History tells us that Franklin was close friends with Thomas Jefferson, and the primary editor of this most unique document of independence. History also provides first-hand evidence that Benjamin edited the original phrase from “the right to life, liberty and property” to “right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. Why the change? Happiness had two meanings. It meant happy and jolly as mentioned above, but it also goes back to its root stance, happenstance, chance. People in those days understood it meaning you had a right to the pursuit of your chance, your fortune, your luck. Franklin knew that, the chance to be better than you were born. He’d grown up in a soap factory. He knew that you had to have that guarantee.

If Benjamin Franklin was living today, he’d hate the idea of being “too big to fail”. Today it seems like more and more, government is pushing the progressive idea to completely and absolutely level the playing field. What ever happened to the idea – just give me a chance?

The president needs to become more practical and less ideological. It will require a radical change in his thinking and philosophy regarding how best to address the flaggingly economy.

First rule: government does not create private sector jobs, it can only add more to the government payroll. Only through effective policies such as lowering or abolishing the capital gains tax, providing incentives for small business growth, creating a positive relationship with the United States Chamber of Commerce, making the Bush tax cuts permanent, eliminating the death tax, and regarding the Health bill, dump it and let the States decide. It has worked successfully three times in a row: Reagan, Clinton and George W. Bush.

Second rule: progressive ideology has no place in our Republic. Disavow your ideology and follow our Constitution and its Bill of Rights. Understand that the Federal government does not have the right to create a national health plan. (See the Tenth Amendment.)

Third rule: Treat our country and its land as sovereign. Scrap the Cap and Tax bill. Cut foreign spending, meaning do not send our taxpayer dollars to other countries, period. Remove the United Nations from our soil; and additionally, stop paying membership fees to this worthless, nebulous body.

Fourth rule: Control federal spending. Treat our states and people fairly and under the constraints of our Constitution. You want to make significant cuts in wasteful spending, do this: Eliminate and minimize several government departments including: education, commerce , homeland security, health and human services, interior, HUD and the EPA. This would be a heck of a start.

Remember this, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. The majority of Americans get it, and most of us gave you a chance. But you deceived us with your rhetoric in 2009, and your speech last night is at best taken with a grain of salt. Us regular folks don’t hold much hope. Your lack of grasping simple but important ideas and issues bewilders most Americans such as the security of our nation in terms of both fiscal and external threats, Islamic terrorism. And one last thing, here’s a suggestion for your infantile display last night speaking to the recent Supreme Court decision on campaign finance law, and singling out Justice Alito. You should follow your own example hoisted upon Joe Wilson, apologize now. Your lack of decorum and respect toward our justices was juvenile and inappropriate, especially for the president of the United States. And I’ll add, it’s not a good way to come out fighting when you’re boxed in the corner.

Even before President Obama steps up to the podium tonight, he should consider this option: cut the freeze and freeze the cuts. If he does not, his sheepskin will be unveiled to reveal the wolf inside. Charles Krauthammer calls it a ‘fraud’ that ‘locks in department budgets at artificially high levels’. Are you Feeling lost in translation? I was until I read more about the situation. What Obama is really saying is this: ‘I am going to freeze the regular departments.’ What he doesn’t tell you is that in 2009, they propelled spending for all those departments for the last half of 2009 and all of fiscal 2010 to an average increase of 20% on the average. The picture is becoming clearer now because normally you’d increase 3-4% annually. The net takeaway here is that after the historical Massachusetts mandate against government run health care and the Obama policies, this president still has the audacity and arrogance to deceive the American public. It is not a freeze; it is a spending increase. They are locking in at a higher threshold of spending for ‘all’ discretionary, non-security departments. Last year they increased the EPA budget by 35%. And here’s the kicker, the freeze doesn’t’ begin until 2011.
Obama can turn the page. But first, he will have to change his ideological way. The most important thing he can do tonight is to be forthright and honest with Americans. He should eat some good ‘ole humble pie. For instance, we will put health care on hold and re-evaluate its efficacy and purpose going forward. I am putting forth today and jobs initiative that will create private sector jobs for small businesses, institute more training for those still unemployed and displaced (frictional unemployment), continue the Bush tax cuts and end the death tax. Then, with an air of confidence, pull the public close and say these words, ‘read my lips, no freeze on spending. What I promise today and the remainder of my three years is a spending cut program. And hear this: I will freeze the cuts.” The question will be can he be so bold and yet so humble, or will he continue his way toward a Jimmy Carter presidential legacy, or worse.
Yesterday, I heard a democrat congressmen say, when asked if the health care initiative is going away, in lieu of the more important issue – the economy and jobs, he said, ‘health care is jobs.’ What these progressives and democrats fail to understand is that government jobs take away from private sector jobs. Their push for a bigger government takes jobs away from those that really need them. For Obama to be effective he must solve the number one problem in our country before serving his own ideological beliefs. Mr. President, we the people call on you one last time to be transparent in your process and forthright in your promises. You have the opportunity tonight. You can make history and reverse the deception you have created. Instead of blaming Bush again, work to make government better and leaner. Take ownership. Two very relevant quotes come to mind: Truman said, “The buck stops here.” And during President Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural address he said, “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Mr. President, make them your own. But whatever you do, you must cut spending because any other tactic will be seen as inauspicious.

