Drain the Swamp
The fate of America rests in the hands of everyday Americans.
The Ruling Class is Ruining America
“A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within,” wrote historian Will Durant in Caesar and Christ: A History of Roman Civilization and of Christianity from Their Beginnings to A.D. 325 (1944), 665.
For the foreseeable future, American politics will consist of confrontation between We the People and the Ruling Class – the bipartisan political elites who run America. The political establishments of the two major parties promote a progressive, big government agenda that does not represent the interests of the majority of Americans, who value self-government and constitutional freedom. The Ruling Class is powerful, pervasive, and driven. “America’s ruling class speaks the language and has the tastes, habits, and tools of bureaucrats,” writes Angelo M. Codevilla, professor emeritus of international relations at Boston University. The majority of Americans believe that the Ruling Class is demeaning, impoverishing, and demoralizing America.
For example, Ruling Class politicians, rather than representing the American electorate, are replacing the American electorate, by bringing people into America who support the welfare state or the demise of our constitutional system of law.
A U.S. Department of Homeland Security report labels American citizens who are pro-life or who favor legal immigration or decentralized government as rightwing extremists and potential terrorists (Rightwing Extremism, April 7, 2009, 2).
Each child in America has a tax bill of $61,539 to pay for current obligations of more than $20 trillion in government debt, according to the World Economic Forum – before student loans. “[W]e have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work…I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started…And an enormous debt to boot!” said Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration (Henry Morgenthau Diary, May 9, 1939). “[W]e must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt,” wrote Thomas Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Samuel Kercheval, July 12, 1816).
Bureaucrats regulate and tax nearly every aspect of life, such as lightbulbs, toilets, showers, soft drinks, health insurance, banking, homebuilding, farming, manufacturing, energy, and opening and operating a business.
The annual Index of Economic Freedom, published as a project by The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation, ranks 186 countries by economic freedom. The United States dropped to 18th in 2018, its lowest economic freedom ranking ever. The United States is no longer considered an economically “Free” country.
Owners of legal businesses are jailed or fined millions of dollars for violating bureaucratic environmental edicts.
The federal government’s violation of established bankruptcy law in the Chrysler bankruptcy is a profound challenge to the rule of law, writes Todd J. Zywicki, professor of law at George Mason University. Secured creditors, entitled to first priority, received reduced payments of their claims, while politically favored junior creditors received increased payments.
People expressing a politically incorrect opinion – a right protected by the First Amendment – are labeled racist, sexist, bigoted, homophobic, Islamophobic, or xenophobic, and deemed by the Left as guilty of “hate” speech, leading to intimidation and the loss of jobs and income.
Many of the 18 injuries and usurpations submitted in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, establishing an absolute tyranny, could cite current examples.
“The contempt for ordinary Americans displayed by the ruling class is reaching critical mass. There may never have been a time in American history when the governing, academic, cultural, and media elites have been more manifestly disdainful of the country’s values, traditions, principles, and people,” writes columnist Peter Kirsanow.
“It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government,” said President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, “Inaugural Address,” January 20, 1981).
“There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts,” said President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, “Farewell Address to the Nation,” January 11, 1989).
“[M]any Americans today, just as they did 200 years ago, feel burdened, stifled and sometimes even oppressed by government that has grown too large, too bureaucratic, too wasteful, too unresponsive, too uncaring about people and their problems,” said President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, A Vision for America Address, November 3, 1980).
“[O]nce government gets involved in providing extensive services for the public, politicians see that growth in government programs enables them to win elections. The more government does, the easier it is for Congressmen to do favors for voters and donors,” writes Thomas G. West, professor of politics at the University of Dallas (The Heritage Foundation, “The Progressive Movement and the Transformation of American Politics,” July 18, 2007).
Centralized, big government is a common thread of progressivism, redistribution, interventionism, modern liberalism, leftism, statism, fascism, globalism, socialism, and communism.
“We need some basic reforms that will protect us against government’s all too powerful tendency to grow and grow,” said President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, “Remarks at Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois,” February 6, 1984).
“A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within,” wrote historian Will Durant in Caesar and Christ: A History of Roman Civilization and of Christianity from Their Beginnings to A.D. 325 (1944), 665.
