A republic, if you can keep it

I wrote this letter to a co-worker yesterday, and after thinking about it, decided to put it up here as well.

From November 4th through about January 20th, I felt a little depressed and quite worried that we were at the beginning of the end (I mean the end in a biblical-type sense). My reason for this worry was that the Democrats (& most Republicans, too), the mainstream media & seemingly most Americans had replaced God with the obamessiah. And with that feeling, there were two quotes that were always in the back of my mind (actually the Jefferson quote is framed & hanging in my house, which helps keep it in my mind):

“Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?”
Thomas Jefferson

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
John Adams

I have a deep respect for those men, so I can easily see the wisdom in those statements and agree. With the election of Obama, I feared that we as a nation had replaced our belief in the actual God with a belief in a false one. Speaking of the nation as a whole, it is clear that belief in God has fallen by the wayside. With so many people clamoring for the government to take the property of those who have lawfully acquired it and redistribute it to the “victims” of capitalism, our national morality is in question.

While this phenomenon continues - and continues to amaze and disgust me - it was quite literally on the afternoon of January 20th that I began to see signs - albeit small - that people were beginning to realize that what our government is attempting is wrong. The masses may not yet be able to explain what or why it is wrong, but I sense that many, in fact the majority of Americans, feel in their gut, their heart, their soul, that what is going on is wrong. Most Americans were educated in public schools, so they have likely never read the Declaration, the Constitution, writings or biographies of any of our founding fathers, the writing of people like Locke, Hume, Cicero, etc., and that’s why they can’t explain why this is wrong. But they know it at their core, and slowly but surely, they will be moved to find out why they feel it is wrong (that’s human nature). They will read those writings, they will be able to explain why these things are wrong. This is happening slowly now, but as time goes on, it will gain momentum, until it will become an overwhelming and unstoppable force. Because of this, liberty will prevail. As John Adams said, “The preservation of liberty depends upon the intellectual and moral character of the people. As long as knowledge and virtue are diffused generally among the body of a nation, it is impossible they should be enslaved.” While virtue, moral character and knowledge are lacking at a national level (how’s that for an understatement?), the speed with which our government is trying to get us to become socialists is already giving many Americans pause. We are just now slowly beginning to wake from a deep slumber and realize that we are lacking in knowledge. Many will then begin to seek knowledge. That new knowledge will be used to restore our national moral character (people will begin to apply principle 3 of Glenn Beck’s 9 principles), and we the people will then be ready to fight the malaise and fascism that emanates from Washington DC. This belief that the American people are not ready to go quietly into the night helps me to remain optimistic. Prior to the election & inauguration, I didn’t think that we had the desire to regain the knowledge and virtue our country once had. Since then, based on what I am seeing, I believe we do still have that resolve, it just needs to be focused.

The question is, how much damage will Obama and his ilk inflict upon America while Americans awake and ready themselves? I have a feeling that they will do much harm, but it will not end us. Calvin Coolidge said, “In its main features the Declaration of Independence is a great spiritual document. It is a declaration not of material but of spiritual conceptions. Equality, liberty, popular sovereignty, the rights of man; these are not elements which we can see and touch. They are ideals. They have their source and their roots in the religious convictions. They belong to the unseen world.” As people acquire that knowledge and those morals, they will hopefully - to a certain extent - gain at least an understanding, respect and appreciation for God. My belief is that God’s hand was directly involved in the creation of this country. America exists to fulfill a purpose for Him. So long as the people of this country will remember Him, He will help us, just as he helped us during the birth of this nation.

I don’t know exactly what the future holds, but I suspect that it will get worse before it gets better. The American people as a whole are not yet ready to stop being American. A revolution is coming. I hope and pray it will be peaceful, but there is no way to know anymore (one more founding quote from Thomas Paine. “If there must be trouble let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.”)

Now to be brutally honest, I do hope & pray for a peaceful resolution, but the more I think about it, the more I study, the more I am convinced that it will not be peaceful.  It scares me nearly to death to think what lies ahead.  Borrowing from Jefferson’s writing on Shays Rebellion, The Tree of Liberty will survive, but only after a healthy dose of its’ natural manure.  I believe this is why the latter part of the book of Alma, most of the book of Helaman, the historical writings offered by Mormon & Moroni and to a lesser extent, the record of the Jaredites were included in the Book of Mormon.  Those writings offer warning signs, as well as counsel on how to combat this evil that is now openly among us.  At some point we must heed the warning and act accordingly.  The widow in which we can act is rapidly closing.

The New Hampshire legislature is in the process of debating this resolution.  It is fairly short, and I recommend reading the entire document.  It is a resolution that serves to remind the federal government that they are limited in ther duties, and it spells out what will happen should the federal government continue to overstep it’s bound.  2 parts that really stood out were these:

That the Constitution of the United States, having delegated to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States, piracies, and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations, slavery, and no other crimes whatsoever; and it being true as a general principle, and one of the amendments to the Constitution having also declared, that “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,” therefore all acts of Congress which assume to create, define, or punish crimes, other than those so enumerated in the Constitution are altogether void, and of no force; and that the power to create, define, and punish such other crimes is reserved, and, of right, appertains solely and exclusively to the respective States, each within its own territory.

The Constitution is clear on what the government can & can’t do.  Especially Article 1, section 8, and Amendments 9 & 10.  

That the construction applied by the General Government (as is evidenced by sundry of their proceedings) to those parts of the Constitution of the United States which delegate to Congress a power “to lay and collect taxes, duties, imports, and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States,” and “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers vested by the Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof,” goes to the destruction of all limits prescribed to their power by the Constitution: that words meant by the instrument to be subsidiary only to the execution of limited powers, ought not to be so construed as themselves to give unlimited powers, nor a part to be so taken as to destroy the whole residue of that instrument: that the proceedings of the General Government under color of these articles, will be a fit and necessary subject of revisal and correction.

This is in line with what Jefferson and Madison thought.  In fact, this resolution is based on the Virginia and Kentucky Resolves.  The penultimate paragraph contains this sentence that puts the government on notice:

That should any [unconstitutional] act of Congress become law or Executive Order or Judicial Order be put into force, all powers previously delegated to the United States of America by the Constitution for the United States shall revert to the several States individually.

New Hampshire is on the verge of officially stating that if the federal government oversteps its bounds, it will cease to exist, because all powers delegated to it BY the states will be removed and returned TO the states.

Now, what of the other 49 states?  This morning I sent emails to both my state assemblyman and senator, as well as one other assemblyman who has shown a deep love for the state of Nevada and this country, as well as the Assembly Minority Leader.  They are all busy right now, so I don’t know if they will respond, but I would encourage you to do the same.  Write your state representatives.

Quick update: This morning I heard that Oklahoma (HRJ 1003) and Idaho have similar legislation.  There may be as many as 25 states with similar legislation, but I can’t conform that, and I don’t know if Nevada has anything in the works (my guess is no).