An Open Letter to the Occupiers of Wall Street

The other day I wrote an article about the Occupy Wall Street movement, and what I saw as possible commonalities between that movement and the Tea Party movement. In my perusal of the Principals of Solidarity working draft postings, I was somewhat hopeful and gratified by some of what I saw there. Folks are understandably upset with the corruption of our government by special interests. In this, they are not different from the Tea Party, or the Founders of our Nation.

Today, however, I read that these loosely organized groups of peaceful protesters are about to be co-opted by the union thugs who terrorized Madison Wisconsin not so many months ago with threats of violence and mayhem. This is extremely unfortunate and predictable. It is much like the way protesters in Egypt who were interested in freedom and self-governance were quickly co-opted by the Muslim Brotherhood.

If those of you who are gathered in Zuccotti Park are serious about ending the influence of special interest groups in Washington DC, then I for one, would urge you not to let one of the biggest, most powerful special interest conglomerations in the country, organized labor, take control of your movement. If big business influence in DC is bad, so is big labor influence. Government of, for and by the people is meant to be just that, and co-option by any special interest, no matter what the stripe, is just as bad as any other.

What could be said about the current Administration in DC as well as the prior Bush administration follow to wit:

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Cartel Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

These among others were the grievances listed against King George in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, the preamble to which reads:

