We The People:
Making America America
Again
By
Gaylon Kent
2018 and 2016 Colorado Libertarian Party nominee for the
United States House of Representatives, District 3
2014 Colorado Libertarian Party nominee for the United States
Senate
We The People:
Making America America Again
By
Gaylon Kent
We The People
Making America America Again
Copyright 2018 by Gaylon Kent
Freedom Train Books
PO Box 1642
Hayden, Colorado 81639
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced except in reviews without the written
permission of the author.
Portions of this book originally appeared in The Liberty
Handbook by Gaylon Kent
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Also By Gaylon Kent
Novels
The Diary of a Nobody
The Regular Guys
Swords in the Narthex
Non-Fiction
The Liberty Handbook
Memoir
Backstairs at the Monte Carlo: A Vegas Memoir!
Columns
The Daily Dose
The Thought for the Day
The Bottom Ten
The Sunday Bottom Ten
www.gaylonkent.net
www.thefreedomtrain.com
@GaylonKent
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This book is dedicated to you.
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Table Of Contents
Introduction
Chapter One
The American Way: Liberty
Chapter Two
The American Way: Responsibility
Chapter Three
The American Way: Peace
Chapter Four
The American Way: Low Taxes and Free Markets
Chapter Five
The American Way: Health Care
Chapter Six
The American Way: The Second Amendment
Chapter Seven
The American Way: Affirmative Action
Chapter Eight
The American Way: The Death Penalty
Chapter Nine
The American Way: Our Government
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Chapter Ten
The American Way: Morality Laws
Chapter Eleven
The American Way: Term Limits
Chapter Twelve
The American Way: Making America America Again
Chapter Thirteen
The American Way: The Only Issue That Matters
Afterword
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Introduction
2018 will be the fourth time I’ve run for either the
United States House or the United States Senate.
Every time there has been voter discontent, but it’s
peaking this year. I have never seen an electorate as
angry or discontented as they are now.
Us Americans have a couple of options: can either
wallow in our anger and discontent or we can put it to
work for us, making it the fuel for us to make America
America again.
We should be angry and discontented because our
country is a fiasco right now, a far cry from the
American ideal many of us grew up believing in. By
any measure our government is a partisan, fractured
and bickering mess. We’ve been at war continuously
since 1989 - almost three decades - our finances are a
mess and our social divides are threatening to make
the problems of the 1960’s look like something out of
Mother Goose.
Now, in some respects, this really isn’t news.
Throughout our history it has always been something.
America was born in war, came of age in war and war
has long been our calling card. We’ve been in debt
virtually our entire existence and America has never
had racial harmony.
But right now America is so far off its path our
long-term viability is threatened. Between our
perpetual wars, our mindless debt and our deep social
divides I think America will be tossed aside the scrap
6
heap of history before this half-century is out if
concerned and conscientious citizens like you and me
do not step and do something at the ballot box,
because our country needs our help. It needs you and
me - we the people to take charge.
America has always been as much an ideal as it has
been a country, existing not only in fact but in theory,
too. But the America that once meant something to
the rest of the world is gone and the America that
means something to Americans, too, is fading fast, too.
The good news is the solution to America’s
problems looks us in the mirror every morning:
There is nothing wrong with our country that concerned
and conscientious citizens cannot solve. Collectively you and
me - we the people - can make America America again.
In this book we will talk about the American Way,
what made America America in the first place and
what will make America America again both by
looking at individual issues and the big picture.
Like you I want a country we can be proud of and a
country the world looks up to again. It will not be
easy. It will require us to shed the familiar and do
some things we haven’t done in a while. But it won’t
be the first Americans have shed the familiar and it
won’t be the first time we’ve redefined our country.
I believe it’s a journey worth taking. It’s one we
must take together and it’s one we must take right
now.
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Chapter One
The American Way: Liberty
Liberty may not be something you think about too
much. After all, we live in America, we’re free, liberty
is our birthright. Throughout history however, most
humans have not lived in a free country. Liberty, the
ability to do with our lives what we want, as always
been a battle.
Liberty is what made America America in the first
place.
For centuries, with a few exceptions here and
there, people had no choice over who governed them.
Very early those with land and money ruled those
who had neither. As mankind evolved, individuals and
families claimed dominion over territories and those
who lived in them and thrones were claimed and then
fought over. Some monarchs were benevolent,
allowing their subjects to more or less go about their
business as long as taxes and tributes were paid, while
others were tyrants. Attempts to remove these
shackles were costly and often unsuccessful.
