Legislative onslaught threatens our beloved republic

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Dear Editor:
I'm wondering if many Americans are noticing what is taking place in our government these days? It's been going on for many years, but in the past six months the process has noticeably ramped up to warp speed. It's enough to make a person's head spin.

Here is just a short list of some of the new policies I see moving rapidly through Congress and into acceptance with precious little discussion or close scrutiny by our reps or media.

1. HR 2454. Cap and trade legislation (a tax on EVERYTHING including toilet paper and breathing).

2. Ongoing bailouts and the dismantling of our economy (massive grand larceny by the big banking interests in power, now up to $23.7 trillion and climbing).

3. S909. Hate crimes legislation (makes speech AND thoughts a crime).

4. Disarming of the people (2nd Amendment under bombardment, including the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, a known anti-2nd Amendment advocate).

5. S787. Clean Water Restoration Act (federal takeover of ALL water and land).

6. HR 2749. Food Safety Act (restriction and control of our food supply, placing a heavy burden on small farmers).

7. DOD issuance of lists labeling activists, constitutionalists and many others as terrorists (secret "wanted" lists).

8. S1099 and HR 3200. Mandatory healthcare (includes forced vaccinations and revival of eugenics).

9. S1261. PASS Act: National and international (RFID) identification (puts everyone's records in a global data bank. "Let me scan your papers please!")

10. Obama is now talking about "preventative detention" being put in force (Nazi-like incarceration for "pre-crimes" or just because they don't like you). Hard to believe? Check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msTII61hWY.

11. NLE 09. FEMA exercises for martial law using foreign troops (ongoing integration of the police and international military forces to carry out a domestic clampdown). For details and the usual government spin on these drills, check out: http://www.fema.gov:80/media/fact_sheets/nle09.shtm.

When a person quietly examines the factual reality of this legislative onslaught, much of it blatantly unconstitutional, along with some of the other disturbing developments such as increased surveillance and ever-widening wars of aggression, and possibly even reading the bills (which sadly many of our legislators do not bother to do), one cannot help but wonder what is happening to our beloved republic, this once revered jewel of liberty, which many of our ancestors laid down their lives to protect.

Are we Americans really ready to give up our precious freedoms and Constitution by going along with what is clearly a rapidly developing tyrannical takeover similar to (and because of modern technology probably far worse than) all the other tyrannies throughout history? The past is being repeated once again, this time right before our own eyes.

The hour is late, and there is an urgent need for the spirit of vigilance and liberty, which inspired the founders of our nation, to be revived. A huge positive move in this direction is Congressman Ron Paul's HR 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, calling for a thorough auditing of the Federal Reserve. This has never been done before, and as a result, those in power are almost completely unaccountable. A recent poll shows 75 percent of Americans are now in favor of auditing the Fed, a very encouraging sign.

To help in the learning process of how to take our government back, two important tools I've found are Michael Badnarik's excellent book, "Good to Be King: The Foundation of Our Constitutional Freedom" and Edward Griffin's fascinating history of the Federal Reserve, "The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve." Both of these are extremely eye-opening.

As Thomas Jefferson warned back in 1816: "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty ... If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." (Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Colonel Charles Yancey Jan. 6, 1816).

Patricia Starr

Hotchkiss