1Declaration: Free Markets, Free People, Free Minds

Today I am starting a multipart series on the problems facing America today and what can be done to face these problems head on without further sacrificing the future our the next generation.

Today voters are left wondering why nothing has gotten fixed, why things seem to keep getting worse no matter how many programs we enact, and why our privacy is always under threat from the intrusions of government (look no further than the much criticized program of flag@whitehosue.gov that has since been canceled under enormous public outcry). The same politicians who were telling us during the Bush administration that it was American to protest the administration (a position I firmly agree with) are now telling us that it is now "un-American" to question our leaders and offer dissenting views. The same people who put us in this mess in the first place are the very same people telling us that they can pull us out by doing more of the same: more spending, more taxes, more entitlements, more central banking, more fiat money, more (...well you fill in the blank...) .

The Obama Administration was waved into the White House to fix the problems that the Bush Administration created. He promised a change that we had not seen in decade with promises to make Washington more transparent, to veto earmarks, to protect the rights of the individual, to reduce the national deficit, and to once again make government work for the people rather than special interests. Nothing it appears have changed and the only change we have seen is to dramatically increase the national debt, the further threatening of the the Liberty of the individual, and the continual devaluation of the US dollar.

I still contend that liberals whom like to call themselves Progressives were upset at the Bush Administration because he outspent them, increased welfare rolls faster than they had in recent years, and removed personal Liberties faster than they could dream of. Now that the Democrats are back in charge they have ramped up their efforts to do the same. By in large Obama has chosen to continue many of the same Bush administration policies. Lets do a little comparison. Please note that this list in non-inclusive.

Bush

• Supported the bailout of the financial system
• Increased the tax rate on future generation by increasing the national debt
• Enhanced security by removing individual Liberties to protect individual Liberties (sounds impossible doesn't it)
  
• "I have abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system." 12/16/08 GWB
• Continuation of the Federal Reserve and the devaluation of the dollar through the support of a fiat monetary policy

Obama

• Supported the bailout of the economy and the financial system totaling over $1.5 trillion combined
• Increased the tax rate on future generation by increasing the national debt faster than all previous presidents combined
• Enhances security by destroying individual Liberties to protect individual Liberty (health care, card check, not to mention a continuation of warrantless wiretapping of citizens)
• Appoints Ben Bernanke, a Bush administration appointee, to the chairman of the Fed to continue to devalue the dollar and expand government

Change is in the eye of the beholder. I guess with some will call the accomplishment of Barack Obama a change because he has dramatically increased many of the same policies of the Bush administration that Democrats had been criticizing and further enslaving future generations to a life of high taxes, a stagnant economy, a worthless dollar, and joblessness due to the greed and selfishness of the current generation for more security in their own life, be it physical or social.

So how can we fix the problems? Are Republicans really the answer or are they another part of the problem? If not the Republicans, then where can voters turn going forward?

To be continued...

After quite a long break and months of little activity I am finally bringing this blog back online. The erosion of Liberty in this country has not stopped therefore no citizen should rest.

Many words can be said this day in rememberance of our countries honorable indepence from absolute Despotism against inmeasurable odds. Few wars have been valuable assets in the fight to gain or protect freedoms. Few revolutions throughout history have given rise to a form of government that is not based on the whims and authoritarian control of a single individual or group. This was due to the character, honor, and brilliance of the most indispensible man in US History and dare I say world history: General George Washington.

July 4th is not the day the Independence of the United States began or was ensured in the year of 1776 but instead it was the first proclaimed day in the struggle for freedom we continue to fight for today. Instead of summarizing or vainly trying to produce ostentation of the course of events that led to our celebration of this day, I bring forward for your pleasure and education the written words that began the struggle for Liberty againsts the British despot that was not won until years later and a country that did not form in its existing state until the ratification of the Constitution in 1788.

Liberty is always one moment from usurpation as government will always portray the freedoms that were envisioned, fought for, and set in place by the honorable men that came before us as a hinderance to our countries security. Perhaps no better words were spoken on this issue than by America's greatest diplomat among his numerous other achievements in that, "they that would give up essential Liberty for a little temporary Security deserve neither Liberty nor Security."

Have a safe and happy 4th of July and let us not forget that our Liberty is still not assured. From the transnationialist movement to domestic threats, foreign state aggression to terrorist movements, and Constitutional usurpation from governmental action to individual ambition our Liberty is but one moment of what will be considered silent acquiescence away from the return to Despotism.

In CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

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. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

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

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Many, mainly of the ignorant and naive fashion, call libertarians a group of people that stand for nothing because we stand for everything. This is a gross oversimplification and misunderstanding of what libertarianism is and what I stand for. Libertarian philosophy's key thought is in the spelling of the word itself and derives from the word Liberty.

From abortion to the economy, and taxes to the War on Drugs libertarians stand firmly on the side of the individual to participate in any activity they wish so long as that action does not violate the Liberty of another. Libertarians are not for transient politicians or policies. Libertarian's are against State control in general and see government as a necessary evil that must be carefully controlled so as not to interfere with the rights of the individual to participate in any non-aggressive manner they wish to.

