Will We Heed The Warnings Of Our Founders?

Harlingen, Texas, January 30, 2012:  Those of you in America who still think any politician gives a fat pig’s whistle about your problems and anxieties must have arrived here on the last bus from La La Land.  There are only two things in this world the political elite cares about and that is the power they gain by winning their next election and the political party they serve.

As a constitutional conservative I have spent almost uncountable words trying to convince my fellow citizens that today’s two-party political system is as far removed from the Founding Father’s beliefs in meaningful governance as polar bears are from potato pancakes.

It is understood that our government controlled public schools and higher education system has done everything possible to dumb down America and make sure only a limited number of people have any meaningful understanding of a republican form of government.  Toward that objective they have been very successful and today we have the most politically ignorant society in more than two centuries of America.  With less than a full year of government being taught in twelve years of public education, not much is absorbed by young student brains.

Our Founding Fathers had complete distain for any political party or faction.  It was their feeling that once such factions were formed, citizen loyalty would shift to the political party, to the detriment of the country as a whole.  Under a republican (that is republican with a small “r”) form of government, all politics is supposed to be rational, collaborative and beneficial to all.  The Founders strongly believed that any political process should be about identifying the common good in a process where both politicians and voters calmly sorted out what best served the entire community or country.  The forming of factions within such a body of individuals was seen as not only disruptive, but detrimental to the establishment of good governance.

If there was ever a time in our country when the Founding Fathers were proven to be right on target, that time is now.  There is not a single candidate on any side of the political spectrum who can display an unbiased approach to governing the nation.  From the distortions voiced by Barack Obama to the whining complaints of Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich we can clearly see prime examples of everything that is wrong with our political system.

Among the many statements Thomas Jefferson made on government, there are two we should always remember, “The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind.” He also said “The democracy will cease when you take away from those who are willing to work and give it to those who would not.” Do those words sound as if the man who wrote the original draft of the Declaration of Independence was out of tune with today’s America?

Benjamin in Franklin, our first Ambassador to France, who also helped draft the Declaration of Independence warned, “The U.S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it.  You have to catch up with it yourself.” He also chided “Those who give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety.”

Alexander Hamilton was a Major General in the Army and the primary contributor to the Federalist Papers.  He strongly felt, “In framing a government which is administered by men over men the great difficultly lies in this:  You must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next oblige it to control itself.” He is also known for his famous quote used to support Second Amendment rights, “A well regulated militia, composed of a body of the people, trained in arms, is the best most natural defense of a free country.”

In the words of John Adams, our second President, “”Because power corrupts, society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.  Power always thinks…that it is doing God’s service when it is violating all his laws.”

The man who served on our first committee to detect and defeat conspiracies was John Jay.  He could well have been thinking of something such as Obamacare when he wrote, “No power on earth has the right to take our property without our consent.” The author of our Bill of Rights, James Madison warned, “The truth is…that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.”

All of the Founders saw danger in political factions.  They knew that once these bands of like minds joined together they would be almost impossible to dislodge.  They knew that once parties formed the desire to protect and defend the country would fall into second place in men’s hearts.  And right they were.  Before George Washington finished his time in office as our firth President, political parties started forming.  He saw this happening and warned the nation…”Government is not reason.  It is not eloquent, it is force, and it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” If we don’t act with wisdom, that fearful master Washington warned us about will take hold and be next to impossible to dislodge.

Veterans and Military Retirees Always Political Targets

Harlingen, Texas, November 2, 2011:  There are several things you can always count on when it comes election time in Washington.  You can be sure President Barrack Obama Veterans will want to take a big cut out of the military budget and he will pick up a large piece of that budget reduction from retired service personnel.  You can count on the Democrats to follow his lead like sheep.  You can count on the Senate Armed Services Committee to act against the military retirees of the country.  Most of all, you can count on Senator Carl Levin, the Chairman and long serving Democrat from Michigan to find something in the budget for military retirees that is too expensive.  The next thing you can be sure of is Senator John McCain, the ranking Republican member of that committee, will be all over the map when it comes to veteran and retiree issues.

These two esteemed political careerists have combined forces to advocate for Tricare for Life enrollment fees starting at $200 now and escalating by another $100 the following year.  These fees will then escalate annually for the Tricare for Life services that were voted into law for military retirees over age 65. 

