The Empire claims to own more than 60% of the state of Utah. This is a situation common among the western states.
When former Emperor Clinton ran for reelection in 1996, he paid off curried favour with environmentalists by declaring the Kaiparowits plateau in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument a national monument. The plateau just happens to be the home to large coal reserves which the leaders of the State of Utah would like to see mined (and taxed).
Last year, Emperor Obama’s Interior Secretary Ken Salazar scrapped seventy-seven oil and gas leases around national parks and wild areas. This again cost the citizens of Utah thousands of dollars in tax revenues.
Last Saturday, Utah’s Governor Gay Herbert authorized the use of eminent domain to take some of the energy-rich parcels of land away from the Columbian Empire and restore their value to the citizens of Utah. This is a twist to Kelo v. New London (545 US 469) which those wise Justices of the Supreme Court missed. Their decision allowed the theft of property by a government entity from a private citizen. Now we get to live with the spectre of governments fighting each other for property.
But who really owns the land? It should be the citizens, not some far-off bureaucracy in "the District."
When a massive empirical government spins out of control there is no telling where it will end up. When men forsake the Truth of biblical principles, then in society “all hell will break out." The eighth commandment declares that civil government have the responsibility of protecting property rights...Thou shalt not steal. But stealing has become such a standard of normal activity for the Empire that it no longer even expresses regret for its theft. It is just business as usual to take from the productive in order to give it to the unproductive.
Let’s get out of the Empire. We can return to sanity. We can have our own Tennessee Nation.
Most of us do not grasp the full consequences of the Empire’s passionate desire to provide “comprehensive health care” for every citizen.
All statists envision the civil government as god. There are thus certain attributes of God which the state must exhibit.
The Columbian Empire, in order to be god, must be the arbiter of life and death. It must also be the source of all knowledge and wisdom. It must be all powerful (omnipotent), and all knowing (omniscient), and entwined into every area of our lives (omnipresent).
We are told that in the Garden of Eden, “out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil,” and that “the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
From the very beginning, God established Himself as the only arbiter of life and death.
God emphasized His status as health provider to the Israelites in the wilderness, “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.”
If that wasn’t enough, as they gathered to go into the Promised Land, God speaks, “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.”
The Empire seeks to cloud the issue of health and life and death by showing that it can provide “insurance” against any health catastrophe. Be aware and be warned, the Empire can “insure,” it can guarantee nothing.
While we might hope for an ever-lasting youth and vigour in the here and now, it is just not possible… and no government agency or program can make it happen.
I am reminded of a novella entitled, The Children’s Story. Written by James Clavell (author of Shogun and To Sir With Love, as well as the screenplay forThe Great Escape), it was originally published in the Ladies Home Journal, October 1963. In the early 1980s, a real-time (60 minutes) version was filmed an broadcast on television.
The Children’s Story relates the ease with which ideas and ideologies may be pressed upon young children. In one hour, their allegiances and faith are moved from truth to the allegiances and faith of their manipulators. It may take longer with adults, but the manipulation is no less sure.
For generations, the builders of civilization on this continent have relied upon the Lord god Almighty for their strength and for Truth. We have hewn out of the wilderness farms, and factories, and great cities. Our strength has been our confidence in the care and direction of Providence. To depart from such will be our destruction.
What responsibility do you feel concerning your civil and religious freedom? Most people think that such questions are frivolous, because (they think) those questions have already been settled. They were settled in 1776 (or whenever we beat the British).
But the contest for civil and religious freedom continues from generation to generation. Every twenty to thirty years, the battles for liberty are replayed, and every time a new group of people find themselves on the front lines of the continuing quest for civil and religious freedom.
