Davie Crockett
This quote is from the book, "The Life of Colonel David Crockett," by Edward Ellis (1884)
"Crockett was then the lion of Washington. I was a great admirer of his character, and, having several friends who were intimate with him, I found no difficulty in making his acquaintance. One day, in the House of Representatives, a bill was taken up appropriating money for the benefit of the widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in its support; rather, as I thought, because it afforded the speakers a fine opportunity for display, than from the necessity of convincing anybody, for it seemed to me that everybody favored it. The Speaker was just about to put the question, when Crockett arose. Everybody expected, of course, that he was going to make one of his characteristic speeches in support of the bill. He commenced,
"Mr. Speaker - I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living, if suffering there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead, or our sympathy for a part of the living, to lead us into an act of injustice, to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it.
"We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity: but as members of Congress, we have no right to so appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war, he was in office to the day of his death, and I have never heard that the government was in arrears to him. This government can owe no debts but for services rendered, and at a stipulated price. If it is a debt. how much is it? Has it been audited, and the amount due ascertained? If it is a debt, this is not the place to present it for payment, or to have its merits examined. If it is a debt, we owe more than we can ever hope to pay, for we owe the widow of every soldier who fought in the War of 1812, precisely the same amount.
"There is a widow in my neighborhood, the widow of as gallant a man as ever shouldered a musket. He fell in battle. She is as good in every respect as this lady, and is as poor. She is earning her daily bread by her daily labor; but if I were to introduce a bill to appropriate five or ten thousand dollars for her benefit, I should be laughed at, and my bill would not get five votes in this House. There are thousands of widows in the country just such as the one I have spoken of, but we never hear of any of these large debts to them. Sir, this is no debt. The government did not owe it to the deceased when he was alive; it could not contract it after he died. I do not wish to be rude, but I must be plain. Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as a charity.
"Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much of our own money as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week's pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks."
"He took his seat. No body replied. The bill was put upon its passage, and instead of passing unanimously, as was generally supposed, it received but a few votes and was lost."
Article One, Section Eight, gives Congress no permission to give gifts to charity. Article One, Section Eight, tells Congress what is to be paid for, and what offices are to be established. Not included are medical care, Medicare, pensions such as Social Security, food stamps, nor subsidies of any kind, to anyone or any group.
"If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretense of taking care of them, they must become happy." - Thomas Jefferson. 'Labors of the people,' are taxes levied upon their labors and incomes.
We seem to be in the final stages of dissolution, with Greece just a few steps ahead of us. It began over a century ago, maybe with the Mann Act of 1910. The Mann Act made it a crime to transport a female across state lines for immoral purposes. Even buying a train ticket was a crime if it were bought for a single woman, by a man. It was totally unconstitutional! It allowed the federal government to control ones moves, and even purchases of a ticket. The Supremes upheld it, as being only for prostitution, but many people have been prosecuted with it, such as Charlie Chaplin. The D.C. mayhem, wild spending, unconstitutional wars, and general unconstitutional behavior, bills, and votes, has gone un-checked for over a hundred years. Will this and next year turn the thing around?
There is no Constitutional permission for probably 99% of federal expenditures. Will our rating go to "Junk" as has Greece? Portugal and Spain have had their ratings lowered too, and the UK and America aren't far behind. I really do feel that something horrid is about to happen, but I don't know what it will be. Maybe we should just protect ourselves and hope for the best. As far as Arizona's new law is concerned, lets all plan a trip to Arizona!
P.S. We have lowered our commission rates. Why? Because metals prices have gone up, and our costs have not gone up as much, so we think that you, our customers deserve lower rates. New rates will be charged now, but may not be on web site till Monday. To $25,000 - 1.5% $25,000 - $50,000 - 1%. $50,000 to $100,000 - .75%. Over $100,000 - .5%. We were already lower than anyone else, because we do no advertising, have no employees, and pay no rent. New rates will make us even lower. All this and still A plus rated with the Better Business Bureau!
Source: http://www.coloradogold.com/archive/print.php?id=955
Source: http://www.coloradogold.com/archive/print.php?id=955
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