living here. I like the
fact that I have control over the certainty of my future without
interference from the specter of bureaucracy, whatever the intention
of it maybe, no matter how noble it is.
In truth, our founding fathers would look in horror on you and your
use of the power bestowed upon you, and not because of your gender,
race, or anything that differs them from you. You refuse to heed
their words, sighting progress as your mantra. I ask you “Progress
towards what?” With each law passed, judicial ruling rendered, and
group placated, you march us toward a totalitarian future where hope
is replaced by misery. If we fall, there is no other country on this
earth that will shine the light of freedom as brightly. How arrogant
of you to take that dream from the rest of the world!
Have you read the words of the framers of the early documents?
Nowhere in these papers are the rights to a job or health, or even
such basic human needs as a food or a home. It is up to the
individual to create his or her own future, and let human ingenuity,
compassion, and the fundamental rights of liberty to prevail over
those you wish to “assist”. Do you not realize that when you push
someone in a wheelchair wherever they wish to go, their legs begin to
atrophy? What happens when the wheelchair gets a flat tire and their
legs are unable to carry them? This is true in any and every area of
life.
I play tournament chess. Chess has two sets of pieces: white, and
black. There are no grey pieces that either side can use on their
whim. In every situation, absolutes must be recognized as a standard
for which definite conclusions can be reached, and to put such an
outcome in doubt by clouding and objectifying it, cheapens the outcome
and compromises principles.
I know most of you will not do this, for in your utter hubris, you
feel you are doing right. I beg of you. I BEG OF YOU. Please halt
this malicious course! Go back and read the ideals of those who
created this country, and recognize that these were not Deists,
agnostics, or people ambivalent to Higher Authority. See that this
constitution you swore allegiance to is iron-clad and its
interpretation is clear, not left in a grey area. Recognize that you
are on the road to a disastrous future. Read the bills you seek to
debate. Stop quantifying people’s anger in polling percentages, and
question everything you do with the fear and trepidation on which you
were entrusted.
Know if they were to arise from their graves today, the men that
fought and died in the Revolutionary War would try the vast majority
of you for treason. However, rather than sentence you to death, their
innovative minds would send you to see what life is like in the places
you wish to model us after. Wealth and the wealthy are not evil.
Realizing ones dream is best served without the perceived notion of
“helping” the one behind that dream. It is not the goal of an
American, or should not be, to be “Middle Class” – it should be to do
everything one can to realize the fullest extent of his or her
abilities. Rather than uplift the “Middle Class” to realize their
potential, you punish the “Upper Class”, which you have a tendency to
redefine daily. It is not the will of the teacher to have the whole
class pass with a concert grade of “C”, thereby rewarding the failures
and discouraging the successful.
Please rethink your objective, and if there is any sense and decency
left in you, curb your course and do what is right and true.
Thank you,
A Concerned American
William Chandler
Nowhere in the 18 eneumerated Powers given to the Congress in the Constitution, does it give Congress the right or ability to Nationalize or run Healthcare. The General Welfare Clause only ever referrs to the 18 Powers enumerated powers. The ObamaCare bill is not only a very bad idea, it is Unconstitutional. Once the Constitution is broken, Americans have no safe harbor, and freedom will die. The Constitution is our Freedom, and with out it, we must obey a Government, and become slaves to it's will.
Key Constitutional Grants
of Powers to Congress
Article I, Section. 8.
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;--And
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
From: Exploring Constitutional Law
Comments
Another Republican complains about taxes and cries. Yawn.
Some tired old fart afraid of change. The hubris is Chandler's.
FAIL
Republicans have nothing positive to offer or say. The party of "no" is simply obstuctionist. Chandler and Cotter are the true enemies.
The sky is not falling, chicken little.
Don't buy the lie.
Olivia,
Sounds like you are saying no. Are you always a hypocrite?
I forgot to mention Olivia... AMERICANS are not the ENEMY. Terrorists planting Bombs on pregnant women in markets are the enemy. Political tyrants like yourself who desire to stifle not only freedom, but freedom of speech. Any time someone says that they are all about free speech and then immediately tries to shut up the opposition, yea THAT is the enemy. The enemy is you Olivia, and those like you, who believe in freedom ONLY in so far as it meets YOUR criteria. Sorry you little jackass, but not only is that not freedom, but you are your ilk are fighting AGAINST it. You are not an American, you are less than even a pretender to the title.
