-Caveat Lector- http://www.devvy.com/crockett.html NOT YOURS TO GIVE >From the Life of Colonel David Crockett Member of the U.S. Congress 1827-31 & 1832-35 Complied from The Life of Colonel David Crockett by Edward S. Ellis (Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1884) One day in the House of Representatives, a bill was taken up appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in its support. The Speaker was just about to put the question when Crockett arose: "Mr. Speaker - I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living, if suffering there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member on this floor knows it. We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right to appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I have never heard that the government was in arrears to him. Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as payment of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week's pay to the object, and, if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks. He took his seat. Nobody replied. The bill was put upon its passage, and, instead of passing unanimously, as was generally supposed, and as, no doubt it would but for that speech, it received but few votes and of course, was lost. Later when asked by a friend why he had opposed the appropriation, Crockett gave this explanation: "Several years ago I was one evening standing on the steps of the Capitol with some other members of Congress when our attention was attracted by a great light over in Georgetown. It was evidently a large fire. We jumped into a hack and drove over as fast we could. In spite of all that could be done, many houses were burned and many families made houseless, and besides, some of them had lost all but the clothes they had on. The weather was very cold, and when I saw so many women and children suffering, I felt that something ought to be done for them. The next morning a bill was introduced appropriating $20,000 for their relief. We put aside all other business and rushed it through as soon as it could be done. The next summer, when it began to be time to think about the election, I concluded I would take a scout around among the boys of my district. I had no opposition there, but, as the election was some time off, I did not know what might turn up. When riding one day in part of my district in which I was more of a stranger than any other, I saw a man in a field plowing and coming toward the road. I gauged my gait so that I should meet as he came to the fence. As he came up, I spoke to the man. He replied politely, but as I thought, rather coldly. I began, 'Well, friend, I am one of those unfortunate beings called candidates, and-' 'Yes, I know you; you are Colonel Crockett, I have seen you once before and voted for you the last time you were elected. I suppose you are out electioneering right now, but you had better not waste your time or mine. I shall not vote for you again.' This was a sockdolager, I begged him to tell me what was the matter. 'Well, Colonel, it is hardly worth while to waste time or words upon it. I do not see how it can be mended, but you gave a vote last winter which shows that either you have not capacity to understand the Constitution, or that you are wanting in the honesty and firmness to be guided by it. In either case you are not the man to represent me. But I beg your pardon for expressing it in that way. I did not intend to avail myself of the privilege of the constituent to speak plainly to a candidate for the purpose of insulting or wounding you. I intend by it only to say that your understanding of the Constitution is very different from mine; and I will say to you what, but for my rudeness, I should not have said that I believe you to be honest. But an understanding of the Constitution different from mine I cannot overlook because the Constitution, to be worth anything, must be held sacred and rigidly observed in all its provisions. The man who wields power and misinterprets it, is the more dangerous the more honest he is.' 'I admit the truth of all you say, but there must be some mistake about it, for I do not remember that I gave any vote last winter upon any constitutional questions.' 'No, Colonel, there is no mistake. Though I live here in the backwoods and seldom go from home, I take the papers from Washington and read very carefully all the proceedings in Congress. My papers say that last winter you voted for a bill to appropriate $20,000 to some sufferers by a fire in Georgetown. Is that true?' 'Well, my friend, I may as well own up. You have got me there. But certainly nobody will complain that a great and rich country like ours should give the insignificant amount of $20,000 to relive its suffering women and children, particularly with a full and overflowing Treasury, and I am sure, if you had been there, you would have done just as I did.' 'It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of, it is the principle. In the first place, the government ought to have in the Treasury no more than enough for its legitimate purposes. But that has nothing to do with the question. The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be intrusted to man, particularly under our system of collecting revenue by a tariff, which reaches every man in the country, no matter how poor he may be and the poorer he is, the more he pays in proportion to his means. What is worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge where the weight centers, for there is not a man in the United States who can ever guess how much he pays to the government. So you see, that while you are contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it from thousands who are even worse off than he. If you had the right to give anything, the amount was simply a matter of discretion with you, and you had as much right to give $20,000,000 as $20,000. If you had the right to give to one, you have the right to give to all and as the Constitution neither defines charity nor stipulates the amount, you are at liberty to give to any and everything which you may believe, or profess to believe, is a