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Have We Become The People Our Founding Fathers Warned Us About?

By: David Hinz (Diary)  |  July 5th, 2009 at 08:52 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Originally Published at The Minority Report

Our founding fathers were distrustful, and rightly so, of a strong centralized government, far from the control of the citizens, running roughshod over the rights of the individual.

“Taxation without Representation” was more than just revolutionary rhetoric, but a founding principle on which local control of government was based. The original Boston Tea Party was more than a protest against taxes; it was a statement of independence and liberty against tyranny.

They had experience with, and had just fought a war to gain independence from a tyrannical government that ruled with an iron fist, imposing the will of a distant monarch on an unwilling citizenry. Our founding fathers understood much about tyranny – they had a long world history of tyranny from which to observe and to learn.

But what those patriarchs most feared was the “soft bigotry of low expectations” that would become the federal government today. Thomas Jefferson warned about a government with too much power. “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have.”

Benjamin Franklin contrasted the difference between individual freedom and the security of government thus; “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

They warned about the emergence of the concept of a nanny state that would do for all its citizens what they rightly should be willing to do for themselves. Again, a cautionary statement from Thomas Jefferson, “The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”

A cradle to grave dependency upon government to fulfill the simple wants and needs best left to the individual to either achieve or to fail was the greatest fear of those great men who had literally risked everything to obtain freedom for the people of this nation.

“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

Little could our founding fathers fathom the idea that “sacred Honor” would become an outdated concept, sneered upon by leaders in Washington, DC itself, who would find it necessary to apologize for American Exceptionalism to a world desperately in need of that very quality.

Benjamin Franklin might have summed it up best when he said, “None but a virtuous people are capable of liberty, all others are in need of a master; revolutions cannot take place without danger when the people have not sufficient virtue.”

The question today must become – do WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES still retain sufficient virtue to retain our freedoms – to deserve the blessings of liberty that our founding fathers shed their blood to obtain for all of their progeny?

Originally Published at The Minority Report

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  • johnCV

    But what do you do if 49% of the people deserve liberty?

    • http://www.the41stvote.org rcov092

      n/t

  • pilgrim

    Some people seem to forget that there were also colonists in large numbers who did not want to be independent. Every generation it’s necessary for new leaders to step up to the plate. This is a great diary, and very timely for this holiday, but the people you talk about didn’t just “become” at this time. Those people have always existed.

    • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

      so many people yearn to be mothered….a desire to return to the womb.

      It is difficult to maintain freedom because the security of government cradle to grave dependency is just so seductive to many people.

      • OccamsRazor

        :)

  • rbdwiggins

    I fear that the answer to the specific question has become a resounding, No.

    John Adams also shared many of those same fears and clearly articulated the danger they posed to our Republic.

    “Property is surely a right of mankind as really as liberty. Perhaps, at first, prejudice, habit, shame or fear, principle or religion, would restrain the poor from attacking the rich, and the idle from usurping on the industrious; but the time would not be long before courage and enterprise would come, and pretexts be invented by degrees, to countenance the majority in dividing all the property among them, or at least, in sharing it equally with its present possessors. Debts would be abolished first; taxes laid heavy on the rich, and not at all on the others; and at last a downright equal division of every thing be demanded, and voted. What would be the consequence of this? The idle, the vicious, the intemperate, would rush into the utmost extravagance of debauchery, sell and spend all their share, and then demand a new division of those who purchased from them. The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If “Thou shalt not covet,” and “Thou shalt not steal,” were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society, before it can be civilized or made free. — 1787 Works 6:8–9

    “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” — October 11, 1798

    • rbdwiggins
      • TNJim

        and a pefect complement to David’s diary. I fear very much we, or some of us, have become the people our founders warned us about. One sure way to give up freedom is to depend on government for everything. It’s a certain path to slavery.

        • rbdwiggins

          and private capital is being subdued, depleted and confiscated at an astounding rate.

