The power of III

Summum ius summa iniuria--More law, less justice
--Cicero.

28 January 2012

The magnitude of the "American Dream" is inversely proportional to the size of government

This is a very thought provoking essay. I came from a very lower class parentage; a father that dropped out of school at the age of 13. I not only went to college, but hold multiple advanced degrees. I was quite successful, and now am semi-retired. My kids are doctors, lawyers, and entrepreneurs.


One might ask "what is the American dream". It is to to aspire to be what you parents never thought possible, but dreamed for you. Government was NEVER the deciding factor in my fate. It was my own quest for what I dreamed. If we lose this - we lose what it is to be an American.


--Rick Williams, comment on Wall Street Journal article "The New American Divide"


Sorry man, but the size of government being what it is, the size of the debt, the extent of our empire--too late.


People who support big government: you support looters. Government cannot make anything.


1. It can take from others through taxes or confiscation.


2. It can print money--paper backed by a promise to support the paper--money based on faith alone, and the federal reserve has an explicit goal of inflation--devaluating that currency to pay off it's debt in cheaper $.


3. It can borrow money in the form of sovereign debt.


The bigger the government, the less the tax paying people get to keep. The bigger the government, the more aggressive it's nationalism and war machine, the less the people have, and the less their currency is worth--the money is printed or borrowed.


Now our government has obligated us to $16.4 trillion in debt, and $60 trillion in unfunded Medicare and Medicaid, public sector retirement funds (already raided and borrowed against, btw): 


What American dream do I have to offer my three kids?  Will they have lower taxes than I? Will my 401k be taxed at the same rate in 25 years as it would be if I withdrew it from the account and paid taxes today?


My hope and trust in the .gov to secure any "American Dream" is long dead. 


I either make it for myself in spite of nearly 50% wealth confiscation, or I don't make it at all.







IF WE look beneath the surface of our public affairs, we can discern one fundamental fact, namely: a great redistribution of power between society and the State. This is the fact that interests the student of civilization. He has only a secondary or derived interest in matters like price-fixing, wage-fixing, inflation, political banking, "agricultural adjustment," and similar items of State policy that fill the pages of newspapers and the mouths of publicists and politicians. All these can be run up under one head. They have an immediate and temporary importance, and for this reason they monopolize public attention, but they all come to the same thing; which is, an increase of State power and a corresponding decrease of social power.


It is unfortunately none too well understood that, just as the State has no money of its own, so it has no power of its own. All the power it has is what society gives it, plus what it confiscates from time to time on one pretext or another; there is no other source from which State power can be drawn. Therefore every assumption of State power, whether by gift or seizure, leaves society with so much less power. There is never, nor can there be, any strengthening of State power without a corresponding and roughly equivalent depletion of social power.--Alfred Jay Nock, Our Enemy, the State, 1935


(emphasis added)


These are the reasons I support States' rights, very limited federal government as originally outlined in Article I Section 8, and am particularly interested in the re-assertion of the Tenth and Ninth Amendments.

26 January 2012

First Bill to Nullify NDAA put forward in Virginia House of Delegates

Let's hear it for the Old Dominion! Sic Semper Tyrannis!





via blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com

Introduced in the Virginia House of Delegates is House Bill 1660 (HB1660) which “Prevents any agency, political subdivision, employee, or member of the military of Virginia from assisting an agency or the armed forces of the United States in the investigation, prosecution, or detainment of a United States citizen in violation of the Constitution of Virginia.”


The bill is sponsored by Delegate Bob Marshall and was introduced on 01-16-12. It has been assigned to the House Courts of Justice Sub-Committee: #2 Civil. 


The bill reads as follows:


Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:


1. § 1. Notwithstanding any contrary provision of law, no agency of the Commonwealth as defined in § 8.01-385 of the Code of Virginia, political subdivision of the Commonwealth as defined in § 8.01-385 of the Code of Virginia, employee of either acting in his official capacity, or any member of the Virginia National Guard or Virginia Defense Force, when such a member is serving in the Virginia National Guard or the Virginia Defense Force on official state duty, may engage in any activity that aids an agency of or the armed forces of the United States in the execution of 50 U.S.C. 1541 as provided by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (P.L. 112-18, § 1021) in the investigation, prosecution, or detainment of any citizen of the United States in violation of Article I, Section 8 or 11 of the Constitution of Virginia.


Virginia is now the first state in the nation to introduce and consider a version of the Liberty Preservation Act in response to unconstitutional kidnapping provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2012. Sources close the to the Tenth Amendment Center tell us to expect up to ten states considering various laws or resolutions in response to the NDAA in the 2012 state legislative session.

From the Constitution of Virginia:

Section 8. Criminal prosecutions.


That in criminal prosecutions a man hath a right to demand the cause and nature of his accusation, to be confronted with the accusers and witnesses, and to call for evidence in his favor, and he shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of his vicinage, without whose unanimous consent he cannot be found guilty. He shall not be deprived of life or liberty, except by the law of the land or the judgment of his peers, nor be compelled in any criminal proceeding to give evidence against himself, nor be put twice in jeopardy for the same offense.


Laws may be enacted providing for the trial of offenses not felonious by a court not of record without a jury, preserving the right of the accused to an appeal to and a trial by jury in some court of record having original criminal jurisdiction. Laws may also provide for juries consisting of less than twelve, but not less than five, for the trial of offenses not felonious, and may classify such cases, and prescribe the number of jurors for each class.


In criminal cases, the accused may plead guilty. If the accused plead not guilty, he may, with his consent and the concurrence of the Commonwealth's Attorney and of the court entered of record, be tried by a smaller number of jurors, or waive a jury. In case of such waiver or plea of guilty, the court shall try the case.


The provisions of this section shall be self-executing.


Section 11.
Due process of law; obligation of contracts; taking of private property; prohibited discrimination; jury trial in civil cases.


That no person shall be deprived of his life, liberty, or property without due process of law; that the General Assembly shall not pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts, nor any law whereby private property shall be taken or damaged for public uses, without just compensation, the term "public uses" to be defined by the General Assembly; and that the right to be free from any governmental discrimination upon the basis of religious conviction, race, color, sex, or national origin shall not be abridged, except that the mere separation of the sexes shall not be considered discrimination.


That in controversies respecting property, and in suits between man and man, trial by jury is preferable to any other, and ought to be held sacred. The General Assembly may limit the number of jurors for civil cases in courts of record to not less than five.

24 January 2012

Newt Gingrich deconstructed by Jon Stewart

h/t to zerohedge.com

The best line I've heard about Gingrich rising in the polls lately was: "The farther up the tree the monkey goes, the more you can see his butt."

23 January 2012

Ten Commandments, Texas style

Cowboy's Ten Commandments posted on the wall at Cross Trails Church in Fairlie, Texas.




via mass email making the rounds...

Quote of the Day, 1/23/2012--Tench Coxe (repost)

"The Pennsylvanian", Tench Coxe

Whereas civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize, 


and as military forces, which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, 


the people are confirmed by the article in their right to keep and bear their private arms.--Tench Coxe

Conspiracy theorists, start your engines...

via lewrockwell.com/blog























Speculate.