Obama's Trampling Of Rights and Freedom Continues, Orwell Style

We have been very critical of the Obama administration over the past three years for many reasons:

• His fiscal policies have created unbelievable national debt levels for the American economy and taxpayers.
• His economic programs, including his $800 billion failure of a stimulus program, Cash For Clunkers, Cash For Appliances, and other programs, have failed miserably at great cost.
• He has ignored the rule of law and the Constitution at his whim such as selectively deciding what laws to enforce or  not enforce, involving us in an illegal military conflict in Libya, and bypassing the Constitutional responsibility of Congress to review and approve appointments to high level government positions.
• His foreign policy has allowed Iran and North Korea to get three years closer to becoming nuclear weapon armed nations and his State Department failed miserably in foreseeing the Arab Spring's threats and opportunities.
• His administration has failed to develop and lead the effort to address and resolve the major issues of our times including our failing public schools, our lost war on drugs, our illegal immigration/leaky borders problem, our outrageously ineffective tax code, and a government bureaucracy that wastes over $500 billions a year through inefficiencies and outright criminal fraud.
• Rather than lead and unite, he has stood passively by as his political allies have slandered and demeaned ordinary Americans who have a difference of opinion by calling them a variety of names including racists, un-American, terrorists, barbarians, a__h____s, gerbils, and Neanderthals.
• His health care reform law will likely result in tens of millions of Americans losing their current employer health care insurance coverage, will add hundreds of billions of dollars to the national debt in the first ten years, will impose almost 2,000 new government restrictions and mandates on Americans' freedom of choice, and will not work in fixing the root causes of problem of escalating health care costs in this country.

Really nasty stuff. But the above transgressions and failures are fairly obvious to anyone who looks at the results and numbers objectively. More devious, more insidious than these failures is the more subtle erosion of our rights and liberty by the many policies of this administration that short circuit our right to privacy, our right to a trial by our peers, and the right of being assumed innocent until proven guilty.

Consider the following instances in this area that may or may not have been reported by the main stream press:

- An article by Jacob Sullum in the March, 2012 issue of Reason Magazine was entitled: "Indefinite Detention - Does the President have the power to imprison anyone he says is a terrorist?" He reports on the passage of a bill that President Obama signed last December called the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). According to Mr. Sullum, this legislation gives the President the authority to keep terrorism suspects in custody for as long as the Federal government deems necessary, with or without a trial, "the NDAA explicitly affirms the legality of military detention without trial."

Now, one would have hoped that this draconian law would only apply to the foreign terrorist fighters that are not American citizens and who are fighting in the caves of Afghanistan or elsewhere around the world. Unfortunately, according to Senator Lindsey Graham, a leading supporter of the bill, it also applies to American citizens living within the United States: "The statement of authority to detain (without trial)...does apply to American citizens and it designates the world as the battlefield, including the homeland."

Very scary stuff with the potential for abuse sky high. It is not inconceivable, using Orwell''s "1984" as a blueprint, that the Federal government and those that operate it could very well use this law not only to indefinitely lock up real terrorists without trial but also to lock up political opponents indefinitely without trial under the false guise of protecting homeland security.

Mubarak in Egypt did the same thing for thirty years, other dictators around the world do the same thing every day. The U.S. Congress and the President of the United States just made the same thing possible in this country.

- Don't think the previously scenario could play out in this country? Something worst has already occurred when President Obama approved the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen and a leading terrorist leader in Yemen in 2011. This assassination of an American citizen was carried out without any due process of law, any trial, any defense of al-Awlaki actions and intentions. For the first time ever, our government crossed a very dangerous line and officially sanctioned an assassination of an American citizen.

There is no doubt that al-Awlaki was a very bad dude that he wanted to kill as many Americans as possible. However, was it right to kill him without a trial, a right that has existed in this country since its creation? Is it right that the Obama administration has established an official "assassination panel" (Reason magazine - http://reason.com/blog/2011/10/06/a-secret-panel-put-anwar-al-aw) that will review other Americans and non-Americans for assassination in the future, trampling on the right of other citizens to have a fair trial for their alleged transgressions?

Once a line is crossed, it becomes easier to cross that same line in the future. If your government has no problem killing another American without a trial, and has established a process to do so, it will have little problem keeping any American in detention indefinitely under the NDAA provisions.