          The “Takings Clause” has been bastardized beyond its original scope — “designed to bar Government from forcing some people alone to bear public burdens which, in all fairness and justice, should be borne by the pubic as a whole” — Armstrong v. United States (1960), and has morphed into a legal precedent in which Government picks winners and losers based on the wants and needs of government, as in Kelo v. City of New London (2005).

          Religion has been effectively removed from the public discourse and no longer serves as the basic guiding principle for much of our society. That certainly was not the original intent of our Founders.

          Government has failed one of its primary constitutional responsibilities, “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,” and sadly, our children and grandchildren will bear the undue burden of unprecedented debt, ever-expanding government control over individual liberty and the travesty of failed government schools.

          The current path is a slippery slope which can only lead to severe consequences for our Republic.

    • beenyweenies

      “Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

      Indeed. The focus in this thread has been on some people’s need to be babied by government, but the quote above points the way to the real problem. Avarice, ambition etc. form the backbone of modern American capitalism, and far too many people follow the “greed is good” doctrine. They simply cannot be governed under a system that relies on individual responsibility and moral action.

      Farmer to farmer, all is fair, but when huge, well moneyed interests inflict harm on the general public only the government can successfully defend the people. This is, after all, why our government was formed in the first place.

  • ntrepid

    …and I submit that we…The People…have come up mighty short in that column.

    The slow decay of the American Republic has reached the point where fifty-two percent of the electorate freely cast their vote for CHANGE without even bothering to ask what that even meant. It is only fitting that those same people…The People…have seated legislative representation that continually finds majorities to pass the most sweeping, expensive, and individual freedom limiting programs without even reading the proposed legislation.

    Within the workings of the greatly flawed, yet still greatest system in the world we DESERVE exactly what we?re getting. I suspect those that came before us expected and deserved much better.

    The supersized national hangover that awaits us is going to be a whopper.

    Ntrepid
    Proud Member for 4 Years and 10 Months

  • nessa

    They addressed myriad problems that may arise and did their best to build in checks and balances to limit the worst of them. They predicted, in much plainer language than Nostradamus, issues like?

    The size and scope of government?

    ?I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.?
    –Thomas Jefferson

    ?Were we directed from Washington when to sow, and when to reap, we should soon want bread.?
    –Thomas Jefferson

    Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. And force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”
    –George Washington

    “It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from its government.”
    –Thomas Paine

    ?Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer.?
    –Thomas Paine

    The quality of our elected Leaders?

    (This one is a more accurate naming than Nostradumus? reference to Hister)
    ?Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people, commencing demagogues and ending tyrants.?
    –Alexander Hamilton

    ?Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm.?
    –James Madison

    ?In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate ? look to his character.? –Noah Webster (while not a Framer, he did edit a Federalist newspaper for Alexander Hamilton, timely advice undoubtedly picked up from his association with Framers)

    ?If ever time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.?
    –Samuel Adams

    Earmarks?

    ?The same prudence which in private life would forbid our paying our own money for unexplained projects, forbids it in the dispensation of the public moneys.?
    –Thomas Jefferson

    The Welfare State/Entitlements/Redistribution of Wealth?

    ?To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.?
    –Thomas Jefferson

    ?I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents….? –James Madison

    Debt and Taxes?

    ?We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our selection between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debts as that we must be taxed in our meat in our drink, in our necessities and comforts, in our labors and in our amusements, for our callings and our creeds…our people.. must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, give earnings of fifteen of these to the government for their debts and daily expenses; and the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we must live.. We have not time to think, no means of calling the mis-managers to account, but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow suffers. Our landholders, too…retaining indeed the title and stewardship of estates called theirs, but held really in trust for the treasury, must…be contented with penury, obscurity and exile.. private fortunes are destroyed by public as well as by private extravagance.
    This is the tendency of all human governments. A departure from principle becomes a precedent for a second; that second for a third; and so on, till the bulk of society is reduced to mere automatons of misery, to have no sensibilities left but for sinning and suffering… And the fore horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in it’s train wretchedness and oppression.? –Thomas Jefferson

    ?If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute.?
    –Thomas Paine

    ?The apportionment of taxes on the various descriptions of property is an act which seems to require the most exact impartiality; yet there is, perhaps, no legislative act in which greater opportunity and temptation are given to a predominant party to trample on the rules of justice. Every shilling which they overburden the inferior number is a shilling saved to their own pockets.?
    –James Madison

    The runaway judiciary?

