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Hein
Since 08 Mar 2005
1314 Posts
Possessed
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 Mon Mar 21, 11 6:28 am A good read from the President of Hillsdale College |
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http://www.hillsdale.edu/news/imprimis/archive/issue.asp?year=2010&month=11
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Outline of a Platform for Constitutional Government
On June 17, 1858, Abraham Lincoln said in his House Divided Speech, “If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it.” His analysis was founded upon a profound contemplation of the Declaration of Independence and its embodiment in the Constitution of the United States. It issued in a set of proposals designed first to limit and then to extinguish slavery by strictly constitutional means.
We require a similar kind of analysis today. Our most difficult policy issues are embedded in a vast administrative state that is built without regard for the principles of the Declaration in their true meaning, or for the proper constitutional operation of government.
The Declaration of Independence articulates the place of man in nature: below God and above the beasts. It says that we may be governed only by our consent. Woodrow Wilson and the founders of modern liberalism called these doctrines “obsolete.” They argued that we live now in the age of progress, and that government must be an engine of that progress. This idea changes how we view not only the purpose of government, but also the rights of its citizens.
Franklin Roosevelt added economic security to the natural rights, as the Declaration of Independence states, of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Government grew as a result, especially under Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. And it continues to grow—all in the name of progress. Indeed, the current administration is the most aggressive proponent of the doctrines of Progressivism since they were first introduced.
Under the influence of these new doctrines, the government has grown to be, in simple quantitative terms, the largest single force by far in the land. It now consumes nearly half of all we produce, and it is soon to accumulate a public debt as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product equal to the largest in our history, matching our debt level at the end of the Second World War. This debt leaves us vulnerable to every mischance that may come upon the nation from abroad or at home. The burden of it stifles enterprise and closes opportunity for all but the well connected.
As the government has grown, it has become a powerful interest in the everyday affairs of the nation. Increasingly, bureaucracy is a factor in every operation our citizens undertake. In the management of our businesses, in the accomplishment of our jobs, in the rearing of our children, and in the very caring for our own bodies, there now are rules too numerous to count. Ominously, these rules now seek even to intrude into the electoral processes by which our free people choose their representatives.
These rules originate in laws passed by Congress that are much too long for anyone to read. After these laws are passed, they are enhanced, expanded, interpreted, and complicated by regulatory agencies. We forget therefore the words of the Father of the Constitution, James Madison:
It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known, and less fixed?
All these developments, so long entrenched in our politics, are presented by their proponents as a natural extension of the original principles and the original institutions of the nation. Doubtless those who argue this also believe it, but it cannot possibly be true.
Gone now is the caution about human nature that recognizes that human beings must live under law in order to protect their rights, and that those who make and enforce the law are no more likely to be perfect—or less likely to violate the rights of their fellow citizens—than others. The current tendency toward unlimited government undermines the foundation of constitutional rule in our country. That foundation is stated by Madison in a few words: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.”
Men must be governed because they are imperfect—less than God, less than angels. But then so too are those who make and enforce the law imperfect. They also have interests. Therefore government must have strong powers, but these powers must be limited and checked.
If this is where we are, then it is easy to see “what to do, and how to do it.” We must return to the principles and institutions of the founding of our country. We must revive constitutional rule. To do so, we propose the following four pillars of constitutional government.
1. Protecting the equal and inalienable rights of individuals is government’s primary responsibility.
a. By rights, America’s founders meant those things naturally belonging to us, and those things earned by our own labor. The protection of rights understood in this way breeds harmony in the society, because each of us claims for himself what he can also give to all others. We may all speak, worship, assemble, and keep our justly earned property without taking from another.
b. Each branch of government is subservient to the Constitution.
c. The federal government has the constitutional duty to ensure that each state maintains a republican form of government. This obligation is strengthened and clarified in the 14th Amendment. It must ensure that no state infringes on the rights or the “privileges or immunities” of citizens. Yet it must also recognize the constitutional standing of state governments.
d. The duties of Congress are clearly delineated in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. It should do no more, lest liberty be endangered. It should do no less, else anarchy ensue.