For the foreseeable future, American politics will consist of confrontation between We the People and the Ruling Class – the bipartisan political elites who run America. The political establishments of the two major parties promote a progressive, big government agenda that does not represent the interests of the majority of Americans, who value self-government and constitutional freedom. The Ruling Class is powerful, pervasive, and driven. “America’s ruling class speaks the language and has the tastes, habits, and tools of bureaucrats,” writes Angelo M. Codevilla, professor emeritus of international relations at Boston University. The majority of Americans believe that the Ruling Class is demeaning, impoverishing, and demoralizing America.
For example, Ruling Class politicians, rather than representing the American electorate, are replacing the American electorate, by bringing people into America who support the welfare state or the demise of our constitutional system of law.
A U.S. Department of Homeland Security report labels American citizens who are pro-life or who favor legal immigration or decentralized government as rightwing extremists and potential terrorists (Rightwing Extremism, April 7, 2009, 2).
Each child in America has a tax bill of $61,539 to pay for current obligations of more than $20 trillion in government debt, according to the World Economic Forum – before student loans. “[W]e have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work…I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started…And an enormous debt to boot!” said Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration (Henry Morgenthau Diary, May 9, 1939). “[W]e must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt,” wrote Thomas Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Samuel Kercheval, July 12, 1816).
Bureaucrats regulate and tax nearly every aspect of life, such as lightbulbs, toilets, showers, soft drinks, health insurance, banking, homebuilding, farming, manufacturing, energy, and opening and operating a business.
The annual Index of Economic Freedom, published as a project by The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation, ranks 186 countries by economic freedom. The United States dropped to 18th in 2018, its lowest economic freedom ranking ever. The United States is no longer considered an economically “Free” country.
Owners of legal businesses are jailed or fined millions of dollars for violating bureaucratic environmental edicts.
The federal government’s violation of established bankruptcy law in the Chrysler bankruptcy is a profound challenge to the rule of law, writes Todd J. Zywicki, professor of law at George Mason University. Secured creditors, entitled to first priority, received reduced payments of their claims, while politically favored junior creditors received increased payments.
People expressing a politically incorrect opinion – a right protected by the First Amendment – are labeled racist, sexist, bigoted, homophobic, Islamophobic, or xenophobic, and deemed by the Left as guilty of “hate” speech, leading to intimidation and the loss of jobs and income.
Many of the 18 injuries and usurpations submitted in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, establishing an absolute tyranny, could cite current examples.
“The contempt for ordinary Americans displayed by the ruling class is reaching critical mass. There may never have been a time in American history when the governing, academic, cultural, and media elites have been more manifestly disdainful of the country’s values, traditions, principles, and people,” writes columnist Peter Kirsanow.
“It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government,” said President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, “Inaugural Address,” January 20, 1981).
“There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts,” said President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, “Farewell Address to the Nation,” January 11, 1989).
“[M]any Americans today, just as they did 200 years ago, feel burdened, stifled and sometimes even oppressed by government that has grown too large, too bureaucratic, too wasteful, too unresponsive, too uncaring about people and their problems,” said President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, A Vision for America Address, November 3, 1980).
“[O]nce government gets involved in providing extensive services for the public, politicians see that growth in government programs enables them to win elections. The more government does, the easier it is for Congressmen to do favors for voters and donors,” writes Thomas G. West, professor of politics at the University of Dallas (The Heritage Foundation, “The Progressive Movement and the Transformation of American Politics,” July 18, 2007).
Centralized, big government is a common thread of progressivism, redistribution, interventionism, modern liberalism, leftism, statism, fascism, globalism, socialism, and communism.
“We need some basic reforms that will protect us against government’s all too powerful tendency to grow and grow,” said President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, “Remarks at Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois,” February 6, 1984).
The Mirage of Socialism
Theories of government ownership of property and government redistribution of income are presented as systems to end poverty by equalizing outcomes for people, as forms of egalitarianism. Yet, wherever these systems have been faithfully implemented, the outcomes for people are deeper poverty, starvation, oppression, and death. Socialism and redistribution appear promising in the theoretical distance, but, in reality, are cruel, painful mirages.
Socialism and redistribution leave people hopelessly impoverished and dependent upon government. While capitalist United States is the world’s largest exporter of food, socialist countries are invariably places of starvation. Socialist countries build walls, not to keep people out, but to keep people in. Communism was responsible for deaths of between 85 million and 100 million people in the 20th Century, according to The Black Book of Communism. Socialist leaders use control of food as an oppressive means to eradicate opposition.