Our first recorded attempt to govern ourselves
came in ancient Greece, in the fifth century BC. Voting
was for citizens, with citizenship reserved for – and
this will surprise you – adult males, specifically those
who had completed their military training. Citizens
voted on everything, both legislative acts and
executive decisions, acting as a rather large
legislature.
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The English had one of mankind’s earliest
attempts at removing the shackles of monarchy. In
the 13t h century some English barons got their shorts
in a knot over the reign of King John with their
rebellion resulting in the Magna Carta, in essence a
peace treaty that guaranteed, among other things,
church freedoms, freedom from illegal imprisonment
and limits on payments to the crown. Nobody really
paid much attention to it, however, and over time it
lost some of its practical significance.
But not its moral significance. The Magna Carta’s
influence continued over the centuries, including its
profound influence on our own Constitution.
The United States, of course, earned its
independence from Great Britain following the
Revolutionary War. Ever since the word ‘America’ has
been synonymous with liberty, representing not only
a place, but the idea that all men are created equal,
that we all have the inalienable right to do with our
lives what we want, provided we don’t bother anyone
else while doing it.
What’s funny is United States’ record on liberty is
decidedly mixed. For centuries blacks were held as
slaves and for a long time the blessings of liberty were
available only to white, land-owning males.
Not only does America as a nation have a mixed
record regarding human liberty, so do some of this
nation’s most revered figures. Two of my favorite
examples are Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln.
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Thomas Jefferson, of course, was the author of one
mankind’s seminal works, The Declaration of
Independence. He was also the third president of the
United States, the founder of the University of
Virginia and a slave owner.
That Jefferson owned slaves is not a bulletin. Like
you probably do, I remember being taught this in
school. We were told, well, yes, kids, Jefferson did own
slaves, but that’s the way it was back then: whites
owned slaves and Jefferson didn’t have much choice in
the matter; he was merely a product of his times. Even
modest reading into Jefferson the slave owner,
however, shows this wasn’t entirely true and
significant reading makes it crystal clear: Jefferson
worked his slaves hard, disciplined them as needed
and generally used them to live a comfortable life.
Heck, Jefferson was not only a slave owner, he was
a slave innovator as well, one of the first to use his
slaves a collateral for a loan and to force his slaves to
become skilled artisans and tradesmen, thereby
further reinforcing their bondage.
The Declaration of Independence notwithstanding
Jefferson, frankly, never did much of anything to
either end slavery in his country or on his plantation.
Despite the fact he used his slaves to build a
comfortable life for himself, Jefferson remains a
revered figure, regarded as one of History’s
preeminent spokesmen for human liberty.
Abraham Lincoln presided over one of this nation’s
most tumultuous times, the Civil War. From the start
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Lincoln decided he was going to save the Union and
that he was going to do whatever it took to do this.
And he did, both using and ignoring the Constitution
as he saw fit
To save the Union Lincoln engaged our country in
a brutal civil war. Lincoln realized the Union had
significantly more young men to sacrifice than the
Confederacy did and as long as he was able to keep
General Robert E. Lee from visiting the White House
he could continue to send troops into battle until the
South ran out of men. The death toll on both sides
remains a staggering figure.
Lincoln also ignored the Constitution when it
suited him. Lincoln imposed martial where he saw fit,
curtailed a free press and had arrested those he felt
needed to be arrested and held them without trial, all
measures not in accordance with human liberty and
there have always been those who consider Lincoln to
be nothing more than a despot.
Despite this, Lincoln also remains a revered figure,
not only in the United States but worldwide, often
thought of by those as the man who ended slavery in
the United States. We can still remember seeing a
statue of Lincoln in Tijuana, Mexico depicting Lincoln
holding a broken chain in his right hand.
These examples were made not to disparage two
former presidents, or to show that I’ve been to
Mexico, but to illustrate the battles we have fought
over the years. Despite every obstacle our country has
mustered – slavery, discrimination, intolerance –
America has always meant something both to her
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citizens and to the rest of the world, providing the
opportunity to build a good life, the results dependent
only on the effort you were willing to put forth into
making something good happen for yourself and your
family.
The American Way was and remains liberty. Incumbent in
that are concerned and participating voters holding
ourselves and our leaders accountable.
