AMERICAN ISSUES PROJECT

Yesterday, in his weekly address, President Obama called on Americans to "summon the same spirit that inhabited Independence Hall two hundred and thirty-three years ago".

This is one time when I can get behind President Obama's sentiments - although he may not like my reasons for it. What Obama failed to recognize in making that statement is that if the founding fathers were around today, they would abhor his intrusive, expansionist policies. The 'spirit' of the founders Obama alluded to was based on a fundamental distrust of those in power and of the tendencies of government itself. James Madison once said that "all men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree". Thomas Jefferson echoed this sentiment when he said, "Experience hath shown, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny." And thus, the founders designed the system of checks and balances we admire today to limit power and to hold government accountable.  

Not only did the founders distrust the people in government, but government itself. Madison's distrust of government is exemplified in his statement, "In framing a government...you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." Obliging government to control itself - in making his remarks yesterday, President Obama seems to have forgotten the fear and distrust the founders had of placing too much power in the hands of a distant few governors with a tendency to want to grab more and more power.

Indeed, the actions of this administration thus far have been completely antithetical to the wishes of our founders. President Obama, not wanting to 'let a crisis go to waste' believes that the current economic crisis is his best opportunity to transform America - by passing the biggest spending bill in American history, making future generations and states beholden to the federal government, fundamentally changing our health care system so that the government is at the helm of that industry, and imposing burdensome standards and regulations on us in the guise of climate change when there is far from a consensus on global warming. (As I sit here writing on the 4th of July with temperatures in Chicago in the 60s, it's especially difficult to buy into this theory!)

According to the Congressional Budget Office, within the next 10 years, government debt will be equal to 82% of GDP. The U.S. now has the same number of jobs as it did in the year 2000, erasing 9 years of job creation. And despite massive spending by the federal government, states like California, who received stimulus dollars, are now issuing IOUs to cover their bills.

So, President Obama was right yesterday when he called on all of us to the look to the founding fathers for answers. In this time of economic turmoil and great debate about the proper role of government, we should all turn to them for guidance and remember why the structures they put in place created a system that produced the most wealthy and innovative country in the history of the world. The founders created a magnificent structure. And, it is up to us to remember, understand and defend it from those who would wish to expand government at the expense of our freedoms through monolithic changes to our system with plans such as 'health care reform' (which should properly be termed government takeover of the health care industry) and cap and trade (more accurately known as cap & tax).