Lessons from our Founders

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

There are a couple of big points that need to be remembered by the American people.

First, all men are created equal. We have the right idea about equality when it comes to race, gender, and ethnicity. However when it comes to equality based on socioeconomic status, EPIC FAIL. If the US Government were to pass legislation that determined that women had to pay more in taxes than men or that Hispanics had to pay more in taxes than everyone else, there would rightfully be massive protests and outrage. Yet our government has determined that it is acceptable to enforce discriminatory tax policies against wealthy Americans. The justification is that they only make up 5% of Americans. I just wanted to make sure I understand this logic. It is okay to discriminate as long as you discriminate against the minority, in this case the wealthy. Ask yourself this simple question, does the government have to right to discriminate against the minority for the benefit of the majority? The fact that all men are created equal would answer the question in the negative.

Second, we have the right to pursue happiness, but we do not have the right to happiness. The lesson of this is that we have the right to equality of opportunity and not the equality of outcome. People do not have a right to a job. People do not have a right to a standard of living. People do not have a right to homeownership. People have the right to pursue those things. People have the right to live, the right to be free, and the right to use the combination of those two rights to pursue whatever makes them happy as long as it does not conflict to another person's right to live or be free. No one has the right to be happy only the right to try to be happy. That being said, no one has the right to any certain level of income, they only have the right to use their life, freedom, and opportunities to make as much income as they can within the law. If that means that executives make far more than laborers, then that is fine, there is nothing wrong with that. What is wrong is the government robbing the executives from their right to pursue happiness even when the pursuit of that happiness does not interfere with anybody else's rights.

Third, the government derives its power from Americans. Americans do not derive our power from the government. In the political food chain, Americans are at the top of the pecking order. We must not forget that. We do have the ability to stop the government from doing the things that we do not want them to do. We can protest. We can remove them from office by popular vote. In 2010, we are re-electing THE ENTIRE CONGRESS. If the government will not obey the will of the governed, then we replace the government, piece by piece, through peaceful elections. It is the great thing about being an American.

One final point,

...whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it.

-The Banker