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Chapter Two
The American Way: Responsibility
Former President Gerald Ford had a really good quote
years ago. I stole it from a book called W rite It When I’m
Gone, b y Thomas DeFrank, a reporter who had covered
Ford as vice president. Ford said:
Government will continue to be about as good as concerned
and conscientious citizens make it.
True enough. These words cut to the heart of our
American experience because when concerned and
conscientious citizens hold those governing
accountable the people will generally be well
governed. Those governing know if they do not
govern well they will not govern for long.
Similarly, when those governing are not held
accountable, they will tend to do whatever
consolidates their wealth and power. When us citizens
are not particularly concerned or conscientious no
one should die of shock when they find themselves
with a partisan, fractured and bickering government.
Which is what we have right now. We have not
been holding anyone, including ourselves,
accountable and as a result we are over $20 trillion in
debt with a tax code that even confuses the IRS.
There’s more:
We are despised the world over.
A bit less than 15 percent of Americans need
government help putting food on the table and a lot of
13
our fellow citizens, perhaps even you, are either
working one job that isn’t quite full-time, or are
working a couple of jobs to make ends meet,
something I’ve found myself doing at times the past
few years.
I believe you and me – we the people – are entitled
to better.
We are entitled to a country that has a flourishing
economy anchored in low taxes and free markets.
We are entitled to an income tax experience that
does not fill us with dread and take too much of our
money.
We are entitled to a country other nations respect.
More than anything we are entitled to good
government because good government will make
everything else happen.
We don’t have good government right now and we
are not going to have it until we start demanding it on
Election Day. We have a collective responsibility – to
ourselves, to our country and, really, to a world
waiting for an America it can respect again – to
become demanding and participating voters.
Friends, I love our country and our fellow citizens
as much as you do but, frankly, we are not a
demanding and participating electorate right now. For
proof we need look no further than the 2014 midterm
elections.
On November 4, 2014 a bit more than one-third of
United States Senators and all 435 members of the
House of Representatives were up for reelection and
the United States Congress had an approval rating of
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about eleven percent. This means almost nine of the
ten people surveyed disapproved of the job Congress
was doing and if you’ve taken the time to read this far
that figure probably includes you.
Despite this, 96 percent – 96 percent! – of
incumbents were reelected. America took a flier on
demanding better government, just like we did in
2016.
It is popular around election time to blame
incumbents, the media and lobbyists but the bottom
line is when the time came to cast our ballots, we were
the ones that did the voting. There were no obstacles
between us and the government we wanted. Nobody
filled our ballots out for us; the responsibility for our
government is ours. We will continue to get
substandard government because if we’re not
demanding change, why should Congress deliver it?
The American Way has always been personal responsibility.
When we start holding ourselves and our leaders
accountable on Election Day we will find the country and
government we want is there for the taking.
15
Chapter Three
The American Way: Peace
Peace - or, rather, our lack of it - is the biggest issue
facing our country. A violent American government is
the cause of our violent world and our violent
country.
Not only is America at war right now, we have
been at war everyday since 1989 and the
consequences have been as tragic as they have been
far reaching because both here and around the world
the carnage simply is not stopping. Except for our
world wars, our planet may well be the most violent
it's ever been.
I believe this is America’s fault. We have produced
a planet mired in violence, hatred and destruction
because of incessant US meddling. Domestically, our
country has become a shooting gallery. We have an
entire generation of Americans that have never
known their country at peace.
As long as we insist on creating misery for other
nations, other nations will continue to create misery
for us. They will behead our citizens and fly airplanes
into our buildings.
We will not have a peaceful world without a peaceful
America.
History is a relentless instructor. More than
anything it has taught us that American meddling
does not work,. From Korea to Vietnam to the Middle
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East all we do is wreck havoc, pain and destruction
while solving nothing. It is a lesson history offers us
every time but one we refuse to heed. If America had
been at peace everyday since 1989 we would have a
vastly different world: 9/11 would not have occurred
and ISIS would not exist. It’s all our fault.
War is not working. Anyone who tells you that
drone strikes and other violence will produce peace is
either deluding themselves, trying to delude you or, as
likely as not, both. It is beyond comprehension that an
America that continues to meddle violently in other
nations will ever produce a peaceful world.
America must allow other nations the dignity of conducting
their affairs without US interference.
