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EPU’s Captain Obviousisms, Edition 1: Government Business, Not Government Business

By: E Pluribus Unum (Diary)  |  June 9th, 2010 at 06:05 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

I applaud the many brilliant minds that grace America. Good for you for thinking deep thoughts and expounding on complexities and nuances of this, that and the other. I think that is grand. But I also think that most of the truths that can guide us aright are right out there in the open.

I believe they are stunningly, astoundingly obvious. I bring them up because your average Democrat does not get them, and far too many Americans do not get them either [yes, I just said what you think I said, on purpose]. So without further fanfare:

EPU’s Captain Obviousisms, Edition 1

Government Business, Not Government Business

.
.

  • Secure the border — government business.
  • Mandate how much salt or fat is in my food — NOT government business.

  • Make America inspired by her friends and feared by her enemies — government business.
  • Control my health care decisions — NOT government business.
  • Facilitate the ability of Americans to make a living, create a business, and buy and sell as they please — government business.
  • Punish or reward companies and industries based on the political fashion of the day– NOT government business.
  • Protect the freedoms of every American with equal vigor — government business.
  • Control who I associate with politically on the internet — NOT government business.
  • Protect the ability of citizens to vote in fair elections, free of intimidation and fraud — government business.
  • Confiscate tax money from working Americans to bail out individuals, companies and industries that made short-sighted investment decisions — NOT government business.
  • Manage the recovery from epic-scale regional catastrophes — government business.
  • Dispense that assistance according to which political party is favored by the region — NOT government business.
  • Preserve a future that looks at least as good for our children as our present day is — government business.
  • Use taxpayer money to trade entitlements for political power — NOT government business.
  • Ensure that Americans are as free as possible to live lives without interference — government business.

See? Easy and fun. But here’s a hint. Look at the first words of some of these.

  • Not government business — Mandate, control, punish, confiscate, use.
  • Government business — Secure, facilitate, protect, manage, preserve, ensure.

Can you tell the difference?

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COMMENTS

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  • http://thesandsinstitute.org Vassar Bushmills

    Great list, EPU. Watch it grow in the next day or so.

    • janis

      They don’t have a clue what the true role of government is supposed to be. Obviously.

      • penguin2

        just in case they want us to back up the facts, then they’ll know it isn’t some nonsense the Republicans made up. Of course, the media elite think they can ignore facts and The Constitution. We’re letting them know differently.

  • danasdaddy

    would be to make the “government business” lines conservative red and the “NOT government business” lines liberal blue.

    Good job, EPU!

    • E Pluribus Unum

      But the clashing red and blue just made the page look loud and ugly. So I kept the liberal blue for the Commies.

  • penguin2

    Noting just the facts, sir, just the facts. Simply stated in a way that regular folks can get the big picture in a hurry.

  • http://hillbillypolitics.com Steph C

    I expect this list to grow longer… a whole lot longer.

  • http://www.theminorityreportblog.com/blog/loren_heal Socrates

    and formatting for emphasis:

    We hold these truths to be self-evident,

    • That all men are created equal,
    • That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
    • That among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
    • That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
    • That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness

    Restating: Governments are instituted among men to secure, among other rights, their Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness.

    They never promised us a rose garden, just the right to live freely and chase, however well, our heart’s desires.

    • http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com ColdWarrior

      Article I, Section 8, U.S. Constitution:

      The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

      To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

      To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

      To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

      To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

      To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

      To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

      To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

      To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

      To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

      To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

      To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

      To provide and maintain a Navy;

      To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

      To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

      To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

      To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;–And

      To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

      The Oath requirement of Article VI — only laws “in Pursuance therof” on one’s oath:

      This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

      The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

      The “unknown” Preamble to the Bill of Rights (bolding added):

      The Preamble to The Bill of Rights

      Congress of the United States
      begun and held at the City of New-York, on
      Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine.

      THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.

      Amendment IX:

      The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

      Amendment X:

      The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

      Source: http://archives.gov/exhibits/charters/charters_of_freedom_1.html

      For Liberty,
      ColdWarrior, PC (that?s ?precinct committeeman,? not ?political child!?)
      Conservatives, UNITE! CHANGE the Republican Party and save the world by UNITING INSIDE the Party as precinct committeemen. NOW! (146 days until Nov. 2 — what are YOU DOING to help get out the vote in your precinct?)

      • http://beaglescout.wordpress.com Beaglescout

        I added a longer version of this late comment to one of AndyD’s diaries about Bastiat.

        The Law is the mutual self defense pact entered into by all Law abiding people of a polity, to protect them from those who act outside the Law (outlaws and criminals) and from those who are outside their Law because they are part of another polity (aliens). Government has one role, and one role only: To be the mechanism by which the people enforce their Law against criminals and aliens. The only legitimate tasks for the government, when defined this strictly, are law enforcement and interactions with other political divisions (including war, border control, promotion of trade, and entering into or leaving treaties). The entire economic life of the division, other than commerce with other divisions, is the business of the people, and the government must have nothing to do with it.

        When the government tries to do any more than this minimal amount, it has to create an excuse and insert it into the Law. Every such insertion is a Perversion of the Law.

        And this is where we are now, in a land with the Law Perverted entirely.

        Does the government help us enforce our mutual self defense pact, or has it become the threat against which we need another mutual self-defense pact?

  • redneck_hippie

    1) Result in the expansion of government control
    2) Result in the expansion of freedom and independence for the people.

    With Obama, we seem to be stuck in the land of #1.

  • Flagstaff

    Protect citizens from enemies foreign and domestic, and facilitate and promote their liberty and personal freedom—government business.

    Expand the scope and power of government at the expense of the liberty and personal freedom of citizens, overstepping the limits imposed by the Constitution—NOT government business.