Our founding fathers envisioned a nation where citizens would live free of government intrusion into their daily lives. Men were supposed to be able to engage in commerce without interference from the state, with the court system resolving matters that could not be worked out between citizens. Government was not supposed to get involved with contracts between private citizens. Today, the federal government regulates the size of the toilets we install in our houses, and mandates that we use a certain kind of light bulb (the incandescent bulb will be illegal beginning in 2014). I think we can all agree that there are areas where regulation is necessary, but we’ve been beyond that reasonable level of government involvement for a long time.
Now our federal government is designing a plan they call health care “reform” that will result in government control over citizens’ access to health insurance, and by extension, to health care. Our representatives insist on passing some form of this legislation, even though a majority of the citizenry is opposed to it. Somewhere along the line, our political class decided that they don’t answer to “we the people” any more; in fact, many of them think they know what’s best for us (and that we don’t know what is best for ourselves). This is tyranny—make no mistake about it.
The current administration is making radical policy proposals, but our government is already redistributing wealth at levels that will be difficult to sustain. Obama’s policies, if enacted, will push us over the brink.
From the nonprofit, nonpartisan Tax Foundation:
In Fiscal Year 2010, before Obama's major policies on taxes, health care and climate change are enacted:
Collectively, families in the bottom 60 percent of the income scale (those with market income below $86,000) will receive more back in government spending during the upcoming fiscal year than they pay in taxes. The top 40 percent of families will collectively pay more in taxes than they receive in spending.
Overall, federal tax and spending policies will redistribute $826 billion from the top 40 percent of families to the bottom 60 percent. In other words, the majority of American families currently receive more in federal spending than they pay in taxes.
More than 70 percent (or $592 billion) of the total amount redistributed is paid by the roughly 5 million families comprising the top 5 percent, those with market incomes above $280,000. At the other end of the income scale, more than half of redistributed benefits flow to the nearly 34 million families in the bottom two income groups—those with market incomes below roughly $23,500. Fully 80 percent of the redistributed benefits flows to families earning under $50,000, a total of 66 million families overall.
…
In 2012, after all of Obama's policies are in place, the amount redistributed from the top 5 percent of families will grow in real terms to $770 billion, a 34 percent increase over current levels. Every other income group will benefit from the increased amount taken from the top 5 percent of families and the group of families who, on average, get more back in spending than they pay in taxes will jump to 70 percent of all families.
(More in-depth explanation, including charts and graphs, can be found here.)
We cannot continue along this path. What happens when the highest income earners, who already shoulder so much of the load, decide to leave—or, like John Galt, just cease to be productive? The whole house of cards will come crashing down.
We cannot abide the continued arrogance of our elected officials, and we must put a stop to this growth of government, which—like a malignant tumor—continues to spread into every aspect of our lives.
Our own Declaration of Independence certifies our right—indeed, our duty—to revolt when government becomes oppressive.
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. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, 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…But when a long train of abuses and usurpations…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.
What is our current station, if not Despotism? What, then, are we to do?
I do not know if it is possible to save our Republic. I do believe we have three basic options:
I. Overthrow our federal government via armed revolution.
II. Eliminate ALL elected officials at the federal level, and implement term limits via a Constitutional amendment.
III. Secession and reorganization of the states into regional governments.
I will examine each of these options, and their viability (or lack thereof), in my next post.
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