2. Economic liberty is inversely proportional to governmental intrusion in the lives of citizens.
The platform upon which Abraham Lincoln was elected president stated “that the people justly view with alarm the reckless extravagance which pervades every department of the Federal Government.” It urged “a return to rigid economy and accountability” that “is indispensable to arrest the systematic plunder of the public treasury by favorite partisans. . . .” Likewise today:
a. American economic recovery requires that we liberate the American people to work, to save and to invest, secure in their property, confident about the dollar as a store of value, and sure that the government will be an impartial enforcer of the law and of contracts.
b. In all administration of federal programs we must demand the utmost economy, and that every care be taken to avoid further growth and sprawl in the federal administrative establishment.
c. Our massive public investment in entitlement programs must be protected through privatization programs, which should utilize the real practices of insurance against catastrophe and of savings for future needs. In this process our investment must be safeguarded from loss, as the government must keep its contracts.
d. Sound money is among the most sacred of the federal government’s responsibilities, and price stability should be the aim of monetary policy.
e. The federal government must not subsidize corporations or individuals in its tax code or any other policy.
f. Philanthropy is the natural outgrowth of American principles and institutions. It should be encouraged and relied upon, along with local and state government, as the great engine of social reform and the amelioration of distress.
3. To accomplish its primary duty of protecting individual liberty, the federal government must uphold national security.
a. National defense has been for most of American history the chief undertaking of the government under the Constitution. It has been supplanted by the federal entitlement and regulatory state. This reversal of priority hampers growth at home, deprives the American people of scope for self-government, and undermines the defense of the nation.
b. We should pursue relentlessly every form of defense against foreign threats. Especially is this true in the case of attack by weapons of mass destruction. Therefore missile defense and a vigorous policy to combat Islamic and other forms of terrorism are urgently required.
c. We must overcome all international and domestic efforts to undermine American sovereignty, including those mounted through the United Nations and other international organizations, or through efforts to impose new treaties.
d. Promotion of democracy and defense of innocents abroad should be undertaken only in keeping with the national interest.
4. The restoration of a high standard of public and private morality is essential to the revival of constitutionalism. As the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 states, “Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” The Constitution itself says nothing about education, for the same reason it says nothing about families or marriage or child-rearing: the federal government should not control or regulate these things. Parents and teachers, not the federal government, teach children. What they teach them matters most, for without proper moral and civic education a republican form of government will falter. With it, and with a strong defense of our right to religious liberty, republican government can flourish.
We close again with the words of Lincoln, from the same speech with which we began. Quoting the Bible, Lincoln said that “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” We shall be governed either by ourselves, under a Constitution, or else we shall be governed by the new kind of master invented in our day, the bureaucrat, and by the impenetrable web of rules that he fabricates and enforces.
Let us stand together against the rule of bureaucracy, and for liberty and the Constitution. |
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gybetalkin
Since 01 Nov 2010
55 Posts
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| Mon Mar 21, 11 7:06 am |
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| 'Keep yer govment hands off my medikite' |
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tonyb
Since 09 Oct 2006
973 Posts
Stevenson in the summer & SPI in the winter
Bolstad Clan
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| Mon Mar 21, 11 8:31 am |
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Excellent article. Need to get back to the Keep It Simple, Stupid principle with government. I'm tired of the nanny state mentality and the overly complicated laws that no one can understand and are appealed to death. Like the Health Care Reform Act. Our business hasn't seen any savings, only increases in costs.
Saw something recently that in one of the nearly bankrupt states that nearly 50% of the population is on either state or local government payroll. Absolutely Ridiculous.
And in a rare rant for me...
Article on Google this morning says kids need to stay in booster seats in the car until they are 8 to 12 years old.  There goes any kiting or snowboarding activities for pre-teens. What's next, a pillow tied to your ass until after puberty cause everybody knows that pubescent boys are clumsy as hell and might hurt themselves?
Too many of these well meaning people just try to outdo each other to get their name in the papers. Same for law makers in congress, always looking for some opportunity to bring a new law to the floor with their name on it for posterity. As bad as ambulance chasing lawyers.
How about this for a law: 2 pages max to explain it plus up to one appendix of "details" if needed. And for every new law passed two old ones have to come off the books.
Things shouldn't be as complicated as they are. Basic rules, basic principles and stick to them.
Tony |
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kt
Since 16 Mar 2005
763 Posts
Portland, Or
Opinionated
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| Mon Mar 21, 11 1:19 pm |
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Maybe Hein should move to a country with less government, less regulation and more market forces, for example, Pakistan or maybe Nigeria. They are doing great on the world scale eh?
To the bunkers boys!! That darn tootin' government is coming for mys guns!!
