Social Psychologist & Personal Advisor

Dr Matt's Archive of Answers
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What was the Philosophy and Faith of the Founding Fathers?

Hi Dr. Matt,

My name is Michael from Dallas, Texas. I'm 30 years old, married with 3 young children. I have a lot of questions about the way our United States Government functions today, in comparison to the way the Founding Fathers intended it to function. What can you tell me about this?

God bless you,
Michael

Greetings Michael:

the Founding Fathers have spoken plain enough and clear enough; they can represent what they intended the United States Government to be, with minimal comments from me.

"The two enemies of the people are criminals and government,
so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution
so the second will not become the legalized version of the first."
~ Thomas Jefferson 

I think the best way of doing good to the poor,
is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.
In my youth, I traveled much, I observed in different countries that the more
public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for
themselves and of course became poorer. And on the contrary,
the less that was done for them the more they did
for themselves and became richer.
 ~ Benjamin Franklin  

Spending limited to the enumerated powers listed in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution:

"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on the objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents."
~ James Madison  

"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficient...The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding."
~ Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis

The Constitutional framework of government in the United States is not without flaws, but every other system of government has larger flaws:

With all the defect of our constitution, whether general or particular, the comparison of our government with those of Europe is like a comparison of heaven and hell."
~ Thomas Jefferson 

"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings;
the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries"
~ Winston Churchill 

Liberty never came from government. The history of liberty is a history of resistance.
The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it.
Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves;
and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it.
- Abraham Lincoln 

We may look up to armies for our defense, but virtue is our best security.
It is not possible that any State should long remain free,
where virtue is not supremely honored.
- Samuel Adams 

"The means of defense against foreign danger historically
have become the instruments of tyranny at home."
~ James Madison 

Consider the way President Barrack Obama views the constitution:

"I think we can say that the Constitution reflected an enormous blind spot in this culture
that carries on until this day, and that the framers had that same blind spot."
- Barack Obama 

The Blind spot is really in President Obama's eye: He doesn't see that ever-expanding government means . . . ever-decreasing liberty for the people.

Contrast against Barack Obama's view, what the Founding Fathers have said about the Constitution:

“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 

Those that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety.
~ Benjamin Franklin 

"But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom,
can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever."
~ John Adams 

The natural progress of things is for
liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.
When the government fears the people, . . . . . there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson 

To be clear, I'm NOT against Health Care Reform: Sensible reform is needed that will NOT drive our economy deeper in debt, and will NOT render the Tenth 10th Amendment meaningless; Healthcare Reform that respects individual liberty to choose, or not choose to purchase a good or service. In other words, when Government forces citizens to buy Health Insurance under penalty of law, Government has overreached its Constitutional authority.

Here is a proposed Act to render null and void the unconstitutional law enacted by the Congress of the United States; the nullification of ObamaCare — a federal law that mandates (requires) that individuals purchase health insurance, or pay a penalty.

SECTION 1. The legislature of the State of ____________ finds that:

1. The People of the several states comprising the United States of America created the federal government to be their agent for certain enumerated purposes, and nothing more.

2. The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution defines the total scope of federal power as being that which has been delegated by the people of the several states to the federal government, and all power not delegated to the federal government in the Constitution of the United States is reserved to the states respectively, or to the people themselves.

3. The assumption of power that the federal government has made by enacting the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” interferes with the right of the People of the State of _____________ to regulate health care as they see fit, and makes a mockery of James Madison’s assurance in Federalist #45 that the “powers delegated” to the Federal Government are “few and defined”, while those of the States are “numerous and indefinite.”

SECTION 2. NEW LAW

A new section of law to be codified in the [STATE] Statutes as Section [NUMBER] of Title [NUMBER], unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:

A. The Legislature of the State of _______________ declares that the federal law known as the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” signed by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010, is not authorized by the Constitution of the United States and violates its true meaning and intent as given by the Founders and Ratifiers, and is hereby declared to be invalid in this state, shall not be recognized by this state, is specifically rejected by this state, and shall be considered null and void and of no effect in this state.

B. It shall be the duty of the legislature of this State to adopt and enact any and all measures as may be necessary to prevent the enforcement of the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” within the limits of this State.

Once the Independent Voters realized the Obama's "Change and Hope" Slogan meant: Bigger Government, Higher Taxes, and Less Freedom . . . this is why those Independent Voters elected Scott Brown to become a Senator from Massechusetts — replacing Ted Kennedy's seat. Here an Independent/Republican is elected in one of the most Democrat States in the Union. And this election sent a message to Washington that "the people" disagreed with the non-transparent process by which ObamaCare legislation was being passed.

Best Regards,
Dr Matt

* * * * * * *

The Journey

For this is the Journey that men make:
To find themselves. If they fail in this, it matters little
whatever else they may achieve: Money, Fame, Revenge.
When they end the Journey, they can put them all into
a bin marked “ashes.” They mean nothing.
But if one has found that he has within him
a divine soul, if he has discovered the principles
upon which the fulfillment of that soul is based, and
if he implements those principles, then he has a mansion
within which he can live with dignity
and joy each day of his life.
(Changing Your Stripes, 2nd Edition, page vi).

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make it your Masterpiece!
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Social Psychologist & Personal Advisor