charity, and to any amount you may think proper. You will very easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and corruption and favoritism on the one hand, and for robbing the people on the other. No, Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity. Individual members may give as much of their own money as they please, but they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that purpose. If twice as many houses had been burned in this country as in Georgetown, neither you nor any other member of Congress would have thought to appropriating a dollar for our relief. There are about two hundred and forty members of Congress. If they had shown their sympathy for the sufferers by contributing each one week's pay, it would have made over $13,000. There are plenty of men in and around Washington who could have given $20,000 without depriving themselves of even a luxury of life. The Congressmen chose to keep their own money, which, if reports to be true, some of them spend not very credibly; and the people about Washington, no doubt, applauded you for relieving them from the necessity of giving by giving what was not yours to give. The people have delegated to Congress, by the Constitution, the power to do certain things. To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything beyond this is usurpation and a violation of the Constitution. So you see, Colonel, you have violated the Constitution in what I consider a vital point. It is a precedent fraught with danger for the country, for when Congress once begins to stretch its power beyond the limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to it and no security for the people. I have no doubt you acted honestly, but that does not make it any better, except as far as you are personally concerned and you see that I cannot vote for you.' 'I tell you I felt streaked. I saw if I should have opposition, and this man should go talking, he would set others to talking and in that district I was a gone fawn-skin. I could not answer him and the fact is, I was so fully convinced that he was right, I did not want to. But I must satisfy him and I said to him: Well, my friend, you hit the nail upon the head when you said I had not sense enough to understand the Constitution. I intended to be guided by it and thought I had studied it fully. I have head many speeches in Congress about the powers of Congress, but what you have said here at your plow has got more hard, sound sense in it than all the fine speeches I ever heard. If I had ever taken the view of it that you have, I would have put my head into the fire before I would have given that vote; and if you will forgive me and vote for me again, if I ever vote for another unconstitutional law, I wish I may be shot.' He haughtingly replied: 'Yes, Colonel, you have sworn to that once before, but I will trust you again upon one condition. You say that you are convinced that your vote was wrong. Your acknowledgment of it will do more good than beating you for it. If, as you go around the district, you will tell people about this vote and that you are satisfied it was wrong, I will not only vote for you, but will do what I can to keep down opposition, and perhaps, I may exert some little influence in that way.' 'If I don't, I said, I wish I may be shot, and to convince you that I am in earnest in what I say, I will come back this way in a week or ten days, and if you will get up a gathering of the people, I will make a speech to them. Get up a barbeque and I will pay for it.' No, Colonel, we are not rich people in this section, but we have plenty of provisions to contribute for a barbeque and some to spare for those who have none. The push of crops will be over in a few days and we can afford a day for a barbeque. This is Thursday. I will see to getting up on Saturday week. Come to my house on Friday and we will go together and I promise you a very respectable crowd to see and hear you.' 'Well, I will be there. But one thing more before I say good-bye. I must know your name.' 'My name is Bunce.' 'Not Horatio Bunce?' 'Yes.' 'Well, Mr. Bunce, I never saw you before though you say you have seen me, but I know you very well. I am glad I have met you and very proud that I may hope to have you for my friend.' It was one of the luckiest hits of my life that I met him. He mingled but little with the public, but was widely known for his remarkable intelligence and incorruptible integrity and for a heart brimful and running over with kindness and benevolence, which showed themselves not only in words but in acts. He was the oracle of the whole country around him, and his fame had extended far beyond the circle of his immediate acquaintance. Though I had never met him before, I had heard much of him, and but for this meeting it is very likely I should have had opposition, and have been beaten. One thing is very certain, no man could now stand up in that district under such a vote. At the appointed time I was at his house, having told our conversation to every crowd I had met, and to every man I stayed all night with, and I found that it gave the people an interest and a confidence in me stronger than I had ever seen manifested before. Though I was considerably fatigued when I reached his house, and under ordinary circumstances, should have gone early to bed, I kept up until midnight talking about the principles and affairs of government, and got more real, true knowledge of them than I had got all my life before. I have known and seen much of him since, for I respect him - no, that is not the world - I reverence and love him more than any living man, and I go to see him two or three times every year; and I will tell you, sir, if every one who professes to be a Christian lived and acted and enjoyed as he does, the religion of Christ would take the world by storm. But, to return to my story. The next morning I went to the barbeque and to my surprise, found about a thousand men there. I met a good many whom I had not known before, and they and my friend introduced me around until I had got pretty well acquainted - at least, they all knew me. In due time notice was given that