What Is An American?

It has been very depressing times for ordinary Americans over the past few years. High and stubborn unemployment levels, incompetent and self serving politicians, a bloated and ineffective government bureaucracy, national problems that go unresolved for decades (lost war on drugs, failing public schools, the continued lack of a national energy strategy, escalating health care costs, just to name a few), a national debt that might crash our economy and our democracy, overwhelming tax burdens for underwhelming government services, and the steady deterioration in our freedoms and liberty. 

We are saddled with a set of politicians that divide us whenever possible only to further their political aims and gains. We are saddled with a set of politicians that have hijacked our election processes so that the voice of ordinary Americans is drowned out and washed away by big money from unions, corporations, lobbyists, and PACs.  We are saddled with a set of politicians that view our current laws, government processes, and the Constitution as merely a set of suggestions that can be followed or ignored at their whimsy.

However, I still maintain, as I did in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government," that America is still the best country on earth with the best citizens, the best history of democracy, and the greatest guidelines for government every written, as laid out in the Constitution and the Bill Of Rights. Unfortunately, America cannot attain its optimal state of prosperity and liberty since it is currently served by an inferior political class that believe they are more important than these concepts of America.

This situation was graphically and effectively laid out in one of our most popular blog posts of all time from November 18, 2010, "The Freedom Pyramid: Where it Should Be Vs. Where It Is Today" (http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2010/11/american-freedom-pyramid-where-it.html). Although these graphics laid out the deterioration of our democracy vs. what our democracy should look like, I thought some words that I came across recently might do a better job of picking up our spirits today in the face of the the major problems we face. 

Please read the following observations from an Australian dentist. Hopefully these words will renew your faith that we can get through our problems together, with or without the help of our current set of politicians:

Written by an Australian Dentist

To Kill an American

You probably missed this in the rush of news, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper, an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.

So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American is. So they would know when they found one. (Good one, mate!!!!)

An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan.

An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.

An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan. The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.

An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

An American lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world.

The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.

An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return.

When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country!

As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan ...

The national symbol of America, The Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America.

Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 1, 2001 earning a better life for their families. It's been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.

Great words and an inspiring tribute to America and Americans. Notice in the words above, there is no mention of politicians, Democrats, Republicans, government agencies, government bureaucracies, and government organizations. There is no mention because they are not what makes America great. They are supposed to support the concept and virtue of America but they have all done a very poor job of that over the past few decades.

In fact, these entities have done their darnest, especially the political class, to undermine the very concepts that make this country the best hope of humanity. Rather than lead and unite, our politicians divide and conquer.

Rather than support the concept of diversity and freedom of speech, our politicians demean and slander those with a different viewpoint of the world. American citizens have recently been labeled racists, un-American, Neanderthals, barbarians, terrorists, gerbils, Nazis, a__h___s, sluts, and Klan members by current politicians, simply for having a different viewpoint. That is not leadership, that is destructive and subhuman behavior.

So, heed the words from Australia. We are still a great people with a great country, and a great heritage of freedom... that are being poorly served by the politicians that are currently in charge. Rather than feel sorry for ourselves, may I suggest that each of us undertake the following steps in our lives to live up to the high expectations in Australia, around the world, and here in the United States:

1) Respect different opinions of others in our nation. Respect the diversity of experience, expertise, and viewpoints that they can bring to a problem's solution. No one has all of the answers to the great issues of our times. No one knows where an answer might come from. By disrespecting and shutting out the opinions and viewpoints of others, we dramatically reduce our chances of resolving an issue.

2) Be passionate about your viewpoints, not emotional.A passionate person will usually promote their positions and the reasons for their positions in a positive, coherent, and logical manner. An emotional person will usually negatively and loudly promote their positions not by stressing their views but by denigrating both the other person and the other person's contrary views.

Yelling at each other in a highly emotional state will never bring us together to solve the problems of our times. All that does is play into the selfish aims of the politicians, as they use our emotional outbursts against each other to "energize their base," not solve our problems.

3) Please join us to impose term limits on all Federal politicians, as proposed by Step 39 in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government." That effort has already started with an online petition effort at the following website page:

http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/united_states_of_purple_015.htm

4) Dante once said: "The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crises maintain their neutrality." If you see another American being attacked for simply having an opinion, even if you disagree with their opinion, I believe it is your duty as an American to defend that person's right to have a contrary opinion.

It is a fundamental right of our democracy and if we allow personal attacks on other Americans for simply having an opinion, at some point in time those attacks will surely come around and be aimed at us. For example, even if you are a Democrat and a Democratic politician calls a Republican an a__h___, a slut, a Neanderthal, or other slur, it is your responsibility as an American to call that Democratic politician to task for the attack.