When the Continental Congress published the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms in 1775, they recognized that they were just as responsible for civil and religious freedom as the men who settled Jamestown in 1607, one hundred sixty-eight years earlier. The patriots celebrated their fore-fathers exploits:
Our forefathers, inhabitants of the island of Great-Britain, left their native land, to seek on these shores a residence for civil and religious freedom. At the expense of their blood, at the hazard of their fortunes, without the least charge to the country from which they removed, by unceasing labour, and an unconquerable spirit, they effected settlements in the distant and unhospitable wilds of America, then filled with numerous and warlike barbarians.
I have read extensively about the “unceasing labour” and the “unconquerable spirit” which those men (and later, women) displayed. Even those “gentlemen” in the Virginia colony who thought they were too good for common labour, soon realized that true freedom is never granted, it is earned.
Today, we are surrounded by multitudes who are waiting for someone to hand them freedom, to provide them with the blessings of liberty. They expect “the government” to care for them from cradle to grave.
On this continent, there has only been one time when anyone was cared for from cradle-to-grave. That care included food and shelter, clothing and medical care, but it also included chains. The cradle-to-grave care was given by a group of mostly benevolent men and women, but it also involved the owning of the recipient. We call it what it was called then…slavery.
Those who today wish for cradle-to-grave security must check their freedom at the door. They are entering a house of chains where everyone is a slave.
I would rather struggle for everything I need and be free. I want to live in a land that enjoys freedom.
The Associated Press headlined, “It's the law of the land: Health overhaul signed.” The reporter then begins her pernicious propaganda “news” item with the opening paragraph:
WASHINGTON – Claiming a historic triumph that could define his presidency, a jubilant Barack Obama signed a massive, nearly $1 trillion health care overhaul on Tuesday that will for the first time cement insurance coverage as the right of every U.S. citizen and begin to reshape the way virtually all Americans receive and pay for treatment...(complete article here).
Just who is kidding whom? Going back to my high school Civics class, a bill must pass both houses of Congress before it can be signed into law by the President.
The “Health Care Overhaul” passed the House of Representatives. The same legislation has NOT, let me repeat NOT, been passed by the Senate.Reconciliation must happen first. The "signing ceremony” was a fraud! Nothing has changed! The signing ceremony was nothing more than a HUGE publicity stunt, UNLESS…
The current administration has shown a decided lack of interest in or desire to follow or “uphold the Constitution,” a phrase which is included in any number of oaths taken by office holders. Should the Emperor and his lackeys in Congress decide go the traitorous step of ignoring the legitimate provisions for making law, then they have truly become tyrants. This is true tyranny!!
The fourth sentence of the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms reads:
Yet, however blinded that assembly may be, by their intemperate rage for unlimited domination, so to sight justice and the opinion of mankind, we esteem ourselves bound by obligations of respect to the rest of the world, to make known the justice of our cause.
Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and George Mason would be spinning in their graves if they were witness to the “intemperate rage for unlimited domination” which is being displayed by Congress and Emperor Obama. The members of the 1775 British Parliament were amateurs compared to the despots at the reigns of the Columbian Empire. Justice and the opinion of mankind are of no consequence to this bunch!
Tennesseans must wake up to the reality of the massive dictatorship which looms before us. We must take hold of our God-given, inalienable rights to life, liberty, and property. We must work together to establish a government which divorces itself from the Empire. The Tennessee League of the South as well as sister organizations throughout the South are working to make such a divorce a reality.
It does not take much intelligence to read about the conflict which the thirteen colonies had with Great Britain and relate their situation to ours. It does take a desire to govern and lead with dignity and within the limits of a respect for unalienable, God-given rights of the individual. To relate our situation with that of our colonial ancestors takes only a moment to open your eyes and ears.
The third sentence from the Declaration of the causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms adopted by the Second Continental Congress:
The legislature of Great-Britain, however, stimulated by an inordinate passion for a power not only unjustifiable, but which they know to be peculiarly reprobated by the very constitution of that kingdom, and desparate of success in any mode of contest, where regard should be had to truth, law, or right, have at length, deserting those, attempted to effect their cruel and impolitic purpose of enslaving these colonies by violence, and have thereby rendered it necessary for us to close with their last appeal from reason to arms.
