Agreed with Archer. A quick and simple glimpse into history proves that democracy was avoided at all costs in creating our Constitutional Republic. The original Constitution Republic poses no threat to our current form of government.

I think just about every American would give the shirt of their back for someone less fortunate, if it meant that it would actually help them (the whole, "teach a man to fish" concept)-- It is plain ignorance to simple history to willingly turn the practice of providing for the poor over to the government--ultimately it fails, while destroying liberty and freedom. I find it funny that the majority of leftists who claim compassion in wanting to help the poor justify their giving by having the government excise tax from them (and everyone else), while it is the majority of "radical religious rightists" who actually joins volunteer groups and goes out and actually DOES something about it. ..shrugs.. Just a different way of doing things, I guess; one would rather pay someone else to do it, while the other would rather do it themselves. Who truly has more compassion? The person who throws money, or the person who actually does something?

I figure if Reston can blame all America's problem on the "religious right" and their giving of America to "King George" I can blame the "parasites living on the labor of the industrious" to the atheistic left... it makes about as much sense...

Absolutely! Although, Jefferson was just a greedy-money-hungering-bastard who didn't know a thing about how an individual should declare his unalienable rights and indpenedence from and unwise and spend-happy government. Ah, the irony.

Unless you make minimum wage, then the best way to put money in your wallet is to legally steal it from the other guy who's just getting by making $3 an hour more than you. But then again, the guy making $3 an hour more owes you that $3, right? It's the only just and moral thing to do to make things equally.

Unless you live in a socialist utopia... then out of moral obligation no one should ever receive more than one tenth-- so long as it's redistributed to the poor, and the big-bad corporations or King George don't get their hands on it; otherwise, that would be harsh and unjust. It's much more noble and morally justifiable to be coerced than to freely give.

and eventually governmental usurpation...

I have a dream of a world where I am not robbed to pay for someone else... I have a dream of a world where I am not taxed on my earnings... I have a dream of getting only what I have earned... I have a dream of willingly giving to my neighbor when he's in need... I have a dream of being free...

Apparently Walter has never heard of a de facto law. It's a law that is enforced even though it doesn't exist. Ever tried asking an I.R.S. agent what law specifically states that it is mandatory for you to pay? Ever looked it up? The I.R.S. can play the game for as long as the courts back them up, which they have from the beginning. I know of at least 5 different cases where men have won in court from ever having to file or pay income tax again; however, the courts immediately put a gag order on the proceedings-- which means absolutely no one can find out what precedent was set in the matter, what arguments were used, and what the truth is about the argument. Do you actually think the media will risk covering such a story-- keep dreaming. As it has been said, the most dangerous thing in the world is to be right when the government is wrong.

Well said.

Joe, I'm sure Reston will be glad to tell you what is good for yourself... or he will at least delegate to another man to be able to tell you what is good for yourself; afterall, no man's an island, right? We're all apart of this green earth, so it's justified for him to force you to do what's good for yourself or others...

The only thing intimate government surveillance accomplishes is keeping honest people honest. It's the people they're supposedly trying to catch that will always find loopholes -- in the interim, the 99.99999999% (ad nauseam) of honest hard working people will suffer encroachments upon their privacy, liberty, security, and freedom. Ironic that so many American's would give up their own security and liberty for a government promise of increased liberty and security; as if giving up your rights and freedoms somehow gives you more in the end. Such surveilance is grossly against the foundations of our Republic.

It's quotes like this that make me grateful that my foreknowing parents never signed their children up to have social security numbers-- If you want to BE free, you have to LIVE free. "Live free or die"

So long as the government's listening, right? We're not suppose to be TOTALLY secure in our person, life, and papers, right? In a government "of, by, and for the people", I can only be as secure as my neighbor will allow me to be-- Sounds like freedom and liberty to me.

