Senator Bernie Sanders Denigrates American Character While Praising Europeans

Senator Bernie Sanders is the antithesis of what makes this country great.  This man doesn’t understand federalism and the principles for which it stands.  This man takes an oath to uphold those very principles and then breaks it every chance he gets.  The people of Vermont should be ashamed of themselves for sending this mental midget to the Senate.

I am sick of hearing European paeans by American congressmen.  If these officials are so enamored by the old world, may I suggest they pack their bags and move there?  If they actually had to live under this European utopia, maybe they would have a better appreciation for our system of governance.  I for one am happy my ancestors immigrated to this great country.

Senator Bernie Sanders has leveled a charge that America is not a compassionate country.  Maybe that’s because he doesn’t understand it, or his views are so perverted and hateful he’s incapable of seeing the wheat from the chaff. 

The American character, which is unique in all of world history, is renowned for acts of charity and sense of community.  Alexis De Tocqueville wrote about it in his Democracy in America:

In America, not only do institutions belong to the community but also they are kept alive and supported by a community spirit.

The New England township possesses two advantages which strongly arouse the interest of men, namely independence and authority. Its sphere of action is indeed restricted but, within that sphere, its movements are unlimited. This independence alone guarantees it real importance even though its populations and size would not warrant it.

It is best to realize that men’s affections, in general, come down on the side of authority. Patriotism does not long prevail in a conquered nation. The inhabitant of New England is devoted to his township, not because he was born there as much as because he views the township as a strong, free social body of which he is part and which merits the care he devotes to its management.

In Europe, governments often bewail the absence of this community spirit, for everyone agrees that it is an ingredient in public order and tranquility, even though they do not know how to create it. By making the township strong and independent, they are afraid they might disintegrate the social fabric and expose the state to the forces of anarchy. Once you remove the strength and independence of the township, you will reduce the citizens to administrative units.

Isn’t that what Progressives are trying to do to us?  Are they not reducing us to administrative units?  For over a hundred years, these people have schemed to change Americans into manageable and reliant serfs. 

I can attest to the “compassion” of progressives.  A couple of years ago, I found my neighbor lying beside a dumpster.  He had a brain tumor which paralyzed his lower extremities.  He couldn’t move.  I tried to pick him up and put him in my car so as to take him to the hospital.  He was too heavy for me to do it alone, so I asked my other neighbor for help.   His girlfriend told me to call 9/11 and let them deal with it.  She was quite willing to turn her back on this poor man, who she knew, lie beside a stinking dumpster.  She voted for Bernie Sanders.

Americans are a compassionate people, its people like Bernie Sanders and his army of progressives who aren’t.

 Source:

http://costonscomplaint.blogspot.com/2010/04/destruction-of-community-spirit.html

The Federal Government Has Not Yet Conquered the American People

What does it mean to be an American?  I believe if you asked that question to a modern day citizen he would be perplexed.  Most wouldn’t know what to say.  Some would be scared and decry that you’re violating their safe space.  I’ve come to the conclusion that we have a serious indentify crisis.

Last week’s presidential debate is indicative of how far we’ve fallen as a people.  No longer do we contemplate the Constitution of the United States and the principles for which we stand.  Instead, we have central planners proposing government solutions, usually for problems they caused, by pandering to the wants of others.

 

Free stuff is not an American ideal.  However, that seems to be the prevailing sentiment in the Age of Obama.  That kind of attitude is sentient with the seven deadly sins which undermines self-respect and community spirit. 

 There is such a thing as American exceptionalism despite what Democrats say.  Alexis de Tocqueville stated the following:

In America, not only do institutions belong to the community but also they are kept alive and supported by a community spirit.

The New England township possesses two advantages which strongly arouse the interest of men, namely independence and authority. Its sphere of action is indeed restricted but, within that sphere, its movements are unlimited. This independence alone guarantees it real importance even though its populations and size would not warrant it.