For politicians, socialism offers a wonderfully deceitful means to acquire power and control.
The main cause of poverty in countries throughout the world is the lack of economic freedom embodied in policies these countries have imposed on themselves. The dire economic experiences of socialist states have proven the fallacy of collective ownership and economic central planning, including: Jamestown colony, Plymouth Colony, Soviet Union, East Germany, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela.
Wealth creation is reduced when coerced redistribution is imposed. Providing unearned benefits to people destroys their incentive to become productive and makes them dependent upon government. Likewise, taking increasing amounts from producers destroys their incentive to produce. Redistribution makes a country poorer. Economies that do not create wealth cannot improve the quality of life on any sustainable basis.
An adage says: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”
Theories of government ownership of property and government redistribution of income are presented as systems to end poverty by equalizing outcomes for people, as forms of egalitarianism. Yet, wherever these systems have been faithfully implemented, the outcomes for people are deeper poverty, starvation, oppression, and death. Socialism and redistribution appear promising in the theoretical distance, but, in reality, are cruel, painful mirages.
Socialism and redistribution leave people hopelessly impoverished and dependent upon government. While capitalist United States is the world’s largest exporter of food, socialist countries are invariably places of starvation. Socialist countries build walls, not to keep people out, but to keep people in. Communism was responsible for deaths of between 85 million and 100 million people in the 20th Century, according to The Black Book of Communism. Socialist leaders use control of food as an oppressive means to eradicate opposition.
For politicians, socialism offers a wonderfully deceitful means to acquire power and control.
The main cause of poverty in countries throughout the world is the lack of economic freedom embodied in policies these countries have imposed on themselves. The dire economic experiences of socialist states have proven the fallacy of collective ownership and economic central planning, including: Jamestown colony, Plymouth Colony, Soviet Union, East Germany, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela.
Wealth creation is reduced when coerced redistribution is imposed. Providing unearned benefits to people destroys their incentive to become productive and makes them dependent upon government. Likewise, taking increasing amounts from producers destroys their incentive to produce. Redistribution makes a country poorer. Economies that do not create wealth cannot improve the quality of life on any sustainable basis.
An adage says: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”
Poland’s Example of Restoring Liberty
The end of communist rule in Eastern Europe began in Poland in 1989. Poland provides an example of how the people of a nation can restore a free market economy from communism. Poland’s example is applicable for Americans seeking to restore a free market economy from progressivism, redistribution, interventionism, and leftism. The spark for the end of communist rule in Poland began in June 1979, with a reawakening of conscience and heritage.
The reawakening of a nation’s heritage can have a profound effect, which changes the course of human history. For example, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich and his wife, American businesswoman, author, and documentary film producer Callista Gingrich write, “George Weigel, biographer of John Paul II, describes it best: ‘During the Nine Days of June 1979, John Paul II gave back to his people their history, their culture, and their identity. In doing so, he gave Poles spiritual tools of resistance that Communism could not match.’” John Paul II’s historic nine-day pilgrimage to Poland created a revolution of conscience that transformed Poland and fundamentally reshaped the spiritual and political landscape of the 20th Century.
On June 2, 1979, one million Poles gathered around Victory Square for their very first Mass with their Polish Pope. During Pope John Paul II’s sermon, these Poles suddenly raised their voices in a single prayer, and sang three simple words: “We want God!” By the end of John Paul II’s pilgrimage, over one-third of Poland’s population – about thirteen million Poles – had seen him in person, while television and radio brought him to virtually all the rest. John Paul II had affirmed for them the things they believed, and had said for them the things they wanted to say, writes author Jeffrey Tranzillo. Lech Wałęsa, who subsequently co-founded and then led the Polish trade union Solidarity (unity) on September 17, 1980, which in turn affected the 1989 Polish election, confirmed John Paul II’s influence, saying: “The Holy Father, through his meetings, demonstrated how numerous we were. He told us not to be afraid.”
“Man achieves civilization…as a response to a challenge in a situation of special difficulty which rouses him to make a hitherto unprecedented effort,” wrote historian Arnold J. Toynbee in A Study of History.
The end of communist rule in Eastern Europe began in Poland in 1989. Poland provides an example of how the people of a nation can restore a free market economy from communism. Poland’s example is applicable for Americans seeking to restore a free market economy from progressivism, redistribution, interventionism, and leftism. The spark for the end of communist rule in Poland began in June 1979, with a reawakening of conscience and heritage.
