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Author Archive | Mark Kreslins

A “New” Declaration of Independence

By on February 1, 2010 in Big Government, Liberty 8

a declarationThis last Saturday, January 30, 2010, following a Saturday where our phone lines melted down when we asked a simple question; what Right’s have been taken from you or encroached upon by the Federal Government?  While we weren’t surprised by the volume of calls, we were surprised about the specificity of the calls…people were VERY aware that the Federal Government was acting extra-constitutionally in many areas.  And they’ve had enough.

As article after article is written how the Tea Party Movement and the Republican Party need to learn to get along or are showing signs of getting along, the reality is, what is written below was bound to happen at some point…it just happened to happen on our show.  The “people” want a new set of grievances listed and the purveyor of tyranny identified; the U.S. Federal Government supported by two parties that are essentially pro “Big Government.”

As a very activie member of the Tea Party movement with my finances and my time, let me be clear to both parties…if you’re trying to talk to us, to “woo” us, you’re saying nothing that I’m interested in listening too.  Perhaps, wisdom and not pragmatism will prevail if both parties read this and a new approach to government will prevail.  Dare I even dream that it be a government in keeping with the Founders!  I’m not holding my breath.

So, for now, as the Tea Party Movement continues to coalesce around some general principles and the factions fade away…allow this presentation to sink in as We the People continue our march towards liberty from tyrannical rule.

The New Declaration of Independence

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object 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. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these States; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to revert back to its original System of Government. The history of the US Federal Government is a history of repeated infringement and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

The United States Federal Government, supported by progressive statist ideology:

  • Has violated our rights through confiscatory tax policy.  They accomplish this by misusing their legislative powers in Article 1. Section 8. of the U.S. Constitution to legally plunder the wealth of our nation.
  • It has redistributed wealth similar to Karl Marx’s exhortation: “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.”
  • It has used hard-earned taxpayer money to bail-out private companies saddling future generations with a debt they cannot pay.
  • It has committed future generations to over $100 Trillion Dollars of entitlement obligations that cannot be paid.
  • It has whitewashed the free expression on faith and the importance of recognizing the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.
  • It has  ceased to recognize that our rights come only from our Creator, not from the Government which we constituted to serve a limited purpose.
  • It has confiscated property of citizens to hand it over to Corporations and municipalities for unjust purposes.
  • It has  seized authority from the states and the people and outright bribed the states at the expense of the peoples liberty.
  • It has promoted burdensome regulations that reduce the ability of the average American to earn a living.
  • It has  hindered its citizens’ right to bear arms and make their own decisions around protecting themselves and their families from all forms of infringement of their security.
  • It has  neglected its lawful responsibility to thoroughly secure its borders from illegal invaders and to prosecute those found breaking immigration laws within our borders.
  • It has  incessantly and exponentially grown from a limited authoritative body to a tyrannical power imposing its will over the people.

 These are the grievances of We the People.

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An Unlikely States Rights Ally Medical Marijuana!

By on January 28, 2010 in Drug War, Sovereignty Movement, State Sovereignty 16

grow-freedom-squareEditor’s Note: Scheduled to be introduced in Maryland next week – a bill to make medical marijuana legal within the state.

This is classic federal government paint with a “broad brush” methodology and it’s good to see my home state taking a stand.  While I am firmly against drug misuse, the federal government really has itself in a quandary over medical marijuana.  But, this quandary is fully earned by those in power who insist on ignoring the Founders clear reasoning regarding Article 1. Section 8., and its clear limitations on Congress.

First off, it is worth considering that when Congress thought it necessary to “control” substance abuse in prior times, it at least acted constitutionally, passing the 18th Amendment only to repeal it roughly fourteen years later with the 21st Amendment.  This would not be the case with the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970.

Bowing to pressure from the youth revolt of the 1960’s and its connection with drug abuse, Congress in collusion with the Executive Branch, passed this Act, bypassing the Amendment Process.  Rather than following the prescribed process in the U.S. Constitution, relying on the current non-original meaning of the Commerce Clause, Congress felt complete liberty to bypass the Constitution and encumber States from exercising their prerogatives under the 10th Amendment.

