With Mid Term elections just around the corner maybe it's
time for us to start taking a harder look at what has
happened to “OUR” civil liberties. What we once took for
granted as the cornerstone of being an American would seem
to be in the process of disappearing on an almost daily
basis.
The White House got more than a little upset with the New
York Times when it broke the news on their highly classified
program of monitoring bank accounts. This story came just as
the storm over “Wire Taps” had finally began to ease
off. President Bush called them (the New York Times)
disgraceful and said the story had caused “Great Harm”
to America.
Can we or should we continue to allow “OUR” Presidents
the right to use their constitutional responsibility for
national security to trample over “OUR” civil liberties.
Our First Amendment allows the press the freedom to question
the government, Jefferson believed that democracy could
easily descend into tyranny and a vigorous free press was
necessary to prevent our future leaders from getting too
full of themselves. We (the press) have not always got it
right, but without us such matters as the Pentagon Pages,
Watergate and the most recent tragedy at Haditha would never
have seen the light of day.
In the coming months, we must listen closely to the debates
on this subject. The government's assertion that we must
leave it unhindered in how it uses its powers to protect our
security could very well camouflage their desire to increase
Executive Power. Justice Oliver Wendell Homes famously
wrote, “The best test of truth is the power of the thought
to get itself accepted in the competition of the market”.
They (our leaders) would do well to remember, we are the
Judge it is us (the people) who are the makers of “OUR”
government.
Let’s look at a few of the issues we are facing at the
moment. We have tens of thousands of Americans still
displaced after last years storms, hundreds of thousands of
our elderly going without food to pay for over priced
medicine and a homeless problem that would put a third world
country to shame. Surely it's time we (the people) STARTED
to demand solutions from our leaders to these problems. How
can we put the rest of the world to rights when we can't
even put our own house in order.
There's an arrogance of incumbency that comes from a 98%
re-election rate. These people (our leaders) will spend
billions of dollars between then to get re-elected. I have
never understood why we allow these people to spend this
type of money to get elected. After all for the most part
these jobs pay less than one hundred thousands dollars a
year.
If they can raise these vast amounts of money for election
campaigns WHY are we still living with the same old problems
? Have we issued one blank check too many!
Have an opinion or a question you would like me to answer,
then write me!
Http://www.CarlHampton.com
"Your” Money Matters
By Carl Hampton Author of “
From
Credit Despair To Credit Millionaire”
