'Twas the Night Before....

The Election and there may or may not be sugar plums dancing in your head but I take it from my observations that when the votes are counted something interesting is going to happen. I have spent the past two years trying to figure out what is going on in this country. I have read a lot of books, commentary, research and opinion from many people. I have talked with regular people about their feelings. Daily I have observed the Government, in it's various branches and forms. I have come to some simple conclusions which some may not agree with; in fact I am sure some may not agree with them.

I have a pocket sized copy of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Considering them as the baseline of thought and understanding about our form of government I have read and re-read and pondered them. I am not a Constitutional lawyer, but I am capable of understanding the words and I am positive I understand the Spirit of the documents. I am convinced that the current Powers in Government and those who support them are totally inconsistent with that Spirit.

From that baseline I look at what we have right now. I have come to the following conclusions:

• Government is way too big, way too expensive and way too intrusive.
• There probably is not one Government Program than cannot be cut way back or eliminated entirely. (Education Department and Energy Department would be a good start along with almost every agency, especially the EPA)
• As a populace too many are nursing too long on the teat. IE, Entitlements are not Eternal. In fact, I don't think there should even be entitlements. The Declaration of Independence lists the entitlements or 'unalienable rights'.
• There is a morality that is assumed in our Founding Documents that has been lost on our elected officials and our appointed judiciary and on our people. Executive Branch appointments are overdone and "There should not be any czars in the USA"
• People's behavior matters. If you do something and the consequence is you become dependent on a government program, you are the problem. Get off the program, you are dragging us down.

The Government must come to the conclusion that it is allowed to exist by the People. It is not omniscient nor omnipotent. It's powers, particularly at the Federal level, are way out of whack and they need to be pruned. Government is not an Employment Program. No one's job should be safe nor should it exist just to keep someone employed. This includes Congress; their benefits and largesse are unconscionable. One example I saw this last Spring was while I was in DC. I noticed a garbage can on wheels and a couple of women with brooms. They were sweeping the gutters and with a dust pan putting the debris in the can. I wondered. Don't they make machines that can do this more efficiently? I've seen them in my town. Then it came to me; this is what one would expect to see in the old Soviet Union. We must be getting close.