Is Your Representative Representing YOU?

When the Amash amendment to defund unconstitutional activity in the NSA came up in the House of Representatives, I was disappointed to learn that my representative, Luke Messer, voted against it.  I took this as a direct vote against the Constitution, and so, a direct violation of his Oath of Office.  And I informed him as such.  But that got me thinking: If he would willfully violate his Oath in this circumstance, where else might I find unsavory activity?  So I did some digging.


The websites I used for my research were The U.S. House of Representatives Roll Call Votes and Luke Messer on the Issues (can search a different candidate), among others.  Here is what I found:

• 2011-2012 campaign funds: http://www.fec.gov/disclosurehs/HSCandList.do - a total of $745,068 personally contributed, or nearly 75% of his total campaign fund.  This alone demonstrates that Mr. Messer is not just another rank-and-file citizen, and further demonstrates the fact that our government is no longer "Of the People."
• 3/6/2013: Messer voted "Yea" on H.R. 933, which included a provision that has come to be known as the "Monsanto Protection Act."  This act has shielded the GMO-giant Monsanto from any legal action that would prevent them from producing and distributing their genetically modified foods, even if it is found that these "foods" cause harm to humans.
• 4/12/2013: On unanimous consent (Including Messer): S.716 (introduced by harry Reid) was passed.  This legislation removed the barriers to insider trading in Congress, which places all elected representatives above the law in terms of making a profit from the stock market.  They can now freely trade on insider information, and as such, their stock portfolios tend to outperform any in the private sector.
• 7/25/2013: Vote results for Amash Amendment to defund NSA wholesale violation of 4th Amendment: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2013/roll412.xml.  Messer voted against this amendment.  This demonstrates a clear lack of reverence for his Oath of Office, in which he swore to protect, defend, and preserve the Constitution of the United States of America.  Meanwhile, Mr. Messer says he supports protecting the Constitution (http://www.ontheissues.org/IN/Luke_Messer_Government_Reform.htm).  Which is it, sir?  You cannot have it both ways, and your actions thus far have spoken louder than your words.
• Once again ignoring our Fourth Amendment rights, Luke voted YES on CISPA (http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2013/roll117.xml)
• Mr. Messer opposes same-sex marriage as well as pro-choice policies.  As for me, I would not personally choose to get married to a man, nor would I push a woman to get an abortion in the case of an unwanted pregnancy.  In the pregnancy case, I would suggest she give the child up for adoption.  However, it’s none of my business how someone else chooses to live their life – it is not fair of me to deprive another of their right to live as they choose.  For this reason, I am both pro-choice (before the first trimester is over) and pro-same sex marriage.
• As a positive note, Mr. Messer supports gun owners (http://www.ontheissues.org/IN/Luke_Messer_Gun_Control.htm).  While it is great that he supports at least some parts of the Constitution, his Oath does not permit him to choose not to abide by the Fourth Amendment.  His Oath omitted the words “The parts of the Constitution which I deem relevant.”
• He has no declared stance on Social Security, which is an issue of National importance.  As for me: I know SS is completely bankrupt, and it’s because our leaders borrowed every single penny from the Trust Fund that was supposed to last until 2036.  The program is broken and is further bankrupting our country.  This must be addressed, and a neutral stance on the issue is not productive.
• What about his opinion on free trade?  On this, he is also undeclared.  Free trade has led to the mass exportation of jobs from the U.S. overseas, which has been one of the leading causes of the decline of our country.  We must eliminate Free Trade Agreements and once again institute tariffs on imports; this would both incentivize the USA to produce more than it consumes as well as provide an additional revenue stream to fund government.
• Messer is neutral on maintaining US sovereignty from the United Nations.  This is directly contradictory to Messer’s stance on guns when you consider the U.N. small arms treaty.  While he was with the unanimous vote against funding for this treaty, he needs to take an official stance on U.S. sovereignty from the U.N.
• Messer seems to support expansion of the Military Industrial Complex.  He supports this expansion under the name of “giving the military what they need to keep America safe.”  The US military spending dwarfs all other countries’ spending combined.  To keep the U.S. safe, we would only need to bring all our troops home and deploy them to defend our own borders.  We need to get out of undeclared illegal wars in countries where we have no business.
• Messer has not publicly taken a stance on staying out of Iran.  He needs to do this: Remaining complicit in the U.S. involvement in Syria will allow us to be led into World War 3.  Mr. Messer – where do you stand?
• On green energy: While it’s true we should continue to use coal and domestic oil, it is folly not to at least look into alternative energies.  On the surface, Luke seems to completely oppose looking into green energy.
• 8/2/2013: It is agreed that Congress will have 75% of the cost of their Obamacare covered by the federal government.  In other words, We the Taxpayers (including businesses) get to cover the increased cost for Congress in addition to the 72% increased cost to ourselves.  This does not seem like equal application of the law, and I am curious to get Mr. Messer's feelings on the matter.

