A Long Train of Abuses

Constitutional Moment of the Day

Please, allow me the liberty, so to speak, to replace the usual “Constitutional” moment with an “Independence” moment of the day. The following is so beautiful and lucid it requires no further commentary beyond: enjoy and appreciate the full meaning of the words.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Quote of the Day

“Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it.”
- John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776

It is in our hands.


A Long Train of Abuses and Usurpations

Obama recently signed a health care bill into law against the will of a majority of Americans. The law includes the hiring of over 16,000 new IRS agents, the collecting of a multitude of new taxes and fines, the training of physicians with the military, the forcing of Americans to buy insurance under penalty of fines and prosecution, the placing of bureaucrats in the decision making process of doctors.

Obama has appointed more "czars" (most of which did not require confirmation by the Senate) than any other administration. By my count (and the counts vary) there have been 25 czars appointed by President Obama or his department secretaries that never went through the rigor of a Senate confirmation (8 others were confirmed by the Senate and two are holdovers from the Bush Administration). Among these unelected, unconfirmed czars are: border czar (How’s that working out?), compensation/pay czar, climate czar, auto czar, auto recovery czar, autoworkers czar (How many auto czars can you fit in a VW?), Afghanistan/Pakistan czar (How’s that one working out?), domestic violence czar, Great Lakes czar (I’m not making this stuff up.), health czar (of course), Iran czar (How’s that working out?), urban affairs czar, and, I’m not kidding, a big-picture economic czar. In fairness, President Bush appointed 23 unconfirmed czars, but he was not a Conservative. In comparison, President Clinton appointed six czars (Did you ever think you would look at the Clinton Years as the “Good Old Days?”) and President Ronald Reagan (Don’t you just miss him.) appointed over his eight years in office a grand total of one czar.

At this moment, hundreds of thousands of census workers are spreading out across the country forcing Americans to provide personal information, again under penalty of fines and prosecution. Apparently, arrested suspects have the right to remain silent, but everyday, law-abiding citizens in their own homes do not have that same luxury. So, if you refuse to answer the questions, then you continue to refuse to pay the fines, when they come to arrest you, you can remain silent and not answer their questions.

Obama has taken over private financial institutions, and is attempting to dictate how they run their businesses and pay their executives (see compensation/pay czar above), private auto manufacturers, and the previously private student loan business.

Obama has signed an executive order allowing the EPA to regulate a gas (carbon dioxide) which is so "dangerous" that it is an essential element in the process (photosynthesis) in which plants make their food and produce oxygen. It is so “harmful” that most living creatures expel it from their bodies during normal respiration. These EPA regulations will affect almost every industry in America, as well as all Americans, without any debate or legislation passed by Congress.

Now, in 1776, Thomas Jefferson enumerated in the Declaration of Independence what he called "a long train of abuses and usurpations" committed by the King of Great Britain. Among them was:

"He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance."

Sound familiar??? Isn't it time for a new Declaration of Independence??


It’s not too late.


Next time . . . the literal horror of big government.