Well, you should have joined the public sector and lived off those who actually produce something. July 1 saw a pay raise for state employees.

And of course, that’s in addition to the massive perks and pensions they also get. At age 52, many government workers retire in luxury with 90 percent pensions based on their last year’s generous pay.

Meanwhile, you’re slaving away to pay for everything.

Oh, and guess what? The economy is “improving” and unemployment is “decreasing” mainly because more government workers are being hired. The Wall Street Journal reported:

The recent hiring spurt—one of the best stretches since the late 1990s—has gotten a surprising lift by a major sector: government.

In June, all levels of government added a seasonally adjusted 26,000 employees. That gain outpaced the manufacturing and construction sectors — combined. Rising government employment not only adds to the total hiring figure, it also represents growth in a relatively well-paying field.

The Declaration of Independence insisted on America splitting from England because it charged of King George III, “He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.”

But that’s just what “our” government now does to us now. And to think, the Revolution started because of some minor taxes on tea and stamps.

Why do we have to live under the rule of people who don’t know the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution?

Here’s the story from Breitbart:

“A federal judge struck down Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage today…. Except … Judge Arenda Wright Allen claimed the Constitution declares that “all men are created equal,” which is, instead, the first line of the Declaration of Independence.”

Actually, “all men are created equal” is in the second sentence! So some journalists can’t get it right, either.

We’re in trouble.

Check out the venerable document, below. Not that anybody seems to read it anymore.

By Katy Grimes

As a young child, I was fortunate to be able to live in Newport, Rhode Island, the first British colony in America to formally declare its independence, and the first state to  guarantee freedom of religion.

We lived a short time in an old home in downtown Newport, which survived the Revolutionary War. Soldiers fought the Brits from the upstairs windows of our home, according to local lore.

Newport was rife with constant reminders of The American Revolution. I used to imagine what life was like in 1776 Newport, when the state repealed its allegiance to King George III of England.

Reflecting upon Independence Day, it’s so important to remember the Revolution wasn’t just a rebellion against the King of England, it was a rebellion against being ruled by a monarchy. Our forefathers and many of our ancestors gave up everything and shed their own blood rather than submit unto King George lll.

Liberty and the Declaration of Independence

My early years were still during an era unembarrassed by, and unapologetic of America’s individualist morality. But by the time I entered college, America was undergoing significant moral, ethical, political and social change.

Globalism was being ushered in promoting the hegemony of Western culture, capitalism  and free markets. The foundations of democracy and social stability were clearly being undermined.

Can this individualistic ethic be renewed in an America enveloped in entitlements and self-absorption?

Re-reading the Declaration of Independence, the nation’s most cherished symbol of liberty,  helps refresh our ties to American history. Thomas Jefferson drafted it, and his words still capture the heartfelt convictions of liberty-loving Americans.

Jefferson rightly focused on the importance of  individual liberty, ideals first shared by John Locke and the Continental philosophers.

Jefferson argued in his opening two paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence that a people had the right to overthrow their government when it abused their fundamental natural rights over a long period of time:

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for a people to advance from that subordination in which they have hitherto remained, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the equal and independent station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s god entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the change

We hold these truths to be [sacred and undeniable] self evident, that all men are created equal and independent; that from that equal creation they derive in rights inherent and inalienables, among which are the preservation of life, and liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these ends, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government shall become destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing it’s powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes: and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. but when a long train of abuses and usurpations, begun at a distinguished period, and pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to [subject] reduce them to arbitrary power, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

As the United States’ government continues to grow, has it also abused our fundamental natural rights over a long period of time?

Would Americans today sign such a document, under similar threats as the founders?

“A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.” — Samuel Adams, 1779, a delegate to the Continental Congress, and signer of the Declaration of Independence

By John Seiler

I’m enjoying the fight over the California High-Speed Rail boondoggle. It’s also called the Browndoggle because it’s Gov. Jerry Brown’s attempt to surpass the public-works projects, such as the California State Water Project and the state higher brainwashing system (the universities), of his father, Gov. Pat Brown. I’ll leave it to the Freudians to figure that one out.

