Theodore's World

The waste in the Defense Department is astronomical. I know, as I was a part of that. I was ordered to spend thousands on equipment we didn't need or want because we had to spend to budget. In the military and most government agencies, if you don't spend to budget, you loose that money and your next years budget is cut by the amount you didn't spend. It's the most stupid ridiculous way of doing business which costs the taxpayers billions every year.

The Military has always been the stone in the lefts shoe. There will be no entitlement cuts only defense and Social Security and medicare. Seniors and the Troops, will take the hit for this and our congress will just go along with it.

Unbelievable. Third world here we come on the express train.

As conservatives we make a huge mistake by saying that we want SMALLER government.

When we do, it is defeatist. We've lost the debate from the onset because we are on the same field as the proponents of BIG government;

simply arguing only about its size.

Get off that field !

Stay grounded. Stick to the Constitution and the founder's original intent:

We conservatives want LIMITED government.

Now the ball is in our field where the parameters of the federal government and its role in our lives are more easily and clearly defined and restrained.

Provide for a well armored military, coin of the realm, borders, etc.

Limited government. Limited government. Limited government.

It's all there for us. All we have to do is to read.

Like this gem from James Madison in Federalist 45:

"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the state governments are numerous and indefinite."

The world may never see again the Philadelphia gathering of 56 noble God fearing men with such integrity and wisdom, but we can always read and learn from them.

It is a creed.

It's ours, uniquely ours.

It is entirely American.

In governance, it is our very essence.

Very well put Carlos. Impossible to argue with anything you say.

Has anyone heard anything at all about possibly cutting congressional or White House operating budgets. You know, like the First Lady's personal staff or elected officials travel expenses. How about a reduction in salaries for the President and Congress. I have read that obama increased his staff and then gave them raises of up to 80%. As long as our elected yo-yos don't practice frugality and sacrifice themselves, there will be no fairness in how targeted spending cuts will be made for the rest of the Federal budget.

Well said Carlos...very well said!

Rebuilding the Military spending to sustainable levels was what cost Bush so much. He had to replace all of the cruise missils that Clinoton sot at the Serbs because Clinton replaced nothing he used. Cutting the military will can bed done byt us certain to hurt.

Wolverines!

Awesome, thank you all so much.

That was great Carlos, thank you.

When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people ther is liberty.

It sounds good to say 'don't say we are for smaller government' but the idea must be defined not ignored. The purpose of the Constitution is to protect the rights of the Individual, the job of the governmnet is to defend the Individuals right as defined by the Constitution.

A “right” is a moral principle defining and sanctioning a man’s freedom of action in a social context. There is only one fundamental right (all the others are its consequences or corollaries): a man’s right to his own life. Life is a process of self-sustaining and self-generated action; the right to life means the right to engage in self-sustaining and self-generated action—which means: the freedom to take all the actions required by the nature of a rational being for the support, the furtherance, the fulfillment and the enjoyment of his own life. (Such is the meaning of the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.)

The concept of a “right” pertains only to action—specifically, to freedom of action. It means freedom from physical compulsion, coercion or interference by other men.

Thus, for every individual, a right is the moral sanction of a positive—of his freedom to act on his own judgment, for his own goals, by his own voluntary, uncoerced choice. As to his neighbors, his rights impose no obligations on them except of a negative kind: to abstain from violating his rights.

The right to life is the source of all rights—and the right to property is their only implementation. Without property rights, no other rights are possible. Since man has to sustain his life by his own effort, the man who has no right to the product of his effort has no means to sustain his life. The man who produces while others dispose of his product, is a slave.

Bear in mind that the right to property is a right to action, like all the others: it is not the right to an object, but to the action and the consequences of producing or earning that object. It is not a guarantee that a man will earn any property, but only a guarantee that he will own it if he earns it. It is the right to gain, to keep, to use and to dispose of material values.

When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people ther is liberty.

It sounds good to say 'don't say we are for smaller government' but the idea must be defined not ignored. The purpose of the Constitution is to protect the rights of the Individual, the job of the governmnet is to defend the Individuals right as defined by the Constitution.

A “right” is a moral principle defining and sanctioning a man’s freedom of action in a social context. There is only one fundamental right (all the others are its consequences or corollaries): a man’s right to his own life. Life is a process of self-sustaining and self-generated action; the right to life means the right to engage in self-sustaining and self-generated action—which means: the freedom to take all the actions required by the nature of a rational being for the support, the furtherance, the fulfillment and the enjoyment of his own life. (Such is the meaning of the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.)

The concept of a “right” pertains only to action—specifically, to freedom of action. It means freedom from physical compulsion, coercion or interference by other men.

Thus, for every individual, a right is the moral sanction of a positive—of his freedom to act on his own judgment, for his own goals, by his own voluntary, uncoerced choice. As to his neighbors, his rights impose no obligations on them except of a negative kind: to abstain from violating his rights.

The right to life is the source of all rights—and the right to property is their only implementation. Without property rights, no other rights are possible. Since man has to sustain his life by his own effort, the man who has no right to the product of his effort has no means to sustain his life. The man who produces while others dispose of his product, is a slave.

Bear in mind that the right to property is a right to action, like all the others: it is not the right to an object, but to the action and the consequences of producing or earning that object. It is not a guarantee that a man will earn any property, but only a guarantee that he will own it if he earns it. It is the right to gain, to keep, to use and to dispose of material values.