At the close of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on September 18, 1787, a Mrs. Powel anxiously awaited the results, and as Benjamin Franklin emerged from the long task now finished, asked him directly: "Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" "A republic if you can keep it" responded Franklin. [From Ron Paul’s ‘Speeches and Statements’]  Franklin has also been quoted as saying, “He who gives up a measure of freedom for security deserves neither.”  To paraphrase this quote, I would say, ‘he who allows freedom to slip through his fingers in order to take his ease, deserves neither.’

 There were fifty-six men who were willing to put their lives and fortunes on the line for the sake of freedom.  These are the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, the signing of which we celebrate every year with pic-nics and fireworks.  These men gave of their time and money to forge the documents that would frame a new nation the likes of which had never been seen on this earth.  They did their best to make sure that their posterity knew the cost of the ink these documents contained because they knew that that which is too cheaply obtained is not cherished. They feared for the new republic.

As a people, we need to re-visit our founding documents, immerse ourselves in the Federalist Papers.  Learn our Constitution, and know what our founding fathers were trying to accomplish when they set pen to parchment and ensured there could be no turning back on the course they had set for themselves.  We need to understand these documents so that when we see things being done by our elected representatives we can call them on it, stop them from ignoring the ‘rulebook’ and keep them in check.

The three branches of our government are supposed to keep each other in check, but over the past hundred years or so they have been slowly moving towards the center and the lines separating the branches have been eroding.  We have to put a stop to it now, before, it becomes evident that Benjamin Franklin’s worst fears became true, and we did fail to keep the republic.

During the past few weeks, as the Pelosi health care bill was being cussed and discussed, I called my Congressman’s office in Washington.  First, I wanted to add my voice to the others who were opposed to the bill, but I wanted something more.  I wanted to know exactly how they justified this bill constitutionally.  The staffer I spoke with told me basically that they weren’t constrained by the Constitution unless they were challenged and lost in court.

I’m sorry to say, that I was stunned into silence when I was told that, but I made up my mind right then that I would do everything within my power to unseat Marion Berry from his seat in Congress.  If he can’t read the job description in the Constitution, he has no business being in office.

But, that’s just My Arrogant Opinion

In the recent unprecedented address to the joint House of Congress, President Obama was heckled by Congressman Joe Wilson. Obama was assuring the world that his plan would not cover illegal aliens when Congressman Wilson could no longer stand it and he shouted out, “You lie!”

While shouting down the President may have demonstrated a lack of decorum in this august body, it was what many people in this country felt in their hearts.

The amazing thing to me though, was not the heckling, which I do regularly during the news every evening when I hear lies like this. The amazing thing was the look on Speaker Pelosi’s face when she heard him shout. It was priceless and something I know I will cherish for some time to come.

Personally, I would like to see more of our representatives in Washington standing up for what we believe and worrying less about what others think of it. After all, part of their job is to act as a check on the powers of the Executive Branch, and that means keeping the President honest.

But that’s just My Arrogant Opinion

I was leery of John McCain from the beginning. I was actually looking forward to voting for Duncan Hunter, but he dropped out of the race before I had a chance. I thought about becoming a Fred Head, but alas, he didn’t make it either. I ended up voting for Mitt, just a few days before he dropped as well. Right now, with my track record of every candidate I have gotten behind falling out of the race, I am thinking of supporting whoever becomes the Democratic Nominee. I am curious whether or not my support is actually detrimental to a candidate.

My blood runs cold at the thought of any of our present choices becoming the President. Both Hillary and Obama have openly stated that they want to turn our country into a Socialist Paradise starting with Nationalized Health Care and then moving on to stripping the profits (and incentives to produce) from our oil companies. Obviously the schools they attended didn’t have economics as a part of the curriculum.

What choices does that leave us with? Ron Paul? I am all about getting rid of the IRS and getting back to a smaller government which actually looks at the Constitution to see what it is supposed to do, but I think his chances are about as slim as a snowball in Global Warming. He also scares me with his ideas about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is just too much, too quick, our country is not ready for that amount of change in one big step.

Where does that leave us? John McCain, War Hero. The only thing I like about McCain is his stand on the war. But you have to wonder about him. War is a dirty business, and there are things done there that you really don’t want discussed in the parlor over tea. I can understand his personal position on torture and Gitmo, but I think that it is wrong to tell our enemies what we will or will not do, what lines we are willing to cross, and those we won’t, but if our Nation’s security is at risk, we should have the freedom to cross those lines if needed.

What about the price of gasoline? All three of the main candidates have proposed their solution for the high price of gas at the pump. The problem is, they are just pandering to the voters. They don’t have a solution. At most, they have a plan for very short term relief for a problem that has far reaching implications. We need to get out of the way and let our country do what our country does best, and that is, find a solution.

Stop this talk about confiscating profits. Stop trying to regulate every aspect of our lives. Give us the freedom to think and experiment. We will never find a solution to any problem when the government has us so tied up and regulated with petty rules that every time we try to do something we trip over the red tape.