A peaceful American government will produce
dividends at home, too. Mass shootings have become
so frequent they are part of the American fabric now.
The only question is when and where the next one will
occur and how many will die. Mass shootings are so
random none of us can say for certain the next one
won’t affect us in some way. One may have already
affected you.
I believe we have mass shootings because we have
violent citizens. I believe we have violent citizens
because we have a violent American government, a
government that was been at war continuously for
almost three decades, since we invaded Panama in
1989.
17
That was a long time ago. I don’t know where you
were in 1989, but we were a couple of years out of the
United States Navy. It was a time before we had an
email address or a mobile phone. Postage was a
quarter and gas was 93 cents a gallon. We looked it up.
Our national debt was about $3 trillion. We looked
that up, too.
To expect a violent government to produce
peaceful citizens is folly. Our government’s policy of
violently interfering in the affairs of other countries
has knocked America so far its national path we don’t
even recognize their country anymore. Violence has
become the go-to reaction for both America’s
government and her citizens.
The sooner we start treating other nations with
respect, the sooner we allow them the dignity of
conducting their affairs without the benefit of US
interference, the sooner America will be at peace with
both the rest of the world and with itself.
Now, an America at peace with itself is not going
to put a halt to every gun tragedy, of course. Those
truly intent on causing mayhem and tragedy are going
to cause mayhem and tragedy. It’s the way the world
is built.
But a less violent American government will result
in a less violent American people.
The American Way is peace. No nation has survived
perpetual warfare and America will not be the exception to
that. The only dividend war produces is more war.
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Our country and our planet deserve to see the world
produced by an America at peace.
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Chapter Four
The American Way: Low Taxes, Capitalism and Free
Trade
Low Taxes
Another aspect of America life that is well off its
tracks is our income tax code. Currently it is over nine
million words long and is so confusing the IRS gives
out wrong information 25 percent of the time (S ource:
The Flat Tax Revolution by Steve Forbes). It is so
confusing that individuals and businesses spend over
$400 billion just to comply with their tax obligations.
That is $400 billion dollars that is not being saved,
invested or spent.
This is insane. We are entitled to an income tax
return that can be filled out on a single sheet of paper
and an experience that doesn’t cause us to pull our
hair out. We our entitled to a government that does
not take too much of our money.
A flat tax would provide us will all these things. A
flat tax of five, and certainly no more than ten,
percent would ensure the government is not taking
too much of our money, would provide for an income
tax return that was a single sheet of paper and would
make April 15 a less annoying and frustrating day
than it is now for many of us.
The business of America is business so let’s
eliminate the corporate income tax. I’ll be honest, I
didn’t always favor this. I used to think it was
reasonable for businesses to pay a little something for
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the opportunity to make a fortune in this country, but
on the campaign trail some years back a business
owner pointed out that taxes were nothing more than
an expense they passed on to us consumers. That
made sense, so I changed my position: there is no
reason to saddle us consumers with what is essentially
another tax on us.
A low tax environment would produce a
flourishing economy the likes of which America has
seldom seen. We would have more money to spend
and businesses would have more money to meet our
growing needs. They would have more money for
innovation and expansion and for hiring more people
and paying them better salaries and wages. Tax
revenues lost due to the tax cut would be made up
because more people would be in the workforce
making the higher incomes that attend a flourishing
economy. The number of Americans receiving
government assistance would drop significantly.
In the spirit of liberty America should also do away
with the capital gains and death taxes. Some say this
would only benefit the rich, and certainly they would
benefit because they invest more and leave larger
estates than us regular folks, but it would benefit
everyone.
I am not a wealthy man, but my wife and I have
made some (very) modest profits on stocks. Where did
the money to invest come from? From a bonus check
at work, income that had already been taxed and my
wife and I chose to invest it by buying some stocks.
21
We didn’t have to do that. We could’ve blown it on
a vacation, saved it or, since we were living in Las
Vegas at the time, placed it all on red. Since the
government would not have rebated any losses, they
were not entitled to share in the profits.
Capitalism Is Not a Four Letter Word
Note: A debt to the book Capitalism: Why Free People
and Free Markets are the Best Answer In Today’s
Economy by Steve Forbes and Elizabeth Ames is
acknowledged.
