Letter to the Editor Advertising our Tea Party

This was submitted last night to the local paper in hopes it is published to help build awareness of our tea party.

Do you know what the Natural Laws are? It is what the Founding Fathers articulated in our Declaration of Independence and used as the measuring stick for each Amendment in our Constitution. Our Founding Fathers called them God given and unalienable. These Natural Laws are our individuals right to Life, Liberty and Property. So when our government is spending beyond our means and forcing things upon us that violate our liberty or takes our property, it is acting immorally. We are a patient and trusting people, so when that voice inside us tells us something is seriously wrong with our Government, we need to act. That is why busy working people who have never protested before find themselves joining together to let their voices be heard. We developed the Sauk Valley Tea Party, a grass roots movement to help re-boot our local, state and federal governments to align them with our Founders Principals. If you are tired of the rhetoric of politics, if you oppose Government options to Health Care, if you believe Government is the problem and not the solution, if you agree with Thomas Paine that Government at best, is a necessary evil that must be contained, you are not alone and should join us on Sept 12, 2009 to let your voice be heard. Please visit our website at www.saukvalleyteaparty.com to find out our non-party based platform, join us, or just vent.

Amendment 10 of our constitution states The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. We the People need to exercise our rights and Re-boot this Government to not work for us, but rather stick to those things enumerated in the constitution. This is not about the issues, but the megalomania and avarice in politics and the fundamental philosophical change by a minority that could destroy our America.

The Philosophy of Liberty

This is a wonderful representation of how we need to start with the basics and throw out the layers of "good intentions" in this world. The only fight worth fighting is to fight for 3 fundamental human rights - protection of all life, liberty (freedom from oppression), and property.

No Such Thing as Left and Right

The terms left and right have their origins in the French Revolution. The left were the social collectivist revolutionaries that ended the Revolution with a Reign of Terror and ultimately the formation of a Dictatorship. The right were the ones that favored a constitutional monarchy and individual rights. Many of those on the right eventually lost their heads in the guillotine to the left. These terms have morphed over the years to mean liberal (social collectivists or progressives) on the left and conservative (traditionalists or individualists) on the right. Regardless of the nuances of definition, the idea of a continuum from left to right does not paint a complete picture of competing philosophies. A more accurate portrayal of how philosophy intersects with government style work better on a two dimension XY axis chart. The X axis is the difference between respect for the individual vs the desire for social conformity. Regardless if the social conformity is racist, classist, religious or nationalist it always has the same effect, benefit to some, oppression for others. Not to say there is not danger on the opposite extreme where respect for the individual taken to the extreme can lead to an anything goes situation unless there is consensus among individuals as to what "rules" apply to all. Therefore, you can not have a good understanding of left and right unless you input the idea of centralized vs decentralized authority on the y axis. The reason is, whatever a persons ideology is of utopia, there either needs to be consensus or forced consensus to move towards the ideology. The authority moves from decentralized to centralized. An example of the continuum is the individual, family, extended family, neighborhood, church, community group, the town, the township, the county, the state, confederation of states, country, confederation of countries, world. I have noted some examples of various groups, presidents and philosophies to give and understanding of the axis. Note that Fascism is not the same as Communism. There are different nuances to the 2 philosophies, but the outcomes are similar - centralized authority which creates oppression to a group or groups of people. Not everyone will agree on each President's place along the axis, but it is good thought provoking exercise. I challenge people to read history on the reign of Woodrow Wilson and his personal philosophy and contrast that to someone like Mussolini. The similarities are eerie.

Looking beyond left and right it is very important, because of the consequences to those philosophies. Centralized most often move with left philosophies and right philosophies to remain pure must stay within decentralized governments.

The United States was originally founded as a confederation of states, but was too decentralized to insure protecting the liberties of those within and between the states. The US Constitution was the answer to balancing between individual liberties, states rights and a uniquely American Country culture. Unfortunately, our country has moved right to left and from top to bottom throughout the years to a point there are some very real similarities between our current political system and a classic fascist government.

Say No to Common Good

"Common Good" is at best a Noble Lie at worst a prevarication. What is good for one, is rarely good for all. "Common Good" is a man made tool to control behavior, make people sacrifice something or take something away from them. Unlike "Common Good", Universal Good is a Divine Truth with 3 principals - the protection of life, liberty and property of each individual human. Also known as the Natural Laws of Man and the basis for our Declaration of Independence.

The "Common Good" tool is used to sacrifice all or part of a Universal Good. Entitlements, progressive taxation, "sin taxes", the draft, Obama's volunteer bill, price fixing, stimulus packages, universal health care, are just a few examples of legislation under the guises of "Common Good".

The Hippocratic oath says "do no harm". This oath taken by physicians, obviously does not apply to politicians. "Common Good" legislation always ends up hurting someone, sometimes the very people it was intended to help. Once governments trys to protect anything outside the Universal Good, they become oppressive. "Common Good" is politicians way to excuse themselves from responsibility for their actions as they manipulate people into sacrifice, service or obligation. "Common Good" is code for "I am about to infringe upon your life, liberty or property, for my personal idea of Utopia".

Rather than sacrificing for the "Common Good", I am asking you to fight for the Universal Good of the protection of Life, Liberty and Property. As Edmond Burke said, all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.