The American Crisis

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in the crisis, shrink from the service of their country: but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.” When these words were penned by Thomas Paine in a series of papers entitled “The American Crisis”, he had no way of knowing that they would be as relevant in 1776 as they are today.

We are a country in the midst of a plague that will wipe what we know as America, off the planet. Our country was founded by men who knew that a government gets its powers from its people. They inked documents that are evidence of that thought. They ensured we had separation of powers so that no one body of government could overtake or overrule another. They put on paper the idea that a government gets only the power that we the people allow, and we have allowed our “representatives” to enact laws that have made micro tears in the very fabric of our society. We have allowed them to usurp constitutional authority and under mind that very document that delineates there powers. Our Constitution is in jeopardy of being destroyed by people who claim to be protecting it.

The current administration is an example of an allowed corruption and systematic destruction of the political system. Our President has surrounded himself with Czars that 1) do not report to the people, 2) have some of the most radical views ever allowed to have the president’s ear and 3) have some very questionable alliances and friendships.

We have representatives who, while citizens exercise their right to free speech, choose to call them vile names and make inferences linking the people with a questionable group all because they have a dissenting opinion. Our founders understood that the citizens had to be allowed to voice differing opinion. Yet, we are now asked by our President to spy on our neighbors. We have been asked to provide names of people who choose to disagree with the administration. Our representatives work for us and we have forgotten to remind them of that fact. They “rule from on high” completely cut off from the populous. This separation from their constituents has allowed them to grow a feeling of superiority and has widened the chasm separating them from us.

We have an administration that while out of one corner of their mouth say they care about the populous, say out of the other, we want to take care of you and do it for you. What happened to tough love? As parents there are times that we have to let our kids fall so they can learn to get up on there own. We have to watch them, in silence, fail so they can learn to succeed. We have to watch them make bad decisions so they can learn the consequences of their actions. Yet our President will not do the same. He puts out fixed numbers in order to advance his agenda. An agenda which is not popular, apparently. We are loud and proud, yet they are deaf.

None of this would have been acceptable 135 years ago. We had a country ruled by common sense. We had a country ruled by men of honor, where there word was their bond and the nation came first, not re-election and special interest groups. Far too long we have allowed them to get away with it. We have elected them and re-elected them for so long that they have made a career of doing just enough to get re-elected. They are professional beggars for money that is disguised as “election funds”. They have made a profession out of double speak and avoiding questions. Both parties are guilty of it, not just Democrats or Republicans. If we allowed our military leaders to get away with what they have, our military would be in shambles. If we hold out military leadership to a standard, why not hold our elected leadership to an even higher standard?

Our Constitution guarantees many things, but success is not one of them. Many feel as if the Government can take care of them. They feel as if the government “owes” them in some fashion, success. I am all for equal OPPURTUNITY. But that does not mean equal outcome. My daddy had a saying; the world needs ditch diggers too. If you want money, go get it. LEGALLY!! If you want fame, go get it. Work for it. Sacrifice. Sweat. Study hard. No one said everyone should go to Harvard or Stanford. Not everyone can, whether it is because of money or intellect. Many men and women who have failed or succeeded have been Ivy League educated and many have no secondary education at all. Your success depends on your hard work and drive. It does not depend on a government handout. Yet our government seams to be doing that very thing. They have handed out money to businesses that have a track record of abysmal failure to handle vast sums of cash.

Yet for everything our Government is not, it is so much more. We have an opportunity many people have died trying to live under. We have a voice, supportive or dissenting. A voice that up until very recently was protected. Yet now that seems in jeopardy. We have a chance to decide who we want to represent us. We have freedoms that some only have in dreams and some have in nightmares. Our men and women lay scattered abroad, some whole and some in pieces, so that a few could be free from Communism, Marxism, Socialism and far too many others –ism’s. We as a nation have offered up our own as a sacrifice on the alter of freedom. They went, some willingly and some not, to answer the call. President John F Kennedy said, “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. This much we pledge--and more.”

It is time for the citizens of the United States to take it back. Pull it out of the grip of the life long politicians. Remove the chains that have tied it to special interest groups. Pull the American dream out of the gutter of Washington DC and give it back to the nation to which it belongs. This can only happen if we send a message to Washington. That message must be, listen or get out! Listen or we will find someone who will. Represent us or we will get someone who will. Practice fiscal responsibility. Secure our borders. Don’t let politicians stick around long enough to grow roots. Yes, term limits. Make taxes fair and equitable, bring in the FairTax. Ensure laws apply to EVERYONE. This includes Politicians and illegal immigrants. Make English the national language.

You have a chance to change the voice that gets heard. The same voice, Democrat or Republican, has been heard for too long. It is time for a new voice. Now is the time for you to take back your place in Washington with a new representative. Elect a man with a fresh voice that can speak for you when your voice is tired and weak. Elect Mike Yilit for your next Pennsylvania Senator.