- But the Federal government does not have to hold you indefinitely or assassinate you to trample on your rights. Consider the findings in a Wall Street Journal article from October 10, 2011. The article went into detail how this administration had obtained a secret court order to force Google and another small ISP provider, Sonic.net, Inc., to turn over information from the email accounts of Wikileaks volunteer, Jacob Appelbaum.

Nowhere in the article is there any evidence that Mr.Appelbaum broke any laws. He apparently did not plot to bomb anyone or anyplace in the world. He apparently did not plot to support anyone or any organization who planned to bomb anyone or any place. He apparently was not involved in illegal drugs or illegal gun running (unlike what the Obama administration did in its Fast and Furious operation). He was a volunteer working for a non-terrorist company/operation. Nevertheless, the Obama administration through its Justice Department felt the need to go after his email records via a secret court order by a secret court.

Google and Sonic.Net both fought for two principles in this case: 1) they wanted to tell their customer, Mr. Appelbaum, that his email records had been turned over to the Feds and 2) did not want to turn over the records without a regular search warrant. Apparently, they failed on both counts, the records were turned over without Mr. Appelbaum's knowledge.

The article goes on to educate us that it is currently far easier for the Federal government to get access to our email records than our regular postal system mail since the 1986 legislation, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), was passed prior to the advent of the Web. Politicians and judges alike have identified this problem:

• An actual sponsor of the ECPA, Senator Patrick Leahy said the original law is "significantly outdated and outpaced by rapid changes in technology." He is trying to get a bill passed that would restrict unfettered access to a citizen's email activity.
• Judge Danny Boggs ruled in Federal court in 2011 that the government violated the Fourth Amendment when it seized 27,000 emails without a search warrant: "The police may not storm the post office and intercept a letter, and they are likewise forbidden from using the phone system to make a clandestine recording of a telephone call unless they get a warrant. It only stands to reason that, if government agents compel an ISP to surrender the contents of a subscriber's emails, those agents have hereby conducted a Fourth Amendment search."

Kudos to the Judge and Senator for looking out for our Fourth Amendment rights and freedoms. However, the same cannot be said of the Obama administration. A high ranking Justice department official, Associate Deputy Attorney General James Baker warned Congress "that raising the standard for obtaining information under ECPA may substantially slow criminal and national security investigations."

In other words, this administration is perfectly happy to conduct searches in violation of a citizen's Fourth Amendment rights based on very little justification and grounds. Mr. Appelbaum's harassment and violation of his rights is the perfect example of what could happen to any of us.

- Several months ago it was reported by the Associated Press that the CIA, a Federal government entity that is precluded by law from operating domestically, was actively helping the New York Police Department to set up programs to track, monitor and spy on Muslims within the jurisdiction of the NYPD. This is obviously a violation of U.S. law and thus, a violation of Constitutional and privacy rights.

Any facet of government should not be allowed to spy on and track citizen's movements and communications without probable cause. Just because you are of the Muslim faith does not mean you are a terrorist. Just because you are of the Muslim faith does not mean you give up your right to privacy as a U.S. citizen. Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom to gather, freedom to privacy, so many violations by a government organizations that should not even be acting within our shores.

Fortunately, according to a February 26, 2012 Associated Press report, "NYPD Surveillance Of Students Called Disgusting," people may be waking up to this gross violation of Constitutional rights. According to the article:

• NYPD is not just restricting their tracking and monitoring of Muslims to New York City but is extending their surveillance to dozens of colleges both within and outside the boundaries of New York City.
• Official police documents show that the NYPD is using undercover officers and informants to infiltrate Muslim student groups.
• In one example uncovered by the Associated Press, an undercover police officer went whitewater rafting with students and reported on how many times they prayed and what they discussed.
• Police also scan college websites and blogs, compiling reports on the activities of Muslim students and academics.
• The NYPD has also built databases of where Muslims lived, worked, prayed, and where they watched sports.

Unbelievable. If this does not sound like McCarthyism, nothing does. Nowhere in the article is it stated, avowed or proven that any of these Muslim citizens had committed criminal or even suspicious activity that warranted such tracking and monitoring. The only NYPD defense reviewed in the article was that in the past, a dozen or so convicted or accused radicals had been associated with Muslim groups. However, it does not appear that this massive invasion of privacy was based on any of these dozen, or other, suspected terrorists.