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mystery curd
Since 14 Jun 2010
98 Posts
Floating
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| Mon Mar 21, 11 1:51 pm |
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Sudan also comes to mind... It's not the government you should fear it is losing control of your own government to powerful players behind the scenes who manipulate government to their own selfish ends; buy elections (Koch brothers), broadcast lies ( Faux news), and whip the voters up into a frenzy to vote against their own best interests ( Tea Baggers).
You should be decrying corporate, military and billionaire control. Your ONLY defense against the powers that would make us a monetary slaves is our government and laws. Organize, vote for things that benefit the MOST of us and vote populists into positions of power in government. Seriously where would you rather live, the Netherlands or Sudan. Honestly, this right wing nuttery has NO basis in reality. Name ONE country that operates successfully based on the principles that you "believe in", ONE! A dignified country simply cannot allow it's most vulnerable citizens to descend into abject poverty.
Greenspan said that his job was to maintain a proper level of unemployment to control wages. A NEEDED level of unemployment! You've got to love those right wing nutters and their supply side nonsense!
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Take the red pill... |
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Lurk
Since 04 Apr 2009
355 Posts
Obsessed
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| Mon Mar 21, 11 3:20 pm |
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Hein get a life, you live in a libertarian fantasy. This is reality:
"I pledge allegiance, to the Logo, of the United Corporate States, formerly known as America, and the Global Corporations for which it stands."
You should be asking for more transparency, less cronyism between Government and Wall street. And a new Nationalism that promotes our real interests.
To all Gun nuts: I guess the proof that having automatic weapons in your possession won't stop any government from forcibly imposing its will on you has once again been proven in Libya.
Maybe you all should start advocating for a tank in every home. |
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pollywog
Since 07 Aug 2009
291 Posts
Obsessed
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| Mon Mar 21, 11 5:33 pm |
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Guns, did someone mention Guns, cuz I love Guns! Gun nuts unite! Why so much gun hate? They are fun to shoot. They look cool.
Guns don't kill, people do.
Isn't this a kiteboarding forum?
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Gun control means hitting the bulls eye... |
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SalmonSlayer
Since 27 Nov 2005
648 Posts
Addicted
CGKA Member
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| Mon Mar 21, 11 6:17 pm |
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| mystery curd wrote: | Sudan also comes to mind... It's not the government you should fear it is losing control of your own government to powerful players behind the scenes who manipulate government to their own selfish ends; buy elections (Koch brothers), broadcast lies ( Faux news), and whip the voters up into a frenzy to vote against their own best interests ( Tea Baggers).
You should be decrying corporate, military and billionaire control. Your ONLY defense against the powers that would make us a monetary slaves is our government and laws. Organize, vote for things that benefit the MOST of us and vote populists into positions of power in government. Seriously where would you rather live, the Netherlands or Sudan. Honestly, this right wing nuttery has NO basis in reality. Name ONE country that operates successfully based on the principles that you "believe in", ONE! A dignified country simply cannot allow it's most vulnerable citizens to descend into abject poverty.
Greenspan said that his job was to maintain a proper level of unemployment to control wages. A NEEDED level of unemployment! You've got to love those right wing nutters and their supply side nonsense! |
Just getting in before the lock
So much for a "new era of civility" or was that just for other people. Instead of rebutting a fair a reasonably laid out point of view, you knee jerk, name call and puke out the typical talking points.
Abject poverty in the USA?? Sudan is your example of the "rightwing nuttery's" goal? LOL |
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tonyb
Since 09 Oct 2006
973 Posts
Stevenson in the summer & SPI in the winter
Bolstad Clan
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| Mon Mar 21, 11 7:14 pm |
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In my opinion the extreme views on both ends of the spectrum (left wing liberals and right wing wacko's) are what's holding back true dialog and progress. Lately it seems that the most vocal minority special interest is what is driving the process rather than the best idea.
To the left: people need to grow up and take care of themselves and be responsible for their own decisions. Government does not equal nursemaid. Take care of the elderly and the children. If you're not a tax paying citizen of this country you shouldn't get the same benefits as those who are. Raising taxes too high can be bad. Keep your hands out of the poor and middle class pocket.
To the right: let people make decisions about how they live their lives as long as they don't harm or impose on others. Government does not equal "big brother" or big business. Protect us from predatory/greedy/unethical business practices then get out of the way. There is too much money in too few hands. (yep, I said it) CEO compensation is obscene and the banking "industry" is out of control. Cutting taxes too much can be bad.
