Editor’s Note: My relationship with the Author goes back for nearly two decades and in fact, Kettle Moraine, Ltd. published two books for Neal. So, “Why” might you ask are we republishing an article that was written back in 2008? Because it fits – TODAY!
Wake up America – it is past time to roll up your sleeves. We have been telling you about these things since before the turn of the century! ~ Editor
September 04, 2008 ~ Imagine someone you know who lost a loved one in a tragic accident. Imagine that this person found out that there loved one had gone into a river and had been washed away by the current to drown. Then imagine that there had been some rafters aimlessly drifting down the river who could have helped, but they were too involved in having a good time to pay any attention.
That is about how I feel right now with the state of affairs in our country. It is rapidly on course to implode and people are too worried about their own little lives to take the time to pay attention to what is really going on.
I have lost faith in the majority of my fellow countrymen to do what is needed to change the course of this, once mighty, nation, to return us on a path to liberty and prosperity.
I remember being one of the mindless zombies that lived their daily lives, oblivious to what was happening around me. That all changed in the early 90’s when I began writing letters to my elected officials concerning gun control. Guns had always been a big part of my life growing up and I was concerned about all the laws that were being passed to restrict the rights of gun owners.
I remember how happy I felt when I would receive a letter from my Congressman in reply to my letter to them. Yet the new gun laws kept coming. How naive I was to think that they actually cared what I had to say!
The next issue I began to be concerned about was illegal immigration. I added that issue to my list of subjects to discuss with my elected officials. Again I got polite letters in return and thought that they actually read them. Again, how wrong I was as the problem with illegal immigration kept getting worse.
About this time I began devoting time to researching these issues in depth to find out why these things were happening. What I discovered rocked my world! I realized that those who have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution and preserve and defend our nation had been selling us down the river. The news media, who up until this point I had trusted to tell me the truth, had been withholding this information from me.
That was my epiphany, or awakening to the severity of the problems this country faces. I began studying the Constitution in earnest. I gathered quotes by the founders and researched Supreme Court rulings on the issues.
There is a huge, conspiracy if you wish to call it that, to bring about the downfall of the United States of America. Believe it or not, but the truth exists. I would not have believed it twenty years ago myself, but I am willing to examine the facts for myself and make my own decisions based upon those facts. Far too many Americans are unwilling to even examine the facts, they blindly follow along, thinking that they are making a difference when they vote and write their letters to their elected officials, as I once did.
What is needed is a complete enema of our political system to flush out all the corruption, to be replaced by people who understand and are willing to support the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, as they were intended.
That is when I began writing my commentaries, and each day I learned more. I have also been told that my writing style has improved dramatically, and that I am among the top tier of those who write to save our nation. Of that I am not so certain. If that were the case more people would be listening to what I have to say and our nation would not be continuing on the path it is.
I heard awhile back that someone had said, in response to an article I wrote, that “they hate when someone quotes the founding fathers when it comes to our government.” I was dumbfounded that anyone could be so obtuse.
First off, if it weren’t for our founding fathers we would not have a Constitution, they wrote it after all. Next off, if we did not have a Constitution, we would not have the government as it is formatted today. So how can anyone say that the thoughts of the founding fathers are irrelevant? To say so only shows a depth of ignorance that is the true cause of all the problems this country faces.
If people would read the thoughts of the founders and then compare them to how our government exists today they would realize that something is amiss. Allow me to give you just a few examples of how wise our founders were, and how we would be just as wise to heed their words.
Political parties have divided this country so badly that the chasm that exists between Republicans and Democrats is impossible to overcome. What did our founders say about political parties?
George Washington had this to say, “However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”
Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence was even more firm in his opposition, and said the following, “I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to Heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.”
These two founders both thought that political parties were something to be avoided, yet the people of this country are divided along political lines. I would like to ask those who belong to either of the political parties a simple question. Has anything truly been that much better for you, or for our country, when your party has been in power? Could it possibly be that both parties are beholden to their own cadre of special interest groups whose interests have nothing in common with the welfare of the nation? If that is the case, why do you still continue to support them and vote for their candidates? When you vote for the lesser of two evils, you are still voting for evil. Evil is not what this country needs.
Speaking of evil, what did our founders have to say about that subject? Again, I would like to quote George Washington, “I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an Honest Man.”
Thomas Jefferson had this to say, “I never did, or countenanced, in public life, a single act inconsistent with the strictest good faith; having never believed there was one code of morality for a public, and another for a private man.”
John Adams, our third President had this to say, “Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People in a greater Measure than they have it now, they may change their rulers and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty.”
Now I would like to present a series of quotes about what our founders felt was the function of government.
George Washington said, “The power under the constitution will always be in the people. It is intrusted for certain defined purposes, and for a certain limited period, to representatives of their own choosing; and, whenever it is executed contrary to their interest, or not agreeable to their wishes, their servants can and undoubtedly will be recalled.”
Thomas Jefferson made the following two statements regarding government, “The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits.”
“Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.”
Finally, James Madison said, “[T]he powers of the federal government are enumerated; it can only operate in certain cases; it has legislative powers on defined and limited objects, beyond which it cannot extend its jurisdiction.”
These men are the same who deliberated in Philadelphia over the structure and powers that would be granted our government. They came to an agreement and that agreement is contained within the Constitution. Each person holding office takes an oath to uphold it and we, as citizens, owe our founders to at least be familiar with what it says.
If we would put aside our own personal interests, the interests of our individual political party, and read the Constitution and what it says our government can and cannot do, we might have a different perspective upon the candidates who seek office. We may also take a different look at the laws that are passed, often with our best interests in mind, or in our desire for action in response to an event that we feel our government should act upon.
Finally, I would like to ask you to look at the legislation our government has passed since September 11th to protect us from future terrorist attacks. Then I would like for you to read the following quotes by James Madison. Think about what these quotes say, and then ask yourself two things. First, ask yourself if the government has the power to enact these laws, then ask yourself if these laws are truly in our best interests.
* “I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
* “If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.”
* “It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.”
In concluding, there is one last quote from Madison I would like for you to consider when it comes to people like myself who constantly write about the abuses of power by our government.
“As the cool and deliberate sense of the community ought, in all governments, and actually will, in all free governments, ultimately prevail over the views of its rulers; so there are particular moments in public affairs when the people, stimulated by some irregular passion, or some illicit advantage, or misled by the artful misrepresentations of interested men, may call for measures which they themselves will afterwards be the most ready to lament and condemn. In these critical moments, how salutary will be the interference of some temperate and respectable body of citizens, in order to check the misguided career, and to suspend the blow meditated by the people against themselves, until reason, justice, and truth can regain their authority over the public mind?”
When I write my commentaries, I gain nothing from them. I am not paid to do so, nor am I supported or subsidized by any group. I do so out of love for my country. I feel that we are on the verge of losing our liberties, and our sovereignty if more people do not wake up and begin to question the things that our government is doing.
If we are to survive there must be a complete, and total, cleansing of the scum that hold office. The ties to the special interests that are destroying this nation must be broken, to leave one single incumbent in office who is beholden to special interest groups is to allow them to retain some semblance of control over the acts of our government.
It may be too late, but if there is still a chance, this is a hail Mary attempt to talk some common sense into the people of this country, to do what is needed to save it from itself…
But, as the title says, I have little faith that will happen.
October 5, 2024
~ The Author ~
Neal Ross, Student of history, politics, patriot and staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment. Send all comments to: [email protected].
Life continues to expand for this prolific writer and guardian of TRUE American history.