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of 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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Good people occupying Wall Street, and those beginning to Occupy other locations in other cities, do not let yourselves be tricked into throwing out one bunch of tyrants in favor of another, for the other is no less tyrannical than the first. Those of us in the Tea Party movement understand your frustration with the current state of affairs in our Nation's Capital. We will be the first to agree when it is said that the type and amount of influence special interests, including those perpetrated by big business is entirely out of hand and unacceptable. Be cautious, however in your acceptance of leadership who would simply use your movement to exert their own flavor of special interest in the halls of government, for they are the same beast in a different coat.
A truly free market benefits everyone, yet we have not seen a truly free market in the United States for over a century. A truly free market allows market forces, the invisible hand if you will, to operate freely. In the 1930's the bankers and the large growers colluded with each other to keep wages unbearably low and profits unimaginably high. The system eventually collapsed when the starving migrants from Oklahoma, Kansas and the like refused to watch their children starve, and rose up. The collusion, however was not a free market force, but rather the opposite of it.
We are at a pivotal point in our evolution, and there are two or three courses we can take. One is down the road being followed by the progressive left toward communism and central planning. From each according to his ability, to each according to his need as Carl Marx put it. This sounds good on paper, it sounds very altruistic. The problem is that it fails to take human nature into account, and in the end, can only be imposed at the point of a gun. There will always be those who are a little more equal than others, and who will, to maintain their more equal-ness, oppress the rest.
The next possible course is Anarchy, complete chaos, and while this may have a certain swashbuckling appeal, I would urge the investigation of Somalia to see the results of that form of non-government. It is the best example we have in the world today. People are starving in the streets and the strongest among the people make the rules with violence and terror.
The third option, perhaps the most difficult, and the one requiring the most courage, it to repair or re-create our representative republic. That is the aim of the Tea Party. We submit that humans are basically good in their nature when guided in their spirit by a set of principals the most notable of which is, treat others as you would wish to be treated, and love your neighbor as yourself. We believe that all people are created equal and have the right to live free, own private property, be secure in their person, papers and property, have the right to defend themselves and the right to equal opportunity, have the right to fail miserably, and pick themselves up without being bailed out by taking from others. We believe in the right of all people to live as they wish, so long as their living does not infringe on the rights of others. We believe in the right of all people to worship as they choose wherever they choose, or to not worship at all if that is their choice. We believe in sound currency, free from manipulation. We believe in clean air, water, and a prosperous economy, and that these things are not mutually exclusive. We believe in the freedom of speech for everyone, not just the popular, and we believe in a free press. We believe in honesty and integrity and we believe emphatically that with these rights comes responsibility. We believe that with freedom comes the necessity to be responsible for one's own affairs. We believe in taking responsibility for our government as well, that only an informed and reasoned electorate can effectively govern themselves, therefore it is the duty of the citizenry to inform themselves, to discuss and debate among themselves, freely and civilly, the issues of the day.
We believe in caring for our elderly and our children. We believe in caring for those who, through no fault of their own, cannot care for themselves. We believe in the right of States to govern themselves, that local government is better and more responsive that state government, and state government is better and more responsive than Federal government, and the best government is that which governs least.
So I applaud your plumb, those of you who are gathered in the cause of freedom, but I caution you to beware of your bedfellows. I implore you to take a little time. Study our founding documents. Read the Declaration of Independence, Read the Constitution, Spend some time with the Federalist Papers. Read Bastiat's The Law. You might be surprised to find how much you have in common with those early patriots who threw the British East India Tea Company's tea into the Boston Harbor, because the Government had granted a big corporation a monopoly to sell tea in America.
While you work out your principals, and you are wise to do so, please remind yourselves why this country came into being. We have wandered far and wide from those principals for which our early citizens fought and died. Before we fight and die again in the cause of freedom, lets us take just a moment, spare a modicum of effort, and define for ourselves what we want that freedom to look like.
I stand with Mr. Henry when he turned the tide in the Virginia legislature with his ultimatum “I know not what course other men may take, but as for me...as for me, give me liberty, or give me death.”
Those early patriots believed that an informed electorate would be able to exercise wisdom, temperance and good judgment sufficient to govern themselves. Those of us in the Tea Party believe that as well. My question for you, brave occupiers of city parks in opposition to tyranny, is what sort of government do you envision. Is your choice to trade one of form of tyranny for another, to switch oppressors. Would you trade elected representation for Castro, Stalin, Hitler, or Chavez, all murderers and oppressors of freedom, or would you be inspired to free self governance like Jefferson, Washington, Dickinson, Paine, Morris, Rush, Franklin, Henry and the like.
So take time, freedom fighters, study well. The fate of our Nation hangs in the balance. The greatest experiment in self-governance and freedom of all people is on the line. This is no lark in which you have engaged, and now that the genie is out of the bottle, it cannot be put back. Choose well, my friends, my neighbors, study well and choose wisely. Perhaps you did not realize it when you took to the streets of Manhattan, but the course of the future is already irretrievably altered by your actions, and for that I applaud you. But if you choose leaders who are wolves in the clothing of sheep, if you believe promises of utopia that will emerge, if only to submit to their direction, you will have plunged this nation, and perhaps the world into an abyss of oppression, misery, and despair the likes of which the world has not seen since the dark ages.
But if you choose wisely, deliberatively, with a eye toward history, if you choose freedom, if you choose self-governance and responsibility, if you choose reason and compassion, if you look deep inside yourselves for guidance, then we have before us the greatest possibility for peace and prosperity the world has ever seen. I wish you well and pray for your inspiration.

Stand Up for America!

When I was a boy, there was a plaque on the wall of my school homeroom that said “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. There was also a big wooden paddle with holes drilled in it.

I am only fifty years old, so I am talking about the seventies here, not exactly ancient history. Forty years ago we were taught about civics, the US Constitution, and responsibility. Yes, I am talking about public school.

We were also taught math, science, and English. We were taught geography. I actually know in which part of the world Taiwan is located, and I can tell you what the three co-equal branches of government are and what their function is supposed to be. From the current wrangling, I don't think every member of congress could do as much.

As we watch Great Brittan burn, and read about the rise of criminal flash mobs in our cities here at home, I cannot help but wonder if forty years on increasing liberalism in our educational system have not brought us to the brink of this great nation's demise.

Our President and leaders in Congress apparently cannot even accomplish simple mathematics, such as 2.2 trillion minus 3.6 trillion leaves one with a negative number. I realize those numbers have a lot of zeros, but the principal is the same as two minus three.