Not known as a specific challenge to the very liberal rendering of the Commerce Clause, medical marijuana now poses a real threat to the enforcement power of the Federal Government.  With state after state defying Washington DC over this issue; clearly marijuana is a Schedule 1 controlled substance.  Washington DC has a choice to make; enforce their laws based on a very liberal interpretation of the Commerce Clause by sending thousands of DEA agents into all fifty states…or…look the other way.  Thus far, they’ve chosen to look the other way for if they create the appearance of a Federal takeover of police powers in the States, they will fully expose their extra-constitutional behavior and provoke a direct confrontation with the States who will use the 10th Amendment (hopefully) to defend their prerogatives.

Time will tell how this will play out.  But with more and more States introducing 10th Amendment legislation in their legislatures, the Federal Government hopefully feels the Founders and the Charter Documents they penned nipping at their heels.  This coupled with an ever-growing Tea Party movement intent on defining itself through the Founders vision suggests a new approach to governance may be on the horizon.  An approach that reinvigorates the Original Meaning of the Constitution verses the current Case Law approach which is similar to a ship in the middle of an ocean without a rudder.  This form of governance relies on polls, give-a-ways, power, and loose interpretation’s to govern.  Contrasted with the Founders who relied on their Creator and Natures Law, the principles so eloquently penned, “We hold these truths to be self-evident,” gave direction to a budding form of government.  Will an unlikely ally to liberty, medical marijuana, help us find our way back to those truths?  Again, time will tell, but today, I’m proud to be a Marylander.

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Hypocrisy…No, not from the Tea Party

By on January 27, 2010 in Activism, Elections, Republocrats 13

Got your attention!  Here’s an interesting memo I obtained over at the Atlantic.

freedom-works-internal-memo

This memo, which hasn’t been validated, but is being reported on by Fox News, purports to provide a “Target List” of candidates for the Tea Party to presumably unseat in 2010.  Listing them under the heading of “Enemy of Liberty” or “Potential Enemy of Liberty,” one quickly, with even the most cursory attempt at fairness, concludes that this is not a Tea Party Target List, but instead a republican target list of democrats under the guise of the Tea Party.  How do I conclude this?  Well, assuming the list is accurate, and I see no reason not to, there are 45 names on the list.  Of those 45 names, 42 are democrats (really it’s 44 because 2 of the names are primary challenges).  So, am I to conclude from this that there are no republicans who might be enemies of freedom?

I believe in fair play.  So, I compiled my own list that the real Tea Party might want to take a look at as well.  And please, don’t accuse me of being a democrat plant just trying to counter the republican Freedom Works…I used to work for two republican Members of Congress (though I’m now registered unaffiliated).

Here’s the House and Senate Members that voted FOR Medicare Part D: republican-house-members-who-voted-for-medicare-part-d2; republican-senators-who-voted-for-medicare-part-d

So, why did I highlight Medicare Part D.  Well, according to most analysts, this legislation will far exceed the costs spouted about when this new giveaway of your tax dollars was voted upon in 2003.  And yes, this along with every other entitlement Congress has foisted upon us in its never-ending thirst for power will be paid for by our children.  In this regard, here’s a great quote from an article Bruce Bartlett wrote just last year over at Forbes:

“Just to be clear, the Medicare drug benefit was a pure giveaway with a gross cost greater than either the House or Senate health reform bills how being considered. Together the new bills would cost roughly $900 billion over the next 10 years, while Medicare Part D will cost $1 trillion.”

Befitting the title, each of these Members of Congress have been labeled “Enemies of our Children’s Future” and thus should be on any Tea Party target list.

So, I would caution any group such as Freedom Works from suggesting they might have a “target list” for the Tea Party.  If they had called it a Freedom Works “Target List” this would never have become an issue.  Suggesting we Tea Partiers support this…well, makes us all either hypocrites or worse, makes us wonder if you might think we’re all novices at this.  Hmmm, I wonder which it is?  Perhaps both?

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Decentralizing Our Federal Government – The Only Viable Solution

By on November 23, 2009 in Big Government, Constitution, Liberty, State Sovereignty 9

LibertyTorchSmokeAs we observe the ignoble acts of the Senate this past weekend and our frustrations grow as we see an ever expanding central government devour more liberty and property, it’s time to state the obvious…we must force Washington DC to decentralize. The 9th and 10th Amendments will be our tool.

