“The times they are a changin’.” Bob Dylan may have been singing about different problems and different times, but his words are no less true today than they were when he first sang them 47 years ago. 1963 was a different world. It pains me to admit that my ancestors were probably right there in the middle of the Civil Rights movement (and not on the good side). Now, I don’t know that for sure, as this is not the type of thing that you brag to your grandchildren about, but it probably happened. This was the culture of the time in the South.
If it were not for the brave souls who fought for what they knew was right, things may STILL be the way they were at that time. The people of the NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (MLK‘s group), and the Congress of Racial Equality are all heroes of the United States of America, and I personally look upon them with the same reverence that I hold the Founding Fathers, the soldiers that have fought and died for our freedoms, and the abolitionists who fought to end the abomination of slavery 100 years before.
Some people like to claim that JFK and LBJ were the “saviors” of the Civil Rights movement. In truth, they only did the things that they did to increase their own power and move the country ever closer to Socialism. Kennedy didn’t even want to do anything about Civil Rights until he was pushed into a corner by Martin Luther King and others. Hell, he didn’t even like MLK (MLK was a Republican and was pushing Kennedy to do things that he felt he didn‘t have the power to do).
Lyndon Baines Johnson, on the other hand, DID want to help the Civil Rights movement move forward, but mainly because he knew that it would increase his power. He had been one of the most powerful Congressman of his time, and some would argue that he was the most powerful Congressman of all time. He knew everyone in the Senate and knew how to manipulate them, usually through intimidation, to do whatever he wanted. When he lost the Democratic Primary to JFK, he was crushed (then surprised everyone by accepting the VP offer anyway). He absolutely hated being Vice President since he had absolutely no power other than being the tie-breaker in the Senate. He was even kept in the shadows during the little bit of time that JFK was in office. As soon as he became President, he went back to what he did best, which meant doing everything that he possibly could to gain power and control other people. As President and former Senate Majority Leader he had already gained all of the power available through these offices, so he had to get the voters on his side. What was the best way to do this? Give the African Americans in the South the right to vote. If you had never been able to vote before, and all of a sudden someone gave you this right (after generations of NOT being able to do so), who would you vote for? He effectively increased his voter base by 10 million people, thus increasing his power.
On a side note, all of these are the reasons that the conspiracy nuts think LBJ was responsible for JFK’s assassination. Oh you haven’t heard that one? Google is a wonderful thing, isn’t it?
Up until this time, the Federal Government was considered to be the paragon of truth and justice. This view might not have been warranted since many things were going on behind the scenes and there was no CNN or Fox News to report it, but the actions taken were considered to be of the people, by the people, and for the people. Maybe this has something to do with how the members of the Federal Government were able to continuously centralize more and more power throughout the years.
At the heights of the Great Depression, people were desperate for anything that would alleviate their suffering, and allowed the Progressives to start the slide towards the totalitarian democracy that we live under today. The FDR Administration was, until the 21st Century, the most Socialist administration to ever govern in the United States of America. When the liberals in Congress saw the opportunity to take even more power from the people and the States in the form of Civil Rights legislation, they jumped at the chance. They co-opted the movement, and used it as a way to increase their power. The Republicans had briefly taken control of Congress, and this scared the liberals. They needed a way to regain power, and there was a distinctly liberal flavor to the ideas of the American citizens of the time. They jumped at the chance to take this power, and they held it for some 40 years. This finally ended in the early 1990s when the Republicans took control of the House and Senate with their “Contract With America.”
At the turn of the 21st Century, we stood at a crossroads. We didn’t know it yet, but our world would be for ever changed in two short years. We would soon have to make a choice about the direction of our country, and the people that we elected to make those decisions . Most people could not fathom that we could be attacked by terrorists. Sure, they had attacked the USS Cole and the Kenyan Embassy, but those happened in far off lands, and would not be possible here at home.
After September 11, 2001, our country DID change. George W. Bush did the same thing that every war time President has ever done - he took more power for the Federal Government, at the expense of the States and us, the Citizens. As always, the excuse was that the United states was under attack, and the Federal Government needed the power to do whatever had to be done in order to keep us safe. “Sure, it will be temporary, just like every other time that the government has taken power for wartime purposes.” Again, the liberties and freedoms of the citizens had been taken over by the power hungry politicians in Washington.
Things are no better today. In fact, they are worse than they have ever been. We have heard the same arguments that were used by the former Most-Socialist-Administration-Ever.
“Our country will collapse if we don’t do these things immediately.”
“We must take control of the private sector for the good of the people.”
“We must take from the rich and give to the poor.”
These are different variations of the same tired, worn out lines used throughout the history of Progressivism. The power hungry on both sides use these as their excuse to gain more power, and they make no bones about it. The Obama Administration has nationalized more of our country than every other President in history combined. They have spent more of OUR money in 1 ½ years than the previous administration did in eight years. And now, they are admonishing individual states for passing laws saying that they will enforce the laws already on the books! When did it become okay to do something illegal? When did you get punished for enforcing the law? Only when the power hungry in Washington gained enough power to do so.
It is time to do something about this abomination. The 10th Amendment of the Bill of Rights was included with the Constitution because it was important enough to warrant special attention by the Founding Fathers. We would never think about ignoring the 1st Amendment, so why the 10th? Do you think the Progressives want us to do away with the Separation of Church and State? I didn’t think so. It was added because the Founding Fathers were students of the human mind. They understood that every country since the beginning of time had started as or devolved into totalitarian rule. They knew that if they did not do everything they could to protect our freedoms, we would lose those freedoms. They understood that what they had created was a curiosity of history, and that the power hungry would do everything in their power to destroy the beauty of this creation.
Please, do whatever you can think of to enforce the 10th Amendment. Write your State and National Congressman. Start a petition. Start a protest. As long as it is done peaceably, it MUST be done.
The information listed here is common knowledge. I do not know where to find it on the Internet, as most of it (except the conspiracy theory) came from the text books that were used for my American History class at Louisiana State University (Geaux Tigers!). As stated before, Google is a wonderful tool. Please use it to help yourself become more educated on the history of our great country. But not Wikipedia! Read REAL history and learn the true story, please! You’re old history professor will think you.
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