Do you know what the difference is between the government currently stealing your grandparents’ and parents’ and your money through the Social Security program and the government stealing, in the future, your money from your 401(k) or other retirement program? The difference is that your grandparents didn’t have a 401(k) account to steal from. Consequently, government stole from the Social Security Trust Fund because, repeat after me, “That’s where the money was.” That’s why they made us pay into the Social Security fund, so they would have a big pile of money to steal. Soon they will steal from your “other” retirement accounts because, say it again, THAT’S WHERE THE MONEY IS! And that’s what government does.
You see, government stealing your money on payday (Social Security) differs not a whit morally from government stealing your money later, as in the sum of your current retirement accounts. So a government that HAS STOLEN FROM THE PEOPLE and IS STEALING FROM THE PEOPLE can be certainly counted on, in the future, TO STEAL FROM THE PEOPLE. But most people are naive- or inculcated by government schooling- so they refuse to believe that stealing by government is stealing. If you’re not too naive for that, be aware that your retirement money- all of your retirement money in any form- is in jeopardy of theft by government.
Doubtless 98% of you reading this at Etherzone will be bored by the first several paragraphs because they tell you something you already know. The real meat of my argument here, though, MUST be set up by the foundational observations of the first several paragraphs. Hang in there to the end and I believe you’ll be glad you did. This whole article is only a ten minutes read and I BEG you to give me ten of your minutes.
Is half a fix a fix? If a neighbor steals 10 of your chickens but returns 5 to you has he fixed his wrong?
No.
Keep that very simple concept in mind as you read this. I am going to address another very simple concept that people who profit by confusing the people and then stealing from them like to make more complex than it is, to make it easier to steal from the people.
Very simply. Our government, the Federal Government (the FEDGOV) is to operate ONLY as the Constitution empowers it. The FEDGOV is to be limited by the Constitution and not do anything the Constitution doesn’t explicitly say it can. All of the money taken from the people by government could be better spent by the people who earned it and, more importantly, is being stolen from the people- literally stolen from the people- by government unless the people consent to government taking it from them. I do not.
It used to be that Republicans understood that government acting outside of the Constitution is wrong.
Republicans used to understand that spending money illegally (outside the allowance of the Constitution) is wrong.
Republicans used to understand that instituting- or continually funding- programs and policies that, like welfare’s demand that no man be in the home for a mother to collect welfare money, actually fosters the destruction of families is immoral and is unConstitutional and wrong.
Republicans used to know that the Democrats’ desire to continue the unConstitutional theft of our money by the Social Security Ponzi Scam, is wrong. Republicans even get accused, every campaign season, by Democrats, of wanting to end it. (But the Democrats are lying, as Democrats do, because the Republicans don’t want to end it. Republicans like stealing from it no less than Democrats like stealing from it. It makes their deficits appear smaller.)
The Republicans used to understand this: that government stealing money from some people just to give to others was bad for families. Now they have silently acquiesced to the current state of government and do no more than tinker around the edges of policy while claiming to desire the Constitution. At the bottom of the party they’re probably misled. At the top they are either stuck on stupid or flat-out thieves. (They should join the Democrat Party.)
Resolved: The Constitution does not give the Federal Government the right to determine that the people are unable to care for themselves to the satisfaction of the know-it-alls in government and forcibly take money from the people telling the people, “We’ll hold it for you until we say you can have it back when you turn 65 years old or whenever we say.” This is the essence of the Social Security program; under threat of force, taking money from people that people might use to educate their children, feed themselves, donate to God’s work or whatever legal endeavor they choose, as is their right.
An important fact regarding the big pile of money (the Social Security so-called Trust Fund) that is being stolen from the people is that the money is not held in Trust but is put, as soon as collected, into the general fund and spent by government to give the people an illusion of greater national prosperity than would otherwise be apparent. In other words, government is telling us that it’s holding our money for us but is actually spending it as it sees fit. This is an exercise in (you should excuse the expression) back-door Keynesianism: all the while worthless IOUs are used to replace your stolen “Social Security” money and make a new big pile of paper; a big pile of IOUs awaiting your 65th birthday or your 70th or 75th whatever government tells you. It’s a Ponzi scheme and most of us will never see our money again; those who “got in early” have done well. Those of us who got in late will never again see our money, it’s been stolen. Not that we ever DID see it, it was stolen from us via withholding BEFORE we ever got it, as though government has first right to it.
Resolved: The Constitution does NOT authorize the FEDGOV to form, among others, the Department of Energy or the Department of Education. Both of these (and many more) are wasteful endeavors, none of which has fulfilled their stated goals, and, I reiterate, should not exist as they are not Constitutionally authorized. Republicans, like Democrats continue to fund these exercises in government thievery.