    ?And it proves, in the last place, that liberty can have nothing to fear from the judiciary alone, but would have everything to fear from its union with either of the other departments.?
    –Alexander Hamilton

    ?The constitution of the United States is to receive a reasonable interpretation of its language, and its powers, keeping in view the objects and purposes, for which those powers were conferred. By a reasonable interpretation, we mean, that in case the words are susceptible of two different senses, the one strict, the other more enlarged, that should be adopted, which is most consonant with the apparent objects and intent of the Constitution.?
    –Joseph Story (not a Framer, he was appointed to the Supreme court by Madison)

    States Sovereignty?

    ?But ambitious encroachments of the federal government, on the authority of the State governments, would not excite the opposition of a single State, or of a few States only. They would be signals of general alarm… But what degree of madness could ever drive the federal government to such an extremity.?
    –James Madison

    Even the New Deal/Great Society/Democrat Platform

    “If Congress can?
    ?employ money indefinitely to the general welfare?
    ?are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare?
    ?take the care of religion into their own hands?
    ?appoint teachers in every State?
    ?pay them out of their public treasury?
    ?take into their own hands the education of children?
    …establishing in like manner schools throughout the Union?
    ?assume the provision of the poor?
    ?undertake the regulation of all roads ?
    in short, every thing, from the highest object of state legislation
    down to the most minute object of police, would be thrown under the power of Congress, it would subvert the very foundations, and transmute the very nature
    of the limited Government established by the people of America.”
    –James Madison

    These are but a few of the quotes available, unfortunately more of the American public is familiar with Nostradamus and his writings than those left us by the Framers. If I keep reading I?ll never post this so allow these few to serve as the basis for my point.

    It is true now, as it was in 1776, that much of our population does not deserve, and many do not want, the liberties these men of exceptional character and ?sacred honor? provided us with. But, if even a single one of us wants to exercise these liberties we must drag the undeserving, un-desiring along with us. The Democrat Party, infiltrated by Socialists and Progressives, has used the Framers warnings to design, purposefully, their platforms. Creating an entitlement class, redistributing wealth to buy their votes, dispensing the tax dollars they control to friends and cronies to strengthen their grasp on power till, over the course of the last century, they have garnered such power as we see used today to seize private businesses, publicly vilify capitalists and captains of industry, raising taxes on the ?rich?, government control of wages, you are as familiar with the list as I am. With the same type of un-desiring, undeserving people the Founding Fathers had to contend with to support their destruction of the American experiment.

    • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

      too bad we cannot promote comments to the recommended list!

      • TNJim

        Maybe that’s nessa’s modus opeandi: post first in the comments section and see what kind of reaction he gets, then copy/paste it into the “Create New Diary” entry page. As is, it’s a great complement to your diary.

        • nessa

          I’ve been mulling this subject over as a diary for quite some time but it needs more work before it’s ready for that. The last paragraph is a little rambling, I need a better closing among other things.

          It fit too well with David’s post to resist using the notes I had as a reply. We’ll see what time and my muse can provide towards getting it “diary ready” in the near future.

          Thanks for the meaningful compliments though!

          • alexandriatulips

            n/t

  • morstar150

    Not much more can be said. You said it with eloquence.

  • alabamared

    is a danger to any true conservative.

    • alexandriatulips

      libertarians aren’t the true conservatives, as much as they like to claim they are

      • DONTREADONME

        yeah, you see how annoying this is, now consider this lesson #2 for your first day here. Expect anything stupid that you say to be analyzed by me and called out for the nonsense it is, and what you have just written makes no sense.

        • alexandriatulips

          “You’re a moron who doesn’t know the difference between ‘your’ and ‘you’re’.”