Men are sinful by nature and will revert to a sinful manipulations to obtain their desires. In the body politic there are two driving forces: power and money. The obtaining of one usually helps provide the other. The manipulations to gain power (or maintain it) will happen in city and local governments as quickly as it will in state and international settings. Churches, clubs and volunteer organizations are all susceptible as well.
The sinful yearnings of men are restrained individually by the Holy Spirit. In the body politic, men must be restrained first by their oath of loyalty to their governing constitution and secondly, by a regard for “truth, law or right.” Our founding fathers understood that.
One of the great failings of today's politicians is that they neither know nor understand our constitutions. Many have never even read them.
Our founding fathers saw that the King and Parliament had decided to do what they wished regardless of constitution or truth. Emperor Obama and the Congress of the Columbian Empire are repeating the desperate actions of Great Britain in the 1770s. The Emperor and his minions have the “cruel and impolitic purpose of enslaving” us all.
They are moving toward a last appeal to reason. The cry for secession is now audible. It will soon grow to a chorus of such multitude that it will sound as the thundering roar of a tumbling rapids.
If the Southern states were to assert their independence and separate from the Columbian Empire, the Health Care vote would have gone another way.
Counting votes from the Southern states (including Kentucky, Missouri, and Oklahoma) the socialist agenda of Emperor Hussein Obama would have gone down in flames 106 NO votes to only 44 YES votes.
Perhaps the Southern states should force the secession of places like Atlanta, Memphis, and St. Louis, then the vote would be even more pro private property rights and pro liberty.
Some would prefer to do away with not just some, but all government. Our patriot fathers in the 1770s had a deeper knowledge of the purposes of civil government than 99% of our politicians today. In the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms, John Dickenson’s second sentence was,
But a reverence for our Creator, principles of humanity, and the dictates of common sense, must convince all those who reflect upon the subject, that government was instituted to promote the welfare of mankind, and ought to be administered for the attainment of that end.
Although not all of the delegates to the Continental Congresses were orthodox Christians, they all were profoundly influenced by a biblical worldview. They recognized that the affairs of men are governed by a Creator who so rules over His creation that they also utilized the term Providence in speaking of Him.
Civil government was in their minds a divine provision for the safety of men. When they spoke of promoting the “welfare of mankind,” they gave no hint of interpreting that phrase as an opportunity for government to finance the livelihood and medical care of the population.
When our patriot fathers spoke of the “welfare of mankind,” they were speaking of safety from evil-doers, and protection from unruly magistrates, and the security of private property.
When our patriot fathers spoke of such safety, protection, and security they were calling to mind the effective punishment for violations of the Ten Commandments – such as, Thou shalt not steal; Thou shalt not do murder; Thou shalt not covet.
Our patriot fathers were able to conceive of a limited civil government, because they focused on negative law – the “nots.” Today civil government continues to encroach on our lives because it focuses on positive law – the “shalls.” There are never enough rules to how we should do things, but it’s easy to say how not to.
The Columbian Empire continues to pump out massive amounts of regulations and rules. The Empire is not just hungry to rule other countries, it is thirsty to rule every facet of our daily lives.
The only way to be free of that oppression is to gain a Free Tennessee.
Perhaps we should begin to discuss some of the issues which demand a separation from the Columbian Empire.
Most people start their argument with the Declaration of Independence, but I wish to start with a document penned a year earlier on 6 July 1775. Called the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms, it went through three drafts, first by John Rutledge, then Thomas Jefferson, and finally by John Dickenson.
If it was possible for men, who exercise their reason to believe, that the divine Author of our existence intended a part of the human race to hold an absolute property in, and an unbounded power over others, marked out by his infinite goodness and wisdom, as the objects of a legal domination never rightfully resistible, however severe and oppressive, the inhabitants of these colonies might at least require from the parliament of Great-Britain some evidence, that this dreadful authority over them, has been granted to that body.