Caught you out that time you pathetic small minded little communist, didn't I?
God, you people are such whiners! Hint to the other Jake: you're right, "AMERICANS are not the ENEMY." Those of us who voted for Obama? We're AMERICANS. The people who want the "tyranny" of being able to afford health care? We're AMERICANS. You don't get to decide--you and Mr. Chandler get to watch someone else run the country for a while and reflect on the fact that the thing about a representative democracy is that SOMETIMES YOUR SIDE LOSES. Grow up.
Other jake,
Nice name. Not gonna help you though.
You weren't BORN with the right to health care. You sure weren't BORN with the right for ME to PAY for it. Go bust a hump and BUY your own crap in life and stop asking my GRANDKIDS 20 years from now to pay for it!
Damn entitlement babies, you think life OWES you something! Here's a news flash, no one owes you anything. Other than the bottom of my boot you thumb suckin "WHINY" little boy.
Did I say I was born with a right to health care? No I did not. That doesn't mean we can't decide to provide it. I mean, I wasn't born with a right to a fire department, a library, a school system, a sewer system, a retirement stipend, health care after 65, or any of a lot of other things we voted to have the government provide. Ooh, but they're all such restrictions placed on our liberties! They're steps towards totalitarianism! Like I said, grow up.
There is a world of difference in the fire department saving the lives and property of people in an emergency and getting your ingrown toenail fixed.
Look at it this way, the government has ALREADY shown us what it can do with health care. It's called the VA. You want VA, DMV, Post office style health care, you go to Britain and get in line suckah!
Tell me this what student is going to want to go to school for 15 years become a neurosurgeon working 24 hour shifts on call for 50K a year? What idiot is going to go to school for that long rack up 500K in debt to do that?
What you gonna Nationalize all the universities as well, we just live government lives!? Thats BS.
No self respecting Doctor will stay in this country! They will leave in droves! They didn't get where they are by being as STUPID as you are looking for your handouts!
Anyone looking for more government hand outs deserves to get that hand chopped off.
Another Jake you are clearly under 30. I am twice your age. At least.
You don't even understand what totalitarianism IS. You think its all warm and fuzzy. Its not. It means some jerk in DC gets to tell you when to jump and how high and how long to stay up there for your handout.
Instead you could be out there MAKING your handout. But no you want a HANDOUT. Sit on your fat butt and wait for the Government to come save your dumbas$
You don't get that there is a conservation of matter in the real world, in life. There IS only so much to go around, and when you GIVE something to someone else, you are TAKING it from someone else. You DO NOT HAVE THAT RIGHT, nor should you have that expectation!
You might be "providing " it to some, but you are still TAKING from another, and neither you nor anyone has the RIGHT to take anything FROM anyone! Particularly not to GIVE it to whom ever YOU choose! No, not buying that soft shoe BS.
Thats what Monarchs and emperors and kings of old did. They TOOK all the riches and decided who to hand em all out to. Their friends and families got all the land and all the slaves to work it were the ones they took it from.
You liberal idiots don't SEE that you are voting the same STUPID crap back into office that our ancestors FLED from in England!
Oh but its for the good of everyone you whine with your little girlie liberal voices, and your threats of violence. No, you are just stupid enough to think you are goin gto benifit from it somehow. Here's a news flash, you are the slave set up to work for those you just voted into power. Michelle Obama has a 20 person staff. You know how big Laura Bush's staff was. Just guess. ONE Date nights in NYC that cost YOU morons 600K. You liberals are STUPID if you can't see it! You aren't voting for hope or change, you are voting for SLAVERY!
Thats what Socialism IS. Read some damn history and look at how many died in the USSR, China,
Wow, what a nice man. And as ignorant as most of your type, too. First, did you know that fire departments in this country used to be privately run? Yup, first to the scene got paid, the rest didn't. There were fights in the street between rival fire departments while the building burned. People eventually decided it was better to go public.