          • DONTREADONME
          • alexandriatulips

            got your goat, did i?

          • DONTREADONME
          • alexandriatulips

            now look up the difference between “who” and “whom”

          • DONTREADONME

            seriously, you’re wow that is hard, you want to match wits with me? BTW, it should be “whom” not “who”. Bring it, dunce.

          • alexandriatulips

            HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

          • DONTREADONME

            you must have missed that.

          • alexandriatulips

            HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

          • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

            DTOM – cut it out…the next obedience class doesn’t start for another two weeks.

            attillatwolips — you came in with a lot of condescension as though you believe yourself to be oh, so much smarter than the rest of us. Maybe you didn’t intend it that way – maybe you did. Maybe you really do think you are smarter than all the rest of us [I wouldn't count on that if I were you]. Condescension does not go well around here… FWIW

          • alexandriatulips

            Aaron. I think they behaved poorly on the other thread, and I signed up to tell them about it.

            And when I’m mocked for speaking up, I mock back.

            I won’t be behaving this way toward others (except maybe Tbone).

          • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

            several posters here who I butted heads with when they first came here are now good friends. Nuance is difficult when typing on a keyboard.

            DTOM isn’t a bad person…nor Aaaaron. [never could figure names with too many vowels back to back]

            I think I will continue to call you Attila however — you have a bit of the murderous savage in you.

          • Aaron Gardner

            And as far as me behaving badly, again it’s not my fault you and ICBM can’t read. And you were a coward in your first comment to me in which you took a veiled shot at Moe. I assume you are too much of a sally to go up against Moe.

            Carry on.

          • alexandriatulips

            nor would you if you were in my shoes

            and i bet i can draw my ruger faster than you can throw a punch, ninny

            but i could probably take a punch from a “man” like you and still draw my ruger

          • alexandriatulips

            nor would you if you were in my shoes

            and i bet i can draw my ruger faster than you can throw a punch, ninny

            but i could probably take a punch from a “man” like you and still draw my ruger

          • Aaron Gardner
          • Tbone

            “gun violence”? She an artist you goof ball and evidently quick with the pencil. LOL

          • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

            …in such a fashion, people abruptly leave.

          • penguin2

            There is an old saying. “Do onto others as you would have them do unto you.” You are following the version “do onto others before you would have them do unto you.

          • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

            why not…everything else is his fault…

          • Tbone

            Who is this smuck and how did I get on his bad side without even trying?

          • Aaron Gardner

            And this cat hates both of us…;^)

          • Tbone

            Like a smooth stone sent skimming over the surface of a still pond you skim the surface of political acumen and all I do just count the skips.

          • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

            …now I will be left to ponder…

          • Aaron Gardner

            What you see as a lack of depth is no such thing, I have just come to a different conclusion on Palin’s future. My view of Palin on conservatism hasn’t changed, only my view on what she intends to do with her talents in conservatism..

            You may be correct and she may end up being the next President, but there is also that possibility that you will be wrong.

            My whole point being that I follow conservatism, not any one conservative.

          • Tbone

            “there is also that possibility that you will be wrong.”

            As for lack of depth, I’ve seen shine on a bald head deeper than your stuff.

          • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

            and since it is MY DIARY — YES I have a right to tell you to stop!

          • Tbone

            so I didn’t know who wrote it and, consequently, notice that Aaron had threadjacked it. I go back up and give a once over. I’m sure it’s reasonably good.

          • Aaron Gardner
          • Tbone

            I’ll make sure Aaron doesn’t threadjack your next one.

          • Aaron Gardner

            It is a shame really because I agree with you on most subjects.

          • Doc Holliday

            tbone is only a trouble maker, that is his r’aison detre here. He is living on borrowed time because he has been here so long and because he throws a compliment or two around to directors/old timers when he knows he has gone too far. Actually this is fairly standard deep cover troll practice, people should not fall for it….but they do.

          • Doc Holliday

            and I wont put an accent circonflexe above the E because I really don’t care enough to go all Frenchy.

          • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

            just curious….are you two married? I mean to each other, of course…

          • janis

            up by the same matchmaking outfit that put Gamecock and Becker together—- eSteelCageDeathMatch

          • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

            that matched me up with my ex-wife…

          • janis

            that asked 628 questions whose answers guaranteed that you and your beloved would not agree on whether the sun rose in the east and set in the west?

            Love is a many splintered thing.

          • http://andrightlyso.com/ civil_truth

            …especially when couples will have to go out together in the winter under cover of darkness, foraging for trees to chop down and drag back home to heat their houses under Cap and Trade and its sucessors.

            Love is a many splintered thing

          • janis

            work along the lines of the dentures that George Washington is said to have suffered wearing, but your interpretation works just as well. As does the mental image of living under a bridge somewhere and having only old wooden pallets to construct a shelter.

            So there you go, we’ve covered the effects of Health Care Reform, Cap and Trade and the mortgage industry! We are nothing if not efficient.

          • Justin_Case

            I’m guessing that, under cap and trade, those of us who do burn wood will be taxed for having a wood stove. Much like the charcoal grills in The Netherlands. Or is it Belgium?

            I guess I thread jacked the thread jack. Sorry.

          • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

            question…

            ….trust was always an issue.

          • janis

            to trip up many a relationship’s success. Most people think that if you answer “Yes” then you are agreeing to the use of these items. Unfortunately, the way the question is worded means that a “Yes” answer is giving your permission to have those used ON you.

            As to trust being an issue, isn’t it always?

          • Tbone

            If I ever need to get rid of my Aaron I have written guarantee from CompoundW and I’ll let “Judy” Holliday apply it in that he is back down there anyway.

            But for now there is no better plaything than someone who is richly earnest and totally humorless.

          • Aaron Gardner
          • Tbone

            That is just a lame retort. You need to write something clever. No, that ain’t going to happen. OK, maybe you need to go find something clever you can copy and paste. Nope, we would lose you forever. Perhaps you could hire someone to write something clever. Yep, that’s it, hire someone who is clever.

            How much are you willing to pay and what is your login?

          • Aaron Gardner

            I thought it was comedic gold.

          • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

            That’s a bad reason to sign up for this site.

            So stop doing it. Thanks in advance.

          • DONTREADONME

            partly my fault for egging this alexandriatulips on, I will stop it and I am sorry for not following site rules.

          • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

            NT

          • DONTREADONME
          • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

            Which itself is a slang term for “don’t worry about it.” :)

          • DONTREADONME

            a point on this chick. Yeah, I know I started it, but wow, the direct cut in on Aaron today was a little bit peculiar. Anyway, after watching what I knew she was going to do, I think I pretty much proved my point. attillawolips not quite here to add anything. All she wants to do is annoy people, as evidenced by the one day stink up of the board.

            Plus getting the last word in seems to be the only thing she wants.

            Seriously, thanks david, when I get like this bang me in the head like you just did to get me out of the stalk & stupid mode. Thanks.

            now snark/ wait did I miss a period, comma, forget to capitalize or something? I guess that is why I have an editor that goes over my work before I am PUBLISHED. /end snark

          • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

            how do you know that attilatwolips is a chick?

            I always have problems with new faces screen names… I mean, Amy is an easy one… and Janis… but what in the writings of this one suggests femininity?

            Or were you going more with the female of the species being the more deadly meme?

          • Aaron Gardner
          • DONTREADONME

            usually the English and grammar sticklers tend to be female and the tulips deal. I know I am a dude and appreciate my tulips, but I would never use that in my username.

          • Tbone

            Don’t Read on Me means or what is a Don Trea Dome

          • discerningconservative

            DontTreadOnMyTulips…. has a nice ring to it.

          • DONTREADONME

            remember how the Government started looking into everyones files after that, well that is how DTOM turned into DROM. Anyway, I like don’t tread on the tulips better.

