The Cartoon Age of Government

Picture it: It’s the year 2062 and the world is powered by robotic aliens and holograms. What may sound like an episode from “The Jetsons” instead becomes reality. Legislators across the United States are formulating a plan to have robots fly above us. Rather than driving on the New Jersey Turnpike alone, we can have the constant companionship of a robot watching our every move. Rest assured that the day of privacy is long gone. It’s understandable to consider keeping citizens protected, but at what cost? Allowing sky robots to watch over America places society in an even more vulnerable situation, that situation is a violation of what was once called privacy.  The use of such sky robots could compromise not only our rights to privacy, but they could also read your mind; allowing government even further control over the American people. The issue with using sky robots is with protecting our privacies. Although certain privacies are covered under the Fourth Amendment, there are still concerns as to how information is being collected, who’s collecting it, what’s being done with it, who’s using it, where it’s being stored, and where is it being deleted?

In 1969, the Internet was invented. However, it wasn’t until the 1990s that it became one of the fastest growing tools in our generation. Helpful for researching information or communicating with people, the Internet is also a means of compromising our privacy. If we think about how many radical groups have targeted Americans through technology, it shows that any further surveillance advancements could make us prone to even more attacks. There aren’t guarantees that security systems couldn’t be damaging. In actuality, the chances are strong. Any use of sky robots would ultimately hurt people. It’s alarming to think that at your next Memorial Day barbeque, you may need to cook extra food, although not for your friends and family, but rather the government, who will be looking for their plate.

Using robots to find missing children or to transport medical supplies is worthwhile, especially if it saves someone’s life. But the truth is we don’t need to have pizza flown to our households by the United States government.  With the current administration searching through millions of American’s phone records, it brings to light how much government is changing for the worse. President Obama stated: “"You can’t have 100 percent security and also then have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience," the president added. "We are going to have to make some choices as a society." Those choices have already been made for us. It is the fear that promotes more rights to government and drones than it does to the American people. Limits need to be set on the government and the use of flying robots. Think about it, government may be focusing too much on cartoons, so much so that even the Flintstones have had an impact on society. The Flintstones were cavemen who listened to records, lived in split-level homes, and ate out at restaurants — much like people do today. Government may be setting up people to live in a cartoon world. A future conversation may sound a lot like this one: “Promise you won’t tell anyone? I swear on my mother’s rechargeable batteries (Judy Jetson to her robot Rosie, The Jetsons).”

 

THE DEBT FACTOR

It doesn’t matter if you’re a high school senior or a person looking to change careers; graduating from college is an accomplishment. The average person spends anywhere from 2 to 5 years or more finishing an undergraduate degree. Spending hours dedicating themselves to achieving that important piece of paper that grants all the rights and privileges of saying Alumnus, what many college administrators neglect to tell students about is the debt factor. The debt factor is the amount of interest earned each month on monies borrowed through both government and private loans. Let’s face it, not every individual has the resources to receive tuition reimbursement from their employers. With many companies cutting back, some have taken away these perks. So what does it all mean for the average student? It’s a dollars and cents game, where more payments are going toward the interest than the actual principal amount. A $75,000 loan may cost a person a $350 payment each month. Depending on the interest rate, approximately $15 a month will actually be applied to the principal amount. That means a person may pay $4200 a year, with $180 going towards the principal and $4020 going to the lender. These are the numbers that no one talks about when signing a student loan.

It’s overwhelming to carry so much responsibility when in the end all that a person is trying to do is become more marketable. We all can’t be Congressman and have our children’s college education paid for by the people. The added burden of college repayment falls on the individual and there aren’t any significant laws that have been passed to ease the debt factor. What is needed more than ever isn’t stricter prevention acts, but rather laws that put caps on student loan interest rates. One in every five households will be affected and another 2.2 million people 60 years and older will hold student loan debt well into their ‘golden years.’

Establishing Principles of Freedom

“You can have anything you want, if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.” – Abraham Lincoln

We were established under the principles of freedom. So when did American government have the right to make the decision to take another citizen’s life on their own soil?  Government’s authority is killing us softly by using lethal force against its own citizens. Lethal force should be limited to circumstances in which the threat to life is concrete, specific, and imminent. The American Government is violating our Fifth Amendment right that: ‘No person shall be deprived of life without due process of law;’ while at the same time violating our First Amendment protections. Government shouldn’t have the power to assassinate an American citizen. Even in our current criminal justice system, men and women are given the right to a trial, the right to appeals, and to follow the Constitution.