A rather long and run-on sentence which asks, “Where did you of the Empire get the idea that you have the authority to rule over every area of our lives?”
The various groups which have been forming and speaking out against the totalitarian tendencies of the Columbian Empire are asking the same question. We are not so different from our “1776” ancestors.
Liberty is the ability to govern our own affairs without interference from government, as long as we are not interfering with the affairs of others. Put another way, my liberty ends where yours begins.
I will be exploring more of the Declaration of the Causes… over the next several blogs.
So glad I woke up this morning in my cabin, rather than a Tennessee hotel. After all, I might be looking at the prospect of having my breakfast taxed!
Yes, according to Nashville’s Tennessean, “the state wants to tax the lodging businesses for the food that they offer as free breakfasts as part of their room rate.”
State officials stress that the businesses would be taxed and not the hungry patrons.
Regan Farr, commissioner of the Department of Revenue, doesn’t believe hotels would pass the tax on to consumers.
The proposal is in a much broader tax provisions bill sponsored by state Sen. Jim Kyle (D) of Memphis and State Rep. Mike Turner (D) of Nashville.
Before anyone comments, think for a moment. All food items already have sales tax computed at the point of consumption. A wholesaler doesn’t pay sales tax, a grocery store doesn’t pay sales tax, but the person (or company) that buys the food to eat it does already pay sales tax.
The lodging businesses are already paying sales tax on those breakfast items when they buy them from the grocery. They have already computed that tax (as well as the cost of the food) into their room rates. Noone really believes that all those free breakfasts are really free. They ain’t lunch, but remember…”They ain’t no such thing as a free lunch” either.
Gentlemen, please consider that sales tax cannot be computed on the same item more than once. If you tax the food as part of the room rate, then the hotel immediately becomes a wholesaler and no longer pays the tax at the grocery.
Possible breakfast cost, $5.00. Tax (@9.25%), 46 cents.
New tax on breakfast = + .46
Tax not paid at grocery = - .46
NET INCREASE IN REVENUE = 0.00
Commissioner Farr, Senator Kyle and Representative Turner are brilliant!!! A new tax that cost the taxpayers nothing! But then again raises no revenue either.
Don’t be too hard on these gentlemen, after all, they were probably schooled in the state’s education system.
But if we are to have a Free Tennessee, we need legislators who can add and subtract and reason better than these idiots.
The “Health Care Debate” continues to dominate the press, the politicians, and the public. We are inundated with opinion polls, charts, and commentaries.
To a crowd of white-coated doctors and nurses in the East Room, Emperor Obama said, “At stake right now is not just our ability to solve this problem, but our ability to solve any problem.” If I have a problem getting health care, if I have a problem getting insurance, it is my problem! Who told him that he had to solve my problem? I didn’t!
To the politicians of his party, the Emperor urged, "I do not know how this plays politically, but I know it's right…Let's get it done." OLD JOKE – How do we know when a politician is lying? ANSWER: Their mouth is moving. Obama knows exactly how everything is playing politically. He doesn’t move without knowing what the opinion polls have said. Secondly, how does he know “it’s right?”
I will repeat the quotation from Bastiat in my last post.
You say: “There are persons who have no money,” and you turn to the law. But the law is not a breast that fills itself with milk. Nor are the lacteal veins of the law supplied with milk from a source outside the society. Nothing can enter the public treasury for the benefit of one citizen or one class unless other citizens and other classes have been forced to send it in. If every person draws from the treasury the amount that he has put in it, it is true that the law then plunders nobody. But this procedure does nothing for the persons who have no money. It does not promote equality of income. The law can be an instrument of equalization only as it takes from some persons and gives to other persons. When the law does this, it is an instrument of plunder.
