“Are you a U.S. Citizen?” … a question proposed for addition to the 2020 U.S. Census has caused controversy. In the past there were two questions. The first asked where the person was born and the second asked those who were foreign born whether they had been naturalized. These questions were not asked in 2010 because a short form census was used. Some say a citizenship question should not be asked. Others say it should.
You might be wondering why it matters. This episode of Front Porch Sense explains the role of the census in how our representatives and presidents are elected and why the citizenship question is critical.
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Mass Shootings and the Blame Game – We have a bad habit of playing the blame game in America. We want to blame everyone but ourselves. Everyone but the person who committed the crime (or the mass shooting). We don’t have the luxury of playing that game in our free nation – a constitutional republic.
The point of a free country is that each person is responsible for his or her own actions. Only in a dictatorship or a monarchy or oligarchy (where people are not free and forced to do things) would the leader of a nation be responsible for the actions of citizens.
Our problem in this nation is we’re abdicating our personal responsibility and constantly blaming others (or the government or the president or the gun) for our problems. Until we teach personal responsibility and stop shifting blame we will never solve the problems in our nation. The eventual destiny of a nation that abdicates personal responsibility is slavery.
Our current President is no more responsible for El Paso than the last President was responsible for Sandy Hook. These things have been going on for decades regardless of administration. The problems are deeply rooted in our society. If we want to solve them, we have to own the root causes of the emotional and mental disturbance in our young men.
This episode of Front Porch Sense explores some of the ways society could be hurting our young men and creating a seedbed for this type of violence.
Personal responsibility is the key to freedom. It’s the key to peace. It’s the key to safety. Teach people correct principles and they govern themselves. The answer isn’t big government. It’s self-government.
We have been given a unique window of opportunity to teach Americans correct principles – the principles that govern a free nation. In the past, conservatives went to sleep when their man was in the oval office. With President Trump, they aren’t going back to sleep. They’re either keeping a close eye on what he’s doing or they’re defending themselves against the onslaught of hostility being fired at them from the other side of the aisle.
Because people are still alert and concerned about what is happening in America, we have the opportunity to help people really get what’s going on — to truly understand the principles that made our nation free. In this episode Marnie talks about how we can be using the next 5 years to turn the tide away from socialism and back toward the republic we were created to be.
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Many are upset about corporate greed and corruption. Whether it’s Big Pharma or corporate bailouts of entire industries, something smells fishy in Washington. Corporations and government corruption go hand-in-hand. Why is it so easy for corporations to get away with things and run smaller businesses out of the market? Why is Washington DC swarming with lobbyists?
This episode of Front Porch Sense explains why it’s so easy for corporations to leverage government bureaucracy to create advantages for themselves in the marketplace.
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Why is the U.S. National Debt so high and what can be done about it? This episode of Front Porch Sense explains why our national debt is out of control and what needs to happen to stop the runaway train. The solution will require repealing the 16th and 17th amendments, reverting to the Founder’s definition of the general welfare clause, and the individuals of our nation learning to take personal responsibility for themselves.
Points to Remember
The Founders didn’t want the Federal government to have direct control over the people. There was no power to directly tax individuals because the Founders knew that the power to tax is the power to control and even destroy.
Originally Federal revenues came primarily from excise taxes and tariffs. If a law passed that exceeded revenues, the Federal government split the overage up to be paid by the state legislatures based on their state populations. This curbed the growth of the government
Since the US Senators were appointed by state legislatures, this helped cap Federal spending and kept the Federal debt from growing crazy like it has now.
If a senator voted for appropriations that were excessive and the state had to help pay the bill, the senator wouldn’t get reappointed.
Even though a budget originated in the House of Representatives, passing the Senate was a difficult process. It was difficult for the Federal government to pass things that benefited only one state or a region because all the states would have to help pay for it.
The 16th Amendment gave the Federal government power to directly tax individuals on an ongoing basis and without restrictions. This mean the Federal government could exercise control on individuals, throw them in jail for not paying taxes, give special favors to some and create problems for others.
Now 1/3 or more of state budgets come from the Federal government. This can be used to bribe states into implementing federal policies. For example, “either teach this curriculum to children, or we’ll pull your Federal funding.”
The states used to have control over the Federal budget and now they don’t.
One of the principle ways the states can rein in excessive and unconstitutional government is by telling the Federal government that they are overstepping their bounds by invoking the 10th Amendment:
“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.”
Now states are too scared to invoke the 10th amendment for fear of angering the Federal government because they are dependent upon Federal funds which can be pulled.