          • penguin2

            Don’t Tread On Me. One of the Revolutionaries early flags and slogans. It has been out in the public eye recently…

          • DONTREADONME

            but I thought it to be rather clever at the time when I signed up to use it as DONTREADONME because of what they did to Joe the Plumber. Plus look at this DONTTREADONM there is just something a little less symmetrical about that. Notice that there are two T’s together and the word is 13 letters instead of DONTREADONME that has 12, that was really annoying to pattern guy. Call me Monk.

          • nessa

            Benjamin Franklin, who once called the Bald Eagle “a bird of bad moral character” drew the first American Political Cartoon, the commonly seen image of a snake cut into thirteen parts with the slogan below stating “Join or die”. This was urging unity between the colonies during the French and Indian Wars. The snake image stuck in colonists minds, eventually becoming a rattlesnake. In 1775 the first five companys of American Marines were formed in Pennsylvania. When they marched off to duty their drums were painted yellow skins with the image of a coiled rattlesnake and the words “Don’t Tread On Me” below them.

            In December 1775, “An American Guesser” anonymously wrote to the Pennsylvania Journal:

            “I observed on one of the drums belonging to the marines now raising, there was painted a Rattle-Snake, with this modest motto under it, ‘Don’t tread on me.’ As I know it is the custom to have some device on the arms of every country, I supposed this may have been intended for the arms of America.”

            This anonymous writer, having “nothing to do with public affairs” and “in order to divert an idle hour,” speculated on why a snake might be chosen as a symbol for America.

            First, it occurred to him that “the Rattle-Snake is found in no other quarter of the world besides America.”

            The rattlesnake also has sharp eyes, and “may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance.” Furthermore,

            “She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage. … she never wounds ’till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her.”

            Finally,

            “I confess I was wholly at a loss what to make of the rattles, ’till I went back and counted them and found them just thirteen, exactly the number of the Colonies united in America; and I recollected too that this was the only part of the Snake which increased in numbers. …

            “‘Tis curious and amazing to observe how distinct and independent of each other the rattles of this animal are, and yet how firmly they are united together, so as never to be separated but by breaking them to pieces. One of those rattles singly, is incapable of producing sound, but the ringing of thirteen together, is sufficient to alarm the boldest man living.”

            Many scholars now agree that this “American Guesser” was Benjamin Franklin.

            COL Gadsden, a South Corolinian, helped to outfit the Marines and the Navy and as his men prepared to sail on their first mission, to capture two shiploads of cannon sailing to supply British Forces in America, he presented a personal standard to Essek Hopkins, the first Commander in Cheif of the US Navy. The CinC is authorized a personal standard. It is very likely that John Paul Jones, the first mate on the Commodore’s flagship, ran the first Gadsden Flag up the mast. That Gadsden Flag eventually morphed into the current union Jack flown on Navy Ships and worn on the sleeves of their uniforms to this day. An outstretched rattlesnake crawling across thirteen alternating red and white stripes, with the motto, Don’t Tread On Me below it.

            The Gadsden Flag was also pictured in the recent DHS published warning about “home grown, right wing extremists” according to Janet and her experts at DHS it is a common symbol used by militias and other members of the VRWC.

            Upon reading this I immediately bought enough stickers to adorn all my vehicles and a 3×5 to fly below the “Grand Old Flag” in front of my house. I’m hoping that by making it easier to track my movements and locations there might be a few more DHS agents to track some real terrorists or man-made disaster makers or whatever we’re supposed to call them now. They made it obvious they aren’t real smart, I figured they need all the help they can get.

          • penguin2

            And it does indeed have a significant history. People at the Tea parties have been showing the flag.

            You made me laugh. I guess we’ll be making it easy for the DHS to identify us. In fact, they’ll just go around and target the cars with flag decals, bumper stickers and houses with the American flag. Shouldn’t be too hard to see us, seem to be so few today displaying their patriotism.

          • DONTREADONME

            I am extremely fond of the Gadsden Flag as well as the Navy Jack which displays the “Don’t Tread On Me” of an uncoiled rattlesnake crossing the thirteen red and white stripes. Plus the flag of the Culpepper Minutemen also adorned the black rattlesnake across a white background with DTOM and the motto liberty or death.

