Community Update

Liberty, Democracy and the Penumbra of Power


Let’s start with some wisdom from our Founders.

“The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.” Thomas Jefferson

“There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.” John Adams


Please see: “The Penumbra of Power”
http://www.redstate.com/2013/05/29/the-penumbra-of-power/

Under Obama and the Dem Left, if you own a restaurant, “Hiring the health inspector’s sister saves a lot of headaches.”

“Once upon a time, there was a general notion that the government would propose some initiative, levy the taxes necessary to carry it out, and conduct its business in full view of the public. If taxes could not be raised, old programs had to be sacrificed to fund new agenda items.

But now the bulk of the tax burden has been shifted to a small segment of the population, the government routinely spends huge amounts of money it doesn’t have, power has been transferred to a bureaucracy the public never gets to vote against, and great power is wielded through unfunded mandates. Surrounding these dubious tools of unaccountable power is a wide and deep shadow of influence, in which fear of the destructive State, and desire for its lucrative favor, allow the political class to exercise command beyond legislation.

Regulators can’t be everywhere, so they conveniently choose to go where the favor of the ruling Party is in short supply – just ask Gibson Guitars how that works. This makes political favor a valuable commodity indeed. The big players in what remains of the “private” sector know what must be done to earn it.”


Now please extrapolate the growth of government, government power and the penumbra of government power another 10 or 20 years. Will America still be a free and democratic country?

Next, please ask yourself:

Are you content to turn over to your children and posterity a lesser America [lesser in liberty, prosperity and opportunity] than the one you received?


Two more I think pertinent quotes:

“When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing; when you see that money is flowing to those who deal not in goods, but in favors; when you see that men get rich more easily by graft than by work and your laws no longer protect you against them, but protect them against you - you may know that your society is doomed.” - Ayn Rand

“Where the people fear the government you have tyranny. Where the government fears the people you have liberty.” John Basil Barnhill 1914