This law was passed following decades of litigation that ended up in the Supreme Court.  The retirees have always contended that across their many years of military service the country has promised them that if they served in uniform faithfully for twenty or more years, they would be provided earned health care for life.  The Supreme Court ruled that even though the armed forces had repeatedly made such promises and that these promises were known in the highest offices of the nation, there had been no legislation passed to make the promises either legal or binding.  Not long after this an embarrassed Congress passed Tricare for Life into law.  It was not a law that corrected the nation’s decades of lying to its career military personnel, but it was a token part of the promise.  Tricare for Life is a supplement to Medicare.  Even though the military retiree must enroll and pay the premiums for Medicare at age 65, he or she does now have the promised earned healthcare coverage that takes care of those costs Medicare does not assume.

But, Carl Levin, a man who has never worn the uniform of his country, thinks those aged military warriors have too much of a gravy train.  Joined in his crusade by the Arizona Senator McCain whose strange view seems to be that everything legislative has originated in the Washington Pork Barrel, is taking his shot at the same military retirees of which he is a member.  The only difference is most of those warriors don’t have millionaire wives to pick up the cost of their enrollment fees.

Veterans and military retirees are always easy targets for the political elite in Washington.  You can almost count on some politician bringing up a bill to cut benefits for members of the warrior clan during any election cycle.  In a country of 330 million people, only about ten percent of that population has ever seen any type of military service.  Less than 1% made the armed forces their career.  Added to these figures are the small numbers of veterans and retirees who belong to organizations such as the American Legion or the VFW.  Younger veterans do not seem inclined to join groups, while the older members are passing from this life in record numbers.  Thus, with little organization and a Department of Veterans Affairs that does little in the way of fighting for veteran and retiree rights, politicians have almost a free reign when it comes to attacking those who served with honor.

The political parties in power do their best to make sure the 43 million Americans on food stamps receive their financial allotments in a timely manner. They make sure the 16 to 18 million children of unwed mothers in America continue to receive needed welfare aid.

Then they quickly ignore the 25% of veterans who are homeless. Washington never sees the millions of under clothed, hungry and hopeless veterans that constantly roam the streets of our nation. They rely on the generous citizens of this country to provide supplemental care and benefits for our wounded warriors, because politicians refuse to give these heroes of wars which were politically created, the medical care they require and deserve.

The list of wrongful treatment of veterans and retired military personnel by the political class could go on forever.  It must end.  The way to make that happens is for more and more veterans to seek political office. With less than 40 members of Congress having worn the uniform of this nation, they will never understand the veteran…or care about the well being of our nation’s warriors.

Even Today There Is No Room At The Inn

All we have to understand that night so many years ago are the biblical renditions of our Christian story.  When they arrived in Bethlehem, there was no room at the inn.  That tale of being filled to capacity is replayed time and time again as the helpless, homeless and hungry of America seek any relief they can find.

“That is impossible”, people retort.  We have government programs, food stamps, housing projects, bailouts and stimulus legislation.  We have given the poor more than two years worth of unemployment checks.  Everyone has been taken care of by the government.  That such benefits have been provided is true.  That people are not hurting is false…and wrong.

From this vantage point we can only provide an antidotal view on how our national debt and devastated economy are impacting the least fortunate of our bothers and sisters.  Even though Harlingen, Texas may have the most modern and expansive facility in the nation to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless, Loaves and Fishes of the Rio Grande Valley is still negatively impacted by an ever increasing demand for services, diminishing dollars and its space filling to capacity.  In some cases, even this shelter has been forced to say…”there is no room at the inn.”

At Loaves and Fishes the increased needs of both the hungry and the homeless started to markedly increase in May 2010.  At that time the feeding program was serving just over 9,000 hot meals a month.  By July that number had increased to more than 10,300 meals served.  One year later the average had grown to more than 11,500 hot meals a month.  When the total meals served from January through September of 2010 are tabulated the number is 95,154 plates of food provided for the hungry.  Using the same monthly figures for 2011, Loaves and Fishes has served 102,371 hot meals to the poor.

If we look back at the holiday season of 2010, it can be seen that for the homeless of America the past, present and future remain bleak.  By December 2010 Loaves and Fishes had given warm beds to those without homes on 6894 bed nights.  In tabulating the use of a shelter, a bed night is one person sleeping in one shelter bed for a single night.