Our forefathers built America through the establishment of the Constitution. The Constitution asserted that power was inherent among the people, not to provide a sole power to the President of the United States.  Our Constitution is based on the unique purpose of: creator, people, and lastly, government. It is the people who grant rights to the government. The Constitution was based on limiting the amount of powers given to government. Not long ago, in the State of the Union Address, a promise was made to the people to work with Congress on the drone striking program. Instead, every attempt has failed. Congress isn’t able to provide oversight; which means the current administration is acting alone. The many problems that we face today as a country are a result from a departure from this basic con­cept, the concept that our forefathers originally gave us− to live in a free society. To live in a country that is free from physical harm or danger. The role of government has been reversed to having a greater power over individuals. Early generations of Americans pledged their lives to the cause of in­dividual freedom and limited government and warned repeatedly that eternal vigilance would be required to preserve our freedom before it’s gone.

2013: The Year of Living Dangerously

"Recognizing and confronting our history is important. Transcending our history is essential. We are not limited by what we have done, or what we have left undone. We are limited only by what we are willing to do." – George W. Bush

Do you believe that the fiscal cliff has been resolved? Well not so fast. You may want to think again. There’s more to this cliff than what meets the eye. It seems that government has more cliffs to solve. With three more financial crises, there are more frightening times ahead than last year. By the end of February, Congress will encounter another challenge to our debt ceiling; a Sequestration that will be more painful to our economy. Financial analysts are calling it a "suicidal" attempt for our country. If Congress doesn’t increase our debt ceiling by more than 40 percent, our government programs will have to cut spending and will likely put our country back into a recession. It’s disturbing to know that the last attempt at the 2012 fiscal cliff was really nothing more than a band-aide for our country’s problems.

With talks of having a $1 trillion coin or invoking the 14th Amendment as unfavorable options by politicians, there is more a willingness to shut down the government or cover programs on a day-by-day basis. This type of thinking doesn’t give people an increased trust in our government system.
Politicians shouldn’t be taking action on just short-term solutions. It would be wiser to remember that America wasn’t built on temporary thinking, but rather on the long-term goal of achieving more today than what we had yesterday. Instead of lowering our debts, we are being driven towards another year of living dangerously; otherwise known as the year that government shut down.

Awakening a Constitution

Many people have watched in anticipation, as we listened to the first of three Presidential debates, but I can’t help but think about the Constitution.   Has America reached its breaking point?  It’s hard to believe that unemployment has decreased to a record low of 7.8% with so many people out of work. Or is it that we have become conditioned by the media and politicians to believe that our economy has actually improved?  It’s hard to believe. The one event in American history that can be positively believed is the Constitution. Developed to protect; it is the legal document that speaks for us and our wants as an American people.  Our Constitution allows for us to have freedom and ownership for our wages.

Today, we live in a hectic pace of distractions that we often don’t know who to believe. We can’t fully understand how or why we ever got into this mess. The means by which the poorer classes of society are challenged by the privileges of the upper classes and setting the stage for the political conflicts that ultimately are directly to a Revolution. Back in Colonial America the first great awakening prepared men and women to become involved in the political process; an awakening that was crucial to the re-structuring of government and politics.  When we begin to realize the prime mission of the Federal government under the Constitution; which is to protect us of inalienable rights, freedoms, and property of the individual; one can see how far the federal government has strayed from its legitimate role. Patrick Henry said it best: “I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience.”

 

This is My Promise

I often wonder about promises. So many of us make them every day to either ourselves or to others, it’s those simple words “This is my promise” that leaves hope in our hearts.  Either it is a wedding vow, a loan, mortgage, or some other type of agreement; is there really a cut off as to how many promises we are allowed to make? Promises are an assurance that something will happen. It’s a pledge to someone or something, but also, it’s a declaration. In government these promises mean risks. But what I’ve learned is that there are consequences for not keeping promises in other parts of the world.

In England, where almost all power resides in the office of the Prime Minister, voters know where to put blame for broken promises. In elections such as that in the United States, where power is more diffused; ultimately the responsibility is harder to pin down. It is harder for an electorate to punish politicians for broken promises.  

Promises in the big picture of government means ownership; an oath. Our Declaration of Independence was a promise for history to be redeemed and woven into what are known as constitutional stories or memories; to bind us together as a people. A promise can mean everything. It is a claim for the generations before us and for generations after us. When promises are broken, saying sorry means nothing. “Years ago, fairy tales all began with Once upon a time... now we know they all begin with, If I am elected.” – Carolyn Warner
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