The U.S. Constitution does not give the federal government any authority over health care. The Constitution gives “enumerated powers,” meaning, “if it doesn’t mention it, it doesn’t exist,” PERIOD. While taking care of the feeble and infirm is commendable, it is not the task of the government. Government can only do it if they first steal the money from you!
When the Republicans mention an alternative, pared down, less expensive version of health care reform, they are violating their oath of office just as much as the Democrats. There are NO innocents in the capitol. They are all minions of the Empire!
Tennessee needs to be free of it all. We need a Tennessee Nation.
I arrived early last evening at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville to attend an “Economic Forum with the Fed. While waiting for the doors to open, I read a few pages of Bastiat’s “The Law.”
You say: “There are persons who have no money,” and you turn to the law. But the law is not a breast that fills itself with milk. Nor are the lacteal veins of the law supplied with milk from a source outside the society. Nothing can enter the public treasury for the benefit of one citizen or one class unless other citizens and other classes have been forced to send it in. If every person draws from the treasury the amount that he has put in it, it is true that the law then plunders nobody. But this procedure does nothing for the persons who have no money. It does not promote equality of income. The law can be an instrument of equalization only as it takes from some persons and gives to other persons. When the law does this, it is an instrument of plunder.
Frederic Bastiat, (1801-1850) was a French economist, statesman, and author. He published “The Law” as a pamphlet in June 1850. Bastiat did most of his writing during the years before and after the 1848 socialist revolutions in throughout Europe.
The 1848 revolutions are largely ignored in history courses in this country, but they had a tremendous impact upon our government and culture. Few people realize that German ex-patriot socialists settled in and around St. Louis in the early 1850s and played an important role in Lincoln’s War against the Republic.
The excerpt quoted above from “The Law” provides such a simple argument for restricting any government largess. Anytime the government pays for something, it has to take that money from someone by force. If that something is outside the limited sphere of protecting the innocent and punishing the lawless, then you and I have been robbed. It’s just that simple.
The thieves are not at Brushy Mountain, they are in Washington, DC and unfortunately their children are in Nashville.
May we all begin to understand our own participation in the theft.
It may be time for you stop appearing on all the fancy national network news shows and come back to Tennessee and live with the common folk for awhile. You have become infected with that most deadly of diseases, Potomac Fever.
The Fever is distinguished by a “tax and spend” mentality. Its most recognizable symptom in those who claim to be “conservative” is the support for legislation which is destructive to local economies and the average household.
If you were to actually spend a day or two drivingslowly through the rural counties of your district, you would be able to see the factories vacated as a result of “free trade” agreements such as NAFTA. Thousands of Tennesseans have been left without employment because their jobs have been shipped across our southern border or to any number of cheap-labour countries overseas.
In the wake of closed factories, Mom & Pop stores on every rural Main Street have been forced to close. And what has appeared in their place? Big-boxes like Super WalMarts are supplying cheaper-than-dime-store merchandise from China while advertizing more things for a better life.
A tremendous bulk of your campaign support comes from Big Business donors and their PACs, so it has become easier for you to listen to their “experts” pontificate, while your constituents suffer. A twenty and fifty dollar donor is not really a voice worth listening to. Obviously, their lack of financial resources is a result of intellectual deficiency and thus an inability to actually view a situation realistically and logically.
NAFTA and its ilk benefit Big Business. These “free trade” agreements are destroying the economic foundations of the county you claim to love. They are also destroying our ability to defend ourselves in the event of a real war, instead of the neo-con adventurism which has plagued the United States and caused the deaths of so many young men and women. Should we actually have a real war, we no longer have the domestic manufacturing capability of defending ourselves.
Your sworn duty in your oath of office is to uphold the Constitution. Have you read it lately? Your obligation Biblically is to be a servant of the people you represent. Have you actually listened to your constituents lately?
I am President of a rural county Chamber of Commerce. Not just the businesses, but the county itself is on “life support” because of the empirical-style policies coming for the District and which have your support. Wake up! Or stay home!