It is best to realize that men’s affections, in general, come down on the side of authority. Patriotism does not long prevail in a conquered nation. The inhabitant of New England is devoted to his township, not because he was born there as much as because he views the township as a strong, free social body of which he is part and which merits the care he devotes to its management.

In Europe, governments often bewail the absence of this community spirit, for everyone agrees that it is an ingredient in public order and tranquility, even though they do not know how to create it. By making the township strong and independent, they are afraid they might disintegrate the social fabric and expose the state to the forces of anarchy. Once you remove the strength and independence of the township, you will reduce the citizens to administrative units.

Democrats have reduced local communities and states to administrative units.  These central planners demand our undying loyalty while undermining the institutions that made this country great.  Our patriotism is not to the Federal Government of America.  We are not yet a conquered people.

Source:

http://costonscomplaint.blogspot.com/2010/04/destruction-of-community-spirit.html

What is the Proper Role of Federal, State and Local Governments

What is the proper role of federal, state and local governments?  There was a time when Americans knew.  Now, thanks to Progressives, those lines have been blurred.  I posted this a couple of years ago.  Read to the end, when Tocqueville describes what happens to people who do not understand federalism.

Alexis de Tocqueville when traveling the United State in the early 1800’s wrote about Americans and their familiarity with the role of federal, state and local governments. He also wrote about the fate of countries who tried to replicate our style of government without understanding it.

Here is an excerpt from his Democracy in America:

Once the general theory is well understood, the difficulties of applying it remain; these are countless because the sovereignty of the Union is so entwined in that of the states that it is impossible at first glance to see its limits. Everything in such a government is arbitrary and contrived and it can only suit a nation long accustomed to self-government and where political science reaches right down to the lowest rungs of society. Nothing has made me admire the good sense and practical intelligence of the Americans more than the way they evade the countless difficulties which derive from their federal constitution. I have scarcely ever encountered a single man of the common people in America who did not perceive with surprising ease the obligations entailed in the laws of Congress and those which owe their beginnings to the laws of his own state, nor who could not separate the matters belonging to the general prerogatives of the Union from those regulated by his local legislature and who could not point to where the competence of the federal courts begins and the limitation of the state tribunals ends.


Do the above describe today’s average American? I don’t think so. Just look at the courts of today. The federal judiciary is usurping the powers of the state tribunals. The federal government is dictating to the states and its citizens what it can and can’t do. Is this what our founding fathers envisioned?


Tocqueville further states what happens to those nations who replicate, but don’t follow the SPIRIT of our Constitution as understood by our founding fathers:


The Constitution of the United States is akin to those fine creations of human endeavor which crown their inventors with renown and wealth but remain sterile in others hands.

Contemporary Mexico has illustrated this very thing.

The Mexicans, aiming for a federal system, took the federal constitution of their neighbors, the Anglo-Americans, as their model and copied it almost exactly. But although they transported the letter of the law, they failed to transfer at the same time the spirit which gave it life. As a result, they became tangled endlessly in the machinery of the double system of government. The sovereignty of the states and Union entered into a collision course as they exceeded the sphere of influence assigned to them by the constitution. Even today Mexico veers constantly from anarchy to military despotism and back again.

H/T: Video NC Renegade

Source: http://costonscomplaint.blogspot.com/2010/07/can-united-states-become-another-mexico.html

Our Amnesty Mess

Bill Whittle nails it straight on.  Mexico – and Latin American in general – are dysfunctional.  They have been ever since the beginning of the Western Hemisphere.  We can expect to have immigration problems with our southern neighbors until we ourselves become as dysfunctional as they.  And considering the mass invasion from the Third-World, it could possibly happen within my lifetime.

Alexis de Tocqueville wrote about Mexico when he toured the United States in the 1800’s.  His observations are as true today as they were in the 19^th century.

The Constitution of the United States is akin to those fine creations of human endeavor which crown their inventors with renown and wealth but remain sterile in others hands.