Has the homeless situation improved in South Texas?  No, it remains a concern here, as it is across the country.  Though the bed night total for 2010 had not been reached by September 2011, even with the hot Texas summer and very little rain, the number of people requiring shelter had reached 6248 bed nights, only 400 shy of the 2010 total usage.  With October still upon us, Loaves and Fishes have already reached the total bed nights of one year ago.  As the weather turns colder and winter nears it is frightening to contemplate what bed night total will be reported by year’s end.

Though the actual percentage of increased shelter use seems slight at this time, it does not tell the complete story.  By October of this year there were already more women and children seeking shelter than for the entire year of 2010.  By September there had been a 130% increase in the number of women and children seeking a place to lay down their heads at night.  There were so many, that Executive Director Pastor Bill Reagan was forced to tell them no room remained for them in the facility, while at the same time he searched for other beds they could sleep in at neighboring locales.

Soon winter will knock on the door of Loaves and Fishes. Its Board of Directors understand this and are already making plans for increased shelter needs during those cold nights of late November through February.  They have assured there is a supply of cots that can be put in place in the halls and dining room to accommodate any overflow.  At Loaves and Fishes of the Rio Grande Valley it is difficult for anyone to ever say “there is no room at the inn.”

Sometimes A Joke Will Make You Cry

Harlingen, Texas, September 23, 2011:  Quite often in an attempt to make light of bad situations, we offer up jokes about the causes of our discomfort.  For example, there is the very old joke, which goes…Question:  What is the difference between Congress and the Boy Scouts?  Answer:  The Boy Scouts have adult leadership.  Yet, when you take time to evaluate the core of that gag line, the truth of the statement should bring tears to every eye in America.  The void in leadership across that entire legislative body is so immense it staggers the imagination.

We send our senators and members of the House of Representatives to Washington with the understanding they will serve as the voice of the people.  Nowhere in the Constitution does it say they will serve as representatives of their political party.  Somehow, over the course of time, the purpose of those offices has been high jacked by the multiple special interests that believe the dollars they bestow upon their favorite lackeys buys them the governance of this nation.

Another truism that infects Washington can be found in the salaries and benefits we have allowed our elected officials to accumulate.  Remember when you read these numbers that Congress votes all of this for itself. 

People tend to judge their worth and position in society by the amount of money in their pockets.  The more money you have, the more important you are in a county that must keep a scorecard on its people.  With that rule of measurement the “average” family in the USA is a group of four people who have a combined income of about $51,000 a year.  We have also determined that any family of four with an income of below $22,000 a year is living in poverty.  These are the “poor” of America.  Our President has determined that if our salary is $200,000 or more as individuals, we have joined the class of “Millionaires and Billionaires”.

Now let us look at the people we have sent to Congress.  The Speaker of the House draws a salary of $223,500, so we can assume he is at least a millionaire.  The majority and minority leaders of the both the House and Senate draw salaries of $193,400, so they are close to the mark.  All other members have salaries of $174,000. 

This does not include a minimum of almost $10,000 a year each member receives to travel inside the United States or the unlimited amounts he or she can consume on foreign travel junkets.  Toss in some princely benefits such as free postage for congressional communications, their own private dining rooms, lavish furnishing allowances at the start of terms, their own gym, heavy social life, plus staffs ranging from 18 to 22 aides for representatives and between 26 and 60 aides for senators, depending upon the size of their state, plus office allowances, computer allowances and other undisclosed funds all add up to a very privileged position in life. 

The maximum salaries paid each one of these assistants can be as high as $155,000 a year, perhaps higher.  And all of this help is for elected officials who normally put in four days a week or less in Washington, can’t pass any meaningful legislation and haven’t even passed a budget in two years.

Now to be fair, all members of Congress do pay into Social Security.  This has been the law since 1984.  When they passed that piece of legislation, they also included an increase in their own salaries to cover the amount they would be required to pay into the system.  Oh yes, they also receive an annual cost of living adjustment added to their paychecks…unless they vote to reject that raise.

So, since in America we measure personal importance by the size of our paycheck, these are the princes and princesses we have placed next to that Imperial Throne called the White House.  When you look at it very closely and think very hard about the amount of value we are receiving for all of those dollars spent, it must sound like a very bad joke…and it must also make the people of America cry.