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Must Reads For The Week 7/9/16

July 9, 2016

We Will Comment On Hillary and The Shootings In Dallas In A Few Days

Thinking Beyond Stage One, by Walter E. Williams, at jewishworldreview.com. The unintended consequences of tariffs and trade restrictions (please read this Mr. Trump). Excerpt from the article: The question that should be put to those calling for restrictions on imports is: In an effort to save jobs in one industry, do you care about or even know of its cost and disastrous effects in other industries? When Congress enacts a miracle for one group of Americans, such as steel producers, it creates a non-miracle for another group, such as steel- using producers.

What The World Looks To Someone Who Doesn’t Understand Economics, at cafehayek.com. Here are some excerpts from the article: “.….defense of the minimum wage is strong evidence that the world does indeed include people who really do believe that government-officials’ stated intentions determine the outcomes of government actions.” Always remember the limiting factor of any central planning by government, the amount of knowledge the bureaucrats can bring to bear on any situation isn’t even one tenth of the knowledge brought to bear by millions of individuals competing in the free market.

Smashing The Minimum Wage: robot Made Burgers Coming To San Francisco, at economicpolicyjournal.com. When the cost of labor is mandated to be higher than it would be under normal market conditions, Employers (economic forces) try to correct the intervention in a couple of ways. Since they have to pay more, why not pay even more to a person who can produce as much as two people. Another is to use automation to replace the now too expensive employee. Mandates don’t happen in a vacuum. Two Of The Worlds Largest Employers Are Replacing Workers With Robots.

But Why Aren’t People Buying Electric Cars? at theburning platform.com. The auto industry can’t figure out why ‘stupid’ consumers won’t buy electric cars. Could it be because the cost of owning and operating an electric car (even with all the Gov. subsidies) is higher than owning and operating a gasoline powered car? Maybe the consumer is smarter than people think. Read – Electric Car Sales Crash Into Economic Reality.

Brexit Shows Why Central Planning Won’t Work, by Jason Morgan, at mises.org. Excerpt from the article: “As Ludwig von Mises demonstrated in Human Action, it isn’t that economic interventionism and central planning might not work, it’s that they cannot work. Why? Because we simply do not have the ability to predict human action in the future, either in the immediate future, or in a more intermediate future.” Unfortunately for us the solution to the failure of these tyrants politicians and bureaucrats plans is more of the same thing that failed.

Here We Go Again: An August 2007 Redux, by David Stockman, at mises.org. When central banks try to stop market corrections by printing money via credit expansion, they end up creating bubbles that will eventually have to be liquidated. Of course they will try to stop the market correction that was a result of their attempt to stop the first market correction. The dog chasing it’s tail.

Murray Rothbard vs. EU 1989, at economicpolicyjournal.com.

 

Americas Radical Revolution, by Murray Rothbard, at mises.org. Rothbards take on the American Revolution.

“This Is A Toilet” US Rowing To Use Sewage Proof Suits At Rio Olympics, at zerohedge.com. People have asked me why the Olympic committee would have the games at a place like this. Why? Because the Olympic committee is probably just as corrupt as FIFA was with the world cup. The pollution at the Beijing Olympics four years ago was probably just as bad.

Sharp Shooting Army Vet Saves Bald Eagle Stuck Upside Down In A Tree, at tammybruce.com. A young eagle was caught in a rope dangling from a tree. An army vet shot the rope and freed the eagle. The army vet was initially worried he might get in trouble for shooting at an eagle if he attempted to shoot the rope. With the way the legal system is today, I think his fears were justified.

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Rights Versus Wishes – Walter E. Williams

April 20, 2016

In this article titled Rights Versus Wishes, the great Walter E. Williams explains the difference between rights, defined historically, and rights, defined by the political left. Many many people have told me they think healthcare is a right. When I say healthcare is not a right, they are shocked. I go on to explain what I mean by “a right”. I tell them healthcare is not a right, it is an economic good that is produced by individuals in the market. It is the property of the individual who produced it, and you have no “right” to that individuals property. Unless they give it to you, out of goodness of their heart, or you mutually agree on a fee for service, the only way you can acquire it is by theft.

The difficulty in talking with people about issues starts when a particular word or phrase means something different to both parties. If there is no agreed upon meaning of words, we talk past each other and nothing gets accomplished. When I talk to people, I’ll ask them what does (ie) “a right” mean to you in order to find a starting point to have a conversation. You can’t talk logically to a person unless you have a starting point understood by both parties.

