Would our Founding Fathers look in disgust, or shock on how our nation has developed? Maybe George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or James Madison would take a ship back to Britain, nodding their heads in disbelief over a glass of cognac (wine for Jefferson, which was his preferred beverage) in a smoke-filled pub. Since texting during that time is a definite anachronism, one could imagine what they would text or Tweet. Just indulge me for minute with the above scenario, and since we can’t go back in time, we will guess how they would react. Honestly, there is still hope. America has made important strides—this should be recognized, but we need to look at the darker side as well. Here is the good news, first.
We’ve come far on civil rights, social issues, maintained our liberties, and freedoms of speech, although there is a downward trend with freedom of religion. Big government is not what the Fathers wanted, and its tentacles are fast encroaching on the nation. George Washington didn’t fight against the Red Coats so Americans would be over-regulated, getting involved in the affairs of others, and where there was religious persecution. “In politics as in philosophy, my tenets are few and simple. The leading one of which, and indeed that which embraces most others, is to be honest and just ourselves and to exact it from others, meddling as little as possible in their affairs where our own are not involved,” said Washington. “If this maxim was generally adopted, wars would cease and our swords would soon be converted into reap hooks and our harvests would be more peaceful, abundant, and happy."
Today, the government has outreached way beyond it boundaries. We see this with the threat of banning sugar in Big Gulps in New York, prayer not being allowed in schools, taxes, and the government misusing its power in Washington to harm small business with taxes. Americans believe that the government is corrupt, according to a Gallup Poll. There has been a steady trend since 2009 that the government is a huge threat to the nation. “Seventy-two percent of Americans say big government is a greater threat to the U.S. in the future than is big business or big labor, a record high in the nearly 50-year history of this question. The prior high for big government was 65 percent in 1999 and 2000. Big government has always topped big business and big labor, including in the initial asking in 1965, but just 35 percent named it at that time.”
Washington would not like what’s going on with the morality of the nation and the discrimination against Christians (bans on public school prayers or crosses taken down from highways used as memorials are just a couple of cases over the years brought against believers). He’s not the not the only one. I can picture Thomas Jefferson was also called “The Man of the People,” wearing robe and slippers, sitting in his library at Monticello, and sipping on wine looking at us in the future with sadness. Why? The reason is not just the lack of freedom of religion, but there is an assault on the Constitution. There have been gross violations of the American Constitution under the Barack Obama Administration. People were lied to about the cost of Obama Care, there were violations of the Second Amendment to bear arms, more regulations of the Internet, and without Congresses approval, Obama changed the work requirements of the recipients of welfare. Americans are also dealing with so many taxes, it is impossible to get ahead for the middle class. Jefferson was an American Founding Father and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence—he desired a government that wouldn’t infringe on individual rights. “A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.”
Americans in general are fed up with the government—many of them believe that the nation is going in the wrong direction and the heck with the Constitution. “I don’t believe the Founders would support our ever-growing welfare state or the untenable size of the federal government. Nonetheless, Americans today enjoy a degree of freedom that simply isn’t possible in most other countries,” author Daniel Doherty at Town Hall reported. “The Constitution is not merely an empty or largely symbolic piece of parchment; on the contrary, it protects real freedoms that allow every citizen to speak, write and worship as he or she so chooses. Of course, America is far from perfect (the IRS’ obvious decision to target conservative organizations is a huge moral and political failing), but the government they envisioned more than two centuries ago remains largely intact."
James Madison helped with the Constitution, co-wrote the Federalist Papers and sponsored the Bill of Rights. Madison would do a lot of his thinking playing chess, and enjoying nature. If the mild-mannered Madison knew what was going on today, he might lose peace over both parties, and the entire political system. Conservatives are not without ridicule, either. They pander, just like any other politician and caved into Obama’s demands. Both parties can’t be trusted. It is the people who have the power and pay these clowns salaries. The American voter needs to remember this and they have. We see it in today’s political movements with the non-establishment guys like Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders—they both captured the countries attention, and are the result of people’s disenchantment. Madison, Washington, and Jefferson would be disappointed in the results of the government would join the revolt with Americans today against both parties. “The people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is derived,” Madison said. Power corrupts, and as long as “We the People” put up with it, the narrative will continue. Karl Rove was the Former Deputy Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush. The now Fox News contributor explained how empathy is impacting our government. “Empathy is the latest code word for liberal activism, for treating the Constitution as malleable clay to be kneaded and molded in whatever form justices want. It represents an expansive view of the judiciary in which courts create policy that couldn't pass the legislative branch or, if it did, would generate voter backlash.”