Was passage of Health Care in the Senate a symptom of a larger problem?

While the United States is undoubtedly blessed like no other land has ever been –
She is falling horribly short of her potential and failing to fully exploit the blessings that God has granted, and it’s our fault.

While it’s easy to place the blame for the current state of our country on outrageous spending, excessive taxation, government intrusion, and ill advised social and economic policies –

The fact is the blame falls squarely at the feet of our politicians.
While this may seem obvious – a deeper look reveals a truth many Americans are reluctant to accept; that our elected officials are a reflection of our own commitment to the political process that governs our lives - and in recent years that commitment has waned.

As children we are taught that America is a nation of laws. While true we are also a nation of policies, regulations, instructions, rules, guidelines and accepted practices.

And the majority of these standards of behavior and governance that allow our nation to function without anarchy are created, implemented and managed by politicians that work for us and in theory represent the will of the majority or so it was intended.
Whether at a national, state, or local level our daily activities are managed by laws and policy created by people we elect. The problem however is that very often the people doing the governing are not qualified to do so. And that is our fault.

Over the past few decades American’s have become enamored with the toys and the distractions of success and affluence.

Even the poorest of American families own a car, cell phones, and large television sets behind which they can sit and look out into a world they once participated in.
Through these distractions and illusion of contentment many American’s have lost interest in the process under which we must all live.

The result is we continue to elect politicians not for their knowledge of the issues but rather on the perception they create of how they will govern.
And we do so because unlike generations before us we have become complacent with the political process that is the hallmark of America.

And it was political complacency that preceded the end of other great nations throughout history.

Are States rights making a comeback?

For many decades the sovereignty of the States has eroded away as the federal government encroached further and further on their right to govern themselves.
On issue after issue, from taxation to abortion the federal government has peeled away the rights of states to create their own laws – but now it seems some states are drawing a line in the sand

During his campaign Barack Obama made several references about his desire for changing the laws regarding firearms - limiting gun ownership and usage. One of the few legal rights guaranteed by the US constitution but still administered by the states.

But a nationwide review by The Associated Press uncovered a largely unnoticed trend: In much of the country, it is getting easier to carry guns. Over the last two years, 24 states, mostly in the South and West, have passed 47 new laws loosening gun restrictions.

In Tennessee handgun owners won the right to take their weapons onto sports fields and playgrounds.

Among other things, legislatures have allowed firearms to be carried in cars, made it illegal to ask job candidates whether they own a gun, and expanded agreements that make permits to carry handguns in one state valid in another.

The trend is attributed in large part to a push by the National Rifle Association. The NRA, which for years has blocked attempts in Washington to tighten firearms laws, has ramped up its efforts at the state level to chip away at gun restrictions.
According to Chris W. Cox, the NRA's chief lobbyist "This is all a coordinated approach to respect that human, God-given right of self defense by law-abiding Americans,"

"We'll rest when all 50 states allow and respect the right of law-abiding people to defend themselves from criminal attack."

Among the recent gun-friendly laws:
— Arizona, Florida, Louisiana and Utah have made it illegal for businesses to bar their employees from storing guns in cars parked on company lots.

— Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, South Carolina and Virginia have made some or all handgun permit information confidential.

— Montana, Arizona and Kansas have allowed handgun permits to be issued to people who have had their felony convictions expunged or their full civil rights restored.

The state motto of Alabama is “We dare defend our rights”

Sounds like much of the rest of the country does too

A government that controls the press – controls the people

In a recent survey up to 90% of Americans that regularly read the news get at least some of their news online. This trend has been growing and has placed a serious financial burden, and even forced bankruptcy on major US news papers as circulation of print media plummets.

But according to Democrat congressman Henry Waxman of California since the newspaper industry is suffering "market failure" the US government will need to step in to help preserve serious journalism essential to democracy.

In a statement during a meeting on journalism in the Internet age hosted by the Federal Trade Commission, Waxman said "The newspapers my generation has taken for granted are facing a structural threat to the business model that has sustained them".

"The loss of revenue has spurred a vicious cycle with thousands of journalists losing their jobs”.

Waxman, who chairs the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which has jurisdiction over the FTC, went on to say "depression in the media sector is not cyclical, it is structural."

"While this has implications for the media it also has implications for democracy," he added. "A vigorous free press and vigorous democracy have been inextricably linked.

"We cannot risk the loss of an informed public and all that means because of this market failure”.

Waxman noted various possible remedies, including new tax structures for publishers, providing non-profit status, changing anti-trust regulations or eliminating a law that bars owning a newspaper and a television station in the same city.
But "as we look at these various solutions, government is going to have to be involved in one way or the other," he warned.

"Eventually, government is going to have to be responsible to help resolve these issues and our whole society depends very much on reaching some resolution of the problem."

When you consider that the first move of any government that is seeking to restrict the rights of its citizens is to seize control of its media,
the idea that the US government should take any stake, let alone a financial one in the media should not only be a major concern to all American’s but one that should be stopped dead in its tracks, before this insane notion has any chance of being taken seriously.