In his farewell address, President George Washington heeded a warning about party affiliation when he stated:

“They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community.”
It is my belief that President Washington, President Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and the rest of our nation’s framers would throw their hands up in disgust by what goes on inside the famed “beltway” in our time. Today, I wish to join those historic figures in their would-be disgust, and ask you to join me as well.

During this forum, you will find that I will invoke the names and quotations of several famous freedom loving Americans. I will do so to emphasize their significance in our great country’s history, in hopes that a real grass roots effort will be established to bring about necessary change in the path on which this great country appears to be; the path to complete and total destruction; the path from which our veterans of the Great American Revolution fought and died to break away. In other words, it is my wish to fulfill the wishes of Benjamin Franklin when he stated the following:

...a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles...is absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty and keep a government free.
Today, We the People need to understand the fundamental principles of this nation’s founding. Should we understand those principles, and then take a look at the state of our government affairs, we should not only be disgusted, but fired up to initiate change. We live in a country where our voices are supposed to be heard at the ballot box. Our voices are supposed to be heard at our local Town Hall meetings. Our voices are supposed to be heard in Washington, DC through our representatives. Our states’ rights, large and small are supposed to be equally represented in our nation’s senate chamber.

Unfortunately, today our voices are not heard. The people’s business is being conducted by 535 men and women, who perhaps at one point in their careers had good intentions, who are nothing short of arrogant, spitting on the very document which governs their positions of servitude. No longer can we write our own representatives and expect a personal response from him, or her. If we get a response, it will contain a stamped signature, after being addressed by a staff member. No longer can we get our representatives’ attention unless there is a huge campaign contribution enclosed with our letters, phone calls, or email messages.

Today we live in a country where 14 elected Senators control a 100 member legislative body by agreeing to certain “non-partisan” provisions. Today, the media calls those 14 mavericks. I call them arrogant.

Today we have congressional districts being drawn that divide even the smallest towns based on the demographic make up of its citizens. There is only one reason for this practice: incumbent protection.

Today, we live in a country where an individual is no longer allowed to exercise his unalienable right to free speech with a campaign contribution, while certain tax exempt organizations have no limits to the amount of money that can be spent in supporting a candidate. There is only one reason for this practice: incumbent protection.

A great champion of liberty, Ayn Rand, once stated:

“No man can have a right to impose an un-chosen obligation, an unrewarded duty or an involuntary servitude on another man.”
Today, we live in a society where our elected officials can force upon its people a so-called retirement premium, force those people to contribute to that retirement program while not guaranteeing any return on the people’s payment, while these representatives use the people’s money to fund their own retirement. There is only one reason for this program, and it is not about guaranteeing economic security. It is about incumbent protection.

Today we live in a society where the people’s representatives and the states’ representatives impose a tax on achievement, called the income tax, and use a bully organization to enforce compliance through fear. And should any of the people voice their concerns, by asking anyone of our representatives to show them the law, they are called “protesters” and “criminals”. These representatives use the tax code to promote certain behavior by providing for certain “tax cuts” for buying certain products, having a certain number of children, making a threshold of money, and even installing certain types of clothes dryers, water heaters and solar panels, while stifling growth and punishing the achievement of everyone. There is only one reason for this “tax code”. It is not about raising revenue for the operation of the government. It is about incumbent protection.

Today we live in a country where the tax collection arm of any government can claim you owe a tax without providing any evidence of the debt, finding you guilty first, and forcing you to prove your innocence.

Today we live in a country where the United States Senate and the United States Congress are considered exclusive clubs with lifetime memberships, and to get there, a candidate has to outspend his opponent. We live in a country where our senators and congressmen spend more time on the media circuit then on the floor of their respective legislative houses.

Today we live in a country where the people’s property can be seized by its local government and given to a developer who has promised to use the property to generate more tax revenue; without regard the people’s property rights.

It is my belief today, that our elected officials and our appointed judges have become drunk with power and have not only ignored the concept of servitude, but have also conveniently forgotten that our Constitution was ratified to protect the people from its government.

Our Constitution specifically outlined the powers granted to Congress, what it is allowed to tax, what it is allowed to regulate and more importantly the limitations of Congress to infringe on the rights of the governed. Today, our employment privileges are regulated, our foods are regulated, our driving privileges are regulated, and in some states, even our cosmetologists are regulated. Our founders envisioned a non-intrusive government. Imagine how they would react if they were awakened and walked around this country today. In the words of Barry Goldwater:

“A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away”
Today we live with a government that legislates for the “common good”. The people have been lulled to sleep in the name of security: social security, economic security, job security and the security of provided health insurance. That is by design. We live in a nation today where when the chips are down, we turn to our government to bail us out. Indeed, the people’s representatives have made promises, but were those promises made to promote the general welfare? No. The promises are made for one reason, to get elected. And once again, I will quote perhaps our most astute founder, Benjamin Franklin:

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
The people’s security is found only in their liberty and freedom. Benjamin Franklin had it right, as did Thomas Jefferson and General Washington. We as an oppressed people gave our lives and all we had to free ourselves from our captors, and now we as a content people readily hand over our liberty to our representatives, national and local, under the guise that they will serve and protect.

