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Show A6 The Emery County Review, Tuesday, July 8, 2008 VIEWPOINT Opinion and Letters to the Editor It’s Time for Us to Come Together Kathy Ockey Established January 2, 2007 James L. Davis, Publisher & Editor w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w Colleen A. Davis, Co-Publisher, Office & Advertising Manager Josie Luke, Assistant Editor Lyndsay Reid, Advertising Design Charlotte Williams, Advertising Sales Kathy P. Ockey, Staff Journalist Casey Wood, Webmaster Our Vision To be a valued member of the communities we serve and to be trusted as an honest, truthful and reliable source of news. w w w Our Mission To inform, entertain and provide a public forum for the discussion of events impacting the people of the Emery County area and to inform with news and features relevant to those who call the Castle Valley area home w w w Our Principles We will be ethical in all of our efforts to provide information to the public. We will be unbiased in our reporting and will report the facts as we see them and do our best to focus on the good news of the county, its people, history and way of life. We will be strong and active members of the community and assist in any way that we are able. We will strive to provide the best quality product possible to our readers and advertisers...always. We will verify the details of news we are reporting and if a mistake is made on our part we will correct it immediately. We will always listen to suggestions on how to do our job better. Editorial Submission Guidelines The Emery County Review welcomes and invites letters to the editor and guest opinion articles on public policy or current events. We welcome letters of thanks to individuals who have helped make our community a better place to live, work and play. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit all submissions for space constraints, clarity and errors in fact. Submissions must include author’s name and contact information. Contact information will not be published. Letter’s and opinion articles can be sent to jldavis@theemerycountyreview.com, mailed to The Emery County Review, P.O. Box 487, Orangeville, UT. 84537 or faxed to 435-748-2543. The citizens of the United States of America recently celebrated the founding of our nation on the Fourth of July with parades, fireworks, town and family gatherings, and recreation in many forms. Do we, as a nation of citizens, realize what had to transpire to organize this nation and to give us the freedoms we enjoy? A brief history lesson: After the colonists won their independence from England, they were thankful they had won their freedom from England but the states were separate and not ready to unite. Each of these states was very different but it soon become apparent they would have to be united in order to grow. Delegates from each state got together and developed a plan originally called a “firm league of friendship” that later became the Articles of Confederation. After two years it became obvious that the Articles of Confederation was weak, the people were in debt and the states were printing money that was worthless. There was no real power behind the government. It also became obvious that the articles were impossible to amend and there had to be a stronger central government if the nation was going to survive. Delegates from each state met in Philadelphia to come up with a plan for this new nation. Virginia Governor, Edmund Randolph, presented the Virginia Plan, which outlined a government with three branches, the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. Many delegates were angry that the word “national” was used because they didn’t want the states to lose power. There was also conflict about representation, individual rights and state rights. After much debate and many people believe “inspiration”, differences were resolved and the United States Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787 by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. It was later ratified by conventions in each state in the name of “The People”. It has since been amended 17 times, the first 10 amendments are known as the Bill of Rights. Interestingly, when an amendment to the constitution is made, it is to the existing text without removing what already exists. Our nation developed a document that overshadows all other governments and nations on earth. Does our country have problems? Yes, we have the war in Iraq, gas prices, economy, environment, health care, housing, taxes and politicians who don’t follow up on promises. But consider the overall picture. We are the most prosperous and powerful nation in the world. We have more freedoms than any other country. Our educational systems are without equal. We can speak our minds freely and disagree just as freely. We can travel where and when we want to. We have more opportunity for education and employment than anywhere else in the world. We can read books, news, and watch television, and be on the internet as much as we want to. We can go to church and worship however we want to and if we want to. During the elections we all become upset with the candidates and their rhetoric. We become discouraged and wonder if our votes really count. We sometimes wonder what this nation is coming to and what will have to happen to help us survive in these turbulent times. Our Constitution was ratified in each state in the name of “The People.” Could it be that it is time for each individual to take the responsibility to improve their own lives and surroundings and to help others who are not as fortunate as we are? Is it time for everyone to become involved in improving