From the Wisdom of our Founders

“God Bless America”

nhiemstra — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:08:58 +0000

In the aftermath of September 11 . . . Republican and Democrats burst into the song (“God Bess America”) of the same name by Irving Berlin on the steps of the U.S. Capital . . . it was a slogan for peace” ~Mike Castle

God Bless American

God Bless America, land that I love,
stand beside her, and guide her, through the night,
with the light from above, from the mountains, to the prairies
to the oceans white with foam
God bless America,
my home sweet home
God bless America
my home sweet home!

Loving our neighbor . . .

nhiemstra — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:51:24 +0000

I say that loving our neighbor as we love ourselves is not enough — that we as a Nation and as individuals will please God best by showing regard for the Laws of God. There is no better way of fostering good will toward man than by first fostering good will toward God. If we love Him, we will keep His Commandments” ~Franklin D. Roosevelt
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Regarding Bearing Arms

nhiemstra — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:54:05 +0000

To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them” ~George Mason

The right of citizens to bear arms is just one more Guarantee against arbitrary Government, on more safeguard against tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved always to be possible” ~Herbert Hoover

The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered as the Palladium, the safeguard, of liberties of a Republic since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers” ~Joseph Story

The Second Ammendment was meant to be a strong moral check against the usurpation of arbitrary power of rulers. The people shall have the right to keep and bear arms and they need no persmission or regulation of law for the purpose” ~Thomas M. Cooley [Hence gun registration and "right-to-carry" laws violate that right]

Congress by the power of taxation, by that of raising an army, has the sword in one hand and the purse in the other. Let him candidly tell me when and where did freedom exist when the sword and the purse were given up from the people. Unless America and human affairs interpose, no nation ever retained its liberty after loss of the sword and the purse. The great object is that every man be armed, everyone who is able may have a gun” ~Patrick Henry

The foundation of everything is that the people will form an equal representative Government, that the people will be universally armed. A people that legislate for themselves ought to be in the habit of protecting themselves” ~Joel Barlow

The advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, forms a barrier against the enterprise of ambition. Kingdoms of Europe are afraid to trust the people with arms” ~James Madison

Classical Republican Philosophy has long recognized the critical relationship between personal liberty and the possession of arms by the people ready and willing to use them” ~Jefferson R. Snider

There exists a law inborn in our hearts that if our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right” ~Marcus T. Cicero

Animals have just one method of defense and cannot change it for another. For man, on the other hand, has many means of defense that are available and he can change them at anytime. Take the hand. The hand is as good as a talon, or a claw, or a horn, or again a spear, or a sword, or any other weapon or tool, that it could be all of these ” ~Aristotle

Among evils caused by being disarmed, it renders you contemptable. It is not reasonable to suppose that one who is armed will willingly obey one who is unarmed” ~ Niccolo Machiavellie

False is the idea that would take fire from men because it burns and water because one may drown in it. The law that forbids the carrying of arms are the laws of such in nature. They disarm those only who are neither inclined nor determined to commit the crimes. Can it be supposed that those who have the courage to violate the most sacred laws of humanity will respect less important and arbitrary ones which can be violated with ease and impunity? Such laws serve rather to encourage rather than prevent homicides. For an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man” ~Cesare Beccaria

The peaceable part of mankind will be continually overrun by the vile and abandoned while they neglect the means of self-defense. The supposed quietude of a good man allures the roughian . . . while on the other hand, arms like laws, discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe and preserve order” ~Thomas Paine

It is unreasonable to oblige a man not to attempt the defense of his own life” ~Montesquieu

Men and women alike assiduously exercise themselves in military training to protect their own territory, or drive an invading enemy out of their friends land, or in pity for people oppressed by tyranny to deliver them by force of arms from the yoke of slavery and the tyrant” ~Sir Thomas Moore

Formerly under the reign of Servious Tullius VI. the right to bear arms had belonged solely to the Patricians [the "royalty," those in control]. Now Plebeians [the common-man] are given a place in the army. All the citizens capable of bearing arms were required to provide their own swords and spears and other armor” ~Livy

Those who possess and can wield arms are in a position to decide whether the Constitution is to continue or not” ~Aristotle

Now why is this a big deal? Well, this is one of the ingredients our founding fathers saw as a way to limit concentrated power going back to a dictator. Within the last 100 years more people have been killed by their own Government than on the battle fields. Hillary Clinton is working on a small arms treaty with the United Nations, the goal is to have the whole world disarm, and for the UN treaty to override any U.S. laws. Which we can see as being a backdoor way to disarm America. I encourage you to read, “Change to Chains,” by William Federer.

Regarding the Republic

nhiemstra — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:18:46 +0000

“If it be asked, What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? The answer would be, An inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws — the first growing out of the last.” –Alexander Hamilton

A Free Economy

nhiemstra — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 04:43:58 +0000

“A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that … it gives people what they want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.” ~ Milton Friedman

nhiemstra — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 04:42:13 +0000

“…the opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional and what not, not only for themselves in their own sphere of action but for the Legislature and Executive also in their spheres, would make the Judiciary a despotic branch.” ~ Thomas Jefferson

Aspiring Men

nhiemstra — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 04:40:53 +0000

“If ever time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.” ~ Samuel Adams (1722–180

The Welfare State

nhiemstra — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 04:38:27 +0000

“In spite of its alluring name, the welfare state stands or falls by compulsion. It is compulsion imposed upon us with the state’s power to punish noncompliance. Once this is clear, it is equally clear that the welfare state is an evil the same as every restriction of freedom. ” ~ Wilhelm Ropke

Enumerated Powers

nhiemstra — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 11:56:03 +0000

“It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and as they would be the sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please. Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given them. [The Constitution] was intended to lace them up straightly within the enumerated powers and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect.” –Thomas Jefferson, Opinion on a National Bank, 1791

Persons and Property

nhiemstra — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:34:36 +0000

“It is sufficiently obvious, that persons and property are the two great subjects on which Governments are to act; and that the rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted. These rights cannot well be separated.” –James Madison