OpenGov - Open Government Brainstorm

Part II: Thougts

(1) Learn how to spell "thought"

(2) Come up with a more interesting and compelling issue. Too dry, too socialistic.

"The category is the US, which consists of three dominant attributes known as Democracy, Capitalism and Religion. These dominant attributes are not common to all its members referred to as citizens."

Sam, you need to leave the drivel that you have learned in 'government' school. On your above promulgation which is foundational to all else you have said? ... you got a 5o%. That is a 'F' ... which is a failing grade.

Figure out where you made your mistakes and rethink your presentation.

The internet is a marvelous place to present ideas and thoughts, on FACTS, however, we must do our best to have our FACTS straight, or we will variably mislead with our thoughts on 'the facts'. We can not help but do so. All men who are 'true' are revulsed by such a proposition.

BTW Sam ... I did not vote on your presentation.

The United States of America is NOT a Democracy; it is a Republic were the rule of law is supreme and our government is restricted by the constitution, a compact of the people to prevent government from trampling their freedoms. Democracy is the rule of fifty-one or mob rule, meaning if group votes fifty-one percent then that idea or plan is adopted. Even our judicial system of jury by our peers does not use democracy, each the jury must be unanimous or charges are dropped. Democracy can be felt by voting on representation such as congress or local officials, but not for president which is an electoral college that most often mirrors the will of the people. Congress in passing legislation does not rely on the fifty-one percent rule; they often call for a super majority vote of sixty plus for passage of legislation. Now here is the catch, once our leadership determines that they are no longer restrained by the rule of law or the constitution, then the republic dies and becomes an oligarchy, the rule of a few above the laws and beholden to none.

Sam, we are not a democracy. Go to the source documents and then get back to me.

Additionally whether we avail ourselves of the system, we are all under it.

You don't speak SPANISH?????????

Actually, your spelling seems pretty good (I didn't read the piece, word-for-word), but I'm just not drawn to this subject, or your particular style.

Sorry if you object to the "socialist" reference...your writing just looks, feels and smells that way to me...no big deal, but I'm not a candidate.

I have, over my 65 years, adopted a personal, generalized DOGMA that is so far removed from the concepts described here, that I feel I must remain separated from them.

I understand the premise of your blog...

I am mourning the erosion (degeneration) of our great Republic...unless, of course, WE GET UP OFF OUR BUTTS AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS 'TAKE-OVER!'

@magnottowest

You interest me, for you have a mind and like using it. Please enlighten us as to your personal dogmas. I am not being sarcastic, I genuinely want to know. Wisdom comes from all ages, sizes, and countries. I personally weigh all ideas to find the ring of truth, if it rings I adopt.

FF --- founding fathers Sam. There is quite a mass of information that is to be understood in the writing and meaning behind the US Constitution. It in fact is founded upon the principles of the Declaration of independence which attributes rights and freedoms to God.

The founders wrote a series of news articles describing and explaining the thrust and vision of the Constitution compiled and now referred to as the Federalist Papers of whom the authors were principally Hamilton, Madison along with Jay, and possibly numerous under the pseudonym 'PUBLIUS' though I am inclined to believe that may have been Franklin.

If you study their writings you will discover the genius that is lacking in political thought today where we have politicians who seek their assent to the destruction of a nation in lieu of statesman who desire freedom for their fellow man.

And Sam, I said that government schools taught drivel, and that it should be left behind. I said nothing about you ranting.

Argumentum ad hominem is for those who desire to neither teach nor learn but for those who demand that they must not be corrected and under whose authority all must come; in the simplest term, tyrants.

Google search of Federalist papers and you should come up with 85

Yes ... 'argument to the man' ... it is a waste of time and demeans. It has no purpose.

As for democracy? It is mob rule and what was never meant to be in America. The founders knew that democracy would always be doomed to failure and that is why they railed against it.

Sadly there are far too many politicians today and far too few statesmen and far too many who have turned their back on the one true God who gave us the once great nation of the United States of America.