Second, from what I read the VA does a pretty good job. And I know the DMV and the Post Office do. I waited in line for 10 minutes on Saturday to mail a large envelope for $2.50 and get special handling for another $2. Offer me the equivalent time/price tradeoff on health care, and I'm there, buddy. (Oh, by the way, I haven't seen 30 for a very long time. You need to get out more, maybe talk to someone outside your circle of know-nothings.)
Oh, and I've looked up that stupid line about Michelle Obama's staff. Laura Bush's staff was just as big--I think she had one more person, but the group made slightly less money. I know, facts are stupid.
Actually, just answer these two questions, and then I think I'll drop it. But I really do wonder about your answers:
1. If health care in countries with heavy government involvement is so bad, why do they have longer life expectancies and lower infant mortality rate than we do? Why do Canada, the UK, and France even have doctors, if being a doctor in those systems is so awful?
2. What is it exactly that you're afraid of losing? "Choice"? Did you know that in 94% of metropolitan markets, people have only one or two insurers to choose from? Or the ability to see a doctor when you want? How far in advance do you have to make an appointment now? If your kid's sick where I live, you might be able to get seen next week, if there's a cancellation. Or some kind of certainty that your insurer will pay if anything really bad happens to you? Are you really utterly confident of that?
Just as a point of information; your fire department "fact" is very misleading and innacurate. As of this writing, 73% of all firemen in the US are volunteer. New York had the first government run fire department, actually it was called New Amsterdam at the time, the year was 1648. Also, the very few private fire departments that have ever existed were all funded through tax dollars, hence the reason people didn't like it. More on that if you ask. And the very "sucessful" government run postal system is set to run a 7 billion dollar deficit this year. Government run "anything" is never sucessful, but because they can just get funded by tax payers, it is a moot point; they will not cease to exist, they will only increase the budget. Fed-Ex, UPS, and countless courier services opperate efficiently, productively, and don't cost the tax payer a dime. Explain why we should trust the government to run anything; congress can't even govern themselves.
Murph
It's amazing that there are people out there that do not understand that (p)Resident Obama and his Marxist crap is NOT the change we wanted. Where has marxism worked? Oh yea, Cuba. They're what Obama followers wants us to be like? No thanks.
If legislators had wanted health care, they'd not have passed the $787Billion Pork bill! They, first and foremost, wanted to make sure they got re-elected by handing out $ to friends and donors.
Social Security has been looted, our jobs were "SOLD" to overseas - by Pelosi and company.
Recall and prosecute Congress!
@Murph: thank you for the additional information about fire departments (and I appreciate your reasonable tone). It contradicts some of what I've read elsewhere; and while 73% of firefighters may be volunteer, I doubt they pay for their equipment in most places. But my main point stands: that government already provides us lots of services we don't have a "right" to, but it's worked out okay.
FedEx and UPS aren't required to provide pickup and delivery service to every single dwelling in the country (they deliver to my parents' rural house now, but they didn't always), and they would charge a lot more than 42 cents to deliver a personal letter. It's misleading to compare them to the post office. But I'm glad you bring them up, because they demonstrate that even when there's a publicly funded option, it doesn't eliminate private competition. The same would be true of health care.
Hey D.J., many services are provided for by tax payer dollars, as you have graciously pointed out, not because of an inalienable right to them; rather they are services that tax payers voted for, whether in fact, (referendum), or by proxy when the elected official voted for it. What you will find though is the ones that “worked out Ok” are the ones that are specific to the community that voted for them, i.e. fire companies. Federal programs have been notorious failures throughout US history. Amtrak, the USPS, Freddie and Fannie, all of them would be gone if not for billions upon billions of tax payer dollars. I say this is a bad thing and I don’t trust the feds to do it right; maybe that’s the reason for that pesky old 10th amendment. Governance from “on high” does not, will not, and can not work; only when people have the power to self govern – locally – will they truly be free. Forget the federal answer, it’s dangerous.
Murph
Murph, I guess I don't agree that Amtrak and the USPS are failures just because they use public monies. To take the USPS example: what's the value to the country of having mail service to every house in every community in the country? To me, that's an infrastructure investment like roads. No private company would be able to provide that service without charging FedEx or UPS rates; and I really can't see a state-by-state mail system working as well as a national one. And without Amtrak, there'd be no passenger rail left in this country. I don't think that'd be a good thing, and I'm not sorry we spent money on it.
