OUR GARDEN HAS TURNED TO WEEDS

OUR GARDEN HAS TURNED TO WEEDS
Neal Ross/June 24, 2008

Imagine that you are the proud owner of a vacation home with a beautiful yard that has taken years to get just right. Now that it is complete you decide to hire groundskeepers for its upkeep and maintenance. Trusting them to follow your instructions and maintain it to your expectations, you sign a contract and return to your full time house. When you return for your next vacation you find that your shade trees have all been uprooted, your flower beds dug up and your entire yard has been taken over by weeds. It is so bad that vermin have taken up residence among the chopped up remains of your shade trees. As you stand there in shock, wondering what the hell happened, you begin to wonder if maybe you should have checked in from time to time to see how well your property was being maintained. If you had paid a bit more attention, maybe you could have prevented this disaster from happening.

Imagine how heartbreaking that scenario would be. Now apply that scenario to our nation. Is there really any difference between hiring groundskeepers to maintain your garden, and hiring a government to maintain your nation, because that is what we do every time we elect someone to represent us in government. They are hired by us to do a job and our taxes pay their salaries.

It seems that we have forgotten that these people, these Senators, Congressmen, and yes, even the President, work for us. We, the people of the United States are their employers. It matters not how much money was contributed to their campaigns by special interest groups, it was our votes alone that put these people into office and it is to us only that they are accountable. So why do we tolerate them continually violating the legal document that grants them their authority, the one that they take an oath to uphold?

The consequences of them not upholding their part of the agreement are much more serious than a few dead plants. Our security, our liberties and our nations very survival depend upon them doing their job as defined in the contract, i.e. the Constitution of the United States.

Could it be that, over time, the people of this country have not taken the time to familiarize themselves with the contents of the contract between our government, and we the people of these United States? Could it be that we believe this contract is, as I often hear, a living document, designed to change with the evolving times?

Our first President, George Washington once said, "The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish Government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established Government."

That is a very powerful statement and deserves to be examined a bit closer. Notice that it says that it is the right of the people to make and alter their Constitutions of Government. It is not within the powers of the government to alter the terms of that contract. However, until we the people alter or amend that document, it is sacredly obligatory upon all, and that includes those whom we elect to represent us in government.

Many years ago, Thomas Jefferson warned us that "Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny."

Jefferson also said, "We, I hope, shall adhere to our republican government and keep it to its original principles by narrowly watching it."

Our sixth President, John Quincy Adams reminded us, "Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it."

Have we made good use of our freedom by narrowly watching our government or are we closer to the tyranny that Jefferson warned us about? One of the definitions for tyranny found in Merriam Webster's Dictionary is, 1: oppressive power <every form of tyranny over the mind of man - Thomas Jefferson>; especially : oppressive power exerted by government <the tyranny of a police state>

While much damage has been done to our rights and liberties under the administrations of George W. Bush, but the damage started much further back in our nations history.

Jefferson also warned us that, "Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of the day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers (administrators) too plainly proves a deliberate, systematic plan of reducing us to slavery."

As a nation, and as individuals, we are somewhere between being free and being slaves, depending upon each persons interpretation of what constitutes freedom or slavery. The question is, how did we get to where we are right now?

Some would say that our government has been bought and paid for by special interest groups, consisting mainly of corporations who wish to enrich themselves. It is much worse that that. Our government has been bought, but is not by mere corporations that wish to enrich themselves. I have written about these powers before and I don't need to go over them again. You can either believe me or not, but it will not change the truth.

The truth is that we have allowed all this to happen because we have not done as Jefferson warned, keep a watchful eye on our government. That is why I have begun to harp so much about the people of this country. All that ails us as a nation can be traced back to their ignorance of the true function of their government, and their refusal to hold their elected representatives accountable. If we would have voted these jackals out of office the first time they violated their oath of office our nation would never have gotten to the point it is today.

However, instead of searching for the truth, we accept the lies and propaganda fed to us by those whom we elect, and the media who are the lapdogs of the special interest groups who finance them.

Until the people of this country pull their heads out of their behinds and begin thinking for themselves things will never improve. As long as we vote along party lines just to stop 'the other guy' from getting elected, things will never change. Until we reacquaint ourselves with what the Constitution says, and hold our elected representatives strictly to their oaths of office, nothing is going to get better.

To do this is time consuming. It also means we must unlearn much of what we have been taught. It means researching the writings of the founding fathers as to their intent for the various articles and clauses in the Constitution. It means understanding the reasons why the Bill of Rights was written.

For those who feel that our Constitution is a living document, I would remind them of what George Washington said, and to that I would like to add a quote by James Madison, who is considered one of the primary authors of the Constitution, "Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government."

In other words, Madison said that we must look to the historical reasons for the text found in the Constitution, or else we will pervert it and end up with government that will eventually lead us to the tyranny that Jefferson warned us about.

I will be the first to admit, it takes time to research the issues, to wade through legislation and Supreme Court rulings. A good percentage of my free time is spent researching, taking notes, and writing about them. It is often depressing and I feel overwhelmed. I often feel guilty that I am neglecting my wife and son. However I would not have to do so if everyone else pulled their own weight.

I am not the only one who is concerned for the future of this nation. There are some amazing writers/patriots on the internet who work as hard, if not harder than I to inform the masses. However reading these articles alone is not going to change anything. You must make a conscious decision to act upon what you learn. Stop voting for someone solely because they have a (R), or a (D) in front of their name on the ballot.

To do all that is required to save this nation might mean that you miss your favorite television show. It might mean that you have to give up going fishing or to the bars. Is the future of your country worth the sacrifice? In closing will let Samuel Adams answer that question for me, "The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men."

http://www.neals-soapbox.blogspot.com/

Neal Ross is 48 years old, and works at a major dried fruit packaging plant. He has been married for 18 years and has a very smart 16 year old son. He likes to write, grow bonsai, fish , and do wood carvings.

"I am extremely interested and active in politics because I see the way my home state of California and our nation in general is going and it saddens and worries me. Our elected representatives no longer understand, or if they do they choose to ignore, their Constitutional obligations. It is our job, and one I take seriously, to remind them of their shortcomings."

Neal Ross is dedicated to saving America from itself and a corrupted version of our Constitutional government. Please contact Neal at bonsai@syix.com for permission to reprint his articles.

Neal's writings can be found at:

http://www.neals-soapbox.blogspot.com