Government 101 - How To Control A Runaway Government

First let's establish what the United States is and is not:

a. The United States is a democratic Republic, it is not a Democracy. The difference is that a Republic is a form of government under a constitution which provides for the election of:

1. an executive and

2. a legislative body, who working together in a representative capacity, have all the power of appointment, all power of legislation, all power to raise revenue and appropriate expenditures, and are required to create

3. a judiciary to pass upon the justice and legality of their governmental acts, and to recognize

4. certain inherent individual rights.

b. A pure democracy is strictly "majority rule", and is destructive of liberty because there is no law to prevent the majority from trampling on individual rights. Whatever the majority says goes! A lynch mob is an example of pure democracy in action. There may be only one dissenting vote... and that is cast by the person at the end of the rope.

Professor Alexander Fraser Tytler, nearly two centuries ago, had this to say about Democracy: "A Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of Government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largess out of public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that Democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy, always to be followed by a Dictatorship."

We have recently seen this come to pass in the private sector, although Congress has been "voting themselves largess out of public treasury" for decades!

Now that we are all on the same page let's do a little probing. First question: What is the stated purpose of government? Tick-tock, tick-tock... time's UP! According to our Constitution the purpose of government is - "We the People of the United States, in Order to
a. form a more perfect Union,
b. establish Justice,
c. insure domestic Tranquility,
d. provide for the common defense,
e. promote the general Welfare, and
f. secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,
do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Those six charges in the Preamble establish the "purpose" of our government. What follows in the body of the Constitution constitute the ways and means by which those goals may be achieved - the "details". The Constitution establishes the limits of the government over those who have installed it.

Second question: Who is the government? Easy answer - "We the People", although we subrogate the responsibilities for the day-to-day operation of the government to those whom we elect (here comes the democratic part) by majority vote.

Third question - Who controls the government? Buzzzzzzzz - WRONG ANSWER! Although technically it should be "We the People", the government has developed its own power to control vital resources, and has encouraged the indolent to become highly dependent upon the government through various giveaway programs. This is - more often than not - against the expressed will of the vast majority of the people. Our government has been growing less responsive to the will of the people for the past fifty years! What we have today is a modernized version of the Roman Circus. Smoke and mirrors, misdirection, sleight-of-hand, palpable charisma, individual complacency, and the promise of "Gubmint cheese" for all who are willing to surrender their rights under the Constitution, have combined in a comedy of errors to erode the people's control of government.

Our elected officials no longer see themselves as the servants of the people, but rather, they now see themselves as the masters of the largest single plantation on Earth. "We the People" must now "tote that barge and lift that bale", or Massa Government will punish us.

How do we regain control of our unresponsive and irresponsible government? The government has no income producing arm other than the Constitutional ability to levy taxes. Government is essentially a parasite feeding upon the fruits of the labors of the governed. If you earned four bananas today, the government will eat at least one of them. As the government grows larger, it requires more food for itself - which leaves you with less food for you and your family. How do we stop the increase of government's girth? We stop feeding it until it slims down! What does it eat? TAXES. If you have ever stopped to think about it, you must realize that every government tax, fee, and license is an (unlawful) income tax! From where does the money come to pay those taxes, fees, and licenses? Your INCOME!

So here are our options:
(1) Continue to feed the beast until you starve, or
(2) refuse to feed the beast until it brings its appetite for taxes under control,
(3) replace the exisiting beast with a more responsive/responsible beast. And, one that is less likely to buy pork with your hard-earned money.
(4) I don't even like to think about option #4.

As always, I could be completely wrong about this... and the millions of entitlement whores could get jobs!

The Story of "Alice In Wanterland"

I had an interesting experience this evening - I attended a hearing conducted by the Oregon State Ways and Means Committee, who are considering 118 new ways to milk working Oregonians via new taxes and "fees". Here are a few of the things that I thought made the hearing "interesting":

1. The hearing was held in Ashland, OR in the Student Union Building of Southern Oregon University, a 42 mile drive one-way. After finding the campus it took another 15 minutes to find a place to park, then it was a ½ mile trek to the Student Union.

2. Everybody had to sign in at the door, which was no big deal.

3. The room seated about 400 people, with another 75 or so standing along the inner walls, and about 20 outside on the adjacent patio. Let's call it 500 people just for a round number.

4. The hearing was scheduled to last 3 hours, but after the moderators explanation of what was desired ("2 minutes time allotted for each speaker vs. 3 minutes advertised, no applause", and the how total hearing time had been reduced to 2½ hours), and the introductions of each of the Senators and Representatives on the committee, there was only an hour and 45 minutes left.

5. If only 1 in 5 wished to be heard that would be 100 potential speakers. But, at 2 minutes per speaker, only 52.5 people (105/2=52.5) could be heard, and the remaining 47.5 would just be mad as hell.

6. Somehow they allowed "chain testimony", where one person was called upon to speak, and then they passed the microphone to as many as 3 of their allies. The representatives of the Developmentally Disabled took full advantage of this tactic, knowing full-well that nobody would dare to call them on it for fear of being labeled insensitive. This display was an obvious emotional ploy to gain sympathy for their cause, burning up precious minutes while the DD attempted to express themselves as they stumbled and were coached through their talk. It was an improper use of extremely critical time, but their handlers are battling for limited available funds. Can you blame them?

