Broken Government
About___________
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…….. | Ours is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Ben Franklin Would be Shedding Tears Today By its actions, it routinely violates the basic American principles that made it one. In fact, it is fast becoming the antithesis of our founding documents, of the very dream that was America. Our government is increasingly becoming that which our Founding Fathers and their fellow revolutionaries fought and bled to achieve independence from – an executive-centered, arbitrary and despotic government with a growing history of repeated injuries and usurpations that are effectively establishing an absolute tyranny over an increasing number of individuals. Truth, common sense, leadership and accountability have all but disappeared. We the People are treated as subjects, not Sovereigns. The Constitution with the Bill of Rights was supposed to be our guarantee this would never happen in America. The Founders chose a republic as our form of government because it is the only one that officially recognizes the equality and sovereignty of each and every individual.
But over the last 100 years or so the Constitution and our form of government have been insidiously subverted by a long list of usurpations that have unjustly consolidated power in the hands of the president and his inner circle. These select few run a centralized, unaccountable and monopolistic bureaucracy that increasingly invades our privacy, regulates our lives, allows and even sponsors oppressions of individuals. And, with very few exceptions, we get no honest explanations. No deliberation. No analysis. No transparency. Important data is hidden or “classified” so we never know what’s really going on. As evidenced by the recent government bailouts and stimulus packages, not even our elected representatives in Congress are being given enough accurate information to analyze, deliberate and make intelligent decisions on our behalf. Watch this video clip of Congressman Dennis Kucinich talking on the House floor about the fact the government bailout of Wall Street was not based on data analysis or factual evidence, and that it was passed without hearings, without deliberations, without answering important questions: Instead, the last two presidents (which proves political party has nothing to do with this) and their financial advisors used fear and even threats of riot and martial law to pressure a majority of our representatives into rushing their arbitrary schemes through Congress. Watch this video of Congressman Brad Sherman explaining what Members of Congress were told when they were lobbied (by Executive Branch and congressional leaders) to rush the bailout through Congress without deliberation and debate: This is not only unacceptable but disgusting. We the People should not allow our government to operate in such manner. Congress was designed to be the first branch of our government, the linchpin of our constitutional system. The preeminence of Congress rests on the fact it is the only branch directly tied to the people through popular elections and representation; it is where all laws and funding originate; and it is the only branch that has oversight power over the others, the only branch that can withhold funding from and even impeach leaders of the other branches. But Congress hasn’t been using its powers. It has basically become a servant to the burgeoning executive, and lets the judiciary do as it pleases. 
Red vs. Blue Add to this situation the fact that Congress is divided into two enemy camps – Republican versus Democrat. Rather than working as a team to solve problems, pass laws that benefit all Americans equally and exert its powers to check the other branches of government, the people we elect to represent us are locked in partisan combat with each other. Rather than governing, their all-consuming focus is on winning elections, securing and maintaining majority power in Congress, and helping their candidates win the White House. It’s power for the sake of power, with each side constantly working to undermine and defeat the efforts of the other. Directly related to this, the costs associated with winning elections have risen markedly over the last twenty years. Members of Congress now need millions of dollars to pay for their campaigns, keep their jobs and help their political parties win the political war for power. And it’s this overwhelming need for money that has opened our representatives to the undue influence of special interests. Since our government is no longer constrained by the Constitution, Congress has gotten into the accepted practice of granting special benefits and privileges, and directing our tax dollars to favored targets. It is this practice that turned lobbying into a modern profession and multi-billion dollar industry. Thousands of corporations, trade unions, non-profit organizations, and even state and local governments, hire lobbyists. And almost all of these special interests are selfish to an extreme. They do not lobby for programs and policies that benefit all Americans equally, but for those that benefit themselves at the expense of others. Our representatives regularly solicit these lobbyists and special interests for campaign money. And lobbyists and special interests regularly give with the expectation that they will get (1) access, and (2) support for the programs and policies that will benefit them at the expense of others. This is how the game is played today. Some call it, “pay to play,” and for the most part, the people who are served by this current system are those that are playing the game and regularly donating money to political campaigns. So what we have is this: a burgeoning Executive Branch that operates under the undue influence of central bankers and financial elites, a hopelessly divided Congress that operates under the undue influence of special interests, and an unchecked judiciary. The ills of this executive-centered, despotic, arbitrary government include: 
Our Central Bank: The Federal Reserve
Here’s a great video, produced by American News Project, about the Federal Reserve “Under Fire” because the financial meltdown happened on its watch, and the fact it operates in secrecy with absolutely no accountability: Again, this is not only unacceptable but disgusting. Why would our president and Congress even consider giving the Federal Reserve more power and control over the economy? Who are they serving? We the People must not allow our goverment to do this. Rather, we should strip the Federal Reserve of all authority. The bottom line is this: our government isn’t working for the American people. It’s not doing its job, and it’s not getting results. Rather than protecting the basic rights of every individual and keeping oppression off our backs, so each of us has the opportunity to succeed and achieve the good life, it’s pursuing the goals of these central bankers, financial elites and special interests. And We the People are increasingly suffering tyranny and oppressions as a result. Popular anger is rising. We the People must take the power back and begin to exercise sufficient control over those entrusted with the powers of our government. We must make them accountable to us and nobody else. We must force a return to common sense. This is the only solution. This is a time for bold action. We the People are Sovereigns, not subjects. Let’s start acting like it. WHAT YOU CAN DO AS A SOVEREIGN
JOIN US. CONTROL GOVERNMENT. BE FREE AND INDEPENDENT. |
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In 1961, President John F. Kennedy called on the American Newspaper Publishers Association to help protect the freedom and independence of every individual. He concluded his speech with:
And so it is to the printing press – to the recorder of man’s deeds, the keeper of his conscience, the courier of his news – that we look for strength and assistance, confident that with your help man will be what he was born to be: free and independent.