As an American and third-generation Texan, I am bewildered by Obama’s foreign policy approach and very alarmed about his philosophy of downgrading the “War on Terror” to an “Oversees Contingency Operation.” Mr. President, you took a sworn oath of office, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” That means it is your responsibility to keep our country and its citizens safe and secure. You failed your most sacred mission. Mr. President, we are at war with al Qaeda. These radical Islamic extremists are not criminals when they perpetuate murder or attempted murder of our citizenry; they are enemies of the United States of America. And thus require a military trial. Your appeasement strategy is not protecting the country and further, it is not working. Whatever problems you’ve had with the Bush Administration and its policies, you need to put aside. It began on your first day. You set your policy in action to move quickly against the military justice system at Guantanamo Bay and close the naval base jail. Along the way you’ve ignored tactics that worked, such as water boarding our enemies. Those three prisoners of war provided critical information on the war on terror. But you’re a constitutional lawyer, where you see criminals most Americans see wartime enemies. Mr. President, the United States of America is at war.

Reverse your course now. It is imperative. For we the people, will no longer accept your approach on how you are conducting this war. You’re giving our enemies Miranda rights! On your watch, you, the Great Appeaser, three times over the past six months, have breached your oath of office and the trust of the American people. You are endangering the people you swore to protect.

1) Hosting the Big Circus civilian trial in NYC. Featuring al-Qaeda’s confessed 9/11 terrorist mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) and his four al-Qaeda cohorts. Obama directed the transfer of these terrorists from GITMO to U.S. soil. Cost: estimated at 3 billion dollars to secure, transport, administer, house, and contend with the requirements associated with having these terrorists in the United States.
2) Awaiting Ft. Hood Response: The Two-Minute Warning. When the Great Appeaser stepped up the podium, he’d been advised that dozens of Americans at Ft. Hood were wounded and several were dead. But, it was evidently a more important matter to give a shout out to Dr. Joe Medicine Crow than to address what appeared to be a possible terrorist attack. That is, according to eyewitnesses who said, “Major Nidal Hasan, shouted ‘Allahu Akbar!’ Even knowing this, our modern day Neville Chamberlain “cautioned against jumping to conclusions until we have all the facts.”
3) Lawyering Up with Abdulmutallab: The Christmas Day Bomber. Obama first referred to this man as an “isolated extremist”. Ah, truth be told, he was radicalized and trained by organized jihadists. I suppose we’ll never learn about what al-Qaeda top secret information he could tell us because one, he was read his Miranda rights, and two, because of our Commander in Chief’s policies, we’ll be unable to water board what could have been the fourth terrorist to provide critical wartime information on our enemies.
Muslim terrorism existed before 9/11. Actually, Islamic terrorism is something our Founding Fathers faced going back to fall of 1793. America was struck with its first mega-terror attack by jihadists. Algerians seized 11 U.S. merchant ships and enslaved more than 100 Americans. It took several years to properly deal with the situation so beginning in1801, under the presidency of Jefferson, the U.S. engaged in what became a four-year war against Tripoli. And it wasn’t until 1830, when France occupied Algiers, and later Tunisia and Morocco that the terrorism on the high seas finally ended. The story, much like the history between Hitler and Chamberlain or Obama and al-Qaeda, appeasement never works. History proves this time and again. My question is this Mr. President: When will you learn from history and demonstrate to the American people and the world that you understand the threats to our security and you are willing to do what it takes to defend and protect our country?
Well, we’re waiting…