5) Finally, we ask that you consider helping to fix our broken political processes that we have allowed our political class to control and abuse. Many of these fixes were laid out in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government," and include such fixes as term limits, election campaign money restrictions, stopping the gerrymandering of Congressional districts, higher moral standards for elected officials, the strengthening of election campaign laws and enforcement, etc. By not getting involved in these fixes, we end up abdicating our citizen responbilities and the associated democracy and liberty that comes with these responsibilities.

What is an American? An American is generally a great person, a compassionate person, living in a great country with a great heritage of freedom that is so poorly served by its politicians and those that live off of those politicians. We can be great again but it requires us all to be more respectful, kinder, hard working and great listeners while being ever suspicious of anything a politician tells us, especially when that politician's message is one of hate and fear against those Americans with a different opinion.



We invite all readers of this blog to visit our new website, "The United States Of Purple," at:

http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/

The United States of Purple is a new grass roots approach to filling the office of President of The United States by focusing on the restoration of freedom in the United States, focusing on problem solving skills and results vs. personal political enrichment, and imposing term limits on all future Federal politicians. No more red states, no more blue states, just one United States Of America under the banner of Purple.

The United States Of Purple's website also provides you the formal opportunity to sign a petition to begin the process of implementing a Constitutional amendment to impose fixed term limits on all Federally elected politicians. Only by turning out the existing political class can we have a chance of addressing and finally resolving the major issues of or times.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom

http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment/
 

So It Begins - Orwellian Liberty Death March

Before getting into what an Orwellian Liberty Death March is, a history quiz. Please determine which historical figure said which of the following quotes: Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Mussolini, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton.

Quote 1 - "Politics would a helluva a good business if it weren't for the [expletive deleted] people"

Quote 2 - "You know the one thing wrong with this country? Everyone gets a chance to have their fair say."

Quote 3 - "When personal freedom is being abused, you have to move to limit it."

Quote 4 - "We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary citizens."

Quote 5 - "The Constitution is a radical document. It is the job of government to reign in people's rights."

Quote 6 - "If the personal freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution inhibit the government's ability to govern the people, we should seek to limit those guarantees."

Quote 7 - "We're going to take things away from you for the common good."

Certainly not freedom friendly quotes or attitudes to have. The common thread of all of these quotes is the those that rule over us tend to think that we exist for their benefit and glory rather than they exist to protect our safety AND our rights, freedom, and liberty. Especially in America, which has its basis and heritage in the concept of individual and personal freedom, we should be alarmed by those that think freedom is an inconvenience for those that are in political office.

The second common theme is that none of these quotes come from the worst tyrants of the 20th century, none of them come from Hitler, Mussolini, Mao, or Stalin:

Quote 1 - From Richard Nixon, and shows that he would rather live in a political world where citizens did not exist, certainly an out of touch with reality perspective.

Quote 2 - From Bill Clinton, illustrating his distaste for freedom of speech, a cornerstone of freedom in this country.

Quote 3 - From Bill Clinton, illustrating every politician's desire to limit someone's freedom to expand their own personal political power and reach.

Quote 4 - From Bill Clinton, again, in his mind, those pesky rights and liberties keep getting in the way of what he wants to do.

Quote 5 - From Bill Clinton, the purpose of the Constitution was to protect people's rights, not reign them in, putting Clinton in direct conflict with the greatest declaration of freedom in the history of mankind.

Quote 6 - From Bill Clinton, the more you read about Clinton quotes, the more you believe that he might have been a great USSR ruler.

Quote 7 - Hillary Clinton, seems to run in the family, government knows what is best for everyone, and if freedom has to be stomped out in the process of determining what is best for everyone, than so be it.

Pretty scary stuff. Quotes on the crushing of freedom and individual liberties that you would expect to hear from the likes of Mao and Hitler actually come from elected American politicians.

Which gets us to the concept of the Orwellian Death March, with George Orwell's epic novel, "1984," being the template for repression. In what other novel would you expect to hear the concepts of denying people the right to have their fair say, reigning in and limiting people's rights, and taking things away from citizens for the so-called "common good," which is really a code word for the good of the political and ruling classes.

As we allow more and more politicians to believe and spread these concepts, we begin the death march from a free, democratic society to a repressive, Big Brother regime where power emanates from an elitist few and is dictated down to the masses. This is the exact opposite of the concepts of freedom inherent in the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the desires of our founding fathers.

