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July
19
2018

Are Patriots An Endangered Species?
Neal's Soapbox

Have you ever heard the saying, “You can’t fight City Hall?” What that implies is that it is an exercise in futility to fight a huge bureaucracy with all its rules and enforcement mechanisms. I don’t know about you, but what that implies to me is that we should just give up; submit to whatever laws government passes and accept that there’s nothing we can do about it.

I’ll admit, for those who cherish their liberty the deck certainly is stacked against us. The government is this huge bureaucracy that has all these rules that we are told we must comply with if we wish to avoid finding ourselves as a defendant in the criminal justice system; and I have to laugh about that justice part when many of the laws they pass do everything BUT provide us with any sort of justice. 

Then there is the fact that government has a multitude of agencies, combined with local law enforcement, that go about ensuring that we comply with all these rules they pass which govern almost everything we do. Not to mention the fact that the court system, or at least the judges, typically take the side of government when determining what the law is. 

How many of you have ever actually read the entire Declaration of Independence? If you had you may recall that one of the grievances leveled against the King of England was, “He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.” Again I can’t speak for you, but that certainly sounds a lot like exactly what our government today is doing; yet that didn’t stop our Founders from resisting; it didn’t stop them from revolting against their government either.

It’s funny, so many of my so called conservative friends, and some liberals for that matter, care only about who gets elected to the office of President. They only seem to care that ‘their guy’ sits in the Oval Office and could care less about the fact that government as an entity continues to operate a multitude of offices and agencies that are blatantly unconstitutional. 

How many conservatives decry Planned Parenthood and its staunch support for a woman’s right to obtain an abortion? You decry the agency, not the agent in charge of that agency…right? In your opposition to Planned Parenthood you could care less who its CEO is, only that, as an entity it supports something you disagree with on moral or other grounds. Why is it then that you can’t see government from the same perspective; that it doesn’t matter who sits in the Oval Office, government still does things it is not authorized to be doing?

And for those of you on the left, the same could be said about your opposition to entities such as the NRA; you don’t care who its CEO is, your only concern is its support of the right of the people to keep and bear arms; something you seem hell bent on doing away with.

It is both sad and funny that when I mention government people immediately assume I’m talking about either the President or, to a lesser extent, the Congress. While those two branches certainly are included in the general term ‘government’ they aren’t the only things I’m talking about. I don’t think people realize how big an entity their government is. 

Your government, as outlined by the Constitution at least, consists only of 546 people; there are the President and Vice-President; the 100 members of the Senate; the 435 members of the House of Representatives, and the 9 Justices on the Supreme Court. But did you know that the federal government employs over 2.7 million people…and that doesn’t include the 1.2 million people currently serving on active duty in our armed forces. 

That’s what I’m talking about when I say the word ‘government’, not only those mentioned specifically in the Constitution, but all the agencies created by your government to ensure that you obey the laws it enacts.

Out of curiosity, have you ever done a web search for all the agencies under the Executive Branch? I don’t typically do this, but in this case I’ll make an exception; here is a link to all the Departments under the Executive Branch of your government: https://www.usa.gov/executive-departments. Click on any of them and you’ll find a number of sub-agencies; many of which have the authority to pass rules and regulations that you must comply with or face punishment under the criminal justice system.

Let’s look at just one of these Executive Departments, shall we? For the sake of this discussion I have chosen the Department of the Interior; which is a Cabinet Level position. The mission statement of the Department of Interior states: The Department of the Interior protects and manages the Nation’s natural resources and cultural heritage; provides scientific and other information about those resources; and honors its trust responsibilities or special commitments to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and affiliated island communities.

While that sounds very noble and honorable, let’s look at some of the agencies which operate under the auspices of the Dept. of Interior. Among the agencies which work under the umbrella of the Dept. of Interior are the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

Let’s just take a few moments to discuss those three agencies. The mission statement of the Bureau of Land Management, or BLM for future use, is, “The Bureau of Land Management’s mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. Congress tasked the BLM with a mandate of managing public lands for a variety of uses such as energy development, livestock grazing, recreation, and timber harvesting while ensuring natural, cultural, and historic resources are maintained for present and future use.”

The mission statement of the National Park Service is, “The National Park Service preserves unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.”

The mission statement of the Fish and Wildlife Service is, “The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.”

Again, on the surface these all sound like noble and maybe even needful things. My question is, by what authority under the Constitution do these agencies exist? I have gotten into many a heated discussion, (okay, argument if you will), with people over the existence of these various agencies. People tell me things like, “Well the Congress passed a law, or the President did this or he did that…” in support of their existence. But it all comes back to the same question; under what authority did those in your government take those actions?

You see, that’s one of the biggest problems in this country, people haven’t read, or don’t care what the Constitution says are the authorized powers given to their government. Had they read that document, and actually thought about what it said, they would have noticed that in Article 6, Clause 2 it states, “This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof shall be the supreme law of the land…”

What that means is that for any law passed by our government to have any validity, or authority for that matter, it must be in pursuance with the powers given government in general; and those powers were discussed in yesterday’s article and can be found in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution.

Where in Article 1, Section 8 does it give government the authority to establish National Parks, to assume control over the fish and wildlife, or manage the public lands? Simply stated, it doesn’t. The government does not own the land that constitutes the United States of America. The only land the Constitution authorizes your government to exercise jurisdiction over is the 10 square miles for the seat of the government and the land it has purchased from the States for the erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards and other needful buildings. The remaining land is under the control and authority of the various States. (Source: Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17)

So again, under what authority do the BLM, the National Park Service, or Fish and Wildlife exist?