Unfortunately, the local government in NYC is unlikely to stop these actions any time soon.The police commissioner is quoted as saying these types of activities will continue. And Mayor Bloomberg is even more direct in defending these freedom atrocities: "Mayor Michael Bloomberg said his police department's monitoring of Muslims — even outside the city at colleges in Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and upstate New York — was "legal," ''appropriate" and "Constitutional."

- One has to assume by the Obama administration's silence and tacit approval of allowing the CIA to help develop and establish this surveillance process that they too are comfortable with this new McCarthyism and explicit violation of many rights and liberties.

But maybe the administration is not so silent or tacit. According to an Associated Press article from February 27, 2012 reported that some of the Muslim tracking funding came directly out of the White House. Details of their complicity include the following:

• The money was used to pay for the cars that plainclothes NYPD officers used to conduct surveillance on Muslim neighborhoods.
• The funding also paid for computers that store even innocuous information about Muslim college students, mosque sermons, and social events.
• The amount of funding from the White House has been kept secret.
• When NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly was filled in on these surveillance efforts, his briefings were prepared on computers funded by the White house for the surveillance of Muslims neighborhoods.
• The Obama administration, however, has explicitly refused to endorse or repudiate the NYPD programs it helps pay for.
• The White House last week declined to comment on its grant payments.
• John Brennan, Obama's top counter terrorism adviser, last year called the NYPD's efforts "heroic" but would not elaborate.
• Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, whose department also has given funding to the NYPD, has refused in recent months to discuss the police tactics.
• Tom Perez, the Justice Department's top civil rights lawyer, has repeatedly refused to answer questions about the Muslim tracking program.

Disgraceful, Orwell and his Big Brother character from "Big Brother" would be so proud.

Martin Luther King, Jr. once said: "An injustice anywhere threatens justice everywhere." It could be over-the-top Muslim surveillance today but over-the-top Jewish surveillance tomorrow. It could be Mr. Appelbaum having his email records seized today for no valid reason but your email records being seized tomorrow for no valid reason. While it could be a national security enemy assassinated today but it could be a political enemy assassinated tomorrow.

And just to be sure, all of this is happening on Obama's watch. It is not something he can blame on Bush. He has signed the NDAA legislation that allows for unlimited detention of American citizens without a trial or hearing, he signed off on the al-Awlaki assassination. his Justice Department is seizing email records with due cause, and he has sat back while citizens are extensively tracked for no reason except their choice of religion, using funding that he controls. Despicable, disgusting, and certainly not the American way of freedom.


“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein

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/

The Orwellian Liberty Death March - Part 2

Yesterday we reviewed both the historical and current attempts by the American political class to suppress freedom and liberty in the country. From Nixon through Clinton to the present, politicians are always looking for ways to reign in freedom, short circuit freedom of speech, and gather power for themselves at the price of our liberty.

Today we will focus on the subtle and not so subtle ways the Obama administration and others in government have directly or indirectly continued this sorry tradition of restricting liberty in America. In my lifetime, I do not believe I have lived through any Presidential administration, including Nixon's, that has had such a distaste for our freedom:

- The most obvious imposition on freedom by the Obama administration is the extension of the Patriot Act, which was originally enacted into law under the Bush administration. One would have hoped that this anti-liberty legislation would not be renewed or at least have additional safeguards incorporated into it's renewal to ensure innocent Americans did not have their rights trampled on by increased police and judicial powers. That did not happen, the law was renewed with little debate.

- Judicial Watch reported on October 4, 2011 that Democrats in the House of Representatives have introduced legislation that would keep President Obama's Presidential records secret after he leaves office. This obviously raises the suspicion of what is being hidden or kept secret. Does the secrecy protect illegal activity? Does it cover up unconstitutional or freedom restricting activities? Secret government actions rarely increase liberties in the country.

There are two ironic twists to this action. A similar secrecy effort was enacted by executive order during the Bush administration to severely limit public access to the Bush Presidential records and documents. Shortly after Obama took office, he rescinded the executive order to give the American people greater access to "historic documents." Thus, it was good not to keep secrets in 2009 but is good to keep secrets just two years later in 2011.