Contemporary Mexico has illustrated this very thing.

The Mexicans, aiming for a federal system, took the federal constitution of their neighbors, the Anglo-Americans, as their model and copied it almost exactly. But although they transported the letter of the law, they failed to transfer at the same time the spirit which gave it life. As a result, they became tangled endlessly in the machinery of the double system of government. The sovereignty of the states and Union entered into a collision course as they exceeded the sphere of influence assigned to them by the constitution. Even today Mexico veers constantly from anarchy to military despotism and back again.

We are on the same collision course.  Most Americans cannot distinguish our double system of government.  Our federalist system is lost upon them.  It took many years for the Progressives to destroy our heritage.  We now have congressmen who state they aren’t constitutional scholars when confronted about their acts.  And these people are supposed to the best and brightest amongst us.

Alexis de Tocqueville marveled at how well the common man understood our dual system.  And they weren't constitutional scholars.

Once the general theory is well understood, the difficulties of applying it remain; these are countless because the sovereignty of the Union is so entwined in that of the states that it is impossible at first glance to see its limits. Everything in such a government is arbitrary and contrived and it can only suit a nation long accustomed to self-government and where political science reaches right down to the lowest rungs of society. Nothing has made me admire the good sense and practical intelligence of the Americans more than the way they evade the countless difficulties which derive from their federal constitution. I have scarcely ever encountered a single man of the common people in America who did not perceive with surprising ease the obligations entailed in the laws of Congress and those which owe their beginnings to the laws of his own state, nor who could not separate the matters belonging to the general prerogatives of the Union from those regulated by his local legislature and who could not point to where the competence of the federal courts begins and the limitation of the state tribunals ends.

 Mexico here we come!

H/T:  NC Renegade

Gov. Chris Christie Squawking for Federal Relief Teat

Governor Chris Christie is throwing his substantial ass around.  He’s disappointed that the U.S. Congress didn’t authorize a pork laden relief bill for the Hurricane Sandy victims.  We’re over $16 trillion in debt, but that means nothing to the teat squawkers.

This nation has had plenty of natural disasters.  There once was a time when the citizens of this country didn’t wait around for a federal bureaucrat to take care of them.  Instead, they rolled up their sleeves and went to work.

 

A seminal point in Bank of America’s history came during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.  The city was decimated.  Here is an account of what happened: 

Two years after the Bank of Italy was founded, the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906 occurred, which was a 7.7-8.25 earthquake that resulted in 80% of the city being destroyed, over 3,000 deaths, and around 200,000-300,000 of the city’s 410,000 population left homeless, because of the earthquake and subsequent fires. The Bank of Italy managed to be the only bank able to open back up directly after the earthquake, despite the fact that the bank building itself was unusable. Directly after the earthquake happened in the very early hours of the morning, Giannini went and sifted through the rubble of his building and gathered $2 million into a garbage man’s wagon, owned by Giobatta Cepollina whose son would go on to work for Bank of America because of a promise made by Giannini to Cepollina in exchange for use of his wagon. Cepollina’s son was able to retire from Bank of American at 41. After gathering the money, Giannini then took it outside of town, covered in garbage to protect it.

Next, he headed out to the docks and setup a temporary bank with two barrels and a piece of wood as his desk. He then began taking deposits and giving loans to help not only businesses, but also the working class, so that they’d have the money they needed to rebuild their homes and their lives. At that time, none of the other banks had re-opened and most did not do so for several weeks, so few who kept their money in banks had access to it and many others had lost everything in fires. Giannini also immediately sent two ships to Washington and Oregon to acquire large amounts of lumber to try to work around the inevitable materials shortage that he foresaw. That lumber comprised most of the lumber available in the early stages of rebuilding San Francisco.

Because so many had lost everything, Giannini gave these people loans based on nothing but a signature and a handshake. He supposedly never tired of mentioning to other bank big-wigs that wouldn’t loan to the common man that every single loan he made that way to so many working class individuals was ultimately repaid in full.