The reawakening of a nation’s heritage can have a profound effect, which changes the course of human history. For example, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich and his wife, American businesswoman, author, and documentary film producer Callista Gingrich write, “George Weigel, biographer of John Paul II, describes it best: ‘During the Nine Days of June 1979, John Paul II gave back to his people their history, their culture, and their identity. In doing so, he gave Poles spiritual tools of resistance that Communism could not match.’” John Paul II’s historic nine-day pilgrimage to Poland created a revolution of conscience that transformed Poland and fundamentally reshaped the spiritual and political landscape of the 20th Century.
On June 2, 1979, one million Poles gathered around Victory Square for their very first Mass with their Polish Pope. During Pope John Paul II’s sermon, these Poles suddenly raised their voices in a single prayer, and sang three simple words: “We want God!” By the end of John Paul II’s pilgrimage, over one-third of Poland’s population – about thirteen million Poles – had seen him in person, while television and radio brought him to virtually all the rest. John Paul II had affirmed for them the things they believed, and had said for them the things they wanted to say, writes author Jeffrey Tranzillo. Lech Wałęsa, who subsequently co-founded and then led the Polish trade union Solidarity (unity) on September 17, 1980, which in turn affected the 1989 Polish election, confirmed John Paul II’s influence, saying: “The Holy Father, through his meetings, demonstrated how numerous we were. He told us not to be afraid.”
“Man achieves civilization…as a response to a challenge in a situation of special difficulty which rouses him to make a hitherto unprecedented effort,” wrote historian Arnold J. Toynbee in A Study of History.
America’s Heritage
The Mayflower landing at Plymouth Rock, and John Winthrop’s “city upon a hill” are part of the heritage of every American citizen. This is the American identity.
“I’ve always had a great affection for the words of John Winthrop, delivered to a small band of Pilgrims on the tiny ship Arabella off the coast of Massachusetts in 1630: ‘We shall be [as] a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world,’” said President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, Remarks at a Dinner Marking the 10th Anniversary of the Heritage Foundation, October 8, 1983).
The rise of individual liberty has given Western Civilization its great creative power and consequent wealth. The origin for this liberty is the understanding that each person possesses inherent human dignity and is endowed by the Creator with natural rights that no government may deny. The protection of these rights is embodied in the U.S. Constitution. The rule of law protects the free exercise of these rights.
America’s heritage unites Americans. “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken,” wrote Solomon in Ecclesiastes 4:12. Many quotations from America’s Founders are given below to present this heritage.
The Mayflower landing at Plymouth Rock, and John Winthrop’s “city upon a hill” are part of the heritage of every American citizen. This is the American identity.
“I’ve always had a great affection for the words of John Winthrop, delivered to a small band of Pilgrims on the tiny ship Arabella off the coast of Massachusetts in 1630: ‘We shall be [as] a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world,’” said President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, Remarks at a Dinner Marking the 10th Anniversary of the Heritage Foundation, October 8, 1983).
The rise of individual liberty has given Western Civilization its great creative power and consequent wealth. The origin for this liberty is the understanding that each person possesses inherent human dignity and is endowed by the Creator with natural rights that no government may deny. The protection of these rights is embodied in the U.S. Constitution. The rule of law protects the free exercise of these rights.
America’s heritage unites Americans. “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken,” wrote Solomon in Ecclesiastes 4:12. Many quotations from America’s Founders are given below to present this heritage.
Humble Acknowledgment of God
President Abraham Lincoln’s words are relevant today: “[I]t is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God…But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.” (Abraham Lincoln, “Proclamation – Appointing a Day of National Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer,” March 30, 1863).
“[I]t is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor,” stated President George Washington (George Washington, Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, October 3, 1789).
“We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political Building no better than the Builders of Babel,” said Benjamin Franklin (Benjamin Franklin, Speech to the Constitutional Convention, June 28, 1787).
“[I]t 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,” wrote John Adams (John Adams, Letter to Zabdiel Adams, June 21, 1776).
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports…Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert…Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle,” stated President George Washington (George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796).
“The great pillars of all government and of social life…[are] virtue, morality, and religion,” wrote Patrick Henry (Patrick Henry, Letter to Archibald Blair, January 8, 1799).
“[N]ational prosperity can neither be attained nor preserved without the favor of Providence,” said John Jay, first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (John Jay, Speech, January 6, 1796).