We live in a society today where most of the people have given up. They have let their servants become their masters. They have allowed their representatives to monitor their lives, and now, under the guise of Homeland Security, they are allowing their representatives access to every aspect of their day to day activities.

So how do the people affect change? How do the people reign in their government? Should the people sit back and hope things will take care of themselves? No. They shouldn’t. We live in a society that is divided as “Red States” and “Blue States”. We live in a representative republic where the representatives spend 50 weeks a year worrying about how their parties can re-acquire or retain the majority.

We live with a government that believes a budget cut is defined as not increasing the financial allocation to a government program by the same or more than the previous year.

We live with a representative republic that has one Congressman propose a bill that requires any new spending bill be supported by the Constitutional authority to spend the money for the bill’s purpose, only to be widely rejected by the rest of the Congress. As I write this, I am reminded of the great Congressman Davy Crockett, and the speech he made on the floor of the House of Representatives, rejecting a spending request to provide aid to a widow of a distinguished naval officer. Colonel Crockett gave his famous “Not Yours to Give” speech, outlining the constitutional spending limits placed upon Congress. The speech was not as inspiring as Representative Crockett’s reason for rejecting the spending bill. A constituent, a lone constituent, was able to speak with Crockett on the campaign trail and reminded Crockett of those Constitutional limitations and how he had previously violated his oath of office by voting for another appropriation that amounted to charity.

One man, Horatio Bunce, a well respected man in Crockett’s district had the wherewithal to remind Davy Crockett of his pledge to uphold the Constitution. One man affected change. One man was the catalyst of one of the most famous speeches ever delivered on the floor of Congress. What made that speech even more special is that there was radio coverage. There was no television camera for Crockett to appeal to. There was the Congressman, and his word to one man to do his duty of servitude to the people.

Unfortunately, in today’s Congress and in today’s Senate, the people’s representatives and the states representative are driven by K Street and influential organizations. The people’s voices have been drowned out by the organizations waving the most dollars at a campaign. We cannot simply be drowned out any longer. We the People must be heard. We the People must stand up and be counted, and let our voices be heard once again in our Town Hall Meetings, and at the ballot box. We the People must seek out and find amongst us, not one, but hundreds of Horatio Bunce’s to affect change and to reign in those representative who have forgotten what they were sent to the beltway to do: the business of the people. In this day and age where fourteen United States Senators took the business of the people hostage, We, the People must seek out and find five hundred thirty five Davy Crockett’s. We the People must seek out and find the next generation of Thomas Jefferson’s and James Madison’s.

We the people must put forward real representatives, not Congress men and women whose districts are drawn along imaginary demographic lines to protect their self proclaimed thrones. We the People must put forward those who don't put the agendas of the Red and Blue Parties ahead of the agenda of the People, and ahead of the business of this great country. We the People must stand up and be heard. We the People must stand up and take action. We the People must stop getting our news from Entertainment Tonight, stop worrying about setting records at the box office, and put on our radar screens the legislation that affects our daily lives. As the respected Thomas Sowell once penned:

Both free speech rights and property rights belong legally to individuals, but their real function is social, to benefit vast numbers of people who do not themselves exercise these rights.
We the People must find those amongst us that will exercise their free speech rights and property rights for the benefit of all the people, not the elite 535 Representatives in Congress. With that I stand before you today to announce that I seek to affect change. I will exercise my rights to free speech to win the voice of the people. My voice will be loud, and I will stand with Davy Crockett and say “It is not yours to spend”. I will stand with my founding father, the Father of my Country in my stand against a party affiliation.

Finally, I leave you with this one line quote from Thomas Paine. A quote that I have expanded to describe the course of the day:
“When Government fears the people, it is Liberty”.
When We the People fear the Government, it is Tyranny.
Which state of mind are you in? I now ask You the People for the pleasure of serving you in restoring the Freedom and Liberty for which our ancestors gave their life. The first step in obtaining freedom and liberty is simply standing up for yourself. Who will stand with me

markbureau
http://www.markbureau.us/index.cfm?action=speech