            I have from my youth always have had the desire to see the Gadsden Flag be the flag of this nation because of the meaning behind the rattlesnake, it warns prior to striking by rattling and the rest of the attitudes of the snake were readily recanted in your description. That flag would stand to instill more of an understanding in Americans what this country is and what it should remain to be. As much as I love the Stars Spangled Banner, Old Glory and the Stars and Stripes, yes they are all different flags, the message of that flag is lost on the masses; however, the Gadsden Flag is a ready symbol of what this country is and what it should be, and especially in regards to the overpowering of the people by a tyrannical Central Government. We warn our Government when they are about to overstep their bounds as directed in the constitution symbolized by the rattle of the snake, our vote; however, the last resort of that snake is to strike which would not have to do if the oppressor had not overstepped its bounds. Of course as you pointed out Nessa, it stands to have quite the powerful message to our foreign enemies as well.

          • penguin2

            I guess I associated “kitty” with female. But not our BooBoo.

            And tulips-well…flowers=female.

            And who would go for TinyTim “Tiptoe Through the Tulips”

          • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

            but he did some writing on our first HinzSight Report site, and I quickly realized my mistake.

            good guy

  • hunter

    Yes, we have.
    And we are in for a world of hurt.

  • http://www.scottbomb.com scottbomb

    In some places, the Constitution was written with rather broad, vague language. I wish they had been more specific in their prohibitions. Politicians and judges have exploited this loophole to the point where the 10th amendment is mostly ignored.

    • alexandriatulips

      even if it had been more specific, the way that liberal judges tend to reason.

    • eburke

      can you be than “The powers not specificially delegated to the federal government are hereby reserved to the states”

      Maybe if they would’ve written these thoughts into a pneumbra or an ‘unenumerated right’ the left would be able to find them.

    • Menlo

      The trouble came with the fourteenth amendment. It was worded by someone as dumb as a bucket of rocks with the shortsightendness and wisdom of a two-year-old.

  • $peciallist

    to any dude that picked ‘alexandriatulips’ as a name…so he better just continue acting like a girl…

    and Boobookitty ..he sounds like a tough guy…I aint messin with him

    • Aaron Gardner
      • $peciallist

        I don’t want to end up on the 11th little blue line….I’m superstitious that way

  • avgamerican

    Taxation for whatever the government wants to impose.
    Moral overide of the will of the people without check.
    Interference by the government on just about everything from religion to commerce. Basically the only thing left is the formal nullification of the Bill of Rights and the suspension of term limits.

  • DONTREADONME

    is that I never get tired of ready about the realizations of the founding fathers. I wonder to myself, how is it that the people around me have fallen for those low expectations. It also bewilders me that people could be ready to accept a menial existence of survival as opposed to living, I most surely haven’t and I do not believe you have either, David.

    I guess we have to continue to remind our countrymen of what those “old white men” (wise) said over 200 years ago. Sad state of affairs when the majority of those in this country fail to even remember that this system dies when the American public realizes it can vote itself perks from the public coffer. Lastly, I have some faith that the majority of Americans still have not bought 100% into the voting themselves kick backs from the nanny state dole, and I have faith that what was sold to them was a matchstick-man that thought he could pull one over on his American marks, and they will wake up before all is lost.

    • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

      the more you realize the brilliance of what it was that they created. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are two of the most remarkable documents ever penned.

      • DONTREADONME

        That is why people like yourself have to keep writing documents like these over and over again.

        Indeed their documents were rare and remarkable, it is a shame that most of the writings and speeches of the signers, outside of these two documents, are unknown to the general public. Knowledge of these writings and speeches provides even more evidence of their brilliance as well as providing context and presenting the obvious meaning of those few succinct written words.

        BTW, sorry about threadjacking all over your good piece of work. Just slap me next time I do it, because I really should know better.

        • nessa

          In all the history of mankind, oral and written, the first time it was recognized that a people’s rights were inalienable because they were derived from their Creator, NOT their King was our Declaration of Independence. It is amazing. To think that of all the random possibilities, we had the opportunity to grow up and live in this Country, when it as easily could have randomly been any other, what a glorious stroke of luck!

