I Should Have Paid Attention

On January 3, 2010, I wrote, "I am going to slow down and better manage my time. I will start obeying the speed limit."  Well, I got a speeding ticket last night, not even 90 days into the new year. 86 mph in a 70 mph zone. I know you are asking, "Bobby, how did this happen?" I was not in a particular hurry. I was not upset about anything. Nobody was telling me to hurry. I didn't even have to go pee. I was simply not paying attention. And it is going to cost me dearly.


Bad things can happen when we are not paying attention. When enough of us do not pay attention, bad things can happen to our country. If I continue to not pay attention when driving, I will lose my privilege to drive. If we continue to not pay attention to what is happening to our Constitution, we can lose the freedoms it guarantees and protects. I hope that you never have to look at our country without the freedoms we hold dear and ask, "Bobby, how did this happen?" If we do not pay attention, it will cost us dearly!


Back on October 10, 2009, in my very first blog, I wrote that we need to do the following three things to save our country:

1. Pass a Constitutional Amendment to restrict Congressmen and Senators to two terms, just as we have with the President. Even though the founding fathers did not include term limits in the Constitution, it is also evident from their other writings that they never envisioned "career" politicians. As the members of the current Congress have made perfectly clear, the longer a member serves, the more out of touch he or she is with the American people. They pass laws that make it easier for them and harder for "new blood" to be elected. They start worrying more about their "power base" then about the citizens who put them there. They remove themselves from the people, passing laws that affect their constituents, but from which they are exempt. We may lose some good people, but far more bad ones will be gone when term limits are enforced. I would prefer that term limits be enforced from the ballet box, rather than by a Constitutional Amendment. But we must make the career politician a thing of the past.
2. Pass a Constitutional Amendment to require a Federal balanced budget, except in times of Declared war or Declared national emergency (both declared by Congress.) We simply cannot continue growing government, spending more, increasing the national debt, and then raising taxes in order to give Congress the license to create even more government, spend more, increase the national debt, and raise taxes, in order to give Congress the license to create even more government, spend more, increase the national debt, raise taxes. . . I think you get the message. Our Constitution directs that we should have a small federal government, only responsible for the things outlined therein; the Enumerated Powers. The interpretation of the "Commerce Clause" of the Constitution as giving the federal government the right to regulate all aspects of our life is a gross misinterpretation of what is truly a simple sentence. The federal government must live by the same rules that every successful person has to live by, and that is to spend less than you earn.
3. Do away with the IRS and replace it with a Federal consumption tax. In other words, tax what I spend, not what I make. No longer should we punish the creation of wealth, for wealth creation benefits us all. No longer should our federal social policy be one of "sharing the wealth", for that robs incentive from the very ones who grow our economy and jobs. For more information on how the consumption tax works, see The Fair Tax.

Whether you are Democrat or Republican, left or right, straight or gay, whether you are religious or atheist, pro-life or pro-choice, whether you are young or old, black or white, whatever your "cause", none of these three actions will hurt you. The only people who will be hurt by these actions will be the professional politicians who are robbing us and our posterity, and those who want the government to provide for their every need by redistributing the wealth of America and creating a welfare state where personal responsibility is a thing of the past.