We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey teacher leave them kids alone
All in all it's just another brick in the wall
All in all you're just another brick in the wall
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey teacher leave them kids alone
All in all it's just another brick in the wall
All in all you're just another brick in the wall
-- Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall
I still remember the day I moved away from home. Although I now had to pay my own utility bills, pay for my own food and my own car, I felt a sense of freedom -- as well as a little apprehension. I realized that as long as I was living under my parents' roof, with my parents paying the bills, I would have to live by their rules. For all of the "things" they bought for me came a tether of control that I would never escape, until I was able to set out on my own.
Our Constitution guarantees Americans certain rights, including the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom to bear arms, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, the right to due process of law, the right to a speedy and public trial, and freedom from cruel and unusual punishments. Many of these rights are considered to be unalienable and given to us not by man or government, but by our Creator.
Day by day, year by year, these rights are slowing slipping away, and most Americans don't even realize it is happening. In return for giving Americans "things," the government begins to assert its tether of control, seizing that control from citizens.
Most people aren't even aware of the school lunch debacle that is now occurring in our nation's schools. The Obama Administration, through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which controls the school lunch program, has established strict guidelines that determine how much and what is being fed to our nation's children. Does your child like 2% milk? Too bad, the federal government has decided that only skim milk will be served in school lunchrooms. What if your child likes chocolate milk? Again, that's not even a choice.
How many calories should your child eat at lunch? The federal government has decided that your child needs between 750-850 calories. That's it. Even if he is an athlete. Even if she has high metabolism. Even if your child needs to gain weight after being sick. The federal government has decided what your child will eat and how much he or she will eat.
With 30 million American children now being served free or reduced-price lunches, the tether of control grows longer. Most schools are also serving breakfast, and many schools are now serving dinner. The tether grows stronger.
Some overzealous schools have even gone so far as to check bag lunches packed at home to make sure they're healthy and to take them away if the Food Nazis determine them to be unhealthy. Numerous news outlets have reported this, and I've also heard anecdotally from parents in a number of communities that this indeed has occurred.
There will be some who will read this blog and point out that America has an obesity problem. They may believe that the federal government should step in because it costs us all if Americans are unhealthy. But if one can make that argument about food, one can also make the argument that Americans are too violent (take away our firearms or censor our TV shows to remove any violence), Americans use too much gasoline that pollutes the atmosphere (determine that Americans can only buy and drive Chevy Volts), or determine what size of sugary drink an American can buy at his local 7-11. Wait a minute, that last example is happening right now in New York City.
It's a slippery slope; once one right and free choice is taken away, it becomes much easier for government to take away even more rights and choices for Americans.
One might think that this infringment on our rights is limited to something as seemingly innocuous as school lunches? Think again.
The Obama Administration directed Catholic institutions to offer free birth control to their employees -- even though it is against their religious views to use birth control. That's clearly an infringement on the freedom of religion for Catholics. Through the guise of expanding health insurance, the federal government is now telling Catholic institutions how they can and can't practice their religion.
President Obama now has a kill list from which he decides which suspected terrorists live or die via a drone strike. This list includes American citizens, who are guaranteed the right of due process of law in our Constitution. But there is no judicial overview or the determination of guilt by a jury of one's peers for people on this kill list. Like a Roman emporer, President Obama essentially gives a thumbs up or a thumbs down to determine the fate of the suspected terrorist, even if he is an American citizen.
The President also decided to ignore the separation of powers as outlined in our Constitution. He has directed immigration officials and border control agents to enforce only certain provisions of immigration laws passed by Congress and signed into law by a previous President. Although seemingly not in the same realm as other actions that have taken away our rights, this, too, is a slippery slope. If a President can ignore laws that were passed by the Legislative Branch of our government, which is empowered to write laws, why can't a President also determine new laws without involving Congress? At this point, the President would become the Executive and Legislative Branches of our government.
Once again, many Americans would be surprised to learn that this is already occurring. Congress is empowered to pass environmental legislation, which is enforced by the Executive Branch of our government, mainly through the Environmental Protection Agency. Since President Obama took office, though, the EPA has not only enforced laws and regulations passed by Congress, but it has also determined new regulations that have not been passed by our elected representatives in Congress. Courts have recently slapped down the EPA at least four times in the past six months for not allowing due process to citizens and for expanding its powers beyond that which the Constitution allows. Once again, the separation of powers is being ignored.
As for our right to due process of law, I would guess that most Americans don't know that the Obama Administration has quadrupled the use of warrantless wiretaps? Started under the Bush Administration after 9/11, the Executive Branch pushed for the right to listen in on conversations in order to stop suspected terrorists. The Obama Administration has taken a small infringement on our right to due process and unreasonable searches and seizures to an entirely new level, one which should frighten every American. Once again, the slippery slope has allowed our federal government to take even more control over our lives.
Those same drones that have been used to kill terrorists are now being used in U.S. airspace. The Air Force has a policy that if a drone "incidentally" spies on an American citizen that the footage can be kept for 90 days. Most people also don't know that the EPA is currently using drones to spy on cattle ranches in order to enforce the Clean Water Act. If the federal government can wiretap our phone conversations without a warrant and drones flying ahead are able to spy on our every movement, we may be safer in America, but we have also lost any right to privacy that we had prior to the rapid expansion of this technology.
http://www.infowars.com/epa-using-drones-to-spy-on-cattle-ranchers-in-nebraska-and-iowa/
http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/15/should-drones-be-used-to-spy-on-americans/
Sadly, most Americans don't even realize that any of this is happening. They go to work every day, may watch the evening news, but don't really take the time to search for news that isn't being reported by the mainstream news media. (I did an internet search for "quadruple wiretaps" and found only one large media outlet, Fox News, reporting on this important issue.)
http://www.infowars.com/epa-using-drones-to-spy-on-cattle-ranchers-in-nebraska-and-iowa/
http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/15/should-drones-be-used-to-spy-on-americans/
Sadly, most Americans don't even realize that any of this is happening. They go to work every day, may watch the evening news, but don't really take the time to search for news that isn't being reported by the mainstream news media. (I did an internet search for "quadruple wiretaps" and found only one large media outlet, Fox News, reporting on this important issue.)
Most Americans don't know that our school lunches are now being dictated by the federal government, that the FBI or CIA may be listening in on your phone conversations, the EPA is establishing new regulations without input from your elected representatives, that your religious rights are slowing being taken away, that you may be spied on in your own backyard by a drone flying high overhead, or that a distant relative of yours traveling overseas with the wrong people may be the target of a drone strike with only the President determining whether he lives or dies.
The expansion of our federal government comes at a price, doesn't it?
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