Ok, this is just a short entry.  Just enough to get some thoughts going, hopefully.

Our forefathers were brilliant.  They didn’t always get along, but they were brilliant.  They didn’t always get it right, but they saw that the articles of Confederation were too weak to be effective, and created the Constitution.  They knew that wasn’t perfect, but created a way to amend the Constitution.  In that regard, it can be seen as a living document, meaning having a means of change to adapt to what society wants over time.  It is NOT a living document in the sense that it can be reinterpreted over time and twisted to fit whatever agenda is being pursued without going through the appropriate formal amendment process.

Our forefathers knew that true government does NOT start at the top and filter down.  It was meant to be a local level event.  All the hammering out of legislation, true management, was to occur at the local level.  I am talking city level.  Concerns that could not be worked out were brought to the county level.  If those concerns could not be addressed at the county level, they were brought to the state level.  If the state could not work it out, they were brought to the national level.  The whole idea was to work things out at a local level, leaving the national government to work on things of national importance.  Those things were the items listed in Article 1, Section 8.

It is a beautiful construct, when you take an objective look at it.  The construct did not demand a top-down approach.  A top-down approach is tantamount to micromanagement.  Ever have a supervisor that was a micromanager?  Didn’t make for a good working environment, did it.  That is what we have now.  A federal government that manages every aspect of YOUR lives.  Don’t believe me?  Go ahead dig a pool in your back yard and let me know how that works for you.  Go ahead and put in a toilet that would actually FLUSH and report back.  Try to find a 100 watt incandescent in 12 months that isn’t on the black market and say that government isn’t in your chili.  You can’t.  Government today is all about controlling YOU.  Controlling US.  But that may come to an end, once enough people get sick of it.

Here is a quote from the Declaration of Independence:  “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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

One of the key phrases is this, “…mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable…”  What does this mean?  I take it to mean that we are willing to suffer under tyranny as long as we think it is endurable.  As long as we can afford a place to live, a car and food, we will accept high taxes.  As long as they aren’t targeting us, checkpoints of any kind are endurable.  TSA grabbing your crotch is endurable, because they are providing the false sense of security people desire.  Government has NOT yet stepped so far over its bounds that we are willing to break these chains of bondage.  It has been a delicate balance of increasing control without us realizing the controls were increasing.

We USED to be taught the Constitution in School.  Taught the history of the founding.  I have no idea what is being taught now, but I would bet it is a far cry from what was being taught 20 years ago.

Politics was never a clean endeavor.  It was always dirty.  But if you were to read the recorded Presidential Debates from a century ago, you will find that the politics of the past were better worded, and generally stayed on point.  Now, it is nothing but class warfare and derision.  The blame game is getting old, but still being played.  Nothing of substance is coming out of the left, and only marginally coming out of the right.  Our current government, with few exceptions, are ALL pursuing the progressive agenda.  The R and the D don’t matter any more, as the majority of politicians have nothing more in mind than strengthening the power of the national government.  Why do I say this?  Because nowhere in the Constitution does it say to compromise to make the country work.  The Constitution is the framework, and we are to build upon it, not away from it.

Folks, dig into your history.  You will find that the Federalists had a lot more in common with you than you may think.  Even some of the Anti-Federalists had a lot in common with you.  We all know deep in our hearts that the direction the country is going isn’t right.  The problem is, the true problems are more monumental than we can fathom.  There is no one single cause, just a bunch of events that have led us to where we are.

Just remember, our Forefathers had insight.  Human nature is predictable.  We moved in the direction the founders were trying to move away from.  Now it is up to us to make sure our kids know the direction we were supposed to be moving in.

That is all for now.  Shadow out.