We need some strong moderate voices in congress with the ability to think and lead. There are good ideas on both sides of the aisle but they get swept away by those on the fringe who cry that their party isn't going far enough to make people believe what they think is right.
Government done right works. Done wrong it is a waste of time and money. Just like everything else in life.
All done in this thread.
Tony |
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pdxmonkeyboy
Since 16 May 2006
6081 Posts
forever labled as the
retired kiter & motorhead Unicorn Master
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| Tue Mar 22, 11 9:36 am |
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I'm with Tony, everything in moderation. That said my 11yo is in a booster seat. There needs to be a safety net for people because shit happens, but in any system there are going to be lazy fuck heads that abuse it. Like Bonneli being on unemployment while kiteboarding in Mexico and just logging on every week to te unemployment system to ensure the government that he is looking for work and that my tax dollars keep coming to support his hobby.
Why this country can not manage to give healthcare to everyone is beyond me. Why is healthcare so expensive? Go to the ER on a saturday and see all the people with chest colds and headaches seeing doctors for free.
In my eyes the answer isn't more guns, or less government, it's more education and more assistance for people to be parents. It's either that or some serious talk about birth control but the religious right will simply not have that. Maybe we should imprison more people for non violent drug offenses. I know that some guy selling weed is a dangerous menace to society and should be locked up forever.
But please, don't write or call your representative, or (gasp) vote. Voice your political will on NWKite, the national venue for discussion and change.
Bottom line is I think that Ron White said it best; "you can't fix stupid"
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Bury me standing cause I won't lay down!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVvAw2VFR4Y&feature=PlayList&p=FB7233C37686AC79&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=34 |
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mystery curd
Since 14 Jun 2010
98 Posts
Floating
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| Tue Mar 22, 11 12:20 pm To Salmon slapper |
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Hey Salmon Slayer:
Did you even read what I wrote? Talking points? Next time instead of trying to harass me, why don't you try to "lay out" a rebuttal of the points I made. I know why you didn't answer the questions in my original post- you don't have one. It's called a pivot, you try to critique me or my style of delivery instead of composing a retort. Also, a "well laid out point of view" ( your description ) is not a substitute for valuable content, of which Hein's copy and paste contains none. Notify me when you can lay out a coherent argument.
_________________
Take the red pill... |
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shred_da_gorge
Since 12 Nov 2008
1340 Posts
Da Hood & Da Wood
XTreme Poster
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| Tue Mar 22, 11 1:20 pm |
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| pdxmonkeyboy wrote: | | Why this country can not manage to give healthcare to everyone is beyond me. Why is healthcare so expensive? Go to the ER on a saturday and see all the people with chest colds and headaches seeing doctors for free. |
You answered your own question. Government health insurance is not about making sure everyone has access to care, it's about the insurance lobby persuading the government to make everyone help pay for it.
My girl manages an ER at Kaiser down here in California. She can go into great detail about how the system gets worked, inside and out. |
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shred_da_gorge
Since 12 Nov 2008
1340 Posts
Da Hood & Da Wood
XTreme Poster
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| Tue Mar 22, 11 1:22 pm |
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| Wait, a Hein posting lasting more than a day with no lock? Is it windy up there?? |
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SalmonSlayer
Since 27 Nov 2005
648 Posts
Addicted
CGKA Member
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| Tue Mar 22, 11 2:31 pm Re: To Salmon slapper |
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| mystery curd wrote: | Hey Salmon Slayer:
Did you even read what I wrote? Talking points? Next time instead of trying to harass me, why don't you try to "lay out" a rebuttal of the points I made. I know why you didn't answer the questions in my original post- you don't have one. It's called a pivot, you try to critique me or my style of delivery instead of composing a retort. Also, a "well laid out point of view" ( your description ) is not a substitute for valuable content, of which Hein's copy and paste contains none. Notify me when you can lay out a coherent argument. |
Yes, I read what you wrote. Did you read the original post? From your initial response it was fairly obvious you did not. The original post was void of name calling and snide remarks, yet, the best you could do was shotgun talking points that shows intolerance for those that think differently than you. Just how did you get Sudan out of the post? How much did you need to completely ignore if you did read it? I assume you are smarter that to come up with your original response if you did read it.
Done with the kiddie pool. Must find wind.
In before the lock once more |
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