Today is Saturday, December 14, 2013. My stats today: 10 minutes of yoga, 10 minutes on the ball and 45 minutes of walking inside Walmart = 2.5 miles for a December total of 28.5 miles. My weight was 165.2 pounds.
My THOUGHTS today are on a letter to the editor in the Anamosa paper. A lady named Jenn Jones wrote a letter to the editor entitled, It's time to take back government.
Jen a is Tea Party member and has challenged some of my letters. I'm trying to get a back and forth going with Jenn Baby in the newspaper.
Here are some of Jenn's words: The Bill of Rights were put in place to further strengthen the rights of the citizens, the states and further restrain the federal government. A national government could easily become a government of tyranny if not properly kept in check. A system that was intentionally designed to give the states all powers not specifically enumerated to the federal government has been turned inside out. Today, we have a federal government that has grown larger than probably even the founders could have imagined.
Jenn wants a convention of the states that would put forth, approve and ratify amendments to the U.S. constitution that will put restraints on the abuses of the federal government. She says it's time to take back government. It's a wonderful thought Jenn, but if you know any history I'm not sure you'd want to go back.
Jenn, there is a reason the federal government has grown. The main reason is that the state governments were the ABUSERS and the federal government had to put restraints on them in order to give equal rights to all citizens regardless of race, color, religion, gender or national origin.
Here are some examples:
1. I'll start with voting. From the late 1870s to the mid 1960s millions of African-Americans were not allowed to vote because of the Jim Crow laws in our southern states. The Congress of the U.S. passed the Voting Rights Law in 1965 to give our fellow black citizens the right to vote. If the state government had done their job the federal government wouldn't have had to step in.
2. And now that the Supreme Court has gutted part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act we are seeing again southern conservative Tea Party governors and legislatures making things more difficult for blacks to vote by passing strict voter ID rules, allowing less time for absentee voting, less time for early voting, and reducing the number of polling places. The federal government will have to step in again.
3. The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 and in 1968.. Why? The 1964 act made segregation and job discrimination illegal; it banned discrimination in public accommodations like restaurants, hotels, rest rooms, drinking fountains, parks and theaters. The 1968 Act extended these guarantees in housing and real estate. If the southern state governments had not abused the blacks there would have been no need for the federal government to intervene. But they didn't!!!
4. The Supreme Court decided on May 17. 1954 that "separate but equal" schools was not constitutional. Again, if the states hadn't been the abusers the federal government wouldn't have had to intervene.
5. In 1965 Congress passed Medicare to help our senior citizens pay their medical bills and not have to live a life of poverty in the retirement years. The state governments hadn't done anything about it.
6. In 1935 Congress passed Social Security to help seniors have some financial security and happiness in their retirement years. The state governments hadn't done anything.
7. This week the Michigan Tea Party controlled legislature passed a bill that women would have to take out a "rape insurance" policy in order to get medical care if they were raped. Is that abusing women or what? It is unbelievable!!
So Jenn the federal government would not be so large if the state governments had not been the ABUSERS of our citizens. It was the state governments that became the governments of tyranny. Do we really want to "take back government" to the states. I don't think so.
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