Implicit in the Declaration and the Constitution is an underlying principle that the final arbiter of power would be We the People.

Make no mistake about it, we’re talking about raw unadulterated power and right now, the possessor of this power lays not with the people, but with a demagogic, domineering, and malignant centralized government; one that has no justification for its actions in the “Original Meaning” of the Founders. The Founders, perhaps with the exception of Hamilton, feared exactly what we have today in Washington DC.

The House and Senate, believing themselves to be the repository of all knowledge, are poised to foist upon the average citizen, by the force of law, a mandate to use their property (money) in a manner other than their choosing. This arrogant travesty should shake us all to the core and inspire action, not mere complaining.

When so-called healthcare reform is passed, the States, supported by We the People, MUST respond forcefully. If we fail or go weak-kneed at this moment of liberty’s greatest need, the great American experiment will be lost forever; there will be no way to roll back the clock.

Therefore, the States, populated by We the People must deploy our greatest Constitutional weapons, the 9th and 10th Amendments. Shortly after ratification, these “Rights” were enshrined in the Bill of Rights and they are in no less force than they were on December 15, 1791. A state or group of states must immediately introduce, and pass not just a resolution of disagreement with the federal government, but legislation that actually defies the federal government. We the People must then force the Governor or Governors to sign it into law and transmit it to Washington DC.

The question really boils down to whether or not We the People of the 21st century are really cut from the same cloth as those in the 18th century. Time will tell.

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The Real National Debate: Hamilton vs Jefferson

By on November 16, 2009 in Big Government, Republocrats 14

Perhaps the status quo is no longer holding; people are growing more and more dissatisfied with their options, whether democrat or republican.

The truth is, the current two-party system always leaves one half of a country ticked off and feeling oppressed.  This begs the question; is this really what the Founders intended 233 years ago when they signed a document that started the country?  Did they really intend Congress to manipulate 3 Clauses in Article 1 Section 8 so as to rack up a $105 trillion dollar debt?  Did they intend to have the 10th Amendment ridiculed like it was by David Shuster on MSNBC?  Did they really want one-half of the country perpetually angry at the other? Continue Reading →

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Is retaking the GOP the real goal of the Tea Party Movement?

By on November 13, 2009 in Activism, Republocrats 4

The two-party system has failed miserably as sadly, both parties support the status quo…BIG GOVERNMENT and therein lies the problem.

The fundamental question is whether this is what the Founders desired?

If we believe the Founders wanted a HUGE bloated ever-encroaching federal bureaucracy, the current two-party system fits the bill.  However, there’s one problem with this scenario, we have to assume the Founders failed to realize that one-half of the country would perpetually be angry at the other.  They must have also failed to realize that this anger would at times be expressed in rather violent terms such as the one I heard yesterday as I attended the “Republican Rally” in Washington DC.  One fella, standing about 15 feet away from me wasn’t content with the “kill the bill” chant.  No, he had to modify it to “kill the traitors” chant of his own.  Fortunately, not many people around him joined in the chant, but I wonder about his friends back home.

So, is the problem really that the GOP isn’t populated with enough “conservative republicans” (whatever that means) and that the republicans aren’t in control?  My experience tells me that’s not the problem.

Think of it this way; let your mind wander to a time where the federal government isn’t allowed, by a binding constitution, to grow to its current size.  What would life be like if the federal government was forced to reduce its spending (and thus our taxes) back to pre-New Deal days of say around 5% of GDP?  That would take the current budget from $3.8 TRILLION down to a more manageable $700 Billion.

Now, with only $700 Billion to spend, perhaps the job of Congressman wouldn’t be as coveted as it is now.  Perhaps the special interests wouldn’t be so tempted to gerrymander elections with less than noble intentions and the Congress would be left largely to focus on their Constitutional responsibilities listed in Article 1. Section 8. of the Constitution.

Hmmm, whatever would they do with their time!

Sadly, this can only be seen if we let our minds wander; for the reality is, the two-party system will never allow this dream to become a reality unless We the People make them.  They love their ruling seats in the Congress.  How do I know this?  I saw it first hand as a Legislative Assistant back in the 1980’s.  Lord Acton was indeed correct, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

EXCERPTED – CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ARTICLE

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