EXCERPTS FROM THE ARTICLE

“In the standard historical usage of the term, a “right” is something that exists simultaneously among people. As such, a right imposes no obligation on another. For example, the right to free speech is something we all possess. My right to free speech imposes no obligation upon another except that of noninterference. Similarly, I have a right to travel freely. Again, that right imposes no obligation upon another except that of noninterference.”

“Contrast those rights to free speech and travel with the supposed rights of medical care and decent housing. Those supposed rights do impose obligations upon others…..If one does not have money to pay for a medical service or decent housing and the government provides it, where do you think the government gets the money?”

“…Congress does not have any resources of its own, the only way for Congress to give one American something is to first take it from some other American. In other words, if one person has a right to something he did not earn, it requires another person’s not having a right to something he did earn.”

“…this bogus right to free speech and travel imposes obligations on others to supply me with an auditorium, microphone and audience. My right to travel freely would require that others provide me with resources to purchase plane tickets and hotel accommodations. If I were to demand others sacrifice so I can exercise my free speech and travel rights….most Americans would say, “Williams, yes, you have rights to free speech and traveling freely, but I’m not obligated to pay for them!”

“....I do not have a right to take one person’s earnings to give to another. Because I have no such right, I cannot delegate it to government. If I did take your earnings to provide medical services for another, it would rightfully be described and condemned as an act of theft. When government does the same, it’s still theft, albeit legalized theft.”

“If you’re a Christian or a Jew, you should be against these so-called rights. When God gave Moses the eighth commandment — “Thou shalt not steal” — I am sure that he did not mean “thou shalt not steal unless there is a majority vote in Congress.” The bottom line is medical care, housing and decent jobs are not rights at all, at least not in a free society; they are wishes. As such, I would agree with most Americans — because I, too, wish that everyone had good medical care, decent housing and a good job.”

Related Article – The Economics of Healthcare vs The Right To Healthcare, at austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – The Reality Of Obamacare, Socialism In Installments, at austrianaddict.com.

 

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Must Reads For The Week 4/2/16

April 2, 2016

Feds To Fine Schools For Not Following Michelle Obama’s Lunch Rules, at tammybruce.com. The Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service is going to fine schools who don’t abide by the regulations set forth by The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act. They will fine schools for ‘egregious or persistent disregard’ for the rules imposing limits on sodium and calorie intake and banned white grains. Two questions. 1) Did you know there was a Food and Nutrition Service agency as part of the Dep. of Agriculture? 2) Who decides what constitutes ‘egregious” and “persistent disregard’? This has been a disaster from the start, read, Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act Doesn’t Work As Planners Planned. Read, Michelle’s ‘Eat What I Tell You To Eat’ Program is Crashing. Read, Black Market In Food Items Springs Up In Schools, Thanks Michelle. I like that people have decided to not complying with the law. This is the spirit of our founding fathers.

At Emory University, Writing ‘Trump 2016’ On Sidewalks Is A Racist Microaggression, by Robby Soave, at reason.com. No comment needed.

Mises: The Individual Within Society, at mises.org. Article taken from ‘Human Action’ by Ludwig von Mises. Here is an excerpt; “The natural condition of man is extreme poverty and insecurity. It is romantic nonsense to lament the passing of the happy days of primitive barbarism. In a state of savagery the complainants would either not have reached the age of manhood, or if they had, they would have lacked the opportunities and amenities provided by civilization. Jean Jacques Rousseau and Frederick Engels, if they had lived in the [p. 166] primitive state which they describe with nostalgic yearning, would not have enjoyed the leisure required for their studies and for the writing of their books.”

When Will This Awfulness Be Over?, by Jessica Hagy, at thisisindexed.com. Jessica Hagy puts a lot of insight on 3 by 5 cards using venn diagrams, charts, and graphs. Here is the best insight I’ve seen about the election season.

card4829

Apple Has Done It Again, at theburningplatform.com. I don’t know if this is true, but it is funny. “Apple has announced that it has developed a computer chip that can store and play Hi Fi music in women’s breast implants.” Go to the article for the punchline.

CIA Leaves Explosive Materials On School Bus, at targetliberty.com. The CIA borrows a bus for a training exercise. They return it to the school district but forgot to take the explosives out of the bus. Mechanics found the explosives after the bus was back in service for 2 days. I can here the agents conversation when the exercise was over; “Are you sure we have everything? I feel like we’re forgetting something.” And we’re trusting government with our healthcare? Whisky Tango Foxtrot!

