Showing posts with label government. Show all posts

Jesse Jackson Epiphany: 'Big Government Is US By Another Name'

You cross the drive to big government, you cross Jesse Jackson:

No wonder the false calls of racism towards the tea party and conservatives. They are desperate to expand the government welfare state.

On this Independence Day, remember that Congress governs with only 8% approval

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.- from The Declaration of Independence

Congress is no longer deriving its powers from the consent of the governed. From Rasmussen: Just 8% Approve of Job Congress Is Doing

Voters are evenly divided this month when asked if most members of Congress are corrupt: 39% say yes; 38% say no, while 23% are undecided. The view that most congressmen are corrupt has ranged from 36% to 45% since January of last year.

We The People are supposed to represented in a limited government working under our consent. That is no longer the case. We are ow being ruled over by political elitists - without our consent. The ruling class is passing bills that are not debated or even read. Provisions are secretly inserted that have nothing to do with the bills themselves. The bills are signed into law even though they are patently unconstitutional. In addition, laws are being passed so vague that unelected bureaucrats in federal agencies like the EPA have unprecedented power over us sans any accountability. It is a feature, not a bug! As Thomas Sowell enumerates very well, We The People, and the US Constitution, are an obstacle to liberalism and are treated as such by the executive branch, the Congress, and by activist judges that are the envy of the best pretzel makers to ever walk the earth. It is an utter corruption of what used to American values. There is no provision in the US Constitution that one person gets to live off of another, yet that is the value of the ruling class today. It is enumerated quite well in this video that I have posted many times:

We no longer live under the rule of law, but under the whims of liberal feelings.

Related:
Glenn Reynolds: Consent of the governed - and the lack thereof

UPDATE: Via Instapundit:

INDEPENDENCE DAY THOUGHTS from Jeff Jacoby.
If Nature and Nature’s God intended human beings to be free and equal, then the only legitimate government must be self-government. For if none of us is naturally subordinate or superior to anyone else, no one has the right to rule us without first obtaining our approval. Political power, Locke had written, stems “only from compact and agreement, and the mutual consent of those who make up the community.’’

The Declaration of Independence emphasized the point. Not only are all persons endowed by nature with the unalienable rights of equality and freedom, it avowed, but “to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.’’

No lawful government without consent and self-rule: It was an extraordinary doctrine for its time. . . . July 4 marks more than American independence. It commemorates the great political ideals, rooted in faith and philosophy, that vindicated that independence – and that thereby transformed the world.
Read the whole thing.

UPDATE #2: Via an email from Terry G, this isn't quite so funny:

NOAH TODAY

In the year 2011, the Lord came unto Noah, Who was now living in Buffalo and said: "Once again, the earth has become wicked and over -populated, and I see the end of all flesh before me." "Build another Ark and save 2 of every living thing Along with a few good humans." He gave Noah the blueprints, saying:
"You have 6 months to build the Ark before I will Start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights."

Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah Weeping in his yard - but no Ark. "Noah!," He roared, "I'm about to start the rain! Where is the Ark?" "Forgive me, Lord," begged Noah, "but things have changed."

"I needed a Building Permit."

"I've been arguing with the Boat Inspector About the need for a sprinkler system."

"My neighbors claim that I've violated the Neighborhood By-Laws by building the Ark in my Back garden and exceeding the height limitations. We had to Go to the Local Planning Committee for a variance."

"Then the Local Council and the Electricity Company demanded a shed load of money for the future costs of moving power lines and other overhead obstructions, to clear the Passage for the Ark's move to the sea. I told them That the sea would be coming to us, but they would Hear nothing of it."

"Getting the wood was another problem. There's a ban On cutting local trees in order to save the Greater Spotted Barn Owl." "I tried to convince the environmentalists that I Needed the wood to save the owls - but no go!"

"When I started gathering the animals the RSPCA took me to court. They insisted that I was Confining wild animals against their will. They Argued the accommodations were too restrictive, and It was cruel and inhumane to put so many animals in A confined space."