I would speak to them. They gathered up around a stand that had been erected. I opened by speech by saying: Fellow-citizens - I present myself before you today feeling like a new man. My eyes have lately been opened to truths which ignorance or prejudice, or both, had heretofore hidden from my view. I feel that I can today offer you the ability to render you more valuable service than I have ever been able to render before. I am here today more for the purpose of acknowledging my error than to see your votes. That I should make this acknowledgment is due to myself as well as to you. Whether you will vote for me is a matter for your consideration only. I went on to tell them about the fire and my vote for the appropriation and then told them why I was satisfied it was wrong. I closed by saying: And now, fellow citizens, it remains only for me to tell you that most of the speech you have listened to with so much interest was simply a repetition of the arguments by which your neighbor, Mr. Bunce, convinced me of my error. It is the best speech I ever made in my life, but he is entitled to the credit for it. And now I hope he is satisfied with his convert and that he will get up here and tell you so. He came upon the stand and said: 'Fellow citizens, it affords me great pleasure to comply with the request of Colonel Crockett. I have always considered him a thoroughly honest man, and I am satisfied that he will faithfully perform all that he has promised to you today.' He went down, and there went up from that crowd such a shout for Davy Crockett as his name never called forth before. I am not much given to tears, but I was taken with a choking then and felt some big drops rolling down my cheeks. And I tell you now that the remembrance of those few words spoken by such a man, and the honest, hearty shout they produced, is worth more to me than all the reputation I have ever made, or ever shall make, as a member of Congress. "Now, sir," concluded Crockett, "you know why I made that speech yesterday. " "There is one thing now to which I call your attention. You remember that I proposed to give a week's pay. There are in that House many very wealthy men - men who think nothing of spending a week's pay, or a dozen of them, for a dinner or a wine party when they have something to accomplish by it. Some of those same men made beautiful speeches upon the great debt of gratitude which the country owned the deceased - a debt which could not be paid by money - and the insignificance and worthlessness of money, particularly so insignificant a sum as $10,000, when weighed against the honor of the nation. Yet not one of them responded to my proposition. Money with them is nothing but trash when it is to come out of the people. But it is the one great thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them sacrifice honor, integrity and just to obtain it." America: How familiar is this? Do you think even ONE member of Congress would give one day's pay to foot the bill for welfare or any of these other freebees, much less a week's pay? Congress has never had the authority to give away money and I don't care if it's called a bill, a law or an executive order. They do not have the right to give away money from the public treasury for welfare, health care programs like Medicare, Medical, foreign aid, air conditioners "for the poor," pornography described as "art," "benefits for legal aliens," research grants to colleges and universities, or any of the other $800 BILLION dollars annually allocated to these programs and that includes social security. It is not that I am made of stone with no heart. Those who know me know that I'm a soft touch when it comes to someone who needs help. However, it is my decision who to help or what charity to give to - no government has the right to force me to do these things. This current push for "volunteerism," "community service" and such malarky pushed by Colin The Opportunist Powell, Jimmy the Cartoon Carter, Bob on the Take Dole, the Clintongs and their world order bunch, was a very successful tool of Adolph Hitler. No? Better read some history. Before FDR and LBJ's socialist programming came along, the poor were assisted by churches and private charities. Before those two New World Order puppets had their way, Americans looked out for their own. Families took care of each other. Sacrifices were made by everyone. Now, people all over this country want to shove their elderly into nursing homes and expect me or my daughter or your son to pay for it, while we take care of our own because we love them and they are not an inconvenience getting in the way of our lifestyles. Our military cannot maintain its equipment without robbing from one plane or tank so a different plane or tank can operate. Our military live in shanty-like living facilities in many area of assignment, yet you expect them to die for you tomorrow if the need arises. Why? Because ONE BILLION DOLLARS a day is the tab to the private bankers who own the "Federal" Reserve and we pay them this amount to rent their worthless paper "money." Because these Congress criminals just unconstitutionally threw $18 BILLION DOLLARS to the IMF [Inernational Monetary Fund] to prop up the spending sprees of world dictators "struggling to establish democracy." My God, what a crime against our people. Where is your voice, America? Where is your rage? Where is your independence? Where is your pride? Where is the spirit of the Alamo? Where is the spirit of Anzio, Iwo Jima, Guadacanal, Bataan - where is the soul of our nation? America cannot and will not survive if these people in the Congress and the state legislatures continue to hand out that which does not belong to those who receive such largess. I am not rich. My husband and I have worked very hard all our lives and we have saved for the future instead of living for today. I have worked darn near seven days a week for almost seven years with my project, running for Congress and making hundreds of speeches - without earning one single penny. I do not make these statements as one of the idle rich without a care in the world. I do what I do because my little