I could write volumes on my own experience where my 5th Amendment rights were violated by police and the courts, but the courts merely shrugged their shoulders at any impropriety or wrongdoing on their part. 5 stars for the accuracy of the statement: the 5th Amendment IS a good friend to the people of the several states, so long as it remains a constant friend-- It allows people to be "decent and civilized" with each other when it protects us from the onslaught of government's (our neighbors') benevolence in behalf of our greater welfare. It allows man to be good because he desires to be good, and prohibit others from forcing him to be the same. I indeed have the RIGHT to be secure within myself -- free from any outside meddling, encroachment, tampering, infringement, or tax -- indeed, even our original Constitution established that the individual 'capitation' taxes from the federal level were prohibited. It seems that the Constitution poses no threat to our current form of government.

Absolutely!

Absolutely!!

I would bet that Rep Henry A. Waxman is the very type of man who came AFTER the American Revolutionary War, who didn't suffer through the pains of what it takes to make a FREE country, and who had to pay a special state tax to the Militia during the foundations of our country because he abdicated his RIGHT of self protection by means of owning a rifle or weapon. Ironic that our schools today teach falsehoods about what a Militia REALLY entailed and what it REALLY was! I also would be very assured to assume that Rep Henry A. Waxman wouldn't know the first thing about what it takes to start, maintain, or finish a war for independence. It's incredible that people seem to assume that the American Empire is going to last forever, and that we'll be able to indefinitely piggyback on the coattails of our forefathers; that we'll always be protected in our rights, and that we'll somehow magically be the one nation that never falls apart or becomes tyrannical-- Ironic that historically the most tyrannical nations are those who enjoyed the most amount of freedom prior to the time the government disarmed the populace in the name of "peace", and then overthrew the freedom of the people to become a totalitarian government--- but, why should we confuse men like Rep. Henry A. Waxman with the facts? Talk about fear? I often wonder what the Jews felt when the Gestapo came knocking down their door after they had been totally disarmed. The argument for the bearing of arms is not to protect myself against the beginning trends of our totalitarian government right now-- it's to protect me for when we finally get there. It is pure ignorance to assume that the United States will never reach the place of every nation that has proceeded it; there has never been a nation that has kept itself from it, we're not different. Indeed, I strongly wonder what those who fought, bled, and died in the battle for our independence, and who carried their own weapons into war in order to ensure our freedom, would think of Rep. Henry A. Waxman's words... Does Rep. Henry A. Waxman possibly believe that the Continental Army provided all the "Minutemen" the "arms" to fight? Such ignorance makes ME nervous that we have Representatives like that at all!!

This quote works both ways: a well armed society can easily keep a government in check; whereas a well armed government can easily control, manipulate, coerce, and enslave those who cannot defend themselves. This is without question or argument, history has already proven this time, and time, and time, and time, and time again. It is the sad course of government: to create and build more government. Only through the revolution of the PEOPLE has government ever been made smaller-- it takes "the barrel of a gun" to ever make it through a revolution, whether they wielded a pitchfork, sword, knife, shield, or other implements of destruction.

Absolutely! We're almost there...

I agree, Mike. This is a classic example as to the difference between a Republic and a Democracy... Why shouldn't the land-owners have the say of "governing" it? In a Republic, those who don't own land have the full capability and incentive of obtaining land, the defined law would offer the non-landowner the liberty and freedom of obtaining such without restraint from landowners. The catch here is that most people will view this quote in light of Democracy, and not in light of the Republic in which it was given. So sad that our country has forgotten her past so quickly and easily-- how are we to fight for our future if we don't understand our past? Bravo to John Jay for understanding that a Republic is more than mere representation.

Way to put it Moses.

Absolutely, straight from the horse's mouth. Why would government funded educators tell their students that their government is wrong? Why bite the hand that feeds you? Public education does nothing better than to raise the majority of American's to love the current social and political trends-- it rarely teaches children how to think; rather, it teaches them what to think. So sad. Nowhere is it written that our American "democracy" will last forever-- nowhere is this more evident than in our Government-Funded-American-Classrooms.

From one of the best books on law ever written, absolutely.

This is why nothing will change the course our country is taking-- the majority of us here are reduced to sleeping giants-- we give our good ideas to liberty quotes, and then live the same mundane and complacent lives we had before. Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Apparently so.