This is what I found about my representative.  He looks great on the surface, but underneath it, I do not feel he has my best interests at heart, nor can he really connect with his constituents on a personal or financial level.  As such, until he changes his stances or publicly declares stances on the above issues, I would not vote for him.

So what can you find out about your representative?

Complacency is Consent

*Author's Note: My views on "begging for mercy" from my "masters" have changed significantly since this article was written.  I will either be updating it or removing it.  Begging for mercy at the hands of a serial killer is not effective, and really only gives said killer what they want.  Do something meaningful: Stop funding mass murder.  The premise remains, however: If you continue to fund mass murder, you are a part of the problem.

Throughout this blog, one major objective has been to get you to stand up and ask questions.  Still, many people sit by and think "Oh, somebody else will handle that for me."  Multitudes feel that if an issue is big enough to complain about, everyone else will do the complaining on their behalf.  Unfortunately, this is the attitude almost everyone seems to take.  As I've mentioned before, the most destructive deception that has been accepted by the masses is that "your one voice does not matter."  I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Yours is the only voice that matters.  If you do not make yourself heard, nothing will ever change.

That's the most important reason to make your voice heard: You can effect real change.  But lets say you just don't care about changing the world.  You're perfectly happy with how things are, and don't want to take the 5 minutes to write or call your representatives in government.  You couldn't be bothered to talk to your friends and family about what's really going on.  Unfortunately, this is another commonly adopted stance.  There has been an ongoing apathy apocalypse in the hearts and minds of people.  Thankfully, this apocalypse is coming to an end, but many are still as apathetic as ever.

Take a look at the poem to the right.  It was written about Nazi Germany and the extermination of 11 million Jews.  Read the words through a few times.  I have an alternative poem for you:

First, they came for the Tea Partiers,

and I did not speak out: I'm not a Tea Partier and I don't do politics.

Then they came for the Christians,

and I did not speak out: I'm not a Christian and I don't do politics.

Then they came for the Gun Owners,

and I did not speak out: I don't own a gun and I don't do politics.

Then they came for the Businessmen,

and I did not speak out: I'm not a Businessman and I don't do politics.

Then they came for the Home Schoolers,

and I did not speak out: I don't home school and I don't do politics.

Then they came for the journalists,

and I did not speak out: I'm not a journalist and I don't do politics.

Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak.

Your government views your silence as consent.  History, too, will view your silence as consent.  If you allow your government to commit atrocities in your name without standing up and saying something, you are just as responsible as they are for any damage they cause.  The future of our entire nation depends on you.  Make your voice heard.

What Should America Become?

If you've read my other articles and are still with me, one thing should be getting pretty clear: Our country cannot go on like this.  Our Founding Fathers would already be horrified to see what this once-great nation has become.  After all, they started a revolution over a breakfast beverage.  And it wasn't even coffee.  If we continue to spiral down this path, the Land of the Free will cease to exist, replaced instead with the land of corporate profits, mass starvation, out-of-control government, and constant police-state oppression.

One thing is certain: There is a storm coming.  This storm has already sparked what can only be described as the next American Revolution.  A government far more corrupt than the one we worked to throw off in 1776 has crept into our lives and is tightening its grip on us.  But what should America become?  It will not be enough to simply remove the current set of leaders and replace them with new puppets.  For as long as the government is able to be controlled by the Federal Reserves and Monsantos of the world, the system itself will be the greatest enemy of the People.

