America is not a Democracy

It seems appropriate, since I was an American Government teacher for over sixteen years, to explain something about the founding principles of our country for those of you who did not listen when your high school government teacher explained them. First of all, These United States of America are not a democracy. In a democracy everyone gets to vote on all matters of economic, social, and political concern. Democracies only work in very small groups of people who all have basically the same belief system. America was established as a democratic republic. In this kind of government, citizens elect people to represent them as they deal with the needs of the country. The key point here is that these representatives are elected to represent their constituents, not their own selfish ideals. When our Constitution was written, a group called Anti-Federalists opposed it because it had no protection from big government. After several months of debate, the Federalists (those who favored big government, they would be today’s liberals) agreed to make a bill of rights a part of the first congressional sessions to get the Anti-Federalists (states rightist), to agree to ratify the proposed constitution. The Anti-Federalists position regarding government was very similar to the current conservative movement.

A second point is that there are constitutional governments and there are governments with constitutions. These United States of America were a constitutional government until Barack Obama became President. When the elected leader and those who write legislation (Congress) ignore the constitution and no one puts them in jail, a country is no longer a constitutional government. Barack Obama and his Democratic Congress have approved a spending budget that absolutely, unequivocally, and illegally taxes the rich to pay for the needs of the poor. The only reason Congress can constitutionally tax us is to pay for those things we cannot provide for ourselves. Highways and a standing military are simple examples of such things.

The original Bill of Rights had twelve amendments. We finally ended up with ten that I will summarize here. The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and press. The Second Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms as a protection against tyranny in government. The Third Amendment guarantees protection from having soldiers stay in our homes in times of peace. The Fourth Amendment guarantees us protection from unreasonable search and seizure. The Fifth Amendment covers such things as due process, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, and eminent domain. One could write a dissertation on each of these points, but I will resist the temptation to elaborate for the sake of brevity here. Most have heard the statement, “I plead the fifth.” It simply means one does not have to answer any question he believes will incriminate him in any way in a criminal investigation. The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to a trial by jury and rights of the accused; confrontation clause, speedy trial, public trial, and right to counsel. Two actual cases got the Supreme Court to rule that one has the right to counsel before answering any questions in an investigation where he is a suspect and legal counsel in court for free if he can’t afford it. The Seventh Amendment has to do with a civil trial by jury. The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment and excessive bail. The Ninth Amendment and Tenth Amendments are crucial in helping us understand what is being done illegally by Barack Obama’s administration. I will quote each verbatim here, “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” And, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." The ninth means that any rights not specifically explained does not mean the people do not have them. The tenth means those powers not specifically designated to the federal government nor prohibited to the states belong to the states. In other words, rights not specifically given to the federal government or denied to the states, belong to the states.

Next, I think it is important for us all to know the major differences between conservative (right wing) political theory and liberal (left wing) political theory. Conservatives (right wing politicians) believe in limited government, tax breaks for the top 5% if its citizens and corporations, trickle-down economics, and protecting helpless, unborn babies. Trickle-down economics simply means the wealthiest people in the country are the ones who start and expand businesses that employ people; so the government gives them tax breaks so they have more money to start new or expand established businesses. History has proven over and over again such tax breaks lead to more money being taken into the federal coffers because of the increasing numbers of people who pay taxes on earned income. Left wing liberals tend to tax the rich and famous to the max, which means they have less money to invest in expansion or starting new businesses, which means less people are employed, which means less products are produced. The only place where right wing politicians believe government should intervene in the lives of its citizens is to protect helpless unborn babies. Conservatives believe babies need adults to protect them from the selfish, innocuous desires of left wing radical ideologues who conclude the only way a woman can live a carefree life is to allow her to murder any results of her harlotry. Sorry, but there’s no other way to describe a woman who first gives herself to wanton pleasure and then kills the seed of that pleasure. She is a whore who needs no protection for her whoredom. Women who get abortions should be tried for murder. Doctors who abort babies should be tried for murder. That is the biblical view. And it is not up for debate. Finally, limited government means government must not do anything for citizens they are capable of doing for themselves. Liberal politicians believe citizens are too stupid to decide for themselves about such things as abortion or health care, so they don’t wish to hear what their constituents have to say on such matters. Unfortunately, most of their uninformed constituents don’t know the facts, so they are easily duped into believing their representatives will take care of them.