The Climate Change Central Planners, by Robert J Murphy, at instituteforenergyresearch.org. Excerpt from the article; “It is an unbelievable act of hubris to suppose that a group of natural scientists and economists, armed with computers, can today make quantitative predictions of how much massive new taxes and draconian regulations will make people better off in the year 2150. And yet this is precisely what today’s central planners do from 9-to-5 in the office.”

Hillary Investigation Enters a Dangerous Phase, by Andrew Napolitano, at lewrockwell.com. Is the FBI just dotting all the I’s and crossing all the T’s? Is the ruling aristocracy trying to figure a way out of indicting the Democrats nominee? Are the Clinton’s trying to bribe someone to take the fall? Will the rule of law prevail; or will the break down of the rule of law continue?

Price Controls May Be On The Way, by Paul-Martin Foss, at mises.org. If fixing the Fed fund rate at 0% since 08 hasn’t worked, why would central planners think price controls would work? Nixon tried wage and price controls in the 70’s. How did that work out?

The Seen and Unseen, by Walter E. Williams, at jewishworldreview.com. Walter E. Williams examins the results of the Bush administrations 2002 tariff on imported steel using Bastiat’s suggestion to look beyond what is in front of you so you can see the whole picture.

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Must Reads For The Week 2/6/16

February 6, 2016

Obama To Propose $10 Dollar A Barrel Tax On Oil, at economicpolicyjournal.com. We can’t win. An increased supply of oil because of fracking, plus a stagnating global demand for oil has brought the price of oil down to around $30. Now this guy wants to increase the cost of oil by $10 dollars a barrel. Do you think this tax will ever be rolled back when the price of oil goes back up?

Texas Adopts New York Values On Fantasy Football, by Tho Bishop, at mises.org. Most people hate big business because they lobby government for favors. I contend that these businesses would have no incentive to lobby for special favors if the government hadn’t usurped the power to regulate these particular businesses. In a true free market these businesses only incentive would be to satisfy customers, not lobby government for protection or favors.

Oops Again? A Key Server Gets Wiped By IRS, by Steve Sherman, at townhall.com. Is it just me or is this becoming a pattern?

The Fed Wants To Test How Banks Would Handle Negative Interest Rates, at economicpolicyjournal.com. The bank of Japan has recently adopted negative interest rates. Would you have ever believed 5 years ago that we would be talking about this. Negative interest rate is a ploy to get individuals to take their cash out of banks and spend it. It’s just another attempt at stimulating the economy by negative incentives. The previous QE stimulation apparently hasn’t worked as the central planners planned.

Was The Ethanol Lobby The Big Loser In Iowa This Year?, by Ryan McMaken, at mises.org. Ted Cruz won in the corn state of Iowa even though he was for phasing out the taxpayer-funded Ethanol subsidies.

Advanced Reactor Nuclear Power Resurgence In The US, by Ronald Bailey, at reason.com. The radical environmentalists should be all in for nuclear energy if they were serious about cutting CO2 emissions.

An Open Letter To Barack Obama About Gender Payback Regulations, by Don J. Boudreaux, at cafehayek.com. The President is using the apples and oranges comparisons between men and women’s pay differences to push for more government regulations. Even though he pays men on his staff more than the women on his staff. When will we ever learn? Read here, Obama Proposes New Rules To Close The Sex Pay Gap Even Though There Is A 16% Sex Pay Gap In His White House, at carpediemblog.

Can Anyone Doubt That Hillary Clinton Failed To Safeguard State Secrets, by Andrew Napolitano, at reason.com. The fact that she used a private server to conduct State department business is a violation of the law. The fact that some of these E-mails were classified just adds to the number of charges that can be brought against her.

School Gives Handicapped Children The In Bathroom, at thefederalistspapers.org. Another example of the politically correct left having a scale of value on who’s important. Handicapped people are ranked below transgendered people. The left will throw previously protected people overboard for newly protected people. Which group will someday over take the transgendered as their most favored group?

Anti-Capitalist Club Desperate For Money To Pay Its Bills, at libertarianrepublic.com. I’m amazed that these anti-capitalists protest the very system that has produced the wealth that has allowed them to protest it. Maybe they will start to realize that there is no free lunch?

A Surprising Opponent Of The War On Cash, at economicpolicyjournal.com. The German Government has joined the war on cash. So has JP Morgan.  JP Morgan Continues The War On Cash, at economicpolicyjournal.com.

