I feel bad to admit I've never written to anyone in government, I've never openly protested, and all I've done is vote. I'm glad at least that I vote because it's really disheartening to know about people that don't vote at all. But after typing that, I imagine they feel the way I do about writing letters that will never be read. I definitely don't participate in "online" petitions, and polls because I just don't trust them. Hah, I barely, if at all, trust anyone anymore.
First was remembering the messengers of God and Jesus' disciples thru the years. In America, there were and are disciples who were and are being martyred, but so few of them, almost no one thinks of them/us. Even the normal citizens being slaughtered wholesale /widely/ daily, are ignored daily, with a multitude of distractions and excuses.
Ah, a good note, perhaps. The last sentence. Since The Creator Says in His Word that He Curses people who don't trust Him, those who put their trust in man/the flesh/ man's strength , it is a necessary and big step to ask Him for Faith to Truth Only Him, for all things, and to renounce or give up trusting in man and/or man's ways. If you can get a politician to tell you the truth about voting, what happens when someone votes, what the process of voting is used for , then you will be sorrowful that anyone trusts in voting, that congress and presidents and mayors and governors and churches and schools and agencies have been able to deceive all the people for so long/ centuries.
Enumerated Powers, yes with an extension which would be Congress’s interpretation of what all that entails versus that of Reserved Powers. It is my contention that most of the state’s representatives in Washington do not know the full extent of what Reserved Powers include ergo they do nothing. Adversely, those who do know but do nothing are merely high ranking clock watchers bent on reserving their seat for another term.
We failed as we did not understand what was happening in government, largely because our ability to think critically has been removed by the school system.
I don't understand it all, bits and pieces I learn here and other places, but I see that too many people are getting away with crime in America. It's seems the popular thing to do is make new rules and laws without the people's voting on them. Freedom of speech is a good thing, except when the people believe lies because they don't know any better, or they just want the easy way (so they think) instead of looking at our constitution and laws. I wish I would have spent so much more time on my education, but then I think for me, the more I know the angrier I get because I see how many are just disregarding truth in our government.
and there lies the truth. I just mentioned that, education, but at the same time, I had a lot of chances to learn like in a class in highschool called Modern Problems. I don't remember a thing, if I actually payed any attention at all.
Compare: Did Israelites 'understand' why they were enslaved in Egypt ? Even if they did understand, it would not have helped them , would it ? Just like in the USA, people who understood what was happening , starting about 1902 if not earlier, were prevented from stopping it by underhanded , lawless men in power and the public allowing or supporting it overall. There just were not enough people who cared with enough power or money to stop the happenings.
Our reps don't even write the bills, let alone read them. I challenged a Congressman to his face and he said he would not have time to do anything else if he did. ??????? I was so shocked I did not continue the attack.
Most people may never find out what you found out. Both the elected and the appointed officials are like puppets on a string and do what they are told to do.
Most of the bills are written by staff members. Congress has not really increased the number of bills passed into law per year. Most of that power has been delegated to the Executive Branch, a bunch of non-elected, non-accountable people and the very problem the founders tried to avoid with separation of powers. They had no idea the electorate would be so ignorant, and the representatives so lazy.
I agree, but when an activist judiciary rules against constitutional constraints and turns it on its head, I'm not certain what the citizenry can do. Then you have the Leftists appeal anything that does not go their way, and when it finally does go their way, it's "settled." Add to it our corrupt media and this institutionalized idea that the judiciary gets to override the legislature and "fix" bad law (rather than hand it back for repair) and I wonder how much power we truly hold. The founder foresaw this stuff...tree of liberty/blood of tyrants. I don't know how that unfolds in the modern era.
I protested in The March On Washington 0n 9/12/2009. It's probably a topic for another thread, but I see how some people could go from city-to-city just "protesting" just for the experience of marching down public streets with a mob of folks. Perhaps I enjoyed it because I was with a group of like-minded sincere people among who I was safe, while the "pros" are surrounded by those with no ethics.
I’m glad you brought up the term of critical thinking or as you put it, think critically. We had a member here who kept harping about critical thinking not realizing that it doesn’t necessarily mean to criticize. He pretty much criticized those who didn’t think the way he did and called it critical thinking. I’ve often told students to “leave no stone unturned” when doing research of any kind and no matter who is handing out the information, check it out. In other words, never take any statement, no matter how true it may sound, as fact. It’s kind of like the blind spot everyone has with their vision. The human brain is such that it will fill in that spot with something that should logically belong there but in fact, it really isn’t what is actually there. The only way to tell what is fanciful and fact is to move your eyes so you can get the whole picture. Sadly, even if they have the information I just provided, some folks just take for granted that everything they see is fact the same as everything they hear or read. If some political expert says that Mo Brooks isn’t worth putting back into office because he’s a blank, blank, blank, blank…..there are some who will not even question the statement but go out a vote against him if for no other reason than someone with “expert” in their job description said to do that. It’s a mental blind spot and the problem is that some folks just won’t move their eyes.
Very well said, @Bobby Cole. Sometimes, like now with the Ukraine situation, it is difficult to obtain information that is unbiased, so you just have to try to determine what makes sense. I certainly have different opinions on the subject than many here and elsewhere, but it is just my opinion and nothing more, derived from evaluation of what I know about the situation. Our children were all home-schooled except for the last 3 years for our youngest, and we made a great effort to imprint the idea of thinking about everything prior to forming an opinion and be will to change your opinion as more and different information becomes available.