          The next thought that invariably follows in my mind is that a few months ago a Teacher in this Country was not allowed to teach his High School class about these documents because they contain references to a Creator. My thoughts turn maudlin and just spiral down from there, I want my children to have the opportunity to live as I have, free, by my wits and abilities. I’ve risked it all on a chance of glorious success, occasionally to fail just as gloriously. But that was my decision, my responsibility and I could dust my stupid a** off and make another choice.

          I’ve seen life in a fair portion of the crappiest places on earth, and that is where we are headed now. There were old men in those crappy places who seemed to have lived their lives under a grindstone, hopeless, stooped men, old before their time, who looked out at the world with dull eyes, without a glint of spirit or glimmer of hope. Like the grindstone had inexorably worn them down, no matter what today looked like they knew tomorrow they would be back under the grindstone again. No matter how good it might seem, sooner or later someone would come and beat them down, again, and all the good would be taken away, again. They didn’t have the strength remaining to fight it, they barely had the ability to endure it. Their dull eyed, weathered faces will be American faces a generation or two down the road, if we can’t stop the socialists, statists, facists, what ever you want to call them.

          Ok, I’m way too depressing to post here anymore tonight. I’m going to sleep. Thanks for the great conversations and entertainment today!

          • DONTREADONME

            you are very capable writer and a number of gems that you have put together belong in a greater diary not in the comment section. Good stuff, man. If you do not do it, I might have to start posting your stuff in a diary and just giving you credit. Too many people miss these good tidbits except for us hardcore comment readers as well as the author of this diary. Take a note from David, get that stuff up there for all to see. Don’t worry we will stop by to comment on your diaries. Anyway, that is just a suggestion.

          • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

            yeah — if you don’t start putting your stuff into diaries I’m going to start stealing it and passing it off as my own…

            …not that what I write is nearly as good as what you write.

            I could literally see the despair on those weathered faces…the hopelessness…I saw those faces myself, in Venezuela and Brazil years ago…

            …those images stay with you…your writing is powerful, and needs to be read.

          • Aaron Gardner

            you need to be writing diaries….great stuff.

      • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine
    • http://www.scottbomb.com scottbomb

      I just finished two college gov’t classes and although the textbooks spoke about the Constitution at length (chock full of the liberal opinions of the authors), nowhere was the Constitution itself even printed. How do you publish a college text called “American Government” without including the Constitution?!

  • izoneguy

    They don’t want you to have inalienable rights. They only want you to have what they give you. Unless you want to become hopeless, stooped men, old before their time, who look out at the world with dull eyes, without a glint of spirit or glimmer of hope – then it’s time now to stand up and fight like there will not be another election.

  • izoneguy

    Picture of a Honduran protester with a fearless message for the world.
    His sign reads: ?We don?t have oil. We don?t have dollars. But we have balls!?

  • Doc Holliday

    to retain our freedoms. I am not talking about Red Stater’s, I am speaking of our troops in harms way. The problem, as you well know, is that group; the tip of the spear, is smaller than ever. Our nation has never been so divorced from those who fight. The line about how so few sacrifice so much for so many has never been more meaningful than it is today.

    In the United States of Entertainment, most people have no knowledge of honor, no time for history, and have no reason to reflect on their rights. When our Founders spoke of rights, they meant freedom from tyranny. Today the average joe thinks of the rights to free health care, the rights of equal outcomes, and the rights to take away from those who strive.

    On a day when Fox News proved that it is banal on everything other than conservative politics, we realize that we really have no MSM outlet to support the ideas of the Founders. It shows we must work even harder and find new ways to circumvent the rot created by the Worst Generation.

    • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

      as a diary.

      Expand on this and post it…

      • nessa

        OK, OK, you had to tell me twice, sorry. I’ll get the Nostradamus thing polished up by COB on Sunday and start organizing my thoughts on the hopelessness and despair thing for posting as well.