The second piece of irony is that Obama promised that he would have one of the most transparent administrations ever. Now, three years into his Presidency, he wants to have complete control over all of his administration's documents and who has access to those documents. Not exactly fulfilling that promise of "access to historic documents." Again, control and secrecy are rarely compatible with liberty.

- The most famous phrase from our founding documents was that Americans were entitled to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." A new, secret government process not only can arbitrarily take away a citizen's liberty but also his life. According to an article from Reuters that appeared on October 5, 2011, there is a secret government panel of senior government officials which determine which Americans are to be placed on a U.S. government kill list.

This secret panel came to light with the U.S. drone attack and killing of American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen that has been planning terrorist attacks on American interests from his haven in Yemen for years. Awlaki was obviously a bad guy, one that wanted to kill as many Americans as possible. However, 1) he was still an American citizen, 2) he had never been proven guilty of any crime in a U.S. court, and 3) he was never given a chance to turn himself in to face charges.

But all of these facts were discarded when this panel decided this American should die. According to the article, this panel can put an American on a kill list without consulting the President. While the President could subsequently override the panel's decision, the others on the panel "are principally responsible for nominating Americans for the target list to 'protect' the President."

This is really scary stuff. Once you have targeted the first American to be killed without due process, it becomes easier to target the second American, the third American, etc. It is a very, very slippery slope. Adding to the danger is the fact that the Obama administration will not release the legal documents that his administration drew up to justify killing an American. Thus, not only does a formal government function to kill Americans exist but that process thinks it does not even have to justify the legality of such behavior.

As it gets easier to put more and more Americans on this kill list, where does it stop? If the legal reason for being put on the list is a secret, who is to say that the politicians in office abuse this panel to suppress their potential political opponents? A very scary, freedom robbing process that leaves the country and its citizens' freedoms and lives at the mercy of secret government panels.

- Speaking of scary and secret government operations, consider an August 24, 2011 article from the Associated Press that was titled "With CIA Help, NYPD moves Covertly in Muslim Areas." By law, the CIA is prohibited from operating within the confines of the United States.

But according to the article, the CIA has provided CIA personnel to the New York City Police Department to infiltrate ethnic communities in New York to collect intelligence that MIGHT lead to the discovery of terrorist activities. We will do more on this project at a later date but this is again a slippery slope situation. If the CIA is not legally allowed to conduct operations in the states but this project is allowed to happen, what happened to the rule of law in this country?

And just like the kill list discussed above, who is to say that the political class will not at some point in time turn the CIA loose on its political enemies, within the boundaries of the country, under the false guise of national security? Kill lists, infiltrating neighborhoods, breaking existing law, this smacks of the Orwell playbook from the novel, "1984."

- But freedom can be reduced by much simpler means beyond leveraging the CIA and implementing kill lists. A Wisconsin judge, Circuit Court Judge Patrick Fielder, recently ruled that American citizens "do not have a fundamental right to consume the milk from their own cow."

It seems two families in Wisconsin each owned a cow that they boarded at a farm and they used their cows to produce milk for their own households. They did not sell their cows' milk to other people nor did they give it away. They used it for their own families' consumption only. However, the Wisconsin  Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection sued them over their families' milk habits.

Apparently, the state of Wisconsin was concerned that drinking unprocessed milk directly from their own cows could result in disease. However, shouldn't an American have the freedom to take the risk of drinking their own cow's milk without government intervention? They did not distribute the unprocessed milk to anyone else. They should have the right to put whatever they want into their own bodies, the government via the judicial system, should not take away that risk or, more importantly, that freedom.

Slippery slope, agriculture wise. Who is to say that some other judge or politician might decide that Americans cannot eat food from their family gardens because it might make them sick? This would force Americans to buy products from others even if they did not want to or need to do so.

Oh, I forgot that is the underpinning of Obama Care where the government will force everyone to purchase health care insurance regardless of their health needs and financial situation. Forcing people to buy things they do not want or need or controlling what goes into their bodies is never consistent with liberty.

So, let's review what our government can do to restrict our freedoms today:

1. They can put us on a kill list without due process of law and don't need to provide legal justification for doing so.
2. They can put government and Presidential documents and records under permanent lock and key with only the political class determining what information is released.
3. They can illegally use CIA resources to spy on ethnic neighborhoods and on American citizens.
4. They can leverage the freedom robbing aspects of the Patriot Act with virtually no controls.
5. They can force people to eat certain foods and buy certain products and services.