While the President is busy criticizing Standard and Poor's for lowering our credit rating, something they warned they were going to do a year ago, and then again in April, and something they should have done long ago, the rest of the world is coming apart for the same mathematical failings.

From Ancient Greece, to Rome, to the Pilgrims, to the Soviet Union, society after society have tried various forms of socialism/communism only to fall under the crushing weight of abdicating the citizens responsibilities to care for themselves in favor of cradle to grave nanny state-ism.

When I was in school, I was intrigued with our founders belief in individual people's ability to govern themselves and to be responsible for their own fortunes, or lack thereof. Men like Washington, Jefferson, Paine, Henry, Madison, Monroe, and yes even Hamilton risked their lives and spent years devising a system of government which would insure that government would never get so powerful as to become tyrannical. They sought to limit the power of their government, to ensure that the states would be sovereign, and the role of the Federal Government would be only to provide for the common needs of the several states, under those state's direction. They knew and so stated that such a system of government would only work with an informed and responsible electorate, who were guided by spiritual principals. The most notable of which is do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

These ideals are completely lacking in the curriculum of our public schools today. The ideas of discipline and hard work are completely lacking due to decades of assault on the public school system by atheists and socialists who pervade higher education and the national teacher's unions.

The results are self-evident. We have leaders who are not even passively familiar with the meaning of the US Constitution, who cannot understand that debts need to be paid, and street gangs who feel justified in overwhelming stores to take whatever they feel like, and if someone gets seriously hurt in the process they could not care less.

We have a President who scoffs at the Constitution of the United States of America, an Attorney General who thinks voter intimidation is right and necessary, runaway governmental agencies bent on regulating business and private property rights out of existence, and a populace who thinks their federal legislature is completely ineffectual and corrupt.

As the world burns while our President plays golf and raises campaign funds, I cannot help but long for the wisdom of Jefferson, Madison, and Henry to invade our leadership. It is left to us, then, those of us who understand and remember what this country was supposed to be, to stand up. We must write, talk, shout and extol the virtues this country was founded upon.

We must come together in groups of twos, fives, and tens. We must decide if our federal system might be saved or if secession is necessary. It is up to those of us who still believe in individual rights AND responsibilities to come together and say if not now, when, if not me, who, if we don't care enough about the founding principals of our nation, who will.

We are the ones who must pass the message of freedom on to our youth in our homes and our neighborhoods. It is up to us!

Stand by your convictions and join me. United is the only way we will stand, for divided we shall surely fall!

A Sad Day for America

Well, Congress just voted your children's future down the drain. Aren't you happy? Not only did they vote your children's future prosperity away, but also their freedom. As they have for a century, again they have given away their constitutional power and concentrated it in the hands of a few so they can avoid the responsibility they were granted by their election to our House of Representatives.

This is truly a sad day for America. The great experiment is over. Apparently mankind is not capable of governing itself. We have, by our apathy, voted away our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We have traded it for American Idol, Earned Income Credit, and free condoms.

We have decided we need our Government to be our nanny, she can tell us what to eat, which light bulbs and toilets to buy, and how much of our labor we must devote to care for those who refuse to care for themselves.

I watched with disgust the debate on Harry Reid's debt ceiling bill in the House. I could not believe the self-interest displayed by those on the left side of the aisle. None of them cared a whit that our country is bankrupt, they only were concerned that they weren't getting enough money to spend, and they might not get political credit for raising the debt ceiling. They called it compromise. I was gratified when that bill failed, only to be dashed by today's passage of a bill which is much worse!

Webster defines insolvent as “unable to pay debts as they fall due in the usual course of business”. When we spend $300 billion dollars a month, and take in $200 billion dollars a month we ARE insolvent. The American government IS bankrupt NOW! When we point that out, and try to do something about it, they call us terrorists!

So what now? Our nation's credit rating is going to be downgraded because we are insolvent. Our interest rates are going to go up. The old people and the less fortunate that the Democrats claim to want to help are all going to be worse off now, as prices and unemployment rise.