I believe we as Americans have come to a crossroad.  We’ve become what Alexis de Tocqueville warned about in his Democracy in America:

 

After all, what good is it to me to have an authority always ready to see to the tranquil enjoyment of my pleasures, to brush away all dangers from my path without my having to think about them, if such an authority, as well as removing thorns from under my feet, is also the absolute master of my freedom or if it so takes over all activity and life that around it all must languish when it languishes, sleep when it sleeps and perish when it perishes.

There are European nations where the inhabitant sees himself as a kind of settler, indifferent to the fate of the place he inhabits. Major changes happen there without his cooperation, he is even unaware of what precisely has happened; he is suspicious; he hears about events by chance. Worse still, the condition of his village, the policing of the roads, the fate of the churches and presbyteries scarcely bothers him; he thinks that everything is outside his concern and belongs to a powerful stranger called the government. He enjoys what he has as a tenant, without any feeling of ownership or thought of possible improvement. This detachment from his own fate becomes so extreme that, if his own safety or that of his children is threatened, instead of trying to ward off the danger, he folds his arms and waits for the entire nation to come to his rescue.

De Tocqueville concludes:

When nations have reached this point, they have to modify their laws and customs or perish, for the spring of public virtue has, as it were, dried up. Subjects still exist but citizens are no more.

Are we subjects or citizens?  I’m beginning to wonder.

Source:  http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/06/the-real-life-george-bailey-who-founded-bank-of-italy-which-became-bank-of-america/#vM76U4Q6qyzfmkQR.99

All Hail, The Teat Squawker Nation!

 

Congratulations teat squawker nation!  You showed us alright.  You marched to the polls and demanded your fair share.  You pulled the lever for government dependence, and retribution on those who dared to make something of themselves.  Stand by your participation trophies and pat yourself on the back, because you’re so special.

Not only did you show those “old white guys” in the GOP who runs this country, you also flipped the middle finger at those “dirty Jews” in Israel.  If anyone denied the holocaust in WWII, they sure as hell won’t be able to do that this time around.  After all, those Zionist have it coming.  Don’t they?

Yes teat squawker, you’ve fundamentally changed this country.  The whole world heard your lip smacking and took notice; especially our enemies, and they thank you.  You’ve proven to them that America is no longer exceptional.  European socialism is what you wanted, and that’s what you’re about to get.  Here is an excerpt from Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America.  I believe it applies to this new generation of “Americans.”

After all, what good is it to me to have an authority always ready to see to the tranquil enjoyment of my pleasures, to brush away all dangers from my path without my having to think about them, if such an authority, as well as removing thorns from under my feet, is also the absolute master of my freedom or if it so takes over all activity and life that around it all must languish when it languishes, sleep when it sleeps and perish when it perishes.

There are European nations where the inhabitant sees himself as a kind of settler, indifferent to the fate of the place he inhabits. Major changes happen there without his cooperation, he is even unaware of what precisely has happened; he is suspicious; he hears about events by chance. Worse still, the condition of his village, the policing of the roads, the fate of the churches and presbyteries scarcely bothers him; he thinks that everything is outside his concern and belongs to a powerful stranger called the government. He enjoys what he has as a tenant, without any feeling of ownership or thought of possible improvement. This detachment from his own fate becomes so extreme that, if his own safety or that of his children is threatened, instead of trying to ward off the danger, he folds his arms and waits for the entire nation to come to his rescue.

Tocqueville concludes:

When nations have reached this point, they have to modify their laws and customs or perish, for the spring of public virtue has, as it were, dried up. Subjects still exist but citizens are no more.

 The 2012 election proved just that: we are subjects.  Again, I want to thank the teat squawkers for putting this incompetent statist back into office.  And just keep reminding yourselves that you’re so – so special.

Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Uses Rogue Retort While Violating Your Rights

Kathleen Sebelius looked the fool in a committee hearing. Rep. Gowdy (R-SC) asked the Secretary of Human and Health Services where in the Constitution she derives her power to mandate religious organizations to provide contraceptives, sterilizations, and abortion inducing drugs. Sebelius responded that she isn’t a Constitutional scholar and that she acted upon the advice of “lawyers.”

How many times have we heard rogues like Kathleen Sebelius resort to this line of defense? The Constitution is not that long; it’s about six pages, not including amendments. It’s not that difficult. But there are people who resent having their power limited, and they need lawyers to circumvent the law of the land and impose their will upon all of us.




When Alexis de Tocqueville traveled the United State in the early 1800’s, he wrote about Americans and their familiarity with the U.S. Constitution and the defining roles of federal, state and local governments.

Here is an excerpt from his Democracy in America:

Once the general theory is well understood, the difficulties of applying it remain; these are countless because the sovereignty of the Union is so entwined in that of the states that it is impossible at first glance to see its limits. Everything in such a government is arbitrary and contrived and it can only suit a nation long accustomed to self-government and where political science reaches right down to the lowest rungs of society. Nothing has made me admire the good sense and practical intelligence of the Americans more than the way they evade the countless difficulties which derive from their federal constitution. I have scarcely ever encountered a single man of the common people in America who did not perceive with surprising ease the obligations entailed in the laws of Congress and those which owe their beginnings to the laws of his own state, nor who could not separate the matters belonging to the general prerogatives of the Union from those regulated by his local legislature and who could not point to where the competence of the federal courts begins and the limitation of the state tribunals ends.

Isn’t it funny that the common citizen in the 1800’s didn’t have to consult a constitutional lawyer to verify the role of government with Tocqueville? Ask that question today, and you’ll get a perplexed look and a bill from the firm Dewey, Cheatem and Howe.Source: http://aclj.org/obamacare/secretary-sebelius-ignorant-constitution

Oklahoma Loses 10th Amendment Right in Federal Court Power Grab

Once again we are witness to the transgressions of a federal court. Oklahoma passed a state law that forbade judges from considering international and Sharia law in their decisions. CAIR, a subversive Islamic organization, sued. The end result is another federal government power grab.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a ruling released Tuesday, affirmed an order by a district court judge in 2010 that halted the law from taking effect. The ruling also allows a Muslim community leader in Oklahoma City to continue his legal challenge of the law's constitutionality.


The measure, known as State Question 755, was approved with 70 percent of the vote in 2010. The law is an amendment to the state constitution and bars courts from considering the legal precepts of other nations or cultures. "Specifically, the courts shall not consider international law or Sharia law," the law reads.

The appellate court opinion pointed out that proponents of the law admitted to not knowing of a single instance in which an Oklahoma court applied Shariah law or the legal precepts of other countries.

"This serves as a reminder that these anti-Shariah laws are unconstitutional and that if politicians use fear-mongering and bigotry, the courts won't allow it to last for long," said Muneer Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Oklahoma. Awad sued to block the law, contending that it infringed on his First Amendment rights.

What is unconstitutional is a federal court interfering in state law. The federal government has no claims on the internal business of Oklahoma. Our federalist system, which promotes and celebrates self-governance, is slowly turning into despotic state. And predator organizations like CAIR are benefitting from this power grab.

We as a people once knew the limitations and prerogatives of federal and state governments. Alexis de Tocqueville when traveling the United State in the early 1800’s documented Americans knowledge of the differing roles of each body. He also wrote about the fate of countries who tried to replicate our style of government without understanding it. Here is an excerpt from his Democracy in America:

Once the general theory is well understood, the difficulties of applying it remain; these are countless because the sovereignty of the Union is so entwined in that of the states that it is impossible at first glance to see its limits. Everything in such a government is arbitrary and contrived and it can only suit a nation long accustomed to self-government and where political science reaches right down to the lowest rungs of society. Nothing has made me admire the good sense and practical intelligence of the Americans more than the way they evade the countless difficulties which derive from their federal constitution. I have scarcely ever encountered a single man of the common people in America who did not perceive with surprising ease the obligations entailed in the laws of Congress and those which owe their beginnings to the laws of his own state, nor who could not separate the matters belonging to the general prerogatives of the Union from those regulated by his local legislature and who could not point to where the competence of the federal courts begins and the limitation of the state tribunals ends.