Capitalism is a fundamental tenet of a flourishing
economy. From the time the Pilgrims first traded with
the Indians this country was built on capitalism. Our
economy was built on a government staying out of the
way so citizens could be free to decide what goods and
services their fellow citizens needed and to provide
those goods and services to them at whatever price
the market would bear.
Capitalism has taken a bad rap in some corners
recently, often because of the immense fortunes that
are made by some. Immense fortunes are certainly a
byproduct of the free market, but capitalism is more
than merely suits in corner offices making lots of
money. And the criminally greedy we sometimes hear
about are acknowledged, though these are a small
portion of the population, they are the ones who make
news.
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At its core, capitalism is meant for everyday
Americans, people like you and me, because the heart
of the American economy is still the small business,
both the people who own them and the people who
work for them. Capitalism is the freedom to make
something good happen for you and your family. It is
the freedom to start your own business or if that
doesn’t suit you, and it isn’t for everybody, to put your
talents to work so you can utilize the free market to
earn the living you want.
Capitalism is even the freedom to do none of these
things.
Capitalism is versatile. Want to make a pile of
money? Some drive, a plan and some hard work and
you can do just that. Do you prefer to live a more
modest life? The free market can work with that, too.
Money is an awesome master. Or so we’ve heard;
we’ve never actually been burdened with a lot of
money. Either way, you are free to earn the living you
want, bound only by your talents and the amount of
work you are willing to put in.
Government Subsidies
Our government has, for a long time, subsidized
everything from farms to energy companies to
telecommunication businesses to dozens of other
things. It has been so prevalent for so long few give
them a second thought anymore.
A government supporting a business, either
for-profit or non-profit, is wrong If you think of the
23
government treasury as nothing more than a
repository for our money, which is exactly what it is,
then you begin to realize a subsidy is nothing more
than you and I making a donation to whomever or
whatever the government is subsidizing.
This is wrong. When you and me - we the people -
want to support a business we will purchase their
goods or services. That’s the way the free market
works. The government has no business giving our
money to commercial enterprises, whether they are
for-profit or non-profit companies. Sure, the free
market can be tough sometimes. That’s the way the
world is built, and not every business that tries to
make a go of it ends up succeeding. That’s OK.
There are no guarantees in this life, and our
government subsidizing private businesses is not in
any way in the spirit of liberty or a free market. Every
business and this country should have the privilege of
taking advantage of the free market without
government interference, be it subsidies or
regulations.
Free Trade
Few things are as fundamental to human liberty as
free trade. You cannot have a free market with an
economy anchored in protectionism and high tariffs.
American consumers are entitled to buy the goods of
other countries while American businesses are
entitled to sell their goods in other nations.
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The following quote, from Donald J Boudreaux, a
fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason
University says it very well. It’s better to quote it,
because I probably would have ended up plagiarizing
it anyway:
Free trade increases prosperity for
Americans — and the citizens of all
participating nations — by allowing
consumers to buy more, better-quality
products at lower costs. It drives economic
growth, enhanced efficiency, increased
innovation, and the greater fairness that
accompanies a rules-based system. These
benefits increase as overall trade - exports
and imports - increases.
Putting it in layman’s terms, all trade restrictions
accomplish is limiting choices and driving up prices
for us consumers while limiting where businesses can
sell their goods. Both of these circumstances are the
utter antithesis of liberty and a free market and both
American businesses and consumers deserve better.
The only beneficiaries from protectionism are
those businesses that otherwise wouldn’t make it in
the free market anyway and whatever special
interests are served by protectionist measures. Both
American consumers and businesses deserve better
than that because free trade fosters growth,
innovation and competition, exactly what the free
market is designed to do.
25
This is also what consumers and businesses in a
nation conceived in liberty should expect and
certainly deserve.
The Minimum Wage
Like every other government program the minimum
wage means well. Like its name implies, it is designed
to provide a minimum wage to workers and they are
very common, with federal, state and municipalities
all mandating them.
There are a variety of economic arguments both
for and against a minimum wage, but we won’t bore
you with them because they are secondary to our
main argument:
It is not the government’s job to mandate
what an employer pays an employee.
A wage, like any other condition of employment,
like vacations or any other benefit, is a private
contract between employer and employee, and the
government must butt out of it.
With a flourishing economy, the minimum wage
will be irrelevant anyway. With a flourishing
economy, businesses will be doing more business and
they will need more workers which will result in
competition for labor, which will mean higher wages
and better working conditions and benefits.
