Tears of our founding fathers

The enlightened, brave men who built the US were strong, independent, free thinkers who were determined to set a base of freedom and equality unlike any the world had known from which to direct the future of their new country. The writing of the Constitution was an exercise in compromise and idealism that has carried us over 200 years through wars, both foreign and domestic; the Great Depression; many changes in social, economic and ideological battles. It has stood strong and has given us a compass to guide our decisions and keep us pointed in the right direction. It was, and is, the owners manual to the greatest possession we have to pass down to future generations. Now I wonder if they're not shedding tears of shame.

Samuel Adams said, “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. 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.”

When I look at what's happening today I am sick at heart. We've strayed so far from the original intent of this country that it's hardly recognizable. The Constitution flatly stated what powers and guidelines we were to live by, yet we keep trying to posh those limits with ifs, ands or buts till what was originally written is completely lost. We've become such a nation of entitlement programs that our taxes have made slaves of all of us. We no longer work for ourselves, but for programs and ideals that much of the time we don't understand and wouldn't agree to if asked. Yet we're forced to accept what's supposedly best for us whether we want it or not.

Both the Republican and the Democratic parties have become drunk with power, ignoring the people who voted them into office and focusing more on retaining their power than keeping our nation great.

72 years after the Constitution was signed into law, we saw the first major drift from it when our civil war began. Regardless of what the history books would like us to believe, the civil war was about the north preventing the south from leaving the union. Slavery was only a by-product that made Lincoln look good in the retelling. The South was suffering due to the policies of the federal government. They decided to withdraw from the Union and to institute a new government as guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence clearly states, “That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.” The federal government declared war with them to prevent them from doing so, and in the process declared that the rights of the states were inferior when it came to the will of the federal government.

When you consider the massive impact the civil war has had on our countries history, and how sadly twisted the story of it became, why should it surprise anyone that our government lies to us now? We've been fed the babble for so long that most seem to have quit questioning it and would rather just drift along for the sake of peace for the moment. It seems to take too much effort to think before accepting. It's easier to leave the politics to the politicians and just hope they know what they're doing.

I for one can't do that any longer. I will speak up and I will voice my disdain even if it means being labeled a trouble maker. I do hear the sobs of the founding fathers; yet I know they are nothing compared to the agonizing screams that will fill our nation when all of our liberties are gone. And they are going... one by one as our government grows and we become nothing more than slaves to it's bidding.

"It is sobering to reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence." Charles A. Beard