Voice in the Wilderness

“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” With these words, or Founding Fathers declared their independence from the tyrannical bonds of their English masters.
After years of armed struggle and diplomatic wrangling, the colonies won their freedom. The initial government under the Articles of Confederation failed to meet the challenges of the fledgling nation and in 1786 Charles Pinckney of South Carolina proposed Congress meet and revise the Articles to address, among other things, the collection of money from state treasuries. While States’ representatives had only been authorized to improve the Articles of Confederation, they met in secret and when the delegates emerged from their closed-door sessions, they produced what we know as the Constitution.
Perhaps you have heard of the conversation between Ben Franklin and a curious woman at the conclusion of the Convention. Franklin was asked a question. This is the conversation as has been recorded:
The lady asked “Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”
“A Republic, if you can keep it.” was the response of Benjamin Franklin.

REPUBLIC: a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law; also : a political unit (as a nation) having such a form of government.

The question we must ask ourselves today is–CAN WE KEEP IT?

Historian Ralph Ketcham tells us that the Antifederalists feared what Patrick Henry termed the “consolidated government” proposed by the new Constitution. They saw in Federalist hopes for commercial growth and international prestige only the lust of ambitious men for a “splendid empire” that, in the time-honored way of empires, would oppress the people with taxes, conscription, and military campaigns. Uncertain that any government over so vast a domain as the United States could be controlled by the people, Antifederalists saw in the enlarged powers of the general government only the familiar threats to the rights and liberties of the people. Perhaps the fears of the anti-Federalists will finally be realized..
We live in time of an unrestrained federal power grab. His highness Chairman Obama now has more czars than the Russian Empire. The banks, auto and insurance industries have been or in the process of being nationalized. The bailouts and massive injections of capital (taxpayer money) have gone to organizations, districts and causes that support the Presidential agenda. Government is on the verge of taking over the medical system. Congress passes laws they have not read and do not understand without open debate in a scheme to raise money. And as our Republic heads toward the abyss, we fiddle as modern Neros and enjoy the view because it can’t happen here.