...You mean we're NOT??? ("...in sorry shape today")
...Sadly, I'm not sure 'everyone' would agree with that... I can think of at least a 'few' people here in California, and AT LEAST one, below, from Oregon, for starters, who might not believe our current situation is particularly 'rosy'. (...and you might Google 'creeping socialism', or "agenda21", to find a 'few' more.)
...and it seems to me, that until, or unless, the 'Pubbies start taking Federal judicial confirmations A LOT more seriously, things are NOT going to get a lot better.
...Just my opinion, of course...
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Creeping socialism steals our constitutional rights
Thursday, August 19, 2004
By Rudy Karpstein - The Hillsboro Argus
After the World War II and I married and settled into our newly purchased home just outside Hillsboro, I was startled one morning to learn in The Oregonian my Democratic Party listed as one of its campaign planks to do away with the private ownership of property in Oregon.
I, along with about every veteran in the state, was shocked. I guess there were people that figured since the United States sided with communist countries to defeat Hitler and Hirohito that communist ideas might work in this country. But there were those like Sen. Joseph McCarthy who believed differently and held Senate investigations into communist activities. Senate hearings were broadcast nationally on television.
Of course because of the furor, the Democrats' socialist plank was immediately dropped. The Democrats said it was all an error, and they gave up trying to get that idea across. But some Democrats at the caucus meeting decided to pursue other means.
Slowly, since the 1950s, the state of Oregon has taken the private ownership of property away from us by excessive taxation, zoning laws, so called "wildlife protection" laws, environmental regulations and building permit laws, directly in contempt of the U.S. Constitution.
Our government needs to be put back into the hands of the citizens with a judicial overseer that backs up that concept and not by interpreting the Constitution to fit communistic principles.
Socialists mean well but operate in the guise of protecting us from each other or protecting the land, animals or whatever. I've even heard them say "so that our grandchildren will have a better place to live."
Recently Oregonians voted for a bill to insure us protection of the constitutional amendment that guarantees owners proper compensation when they are denied the use of their property. But these socialist-minded judges canceled the new law, telling us that our land is not protected the governing body decides whether we should be compensated.
I hope someone among us has the knowledge to reverse this travesty. My deeper hope is that our grandchildren are taught about God and country, civics, government and about our flag and forefathers. I further hope that those coming into this country get educated also to not relinquish these freedoms just because it's so much better than their former homeland.
Rudy Karpstein, a longtime Hillsboro resident, is a frequent contributor to the Argus Opinion Page. http://www.oregonlive.com/news/argus/index.ssf?/base/news/1092948864265430.xml