Let’s go back to the future for a moment and remember a post-9/11 America. Let’s try to remember a time when someone’s gut instincts told ‘em, hey, something is wrong with this picture. They did not require the services of a sniffer dog, high-tech screener or even a government-issued book of regulations and best practices to follow. Naw, they just used their noggin and gut. It was December 1999, upon arriving on a ferry from Canada, al-Qaida operative Ahmed Ressam was arrested with a trunk full of explosives. His plan: to blow up Los Angeles International Airport. Customs inspector Diana Dean said, “His story didn’t make sense to me,” Dean was working the border that night. On a hunch something wasn’t quite right, she questioned Ressam and asked him to pop his trunk. Inside were big bags of white powder that were first thought to be drugs.  The tests came back negative.  When investigators looked further, they found timers and realized the powder was explosives. Dean said, “My heart dropped right into my toes when I realized what it was.” She went on to say, “I don’t recall any specific threats,” she added.  “I don’t recall anybody saying watch for terrorists.”

There were warning signs about Ft. Hood terrorist and murderer Nidal Hasan. Even as I write this article, according to terrorist and attempted murderer Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, there are more al Qaeda-trained young men in Yemen planning to bring down American jets.  Twice in 2000, including one time after the USS Cole bombing, Clinton had bin Laden in his sights and failed to pull the trigger, according to a senior Pentagon official familiar with covert counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan at the time. Under President Obama, we’ve gone from The Global War on Terror to the Oversees Contingency Operation.  He’s weakened our resolve, embarked on an apology tour for the U.S., collapsed our economy and provided a timeline to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Complacency or its contemporary term, Political Correctness has reared its ugly head.  In common man’s terms, I’d call it weakness. George Washington in his first message to Congress on January 8, 1790 said, “To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.”  On December 3, 1793, Washington elaborated more on this principle: “There is a rank due to the United States among nations which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness. If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known that we are ready at all times for war.”

I know there are millions upon millions of fine, well-disciplined, hard-working and well-educated Americans from all walks of life who will rise to defeat the same tyrannical challenges our Founding Fathers feared, faced and conquered. What we need today and going forward is a commitment among the good folks of our great country to relieve politicians of his/her duties on November 2, 2010. We will have to fight the good fight. We, and not the government, for the government we once knew is now an amorphous thing that does not honor or abide by the same Constitution written by our Founders. In the coming years, it will be the common man who leads us back to the road to liberty and freedom once again. Here ye! Let freedom and liberty ring loud!

by Ray Thornton

Let the People remind you where you come from.  Our Founding Fathers, if alive today, would not recognize our country. These great principled men and women suffered under a tyrannical King, and after enough, through much debate and strife, declared its independence. The British exerted its full military power and gave warning to any treasonous citizen, they will be killed. Our forefathers, mostly ordinary folk, fought valiantly.  The motto was, are you ready for this, “Fight or Die.” They became known as Patriots. In stark contrast to you, our congressmen/women, a patriot is a person who loves, supports, and defends his or her country and its interests with devotion. Devotion: Do any of you remember this word? What are your values? Where did you leave your principles?  Did you ever have any?

You no longer represent the majority. Just open your eyes and listen with unbiased ears. It has been clear for some years, but never much more so than now, the current state of our body politic are pathetically absorbed with itself so much so that you endanger the very liberty our forefathers fought so hard to keep: A strong Republic. You have abused this gift.  You’ve become misdirected. You are like wondering sheep, for you have lost your way. You are void of a strong foundation built on principles to guide you.  You’ve traded these principles and values for corporate deals, earmarks, brokered favors with political organizations, received under-the-table monies in exchange for political favors and surrounded yourself with lawyers.  You don’t write your own bills, you farm them out to third-parties.  You do not read the bills you vote on. You scurry like hungry mice, pass a bill on a weekend at midnight, and move on to your next voracious meal. You’ve become absorbed with power and greatness. You want to change this great country to fit some ideological philosophy or just to be liked, perhaps both.  You want to foist your will upon us. You want to require each U.S. citizen to make a mandatory purchase of medical insurance. You, via the Cap & Trade bill, want to increase taxes and create more fees to pay for an already over-expanded government while you increasingly devalue the dollar, our savings and investments, purposely plan to increase the cost of heating and cooling our homes, cars and not to mention the further loss of jobs to come. Why are You ignoring the fact that Global Warming is a scam and a myth? The game is over.  The science does not compute and no one who perpetrates this ideology will man-up for a debate.  The mere fact that Climate Change became the new mantra tells all. Add to that, your own fellow Greener, Al Gore, was caught lying at Copenhagen. Yes, he was lying and he knows it. But You are not tasked with the same.  John Adams sums it up very well: “Be not intimidated… nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberties by any pretense of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery and cowardice.