Isn’t it Strange? by Walter E. Williams, at jewishworldreview.com. Lets end with the Great Walter E. Williams. Excerpt from the article, “Isn’t it strange that after a bombing, everyone blames the bomber, his upbringing, his environment, his culture but …after a shooting, the problem is the gun?

 

Cartoons from theburningplatform.com. Click here for more.

Political Cartoons by Henry Payne

Political Cartoons by Steve Kelley

I wish this was true for the Republican leadership establishment. I know it’s true for a vast majority of the grass roots.

Political Cartoons by Nate Beeler

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Cleaning Out 2015’s Closet.

December 31, 2015

I try to read everything Walter E. Williams and Thomas Sowell write. Here are five articles that I’ve had bookmarked but haven’t had time to post.

Attacking The Truth, by Thomas Sowell, at jewishworldreview.com. Excerpts from the article.

“Among the many sad signs of our time are the current political and media attacks on Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, for speaking the plain truth on a subject where lies have been the norm for years.”
“Affirmative action is supposed to be a benefit to black and other minority students admitted with lower academic qualifications than some white students who are rejected. But Justice Scalia questioned whether being admitted to an institution geared to students with higher-powered academic records was a real benefit.”

“Despite much media spin, the issue is not whether blacks in general should be admitted to higher ranked or lower ranked institutions. The issue is whether a given black student, with given academic qualifications, should be admitted to a college or university where he would not be admitted if he were white.”

“Much empirical research over the years has confirmed Justice Scalia’s concern that admitting black students to institutions for which their academic preparation is not sufficient can be making them worse off instead of better off.”

“Mismatching students with educational institutions is a formula for needless failure.” 

 “… the academic performances of black and Hispanic students rose substantially after affirmative action admissions policies were banned in the University of California system.”

Attacking The Truth II, by Thomas Sowell, at jewishworldreview.com. Excerpts from the article.

“Often the rationale for group preferences is to help the less fortunate. But, in countries where hard evidence is available, it is often the more fortunate members of less fortunate groups who get the bulk of the benefits. These beneficiaries can even be more fortunate than most of the people in the country at large.”
“India’s constitution, like the American constitution, has an amendment prescribing equal treatment. But in India that amendment also spells out exceptions for particular groups. In the United States, the Supreme Court has taken on the role of creating exceptions to the fourteenth amendment.”
“Many lofty verbal evasions are necessary, in order to keep the American people from catching on to what they are really doing when they claim to be merely applying the laws and the constitution.”

The Busybody Left, by Thomas Sowell, at jewishworldreview.com. Excerpts from the article.

“The political left has been trying to run other people’s lives for centuries. So we should not be surprised to see the Obama administration now trying to force neighborhoods across America to have the mix of people the government wants them to have. There are not enough poor people living in middle class neighborhoods to suit the political left. Not enough blacks in white neighborhoods. Not enough Hispanics here, not enough Asians there.”

“Nowhere in the Constitution does it grant the federal government the power to dictate such things. What makes this latest political crusade so ridiculous and so dangerous is that people have never been mixed and matched at random, either in the United States or in other countries around the world, or in any period of history.”

Squandering Resources On College Education, by Walter E. Williams, at jewishworldreview.com.Excerpts from the article.

“Most college students do not belong in college….. “the college-for-all crusade has outlived its usefulness.”…. “…. the majority of new American jobs over the next decade do not need a college degree. We have a six-digit number of college-educated janitors in the U.S…….one-third of a million waiters and waitresses with college degrees.” More than one-third of currently working college graduates are in jobs that do not require a degree, such as flight attendants, taxi drivers and salesmen. College was not a wise use of these students’, their parents’ and taxpayer resources.“

Our Timid Military Leaders, by Walter E. Williams, at jewishworldreview.com. Excerpts from the article.

“This month, President Barack Obama’s defense secretary, Ashton Carter, decreed that there will be 220,000 combat military jobs offered to women — including in Army special operations forces and the Navy SEALs.”

“… I predict….training with pugil sticks will be banned, or servicewomen will train only against other servicewomen, or, if the training is integrated, servicemen will be court-martialed if they knock out or knock down a servicewoman…. I wouldn’t be surprised if today’s military leaders call for an amendment protocol to the Geneva Conventions to make the hand-to-hand killing of a female fighter a war crime.”
“Finally, the Selective Service System’s website (http://www.sss.gov) reads: “While there has been talk recently about women in combat, there has been NO decision to require females to register with Selective Service, or be subject to a future military draft. Selective Service continues to register only men, ages 18 through 25.” How can that, coupled with reduced performance standards, possibly be consistent with the Defense Department’s stated agenda “to provide a level, gender-neutral playing field”?”