Tocqueville further states what happens to those nations who replicate, but don’t follow the SPIRIT of our Constitution as understood by our founding fathers:

The Constitution of the United States is akin to those fine creations of human endeavor which crown their inventors with renown and wealth but remain sterile in others hands.
Contemporary Mexico has illustrated this very thing.

The Mexicans, aiming for a federal system, took the federal constitution of their neighbors, the Anglo-Americans, as their model and copied it almost exactly. But although they transported the letter of the law, they failed to transfer at the same time the spirit which gave it life. As a result, they became tangled endlessly in the machinery of the double system of government. The sovereignty of the states and Union entered into a collision course as they exceeded the sphere of influence assigned to them by the constitution. Even today Mexico veers constantly from anarchy to military despotism and back again.


Is this our fate? We have federal judges who don’t know the limitatations of their power; worse, we Americans have no understanding of our federalist system. Are we destined to be like Mexico? Are predators like CAIR setting up shadow governments in the United States just like their brethren in Great Britain? Will we become another third-world country like Mexico? According to Tocqueville’s analysis we are well on our way to serfdom.

Source: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/01/10/2344789/oklahomas-islamic-law-amendment.html#storylink=cpy

Can the United States Become Another Mexico?

An informed and engaged populace is necessary for the survival of our Union. In the early years of our republic, ordinary citizens would discuss the intricacies of the powers delegated to the federal government and the rights that are reserved to the states and ultimately to the people.


Today, if you ask a congressman about the constitutionality of a piece of legislation, they will state they are not Constitutional scholars; or just outright laugh in your face.

Alexis de Tocqueville when traveling the United State in the early 1800’s wrote about Americans and their familiarity with the role of federal, state and local governments. He also wrote about the fate of countries who tried to replicate our style of government without understanding it.

Here is an excerpt from his Democracy in America:

Once the general theory is well understood, the difficulties of applying it remain; these are countless because the sovereignty of the Union is so entwined in that of the states that it is impossible at first glance to see its limits. Everything in such a government is arbitrary and contrived and it can only suit a nation long accustomed to self-government and where political science reaches right down to the lowest rungs of society. Nothing has made me admire the good sense and practical intelligence of the Americans more than the way they evade the countless difficulties which derive from their federal constitution. I have scarcely ever encountered a single man of the common people in America who did not perceive with surprising ease the obligations entailed in the laws of Congress and those which owe their beginnings to the laws of his own state, nor who could not separate the matters belonging to the general prerogatives of the Union from those regulated by his local legislature and who could not point to where the competence of the federal courts begins and the limitation of the state tribunals ends.


Do the above describe today’s average American? I don’t think so. Just look at the courts of today. The federal judiciary is usurping the powers of the state tribunals. The federal government is dictating to the states and its citizens what it can and can’t do. Is this what our founding fathers envisioned?


Tocqueville further states what happens to those nations who replicate, but don’t follow the SPIRIT of our Constitution as understood by our founding fathers:


The Constitution of the United States is akin to those fine creations of human endeavor which crown their inventors with renown and wealth but remain sterile in others hands.

Contemporary Mexico has illustrated this very thing.

The Mexicans, aiming for a federal system, took the federal constitution of their neighbors, the Anglo-Americans, as their model and copied it almost exactly. But although they transported the letter of the law, they failed to transfer at the same time the spirit which gave it life. As a result, they became tangled endlessly in the machinery of the double system of government. The sovereignty of the states and Union entered into a collision course as they exceeded the sphere of influence assigned to them by the constitution. Even today Mexico veers constantly from anarchy to military despotism and back again.


