Today we create debt to fight pretend wars on poverty or drugs, yet our nation was born amidst a debt controversy brought on by imperial wars.  Efforts to push this burden on to colonists caused our Founders to fear British tyranny and the resultant taxes that would steal their property and eventually their liberty.  In 1766 American patriot John Mayhew saw that enslavement would result when one was “obliged to labor and toil only for the benefit of others … [so that their] labor and industry may be lawfully taken from them without their consent.”  When individuals or countries must toil to repay debts created by others they still become enslaved to lenders. (Proverbs 22:7.)

Today we bear a debt piled up by 80 years of failed progressive policies. Democrats have ruled Congress for most of those 80 years, but both parties created programs with only one real goal: to win votes.  As a consequence, we the people have been enslaved to burdensome debts that cannot be repaid by strategies to “tax the rich”. 

Politicians renamed their wasteful spending “investment”.  They “invested” trillions of dollars to fight a war on poverty.  Poverty is still winning.  They “invested” over a trillion federal dollars to reform education.  Students are still losing and plead to escape failed schools.  All such programs have two common elements: failure and added debt.

Our children and grandchildren have been sold into bondage.  They must labor and toil to pay the debt we incurred. Their future has been mortgaged without their consent.  Maybe 19^th century African slaves “knew they would one day be free”, but do our children know they will one day be free of this burden?  What is being done to protect them?  We pile on debt without creating any lasting value.  We take money from taxpayers and throw it away.  We borrow money from China and sink deeper into a financial abyss every day. 

Stop digging these holes.  Keep changing our politicians until they reduce spending to year-2000 levels (when we last had a surplus), require a balanced budget, and repay our debt.  It will not be easy, but it is possible if we demand our unalienable right to liberty.

Global warming fun with statistics

provides some detailed examples of how they have learned to manipulate their ever-present graphs to mislead us.  This includes an interesting statistical analysis that shows how someone could interpret the increase in CO2 as a positive benefit to humanity.  This is a warning to be aware of what you are presented as “crucial data.”

Yet our founders envisioned even this occurrence and created a mechanism for the people and the States to reassert control over an overpowering federal government.

Article V of the Constitution states: “Congress … on the application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, …” But what should our State legislatures seek to amend?

The only way to stop the wasteful spending, and its eventual debilitating taxation, is to starve the government machine.  To do this, we need a Constitutional Amendment to insure that:

1.  Except in time of declared war against a foreign enemy, the federal government shall balance its budget.  This budget shall include all cash expenditures and cash revenues for the federal government and all of its dependent agencies.  Further, the total cash expenditures of the federal government shall not exceed eighteen percent (18%) of the prior year’s gross domestic product.

2.  Included in the budget’s cash expenditures will be an annual payment to retire the national debt.  This payment will be not less than 3% of the principal amount of the prior year’s national debt.

3.  Any increase in taxes, fees, or other sources of revenue shall require a 2/3 vote of each chamber of Congress.  All tax rates and fees as of January 1, 2010 will be re-established and be considered the baseline for any future changes.

4.  No unfunded mandates or requirements shall be placed on state or local governments.  The costs of all federal laws must be paid by the federal government and be included in the annual balanced budget.

Should the people decide they wish to spend more on certain items, they can petition their State or Local governments.  Clearly, we cannot trust politicians.  Unless specifically controlled, they will continue to use our money to buy votes for their own re-election. Encourage your state legislature to reassert its authority: call for a constitutional convention and pass these controls.

 The consequences were grave in both cases.  In 1912 Woodrow Wilson, an inexperienced governor and perhaps the most damaging president in history, was elected president.  While his domestic policies resulted in the firm, and failed, entrenchment of government in every aspect of our lives, it was his foreign policy that doomed the world to the most devastating events in history.

 Wilson was narrowly re-elected in 1916 on his claim that he had kept us out of the Great War in Europe.  The next year he chose policies that lead to unnecessary clashes with Germany and then pushed through war resolutions to lead the country into this very conflict. 

One must remember that what became known as World War I was not the same type of conflict as the later war against Fascism.  None of the principal actors (Germany, France, or Great Britain) were evil.  They were simply nations fighting over traditional disputes between “great powers” of the day.   By 1917 both sides in the conflict were worn down, lacking resources, and had lost the popular will to continue the fight. 

By entering the war, Wilson provided the resources to defeat Germany.  Had America not entered, the war would have soon ground to an end.  The most probable outcome would have been stalemate with little advantage to either side.  Germany would have remained in much the same political condition as before the war, yet wary of future battles and perhaps with a weakened imperial leadership.  Should the Germans have won, it would have been at best a hollow victory, with some territory taken from France and little permanent damage to Britain.

As the result of America’s unneeded intervention, Germany was soundly defeated.  Vindictive allies ignored Wilson’s naïve desires for a gentle peace and imposed humiliating terms on the Germans.  These terms soon resulted in the rise of Fascism, Adolph Hitler, and ultimately the Second World War with all its consequences.

Similarly, in 1992 a strong third party candidate caused the defeat of the incumbent and the presidency of Bill Clinton, another weak governor whose legacy we do not yet fully know.  We do know that partisanship, fabrication, and personal vindictiveness entered American politics to an extent unknown in the twentieth century. 

Unlike Wilson, Clinton’s unwillingness to defend real American interests (he made no meaningful responses to the several terrorist attacks on America during his tenure) resulted in the events that led to our required involvement in the current world-wide war.  We are still too close to his reign to fully understand the impact of the Clinton presidency, but are suffering its impact on the American political process.

Third party candidates are often personally appealing, and in the nineteenth century they focused the country on important issues.  However, the impacts of their crusading appeals have been unintended and devastating to America’s interests.