Resolved: The Constitution does NOT authorize the FEDGOV to take money from the people to give to other people in the form of paying for their “health care,” whether going to Medicaid or Medicare or the health insurance plans for darn near all government workers. Unfortunately this system really has the opposite effect on health care in our nation; making it more expensive, less effective and a partner to the crime of government theft. (Rubes and liars call this phenomenon “unintended consequences.” These consequences are, in fact, not unintended. The nature of bureaucracies being what it is, these consequences empower and expand government bureaucracy and are, therefore coveted by government.)
Doctors, nurses, medical technicians and more hard-working people are all made party (subject) to a system that ties their hands, steals their time and education and keeps them from being the best they can be by excessive government regulation.
Many unConstitutional Departments and so-called Trust Funds (there are many) and actions do exist and are being foisted upon us and carried out by the FEDGOV. Many of us have understood this for many years and we understood that there was little that could be done about it until the stealing/spending spree that the FEDGOV is on broke us, that is bankrupted us.
We have been looking forward to, awaiting- and dreading- the day that our government went bankrupt and we would be able, then, to (re-)institute legitimate and Constitutional government. We dread the day because we know it will be extremely hard work to rebuild our liberty (because it is worth hard work) but we await the day because we know that true freedom, economic- spiritual- and personal- freedom would never be ours again until that day that bankruptcy was upon us and there was, therefore, an opportunity for understanding, liberty-minded people to make a return to our liberty as we re-build our nation.
And as we approach the day of reckoning with eager anticipation and trepidation, so that we could re-claim what has been stolen from us, suddenly upon the scene comes a “savior.”
Not a savior of the people mind you.
A government savior.
Touted by some as definitely a future candidate for the office of the Presidency, Republican apparatchiks are swooning at the mere mention of his name. He has been called “the economic conscience of the Republican party” and touted as a policy wonk, the needed champion, a hero, a veritable wonk of wonder- a wonderwonk, a vunderwonk, an uberwonk who will show us another way. As he more than understands our economic problems, he has a fix for us.
Oh, yes, he is determined to fix us.
(Didn’t you know that this system can work “if only the right people tried it, if only the right people ‘run’ it?”)
Please find his fix at: PaulRyanAndTheThirdWay.roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/
At this website (which exists for the benefit of the Republican Party, (NOT FOR YOUR BENEFIT), hence the “roadmap.republicans” portion of the URL, you will find that, far from returning to the Constitution- to liberty- to freedom- to government getting the hell off of our collective back and off of our individual backs, out of our wallets and minding government’s own business, Paul Ryan has come up with a plan to maintain our government just the way it is: Preserving current unconstitutional Departments, programs, spending and misplaced authority while applying (I presume) misplaced compassion. That’s right, he intends to maintain the unConstitutional, quasi-socialist system we are currently having foisted upon us, all the while claiming his fix to be different from government of the past. Here are a couple of bullet points from his roadmap plan to FIX AMERICA [with a little commentary].
- Preserves the existing Social Security program for those 55 or older.
[See that? Preserves the existing Social Security program to continue the thievery. Only for awhile, you argue. Know what Reagan said about eternal life? “No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!” And, preserving, “the existing Social Security program for those 55 or older” only pushes the plan another ten years down the road. It fixes nothing.]
- Offers workers under 55 the option of investing over one third of their current Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts, similar to the Thrift Savings Plan available to Federal employees. Includes a property right so they can pass on these assets to their heirs, and a guarantee that individuals will not lose a dollar they contribute to their accounts, even after inflation.
[Ignoring the nonsensical claim that you will not “lose a dollar [you] contribute even after inflation” let me just observe, how benevolent Mr. Ryan is to us as he reduces us from a creation of God (people) to our labor, referring to us as mere, “Workers.” So what does his plan “allow” us to do with our money? Spend it as we see fit? Save it as we see fit? Donate it as we see fit? Do with it as we see fit? Keep government out of our wallets? No, it generously allows, “workers [“workers,” you know, “those people” Karl Ryan, um, Karl Marx said should UNITE] under 55 the option of investing over one third of their current Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts, similar to the Thrift Savings Plan available to Federal employees.” [You’re ALLOWED to follow his plan; you MAY follow Ryan’s Roadmap Plan. Isn’t that kind of how it works now, following government’s plan? Does that sound like liberty? Or does that sound like he’s attempting to maintain government’s authority over us, attempting to actually pay for our continuing socialism with taxes (not as before with debt) as he blends the first way, sometimes called free-enterprise, sometimes called capitalism, with the second way, called socialism, into a Third Way. What shall we call this third way? How about the Third Way?]