Imagine that! We could become just like Mexico: another third world hell hole. I guess that is one way to solve our immigration problem

Mexico: Observations of a Failed State

The above teacher is an example of someone who does not appreciate the country in which he lives. He, like many others, has not acculturated to the customs of this great nation; as a matter of fact he resents the success of a people who forged a world superpower out of a lawless wilderness.

Mexico is a failed state. Not only is it a failed state now, but it has always been one. Alexis de Tocqueville the Frenchman who toured the United States in the early 1800's observed:

The Constitution of the United States is akin to those fine creations of human endeavor which crown their inventors with renown and wealth but remain sterile in other hands.

Contemporary Mexico has illustrated this very thing.

The Mexicans, aiming for a federal system, took the federal constitution of their neighbors, the Anglo-Americans, as their model and copied it almost exactly. But although they transported the letter of the law, they failed to transfer at the same time the spirit which gave it life. As a result, they became tangled endlessly in the machinery of their double system of government. The sovereignty of states and Union entered into a collision course as they exceeded the sphere of influence assigned to them by the constitution. Even today Mexico veers constantly from anarchy to military despotism and back again.

Tocqueville further observes:

To the south, the Union has one point of contact with the Mexican Empire, where one day serious wars may well develop. But for a long time to come the backward state of civilization, the degeneration of its morals, and its extreme poverty will stand in the way of any hope of achieving high status among nations.

Tocqueville's observations are true today as they were in the 1800's. Mexico, and for that matter, Latin America as a whole is a failed culture. And the only safety valve that these poor oppressed people can turn to is the United States. Unfortunately they refuse to accept the culture of their adopted country, and want to turn us into the hell hole from which they escaped.

National Prayer Day is Unconstitutional?

Last month a Wisconsin federal judge ruled that National Prayer Day was unconstitutional:

A Wisconsin federal judge on Thursday found the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional, saying it violates the First Amendment prohibition against laws respecting an establishment of religion.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Barbara B. Crabb of the Western District of Wisconsin was a victory for the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation.

The group had sued the Bush and later Obama administrations in an effort to block the presidents from making their annual proclamations inviting Americans to set aside a day for prayer or meditation.

Anne Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the foundation and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, heralded Crabb's decision as courageous.

"It's an invasion of the freedom of conscience of Americans to have their president direct their prayer or tell them to pray," said Gaylor, whose organization claims a membership of nearly 15,000 freethinkers, agnostics and atheists across North America.

So we have a handful of malcontents who wish to impose their ideologue on the rest of us. What is worse, we have a federal judge that not only has misinterpreted the First Amendment, but also has no historical understanding of our country.

Alexis de Tocqueville understood the character of this great nation when he wrote his Democracy in America in the early 1800’s:

I have expressed enough to characterize Anglo-American civilization in its true colors. This civilization is the result (and this is something we must always bear in mind) of two quite distinct ingredients which anywhere else have often ended in war but which Americans have succeeded somehow to meld together in wondrous harmony; namely the spirit of religion and the spirit of liberty.

Tocqueville further adds:

Liberty looks upon religion as its companion in its struggle and triumphs, as the cradle of its young life, as the divine source of its claims. It considers religion as the guardian of morality, morality as the guarantee of law and the security that freedom will last.

Let us contrast that with the following statement:

"I find it both troubling and dangerous that so many zealous believers in any religion want to legislate their particular understanding of faith and God for everyone else," said the Rev. Dr. Janis J. Kinens of Advent Lutheran Church in Cedarburg.

"We don't need to look far to see the horrific and devastating results of a theocracy form of government," he said.

Do you not find it amazing that a foreigner, who traveled this country over a hundred and fifty years ago, understands the American nature and creed better than our “learned elite” of today?