There are no cuts in this bill. It is based on standard Washington baseline budgeting, meaning that spending INCREASES by 8% every year. So instead of adding 10 trillion dollars to the national debt over the next ten years, we are only going to add seven trillion...maybe. And we get tax increases, as the scoring was done assuming the Bush tax cuts would expire, giving us the largest tax increase in history!

American Idol is still on television, though, so I guess all is well.

God help us all!

G-20 Summit or WHAT was THAT?

OK, I can see that if I'm going to get serious about this whole blogging thing, I am going to have to set aside some time every day for the effort. I have been distracted the last several days by a minor medical problem and all the G-20 hubbub. I was riveted to the TV. I watched the news every time it was on, and do you know what? I still don't know anything. I know they had a meeting. I know they shook their collective fist at Iran, and I know there are now twenty of them. Beyond that I know little of the meetings themselves. Maybe that it what they intended, I just don't know.

It was very informative on other matters however. Lots of people protested. What they were protesting, even they don't know, but they were there in droves. OK free Tibet, I can wrap my brain around that one, it's not too ambiguous, Consider however this report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Groggy but not subdued, anarchists hail protest success with little damage
Saturday, September 26, 2009
By Sadie Gurman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
They weren't stockpiling human waste to throw at police.
They didn't set cars ablaze or chain themselves together in "sleeping dragons" with PVC pipe.
The anarchists who police and media had warned for months could wreak havoc on the city during the G-20 summit didn't exactly fulfill that expectation. Instead, they smashed some windows and turned over a few Dumpsters, flooded the streets of Lawrenceville and staged sporadic uprisings for hours elsewhere, met by a large contingent of riot police at almost every turn.
Some were sprayed with OC gas, others pelted with rubber bullets. Still others were arrested in the demonstrations, which they had spent their summers planning.
Then yesterday, groggy but not subdued, the contingent joined thousands of other protesters in a city-sanctioned march that was largely uneventful, beyond some chanting laced with swear words and a little taunting of police. Some had shed their all-black attire for shorts and T-shirts.
So, were the protests everything the anarchists had envisioned during meetings and trainings?
"We tried to do what we wanted to do, and we wanted to take to the streets in a show of resistance against the G-20," one member, Alex Bradley, said. "In that respect, I think it was a success."
As the summit and the protests it spawned wound to a close yesterday, members of one of the more visible -- and vilified -- anarchist groups, the Pittsburgh G-20 Resistance Project, reflected on their experiences.
"Even though people had to fight to save themselves from the riot police, people continued to re mobilize so many times, we didn't let the police keep us down," said Amanda Zeiders, who tried to snap as many photos as she could during Thursday's actions. "It was great for the movement."
There were scary moments, she said, when she was separated from friends, and painful moments of dehydration. "It was intense," she said. "It was surely a great day."
The group issued a statement during Thursday's unrest declaring the "people's uprising" a success and proof of "people's willingness to resist global capitalism despite the combined forces of state repression."
Mr. Bradley described Thursday's march out of Arsenal Park in Lawrenceville as "people power," whereas yesterday's permitted event was "an appeal to people in power," each with its own merit.
The group said its arrest count -- 17 in four hours, by members' estimates -- was relatively low, and no one was badly hurt.
Mr. Bradley said the downing of Dumpsters might have been protesters' attempts to shield themselves from police, who threw tear gas and blared what he called "a sonic weapon," the long-range acoustic device.
"The Dumpsters people pushed down the road ran into an armored personnel carrier," he said. "I really hope the armored personnel carrier was all right."
The group blamed the mayhem, which left windows broken, on police "overreaction."
The Pittsburgh G-20 Resistance Project had been holding public meetings since early June, when it launched a Web site and issued a call to action.
"We are asking you to come to Pittsburgh with every ounce of anger and rage that you feel when your local projects refuse to manifest into something larger, fiercer, or broader, or when that anger itself forces you into isolation or alienation," the Web site said.
The anarchists quickly captured the attention of reporters and police, who, group members believe, were always keeping an eye on them.
As the summit approached, the group turned a Greenfield storefront into a "convergence space" for gatherings. Dozens of police officers in vans and a hazardous materials truck watched the headquarters from a nearby parking lot on Wednesday night, during a meeting to coordinate the next day's events. They left -- and returned again -- without incident.
"It's a psychological attack," the group's spokesman Noah Williams said at the time. "They want people to feel threatened constantly."
The anarchists also fought against what they consider media "scare stories" that claimed anarchists were squatting in vacant buildings, collecting human waste to throw during protests.
Fear later brewed over a list, posted to the Pittsburgh G-20 Resistance Project's Web site, of locations, including Starbucks coffee shops, police stations and banks, and other places with "links to globalism" where possible protests could take place.
Some stores boarded their windows, but there were few, if any, reports of trouble at sites on the list.
Throughout it all, anarchists tried to explain their views as simply as they could to skeptical inquirers. They left fliers at 4,500 homes and went on radio talk shows.
Patrick Young, of the anarchist Pittsburgh Organizing Group, led theoretical and tactical training workshops for demonstrators, including one on "lockboxing" with PVC pipe and chains.
He said the summit protests were an extension of the work anarchists try to do daily.
But now, he said, a break is in store.
"As soon as everyone gets out of jail, I am going to take a long, long, long nap," he said. "And probably have a couple beers."
Sadie Gurman can be reached at sgurman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1878.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09269/1000990-482.stm#ixzz0SKfhSqQt

