By Autumn Dawson
On the steps of Virginia’s state capitol in January, a retired state trooper and current Senate Delegate Charles W. Carrico asked a question of the gathered crowd: “Are we going to be free men, or are we going to be slaves to the federal government of the United States?” It is a question that many Americans would claim overdramatic. But, then again, human beings have a remarkable tendency to deny the unpleasant until it becomes unavoidable.
However, it cannot be denied that the present-day federal government only vaguely resembles the limited national government our Founding Fathers designed. The Founders that assigned the majority of domestic government to the states—out of fear of the very thing our current federal government has become. Of course, that tends to happen when the ultimate ruling hand belongs to the government’s team of elite judges, but that is a discussion for another day.
For now, I would like to ask one question. Who is our nation’s largest employer, currently employing around 2 million civilians?
If you guessed the federal government…unfortunately, you are correct. And those 2 million employees do not even including the U.S. Postal Service’s employees. I would now like you to think of the power your boss holds over you, and for one moment I want you to think what kind of power the nation’s largest employer is capable of wielding.
Does that scare anyone but me? That the entity currently trillions of dollars in debt, with hundreds of thousands of troops in nearly fifty countries and territories, is the same entity cutting under-the-table deals with senators and unions to push their agenda on American “citizens.”
What happened to democracy? What happened to the rebels that fought a seemingly impossible battle, for the hope that one day we might be free from tyranny?
I will tell you. We, The American People, starting in Roosevelt’s day let the federal government “fix” our problems. We handed them the power that they today wield as though it were their right. We have people taking out mortgages for houses they cannot afford, and blaming it on the big bad banks when they get foreclosed on. We have people—a 40 year-old female client recently told me this—not purchasing health insurance because they are financing a four-wheeler that they just have to have, and the money they were going to spend on protecting their family’s health will now be spent on monthly payments for a toy that will likely put one of their kids in the ER! And these same people that expect the federal government to solve our healthcare and housing crisis.
Are you freakin’ kidding me!
It is not the government’s responsibility that the majority of our society is incapable of living within their means. And if we do not wake up, take responsibility for our actions and cease with the finger-pointing and hand-outs, The American People will have no one to blame but themselves when our constitutional rights continue to dwindle.