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American civics

By Robert T. Smith
web posted July 2, 2012

Many Americans have for a long time lamented that civics is no longer taught in our government school systems.  Based on the activities of the Obama regime, and the recent ruminations and epistles emanating from the Roberts' Supreme Court, the subject of civics would no longer be understandable. 

The Obama administration is smart enough to run the entire economy, banking system, automobile companies, health care, and even regulate the very breath we exhale.  Any issue can be resolved by increasing the size, power, and control of the government.  This new American civics exists now with the explicit approval of the "conservative" Supreme Court, as we have witnessed in their ruling on Obamacare.

How to pay for this government and extend its control over our lives?  The progressives' taxation schemes are the enabling tool to help control the citizen-rabble.  The ends can now justify the means; the use of the word tax in relationship to Obamacare is already now overlooked by the progressives and their compliant main stream media.  To paraphrase Walter E. Williams, professor of economics at George Mason University, "Government income redistribution programs produce the same result as theft. In fact, that's what a thief does; he redistributes income. The difference between government and thievery is mostly a matter of legality."

No taxation without representation was the battle cry of earlier America.  The notion that participation through paying taxes would realize an involved, concerned, and citizen-controlled government has been displaced.  No longer does a lack of participation constrain the appetite of a near majority of Americans who pay little or no taxes, or those progressive politicians bartering their power for the delivery of others' time and toil, confiscated as taxes.  Arguably, the past presidential election was influenced extensively by those seeking largesse from the federal government, confiscated from their fellow citizens. 

Obamacare is the newest federal expansion - a government-given right erected by those demanding more from the few.  The federal government can now force its subjects to behave according to its wishes, the exact lever of force to be used - commerce or taxing power - immaterial to the outcome.  No longer is there consideration of the forced removal of personal property and wealth, or the ultimate waste, fraud, and political payoff for which the tax money will actually be spent. 

The federal government has grown extra-constitutionally large and unsustainable over many decades. The function of a constitutional republic is really just forgotten history to most in our country. It's over, and Americanism lost. If a restoration is to occur, a new republic is needed, because the thoughts and character of the former framers and the conditions that gave rise to our once-great republic no longer exist.

While there are many formulas, ideas, and approaches to reverse the current reality, at the root there remains a single concept that must be restored if there is to be any hope: the sovereignty of the individual. The Declaration of Independence spoke of individual life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness as the core of the philosophy characterizes our country. The Declaration of Independence did not provide this sovereignty; it simply denoted these sovereign rights, bestowed by our maker, and referenced their authority over all others, targeting government particularly as a construct of, and subservient to, We the People.   

Symbolically, we can look forward to the 4th of July for what remains of the idea of America, although most people likely mark the day by celebrating nothing more than a fascination with pyrotechnics and an undying love of hot dogs.  There is now no clear understanding of the individual's relationship to the federal government....American civics is no longer a coherent topic. ESR

Robert T. Smith is an environmental scientist who spends his days enjoying life and the pursuit of happiness with his family.  He confesses to cling to his liberty, guns and religion, with antipathy toward the arrogant ruling elites throughout the country.

 

 

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