HUH? I re-produced the whole story here so you can see I didn't edit it, but I still don't know what the Anarchist's point is. If they were not threatening violence, the massive police presence wouldn't be necessary. Most of the banners shown on TV were about how bad Capitalism is. Now I'm by no means saying we don't have problems with the way we practice capitalism in this country, but what are the alternatives to it. I did a little snooping into anarchist theory (there is very little that I could find quickly) and it seems they offer no alternative. The orderly exchange of goods and services has to be accomplished somehow. Anytime there are more than three people clumped together, we have to figure out some way to provide for each other's needs. So unless we are all going to be camped out in the woods with no hot water or cable TV, eating nuts and berries and whatever tasty animals we can catch, we have to have some form of exchange. We can do that by a Nanny State, which forces everyone to do stuff and make stuff, and give it to the State to re-distribute, or we can have some profit or altruistic motivation. The Nanny State has been tried several times now, and the level of oppression is far worse in those cases than it is here in the good old US of A. If you really want Anarchy, have a look at Somalia, it's the best example I can think of. That is not really an ideal lifestyle if you ask me. I take a more Libertarian view myself, though like Tucker and his Machine, I don't think profit at any cost is good for us. It tends to deny opportunity to some for the benefit of others. Equal OPPORTUNITY for all is what I say, the results are up to you.

The problem is that we don't think anymore. We are not really taught HOW to think either. Our educational system is abysmal in that regard. We are taught to regurgitate information and to conform, but beyond that, original thought and expression are discouraged. We aren't even doing a good job of teaching regurgitation anymore. Just a thought (and not my own I must admit) how about complete and open disclosure of ALL financial transactions. Yes, that's what I said. Everyone could look-up on-line what everyone else spends and for what, and how much they have in the bank. The country as a whole wouldn't really stand for multi-million dollar bonuses for wall street raiders, if they really knew who, where, when and how much. Yes, your expenditure for odor-eaters would also be revealed. Sorry about that, but openness and honesty is really the best policy, if you ask me, I know you didn't, but there you have it anyway. Your contributions to my campaign for congress would also be available to anyone, so think carefully before you write that check!

That is really the point. If everyone could know what everyone was up to financially, we might all think a little more before we did something we might be ashamed of. Public conscience, what a concept!