And note, also his guarantee, ” Includes a property right….” [Well, now, I hesitate to lengthen this article much but it must be known that, because you trade your labor for money that your money, like your labor, IS YOUR PROPERTY. You have a right to it. Ryan’s plan continues the theft of your money; he is denying that your money is yours. He continues to steal it as our current government does. There is no change in the (im)morality of government with Ryan’s plan. If government respected the property right you have to your money GOVERNMENT WOULDN’T STEAL IT. Also did you know that if FEDGOV quit stealing your money that you would be getting a fifteen percent tax cut? That’s right, fifteen percent of your paycheck is taken unconstitutionally by the Social Security Scam.]
- Makes the program permanently solvent – according to the Congressional Budget Office [CBO] – by combining a more realistic measure of growth in Social Security’s initial benefits, with an eventual modernization of the retirement age.
[Oh, here we go, yes, this way, this time, yes this time darn it, the program, which he makes permanent (as if it weren’t) will be solvent. Know what that means? It means government will be in charge of putting numbers where it likes and telling us what it wants us to hear; as government does now. Is this really a change? Maybe by degree, but certainly not a change FROM socialism and a government-directed populace TO the liberty demanded by the Declaration of Independence and the united states Constitution. Also note the wienie word “modernization” in his plan to bring modernization to the retirement age. “Modernization” means you’re going to have to work LONGER than the people who’ve been getting YOUR money had to work before you start to get some of your money back. It means that the “retirement age” will be increased, it will go up. To collect your money you must be older than you were told by the government THE FIRST TIME GOVERNMENT SAID, AS RYAN DOES NOW, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.”]
A few more bullet points before we wrap this up:
- Creates state-based health care exchanges, so individuals and families have a one-stop marketplace to purchase affordable health insurance without being discriminated against based on pre-existing conditions.
[Yes, we need a “state-based” system. You know what that means? That means NOT a market-based, or liberty-based, or needs-based system, but government-based health care exchanges. While I defer to the understanding that STATES can do more than the FEDGOV as the STATES are not as restricted by the Constitution as much as is the FEDGOV, (though by consent, of course) Mr. Ryan just cannot get over his love-affair with government as the beneficent provider of “benefits” that was paid for with money stolen from you.]
- Encourages the adoption of health information technology and assists states in establishing solutions to medical malpractice litigation.
[Yes, it encourages the adoption of health information technology because Doctors and Nurses and other health care providers do not have the sense to keep records with information technology. How about instead of encouraging what career-politicians think is a good idea, Mr. Ryan, you allow Doctors to be Doctors, Nurses to be Nurses ad, infinitum, ad liberte? As for assisting states, “in establishing solutions to medical malpractice litigation” how about the FEDGOV stay out of states’ business or show me where, in the Constitution the FEDGOV is allowed to get in the business of assisting states in establishing solutions to medical malpractice litigation? Mr. Ryan? The Constitution? Remember that? Hello? I didn’t think so.
My friends, you need only go to his website to see example after example of this sort of “government knows best” attitude if only you will read it with the understanding that it changes our “current” FEDGOV from 51 sharp sticks in the eye with mandatory taxation to 49 sharp sticks in the eye with mandatory taxation. (Sure that’s an over-simplification but I’m a “worker” I don’t have lots of time to keep on writing. I must get out and make some money to pay government to leave me alone, “allowing” me to live my life. Yes, much of the taxation that we have foisted upon us can be thought of as “hush-money.” (Pay your taxes, be left alone. Maybe. Maybe you need to refrain from petitioning government for redress of grievance, also, to be left alone.
Get into your free speech zone if you’re going to speak to government like that.
While I am actually confident that Paul Ryan’s heart is good, I fear that his heart is as good as the heart of anybody who believes that “we, the people” aren’t capable of making our own decisions and need government to hold (or restrain) our hands- and direct us- for our own good, as government sees fit. The best of intentions mean nothing if not in adherence to the Constitution. The best heart is…well, heck, it was long ago said better than I can say it: “In questions of power then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” Thomas Jefferson.
Take the power back from government. Ben Franklin famously said that our government (not a government of “workers” mind you, but a government of the people) is to be a republic, “if you can keep it,” he warned us. Our government will do to us what we allow it to do, as power, not necessarily being corrupting, certainly tends to attract the corruptible. (I give you the District of Criminals as evidence.)