As a government teacher, I recall each year asking my students how many of them wanted free health care. Every single student, every single year, raised his/her hand. Then I asked them how many actually believed free health care was really free. Most got a dumb look on their face. Then I asked them who they thought paid for this so-called free health care. They hadn’t a clue. This course of questioning allowed me to explain the theory of robbing the rich to pay for the needs of the lazy. Upon completing my explanation, I asked them again, how may were for free health care. No one raised their hand. Those who knew already they were going to be the lazy who wanted free handouts didn’t have the nerve to identify themselves to the others yet. They knew instinctively, or because their parents were already living the carefree life of laziness on the coattails of those who were paying their welfare checks, they would not be popular if they divulged their future plans so early.

Universal health care is the epitome of the antithesis of limited government. There are so many things wrong on so many levels with Obama’s proposal for the public option that I don’t know where to start. His claim that private insurance companies need to have competition is categorically absurd. Government provided insurance is not competition. Government does not have to make a profit, so it can charge less than it cost to actually administer a program. It simply raises taxes to cover unaccounted for costs. To suggest such foolishness is competition suggests government thinks people are too stupid to recognize the idiocy of the claim. Obama has rejected every sensible recommendation made by conservatives on the issue. Allowing any company that desires to do so compete in each state to insure its residents is the simplest and most cost effective way to provide competition, but Obama’s administration has rejected this simple, proven method of reducing insurance costs. It seems clear his administration is determined to shove his plan down our throats no matter what we want. It seems he is determined to destroy capitalism as we know it and as our founding fathers intended it to function. To suggest every citizen and aliens who are here illegally in this country have the “right” to health care is utter foolishness. First of all, we already do care for anyone who has an emergency need in all of our hospitals. Insurance companies are already calculating such cost into our coverage. That is why illegal aliens go to emergency rooms to get examined for flu symptoms. We do not turn down anyone in our emergency rooms. So it is utterly ignorant to suggest anyone is denied health care in emergencies. It simply is not true. Second of all, there is nothing in our Constitution that suggests health care is a right. Third, to suggest it is free is even more absurd. Those who think the rich owe them something are really the only ones who fall for this foolishness. Those too lazy to do for themselves, want someone else to do for them. I am quite aware there are some truly downtrodden people who might be, for one reason or another, temporarily in need of assistance, but the overwhelming number of people today who want free handouts are quite simply and obviously lazy gluttons, drunks, and dopers who are just too lazy to get a job and provide for themselves and their families.

I’m weary of truly ignorant (not stupid, they just don’t have all the facts) people suggesting republicans haven’t provided any alternatives to the Obama plan. Competition has proven over and again a gazillion times that prices will go down when companies are allowed to compete. At the present time, it is mind boggling to realize insurance companies are so powerful they have gained monopoly control of insurance in any given state. There is no competition and they are not effectually regulated. Frivolous law suits are another reason health care costs are so incredibly out of control. People are allowed to sue for the most absurd reasons, and even when they lose, doctors pay for legal representation and court costs. We are all paying for these frivolous suits through increased medical care costs and increased insurance premiums. Every time a court grants a million dollars for a ten dollar mistake by a doctor, we all pay. Obama’s administration has flatly rejected every suggestion made by conservatives. He and his cronies have summarily refused to consider any plan suggested by anyone outside of his inner circle.

Another serious problem that increases medical costs is legal associations who have powerful lobbyists in Washington. A lobbyist is a person who is paid by a group of people with the same interests to wine and dine congressmen, convincing them to vote for legislation favorable to their client(s). They are those people Obama promised he would identify and eliminate when he got into office. Of course, like his promise of no new taxes on those making less than $250,000 a year, he has failed to diminish the power of lobbyists in Washington by one iota. Quite the contrary, he has jumped in bed with them faster than any President in the history of this country. His stimulus package Congress has spent more money in ten months than did George W. Bush in eight years. If you honestly think you are doing the right thing supporting this spendaholic, I truly feel sorry for your children and grandchildren, because they will be paying dearly for Obama’s complete lack of competency at dealing with the economic and health care needs of this country.

