Natural Law and the US Constitution

One of the American Founders' favorite authors, Marcus Tullius Cicero(106-43 B.C) defined Natural Law as "true law". According to Cicero: "True law is right reason in agreement with nature; it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting......and there will not be different laws at Rome and Athens, or different laws now and in the future, but one eternal and unchangeable law will be valid for all nations and all times, and there will be one master and ruler, that is God, over us all, for he is the author of this law, its promulgator, and its enforcing judge." The American constitutional system is extensively grounded in Natural Law. Natural law is the foundation and framework for what we have come to know as People's or Common Law. This is what Thomas Jefferson alluded to in the Declaration of Independence when he wrote: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness". In order for Natural Law to remain our guiding principle, we must remain a moral and virtuous society. As Jefferson said, "Virtue is not hereditary". Virtue has to be earned and it has to be learned. We must cultivate virtue by our words and deeds. We must fuel the fires of virtue in our homes, schools and churches. Ben Franklin is quoted as saying the following: " ...nothing is of more importance for the public weal, than to form and train up youth in wisdom and virtue. Wise and good men are ... the strength of the state; more so than riches or arms...". One of the tenents of Common Law is that the primary responsibility for resolving problems rests first of all with the individual, then the family, then the community, then the state and finally, the nation. As written in W. Cleon Skousen's book "The Five Thousand Year Leap" we must: acknowledge the inspiration of the Founder's Success Formula; reinstate Constitutional principles in our government; revive our love for God, family, and country; and rejuvenate morality in our lives, in our homes, our businesses and our country. We have a road map to return this country to "that city on the hill" and its call the US Constitution. Our task will not be easy, but then again we all know that anything worth having is worth working and fighting for.

Today's reading is entitled:" The American Left attempts a Bloodless Coup". Here's the link:
http://townhall.com/content/95abc6ff-c02f-4775-b097-8b92ed5b5af6

I didn't know!

Back in 1970, Earth Day was a grassroots hippie event. The organizers chose April 22 – which just “happens” to be the birthday of their Soviet Communist hero, Lenin:
“One of the self-identified ‘founders’ of Earth Day, Bay Area activist John McConnell, has written that in 1969 he proposed to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors a new holiday to be called Earth Day on the first day of spring, the Equinox, around March 21. But, he writes, in 1970 local anti-Vietnam War and Environmental Teach-in activists 'who were planning a one-time event for April 22, also decided to call their event Earth Day.'
“And what was this unnamed ‘one-time event’ in 1970? It was the 100th birthday celebration for Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, known to history as Lenin...”
(Amusingly, the Soviets marked Lenin’s 100th birthday with – a massive tree planting in Siberia. The trees spell out a congratulatory message to the late dictator when seen from above. How “green” of them! Alas, the Soviets normally weren’t so environmentally savvy; their factories typically expelled exponentially more pollution than those in the West, but few Leftists like to dwell on that “inconvenient truth. )

On a lighter note, "I believe the American people, and their every action, are being ruled, regulated, restricted, licensed, registered, directed, checked, inspected, measured, numbered, counted, rated, stamped, censured, authorized, admonished, refused, prevented, drilled, indoctrinated, monopolized, extorted, robbed, hoaxed, fined, harassed, disarmed, dishonored, fleeced, exploited, assessed, and taxed to the point of suffocation and desperation". America is drowning in a sea of rules and regulations, particularly under the guise of “saving the environment.” These insights are well worth your time. Read on: http://www.augustreview.com/news_commentary/general/the_wrenching_transformation_of_america_20090422117/

And finally, at a congressional hearing former speaker Newt Gingrich takes issue with Algore http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=325713

The Federal Reserve

You have heard of the Federal reserve, but you probably don't know the history behind its formation. The Federal Reserve's ability to create money out of thin air and to manipulate the value of the dollar gives it ultimate control over the purse strings of every American Household. The article "How the Monetary Mayhem Began" is a great history lesson regarding the formation of the Federal Reserve. The second article, "Creating Wealth", makes the argument that the Federal Reserve, because of its ability to convert instruments of government debt into money, controls the purse strings of the federal government. It you have the time, these articles are very informative and thought provoking. Here are the links:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/history/american/946
http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/economics-mainmenu-44/944

Revolutionary Virtue

Today's history lesson - "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people," John Adams famously announced in 1798. "It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." What virtues are necessary for freedom? John Adams listed some: "the principles of humanity and general benevolences, public and private charity, industry, frugality, honesty, and punctuality in their dealings." Certainly, "courage" belongs in the catalog, too, since history proves Thomas Jefferson's adage that "the natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." Citizens serious about liberty are constantly on guard against their government, however limited or constitutional. When they spot the first tumors of tyranny, they summon not only bravery but wisdom and perseverance to excise the cancer. Read on:

http://www.thenewamerican.com/history/american/896

The public is both nervous and angry

Whether the U.S.S.R. in the 1980's or the United States in 2009 there are some basic principles in play that do not discriminate. Undermine personal responsibility and initiative, expect a "free lunch" or provide them, spend money you don't have on things you can't afford and you have the universal formula for disaster. The facts of life are conservative. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts that at the end of Obama's ten year planning cycle government debt will equal 82% of the value of all goods and services produced in the U.S. in 2019. Massive borrowing and spending to stimulate the economy will only serve to put us further under the heel of the Chinese and other malefactors of our debt. Read on!
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/04/we_cant_afford_it_mr_president.html

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/04/now_is_the_time_to_put_aside_c.html

There is an alternative to the proposed 2010 budget

It may not be perfect, but the proposal is more palatable than what is currently being considered. Here is an editorial from the Wall Street Journal.
WSJ.com - Opinion: The GOP's Alternative Budget*

Common Sense Political Thought

Serendipity! I stumbled onto a blog today by chance and read a great article about colonel Davey Crockett. Most of us remember Davey Crockett as an American Hero who died at the Alamo. Many probably didn't know that he was a US Congressman. The article of interest, posted 4/1/09 and entitled "Davey Crockett would be horrified", addresses the issue of congressional appropriation of money for"the good of the people" and the nation. What would Davey Crockett and like-minded people have to say about the profligate spending in congress today? The link is:

http://commonsensepoliticalthought.com/
Scroll down the page to the article and click on the link to read the entire article. It will be time well spent.

"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government’s purposes are beneficial. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greater dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding." — Justice Louis Brandeis, Olmstead v. United States (1928)
"It is suggested that the solution lies in the United Nations Security Council. It is interesting to note that each solution it achieves invariably results either in the country involved going communist or vast territories being turned to communist-type socialism. The United Nations is the great Trojan horse within our gates, and we can hope for absolutely no help from that quarter, especially while it promotes and arranges finances, encouragement, and prestige
to dissenting groups involved in so-called liberation movements of terrorist revolutionary groups." -- J. Ralph Thompson Source: “Our Readers Write,” Ensign, Mar. 1971, p. 73

Keynesian Economics for Dummies

Here is a youtube video from the Cato Institute where the commentator discusses the Keynesian economic theory that is currently being implemented by the president and the democratic congress. Albert Einstein once said "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". Watch the video and decide for yourself. Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoxDyC7y7PM&feature=player_embedded
Below is a link to an article from Townhall.com entitled: "Conservatives vs. Liberals: 2 Paths to Power". I think this article represents a fair analysis of two different philosophical perspectives with regard to approaching issues. Here's the link:
http://townhall.com/content/e4d38415-6b02-4a60-96ce-c44ccfdf04bf