If you can control what people live or die, control what people get spied on, control what people get investigated, control what people eat, control what products people buy, and control access to government information, you are definitely on an Orwellian Liberty Death March.



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/

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/

The Rise Of Oppression and The Decline Of Freedom In America

As a long time observer of the political class, I have become increasingly distressed by the rise of oppression in this country that has resulted in the dramatic decline in our freedoms and liberties. Many Americans assume that just because they vote every few years, they are still living in a free country. They forget, or never knew, that people living behind the Iron Curtain and in Russia during the Cold War also voted.

No one could ever make the case that these people were living in a free country. This fact was recognized long ago by Communist revolutionary Karl Marx: "The oppressed are allowed every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent them and repress them."

Unfortunately, most Americans are too busy going about their lives, managing their careers and families, to keep track of the many ways our political class goes about sacrificing our liberties for their own careers. Our politicians are willing to take whatever shortcuts are needed to get into elected office and to stay in office even if it goes against the principles of freedom established by the Constitution and Bill Of Rights.

Consider the variety of ways where the political class has turned up the dial on oppression and repression over just the past few years:

Congressional District Gerrymandering - Every ten years, based on Census population estimates, the House Of Representatives rearranges itself into new Congressional districts. Unfortunately, we allow the political class to rearrange and redraw those districts according to their needs and advantage, not to the advantage of the voters and citizens.

After the 2000 Census, I distinctly remember reading an article in the Newark Star Ledger that described the New Jersey process for drawing new Congressional districts (to my disappointment, I could not locate that article). The conclusion of the article was that the New Jersey Republican Party and New Jersey Democratic Party had jointly agreed on how to draw the districts that would almost guarantee that just under half of the new New Jersey Congressional districts would always have a Republican Congressperson and just over half of the new New Jersey districts would always have a Democratic Congressperson.

Nowhere in the article did it discuss whether either party cared about how to ensure that every citizen in New Jersey would be fairly represented, probably because they didn't care. As a result of their work, Democrats in Republican-designated districts would probably never have a Democrat representing them in Congress. Republicans living in Democratic-designated districts would probably never have a Republican representing them in Congress.

Thus, even though these New Jersey citizens could vote in their newly formed Congressional elections, many of them had no real choice since the New Jersey political class had already rigged each Congressional district boundaries. Doubt my conclusions? Check out the last set of New Jersey Congressional districts. Their boundaries follow no logical or pre-existing geographic or other existing boundaries political boundaries (county or city lines). As Marx knew, even though you vote, it does not make you free.

Organizational Campaign Financing - Even though the politicians need your vote to get into office, they are really not indebted to you. You give them only one vote, corporations, unions, PACs, etc. give each politician millions of dollars in campaign donations to further the aims of their particular organization, not the needs and freedom of individual Americans.

Who do you think President Obama cares more about? The one vote you may have given him in 2008 or Microsoft who gave his campaign $833,617 or Goldman Sachs which gave him $994,795? Given that the politicians in Congress give out about 10,000 earmarks a year worth billions of dollars to these same organizations, what do you think they care about more - their ability to pay for their re-election or your vote? Once the politicians do not care about you, they also do not care about your liberties.

Presidential Primary Schedule - Historically, Iowa and New Hampshire are allowed to have the first say on who might be the Presidential candidates for the two major parties. Many candidates, both unworthy and worthy, have seen their chances of becoming President be enhanced or destroyed by their performance in Iowa and New Hampshire.

However, with no disrespect to the good people of Iowa or New Hampshire, they constitute a very small percentage of the voters in this country and are certainly not representative of America. Given these problems, why then do we have this current system if it does not provide everyone in America with an equal voice in deciding who will be the Presidential candidates?

It allows the political bosses in each party to control the primary election process. By spreading out primaries and caucuses out over months, they can control access to money, voters, and primary elections. If the those in control of the primary process really cared about equality and freedom of choice, we would move to a single Super primary voting day where everyone, in every state voted in a state Presidential caucus or primary election at the same time and each of their votes carried the same weight.

In the past paragraph I usually used the word "control" three times. Control always results in less freedom in whatever context it is used.