Since the mainstream media fails us, We the People must rely on ourselves, and we must look to the Internet, modern communications technologies, new and social media to build the vehicle that will forever change the way we participate in our government.
FREE & INDEPENDENT MEDIA, Inc. is this vehicle. It is a multimedia business that will:
- Remind everyone of the existence and importance of basic American principles, report objective news of current government actions, and provide opinion-editorial commentary focused on whether or not these actions are consistent with the basic principles.
- Increase transparency by monitoring the actions of our government; conducting investigations to uncover conflicts of interest, unethical and even criminal behavior; and reporting the facts to individual Americans.
- Perform extensive research and data analyses to find the root causes of our country’s problems, model to pre-test each of the competing public policy options that are proposed as solutions, and propose legislative reforms based on reason.
At every step of the way, FREE & INDEPENDENT MEDIA, Inc. will engage and involve individual Americans in the process, giving them numerous opportunities to participate effectively and make a difference themselves. A social networking site that is linked to the Blogs will facilitate the building of a grassroots political movement from the ground up.
This movement will be made up of free and independent Americans who choose the path of perseverance and strength, who choose to stand up and fight the central bankers and financial elites for control of our government, who choose to exercise sufficient control to actually govern through our elected representatives.
As Thomas Jefferson said:
Unless the mass retains sufficient control over those entrusted with the powers of their government, these will be perverted to their own oppression.
And:
The influence over government must be shared among all the people. If every individual which composes their mass participates of the ultimate authority, the government will be safe…
And as President Ronald Reagan later said:
We hear much of special interest groups. Well, our concern must be for a special interest group that has been too long neglected. It knows no sectional boundaries or ethnic and racial divisions, and it crosses political party lines. It is made up of men and women who raise our food, patrol our streets, man our mines and factories, teach our children, keep our homes, and heal us when we’re sick – professionals, industrialists, shopkeepers, clerks, cabbies, and truck drivers. They are, in short, “we the people,” this breed called Americans.
This is who we are, and why we are.
FREE & INDEPENDENT MEDIA, Inc. is the vehicle individual Americans will rely on to gain and retain sufficient control over government. And to exercise this control, it will become the de facto Supervisor or Board of Directors over Congress.
It will focus on Congress because it was designed to be the first branch of our government, the linchpin of our constitutional system. Congress is supposed to be preeminent because it is the only branch directly tied to us – We the People – through popular elections and representation. It is Congress, not the president, that originates all laws and government funding, and has oversight power over the other branches of government. Only Congress can withhold funding from and even impeach the president and leaders of the other branches.
We exercise sufficient control over Congress, and then use Congress to exercise sufficient control over the Executive and Judicial Branches.
Our central organizing ideas and principles are those articulated in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and its Bill of Rights, and other writings and correspondences of our Founding Fathers.
Since these ideas and principles are universal and based on reason alone, this is a non-partisan business that fuels and directs a non-partisan movement for all Americans – Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Independents, wealthy, middle class, poor, black, white, brown, red, yellow, etc. We’re all Americans, it’s our country, it’s our government, and it’s up to every one of us to work together to ensure it serves us and protects the rights of each one of us. If we allow just one of us to be oppressed and injured, we allow every one of us to be oppressed and injured.
