I am NOT going to be writing about Hope and Change. As we fondly said in the Navy, 'Hope is not a plan.' I'm going to try and lay out principled conservative plans and policies for a plethora (I've always wanted to use that word) of issues. My goal is to do so in clear and concise language, to educate and persuade. I would love for principled liberals (if that is not an oxymoron) to fire back. Let's not just hate each other from the get-go because we have different ideas about how our country should run. Provide some principled arguments for your positions, and I'll listen. Just because something would be Good to Do, doesn't mean the Federal government Should Do It, or is ALLOWED TO by the Constitution.

So let's get started! Nothing the government does is Free to anyone. All government funds have to come from somewhere else, like You and Me or Corporations in the form of taxes. Don't think everyone else is different from you. You could probably put your money to good use if the government didn't take it. Well, so can the so-called evil rich, or evil corporations. Rich people don't put money in mattresses. They invest it, which provides capital for corporations to expand, which provides You and your Friends and Family with JOBS. What would you do with $4000 more a year, or whatever your tax burden is? Unless you buried it in the backyard, whatever you did with it would benefit the economy: buy something, invest it, save it for emergencies so you wouldn't be a drag on society, etc! All those are Productive uses of Your money.

The government can only suck productivity out of the people and companies of this country in the form of taxes. Taxes take that money from production in the market place and for the most part waste it. I'll post later about what the Federal government should be doing, but it's definitely NOT what it is doing for the most part. Don't tell me the government doesn't waste Billions of your dollars. We'll talk later about all the government programs you will be telling me are Productive uses of Our money....

So what do you think? Can the Federal government provide You with FREE anything? Do you ever think about what those Billions of dollars could be doing in the Private sector vice being filtered through the government bureaucracy? Do you think, everytime a congressman says 'we need to do XYZ', that he's actually saying 'I (one of 535 congressmen) want to take YOUR money (that I will collect from some 100+million citizens) and do XYZ with it'?

Yow! Now I'm itching to talk about the Consitution, and what it says the Federal government CAN and CAN'T do. That's why it was written, you know. To lay out the form of our government, which includes the restrictions on the Federal government. It doesn't restrict CITIZENS liberties and freedoms, it explicitly restricts the government's ability to encroach on you freedoms.

The Constitution used to limit what the Federal government could do (and Federal revenues, pre-income tax, limited the Feds ambition as well). But the courts haven't done their job (either by omission or commission) pointing out the constitutionality (or lack there-of) of Federal programs. So that limit is severely eroded. And the income tax (and ability to increase those rates willy-nilly, and shift the burden to fewer and fewer citizens) started breaking limitations provided by limited funds. But then there was deficit spending, but at least we thought that couldn't get too big. But NOW, with the Spendulus bill just passed, even huge deficits are no limit. So I ask you: what is the limit on the Federal government? What says to those 535 yahoos, NO! You can't do that! It's not allowed (the Constitution)! It's too expensive (huge debts)! Not anymore. Neither of those even seem to be considered these days.

The only thing I see limiting those in Congress is the prospect of getting voted out of office. And the only way I see that happening is enough Citizens of this great nation getting educated in how our government is formed, what those limitations are, WHY there are limitations, HOW those limitations (and consequently OUR freedom) benefit ALL of us, and that if nothing else, WE just can't AFFORD to do all of these things. And I don't want to kick the can down to our children and grandchildren. They deserve as great a country as our grandparents gave us.

We haven't reached the point of no return. But I fear it is approaching fast. So get cracking! Read that Constitution! It's only 35 pages in the handy little pamphlet from the government: and for the record I think that is a GOOD use of MY money, to print the Constitution for EVERYONE to read. Value your FREEDOM! I've been lots of places in this world where people would literally die for a chance to get a fraction of what we have. Tell those Congressmen to quit spending your children's future!