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Michael McDonald paused between songs  and shared a few things of  importance to him. Peace was clearly the energy he was sending  during a pause before  continuing  singing with his powerful  voice songs like  “What A Fool Believes”   and more.

Michael talked about something that I don’t normally think a lot about. That is the VA or Veterans Administration.  He expressed his support for the one agency that is established to help those who have given all or a part of their life to protect the freedom of this country. He was specifically talking about the men and women who serve on our front lines.  Michael McDonald was also asking all of us to consider  what conflicts make sense for us to support and those that don’t.  With the next breath he said in effect .. once we  as a nation choose to enter a conflict, we are responsible for taking care of those that serve.

Thank you Michael for that reminder. On the Fourth of July and every other day we   honor those who  serve to preserve our independence, liberty and freedom.

I had not considered the Veterans quite in the context of the purpose of the Veterans Administration.  Michael is right and it our responsibility to take care of those who serve in the military.  I am talking about the people who serve to protect our country whether we agree with the specific conflict or not. The point is they have left their homes and their lives to protect our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

My view is most people working at a desk job being paid by the working  people of this country, through the bureaucracy of the government, are not serving our country by this definition. In fact most are leeching off this country. Yes you read that correctly.  Most people working in a  government job are leeching off this country. In all fairness they are not waking up in the morning thinking that. Most are intending to do a good job.  I am not in any way blaming the workers. We have permitted a system to develop where their job in most cases  has nothing to do with foundation principles of the declaration of independence and constitution.  Yes most jobs created to protect our right to independence, freedom and peace are unnecessary because we have allowed laws and programs to start and grow that have nothing to do with the role of government.

As a country we have developed a “you take care of it” attitude and elect people who say they will solve those situations in this country we define as problems.  But the problems have become worse. The national debt is incomprehensible and just one program, health care,  recently  proposed by Obama will add an estimated $10 Trillion dollars to the national debt over the next 10 years and not make a dent in the number of uninsured. Obama has led the parade to stimulate the economy with bailout money saying the stimulus package will contain unemployment to 8%. Now after disbursing hundreds of billions, Obama says unemployment will be 10% this year or higher.

There are other forums that examine what this man who is our president is doing and the impact of his leadership in much greater detail.  However, this is actually not intended to bash him since every administration particularly since the 1930’s is accountable for implementing policies and programs that have nothing to do with the role of government as defined by the constitution.  Most of what we have allowed to evolve under the umbrella of programs, rules, regulations is simply not necessary and stifle freedom and liberty.

Have you thought about the foundation principles that are intended to guide what our government does?  Have you evaluated your point of view as to what freedoms you feel you have relinquished by what we have allowed others to do and implement in the spirit of the so called common good?  Have you asked yourself what is really necessary to be done by the government? I will be honest in saying I am not totally sure as to what is all necessary so one way of getting to that answer is by asking the question what is not necessary. The following is part of my list based on the foundation principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. My list is also based on the foundation principle of individual responsibility.

Programs and Spending That Are Beyond The Scope of The US Government As Defined by The Intention of The United Stated Constitution.
If you are in another country consider how your freedom is affected by the programs implemented by your government.

Social Security:  Eliminate it.  For most of this country’s history it didn’t exist and it never should have been enacted. There is no basis in the land of freedom that says because I am working I must pay into a fund to fuel  the retirement of some else which is what has evolved because my government has taken this money and used it to fund wars and debt. The money deposited into social security is not there.   I don’t want anyone to tell me what to do with my money. Why is it that we stand for other people to dictate what we do with our money? We intend to fund  a few basic common interest services the first being the protection of  independence, freedom and liberty. Along with a few other services for the common good our constitution intended for government to have a limited role in our lives.

Welfare, Medicaid, Medicare and all social welfare programs: The same as social security. Cut them right now. Yes right now. Our government was not formed for the purpose of creating and administering these programs. Am I insensitive to the needs of others. Not at all. As a brief story, I was in an accident with my father when I was very young. He made very little money and it was about 2 months before he could return to work. We were both in the hospital for weeks.  There were no government programs, there was no health care. Me, my dad and my family made it through this.   Was that period a challenge?  Of course but I developed  the appreciation for the neighbors and strangers who knew we needed help. Does this mean there should be no system to help those who clearly cannot be helped by friends, family and community. No it does not but as soon as we say there is an exception, politicians take it and expand it.

Rules and regulations: Since when does the constitution of the United States have anything to do with rules on smoking, seat belts, prescription medication, infant seats in cars on airplanes, handicapped friendly bathrooms everywhere,  and more. Get rid of the rules. If I choose to not wear a seat belt and I am hurt in an accident let my insurance company say we are not paying your medical bills since you were not wearing a seat belt. If a restaurant chooses to allow smoking, I can go to it or go to one that is non- smoking.   Do you see the importance of this? It is not about the seat belts or the smoking or the drugs. It is about freedom of choice and I don’t need anyone to make my mind up for me.