Governing Thought is Futile

Libertarians do not vainly attempt to legislate morality (save one concept that I will cover in a moment), thought, beliefs, or religious convictions. Perhaps the only moral guide to sound governance that a true libertarian will follow is the adherence to the belief that governments only legitimate work is to minimize governments negative impacts and maximize individual Liberty. This moral belief has many facets which I will expand on but keep in mind this list is far from inclusive.

1. Taking from Joe and giving to John is sinful and tyrannical. What one individual must work for and give there life, blood, and sweat for another individual is not entitled to. The only legitimate form of welfare derives from voluntary individual donations (not like the voluntary income tax system as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid brazenly claims) that may be paid directly or though a nongovernmental organization. The tax system is not a method to redistribute wealth. Governmental welfare breeds dependence and enslave the mind and spirit of individuals.

You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that, my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
-The late Dr. Adrian Rogers

2. Using government to force a change in societal norms or individual beliefs is immoral. Libertarians make no predication's about the morality of any given issue unless an individuals actions violate the Liberty of another. If you fail to understand this let me sum it up briefly: what someone else does is there own business until it violates another persons choice to live in a manner that they choose. If you still don't understand let me put it this way: mind your own business not mine!

When will the world learn that a million men are of no importance compared with one man?
-Henry David Thoreau

3. The only legitimate use of force is defensive. From military to individual actions offensive force is never a legitimate use in sound governance. A country must be free to act in a common defense for its citizens (this is afterall the primary purpose of government along with the administration of justice and the maximization of individual liberty) either in retribution for an attack that has already occurred or to prevent an imminent and unavoidable attack. The latter is an option that must be carefully employed until all other options have been eliminated. The attack against a threat that has not yet developed, may never develop, or does not clearly and reasonably act in defense of the United States is never proper or necessary. Just as an individual should not use force until the threat is realized, a government should not use force until a threat is tangible.

War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.
-Thomas Jefferson

Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
-George Washington

Warfare and Liberty

I speak not necessarily of military warfare, which is of the most common and readily accessible tool to remove individual Liberty but one of a far more insidious and deceptive warfare. It is James Madison that perhaps stated it most clearly.

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. . . Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

In recent years military wars have been fought many of them with great foolishness and naivety, which have resulted in a great reduction in individual Liberty for a little more security or at least the appearance of it. Hardly an equal change. James Madison referred to a foreign enemy specifically meaning an enemy country but in the same context that it was spoken here a modern "foreign enemy" includes false enemies of man. Wars against drugs, poverty, climate change, intolerance, and many other hardly tangible, true, or easily recognized ailments plaguing society have been fought. For that manner we can add a War on Terror to that list, especially considering the recent release of a report by the Department of Homeland Security warning of retaliation from right wing political activists.

Modern day false wars have been waged not for the benefit of the citizens of the United States but for an increase in governmental control over its citizens. The War on Drugs has proved to be a complete failure. Since prohibition on now illegal drugs the murder rate has more than doubled. Because the War on Drugs gives cartels, gangs, and drug lords the complete power to control drug distribution, the price of illegal drugs becomes heavily inflated. Nearly 25% of auto theft, 40% of robberies and assaults, and 50% of burglaries are due to drug users trying to cover the cost of there next drug purchase. Still not convinced? Nearly half of all police resources are used to stop drug trafficking.

To summarize this for you, the War on Drugs has made the United States a more dangerous place to live, ties up police resources slowing responses to real crimes, and has cost the United States (meaning taxpayers) billions of there own money in a completely futile and failed attempt at stopping drugs from coming into the country. From the jailing of non-violent drug users whose worst crime was having a few ounces of pot to spending vital policing resources that are unable to make a significant debt in stopping drugs from getting in the country the War on Drugs is a complete failure. Instead of treating a symptom it is time to realize that keeping drugs out of the country is costly and futile endeavor. Instead of incarceration, where the use of drugs will continue as any prison official will continue, let us engage in the most cost effective and efficient way to eliminate drugs by eliminating the need for drugs in the first place by treating the addiction. Only then will the War on Drugs will be winnable or at least better controlled. Drugs are going to get in one way or another, we just need to live with it.

False wars are a dime a dozen. They are waged not for the benefit of its citizens but for the benefit of increasing the power of government. False wars are crusades that build dependency, eliminate individual Liberty, are a reason to increase taxes, or enslave there own citizens under the guise of greater security. Benjamin Franklin most eloquently and correctly stated with much wisdom that "Any society that would give up a little Liberty to gain a little security deserve neither Liberty nor security." It is time to end the false wars and ensure that the Liberties the American Revolution earned us are retained and fully restored for future generations.

Conclusions

It would be far to easy to continue this treatise on Liberty and the philosophy on Libertarians but it is not necessary. What Americans must consider moving forward in the wake of a government filled with elected tyrants is whether the Liberty's that have been stripped from us and will be stripped from us are worth it. As others around the world struggle for Liberty, government and the two major parties have brainwashed the American public into asking for greater security in return an insidious removal of individual Liberties.

