The End of the Republic!
January 25, 2008 by Stephen Palmer · Leave a Comment
Alexander Tytler, a 17th Century historian, studied the rise and fall of nations and taught what we now know as Tytler’s Cycle.
According to Tytler, all nations go from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to freedom, from freedom to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, and from dependence back to bondage.
The critical thing, said Tytler, that leads a nation to switch from abundance to selfishness, is when they vote themselves benefits from the national treasury. Benjamin Franklin showed his understanding of this when he wrote:
“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”
The Year America Flipped the Switch
America flipped this fatal switch in 1913, during the Progressive Era, by passing the 16th and 17th Amendments and the Federal Reserve Act, all of which enabled us to vote ourselves benefits from the national treasury.
The 16th Amendment gave us income tax. Prior to this amendment, the federal government was prohibited from tapping the pocketbook of individuals. They determined their budget, then levied the states for taxes. It was a huge barrier between the federal government and the individual, and it was demolished with the 16th Amendment.
The 17th Amendment changed the way that Senators are elected. Prior to this amendment, Senators were elected by state legislatures, which meant that they weren’t beholden to the people at large, at least not directly. The Senate represented the rich and the states, while the House represented the poor and the people. This scheme of representation was perhaps the single most important key to our Constitution, as it checked and balanced the interests of major factions.
“Forced to choose, the poor, like the rich, love money more than political liberty; and the only political freedom capable of enduring is one that is so pruned as to keep the rich from denuding the poor by ability or subtlety and the poor from robbing the rich by violence or votes.” -Will Durant
The 17th Amendment kicked the legs out from underneath the Constitution. Now, Senators are elected by the people, just like Congressmen. How do they stay in power? By voting more benefits to their constituents. They no longer fight for the rights and freedoms of the states, which means that with this amendment the balance of power swung heavily in favor of the federal government, to the detriment of the states.
They no longer fight against wealth redistribution — in fact, they encourage it. They no longer check and balance the House — they’re joined at the hip, representing the same interests.
Combine the effects of the 16th and 17th Amendments and you have a bloated federal government whose power multiplies like a virus. These two amendments demolished our most critical constitutional checks and balances. They, combined with the Federal Reserve Act, set the stage for the Great Depression, the New Deal, and virtually every form of wealth redistribution in existence today.
They eroded the foundations of our constitutional Republic and swayed us toward the evils of democracy. They allowed us to vote ourselves benefits from the national treasury, resulting in the legalized plunder of one group of people to benefit another.
“…a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.” -Thomas Jefferson
If we wish to transcend the bondage of selfishness and dependence, we must repeal these life-threatening amendments. In the meantime, do your part in keeping our Republic healthy by living a self-reliant life, as well as helping those in need so that the government can stay in its proper sphere of protecting inalienable rights only. The less our citizens depend on the government for their daily needs, the stronger our Republic will be and the longer it will last.
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Copyright © 2008 by The Cause of Liberty. All rights reserved.
Are we products of circumstances, or choice?
January 25, 2008 by Stephen Palmer · Leave a Comment
In his book Freakonomics, economist Steven Levitt compares two boys. One boy was white, from a Chicago suburb, and had “smart, solid, encouraging, loving parents who stressed education and family.” The second boy was black, from Daytona Beach, and was abandoned by his mother, beaten by his father, and had become a full-fledged gangster by his teens.
The second child, now 27 years old, is Roland G. Fryer, Jr., a Harvard economist. The white child also made it to Harvard. But soon after, things went badly for him. His name is Ted Kaczynski — the man we know as the Unabomber.
Although our circumstances definitely influence who we become, it is our choice that is the ultimate determinant. Everyone can find reasons to not live up to their divine destiny, if that’s what they want to focus on. But we only hold on to our pain because it gives us an excuse to not take responsibility; as long as I have someone or something to blame for my pain, I don’t have to look myself in the mirror. Take responsibility for choosing your responses to circumstances, however painful they may be.
Move the Cause of Liberty by (1) subscribing to the Sentinel, a free weekly newsletter boldly illuminating the principles of freedom in a darkening nation, and (2) pledging your Life, Liberty, and Sacred Honor to the Cause by signing the Declaration of Dependence.
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Copyright © 2008 by The Cause of Liberty. All rights reserved.
Do we have a choice?
January 25, 2008 by Stephen Palmer · Leave a Comment
Viktor Frankl was a Jewish psychiatrist who survived the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. Under the worst circumstances imaginable, he found that he still had a fundamental freedom.
He wrote, “The experiences of camp life show that man does have a choice of action. There were enough examples, often of a heroic nature, which proved that apathy could be overcome, irritability suppressed. Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress. We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
Do we who live in the freest nation in the history of the world have any excuse for not being heroes?
Suggested reading: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
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Copyright © 2008 by The Cause of Liberty. All rights reserved.
Slavery Reparations: Hacking At Leaves, Ignoring Roots
January 24, 2008 by Stephen Palmer · Leave a Comment
Associated Press writer Ashley M. Heher recently reported that, “Lawyers for slave descendants asked a federal appeals court Wednesday to revive a landmark reparations case that demands 17 of the nation’s insurers and banks publicize and pay for their roles in the country’s slave trade. The case, which names Wall Street behemoths JP Morgan Chase & Co., Aetna Inc., Bank of America, Lehman Brothers and others, says the companies’ predecessors issued loans to slave owners and, in some cases, owned, insured and transported slaves…all at a financial profit that helped ensure their success today.”
Slavery was an awful stain upon the fabric of our nation, and it continues to negatively impact us today. Yet if we are to move beyond the suffering and heal the wounds caused by slavery, it will take
Freedom, or Security?
January 24, 2008 by Stephen Palmer · Leave a Comment
The desire for security in a turbulent world is natural and understandable. Yet if we seek security in place of liberty, we will inevitably be led to a counterfeit of true security: slavery.
More often than not, freedom and security are mutually exclusive. Many vote for policies that rob them of precious freedoms in order to ensure their safety. People choose jobs for their benefits and stability, as opposed to what aligns with their passion and purpose. But as Benjamin Franklin wisely observed, “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
America must reclaim her heritage and choose virtue over vice, sacrifice over expediency, and courage over subservience, rather than a culture and government that usurps authority and abdicates responsibility. You can be instrumental in leading that charge by choosing freedom over false security in your own life. Follow your dreams, your passion, your purpose, and choose the difficult yet noble path of heroism, fortitude, perseverance, and creativity. Rise up to your potential and be worthy of the responsibility of freedom!
Move the Cause of Liberty by (1) subscribing to the Sentinel, a free weekly newsletter boldly illuminating the principles of freedom in a darkening nation, and (2) pledging your Life, Liberty, and Sacred Honor to the Cause by signing the Declaration of Dependence.
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Copyright © 2008 by The Cause of Liberty. All rights reserved.
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