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Must Read “Leftovers”

December 8, 2015

Why The Fed Has To Raise Rates, by Charles Hugh Smith, at oftwominds.com. The US dollar is the worlds reserve currency. This puts the Fed in a situation of trying to control the domestic economy and the international economy. It can’t help both at the same time. An action that helps one, hurts the other. The Fed is trying to use it’s policies to steer the economy. It doesn’t understand that economic laws are trying to correct the Feds steering.

Bernie Sanders Is Right: The US Is Already A Socialist Country, by Ryan McMaken, at mises.org. Money quote, “..if a democratic socialist of the 19th century were to get into a time machine and travel to the modern United States, he’d be forced to exclaim “mission accomplished!”

A Resurgence of Intolerance, by Thomas Sowell, at jewishworldreview.com. College administrators surrender to students storm trooper tactics.

Free Speech, by Walter E. Williams, at jewishworldreview.com. Colleges don’t want diversity of opinion on campus. They want to ban free speech.

Learn Economic Nonsense From The Fed, by Patrick Barron, at patrickbarron.blogspot.com. Print money, print more money, print even more money.

Our Feckless Leader Apologizes For US ‘Role’ In Global Warming, at tammybruce.com. This is not from the Onion. President Obama used a quote from Martin Luther King to stress the urgency of fighting global warming.

Innocent Man Paralyzed After Being Mistook For Suspect By Cops – Struck 50 Times, at copblock.org. HT libertypenblog.blogspot.com.

CARTOONS

Political Cartoons by Glenn McCoy

Political Cartoons by Glenn McCoy

 

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Walter E. Williams: Is Capitalism Moral? via Prager University

September 15, 2015

It is amazing how Walter E. Williams can put so much information about free market capitalism into this five minute video. The amount of insight per word is off the charts. You are going to want to watch this more than once. Thanks to Prager University for this.

Some excerpts from the video:

“The free market calls for voluntary actions between individuals. There’s no coercion.”

“A free market system can only work if there is limited government. Limited government means you and I decide which businesses survive.”

“In a free market the ambition and voluntary effort of citizens not the government drives the economy. That is, people to the best of their ability shaping their own destiny.”

Related Article – Walter E. Williams: Voluntary vs Involuntary Exchange, or Seduction vs. Rape, at austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – Walter E. Williams: The Free Market Is Not Allowed To Work, at austrianaddict.com.

 

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Walter E. Williams: Common Sense

August 3, 2015

Walter E. Williams is one of the best at explaining concepts, abstract or other wise, to people who aren’t on his level of knowledge about economics and liberty. Being able to communicate clearly is his great talent. Here is a video I saw at libertypenblog.blogspot.com. It is Dr. Williams at his best.

Excerpts from the video.

“If you tax something your going to get less of it, and if you subsidize it your going to get more of it. What we’ve been doing is subsidizing slovenly behaviour.”

“I often tell people that I am very very happy that I got virtually all of my education before it became fashionable for white people to like black people. So what that meant is that when I got a ‘C, it was an honest to God ‘C’. When I got an ‘A’, it was an honest to God ‘A’. They weren’t practicing Affirmative action and they didn’t give a damn about my self-esteem.”

“Americans have lost their love for the American Constitution, and I believe they’re either ignorant or they have contempt for the United States Constitution. Ignorance is curable, but contempt is not.”

This short video above is from the video titled Walter E. Williams: Suffer No Fools (click to watch) from the Free To Choose Network.

Related Article – Walter E. Williams: The Constitution, at austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – The Great Walter E. Williams: The State Against Liberty, at austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – Walter E. Williams, Voluntary Exchange, or Seduction vs. Rape, at austrianaddict.com.

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Must Reads For The Week 7/4/15

July 4, 2015
The pen is mightier than the sword...

 The pen is mightier than the sword… (Photo credit: mbshane)

FOURTH OF JULY EDITION.

IN THE SPIRIT OF 1776:  WHO WILL STAND UP AGAINST TYRANNICAL GOVERNMENT?

Secret U.S. Court Allows Resumption Of Bulk Phone Metadata Spying, by David Kravets, at arstechnika.com. Congress voted to terminate the NSA’s metadata surveillance program but a secret FISA court ruled they could. Congress has no power over these agencies they create? Who is going to stand up and stop this lawlessness?