Unfortunately, this Orwellian Death March took two giant steps last week. The first step occurred when a sitting politician, North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue, actually suggested that the next round of Congressional elections be suspended in order to allow politicians to focus on government instead of getting elected: "You have to have more ability from Congress, I think, to work together and to get over the partisan bickering and focus on fixing things. I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won't hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover....You want people who don't worry about the next election." (ABC News - September 28, 2011)

Outrageous. This country has worked for over two centuries in its current form of government, it is not the process that needs to be changed, i.e. suspend elections, it is the quality of people that are within the process that needs to be changed. It is their lack of courage and conviction, their lack of dedication to doing what is right for the country that is at fault, not our form of election-based government.

It is the incompetence of our current crop of politicians that has gotten us to where we are now relative to the major issues of our times. The last thing you want to do is give them a free pass and let them sit in Washington any longer than necessary.

A much better solution is to get people in and out of office in such a way that re-election is not an issue, i.e. term limits. One and done. That way those sitting in Congress do not have to worry about getting re-elected since that would no longer be a possibility.  A term limits solution to the current incompetence in Washington is to have the President serve for only one six year term, Senators serve for only one five year term, and House Of Representative politicians serve for only one four year term.

If you remove the potential for politicians being constantly re-elected, than they might actually do the right thing for the country's welfare, rather than the wrong thing for the country but the right thing for their re-election. The governor fails to realize that a large percentage of people in Congress have been in their position for ten, twenty, or thirty years. Despite their length of service, they have not been able to resolve the major issues of our times. Giving them a free pass for another two years, not subject to recall by the electorate, is a just plain stupid idea.

But the Governor is not the only political figure calling for such freedom defying steps. Peter Orszag, Obama's former director of the Office of Management and Budget recently wrote an article entitled, "Too Much Of Good Thing: Why We Need Less Democracy." Again, unbelievable that a member of the political ruling class would actually come out and lobby for less freedom.

Given the current gridlock in Washington, Orszag would remove some of the power of elected representatives and hand it over to Federal bureaucracies in order to bypass the gridlock: "To solve the serious problems facing our country, we need to minimize the harm from legislative inertia by relying more on automatic policies and depoliticized commissions for certain policy decisions. In other words, radical as it sounds, we need to counter the gridlock of our political institutions by making them a bit less democratic."

His approach obviously has some serious flaws beyond the severe restrictions it would place on individual's freedoms:

• Who gets to decide which people sit on these "political institutions?"
• Who would these institutions be accountable to, who would set their agendas and objectives, who would measure their effectiveness, and how would incompetence from these institutions be dealt with?
• How much is a "bit less democratic?"
• How can he guarantee these institutions will also not be politicized since their membership will be determined by politicians?

Mr. Orszag misses the point as did the Governor. The point is not to further entrench the current set of people in Washington into unrecallable Federal institutions. These institutions would become dictatorial entities where only a certain elitist set of people dictate what the rest of the country should and will do. It's called Big Brother and "taking things away for the common good." It is the exact opposite of freedom.

What you want to do is understand the root causes of the problem. And the main root cause of the problem is politicians will do what is best for their perpetual re-election to political office, not what is best for the country. It is not the process of government that is the root cause of our gridlock, it is the desire of politicians to get constantly re-elected that is the root cause.

They have made it so attractive to stay in office, high salaries, the best health care, free car leases, lavish offices, large staffs, long vacations, self enriching retirement options, etc., that the perks have become more important than the job. Thus, the right solution to the problem is not to destroy our democratic processes. The right solution is implement term limits (Step 39 from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government") and reduce the perks so that the only people coming to Washington are those that want to make a positive impact on the country, not a positive impact on their careers and life style.

The fact that two prominent members of the political class would actually voice such Orwellian concepts is frightening. But we should not be surprised. Over the past few decades, starting with Quote 1 above from Nixon, it is been a constant, and sometimes losing, battle to protect our democracy, not from external forces, but from our own insidious political class.


And that low quality and lack of courage will not be removed by keeping the same low performing politicians in office without the benefit and right of recalling them via elections or entrenching and expanding even more Federal bureaucracy to make the decisions that our current politicians cannot make.

The only solution is to remove the lure and riches of re-election by making re-election a non-event via term limits. Serving your country should be an honor, a service, and a patriotic duty, not a career of self enrichment. The only other option is to continue the Orwellian Liberty Death March, right into the hands of Big Brother.

"There are always too many Democratic Congressmen and too many Republican Congressman and never enough U.S. Congressman." Author unknown.



Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available, at http://www.loathemygovernment.com/. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.


Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.loathemygovernment.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment.com/