Let’s explore, quickly, one other thing which I do without malice but with the intent of pointing out that the bias in so much of the media is more pro-statist than pro-liberal (which is pro-statist).
Remember how much fun Republicans had making fun of John Kerry (and there IS a lot of ammunition, there) when he said “I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it .” Remember that?
Right up there with that quote- maybe surpassing that quote- has to be Paul Ryan explaining his vote for the bad-betting-bankers-bailout bill called TARP, “This bill offends my principles.” He continues, “But I am going to vote for this bill in order to preserve my principles.” Sort of makes John F. Kerry actually sound like the genius most Democrats believe him to be.
When he explains that vote away remind him that he has voted for the funding- the continuation of- Departments that are not Constitutionally authorized to exist and that actually work against their stated goals. The Department of Education has not helped education in this country but, in fact, has hurt it. He does NOT, no matter how much he protests, respect the Constitution, and, therefore, he does not respect us, “the workers” he wants so badly to direct.
To be fair, I haven’t actually heard his justification for voting to give our money to bankers but, then, I’m a “worker” I might not be capable of understanding an uberwonk. After all, a guy who wants to use the unConstitutional force of government to take my money because he thinks he can do- for me- better than I can do- for myself and family- must be much smarter than I am. Certainly he believes that he is smarter than I am and you are.
Let us finish with a tedious quote [with commentary] from the Ryan republicanroadmap website:
“This proposal does not attempt to abandon commitments Americans established over the past century, or to dismantle government.” [Who are these cited “Americans” and which commitments did “Americans” establish? It seems to me that most of these “commitments,” these unConstitutional programs and usurpations of the rights of man, were put upon the people like a yoke, all while Americans were told that “it’s for your own good.” Dismantle government? Who wants that?
All we want is the Constitution.
That’s it. Why do you fail, Mr. Ryan, to understand that?]
He continues, “It recognizes that government has a necessary role in supporting the institutions through which Americans live their lives, and in providing a safety net for those who face financial or other hardships.” [While I, and most thinking people, recognize that government is a necessary evil (non-Christian libertarians excepted) as described here: ‘…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.’ we also recognize that the Constitution leaves the business of helping the people who “who face financial or other hardships” to “the people” or the states.]
Continuing, “But it rests on the conviction that government’s principal role is to maintain the freedoms through which individuals can pursue their own destinies. [Government’s principal role is to serve; mostly to stay out of our way, adhering to the Constitution and not interfering in our lives, as you propose to continue to empower the FEDGOV to do, Mr. Ryan.]
It goes on, “As Jefferson put it: “A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. [And this is exactly, Mr. Ryan, what you propose to do, you propose to maintain the continuation of FEDGOV, taking from some to give to others. At the least this is precluded of FEDGOV and left to the STATES. Your quote of Jefferson above is a perfect example of newspeak; saying that you are doing the opposite of what you are actually doing. You are using Jefferson to lead us to believe that you would not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned but this is exactly what FEDGOV does. Mr. Ryan, you may call Cheerios Spaghettios if you wish, but that does not make them the neat, round spaghetti you can eat with a spoon. ]
He finishes quoting Thomas Jefferson: “This is the sum of good government.”
[Then, Mr. Ryan, if you seek, as you claim and as Jefferson proposes, “frugal government” quit spending unconstitutionally, as is your plan, and refrain from taking from our mouths the bread we have earned. When you introduce legislation to dismantle the Departments of Education and Energy I will give you another listen.
There is much more in Paul Ryan’s plan that Orwell warned us again, but this article has turned out to be longer than I anticipated. And for those of you who are ready to trade our current FEDGOV unConstitutional yoke for Ryan’s FEDGOV unConstitutional yoke because you perceive a benefit in his claim to his being a better money manager, I must warn you against it. A man who would abrogate the Constitution and steal your money would abrogate the Constitution and steal more of your money and then steal some of your rights and then steal more of your rights, that is if the FEDGOV hadn’t stolen them already.
You see…
Let’s conclude with this. There can be only one thing worse, government-wise, than a government INefficiently and rapidly piling up debt, enslaving people, while conducting itself outside its well-defined boundary- usurping the rights God gave the people- outside its limitations as demanded by its Constitution. The only thing, government-wise, that’s worse than that is government that is efficiently conducting itself outside its well-defined boundary- usurping the rights God gave the people- outside its limitations as demanded by its Constitution and doing it with mechanical efficiency as Ryan suggested his plan will do.
“Published originally at EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact.”
thank paul ryan for stealing from the poor and giving it to the rich