If you need some reminding here are a few examples that will jog your memory.

• On October 23, CNSNews.com asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday where the Constitution authorized Congress to order Americans to buy health insurance–a mandate included in both the House and Senate versions of the health care bill–Pelosi dismissed the question by saying: “Are you serious? Are you serious?” The reporter replied: Yes, yes I am.  She was asked again, but this time it was her spokesperson who answered: “You can put this on the record,” said Elshami. “That is not a serious question. That is not a serious question.”
• Mary Landrieu, a senator from Louisiana whose health-care vote was purchased for a mere 300 million dollars. And that’s not all, when asked, what part of the constitution do you think gives Congress the authority to mandate that individuals have to purchase health insurance? Her reply: “Well, we’re very lucky as members of the Senate to have constitutional lawyers on our staff, so I’ll let them answer that.”
• Let’s summarize: In 1994, when the health care reform plan then being advanced by President Clinton called for mandating that all Americans buy health insurance, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office studed the issue and concluded: “The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States. An individual mandate would have two features that, in combination, would make it unique. First, it would impose a duty on individuals as members of society. Second, it would require people to purchase a specific service that would be heavily regulated by the federal government.”
• President Obama on Dec. 15, 2009, that “we must pass the health care bill and help solve the most important issue of our time for the people.”

Let us remind You of something very important.  We do not need You.  We the People wield the power. Thomas Jefferson, you may vaguely remember his name; he’s one of our Founding Fathers and the third President of the United States. He said, “A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement.”  We the People think this is important for you to keep in mind each and every day of your short-lived tenure in the office you currently hold.  It is You, the 111^th Congress and Mr. President that has brought our country to her knees. You’ve taken us to the precipitous edge with your reckless and momentous spending sprees to the tune of a $12 trillion dollar debt (and growing) and $106 trillion in unfunded liabilities. And Obama, who wants to “fundamentally transform America.” No thank you.  We the People will not let you do this.  Thomas Jefferson’s words have never been so timely and appropriate, “We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude… And this is the tendency of all human governments. A departure from principle in one instance becomes a precedent for [another]… till the bulk of society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery… And the fore-horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression.”

If You decide to take the socialist path and continue to violate the Constitution and treat the People of this Great Country as your slaves, we the People will have no other recourse than to permanently remove you from your political position and further request the new Congress to forever remove any privileges you received from tax-payer dollars. And if warranted, bring criminal charges against You and staff. At any course, it our duty and devotion to our Great Country to ensure we do not sink into wretchedness and oppression because of a greedy, self-centered and malevolent Congress and President.   In our President’s own words, “the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. Says what the states can’t do to you. Says what the federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf.  And that hasn’t shifted” Our Founding Fathers said that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights.  Those are automatic and the Constitution and other founding documents merely defined those rights so that the government could never take those away.  It is not a document of “negative liberties”.  The Constitution protects us from a tyrannical government.  Only someone who wants to lead a tyrannical government would say the above words.

Your agenda has been attempted before many times and gone down in defeat. In 1961, Ronald Reagan during his radio program spoke out about socialized medicine. “One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project. We have an example of this. Under the Truman administration it was proposed that we have a compulsory health insurance program for all people in the United States, and, of course, the American people unhesitatingly rejected this.”   Back in 1927, an American socialist, Norman Thomas, six times candidate for President on the Socialist Party ticket, said that the American people would never vote for socialism but he said under the name of liberalism the American people would adopt every fragment of the socialist program.

The rubber will hit the road very soon.  Untold millions of Americans stand against You. Yes, businessmen and women, tea-party goers, housewives, construction workers, professionals, truck drivers, etc.  Some of these fine folks will be running against you for office, so to clean up the mess you’ve made.  I may be one of them.  We the People carry a common goal: November 2, 2010 is “So Long” day. You vote against liberty and freedom, we throw you out of office.  After that, the 2012 election, we will mandate that the 112^th Congress and next President be guided by a strong constitution based on principles and values shared by our fathers, forefathers and Founding Fathers.

“A troubled and afflicted mankind looks to us, pleading for us to keep our rendezvous with destiny; that we will uphold the principles of self-reliance, self-discipline, morality, and, above all, responsible liberty for every individual that we will become that shining city on a hill.”

Thank you President Ronald Reagan.