As Tocqueville said, "... when she ceases to be good, she will cease to be great."

@op_tomlinson

One true god, who would that be? "In God We Trust" that one on our currency? I am a firm believer of separation of church and state, just read a few history books to see that many governments have been ruled from the pulpit. And yes I know, America is a very religious nation. I consider most religions as a mentally limiting factor, meaning unsupported belief in something as intangible as religion raises the question does blind devotion remove ones ability to critically think or question the world around them. Making mass populations more accepting of leadership and laws since they think they have no say or voice. Religion as immutable law? Religion equals dronyism (drone-ism)((new word creation score))

I think our founders would roll over several times in their graves if someone actually called them gods.

"Now here is the catch, once our public servants determine that they are no longer restrained by the rule of law or the constitution, then the republic dies and becomes an oligarchy, the rule of a few above the laws and beholden to none."

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And herein is the misunderstanding. A Constitutional Republic is based on law. The law was written to constrain all who enter public service. They are to be bound to that law. The term 'bound by the chains of the Constitution' declares that they have only limited powers and authority.

When a law is good and just as the US Constitution is, do usurpers of that law make it null by their violation of it?

If that is the case, then there is no law and we suffer under the whims of tyrants and those tyrants arise from our own midst.

WE THE PEOPLE must return to the truth of the Constitution; we rise as one man and demand that the public servants that make up the cogs of government once again be "bound by the chains of the Constitution" or we lay the chains of slavery found in 'democracy/socialism/communism/etc. upon ourselves, go to our knees and lick the boot of our masters.

Any who believe that they will always remain in a position of power within the socialist state that is being foisted upon America and never be found the slave, are the greatest of fools. They are arrogant children who have no understanding of socialism.

Read the wisdom of the founders et al and contemplate:

"If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws." ~ Noah Webster

"Finally, let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light, and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their society, and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, or literary." ~ Daniel Webster

"If religious books are not widely circulated among the masses in this country, I do not know what is going to become of us as a nation. If truth be not diffused, error will be; If God and His Word are not known and received, the devil and his works will gain the ascendancy, If the evangelical volume does not reach every hamlet, the pages of a corrupt and licentious literature will; If the power of the Gospel is not felt throughout the length and breadth of the land, anarchy and misrule, degradation and misery, corruption and darkness will reign without mitigation or end." ~ Daniel Webster

"Education is useless without the Bible." ~ Noah Webster

"In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed....No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people." ~ Noah Webster

"The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His apostles, which enjoins humility, piety, and benevolence; which acknowledges in every person a brother, or a sister, and a citizen with equal rights. This is genuine Christianity, and to this we owe our free Constitutions of Government." ~ Noah Webster

"If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instruction and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity." ~ Daniel Webster

"The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. Where, some say, is the king of America? I'll tell you, friend, He reigns above." ~ Thomas Paine

"Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants."

~William Penn

"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests." ~Patrick Henry

"We the People are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts--not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution." ~ Abraham Lincoln

"I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by the gradual and silent encroachment of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpation." ~ President James Madison (1751-1836) speech, Virginia Convention, 1788

"I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, (A)nd if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power." ~ Thomas Jefferson

"Remember democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts,and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did

not commit suicide." ~ John Adams

"Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step over the ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! -- All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a Thousand years. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide." ~ Abraham Lincoln

"Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore, be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning is not to be sought for in metaphysical subtleties which may make anything mean everything or nothing at pleasure." ~ Thomas Jefferson

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." ~ Thomas Jefferson

Every step we take towards making the State our Caretaker of our lives, by that much we move toward making the State our Master." ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" ~ Benjamin Franklin

"Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature.... If the next centennial does not find us a great nation ... it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces." ~ James Garfield,

"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does NOT mean to stand by the President or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country." ~ Theodore Roosevelt

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There will be national repentance or their will be national death.