26
Some may find it odd seeing a writer of Western
stories quoted here, but Louis L’Amour said it very
well:
Everyone has it in his power to say, this I am
today, that I will be tomorrow.
This is particularly true for those who punch a
clock and might want to earn a better living than they
are now: all of us have the power to determine the job
we want and to the put work in to get that job.
We all have 24 hours every day – the only
commodity every one of us is issued in equal measure
– and it is up to us to make sure we make the most of
them.
The American Way is low taxes, free markets, capitalism
and free trade.
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Chapter Five
The American Way: Health Care
Health care in this country is one of the largest
segments of our economy. It is also one of the most
regulated, the utter antithesis of what health care in a
nation conceived in liberty should be.
Consider this: The government tells us we must
have insurance and insurers tell us what doctors we
can go to and the care we receive is often mandated
by what insurers will and will not cover and how
much they will pay. This has resulted in a system that
has everyone – doctors, insurers and citizens – far
removed from the free market.
This is wrong. Doctors and health insurers must
be returned to the free market. Doctors and insurers
are businesses, commercial enterprises in business to
make a profit, and they are entitled have the same
access to the free market any other business has, not
to the government regulation they currently operate
under. They are as entitled to free market access as
your lawyer or plumber or even you favorite writer.
Doctors and insurers answerable to a free market
would produce products and services consumers
want, not what is mandated by the government, at
whatever price consumers are willing to pay for them.
They would have to, because doctors and health
insurers that did not do this would go out of business.
It’s the nature of a free market.
Some argue that medical care is too important to
be left to the free market. I disagree would turn it
28
over and say it is too important not to be left to the
free market. Not only are doctors and insurers
entitled to the same access to the free market every
other business has, but consumers are entitled to a
system where doctors and insurers have an interest in
pleasing them.
Consumers, by and large, do not have that right
now. When most go to a doctor the doctor was
selected from a list provided by the insurance
company that is paying for the visit, coverage that
was provided by their employer. Since neither doctor
nor insurer is paid by the consumer, they have no
interest in pleasing them.
This is wrong, too. One of the reasons the laser eye
surgery business is flourishing is because everyone
involved must please the consumer if they are going
to stay in business. Doctors and health insurers must
have an interest in satisfying the consumer, too.
The competition that attends a free market will
benefit everyone. I suspect it will mean we Americans
will be able to afford to return to paying for routine
office visits ourselves and saving insurance for the
severe emergencies and long hospital stays it was
originally meant to cover.
The American Way is free markets and competition and our
medical care should be no different. Returning doctors and
insurers to the free market would reduce costs and foster
innovation. We are entitled to the benefits the competition a
health care system anchored in the free market would
provide.
29
Chapter Six
The American Way and the Second Amendment
For over a generation now – since postal workers
started shooting up post offices in the 1980’s –
America has been subjected to regular mass shootings.
They happen everywhere now, of course, not just post
offices, and they are happening with alarming
frequency in our schools.
As humans our instinct is, of course, to try and do
something and this is as in keeping with human
nature as breathing. As a society, it is supremely
difficult to sit and do nothing, so we pass laws, though
mass shootings continue. After each mass shooting
the Second Amendment is invariable trotted out by
both those who unwaveringly support it and those
who want to modify and even eliminate it.
Before we discuss the Second Amendment, let’s
read it:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to
the security of a free State, the right of the
people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be
infringed.
Though the Second Amendment has one sentence
and only 27 words, it is wonderfully ambiguous. Does
it only provide for the several states to defend
themselves, or does it provide for a citizen’s right to
bear arms? Both sides of the debate are equally
adamant the Amendment supports their view.
30
Considering the context of the times our Bill of Rights
was established and the English laws and customs that
influenced them I believe the answer is both.
The Founding Fathers wanted an armed citizenry
not only so states could field militias, but also so
citizens could keep the Indians whose lands we were
stealing at bay and for hunting and other forms of
defense. The Founding Fathers also realized an armed
citizenry keeps the government at a distance, too,
because a government that facing an armed citizenry
is less apt to overrun them.
America has always resisted a national
conversation on gun control but after the February,
2018 Florida school shootings that may not be
possible. The kids that survived the shooting are
pacing it and as I write this it appears they won’t stop
until something is done.
Both sides must get involved in this conversation.