Yet these agencies enact all kinds of laws, or regulations if you will, that tell the States and the people how they can utilize the natural resources that are not authorized by any clause within the Constitution; and most people simply comply with these rules and regulations because, ‘you can’t fight city hall.’

Those are just a few of the agencies under one department under the Executive Branch; and there are many more that exercise the same authority and jurisdiction over things that are blatantly unconstitutional, or violate our rights.

Take for instance the National Security Agency and its wide ranging surveillance of the American people. Edward Snowden tried warning you of the extent to which you are monitored and spied upon, and you called him a traitor. Yet who, by virtue of the Constitution and Bill of Rights is the real criminal; Snowden or your government?

When I was stationed in Florida I used to go mullet fishing with a friend who lived in nearby Panama City. Mullet fishing is basically taking a large drag net and pulling it into a boat and removing those fish you wish to keep. I recall one time we only caught two mullet, but had a net full of Flounder and catfish. That’s the same principle that is being used by the NSA to catch terrorists; they cast a wide net to troll for information that might lead them to uncovering one or two terrorists…AT THE EXPENSE OF THE PRIVACY OF MILLIONS OF INNOCENT PEOPLE!!!

In 1975 Senator Frank Church warned about the surveillance capabilities of the government on an episode of Meet the Press, “If this government ever became a tyranny, if a dictator ever took charge in this country, the technological capacity that the intelligence community has given the government could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back.” That was in 1975 and the technological advances in your government’s surveillance capabilities have only grown exponentially since then. 

There is hardly a thing you do today that cannot be monitored or spied upon without you even knowing that spying is going on; a clear violation of the 4th Amendment. Yet people say this is necessary for our protection against the big bad terrorists. I suppose it doesn’t matter to you that Ben Franklin once said, “Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”

I don’t care which side of the political spectrum people align themselves with, my only concern is that the specifically authorized powers of government be adhered to and that my rights, IN THEIR ENTIRETY, remain intact. But unfortunately I find myself a part of an endangered species; those that actually care about the rule of law and the preservation of their liberty. 

People today, and this goes for both liberals and conservatives, only believe that the ends justify the means. They don’t care how the Constitution is being violated, or how their rights are being violated; they only care that these things are being done to further the agendas of the two political parties. 

Right now the political left is crying bloody murder because of the things Trump is doing, yet they remained deathly silent while Barack Obama was equally guilty of violating the Constitution and Bill of Rights. I’m certain that once Trump finishes his term as President and another Democrat finds their way into the Oval Office that the tables will turn and the Republicans will denounce whoever the Democrats elect for crimes against the Constitution that Trump was guilty of as well.

The hypocrisy of both sides makes me want to vomit or get in people’s faces and scream WAKE UP, STOP PLAYING THE TWO PARTY PARADIGM!!!

People today simply don’t care whether the Constitution, as ratified in 1789, is adhered to; they don’t care whether their rights are routinely being violated; all they care about is whether their causes, the things they think government should be doing continue being done. The only time people become upset is when ‘the other side’ seeks to block or impede the actions of their party. Liberty and limited government are of no concern to the majority of those who are politically active. Even worse, there are those who could care less one way or the other, so long as they have a job, a roof over their heads, foot to eat, and TV or Facebook to keep them entertained.

I’m finding it increasingly difficult to disguise, or hide my disgust for the people of this country. Something written by Thomas Paine back in 1791 pretty much sums up how I feel most of the time these days, “When I contemplate the natural dignity of man, when I feel (for Nature has not been kind enough to me to blunt my feelings) for the honour and happiness of its character, I become irritated at the attempt to govern mankind by force and fraud, as if they were all knaves and fools, and can scarcely avoid disgust at those who are thus imposed upon.”

I may smile, I may talk to people, but if they could read my mind and see my innermost thoughts they would probably turn tail and run for their lives. All I know is that this grand experiment in liberty and self governance has failed, and failed miserably. America is no longer populated by liberty loving individuals; it is populated by people who only care whether they get to elect the slave master of their choice.

People say that eventually America will fall. I say it has already fallen; that the principles it was built upon are buried under the rubble of whatever passes for political correctness and political party ideology. As my friend Jeff Bennett posted on his website The Federal Observer, “The phrase “the Fall of America” suggests some cataclysmic event ended the American Empire which had stretched from Maine to California and Florida to Washington. But at the end, there was no straining at the gates, no barbarian horde that dispatched the Empire in one fell swoop. Rather, the Empire fell slowly, as a result of challenges from within and without, and changing over the course of hundreds of years until its form was unrecognizable.”

The America I live in today is unrecognizable from the America I was born into 60 years ago, and I can only imagine how our Founders would feel could they see the damage we have done to the principles they established this country upon. But that’s okay, as long as your guy sits in the big chair behind the Resolute Desk, you don’t have to face the fact that your government has become a tyrant of far greater proportions than the one our Founders fought a war to free themselves from. 

But according to you it is people like me who are the bad guys; we’re the ones who pose a threat to national security or the public good. When on the other hand we, however small in number we may be, think that you’re the enemy due to your ignorance and your unwillingness to face the truth; that your government is evil, it is not your friend, and it certainly does not serve the purposes for which it was established.

But that’s okay, keep believing whatever it is you believe; reality has a way of sneaking up on people and bitch slapping them. I only hope I’m alive to see it when it finally happens to you.

I am just an average guy who is interested in our government’s continuing assault upon our second amendment rights, and the never ending influx of illegal aliens. As I begin researching these issues, I discover more and more what is wrong with this country. This blog is my way of informing others of the problems this nation faces, and of offering my solutions to these problems. This is turning into an educational trip: Please come along for the ride.

 

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