It’s important to note that America is already a mixed economy. That means we have many socialists programs. Most countries are mixed economies. Even Communist China allows capitalistic economic activities to function with little government interference. Medicare, Social Security, welfare, Medicaid, and unions, are examples of socialists programs. Government allows some companies (water and power) to have monopolies on their products and then regulates how much they can charge for their products. These are socialistic in nature. However, by and large, we are a country that promotes free-trade and competition in the market place because we believe it stimulates economic growth. Government does not set prices on products, so the best product for the money is the one most people buy rewarding the company that was creative and well managed to prosper while those who do not produce a good product and are not well managed fail. When Bush decided to begin bailing out companies in the latter category, he was responsible for the downward spiral of economic gloom Obama is now continuing to fuel. Bush was a dismal failure and, in my personal opinion an incredible disappointment when it came to handling economic problems in this country. He handled Afghanistan and Iraq brilliantly, but his domestic policy left much to be desired. There is no company too big to fail, only leaders of governments to ignorant to allow them to do so. It is a hazard of the free market that when companies fail because of bad leadership, people loose gazillions of dollars. When let alone, some multi-millionaire genius steps in, buys up the failing company, reorganizes it (Lee Iacocca of Chrysler fame), and makes millions for himself and the company. Or, the company simply closes down its production, many people are temporarily unemployed, the economy experiences minor or major shifts, and a few months later, voila, the economy begins to revive because of the incredibly resilient spirit of the American people.

I will close this discussion with one final thought. When liberals suggest God would be a liberal, they simply demonstrate, once again, their complete lack of understanding of the facts. God would be neither a conservative nor a liberal, but His word teaches He agrees with conservative ideology most of the time. He would be disappointed with doctors who are more concerned with making as much as they can make with little concern for the well being of their clients. But, He would not provide free health care for people who are able to work and earn enough to pay for their own health care but choose to spend what they have on cable TV, cell phones, fancy clothes, booze, drugs, gambling, and/or other forms of entertainment. It is a given that we must come up with some kind of significant health care reform. But it is also a given that it must not have any grounds in allowing the government to get involved in it.

Finally, God has made it clear unborn children are to be protected with reckless abandon. Abortion is clearly and unarguably murder of the innocent; and anyone who supports it has no right to call himself a follower of Christ. God is opposed to welfare. His word insists those who do not work should not eat. The stranger, alien, downtrodden, and infirmed in Israel were allowed to glean the leftovers in the fields of the farmers of ancient times, but they were never given freebees for doing nothing. Welfare reform (a good thing) still goes way too far at supporting social misfits than it does to encourage them to get off their proverbial butts and go to work. Nowhere in scripture do we see any suggestion God would want government to intervene and force people to help others by involuntarily taking money from the rich to provide for the poor. Often, though not always, poor people are poor because they made bad choices when they were young. Often, though not always, they made those poor choices because they weighed the advantages and disadvantages of taking a more productive path (getting advanced schooling) and decided to take the easy path instead(dropping out).

I’m not sure why anyone, accept those who made bad choices, would conclude it is the responsibility of those who worked hard, got an advanced degree, and made sacrifices when they were young, to support, in any way, those who made bad choices. It seems the overriding stimulus for such ill conceived thinking is some kind of false sense of responsibility for failing to make it clear to those who made bad choices what the result of those bad choices would be. When the simple fact is that some people make bad choices because they want what they want and they want it now! In the final analysis, there are some people for whom we can do nothing when it comes to helping them to make good choices. They are determined, for more reasons on more levels than I could ever hope to address here, to become wards of the state simply because that option is open to them.

I could wax eloquently for days on end about the problems with the tack the current presidential administration is taking. It is so blatantly obvious there is only one explanation for its existence. God’s word teaches in the final hours of history as we know it, people will accumulate unto themselves teachers who will tell them what they want to hear, thus they will be unable to hear and/or understand the obvious truth. It seems we are in that period of history. Every time I write a letter to the editor trying to inform the uninformed, I get blasted by those who have been blinded by their own greed. That’s okay. I have no illusions about such people. They will never believe or understand the truth. Some of you, however are truly being duped by the incredibly inept argument posed by those left wing ideologues who would figuratively like to have you for lunch. I trust this blog has enlightened someone. If you have any comments to make, I invite you to do so. I invite open and civil dialogue on the important issues because that is what this country is all about. Please submit your questions or comments below and I will be happy to address them.

God Bless,
David L. Purkey