Inspired by Thomas Paine
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
Thomas Paine eloquently chose those words 233 years ago to call out for a surge of Patriots to stand up and fight tyranny as the evil that it is despite the fragile state of the American Revolution. Today, America finds itself in a much similar situation. We may not be defending our homesteads by arms from pillaging British soldiers, but we are without question defending our liberty against an increasingly oppressive federal government that our Founding Fathers would have found intolerable. It is in this time where we can choose to forsake our God given rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness or We The People can take a stand now, united not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans, and say “Give Me Liberty!”
The crisis America faces now is unlike anything she has before experienced. Through decades of corruption, out of control spending and one unconstitutional overstep after another the federal government has grown into a cancer that is eating away at the heart of our country and threatening our liberty. It has boiled to the point where we must take drastic, immediate action or else watch our country crumble before our eyes. We must not be so naive that we are somehow invincible from natural law. We cannot blindly press forward like Edward Smith only to suddenly realize that yes, the Titanic can sink. We are not invincible, but we are Americans and Americans rise up and fight for their country when it is in a crisis!
The most threatening problems America faces are internal and they are obvious: a national debt over $12.7 trillion, entitlement spending combined with interest on the debt taking up more than 70% of the federal budget, and unconstitutional federal takeovers of the mortgage industry, countless banks, GM, Chrysler and AIG. Of course we cannot forget the recent sweeping $940 billion health care reform bill that passed which also nationalizes the student loan industry. Do we dare still call ourselves a capitalist country? Is the comfort of ignorance and complacency worth the sacrifice of liberty?
This must end immediately! The only way to do that is to eliminate the very sources of money that feeds this cancer. Debating on whether this program can stay or that program should be trimmed a little is utter nonsense. Every day that we allow this to continue only prolongs the inevitable, painful recovery that is necessary to ensure the survival of our country and even worse, it encourages this out-of-control behavior to continue. The course we are on is absolutely not sustainable. What works in your own house works in the White House. If you are in massive debt you cannot take out even bigger loans, triple your spending, while demanding your boss pay you more money so you can finance the bills. You would end up on the street begging for money. If America does not end this madness now we will be forced to declare bankruptcy and beg China and Japan for a bailout.
So just cut everything? YES, Social security, Medicare, Medicade, SCHIP, unemployment, every department budget and everything else that is not essential to national security (although many changes are needed there too). If individual states want to continue socialist entitlement programs within their state’s constitutional authority that is fine, but the federal government must eliminate them. Some programs can be eliminated quickly while some programs will need to be phased out over several years. Understandably those Americans nearing retirement who have paid into a system like Social Security all of their lives deserve their earned benefits. However, at some point a line must be drawn. Are we as a country going to settle with the greatest generation being behind us or will we step up and do what needs to be done in order to get back on the road to prosperity and ensure that our children enjoy a better America than we did?
Cutting federal spending alone will not fix the problem. Taxes and government regulation still must be addressed to allow the free market economy to get back on its feet and run. Regarding the federal income tax, I am personally in favor of abolishing it and going back to an excise tax system that sustained America until 1913 when the radical progressive President Woodrow Wilson had better ideas. In doing that the IRS would be eliminated thus dramatically reducing the federal bullying power over the Americans. However, a simpler solution that can be done now is an across-the-board flat tax of 10% for both personal and corporate income tax. Then set capital gains at 5%. What about regulation? There is way too much red tape strung across the country for me to itemize. However, a great start is eliminating federal mandates on minimum wage and overtime pay so the free market can allocate wages appropriately saving businesses billions of dollars that they can use better elsewhere.
You are probably thinking “No, this is way too radical.” You bet it is, but only in context to where we are now. Remember, one of the major tipping points leading to the American Revolution was over taxes. The infamous Boston Tea Party was in response to the Tea Act of 1773, which enraged American colonists so much that Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty stormed a British cargo ship in the darkness of the night and threw crates of tea in the Boston harbor. I am not advocating riots, but if a simple tax on tea caused such uproar to motivate a revolution why are we so comfortable with an IRS tax code over 70,000 pages in length?
Seriously, think about this. How much better would your life be if you kept 70% more of the money you earned? Would you be better able to pursue happiness for yourself, your family, and the charity of your choice? What do you think the economy would be like if businesses weren’t forced to pay taxes on their employees or wages above what the market says that particular job is worth? Do you think perhaps that businesses would be able expand and create more jobs, invest in research and development, reduce product prices, and increase wages and benefits for skilled and valued employees? Would billions or even trillions of dollars from all over the world flood from their overtaxed countries to the United States for opportunity? Overall, do you think those changes would get American back on the track that allowed us to go from 13 rugged colonies to the greatest country the world has ever witnessed? The answer is a resounding yes!
I am not attempting to minimize other pressing issues that need attention nor will I tell you that by doing everything I suggested that life in America will instantly be sunshine and lollipops. The problems we are facing now have been building over 100 years and they will take time to fix, but this is a giant leap on the road to recovery.
This war against a power hungry federal government is not going to be easy, as we have witnessed recently with the health care bill. Governments are by nature self-protecting against any limitations or obstructions. Politicians are masters at using smoke & mirrors and rhetoric to keep us fighting over single issues instead of the real problem – the government itself. But We The People, through education and action, can and will prevail if we realize that our government is a government “of the people, for the people, by the people.” It is a necessary evil, given certain limited powers with its primary purpose to protect our liberty.
So here we are again, to answer the fundamental question. Will we forsake our God given rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness and allow the federal government to do as it wishes with our lives and property? I pray not. Instead, as an American, I strongly pray we choose liberty and freedom over tyranny and slavery.
There is one final thought I must say. Do not fear! The cause for concern is great, but we must remember that we are Americans. We have beaten back tyranny from foreign and domestic enemies for 233 years and we will do it again this time, but in order to do so we must be united. Therefore, to echo the author of Common Sense once again:
“I call not upon a few, but upon all: not this state or that state, but on every state: up and help us…better have too much force than too little, when so great an object is at stake. Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and repulse it. Say not that thousands are gone, turn out your tens of thousands…It matters not where you live, or what rank of life you hold, the evil or the blessing will reach you all. The far and the near…the rich and the poor, will suffer or rejoice alike.”
{ 3 trackbacks }