Open up our oil fields to exploration. We have technology to drill without destroying the countryside now, let’s use it! John McCain said on the Glenn Beck Radio Program last week that he would as soon drill for oil in the Grand Canyon as to drill ANWR. I agree with Glenn’s commentary on his statement that he was all for it as well, if there was oil in the canyon. Of course, that is a gross example, but we have oil reserves in this country, we have huge coal reserves, we have some of the best scientific minds in the world here and the best facilities. LET US USE OUR OWN RESOURCES!

But, that is just My Arrogant Opinion.

Our rights to free speech have come under fire of late and that should be of concern for all Americans. We are hearing terms we have never heard of before like “Hate Speech,” which is not defined by our Constitution. Exactly what is “Hate Speech,” and why is it a danger to our freedom?

Several months ago a comic was on a stage in California, that bastion of liberal theology, doing a stand-up routine. He was being heckled by some blacks in the audience and he responded angrily. Michael Richards was the comic, and he called the blacks, “niggers.” This started a firestorm that, like the California wildfires last year went completely out of control.

Someone in the club had a recording device and filmed the altercation. This recording made it onto the news. All of a sudden we have Civil Rights activists involved as Al Sharpdon and his ilk started yelling about his hate speech and use of a racial epitaph. The same epitaph that has been used as stock in trade by black comedians for years. I can’t imagine a Richard Pryor set that didn’t have him using nigger repeatedly.

Ah, but Richards was hurling invective at blacks in the audience. Don Rickles made his fortune by insulting audience members, people who shelled out hard earned money to sit in the audience hoping that he would pick them out for some insult. These are the types of things you expect in a comedy club setting, if you don’t like this type of thing, don’t go to the club. If you go to the club, and feel insulted, don’t go back. You do not have the right to infringe upon the comic’s material by recording it and handing it off to the news media.

While Sharpdon was demanding apologies and boycotts I am curious where that champion of individual rights the ACLU was while Richards was being subjected to an unauthorized video surveillance. Isn’t this the type of thing that they just live for? Seems to be a little hypocritical to me, that they would be silent on this issue. Maybe it is only when the issue is on their liberal radar that they stand up to defend the rights of the individual.

While I don’t agree with Richard’s outburst, I strongly support his right to use whatever language he chose to express his anger. Better to have invective flying across the room than to have bullets doing the same.

In the same time frame, we have another Hollywood type getting into trouble. Mel Gibson went out and got drunk, then got stopped while driving under the influence. It just so happened that the officer who stopped him was Jewish, and Mel took the opportunity to make some racial slurs against Jews. Again, not the smartest thing that could be done, but certainly his right to express his feelings. Let’s not forget either, that the man was drunk when the slurs were made. Since according to the law he was not capable of operating a vehicle safely, how can he be said to be making good decisions in his choice of words? He had just demonstrated the fact that his judgment was impaired by the fact he was driving when under the influence. In the words of the left, it wasn’t his fault.

These incidents were followed a bit later by some comments on a morning radio program by Don Imus. Don is paid to be edgy and to be controversial on the air, it is his stock in trade. Imus made a comment about the Rutgers women’s basketball team when he said they looked like a bunch of ‘nappy headed hos’. Now in the same sentence he talked about how he thought the girls on the Tennessee team they were playing were good looking, there were blacks on both teams.

In rushes Al Sharpdon to call for the firing of Imus, screaming ‘Racism!’ raising such a stink that NBC did terminate Don Imus for his remarks. Of course Don turned around and sued NBC because he had a contract where he was contractually obligated to be controversial. He won.

Now I’m not wild about Don’s humor, but it is his right to say what he wants without being labeled a racist by some self-righteous black activist. When we start bowing to the pressure brought to bear by some special interest, we come dangerously close to losing one of the freedoms this nation was built upon. What may even be worse is that these activists are trying to dictate our attitudes and morals. If we continue to allow it, how far will it go?

Barack Obama, seems to have a pretty good handle on life in America. All us poor folks just cling to our guns and religion. Well, I guess that is when we aren’t punishing our daughters with babies.

It seems like the man cannot open his mouth without sticking his foot in it. Which, I hasten to add, is a good thing because before the race started to get heated up all we heard was him pontificating about Change, and Hope, and Hope for Change. We still have no substance, but at least his true colors are beginning to show through.

I guess I need to point out that there was no racial slur or implication intended by the use of colors in the preceding paragraph because no one can open their mouth against Barack without it being considered a racial slur or racist remark. Personally, I think the man needs to take a chill pill and get over it, no one is really concerned about the color of his skin, they are concerned with the depth of his character.

When it comes to racism, Barack’s spiritual advisor, the right reverend Jeremiah Wright takes the cake, and we all need to be concerned with the amount of influence that Wright can bring to bear on Obama if he were to make it to the White House.

I guess I am naive, but I thought that according to our Constitution, we were loaning our power to our representatives in Congress. That is the general impression I get from reading it. It is a different story though, if you look at how our Congress acts.

Over the next several weeks I plan to post my thoughts on several subjects that fall into this category.

• How Congress manages to listen to a handful of tree huggers and refuse to drill for oil in our own backyard.
• Their determination to raise taxes when it is counterproductive to stimulating the economy.
• Their inability to find money to build barriers to illegal aliens crossing our borders yet manage to fund earmark projects that no one even wants.

These are just a few of the topics on my agenda to hit on in the next few weeks, and I’m certain there will be more.