Non-Citizens In the US – open the boarders but don’t ask me to fund your schooling or guarantee your children the right to be admitted to the schools I have paid to be built and staffed. I don’t have to support you,although that may be my choice.  I don’t expect from you any special considerations and don’t expect any from me. You can become part of the community and the school system when you are a citizen.  No I am not agreeing  to make everything multi-lingual. We didn’t print everything in German, Polish, Russian and more during the period when people from many nations came to this country and there is no reason to do it  now. See the above comments on social welfare and do you think that some of the incentive for coming to this country would be removed when you remove the social programs?

Legalize drugs ... all of them.  I have no  interest in taking  any drug currently classified as illegal. If you want them, that is your business and as long as you harm no one else do what you want.   Laws do not change a person’s actions and we are spending billions in an effort to control a situation that is not controllable.

Gun control… none. End of discussion. We have a right to have arms as spelled out in the Constitution. This is not about how you feel about guns. This is about life , liberty and the pursuit of happiness. There are 18 proposed bills being circulated in Congress right now intended to compromise our Second Amendment right. I say anyone associated with any bill intended to compromise the rights under our constitution be required to move out of this country to another place more in alignment with their values. I choose to live in the country because I align with the rights of our constitution.

Other Country Situations: There are brilliant people all over the world.  I support a very strong national defense and then keep our nose out of other people’s  business. At those times it is clear other people’s agenda is to compromise our freedom and peace we do whatever is necessary. Stop funding other people’s agenda. Did you know that Nigeria is first on the happiness index and the US is 46th out of 50 countries studied. Now what makes you think anyone else is seriously interested in our agenda for them.

Taxes: simplify simplify simplify….a national sales tax to fund defense, our interstate commerce system and our Judicial system is about it.  Regarding the judicial system at the Federal level,  that  process needs to be held accountable for upholding the values of our constitution and if individual justices do not do that in the opinion of the clear majority of the population they will be removed. Yes we need a system that allows for the people to determine the composition of the Supreme Court and not the bureaucratic process intended to accomplish the agenda for what someone else  believes is the common good. Yes we need a system that does not guarantee a job for life when appointed to the Supreme Court.

Airport security- Do you have any idea how ridiculous this is?  I am totally in favor of profiling. I am totally in favor intelligent security. Watch the first Dirty Harry movie ” if you see a guy running down the alley with a  ______ and a butcher knife you know he was not out collecting for the Salvation Army.”  Enough said. If you don’t prefer that example, do you remember Flight 93?  People are capable of being responsible for their own protection.  The violations of individual rights here are off the charts. Teach the passengers to pay attention and do whatever it takes. Will there be mistakes?  There are huge mistakes now and the system is stupid.

Department of Justice – totally out of control. Look at how stupid it is to lock up brilliant minds who have perpetrated millions and billions of dollars from people. Here is the deal: Have an apartment complex in the most economically challenged section of the country and make them pay $50,000 a month for a room. Then mandate they use their  mind and talent to legitimately make and pay back double or triple  what was lost. Michael Millikan was convicted, went to prison. He now is paying major taxes based on the value he is creating since being free. Look at what could have been paid had he been simply told …go to work pay it back and by the way, if you don’t work it the right way we will put you in the place where we send people who kill, rape and more.  Your choice.

The Fourth of July: God Bless America The Land of the Free

All I am talking about is freedom as I see it. I certainly have just touched on the surface of my views as to some of the structural issues. Don’t define my freedom and I surely will not define yours.  Don’t interfere with my life and I won’t be interfering with yours. Obama, as for you and  all the other people in office with the intention of sucking  freedom and liberty out of us, I intend for you to have another   job having nothing to do with my life and and the lives of anyone else.

Obama, I don’t like your misrepresentations about authenticity and transparency. I don’t like your socialistic agenda.  A free market economy has built in checks and balances.  Respectfully, you or any other government office holder has no business being involved with General Motor. AIG , or any other business that is failing. If that means the country enters a recession or a depression, those are the cycles of life. The structural solution is a  consistent adherence to foundational principles.  Those principles without any doubt are clearly spelled out in our Declaration of Independence.

I pay attention to the conditions that our founding leaders experienced that led to the Declaration of Independence and the formation of the United States Constitution. I stand up and say to you I am for the principles of  life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  It is time for a new structure that is in alignment with those principles.

What am I going to do? First I am beginning to challenge people’s complacency. Second I am going to start paying much closer attention to how elected officials are voting.  I will participate in every election and vote no for anyone proposing solutions that are outside the scope of government.

My name is Steve Pohlit and I stand for Independence, Freedom and Peace.   Now what do you stand for?