You might be right that health care is best provided on the state or local level. But states and cities have had years to do so, and very few of them have. Local control may be more efficient, but it's also more subject to paralysis.
Cool, a cordial and civil disagreement! Amtrak was formed because private rail was failing; the question is why. The government had so overegulated the rail industry, they couldn't survive. Property tax on every inch of rail, while they subsidized the highway system, airports, and air traffic control, with NO property taxes on them. Unions had a 150 mile work day, fine in 1919, but with faster rails, the work day ended in 2.5 hours by 1959. Yeah, private rail never had a chance, the government killed them.
I actually don't have a problem with the USPS, in Article One of the United States Constitution, Congress is empowered "To establish post offices and post roads," so that is truley a fed controlled entity. I just point out that they operate at a 7 billion dollar a year loss proving federal government inefficiency. Local hospitals, local doctors, and local controls are what I desire; I know it won't happen, just my point of view based on constitutional law.
Murph
It's nice to rediscover that one can learn from a cordial disagreement. You obviously know more about the history of Amtrak than I do, and I appreciate the information. You may well be right that over-regulation was the main problem for the railroads (though I don't think you can blame union rules on the government, can you?). At the same time, I suspect the railroads benefited from a lot of government intervention in their early days.
I still don't think the fact that the USPS operates at a loss proves government inefficiency. How much would they have to charge for postage to make a profit? If they turned a profit at 75 cents a letter, would that suddenly make them "efficient"? Nobody else does what they do, so I don't know what the standard for efficiency is.
What I think makes it inefficient are again, the governance and “rules” as set. They must visit every address in the country six days a week, even without mail, using 800 million gallons of fuel per year, this could be done better. Think about that … wow! A 1 cent fuel increase hits them to the tune of 8 million dollars. The system itself is unsustainable without HUGE government resources, i.e. our tax dollars. But to claim UPS or FedEx couldn’t compete may not be fair. For one thing, they are not allowed to offer a simple first class letter fee, it’s a monopoly; the USPS has graciously allowed an exception for urgent letters and packages only. A free market solution is therefore impossible to gauge because it’s illegal. I submit that it may be possible because of the success of UPS and FedEx; prices would probably go up a tad, but taxes could go down. By the way, approximately 200 billion pieces of mail per year; 88 billion dollars at $0.44, I think they're wasteful.
Murph
I agree that the USPS could probably operate on a tighter budget if they didn't go to every house every day. Or if they made you call for pickup or bring your letter to the post office. But I can't imaging the political reaction to proposing that!
I agree, I liken the feds to cockroaches. Once they get in a place, trying to extract them is literally impossible, but again, at least with USPS they are operating within the constitution; maybe a bit loosely, but within the guidelines. Trimming anything from the federal budget is met with a nearly religious zeal of denial. The “protectionist” attitude for all things governmental is probably what scares me the most about the whole process. In my home, we necessarily make decisions about purchases and expenditures based on household need balanced against household income. And therein lies my frustration with government; instead of weighing options and cutting back on what is “fat”, they offer token cuts of a few million on a trillion dollar budget and write new laws to raise their “income”. No wonder I’m a libertarian.
Peace Different Jake, I've enjoyed our conversation, see you around.
Murph
The new health care bill calls for "end of life" counseling, and will rate you and your illness on a point scale. Health care will be rationed depending in how useful you are to society. If you are old, unemployed, handicapped, on welfare, (or any number of other conditions or situations) as well as sick rendering you pretty much a drain on society, will you obediently "drink the koolaid" and remove yourself from the scene, or will you disobey and fight to stay alive as is presently your right ("LIFE, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness")? If you presume that man is inherently good and only seeks to do what is best for his fellow man, then you are not a student of history - or even yesterday's news stories. Power corrupts, and without the Judeo-Christian morals and values that have been swept to the curb by a large portion of both our law-makes as well as much of the population, our country will reap what it is sowing and fall under the heavy hand of godless leaders. Kudos Bill..
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