Many people believe it is too dangerous to have any form of central government; it is too vulnerable to corruption and growing out of control, as has happened in our case.  These people believe that nothing less than the total abolition of the central Federal Government is necessary.  From there, local governments (that don't all have to abide by the same principles) could make decisions at the local level, and edicts from a central power would not override the values of the people living under that local system.  This could work, but we would have to unanimously agree on one thing: Nonviolence.  Nobody is to initiate violence against another person for any reason, especially in order to force their beliefs (be they political, religious, ideological, etc.) on them.  Any acts of violence would need to be met with overwhelming response from all nearby communities.  This, coupled with a universally accepted basic bill of human rights (Life, Liberty, Self-Determination, Trial By Jury, etc.) would allow us to choose the type of community we want to live in without having to force everyone in the country into the same mold.  You like socialism?  Great!  Settle in with the people who also like socialism and form a community.  Is a Constitutional Republic for you?  Awesome!  Do the same.  Prefer to live without any form of government?  Join the Anarchists!  But understand that other ideologies exist, and accept that they are allowed to do so.

I would choose to live in a Constitutional Republic, much like the one the Framers intended.  However, I would remove many of the laws now on the books and replace them with a simple idea: You can do anything you want to do, just don't hurt anybody else.  Who determines what constitutes "Hurt?"  A jury.  Everything else would be procedural.  However, I would make some changes to the ideas behind the Constitution and our current situation:

1. We should transition back into a gold and silver-backed currency; fiat money should be permanently outlawed once this transition is complete
2. Term limits should be instituted for all Representatives; this would ensure a steady flow of new people and ideas and phase out the (inevitably corrupt) career politician
3. All corporate campaign contributions should be outlawed; only individual contributions from the constituents themselves should be allowed
4. The process to pass new laws should be drastically simplified and made 100% transparent to the public:
• No new bills should exceed 10 pages in length
• New bills should be written in plainly understandable English and avoid jargon
• All sections of a new bill should be directly related to the title of the bill (For an example of what NOT to do, see The Patriot Act, which was the most unpatriotic piece of law ever written)
• All new bills should be published and freely accessible (on the Internet) for 14 days prior to being brought up for debate in the House or the Senate

Sound like the kind of system you might like to live in?  Well lets link up after and make it happen!

When this storm hits, a lot of people will lose their lives.  What happens next will be up to us.  It's absolutely critical that we are on the same page, working towards the same goal.  If we are not, the American Ideal will truly cease to exist, and the revolution will have been for nothing.  Do you agree?  What kind of community would you choose to live in?

Related Video:
Revolution: An Instruction Manual

To Those Who Disagree...

Good!  While I want to share what I know with you, and I do want you to take action on that knowledge, the last thing I want is for you to accept what I say as fact without a single question.  I try to be as accurate as possible in the information I give you, but you should still "trust but verify."    And if you have compelling evidence that contradicts what I say, I would absolutely love to hear about it.  If you disagree, start a dialogue. That is really my ultimate goal - to start a dialogue.  I've never learned anything from someone who agrees with everything I say, and I never will.

Of course, the second-to-last thing I want is for you to read what I say, put a label on it, and walk away without thinking on it further.  My objective in writing these articles is to get the gears in your head turning.  Again, the best thing that could come of you reading what I write is the beginning of a dialogue.  Lets talk about it.  If you vehemently disagree, that's even better: Odds are, there's a good reason for it and I could learn something from you!

If you know me personally and are worried you might offend me - don't.  The only thing that offends me is the willful choice to remain ignorant; a reasonless dismissal of valid facts that are in plain view.  I am not stuck in my ways.  My opinions change with new information. If you have good information that challenges one of my views, there is a very good chance my opinion on the matter will change.  That being said: I do easily recognize propaganda and misinformation; be prepared for me to come back at you with another source - and the dialogue will have begun!  In the end, if we can't come to an agreement, I am perfectly capable of agreeing to disagree and remaining friends.

This, I feel, is one of the major problems our society now faces: People don't engage in meaningful dialogue anymore.  I understand the reason for it, but this reason is completely invalid in the light of day.  Most people think that the thoughts and beliefs they hold represent who or what they are at their core.  As such, anything that threatens those beliefs is immediately dismissed or violently attacked for fear that who they are will be somehow diminished by the new information.  This is the ego talking, and it couldn't be further from the truth.  Who and what you are is infinitely more than the level of thought, but that is a whole other article.

The bottom line is this: If you disagree with me, lets talk about it!