“Unless our material resources are supported by moral and spiritual resources, there is no foundation for progress,” said President Calvin Coolidge (Calvin Coolidge, Address to the Convention of the National Education Association, July 4, 1924).
President Abraham Lincoln’s words are relevant today: “[I]t is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God…But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.” (Abraham Lincoln, “Proclamation – Appointing a Day of National Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer,” March 30, 1863).
“[I]t is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor,” stated President George Washington (George Washington, Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, October 3, 1789).
“We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political Building no better than the Builders of Babel,” said Benjamin Franklin (Benjamin Franklin, Speech to the Constitutional Convention, June 28, 1787).
“[I]t 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,” wrote John Adams (John Adams, Letter to Zabdiel Adams, June 21, 1776).
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports…Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert…Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle,” stated President George Washington (George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796).
“The great pillars of all government and of social life…[are] virtue, morality, and religion,” wrote Patrick Henry (Patrick Henry, Letter to Archibald Blair, January 8, 1799).
“[N]ational prosperity can neither be attained nor preserved without the favor of Providence,” said John Jay, first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (John Jay, Speech, January 6, 1796).
“Unless our material resources are supported by moral and spiritual resources, there is no foundation for progress,” said President Calvin Coolidge (Calvin Coolidge, Address to the Convention of the National Education Association, July 4, 1924).
“Our Nation’s motto – ‘In God We Trust’ – was not chosen lightly. It reflects a basic recognition that there is a divine authority in the universe to which this nation owes homage. Throughout our history, Americans have put their faith in God, and no one can doubt that we have been blessed for it. The earliest settlers of this land came in search of religious freedom. Landing on a desolate shoreline, they established a spiritual foundation that has served us ever since,” stated President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, National Day of Prayer Proclamation, March 19, 1981).
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other,” wrote President John Adams (John Adams, Letter to the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts, October 11, 1798).
“No free Government can stand without virtue in the people, and a lofty spirit of patriotism; and if the sordid feelings of mere selfishness shall usurp the place which ought to be filled by public spirit, the legislation of Congress will soon be converted into a scramble for personal and sectional advantages,” stated President Andrew Jackson (Andrew Jackson, Farewell Address, March 4, 1837).
“You know, if we look back through history to all those great civilizations, those great nations that rose up to even world dominance and then deteriorated, declined, and fell, we find they all had one thing in common. One of the significant forerunners of their fall was their turning away from their God or gods. Without God, there is no virtue, because there’s no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we’re mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under,” said President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, Remarks at an Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast in Dallas, Texas, August 23, 1984).
“I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises. This results not only from the provision that no law shall be made respecting the establishment or free exercise of religion, but from that also which reserves to the states the powers not delegated to the United States,” wrote Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence (Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Rev. Samuel Miller, January 23, 1808).
“To those who cite the First Amendment as reason for excluding God from more and more of our institutions and everyday life, may I just say: The First Amendment of the Constitution was not written to protect the people of this country from religious values; it was written to protect religious values from government tyranny,” said President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, Address to the Alabama State Legislature, March 15, 1982).
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other,” wrote President John Adams (John Adams, Letter to the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts, October 11, 1798).
“No free Government can stand without virtue in the people, and a lofty spirit of patriotism; and if the sordid feelings of mere selfishness shall usurp the place which ought to be filled by public spirit, the legislation of Congress will soon be converted into a scramble for personal and sectional advantages,” stated President Andrew Jackson (Andrew Jackson, Farewell Address, March 4, 1837).
“You know, if we look back through history to all those great civilizations, those great nations that rose up to even world dominance and then deteriorated, declined, and fell, we find they all had one thing in common. One of the significant forerunners of their fall was their turning away from their God or gods. Without God, there is no virtue, because there’s no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we’re mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under,” said President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, Remarks at an Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast in Dallas, Texas, August 23, 1984).
“I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises. This results not only from the provision that no law shall be made respecting the establishment or free exercise of religion, but from that also which reserves to the states the powers not delegated to the United States,” wrote Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence (Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Rev. Samuel Miller, January 23, 1808).
“To those who cite the First Amendment as reason for excluding God from more and more of our institutions and everyday life, may I just say: The First Amendment of the Constitution was not written to protect the people of this country from religious values; it was written to protect religious values from government tyranny,” said President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, Address to the Alabama State Legislature, March 15, 1982).
