NewMediaJournal.us
www.NewMediaJournal.us     Return to Article     Kindle Compatible

David A. Fennell
Did I Miss the Debate?
August 8, 2009

I learned this morning that I’ll be blessed with a Granddaughter this winter. I honestly fear for her future. On the day she is born her tax debt will be nearly $40,000 – assuming no increase in current deficit spending. She will be burdened by socialized medicine, government owned or controlled industry, a planned economy, absurd environmental regulation, and contrary to what the populist elite would have you believe, her world will have less freedom, less opportunity, and less hope. If she ever wants to get ahead in the world she will probably have to know Chinese – whose economy will explode with its abundant fossil fuel and nuclear energy resources. A pretty gruesome outlook.

At what point did we decide as a nation that we were to abandon our republic? I’ve looked through my journal to see if I made notes about the national debate and the subsequent Constitutional Convention that replaced our individual rights and freedoms with collective rights and freedoms. I couldn’t find them. Not one reference to a society centered on the individual changing to a state centered one. Not one casual remark about the repudiation of the Bill of Rights granted by God in favor of collective rights granted by the state. I know my mind may not be as sharp as it once was, but I don’t think I’d have missed that. And there was good reason I didn’t – because it never happened.

Don’t be fooled by the liberal “we won the election” mantra. Yes, you won the election, but that doesn’t grant the right to change or outright ignore the Constitution. Winning 53% of a 61% turnout gives you 32% of the electorate – hardly a mandate for the sweeping changes going on now. If you want to change the Constitution then change the Constitution through Constitutional means, but don’t usurp it under the pretense of a false mandate. No such thing exists.

Yet we find ourselves on the precipice of the collective. A year ago I would have seen that as an amusing reference to a Star Trek nightmare with Borg overtones. It never would have occurred to me that I would be using that word when referencing my own government. But the leftist choir rings much the same, “Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated,” in this other, more frightening nightmare. Here the President and rubber stamp Congress are assimilating the private sector at an alarming rate.

Let’s look at the facts. Together Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own more than half of all mortgages in the United States. These are not private companies – they are both government entities and that gives them controlling interest of the enormous mortgage industry. Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman-Sachs, AIG and about 600 other banks and financial institutions are now owned or controlled by the government too, hence America’s (theoretically) free market financial sector is hardly that. The government owns controlling interest in both Chrysler and General Motors, two of the three major American automobile manufacturers allowing them to set the standard for what Ford will now have to produce.

For dessert let’s throw General Electric (GE) on top of the heap. GE is not only among the largest of American corporations, but it is the largest lobby in the United States bar none – even bigger than ‘big evil oil’. GE is in the White House pocket writing policy that will stifle competition from small businesses for decades and they are developing software to digitize your government owned (theoretically private) medical records. I must have missed the competitive bid on that one. If universal healthcare is passed add another 15% of our economy under control of government bureaucrats.

Together these American industries have been handed or promised over a trillion taxpayer dollars with the potential to receive trillions more. This bailout money has made the recipients slaves to government regulation for which the consumers will pay for in higher costs and less quality. Yet from the Left, not one word about corporate welfare or accountability in this government-corporate partnership. This is not a government run by industry; this is industry with the government sitting at the head of every boardroom to make life “better for the collective.”

I don’t want to be assimilated. America was founded on individualism and self-reliance. Our Constitution and national character reflect this. It’s the basis of our Bill of Rights and it protects our personal freedoms. America is incompatible with the nanny-state, centrally planned economies and the collective mindset. Once we start thinking that the collective is more important than the individual then will begin to lose our individual rights to the needs of that collective. It’s the only possible outcome of our current course of action.

Washington’s policy changes are not just ramblings from a different position within the constitutional framework. This is not just another party platform. Days before his inauguration President Obama said he will “fundamentally transform America.” More than just loose change, to transform means to make it something it previously was not. In this case the change is so profound and so fundamentally different that it is not compatible with our existing Constitution. The government is ignoring the Constitution and erecting a framework beneath it for something entirely different. It may still look and feel like a free federal republic, but like the early stages of cancer where you still look and feel well, something different and dangerous is being built inside.

Yet I have hope for my granddaughter. I still have to believe that it is not too late to save our nation. There are two imperatives we must embrace and both are glued to the ballot box. It may also be our only peaceful option to recover the republic. We must act in proactive unison and educate and enlist likeminded friends, family and neighbors.

The first imperative is to limit the damage being caused by this administration. We must now demand the accountability of our existing Representatives and Senators. Emails and faxes alone are no longer enough. We must also pick up the phone and let them know that it is no longer enough for them to just to vote “no” on oppressive legislation. If they want our vote they must actively oppose it. We must overwhelm them as they have done with us. Be courteous, speak calmly and intelligently, but do not make it easy for them to ignore you.

The second imperative is to seek out likeminded candidates for the 2010 Congressional election. Insist that if they want your vote they must have an exit strategy from the transformation infrastructure. They must turn back socialized medicine; repeal unpaid portions of bailout and stimulus legislation; repeal Cap & Trade; work to responsibly reduce the size of government; bring spending under control; support real tax reform; and end restrictions placed on access to our abundant energy resources. To these candidates we must offer our support in any legal way we can. Once elected, we must continue to be engaged and hold their feet to the fire.