Liberal Logic 101 #3

Get it Right: Whining to the Feds

America is racing toward bankruptcy, with debts beyond any ability to repay. The debt clock stands near 17 trillion, with future combined federal liabilities (social security, prescriptions drugs, Medicare, ect.) at 126 trillion, an incomprehensible sum. Yet we still beg for federal funds. Why? The government has no money. To feed its gluttony, it borrows every cent it gives and vastly more. Why do we add to it, boarding a rapidly sinking ship, only to sink it further?

Conservatives routinely bewail the entitlement mentality. Lest we forget, cities, counties and states can embrace entitlement as well. Under our Constitution, the federal government has only 26 responsibilities: twenty for Congress and six to the president. Funding non-federal projects, such as Alpine's $750,000 flood mitigation project, is not among the 26 duties, yet that request graces the desk of federal bureaucrats.
It's not that the project is not necessary or good; it's just not a federal matter, and making it so embraces entitlement. If the project is necessary, it should be locally funded with citizen support, strong priorities, and a paring knife aimed at current expenditures.
America, under our original Constitution, became great through independence. As a basic system, anything non-essential fell to private enterprise. Anything essential for the community was funded there; ditto for the county, double ditto for the state. Each state was an independent laboratory; a sovereign body with the duty to care for its own. Beyond what all states needed, such as a national navy, unified postal system, uniform bankruptcy laws and patents, a universal monetary system, the states were the boss. There was no whining to the feds.
Things have changed! Now we "run home to papa" -- the federal government. But papa is broke; he has no money. His life savings are gone, he's in hock to the bank for a whole lot more than he owns and the banks have threatened to shut him down. Yet we still run to papa for funds. As an example, students go to him for loans -- almost half, 45 percent, of Utah graduates owe the Feds over $17,000 at graduation, with $1 trillion owed nationally. Their grandparents bought houses for that amount two generations ago. It is not one of the 26 federal duties to loan money to students. In a tight job market, can they repay, or will we excuse the debts as a down payment into Entitlement Villa?
How about if we leave Papa and support ourselves? Personal responsibility is the basis of a constitutional republic. Without it; with papa paying the bills, we cannot be a constitutional republic; we must be a socialist nation, where people, businesses, and governments need nursery care. The more money we take from the feds, the more they can dictate to us. You pay your bills, you make the decisions; someone else pays, he tells you what to do. Freedom versus control; it's a simple equation. Entitlement saps our strength, convinces us that we are helpless, and we become slaves. With our subscription to civic entitlement, we reap a culture of slavery.

Do we want freedom, or do we not? This is not a cake-and-eat-it-too deal, either we care for ourselves, or we let the federal government do it. Which? If freedom is our goal, personal and civic responsibility bid us abandon our place in line at the federal feeding trough, even for pet projects.
Probably all of us have partaken of the entitlement feast, though perhaps not knowingly or willingly. It has become a way of life, but it exacts an indelible toll. Federal money is habit forming. Like street drugs, it sucks your resolve, crushes your future, and makes you dependent.
What do we want? It's our decision: freedom, with its responsibility and self-sacrifice, or ever-growing social and economic slavery? We should actively make the decision, however, not continue to bellyache about entitlement while we practice it. Hypocrisy is not good for the soul.

The Power of One Against the Bully Gun-Control War

One man in Colorado has changed the national paradigm and the message has carried to Utah Valley. Victor Head, a plumbing contractor from Boulder, Colo., opposed Colorado's liberal gun control measures through his organization, Pueblo Freedom and Rights. With assistance from the National Rifle Association and concerned Colorado citizens in the state's first ever recall election, he unseated Liberal Senators John Morse and Angela Giron in their push for citizen non-protection. The nation has a new example of The Power of One.

In the mid-1950s journalist Willis E. Stone almost single-handedly piloted what would have been the Constitution's 23rd Amendment to the floors of Congress. First proposed in his newspaper column in 1944, it was known as the Liberty Amendment, designed to restore checks and balances and get government out of private business. That currently stalled amendment, approved by nine states -- Utah is not yet one of them -- waits to restore financial stability when we want it badly enough.
In both these situations, brave individuals stood up to the bullies that kill freedom, be they individuals, groups, or government. The bully war escalates today as constitutional freedoms fall before illegal executive orders and Supreme Court decisions on topics from immigration to gun control to economic bailouts. Conservatives across the country are being bullied into silence for their views, while liberal opinions are touted at will. Why? One reason is that conservatives let themselves be pushed around.
In many states, some citizens are still somewhat sheltered from the tirades of progressive bullies, like here in Utah County. The relative peace of this county draws many here to retire or raise families; hence, the nickname Happy Valley. The term denotes contempt from some, heartfelt gratitude from others, myself included.
Only Pollyanna could believe that our relative calm will continue. Activist commotions have begun -- Provo's Gay Pride event on Saturday, Sept. 21, is an example. While we are obliged to respect the rights of others, diversity is negative when a few in some circles encourage those who plan to abolish the values we cherish. Leaders in the gay rights movement, such as activist Masha Gessen in her speech to the Sydney Writer's Festival in May 2012, state the ultimate intention of the Gay Rights movement is to abolish marriage altogether. (You can view her video on YouTube from April 23, 2013.) Such movements strike at the heart of conservative Utah values of family and fidelity, not to mention common sense.
Can we keep the standards we cherish in Utah County? That's partly up to us, and that's where The Power of One comes in. While what we can do is harder, what we must not do is obvious: we must not be bullied into silence on our views and values. We must speak out in defense of the things that matter to us.

