Posted on 07/17/2012 5:28:38 PM PDT by street_lawyer
Times That Try Men’s Souls
Most of us have the herd mentality. It is comforting for us to stay in the middle of the herd where it is safe, while the point person and those around the periphery display unusual courage. America’s socio/economic landscape has been scorched by a burning desire for change 70 years in its development. Somehow the corporation has become an evil empire. Corporations built the Ford automobile, gave us the electric light bulb, the telephone, the microwave, private corporations accounted for 79--90% of life saving pharmaceutical products.
Some believe that politicians possess a degree of honesty not found in the corporate world. Apparently they believe that somehow when a person is elected to public office that person is not motivated by profit or self-interest. Not true. Elected officials want to be reelected. They enjoy having the best tables in a restaurant, the best healthcare coverage, the best retirement benefits. Because of the law that they passed, they could invest in the stock market which would have been a crime for a corporate executive. Businessmen spend their own money. Government bureaucrats spend other people’s money.
I believe as the founders did that inalienable rights are God given. I believe in free-market Capitalism. I do not believe in crony Capitalism where government controls the economy and picks winners and losers. The fact is that the scrap yards of history are strewn with the failures of economies that were run by government bureaucrats. Collectively we hold tightly to our hopes in each hand. In the right we hold the laws that govern a peaceful society, where billions of economic decisions are made each day by millions of individuals. In the left we hold a government of a few elite individuals who are expected to decide with greater wisdom how to orchestrate an economy better than the collective intelligence of millions of ordinary people engaged in thousands of private and competitive ventures.
With the left hand we gave government officials unlimited powers to compel us to comply with their regulations. We gave them the unlimited power to levy taxes. We gave them power to decide that corporations are retaining “excess profits”, and we gave them the power to seize the private property of its shareholders. Chief Justice Roberts in upholding government healthcare made it very clear. The power to tax that we gave our representatives is without limit. No tax is so large that it is “excessive”.
In the right hand we hold laws that prevent corporate fraud and monopolies. Laws give shareholders the power of the vote, and unlike private citizens who do not have standing to bring an action against government, shareholders can bring a derivative action against a corporation. A third party who has been harmed by a corporation has the right to bring a contract action, a negligence action, a product liability action, and file a criminal complaint to punish corporate wrongdoing. A private citizen has no such right against the government.
The hope we have of returning to a vibrant economy and a peaceful society, one that respects life and private property is this: For those of us who believe in Divine Guidance - pray, and for those of you who believe in the free market, a government of laws and not of men, and believe in traditional Judeo/Christian values, let us join arms.
Be kind to those who lack understanding. Be humble and do not be proud of your conceit. Be patient with those who revile you for what you believe and do no harm. The words of Thomas Pain are true today. “These are the times that try men’s souls”.
Who is Thomas Pain?
Angry olden guy. Good talker. Friend of Patrick Herniary.
Actually I bicylerepair knows who Thomas Pain is properly - spelled “Paine”. Since the “e” was omitted, it was supposed to be a joke, or at least I hope so. It’s not easy being dyslexic.
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