Source: http://www.jsonline.com/features/religion/91002169.html

The Destruction of Community Spirit

When Alexis De Tocqueville toured the United States in the early 19th century, he made poignant observations of the essence of community; particularly the townships of New England. He contrasted that with the peoples and governments of Europe:

In America, not only do institutions belong to the community but also they are kept alive and supported by a community spirit.

The New England township possesses two advantages which strongly arouse the interest of men, namely independence and authority. Its sphere of action is indeed restricted but, within that sphere, its movements are unlimited. This independence alone guarantees it real importance even though its populations and size would not warrant it.

It is best to realize that men’s affections, in general, come down on the side of authority. Patriotism does not long prevail in a conquered nation. The inhabitant of New England is devoted to his township, not because he was born there as much as because he views the township as a strong, free social body of which he is part and which merits the care he devotes to its management.

In Europe, governments often bewail the absence of this community spirit, for everyone agrees that it is an ingredient in public order and tranquility, even though they do not know how to create it. By making the township strong and independent, they are afraid they might disintegrate the social fabric and expose the state to the forces of anarchy. Once you remove the strength and independence of the township, you will reduce the citizens to administrative units.

Americans have a long history of personal philanthropy and community works that predates our founding. Benjamin Franklin helped establish the first free library, voluntary fire department, and hospital. Many charitable foundations have been established by other prominent citizens such as Ford, Kellogg, Carnegie, and Rockefeller to name a few.

The best and most effective organizations were founded by ordinary citizens. The famous Hull House was founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gales Starr and funded by private contributors.

During the American civil war citizens organized and raised funds to address the deplorable living conditions of their soldiers. George Templeton Strong, Henry Whitney Bellows, and Frederick Law Olmstead helped found the Sanitary Commission. They and their volunteers raised $5 million dollars and $15 million in donated supplies. They are responsible for saving the lives of thousands of soldiers.

The citizens of Massachusetts during the throes of the Great Depression raised money for the jobless by employing benefit concerts, ball games, and wrestling matches. They forsook federal relief. That was until they found out that states like Illinois seized huge amounts of money. Massachusetts wasn’t just taking care of its own citizens; they were taking care of others as well. They wouldn’t make the same mistake the second time around.

We in the United States are losing that sense of community spirit and are being reduced to administrative units in a far off capitol in Washington D.C. These political and intellectual “elites” want to turn our country into what our ancestors escaped from and that is a European model.

FDR’s New Deal was the germ that infected our body politic, and now our people are forsaking their independence and participation in their local community in the belief that the feds will take care of all their problems. We now look to D.C. for funding of our roads, public buildings, infrastructure and even bailing out of businesses. Everyone is looking for a handout instead of taking the bull by the horns themselves.

The Uncle Sam will take care of everything mentality has even pervaded charitable organizations. Instead of ordinary citizens volunteering their time, we now have professional community organizers. An example is AmeriCorps.

AmeriCorps is a federal government program that ostensibly promotes community service, but does so at the expense of American taxpayers. As with any government program corruption, bribery, and waste are basic elements of any bureaucratic institution.

An example of corruption is Barack Obama’s firing of Inspector General Gerald Walpin. Walpin was investigating prominent Obama supporter Mayor Kevin Johnson of Sacramento, California. Johnson founded a non-profit organization St. Hope. St. Hope received an AmeriCorps grant of $850,000. Johnson used a portion of these funds to promote school board political activities, run personal errands, and even to wash his car. When word reached Obama of this investigation, Inspector General Walpin was given one hour to resign or become fired.

Today, AmeriCorps has tripled in size and Obama is considering making VOLUNTEERING mandatory service. What is really disturbing is his vision of a national civilian corps that is just as powerful and well funded as the military. Does this not remind you of a certain socialist European country in the not to distant past?

If De Tocqueville were alive today and touring the United States, I wonder if he would have the same observations of community spirit that he had in the early 1800’s . I sadly doubt it.