girl [even though she's 23] deserves to live free. I have lived my entire adult life under a big lie, carefully crafted by my own govenment. I hope you will take the time to read all the material in this web site. It will be a learning exerience you won't regret. I challenge anyone reading this to give up your income and go to a new office, every day for the next seven years without a penny in pay and then tell me that I am cold-hearted or selfish. What I am is a woman who sees what I don't want to see: a nation of sheep, dependent upon the shepherd who will eventually lead them to the slaughterhouse. America was built upon personal responsibility. America used to be a wealthy nation that was the envy of the world - UNTIL the private robber banker barons got the unconstitutional "Federal" Reserve Act of 1913 passed. Now we are the largest debtor nation in the world and despite the fat lies coming out of Congress and the media, we are bankrupt as a nation. There is no reason for poverty in this country. There is no need for an "income tax" or flat tax or sales tax to run this government. What we need is people action: We the People must straighten out our election system so that we can get individuals like Davy Crockett elected to Congress who have the intestinal fortitude to stand up to the bankers and do what is lawful under our Constitution. Demand paper ballots, hand counted in the precincts in front of the general public from your state legislature. If your rep or state senator refuses to introduce the bill and fight until it gets signed into law - RECALL THE BUMS. We must as a people withdraw our participation from all these programs that are unconstitutional. We must honor social security, even though the system was designed to fail from the beginning. Anyone who honestly and without the fear of their next SS check not arriving, must admit that there is no way the system, mathematically could ever work - it truly is a Ponzi Scheme. No one puts enough into the system to pay for what they collect. What it does is exactly what was outlined above by Mr. Bunce to Davy Crockett: You give to one and thousands must pay the bill - even though so many of those thousands are hurting themselves. Social security is a tax that goes into the general fund of the treasury and is not earmarked for any specific purpose. There is no money, only ink on a piece of paper. Congress has stolen nothing from social security because it is and always has been a tax and that tax is what is partially funding the military, foreign aid and ensuring that bugs, slugs and crud get constitutional rights. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on this many times, it is the truth. Anyone, and I mean anyone, who depends on social security had better understand this: As a tax, congress can stop it at any time - there is NO guarantee that you will ever receive this farce called "supplemental retirement income." I know it's scary for older Americans, but you need the truth, not more BS from some duplicitous lying politician. I have rescinded my social security number and will never make a claim against that number; I am 49. Every person in this country who depends on social security, should continue to receive it until they face our Lord for his judgment. But everyone else who can, get out of the system, don't put your children in it and let the system die a natural death. In one of my future commentaries, I'm going to lay out how wealthy you could be today without this system of slavery. This is a voluntary system even though the lying criminals in the IRS tell you just the opposite. Because so many people have opted out of this system, the duplicitous in Congress have introduced H.R. 3130 to make it mandatory or Americans will be denied to an even greater extent their God-given rights and freedom. The Wallace Institute will fight this tooth and nail if it's ever passed into "junk" law. To mount these kinds of legal battles, we need your help so I encourage you to become a citizen or corporate sponsor of the institute today or we can not be there for you tomorrow. Neither my husband nor I will ever participate in the Medicare/ Medical system because it is unlawful and it is not your responsibility to pay my medical care. It is my responsibility to stay as healthy as I can and if get sick or need an operation, I will take care of it - not you or your children. Just the same as the unconstitutional Federal Department of Socialist Education. It is my responsibility to pay my daughter's college expenses - not yours and visa versa. I will go into this scheme in one of my commentaries so people can understand the swindle in the area of education. I ask every American, if you can afford to, get out of it. If you're thinking about getting into this cycle of dependence, please don't. Medicare and Medical is unconstitutional and the money and or services you accept are illegal under the supreme law of the land. For those of you who have to stay in the system, the government must honor their commitment because they are the ones who have broken the law, not you. But all of us who can, let the sytstem simply die a natural death like Title 42 of the USC - Old Age Survivors and Benefits Program, aka, social security. Privatize it my little finger. It needs to simply go away. Check out my future commentary on this and I hope it will make a difference. Americans themselves are going to have to be the ones to start the process of "Just say NO" when it comes to ANY federal hand-out programs. The money does not belong to you and Congress does not have any authority to give it to you or me or my daughter or my husband's children or my neighbor. I know this is a unique and probably a scary idea to a lot of people, but I tell you from studying history, our country won't survive if The People don't once again stand on their own. I thank you for taking the time to consider the way it used to be and the mess we have now. Those who ignore history are doomed to relive and repeat it. Devvy Kidd August 8, 1998 <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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