Now, here's how I saw the process of our government at work for us:

1. There were undoubtedly other venues available in which the hearings could have been held. However, by insuring limited available parking, and holding the hearings on a University campus
the odds of sympathetic support for the "tax and spend government" were significantly enhanced.

2. Okay.

3. Approximations - (insert old adage of "close enough for government work" here).

4. Reducing the available time for citizen comments served at least two purposes:
a. Insured more people were provided an opportunity to be heard.
b. Insured that nothing of any real significance could be brought to the attention of the committee.

5. My math is good.

6. Poopoo propagates.

What did 95% of the people who spoke want? They brought emotional pleas wanting Oregon to save their program. "I represent the...", "I'm from the...", "Our program is vital because...", Whine, whine, whine - want, want, want! Only one person actually asked for fiscal responsibility from the government! Do what is necessary in these difficult economic times, when Oregon unemployment is the second highest in the nation - make those cuts in the areas that give us the least return on our tax dollar! Eliminate pork! The citizens cannot be taxed into prosperity, nor can the government spend its way to a balanced budget.

I was not that person. Although I was prepared to talk along a similar line, I was one of that group of 47.5 previously mentioned.

The entitlement whores were out in force with their beggar bowls, asking the government to save their program. Where do they think the money for those programs comes from? Is there a money tree arboretum in Salem? Does the State Legislature have a paper route? NO! It's TAX money! And, the only way to save all the giveaway programs is to increase taxes. Are these people out of their minds? (I should probably define the adjective "entitlement whore" about now. In my mind, an "entitlement whore" is somebody who would trade any of our freedoms for a handout from the government. They believe that they are entitled to the same things that most people have worked to acquire. Most career welfare recipients are glaring examples of "entitlement whores".)

Basically, I got the feeling that the entire hearing was simply a box to be checked off, indicating that the illusion of concern for citizen input was maintained. Call it a "feel good" exercise. I'm sure some people felt that there was a genuine concern for their input, and that it would be seriously considered in the decision making process. I also doubt that any of those people were members of the committee.

I could be wrong about this... what do you think?

Outrageous Taxes Levied on Smokers and Drinkers

As of April 1st, 2009, Oregon State taxes on cigarettes increased by 59¢ per pack, and Federal taxes added another $1.01 per pack! This means that a pack of cigarettes will have a median price of about $6.00 per pack. Federal taxes on loose bulk tobacco, the kind used by the "roll your own" crowd, jumped from $1.09 per pound to $23.48 per pound! Statistically, this will create a new "class" of person. The working-class, low-income person is, statistically, far more likely to be the user of tobacco products, than are the middle- and upper-income persons. Assuming that "statistic" (I have not heard an exact percentage) is accurate, the new class will be the "well-to-do" working-class, lower-income person, who, regardless of the cost will refuse to surrender their tobacco habit, thereby making him or her the envy of his or her working-class neighbors. There's also an additional 50¢ per bottle tax on alcoholic beverages. This has been referred to as a "sin tax" for years, but it is, in fact, a pleasure tax. Tax those things that people enjoy, and you will reap greater profits for the Government than if you taxed things like cauliflower, vasectomies, or root canals! Certainly not everyone enjoys either or both of the aforementioned "sins", but enough people do enjoy them to make it very profitable for the Government. "So what?" you say "I don't smoke or drink, so it's no skin off my nose!" Well what do you enjoy? Fishing? Already taxed via "license fees". Boating? Already taxed via "registration fees". If you look at it from a practical standpoint, permits and fees are nothing more than a means of taxing people who enjoy certain activities. The "bowling fee" is probably coming soon, along with "golf permits", "softball licenses" and "Frisbee fees". Neither the Federal nor State Government "owns" the wild game of the USA, but the State sells you a "hunting license". Suppose that deer you just shot wandered over from one of the neighboring states just this morning? Does Oregon have the right to charge you a license fee to shoot a non-resident animal from the state of Washington or California? It's not like Oregon had anything invested in the maintenance of that animal. It's wild game! "Wild" implies that it belongs to nobody... "hunting license" is just a Government euphemism for another tax. And those "game tags"... one more tax!

The Obama administration seems to believe that we can be taxed into prosperity by adopting a more European tax standard - like 40+%. If that works so well, why are the Europeans experiencing the same kinds of difficulties the USA is having? We are not the Europeans!!
We are the United States of America, and there is no apology necessary for our ability to succeed in a free-market economy or to overcome adversity! Most Europeans envy us our successes, many resent us - not because we acted "superior", but because they felt inferior after we saved their collective asses in WWII. Yet even those that resent us still respect American technology, American creativeness, Americas willingness to help, and our military power.

Personally, I refuse to support his taxes, and smoked my last cigarette at 2pm, on April 3rd 2009! So far, so good.

There's an outside chance that I could be wrong about this... about the same chance that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has of becoming the Grand Ayatollah of Iran!