Who's In Charge America?

"If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one, subject to particular exceptions."

James Madison

James Madison is widely recognized as the author of the U.S. Constitution. We can only assume he would have a pretty good idea of what type of government he and the other founders hoped to establish. The situation he describes in the quote above is exactly where we find ourselves today. Government, on the federal, state, and local levels now assumes the authority to do whatever is in their discretion, and it is done with our money. Government has crept into so many areas of our lives, it's hardly noticed by most people, who just assume it's always been this way. County officials in Ohio just took an eight year old boy out of his mother's care because he's too fat and case workers decided it's his mother's fault. Earlier this year, the federal government told Boeing it could not relocate one of it's plants from a union state to a right to work state. A couple of months ago, Houston, Texas Mayor Annise Parker and the Houston City Council, declared several neighborhoods "historical districts", which subsequently places severe restrictions on future uses or modifications to the properties. This was done despite the opposition of at least half of the residents of one neighborhood. Parker the declared that the will of the residents was not a sufficient reason to halt the designation; it was city government's decision. The Declaration of Independence state that "governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed".  How did we go from that to allowing the government to tell us what to eat, and taking away our kids if we refuse to comply? R. Allen Stanford is a former investment broker who was arrested in 2009 by federal regulators for, allegedly running a $ 7 billion Ponzi scheme; he has been held in a Texas prison without bail since. The federal government seized everything Stanford and his immediate family owned; money, homes, cars, property, everything, and he has yet to go to trial. He was denied the right to use his money to hire a lawyer. From what I've heard about the case, I'm pretty sure he's guilty. The problem is, to this point, that's all we have; a bunch of people that are pretty sure he's guilty. Is that now enough to take everything a man owns without proving that he's done a damn thing? No matter how you or I would answer that question, the legal answer is yes; it happens all the time. Government has grown and grown like a fat tick, and we've fed it with our money. But, we're at the tipping point now, the parasite is killing the host. We have the means to prevent it, but if we don't act, that may not be the case in a few years. In a dramatic effort last year, voters returned control of the house to Republicans. This was seen as a backlash against the runaway deficit spending. The house controls the purse strings, but the Republican leadership has refused to use that control. In fact, all of congress and the president have refused to address any spending cuts, despite the concerns of the majority of Americans. Unfortunately, I don't see enough Americans with the courage to do anything about it. They may wake up one day with the government they deserve. Sadly, so will the rest of us.