The change in the interpretation of the “General Welfare” clause under FDR took us from creating laws that benefit everyone equally to mean providing welfare to people through social programs.
Source Documents
An excellent book that explains how the our nation has changed throughout history is, “The Shadows of the Deep State” by Arthur R. Thompson and available from Western Islands Press.
Original national debt figures are from the U.S. National Treasury and came from an article called “US National Debt By Year.”
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In this episode Marnie Pehrson Kuhns shares examples of people who take personal responsibility and move into action around things they believe in. They don’t wait around for “somebody else” or government to solve the problems, they roll up their sleeves and get to work and rally others to do the same. Their do-it-yourself attitude is an inspiration to us all.
If you have a cause that is important to you, don’t wait around for somebody else to fix it, roll up your sleeves and do it yourself! Just like these folks!
The El Paso private organization “We Build the Wall” built 1/2 mile of wall faster and cheaper than the government could.
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If we are ever to have a civil discourse in our country, we need to cut through all the emotion and finger-pointing and look at the root issues … the core values. Where are they the same and where they are different between the right and the left? If you’ve ever wanted to understand your friends and family on the left or wished you could cut through all the drama to discuss what really matters, this episode of Front Porch Sense is for you.
I posted the following to Facebook today and was given some interesting insights from my left-leaning friends:
I’m trying to pinpoint the underlying belief systems of the left. If you are more left leaning, how aligned are you with this statement?:
People should be loving and play nice and everyone should have their needs met. Suffering should be eliminated in a civil society. It’s okay to use government to make everyone play nice and it’s proper to redistribute money and resources from those with surpluses and give it to those who are lacking or suffering. That is a primary function of government to decide who has too much and who doesn’t have enough and what suffering is and to make that redistribution happen.
This episode is my synopsis of what I discovered and how we might be able to have an intelligent conversation with those with opposing views.
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Political candidates and parties that rally people around what they stand FOR are more likely to succeed in getting elected than those whose primary focus is defeating another candidate. In this episode I go out on a limb and make my prediction for the 2020 Presidential Election and explain why hate is not sufficiently galvanizing to win elections.
I am FOR your right to think, feel, believe, worship and speak as you wish.
I am FOR your right to hate, dislike or disagree with me in your thoughts, words, and beliefs. You have every right to tune out anything I say.
I am FOR freedom and FOR each individual taking responsibility for his or her own actions and the consequences thereof.
I am FOR punishment being affixed to ACTIONS that have taken life, property or freedom from another…. And clearly distinguish thoughts, feelings, beliefs and words from ACTIONS.
I am FOR your right to bear arms and to defend yourself against harm.
I am FOR maintaining and defending the U.S. Constitution.
I am FOR keeping the oaths and covenants we’ve made with God and men.
I am FOR small businesses, industry, resourcefulness and self-sufficiency.
I am FOR your right to do business with whomever you wish or to not do business with anyone you wish.
I am FOR your right to worship as you see fit insomuch as your worship doesn’t infringe on the lives, liberty or property of others.
I am FOR anything that protects and defends life, liberty and property.
I am FOR standing by the country, for defending, protecting and honoring the land in which you reside and the people who populate your country.
I am FOR living in a sovereign nation that puts its own citizens and their protection first.
I am FOR the unborn and I am FOR defending future generations – their lives, their property, and their liberty. I am FOR leaving them a legacy of faith, independence and prosperity.
I am FOR honoring, respecting and compensating those who risk their lives to defend our lives, liberty and property.
I am FOR limited government, more personal responsibility and with God’s help a better world.
In standing FOR these things for you, I stand FOR them for myself and my family as well. If you stand for these principles, I invite you share Front Porch Sense with your friends and please pick up a copy of Restoring Liberty on Amazon Kindle or in Paperback today!
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In our families, parenting, spousal relationships, and as a society at large, we are allowing other people to manipulate us. It’s time we stop walking on egg shells and own our own personal responsibility in how we respond to people who make excuses, demand free stuff, or violate the rule of law to get their way.
This episode explores what it looks like when someone’s manipulating you and how to pull yourself out of the dynamic. It’s time we take responsibility for our part in these codependent relations and take responsibility for our own responses.
In many ways we collude with others to create unhealthy dynamics. When we change how we show up, the relationship can change or drop out of our lives.
Here’s a clip from the Andy Griffith show that I mention in my video. Here’s Opie and the Spoiled Kid:
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