Understanding libertarian governance is easy to understand. We oppose the idea of government power and support the maintenance of individual Liberty and choice. As the young patriot, Thomas Paine, wrote during the American Revolution, "Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one."

Libertarians could not agree more. History is filled with many examples of evil and tyrannical governments but only a few that can even be considered tolerable. One commonality exists between all governments in history: all have become tyrannical, despotic, venal, and corrupt.
Libertarians support maximizing individual Liberty and nothing more!

Obama is not doing everything in his capacity as President to protect Americans from biological dangers originating in Mexico known as the Swine Flu. The evidence is quite clear as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano stated that the Obama administration will not attempt to mitigate infected individuals from crossing the border to stem the tide of infectious potential into new areas because isolated cases are already exist in the United States. Mr. Obama this reasoning is completely ludicrous.

Perhaps Mr. Obama needs a bit of schooling in the responsibilities of the Office of President as is quite evident because of his adoption of policies in direct violation of the Constitution of the United States, while failing to protect Americans from threats from abroad whether they be of aggression from another entity or as in this case passively from a biological threat. The potential for a mass pandemic in the United States demands immediate and decisive action. The people of the United States deserve better.

In order to mitigate further spread of the disease in the United States the US-Mexico border needs to be highly regulated until such a time that the pandemic potential of the disease is over. Any individual that is attempting to enter the United States that is showing symptoms of the disease needs to be turned away to protect the lives of Americans. Until the individuals are healthy there is no need to risk further spread of the disease into the United States.

Doctors and other health care officials in the United States have the duty of stopping the spread of the disease in the United States but the jobs difficulty is compounded several times over by the naivety and ignorance of the White House's lackluster response to this growing threat against Americans. Stopping the further spread of the disease or a more lethal strain into the United States is a necessary step to containing the devastating potential of this disease. Until the borders are more heavily regulated Americans lives are in danger.

At a point when the US economy is already in a weakened state the potential impacts of an epidemic spreading across America could further slow the economy and push recovery to a later date. The possibility of a further decline in economic growth in the United States is a threat that must be quelled.

We must take any and every reasonable step to stop the spread of the Swine Flu or any other disease into the United States including closing border crossing for infected individuals. It seems however that Mr. Obama is more concerned with saving his own popularity among Hispanics to help his reelection campaign in 3.5 years rather than protecting Americans from threats from abroad. Is this really good governance, transparency, or "change" we can believe in?

The response to this threat is simple. Use the power that only the federal government has to regulate entry into the country of foreign nationals that are showing symptoms of Swine Flu or any other epidemic disease to protect Americans. Then let the health care officials do there job and allow them to eradicate the disease where it currently exists.

Republican Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter whom has been serving in the same position since Ronald Reagen was in the White House announced today that he would be running in the Democratic Primary in 2010. He cited reason for the switch was due to the Republicans hard shift to the extreme right in recent years. Perhaps he has seen a shift many others have failed to take notice of. Perhaps it was the out of control spending, erosion of civil liberties, terrible economic decisions like the Troubled Asset Relief Program, misguided wars, or bailout of the automakers by the George Bush administration and Republicans in Congress over the last decade.

Last I checked however the new Barack Obama administration has followed the Bush administrations lead on greater intrusion into the economy, more bailouts, more spending, more debt, an increase in troops on the ground in Afghanistan, and a continued erosion of civil liberties. What is the difference? Last I checked these were all liberal left wing positions. The Senator has been a liberal for years and is finally telling the truth.

Perhaps his reason for switching parties was not due to a shift to the right in the Republican Party, which has already been debunked as a complete myth, but because of his desire for power. He cited specifically falling poll numbers and Rasmussen Reports backs this reason up. In the lastest Rasmussen Reports polling data for the 2010 Republican Primary, Arlen Specter trails challenger Congressmen Pat Toomey 51%-30%. The Senator has higher approval rates among Democrats than Republicans, which he clearly stated today as his only legitimate reason for switching parties.

In the end Republicans must ask themselves if losing Arlen Specter is bad for the Republican Party. If they didn't figure out the question yet then it is quite clear Republicans have not yet learned there lesson. Republicans, I'll give you a hint: it is you shift to the center by the entry of members such as Arlen Specter that have led to your downfall from power.

Many Republicans are labeling Specter as Benedict Specter in reference to Benedict Arnold, an American Revolutionary War officer who turned his back on America during one of its most crucial times. Republicans, wake up! Specter is not a traitor to your own party but the American people as his voting record over his decades in service prove. Instead be glad your party has been purged by one of its most liberal members that has helped lead to your downfall.

Senator Specter, instead of switching parties and continuing to support devastating policies for America, please do all Americans a favor and retire! Your press conference was quite clear in that your primary reason for switching parties is your desire and fondness for power. You are simply another sound argument in favor of passing term limits for America's legislative branch!

I have another hint for Republicans, if you are lucky several other members of your party will follow Specters lead. Do I really need to name any names?

Source: FoxNews.com: Longtime GOP Sen. Specter Joins Democratic Party