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Wednesday, January 21, 2009
David Harsanyi :: Townhall.com Columnist
No More Kings
by David Harsanyi
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Will the Dems' health care Christmas Present to America be an improvement or detriment to our health care system?


Do all Americans truly have a yearning to fundamentally "remake" our nation? There must be a subversive minority out there that still believes the United States, even with its imperfections and sporadic recessions, is, in context, still a wildly prosperous and free country worth preserving.

Some of you must still believe that politicians are meant to serve rather than be worshipped. And there must be someone out there who considers partisanship a healthy organic reflection of our differences rather than something to be surrendered in the name of so-called unity -- which is, after all, untenable, subjective and utterly counterproductive.

How about those who praised dissent for the past eight years?

Is there anyone who still believes the Constitution was created to ensure each citizen has liberty and the ability to pursue happiness rather than a guarantee of happiness -- and a retirement fund, health care, a job, an education, a house

Yes, two important historical events transpired Tuesday. The first was the peaceful transfer of power from one freely elected politician to another -- an uninterrupted streak we often take for granted. Then there was the first presidency of an African-American, which proves we can transcend our unsightly past.

After that, what we had was just another presidential election. We conduct one every four years. For those of you not shouting hosannas, it might have occurred to you that we are suffering from a rampant sickness in American life that casts government as the author of your dreams and an Illinois politician as the linchpin of your hopes.

Tom Brokaw -- whose hero, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, corralled thousands of innocent Asian-Americans into internment camps and assaulted the Constitution at every turn -- went as far as to compare Obama's inauguration to the Czech's fight for freedom over Communist oppression.

George W. Bush's administration, which I had a multitude of problems with, was not comparable to a tyranny, despite the protestations of his emotional detractors. Continued...
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Reply # 1
Date: Jan 24, 2009 - 11:11 PM EST
Re: lilly
I found another article in that same "Atlantic" issue that should give everyone pause: "Silenced Majorities," about the filibuster. Our Founders had no intention of setting up a pure democracy for the simple reason that a pure democracy would permit the majority to "freely and democratically" vote to enslave any minority. So we were given a Republic with safeguards to protect minorities from a "tyranny of the majority." The filibuster is part of that protection. The Democrats had a filibuster-proof majority from 1964 - 1968 and even leading Democrats were worried; when **Democrats** are worried about having too much power then everyone should sit up and take notice.

The article about the Founders "Big Mistake" did not impress me at all. The Executive Branch was designed to be weaker than the Legislative and Judicial Branches but with a different set of priorities. Foreign policy, e.g., was put in the hands of the Executive Branch because quick decisions will be necessary; the President, as Commander-in-Chief of the military, also needs to make decisions quickly. We haven't won a war since WW2 because Congress has usurped those powers. Then they blame the President for the results.

Our government was not founded with efficiency in mind; it was founded with the purpose of preventing any person or branch from getting too much power. The fact that Executive Orders have made undesirable changes is because Congress failed to apply the brakes. The Founders laid out the framework but it is up to the voters to keep tabs on its operation.
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Reply # 2
Date: Jan 22, 2009 - 9:28 PM EST
Voters have tolerated this
Having read Harsanyi's book "Nanny State" and observed what happens at the polls I am not surprised at what happened in November. For decades, voters have supported seemingly innocuous issues that were supposedly "for our own good. We have "no smoking" laws, laws governing the content on our TV's, seat belt laws, ad nauseum. We have "Child protection" laws (and officials who are more interested in breaking up families than in protecting children) and should be demanding why that is.

Locally, six boys who were abused by a lesbian couple escaped from that situation but Children's Services wanted to hand them back!

As to why there is such an effort to destroy families, a look into modern history will give the reason. During the periods of the Third Reich and the Soviet Union government wanted children to spy on their parents and report anything said against the government; however, families were sufficiently close-knit that they stuck together.

All of the "Nanny State" laws voted into place have served one major purpose: more power for Big Brother. When I was in grade school the teacher read us the fable about the Arab and his camel and we discussed it in class. For the uninitiated, first the camel wanted his nose in the tent, then his head etc. At dawn the camel had the tent all to himself. That is the ultimate purpose of all the "feel good" legislation that is passed "for our own good."
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