Disdain For American Citizens, Part 1, Obama Care - Many citizens did not agree with the legislation that eventually became Obama Care. They felt it was the wrong approach, would increase the national debt, would not solve the health care problems in this country, and would give the government and political class much more control over our lives at the expense of our freedom. The most glaring example is the requirement that every America must purchase a government mandated product, health care insurance, whether or not they wanted it or could afford it.

However, one of the most despicable aspect of Obama Care from a freedom perspective was the venomous words and attitudes that our so called elected leaders came after ordinary Americans citizens for simply having a difference of opinion than those politicians. Consider the following accusations that Democratic Party politicians made against ordinary Americans:

• Speaker Of the House - those Americans opposed to Obama Care or un-American.
• Congressman Charles Rangel - those Americans opposed to Obama Care are just like the racists that opposed the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.
• Congresswoman Shelia Jordan Lee - those Americans opposed to Obama Care are no better than Ku Klux Klan members.
• Congressman Alan Grayson - those Americans opposed to Obama Care are knuckle dragging Neanderthals and racists.

When the political class has no respect for the opinions of regular Americans, disrespecting and attacking their right to have a personal and independent opinion, then we are in deep trouble. We are in danger of having an elitist political class starting to dictate policy and behavior rather than serving those that they were elected to serve, not rule over.

Disdain For American Citizens, Part 2, Political Opponents - As the Obama administration has stumbled along the past few years, not solving any major or minor issue facing the American people, the President has seen his popularity plummet. Every facet of the economy has continued to crater, the national debt has skyrocketed, endangering the financial stability of the country and future generations to come, and America's standing in the world continues to slide.

This dissatisfaction has resulted in the rise of the Tea Party politics. The Tea Party movement has supported successful candidates for Congress and has helped forward the need for more prudent government spending and performance. They have operated within all confines of the laws and political processes. regardless of what you think of their political agenda. As Americans they have the right to petition their government for changes, they have the right to support certain political candidates that support their non-violent agenda, they have the right to be involved in the politics of the nation that affect their lives.

However, their success has resulted in some unbelievable resentment of their actions from the political class. Certain members of the political establishment, the establishment that has been the cause of the country's myriad of problems, vehemently and disgustingly despise the work and freedom of speech of these fellow Americans:

• President Obama, in a speech supporting Democrats running for office last fall, declared that "our enemies need to be defeated." Unfortunately, his "enemies" were nothing more than American citizens with a difference opinion from the President. A President is supposed to represent all Americans, not divide the country into friends and "enemies," regardless of their opinions.
• This week, California Congresswoman Maxine Walters, speaking at a job opportunity even, stated: "As far as I am concerned, the Tea Party can go straight to hell." Rather than engage in adult, mature discussion and negotiation, Ms. Walters would rather than just sling the slurs of hate, wanting to see fellow Americans, who are simply expressing their freedom of opinion, to just go to hell. Also, since the Tea Party helped elect 78 people to the House Of Representatives, Ms. Walters not only wants a large segment of ordinary Americans to go to hell, but also 18% of her peers in the House Of Representatives to go to hell also. Despicable behavior and attitude. No wonder Congress gets nothing done with this type of venom and trash mouth being tossed around.
• Not to be outdone by the Congresswoman, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, speaking on a recent  MSNBC morning news show, stated that the mainstream media has the "responsibility" to not give equal time to Tea Party actions and views/viewpoints. As a lover of freedom, this type of behavior is just beyond belief. When did having a difference of opinion become a reason to suppress ideas? When the government and the political class that operate it actively look to kill off ideas in a democracy, it will not only kill ideas it will also kill the democracy.
• And worst of all, in the midst of the debt ceiling negotiations, Congressman Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania declared that Tea Party people were "terrorists." Speak about contempt for Americans having an opinion and point of view. How despicable is associating mass murders of civilians and terror mongers with Americans' freedom of speech? [Side note: although he has denied it, independent sources have stated that Vice President Joe Biden made the same terrorist accusation as Doyle.]

Despicable is too mild a word to use in describing these politicians' disdain for anything that would break the monopoly of power the established political class holds over this country.

Patriot Act - first enacted during the Bush administration as a knee jerk reaction to the 9-11 attacks, this ominous law was renewed by the Obama administration. It involves secret courts with secret judges issuing secret warrants to snoop into just about any aspect of an American's life. Wire taps, both stationary and roving, library activity tracking, etc., the government and the political class that operates it can pry into just about any aspect of your life without you ever knowing it. When privacy can be violated so easily, you are not living in a free country anymore.

