On Freedoms and Rights

As a citizen of the United States of America, you are guaranteed freedoms by the U.S. Constitution. Let’s examine those freedoms. First of all there are two fundamental and historical documents to consider: The Declaration of Independence which I consider to be the primary founding document. Then there is the Constitution of the United States which I consider to be the primary organizing document.

The Declaration of Independence preceded the constitution by nearly two decades and states at the beginning of the second paragraph: “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.”

The next thing to do is to look at the bill of rights which is the first ten amendments to the constitution. We have: Freedom of religion, speech, freedom of the press, freedom to peaceably assemble, and freedom to petition the government for a redress of grievances by the first amendment. The right to bear arms is guaranteed by the second amendment. You shall not be required to provide quarter to any soldiers except in time of war if enacted by law by the third amendment. You are guaranteed the freedom from warrantless searches by the fourth amendment. (This is regularly abused in traffic stops by the police “Open the trunk, please”). The fifth amendment frees you from the risk of double jeopardy; otherwise you may be repeatedly tried until the State got the verdict they wanted. The sixth amendment assures you the right of a speedy trial by a jury of your peers. The seventh amendment grants similar rights to trial in civil cases. The eighth amendment grants freedom from excessive bail and prohibits excessive punishment or fines.

Now notice that except in the case of trials by jury, where your very life or liberty may be at risk, your rights DO NOT impose an OBLIGATION neither upon any other person or group of people nor upon any government.

Therefore we may conclude that there is no right: to medical care, to a useful and remunerative job, earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation, of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living, to trade at home and abroad, of every family to a decent home, to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accidents and unemployment, a good education.

To demand services or goods from another person is deny that person's rights to the fruits of his labor. To demand services or goods from the government is to deny all of us the right to the fruits of ou labor.

Newton’s Third Law of Motion

Years ago (in a prior lifetime it seems) while taking a course in political science, after looking at various laws and their consequences about midway through the course, I said to the professor that it seemed like political laws have an attribute similar to Newton’s third law of motion. To wit: “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” He said that that was right and years ago some political philosopher (politics is a major branch of philosophy) had written about this. I wish I remembered the name he gave or had written it down. But ever since, I’ve often looked for this phenomenon.

One example of this was the 1990-1991 federal luxury taxes. Starting in 1991, Washington levied a 10 percent tax on cars valued above $30,000, boats above $100,000, jewelry and furs above $10,000 and private planes above $250,000. Democrats like Ted Kennedy and then-Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell crowed publicly about how the rich would finally be paying their fair share and privately about convincing President George H.W. Bush to renounce his “no new taxes” pledge. Well the result of this was a disaster. It wasn't long before even those die-hard class warriors noticed they'd badly missed their mark. The taxes took in $97 million less in their first year than had been projected — for the simple reason that people were buying a lot fewer of these goods. Boat building, a key industry in Messrs. Mitchell and Kennedy's home states of Maine and Massachusetts, was particularly hard hit. Yacht retailers reported a 77 percent drop in sales that year, while boat builders estimated layoffs at 25,000. With bipartisan support, all but the car tax was repealed in 1993, and in 1996 Congress voted to phase that out too.

It has been noted that FDR’s infamous social security act has its negative consequences too. Personal saving rates decrease every time the benefit is increased, and it is producing a balloon of payments-owed by the federal government as the baby boomers retire and collect.
The Community Reinvestment Act has wreaked havoc in the housing and mortgage industries.

Raising the minimum wage invariably causes some unemployment among those earning the least.

The 18th amendment to the U.S. Constitution had to be repealed by the 21st amendment because it spawned so much criminal activity.

I truly believe that legislators sometimes forget to realize that men will act as a rule, in any given circumstance, in their own best interest.

We're Living In Novel Times
Indeed we are living in novel times. More precisely we're living in three novel times. Those novels are 1984. by George Orwell, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Read any or all of them and you will understand what I mean.

A couple of thoughts

Adopting an attitude of “Buy American” is un-American. Look up the term “comparative advantage” in an economics text.

Carbon dioxide is NOT responsible for global warming. See “A Global Warming Primer” at National Center for Policy Analysis. In fact the new expression has become “climate change” because so much doubt has been cast upon the phenomena. Deplete the atmosphere of carbon dioxide and green plants will suffer and perish. Botanists have shown that green plants flourish more robustly in an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide. Decrease the ability of green plants to grow and you will contribute to world hunger by decreasing the availability of food. Al Gore's pet project, like the Koyoto protocol is about wresting control of your life away from you and making you a slave of the State.