Second Amendment supporters, like me, can no
longer blindly trot out the argument that criminals
don’t follow laws nor can others blindly call for the
banning of all weapons.
We must remember four things when discussing
the Second Amendment.
One, how much security do we require, and how
much are we willing to give up to get it.
Two, we are considering abridging a constitutional
right. Let’s be careful. Now, they’re are rights and we
can modify or even eliminate them if we want but if
we start modifying the Second Amendment how long
before we are modifying the First Amendment?
31
Three, any law we do pass must be practical. It
must be enforceable and it must reflect the way
people live or else everyone - criminals, you and me,
your aunt in Leadville - will ignore them.
Four, the spirit of the Second Amendment must be
preserved. For better or worse, it is a Constitutional
right and the only way to fundamentally alter it is to
repeal it. Citizens must still be able to protect
themselves and their homes and to take their kids
hunting.
I don’t have a specific proposal. I am willing to talk
with those who do, though, cordially and
thoughtfully. I hope you are, too.
The American Way is to discuss this matter cordially,
openly and frankly and not by issuing the usual slogans and
catchphrases. The answer is out there. Enough searching
and we will find it.
32
Chapter Seven
The American Way and Affirmative Action
Affirmative Action programs came about in the 1960’s,
initially to prevent discrimination in the workplace
and now are often used to describe any program
designed to promote equality by giving preference to
those at a disadvantage.
Let’s face it, America has never been truly free
throughout its history for anyone except white males.
Like us humans wanting to try to do some good after
mass shootings, we’ve tried to legislate a level playing
field for an awful lot of people based on, among other
things, their skin color and gender.
Like most government programs, it meant well.
Laws were passed to give blacks a shot, although for
all practical purposes, this was merely America telling
its black citizens:
Look, you are not going to get a square deal
without these laws and you may not get a
square deal with them, either, because white
makes passed them so they could feel good
about themselves.
Giving some a special status to someone through
government recognition or programs only makes
them second-class citizens because we’re telling them
they are somehow out of the American mainstream
and need special protection.
33
The second-class citizen line was inspired by a
quote from James Meredith, the first black to attend
classes at the University of Mississippi. In a 2002
interview Mr. Meredith said:
Nothing could be more insulting to me than
the concept of civil rights. It means
perpetual second-class citizenship for me
and my kind.
Why this quote hasn’t had a profound influence on
our nation is beyond me. Here is the first black to take
classes at the University of Mississippi – by definition
one of the most significant figures in the American
civil rights movement – saying the concept of civil
rights means nothing more than continued second
class citizenship for his kind.
Mr. Meredith is right, however.
We rise as a society and we fall as a society. When
we tell one segment of our population they are
different from the mainstream and set aside a special
designation for them, we are making them
second-class citizens by telling them they are
different than everyone else. When we make anyone a
second-class citizens all of us become second-class
citizens and we become a second-rate nation. We are
all lowered.
The American Way is an equal chance for everyone and
ethnic labels demean all of us, telling those obliged to
hyphenate their identities they are not completely
34
American. This is wrong. Our only identity should be
American.
35
Chapter Eight
The American Way and the Death Penalty
Editor’s Note: all figures cited in this section are accurate as
of March 2018, when this segment was written.
People have been killing others as punishment for
crimes for only a slightly shorter time than crimes
have been committed.The only things that have
changed over the centuries are the methods and the
crimes people are executed for.
Currently 58 nations have the death penalty,
though only about three dozen still execute criminals
regularly, including the United States, where 32 states
plus the federal government and the military have it.
The United States remains the most active democracy
in terms of number of executions conducted.
Most of the time those executed committed the
crimes they were condemned for.
Not all the time, though.
While proponents like to point out that a court has
never “factually proven” an innocent person has been
executed, it is not reasonable to believe that all 1,471
people executed in this country since 1976 were
guilty. Consider these figures:
- 161: the number of people who have
been released from death row after it
had been established, usually through
DNA testing, that they had not
committed the crimes they were
36
condemned for. – S ource: Death Penalty
Information Center
- 654: the number of convicted murders
who had been sentenced to lesser
sentences who have been released from
prison for the same reason. – S ource:
University of Michigan Law School National
Registry of Exonerations
That is over 800 people wrongly convicted of
murder in this country. And those are only the ones
that have been freed. Others still languish on death
row or are still serving lesser sentences. Anyone who
tries to tell we’ve only executed innocent people is
either, as we’ve said before, deluding themselves,
trying to delude you or, as likely as not, both.
