We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Source: LII: Constitution
The preamble to the Constitution...The one thing the folks who seem to think they are "ruling" America seem to have forgotten. Doug Thompson turned in a good "rant" today. He set me to thinking about the above words.
Somewhere along the line, too many of our elected officials forgot the concept that the government of the United States is "of the people, by the people and for the people."
Our founding fathers, tired of rule by an English King who tried to impose his will on the people, envisioned a government that answers to the wishes of the majority.
When our leaders defy the will of the people, they chip away at the foundation of an American democratic republic. President George W. Bush says he's "the decider." That's not the way democracy is supposed to work. The people are "the deciders." Presidents and Congress are supposed to the "enforcers" of the decisions of the people.
Source: This is still our country | Capitol Hill Blue
Add to this the request for a royal audience by the Decider-in-Chief...
"We can discuss the way forward on a bill that is a clean bill — a bill that funds our troops without artificial timetables for withdrawal, and without handcuffing our generals on the ground," Bush said in a speech to an American Legion audience in nearby Fairfax, Va.
On the one hand, Bush extended an offer to meet with lawmakers Tuesday. On the other, the White House bluntly said it would not be a negotiating session.
The president said if lawmakers don't send him a bill he will sign — one that does not include timetables or money for pet projects in their home districts — it would be Congress, not the White House, that will have to answer to troops.
"The bottom line is this: Congress' failure to fund our troops will mean that some of our military families could wait longer for their loved ones to return from the front lines," Bush said at American Legion Post 177. "Others could see their loved ones headed back to war sooner than anticipated. This is unacceptable."
Source: Bush invites Dems to meet about Iraq - Yahoo! News
I have begun to wonder...Has anyone checked to see what kind of signing statement George W gave when he was inaugurated this last time? Seems that with his record of telling the world what he wasn't going to do, he might have left a record of what he isn't going to do in 2008...