Guns

"We have four boxes used to guarantee our liberty: The soap box, the

ballot box, the jury box and the cartridge box."

  Ambrose Bierce (1887)

In 1553, Frenchman Etienne de la Boetie wrote "The Politics of Obedience: Discourse on Voluntary Servitude." It reads like a 2013 conservative advice column. He said no one has power to oppress us unless we give them that power. The eyes to spy on us come from us; the arms to beat us are borrowed from ourselves; the feet to trample us wear homegrown boots. How can enemies assail us if they have no cooperation from us? He declares we can cast off tyranny simply by refusing to concede; those who resolve to be servants no more are at once freed. To topple a tyrant, simply support him no more.
Back to the bullying of conservative views and The Power of One: we are bullied into further silence because we remain silent. We are victims no more when we clearly, calmly, and without rancor state our views and hold to them. It begins at home, with one -- you; me. When we complain about the state of things, let us remember Boetie: "Resolve to serve no more and you are at once freed." The power of one voice, repeatedly heard, has the force to transform.

• Pamela Romney Openshaw is a Utah Valley speaker and author of "Promises of the Constitution" and "Lessons of the Constitution for Family and Home School Study." She writes the weekly column "Get it Right" for the Daily Herald and for heraldextra.com. To reach Pamela, you can contact her through her website, PromisesoftheConstitution.com or by email at promisesoftheconstitution@ gmail.com.

Where will you give Time or Money to Defeat Government Abuses?

NINE PIECES OF MAIL

Money talks and it speaks louder every day. Today I opened mail from 9 conservative groups pleading for money to fight the fed’s unconstitutional and illegal actions. Assaults on our freedoms are snowballing and concerned citizen groups are springing up everywhere to stand against the onslaught.

Remember Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways”? To government, we could say, “How do you deceive and plunder me? Let us count the ways.”

The list of government abuses is astonishing, from the bribery of Obamacare and the deceit about its costs, to Benghazi’s proof the administration abandoned Americans under attack to cover up illegal activities, to the planned billions in unearned benefits to those criminally in the country. Evidence suggests that election fraud put Obama in office, paired with the pesky citizenship issue of Obama’s eligibility for office that refuses to go away. These are the tip of the iceberg. America has never seen the intensity of scandal and dishonesty awash in the country today.

Don’t stick your head in the sand and hope this all goes away. It won’t. The arrogance and disdain of the progressive movement swells daily. Why not? They do unimaginable things and nothing happens but hot air. The unthinkable grows bolder, the contempt for law and order more brash until public opinion becomes a buzzing fly to offending politicians. You must ask yourself, “Where and when will all this stop?”

Complaints are rampant. Talk is no longer enough, folks; its time to put your money where your mouth is.

Without funds these freedom movements go away and we lose our constitutional republic. Mailouts and postage, office help and rental space. phone bills—all take money.  It’s expensive to fight treachery, and the big dollar guys live on the other side of the issues.

Why does Daddy Warbucks always back the freedom killing causes? The answer is simple: competition. Once you “gain the gold” you want to keep it and the freedom called competition can take it in a hurry. The new kid with the nifty idea takes your market and your greenbacks fly out the door like Southwest Airlines off the Denver tarmac. So the rich kill competition with federal control.

Put your money where your mouth is and contribute to organizations at work to hold back the progressive tsunami. The pretty something for your bookcase, the new golf clubs, the family vacation will go away permanently if we don’t douse the bonfire that’s burning liberty. Spend the money, instead, to secure the possibility you will have those niceties in future.

Get involved. Pick the threatened liberty closest to your heart, research it, contribute to an honest organization battling that issue. Contribute time if you can, but also contribute money to save liberty. While downtown beautification and the local soccer league are worthy causes, they won’t stop Obamacare. Continue wise local efforts, but give money to fight for freedom. You can’t afford not to.

We picked Liberty Council as a worthy donation point. I’m not recruiting or driving traffic, just giving an example.

Do something, folks—freedom is dying left and right around us. Listen; you can hear it gasp.