Guest Author - Cynthia Phillips

Have you ever wondered how the United States was formed and what kind of government it was founded on? The Unites States is supposed to be a constitutional republic; this is what the Founding Fathers established. This is where the head of state and other represented officials are elected by its citizens, and they must adhere to the constitutional law of limiting the government’s power over the people. The president most of all has to adhere to this principle—after all he took an oath to "support and defend" the Constitution.

From my observation, it looks more like an oligarchy that is taking place these days. It is the rich, powerful, and elite that is running the show—not the elected officials that represent us. The Constitution was "just a god-damned piece of paper," according to George W. Bush and the way Barrack Obama is running things so far, he also is treating our Constitution like it’s just a piece of paper.

Do we see the government limiting their power these days? Let us examine the bailouts and stimulus packages trying to get passed in the House and Senate as we speak. Has the past bailouts really helped the American people? I know that it did help John Thain get his $35,000 toilet and other CEOs obtain fat pay checks. Now think about this, who is going to paying for this—you, me, and our children?

The next stimulus is supposedly going to cost around 920 billion dollars. There are about 300 million Americans—what if the government bailed us out and gave us a million dollars each? Couldn’t the federal government spare us 300 million dollars—after all they are ready to spend 920 billion dollars. Where is this money coming from? The Federal Reserve is magically printing money out of "thin air," which is doing more damage to the value of our dollar. Our national debt right now is at 10 trillion dollars—each citizen’s share is about $35,000. If the next stimulus passes, then tack on another $7,000 to your debt.

If you have ever read, The Law by Frédéric Bastiat, he talks about "legal plunder." This is an interesting term because it is taking place now and this book was written in the 1800s. With these bailouts, the president has the power to take our money legally and spend it on what he deems is best. I suppose, we Americans, are babies and we wouldn’t know what to do with that money anyway.