The funding could sap about $1 billion a year from the state budget at a time when Gov. Jerry is pushing an $8.5 billion tax increase.

Which means there’ll be a fun fight against the tax increase leading up to November.

Brown and the other tax supporters don’t recognize that the state already has reached its spending limit. Raising taxes rates, assuming that happens, only would slam the economy, reduce the tax base, and so reduce actual tax revenues. Workers and businesses already are leaving the state in droves. Higher taxes would club them out even faster.

So there could be this scenario. The tax increases pass, paradoxically reducing tax revenues. The Browndoggle lasts at least for a couple of years, until voters repeal it with an initiative in November 2014. Meanwhile, the pension crisis worsens. Currently, $2 billion from the general fund goes to pension payments; that rises to $4 billion. All of these things mean that other spending must be cut, beginning with K-14 schools and universities, followed by welfare.

Well, great. Government should get out of the brainwashing — er, schooling — business. And taking care of the poor should be done by families and charities.

Eventually, we’ll have a state government in which spending is diverted to the pensions of those no longer working, interest payments on the state debt and the high salaries of the few remaining state workers.

Bottom line: a reduction in the “multitude of New Offices…sent hither” with “swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance,” to quote a famous document.

According to the Declaration if Independence, America consists of “Free and Independent States”; 13 originally, 50 today.

Except that the centralized tyranny in Washington, D.C. owns 45.3 percent of the land in California. That’s better than the 84.5 percent in Utah or the 69.1 percent of Alaska.

But it’s much worse than the mere 1.6 percent of Alabama or the 0.4 percent of Connecticut.

The Feds should sell off all that property and use the proceeds to pay down the $15,338,276,445,417.43 national debt. But they won’t. They love enslaving us.

Here’s the chart of the whole country:

Feb. 3, 2012

Hat tip to LewRockwell.com.

By WAYNE LUSVARDI

CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT 13

Introduced by Senators Cannella, Berryhill, Emmerson, and Harman … Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 13

…relating to public employees’ benefits.

In California, July 4, 2011,

A DECLARATION … in the State Legislature assembled,

WHEREAS, The bipartisan Milton Marks “Little Hoover” Commission on California State Government reports that the 10 largest public pension systems in California have a combined unfunded accrued actuarial liability of $240,000,000,000; and

WHEREAS, The Little Hoover Commission has determined that public pensions in California are unsustainably expensive; and

WHEREAS, Projections show that the combined costs to the state’s General Fund of the Public Employees’ Retirement System, the State Teachers’ Retirement System, and retiree health care will grow from 5 percent of the state’s annual budget to 10 percent over the next 30 years; and the Little Hoover Commission reports that the situation with many local governments is even worse; and

WHEREAS, As dire as these figures are, they are based on the optimistic assumptions of most public pension governing boards regarding the rates of return that they expect to earn on their investments and, therefore, may actually understate the magnitude of the problem severalfold; and

WHEREAS, The rising cost of public employee retirement benefits threatens the ability of government agencies to deliver the vital services upon which the public depends and, therefore, the Legislature intends to exercise the police powers of the state to make reasonable modifications to public pension systems while protecting employees’ earned, vested rights;

NOW, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate, the Assembly concurring,

That the Legislature of the State of California at its 2011–12 Regular Session commencing on the sixth day of December 2010, two-thirds of the membership of each house concurring, hereby proposes to the people of the State of California that the Constitution of the State be amended as follows:

…. The public employer shall be prohibited from paying on behalf of a member any of the member’s required employee contributions to a defined benefit plan.  The rate of required employee contributions shall represent a reasonable percentage of the normal costs of the plan and shall not be less than the employee contribution rate applicable to his or her membership classification on January 1, 2012….

(Full text here.)