"Then the Environmental Agency ruled that I couldn't build the Ark until they'd conducted an environmental impact study On your proposed flood."

"I'm still trying to resolve a complaint with the Human Rights Commission on how many minorities I'm Supposed to hire for my building crew."

"Immigration are checking the Visa status of most of the people who want to work."

"The trades unions say I can't use my sons. They Insist I have to hire only Union workers with Ark-building experience."

"To make matters worse, the Inland Revenue seized all my assets, claiming I'm trying to leave the country illegally With endangered species."

"So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least 10 Years for me to finish this Ark."

"Suddenly the skies cleared, the sun began to shine, And a rainbow stretched across the sky."

Noah looked up in wonder and asked, "You mean you're not going to destroy the world?"

"No," said the Lord." The Government beat me to it."

Washington Post on Obama Presser: "The president’s claim of an “unprecedented” effort to trim federal regulations is laughable"

When you pay your taxes so that the local government can hire police officers for public safety, you are happy to do so because it is a legitimate function of government. When you pay your taxes so that the local government can hire fire fighters for public safety, you are happy to do so because it is a legitimate function of government. As long as those entities don't metastasize into lifestyle, pension and healthcare management entities that do public service on the side, poorly and at a loss, you are happy to pay your taxes. But when the government takes taxes for you simply to give that money to someone else, it is theft. They are simply stealing your money because that is not a legitimate function of government.

So we are in a massive deficit and debt situation in this country because the federal government is not willing to stop stealing money. The 3 ways that government maintains its control over the population is via taxation, deficit spending and regulation, and Obama has put the last two on steroids and wants to put the first one on the same. Even the Washington Post has taken note that Obama was full of it at his presser the other day, where he came off as TIME editor called it, "a dick." From the WaPo: The missing facts in President Obama’s news conference. The WaPo only went through a few as covering all the lies and exaggerations would have filled every single page. Just a few I want to focus on because it goes to Obama's insistence that the federal government continue in its illegitimate functions:

In a bit of class jujitsu, the president six times mentioned eliminating a tax loophole for corporate jets, frequently pitting it against student loans or food safety. It’s a potent image, but in the context of a $4 trillion goal, it is essentially meaningless. The item is so small the White House could not even provide an estimate of the revenue that would be raised, but other estimates suggest it would amount to $3 billion over 10 years.

Meanwhile, student financial assistance, just for 2011, is about $42 billion. So the corporate jet loophole — which involves the fact that such assets can be depreciated over five years, rather than the seven for commercial jets — just is not going to raise a lot of money. It certainly wouldn’t save many student loans.

Going after hedge fund managers might raise about $15 billion over 10 years, but in a different life The Fact Checker covered Wall Street and is pretty certain those financial wizards would figure out a way to avoid this tax shift. John Carney of CNBC actually outlined how that would work.

Eliminating oil and gas preferences would raise $44 billion over 10 years, according to administration figures (table S-8), so that begins to look like real money. But the real dollars are in what the president calls “tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires” — eliminating the ability of people making more than $250,000 to itemize their deductions. That proposal would raise $290 billion over 10 years.

In other words, Obama is a thief and those making over $250,000 are the marks for a crime. He wants to simply steal their money to give it to someone else to buy their votes. Then there is the regulation quote that I put in the headline:

The president’s claim of an “unprecedented” effort to trim federal regulations is laughable.

ObamaCare and Frank-Dodd monstrosity alone will choke businesses for decades if not repealed.

UPDATE: The WaPo piece states that Obama is aiming to cut the deficit by $2-4 trillion by 2020. Putting it that way is disingenuous because of what they are not telling you. The deficit is the yearly shortfall in revenues minus expenses and Obama is in a 3rd straight year of $1.5 trillion deficits. Cutting the deficit by $2-4 trillion will still add to the debt (now at $14.5 trillion) every single year. It would be like maxing out one credit card, and using another one to continue to overspend each and every month but by a few dollars less.

UPDATE #2: Rush - Obama Brought So Many Straw Men To The Press Conference That He Was Creating A Fire Hazard