Financial Freedom - yesterday we introduced the concept that you cannot have political freedom without also having financial freedom. If you spend more than half of your working life supporting the apparatus of government, sending your hard earned wealth all government levels to support their onerous taxation levels and regulations, you are not free.

The less wealth you retain, the less wealth you have for just about any facet of your life. You have less freedom to send your kids to better schools, you have less freedom to support your favorite charities, you have less freedom on where you live, what your drive, where you work, and less freedom to live your life the way you want to since your economic freedom, keeping what you own, has been severely restricted by our political class.

The saddest part is that in exchange of losing our freedom via onerous taxes is that we get very little in return from government and the political class. They still provide failing public schools, crumbling infrastructure, wasteful spending, inefficient operations, etc. The worst of all possible worlds: high cost via high taxation and low quality on government's services.

Let's review: we lose freedom every time the political class controls and alters our political processes to ensure their political careers rather than allowing voters to have freedom of choice, we are liable to lose our privacy without cause via the Patriot Act, we lose our personal wealth supporting an overbearing government taxation and regulatory structure that provide no solutions, and we are insulted with disdain and condescension for daring to challenge the existing direction of the country and those politicians that run it.

If politicians do not respect your opinions, they certainly are not going to respect your freedoms and liberties. They will look for every possible way to oppress and suppress that freedom and your opinions in order to protect their careers. Harry Truman, one of the last politicians who put America and its citizens first, before personal needs and careers, recognized the danger of the altitudes illustrated above by President Obama, Senator Kerry, Congresswoman Walters and others:



"Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of the opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear." Telling Americans to go to hell and calling them terrorists is a long way down that path of "increasingly repressive measures."

Today's political class would make George Orwell's Big Brother proud.  In order to stay out of an Orwellian world, numerous steps from "Love My Country, Loath My Government" need to be implemented to reverse this rush towards oppression and repression. From fixing our political processes to getting outrageous government spending under control to reviewing and possibly repealing the Patriot Act, these steps need to start as soon as possible. Otherwise, the decline towards Big Brother's world will be unstoppable.




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/

Celebrating Memorial Day: A Soldier Remembered

This post originally appeared on Memorial Day, 2010. However, the thoughts expressed then are just as relevant a year later as we honor those that have served and who are currently serving our country in our armed forces to protect ourselves and our freedom.

No political ranting and raving today. No pointing out how the politicians continue to screw up the country, constantly denying and depriving us of our freedoms and liberties to the benefit of their political careers. Today is a day of remembrance, of the millions of Americans that have served the country in the past and in the present, many times sacrificing their lives for our freedom and liberty. Please spend a few minutes today thinking of them in any way possible and remembering that many of our fellow citizens and family members are on the front lines around the world today, facing serious danger, but unselfishly protecting us.


One soldier in particular is on my mind today. My father served in World War II with the 203rd Engineer Combat Battalion. It is my understanding that the 203rd came ashore at Omaha Beach in June, 1944, served across France, was involved in the Battle Of The Bulge in late 1944 and eventually made its way into Germany. It was destined for the Pacific Theater but had those plans cancelled when Japan surrendered. He was honorably discharged in late 1945.


I say that it was my understanding because my father rarely spoke of the war, I had to find out this information from secondary sources. He did not brag about his service, he did not boast of the battles he may or may not have seen, he did not regale us with tales of heroism. It is also my understanding that he is not alone in this approach. Stories abound of similar attitudes among World War II veterans. They did what had to be done, often at great cost, to protect the country and the ideals it stands for. They did not consider themselves heroes, they just did what had to be done. They then returned to become regular citizens and got on with their lives. No egos, no self-centeredness, just a dedication to country and family.


I never thanked my father for his service in the fight for liberty and freedom, not sure growing up that I fully understood the sacrifices he and others made for us. I would like to do that today, seventeen years after he passed away. I would also like to hope that our politicians eventually realize what great costs have been expended to keep us free and that they re-dedicate themselves to maintaining freedom, for all Americans in so many different ways. Making freedom the core of their service in politics and government should be their highest priority, not their re-election.



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