The Powerful And Evil Central Planning Board Inside Obamacare, at economicpolicyjournal.com. The Independent Payment Advisory Board is who will decide if you life is not worth the expensive medical treatments that you need. I’ve said many times before that scarce resources will be rationed in one of two ways, by prices in a free market or by bureaucrats in a centrally planned system. Remember Princess Pelosi saying, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it“. Obamacare is unconstitutional even though the Supreme Court didn’t rule that way. Who is going to stand up to this lawlessness of the Court, the President and the Congress?

Obama Has Plan To Bring More Workers Overtime Pay, by Dave Jamieson, at huffingtonpost.com. Another usurpation of power by the President. Where does he get the power to make a rule like this? Nowhere! Who is going to stand up and stop this lawlessness?

Thanks Michelle: Black Market In Food Items Springs Up In U.S. Schools, at zerohedge.com. The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act pushed by FLOTUS and passed by Congress in 2012 was probably a usurpation of their power. Who is going to stand up and stop this lawlessness? The school kids are standing up by creating black markets for food. This is in the spirit of our founding fathers. Standing up against Government taking our liberty will have to come from the people, because it won’t come from anyone in a position of Government power.

A Warning From Canada: Same-Sex Marriage Erodes Fundamental Rights, by Dawn Stefanpowicz, at thepublicdiscourse.com. Same-sex was federally mandated in 2005 in Canada. Since then freedoms of speech, press, religion, and association have been eroding. Don’t worry that can’t happen here can it? Who will stand up and stop this lawlessness when it happens here?

Ayatollah Roberts And His Sharia Council, by Kevin D. Williamson, at nationalreview.com. Recent decisions by the our nine seat legislature, aka the Supreme Court, makes it very difficult to take their decisions seriously. If you read Justice Roberts writings on Obamacare and same-sex marriage, it is hard to believe he wrote both. Did he have a ghost writer? Who will stand up to these lawless decision?

WHEN THOMAS SOWELL AND WALTER E. WILLIAMS SPEAK, LISTEN!

Supreme Court Disasters, by Thomas Sowell, at jewishworlreview.com. Dr Sowell educates our constitutional ignorance. Here are some excerpts.

“The Constitution of the United States says that the federal government has only those powers specifically granted to it by the Constitution – and that all other powers belong either ot the states or to the people themselves.”

“That is the foundation of our freedom, ant that is what is being dismantled by both this year’s Obamacare decision and last year’s Obamacare decision, as well as by the Supreme Court’s imposing a redefinition of marriage.”

“Last year’s Supreme Court decision declaring Obamacare constitutional says that the federal government can order individual citizens to buy the kind of insurance the government wants them to buy, regardless of what the citizens themselves prefer. The Constitution gave the federal government no such power, but the Supreme court did. It did so by citing the government’s power to tax, even though the Obamacare law did not claim to be taxing.”

“When any branch of government can exercise powers not authorized by either statutes or the constitution, “we the people” are no longer free citizens but subjects, and our “public servants: are really our public masters. And America is no longer America. The freedom for which whole generations of Americans have fought and died is gradually but increasingly being taken away from us with smooth and slippery words.”

Constitutional Ignorance And Dereliction, by Walter E. Williams, at jewishworldreview.com. Dr. Williams sets the record straight concerning the second amendment. Here are some excerpts.

“Thomas Jefferson: “What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.” Who are the rulers Jefferson had in mind?”

“Richard Henry Lee said, “To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.”

“George Mason …. said, “To disarm the people – that was the best and most effectual way to enslave them,”  later saying, “I ask, sir, what is the militia? it is the whole people, except for a few public officials.”

“There are some historical anti-gun statements that might please America’s gun grabbers. “Armas para que?” (Translated: Buns, for what?”) That’s how Fidel Castro saw the right of citizens to possess guns. There’s a more famous anti-gun statement: “The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing.” That was Adolf Hitler.”

CONCLUSION

What is the real meaning of the Fourth of July? It isn’t about the parties, parades, and fireworks. The Fourth of July is a day to remember why our founders decided to break away from tyrannical government. (Read yesterdays post, July Fourth – Our Choice: Liberty or Tyranny!) They knew there was a high cost in doing this but they must have thought the benefits that came from individual liberty and limited government was greater. We are facing the same kind of tyranny today. Do enough of us have the same spirit of resistance as our founders did in 1776? History will someday tell us the answer to that question.

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