our society? By each person doing a little bit, collectively a lot can be accomplished. Times may be difficult and there are troubles all around us but would you really want to live anywhere else in the world? There are people all over the world that want to come to the United States of America and have what we have. They are coming to America both legally and illegally. What do we have that they don’t have? The Constitution of the United States which made it possible for us to have the lives we have today. The Preamble states: “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”. In spite of our “problems,” we really are the greatest nation on earth. The Slow Loss of Independence Pat Buchanan Not until a year after Lexington did the Continental Congress muster the resolve to declare the 13 colonies free and independent states, no longer subject to Parliament or Crown. Not for five years after July 4, 1776, did George Washington’s army truly attain America’s independence at Yorktown. Even then, Washington and his aide Alexander Hamilton knew that the 13 states, while politically independent, were dependent upon Europe for the necessities of their national life. Without French ships and guns, French muskets and troops, the Americans could not have forced Gen. Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown. Cornwallis would have sailed away, as Gen. Howe had from Boston. Indeed, absent the 1778 alliance with France, our Revolution would have been a longer bloodier affair and might not have succeeded. At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, both Washington and Hamilton were determined to make America’s political independence permanent, and to begin to cut the umbilical cord to Europe. In the Constitution that came out of that convention, the states were prohibited from imposing any tariffs on the products of other states, thus creating the greatest common market in history, the United States of America. Second, the U.S. government was empowered to raise revenue by imposing tariffs on foreign goods, but explicitly denied the power to impose taxes on the incomes of American citizens. And as Hamilton set the nation onto a course that would ensure economic independence, Washington took the actions and made the decisions that would assure our political independence. First, he declared neutrality in the European wars that followed the French Revolution of 1789. Second, he sought to sever the 1778 alliance with France, a feat achieved by his successor, John Adams. Third, in his Farewell Address, the greatest state paper in U.S. history, Washington admonished his countrymen to steer clear of permanent alliances and to stay out of Europe’s wars. Rarely in the 19th century did the United States divert from the course set by Washington and Hamilton. In 1812, however, James Madison, goaded by “war hawks” Henry Clay and John Calhoun, and ignoring the counsel of the Farewell Address, declared war on Britain and came near to seeing his nation torn apart. Had it not been for the Duke of Wellington’s preoccupation with Napoleon and Andy Jackson’s rout of a British invasion army at New Orleans, America might have been split asunder. In 1814, New England was on the verge of seceding, and the British had in mind splitting off the vast Louisiana territory. As it was, Madison had to flee the Washington, when a British Army came up the Bladensburg Road to burn the Capitol and Madison’s White House. After peace in 1815, however, Madison signed the Tariff Act of 1816 to prevent British merchants from dumping goods into the United States to kill America’s infant industries that had arisen during the war and to prevent British merchants from recapturing the U.S. markets they had lost. For most of the 19th century, the nation followed the economic policy of Hamilton and the foreign policy of Washington - and was richly rewarded. By the first decade of the 20th century, America was the most independent and self-reliant republic in all of history. And by staying out of two world wars of the 20th century until many of the bloodiest battles had been fought, America emerged in 1945 economi- cally and politically independent of all other nations. During the Cold War, however, Americans came to believe that a temporary alliance, NATO, was necessary to prevent Joseph Stalin’s empire from overrunning Europe and turning the balance of power against us. To help our wartime allies and former enemies Japan, Germany and Italy to their feet, we set aside Hamilton’s policy and threw open the American market to the goods of Free Europe and Free Asia. These should have been temporary alliances and temporary measures. Instead, they were made permanent. No longer free of foreign entanglements, as Thomas Jefferson urged, we now have commitments to defend 50 countries. The old Hamiltonian policy of “Prosper America First” has given way to worship of a Global Economy, at whose altars we sacrifice daily the vital interests of our own manufacturers and workers. “Interdependence” is now the desired end of the new elite. And so we have become again a dependent nation. We borrow from Europe and Japan to defend the oil of Europe and Japan in the Persian Gulf. We borrow from China to buy the goods of China. We are as dependent on foreign borrowing as we are on foreign oil. And the questions arise: If the men of ‘76, who led those small and vulnerable states, were wiling to sacrifice their lives, fortunes and sacred honor for America’s independence, what is the matter with us? Do we not value independence as they did? Or is it that we are simply not the men our fathers were? Happy Independence Day. Copyright 2008 Creators Syndicate Inc. |