A free lunch isn’t really free. I recall during last year’s primary campaign season watching a Hillary Clinton “town hall meeting” style campaign effort on TV. One gentleman in the audience wound up his statement to Mrs. Clinton with, “All I want is a single payer health care system.” I don’t recall Hillary’s response, but I wish she’d asked, “Fine, will YOU be that payer?”

The expression “single payer health care system” is new-speak for government provided health care system. Anyone who asks for the government to provide something really should consider the consequences. The consequences will be less than you’d desire, I’d argue. By my own experience within the past decade, I’ve had three MRIs made, each within 48 hours of the time it was ordered. I understand that you will wait weeks or months for an MRI exam in Canada, time that may be crucial to obtaining a correct diagnosis and saving a life.

Now according to an on-line report from Pennsylvania at http://www.phc4.org/reports/FYI/fyi27.htm an average cost of an MRI machine is $2 million with an operating expense of $800,000 per year. So the cost of an MRI exam will be a bit more expensive than a latte at Starbucks not to mention the time of the radiologist to read the pictures. No wonder Ottawa rations such technology since they’re paying for it.

I recommend The Top Ten Myths of American Health Care A Citizen’s Guide by Sally C. Pipes a PDF version of the book is available online at http://liberty.pacificresearch.org/publications/the-top-ten-myths-of-american-health-care-a-citizens-guide by clicking on the line “Read PDF Study” near the bottom of the screen.

A video that you shoould probably watch and listen to on a regular basis (at least once a year) is: http://www.wimp.com/thegovernment

Having viewed this clip, wouldn't you say we essentially have an oligarrchy in the USA? Aren't the senators and congressmen who have held their offices forever forming an oligarchy? Maybe their offices should be term limited as is the office of the president. If the legislative offices were limited to twelve years or so I think the limitations and taxes they lay on us with wouldn't be so burdensome if they knew they would have to return to non-government life and live with them personnaly.

Another thought: It seems like every day now this company or that company is laying off a few hundred or a few thousand employees. Wouldn't it be refreshing if the government laid off some workers? At any level anywhere? If they did they'd probably lay off the ones that protect us like policemen or firemen instead of the bureucrats that do nothing but tell us how we should live our lives. I'd call them non-productive overhead.

Sure, I'm upset as I suspect quite a few people are. The federal government is now lurching toward socialism at warp speed. I am not aware of ANY socialized society in which the people fared very well. You can look at the darkness of North Korea as prime example of the general widespread poverty of the people socialism brings with it. Or consider the failed state of the USSR.

Here is the text of an email I sent to our senators in Washington recently:

Dear Senator,

Why should we trust you folks in Washington to fix the mess this country is in? After all, the mess we have was caused by you and your ilk because of your ridiculous laws that so severely hamper the economy. I am talking about those laws which interfere with a free economy. Something which we do not have!

Did you ever hear of the term “laissez-faire”? I doubt it. It comes from the French and means “hands off.” But, no, you people persist in trying to micro-manage everyone’s financial affairs with such laws that set prices and seemingly arbitrary conditions upon contracts between individuals.

For instance, consider the minimum wage. If person A wishes to work for person (or firm) B for $3 per hour you do not permit it. You insist that it must be at least $6.55 per hour when the work is not done for you, nor are you paying for it! Talk about interference!

You insist that a bank must loan money to an individual whose credit reports indicate that the loan will probably not be repaid. Shame on you! Telling the banker he must give away money! No wonder that the banker instead chooses to loan to no one. I’d do the same in his shoes – get out of the business rather than attempt to run a business at which I will surely lose money.

Go back and reread the history of this nation; of the first attempts to practice socialism on this continent by the early settlers. The Virginia Company and Jamestown experience and other socialistic societies such as North Korea today are miserable failures. You forget that if a man does not profit from his labor, he will not labor at all. So you will have us support him! Shame on you! Surely the means of support will vanish.

Throw away your Karl Marx and read Adam Smith instead. I find the commentators here and in Europe who say this is “a failure of capitalism” objectionable. No this is a failure of our socialism.

Regards,
A concerned citizen

Prediction: We are about to experience a decade as miserable as the 1930s. Why do I say this? Because Hoover's Smoot-Hawley tarriff exported the US recession to our trading partners who recovered much more quickly because their governments were not as activist as ours was with all of Roosevelt's alphabet soup programs, and Obama appears to be as meddlesome as was Roosevelt.