America is Entrusted to the Hands of the American People
“The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the republican model of government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people,” said President George Washington (George Washington, First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789).
“Almost all the world’s constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which ‘We the people’ tell the government what it is allowed to do. ‘We the people’ are free,” said President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, Farewell Address to the Nation, January 11, 1989).
The Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states, “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.”
The Declaration of Independence states, “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.”
“The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the republican model of government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people,” said President George Washington (George Washington, First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789).
“Almost all the world’s constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which ‘We the people’ tell the government what it is allowed to do. ‘We the people’ are free,” said President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, Farewell Address to the Nation, January 11, 1989).
The Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states, “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.”
The Declaration of Independence states, “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.”
“Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories,” wrote Thomas Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1784).
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” wrote Lord Acton (Lord Acton, Letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, April 5, 1887).
“I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts,” said President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, Farewell Address to the Nation, January 11, 1989).
“It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error,” wrote U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson in American Communications Association v. Douds (1950).
“Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature,” stated James Garfield (James Garfield, Atlantic Monthly, A Century of Congress, July 1877).
“I believe the states can best govern our home concerns, the general government our foreign ones. I wish therefore to see maintained that wholsome [sic] distribution of powers established by the constitution for the limitation of both: & never to see all offices transferred to Washington, where further withdrawn from the eyes of the people, they may more secretly be bought and sold as at market,” wrote Thomas Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Judge William Johnson, June 12, 1823).
“Cherish, therefore, the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention…If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress, and Assemblies, Judges, and Governors, shall all become wolves,” wrote President Thomas Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Edward Carrington, January 16, 1787).
“It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance,” said John Philpot Curran (John Philpot Curran, “Speech upon the Right of Election for Lord Mayor of Dublin,” 1790).
“The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave,” said Patrick Henry (Patrick Henry, Speech before the House of Burgesses on March 23, 1775 at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia).
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” stated Edmund Burke.
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” wrote Lord Acton (Lord Acton, Letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, April 5, 1887).
“I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts,” said President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, Farewell Address to the Nation, January 11, 1989).
“It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error,” wrote U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson in American Communications Association v. Douds (1950).
“Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature,” stated James Garfield (James Garfield, Atlantic Monthly, A Century of Congress, July 1877).
“I believe the states can best govern our home concerns, the general government our foreign ones. I wish therefore to see maintained that wholsome [sic] distribution of powers established by the constitution for the limitation of both: & never to see all offices transferred to Washington, where further withdrawn from the eyes of the people, they may more secretly be bought and sold as at market,” wrote Thomas Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Judge William Johnson, June 12, 1823).
“Cherish, therefore, the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention…If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress, and Assemblies, Judges, and Governors, shall all become wolves,” wrote President Thomas Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Edward Carrington, January 16, 1787).
“It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance,” said John Philpot Curran (John Philpot Curran, “Speech upon the Right of Election for Lord Mayor of Dublin,” 1790).
“The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave,” said Patrick Henry (Patrick Henry, Speech before the House of Burgesses on March 23, 1775 at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia).
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” stated Edmund Burke.
Restoring Liberty and Draining the Swamp
Americans can begin draining the swamp by rediscovering America’s heritage and identity, and the principles that unite America. The reawakening of America’s heritage can have a profound effect, which can change the course of history.
“It is time for us to realize that we’re too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams,” stated President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, First Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981).
“I believe we can embark on a new age of reform in this country and an era of national renewal, an era that will reorder the relationship between citizen and government,” said Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, A Vision for America Address, November 3, 1980).
“My confidence is that there will for a long time be virtue and good sense enough in our countrymen to correct abuses,” wrote Thomas Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Edward Rutledge, July 18, 1788).
The progressive Ruling Class has been systematically extinguishing acknowledgment of both God and America’s Founders - America’s heritage - for the past 120 years because they know that this is the foundation that prevents them from sweeping into power and control through centralized big government, to make America the next Venezuela. America’s heritage is to revolt against being oppressed by a tyrannical ruling class. Because this heritage opposes the Ruling Class, they strive to erase it.
“Freedom is something that cannot be passed on genetically. It is never more than one generation away from extinction. Every generation has to learn how to protect and defend it,” said Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, “Whatever Happened to Free Enterprise?,” Imprimis, Hillsdale College, August 2004).
“Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us,” wrote Thomas Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms, 1775).
“The truth is, all might be free if they valued freedom, and defended it as they ought,” wrote Samuel Adams (The Boston Gazette, October 14, 1771).
“Trusting in God and helping one another, we can and will preserve the dream of America, the last best hope of man on earth,” said President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, Speech to the American Bar Association, August 1, 1983).
Americans can begin draining the swamp by rediscovering America’s heritage and identity, and the principles that unite America. The reawakening of America’s heritage can have a profound effect, which can change the course of history.
“It is time for us to realize that we’re too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams,” stated President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, First Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981).
“I believe we can embark on a new age of reform in this country and an era of national renewal, an era that will reorder the relationship between citizen and government,” said Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, A Vision for America Address, November 3, 1980).
“My confidence is that there will for a long time be virtue and good sense enough in our countrymen to correct abuses,” wrote Thomas Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Edward Rutledge, July 18, 1788).
The progressive Ruling Class has been systematically extinguishing acknowledgment of both God and America’s Founders - America’s heritage - for the past 120 years because they know that this is the foundation that prevents them from sweeping into power and control through centralized big government, to make America the next Venezuela. America’s heritage is to revolt against being oppressed by a tyrannical ruling class. Because this heritage opposes the Ruling Class, they strive to erase it.
“Freedom is something that cannot be passed on genetically. It is never more than one generation away from extinction. Every generation has to learn how to protect and defend it,” said Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, “Whatever Happened to Free Enterprise?,” Imprimis, Hillsdale College, August 2004).
“Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us,” wrote Thomas Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms, 1775).
“The truth is, all might be free if they valued freedom, and defended it as they ought,” wrote Samuel Adams (The Boston Gazette, October 14, 1771).
“Trusting in God and helping one another, we can and will preserve the dream of America, the last best hope of man on earth,” said President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, Speech to the American Bar Association, August 1, 1983).
When faced with the threat of tyrannical government, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said, “You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.” “[W]e shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender…” Those words are true for Americans today.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “We do not retreat. We are not content to stand still. As Americans, we go forward, in the service of our country, by the will of God.” Americans’ resolve to achieve liberty and victory over the progressive Ruling Class is a step to go forward.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “We do not retreat. We are not content to stand still. As Americans, we go forward, in the service of our country, by the will of God.” Americans’ resolve to achieve liberty and victory over the progressive Ruling Class is a step to go forward.
“All great change in America begins at the dinner table,” said President Ronald Reagan (Ronald Reagan, Farewell Address to the Nation, January 11, 1989).
Taking action can start by sharing one’s ideas with family, friends, and associates. Rediscover America’s heritage. Discuss the gravity of this struggle. Taking action to drain the swamp includes voting in elections – not for short-term, crony, or special interests or for mere personal gain, but for people who believe in free enterprise, constitutionally limited government, and acknowledgment of God. These people will replace the political, Ruling Class swamp.
Additional actions include: holding elected officials accountable by rewarding those who represent the American people and not crony or special interests with another term; contacting elected officials; expressing one’s views publicly; attending public meetings; expressing one’s views to the media; running for office; and supporting people and organizations who promote free enterprise, limited government, and religious liberty. Cooperate as a cord of three strands. Share one’s experience and confidence that America’s heritage produces the happiness that the culture seeks. Achieve victory and liberty. Live free!
_________________________________________
Bruce Colbert, AICP is executive director at the Property Owners Association of Riverside County, August 31, 2018.
Taking action can start by sharing one’s ideas with family, friends, and associates. Rediscover America’s heritage. Discuss the gravity of this struggle. Taking action to drain the swamp includes voting in elections – not for short-term, crony, or special interests or for mere personal gain, but for people who believe in free enterprise, constitutionally limited government, and acknowledgment of God. These people will replace the political, Ruling Class swamp.
Additional actions include: holding elected officials accountable by rewarding those who represent the American people and not crony or special interests with another term; contacting elected officials; expressing one’s views publicly; attending public meetings; expressing one’s views to the media; running for office; and supporting people and organizations who promote free enterprise, limited government, and religious liberty. Cooperate as a cord of three strands. Share one’s experience and confidence that America’s heritage produces the happiness that the culture seeks. Achieve victory and liberty. Live free!
_________________________________________
Bruce Colbert, AICP is executive director at the Property Owners Association of Riverside County, August 31, 2018.