It is unreasonable to believe this nation has never executed
an innocent person.
Please, though, do not take my word for it! L ook up
the cases of James Beathard and Cameron Todd
Willingham. I am not going to go into detail about
these cases because I do not want to influence you,
however I believe substantive research shows they
didn’t deserve to be executed. I encourage you to look
into these cases yourself and form your own
conclusions.
If you do the research required to make an
informed decision – regardless of the conclusion
37
you’ve drawn – I am going to hug you and thank you
for being the type of thoughtful citizen crucial to
securing the good future of our nation.
If you disagree, that’s all right, too. All that means
is we merely have a difference of opinion. I think most
would draw the same conclusions I drew though: that
both these men were executed for crimes they didn’t
commit and that our nation has executed innocent
people.
This should never – and never means not
once – happen in a nation conceived in
liberty.
The American Way is not to incarcerate, much less execute,
innocent people. This should never happen in a nation
conceived in liberty. The death penalty should be abolished.
38
Chapter Nine
The American Way and Our Government
Our government has one purpose:
To provide for our liberty.
Everything else it does, from maintaining an army
to conducting foreign affairs is either ancillary to, or
in support of, providing for our liberty. It is our most
fundamental right as Americans and as humans our
most basic urging.
I will prove this to you, using an example from the
campaign trail. I would ask a group of people how
many of them went to bed at night as a kid dreaming
of doing something. It didn’t matter what, either:
athlete, carpenter, astronaut, parent, you name it, the
answers would’ve been as varied as the people.
Invariably virtually everyone would raise their hands.
This isn’t a bulletin. As humans we are geared
towards doing things. It’s in our DNA to do things, to
get up every morning and use our time and our
talents to make something good happen for ourselves.
My own personal example is I grew up wanting to
be a radio announcer. I wanted to be a disc jockey and
a sports announcer and it’s what I went to bed at
night dreaming of. I chased the dream for a few years,
too. I wasn’t all that good and after getting laid off as
the announcer for a professional baseball team, I lost
interest and became a newspaper reporter.
39
To finish the illustration, after using myself as an
example I would ask how many of them went to bed as
kids and dreamt of getting a government check. Few
did, and most of those who did were raised their
hands looking for some laughs. From time to time you
would run into a die-hard socialist who thought that,
yes, a government’s job was to house and feed its
citizens.
The infrequent socialist notwithstanding, this
proves liberty’s point right there, point, set and
match:
Us humans are destined to do things. We are not destined to
be supported by our government.
One of the earliest lessons I learned as a kid was
we can all do something well, that we all have our
talents. I believe our society runs best when all of us
are utilizing those talents. The fact is as humans we
are meant to explore, to learn, to experiment, to
discover. It’s why we drive cars instead of wagons any
why we have phones in our pockets and why the
American flag flies on the moon.
Our greatest resource, individually and as a nation,
is the 24 hours we have every day. It is the only
commodity every human is issued in equal measure
and what we get out of our lives must depend on what
we put into those 24 hours, not on what our
government chooses to do for us. Every one of us must
put those 24 hours to work for us so we can make our
time on this planet serve us.
40
Government exists to provide for the liberty of its
citizens. If it wasn’t the Communists would’ve won the
Cold War, the Soviet Union would never have died and
North Korea and Cuba would be world powers.
The American Way is liberty.
41
Chapter Ten
The American Way and Morality Laws
One of my favorite sayings is:
Just because something is legal does not make it
mandatory.
It’s original, too, so feel free to use it as you see fit
with my compliments.
We’ve always enjoyed criminalizing things here in
America that are, at their core, personal choices. It’s
human nature, something we’ve done since time
immemorial, going from the ten laws Moses brought
down from Mount Sinai to the thousands of laws we
have today.
In this chapter we are going to talk about a few
things we’ve criminalized, hoping to illustrate how
laws like these do not work.
The issue of illegal drugs provides an excellent
context to discuss human liberty versus allowing our
government to look out for us.
This desire to have our government look after us is
rooted, deeply, in human nature. As humans, we like
to depend on someone. As children we depended on
our parents and as a husband, Lord knows I depend on
my good wife and this basic human need is probably
one of the reasons religion has always flourished.
42
History has taught us morality laws do not work.
From 1920 to 1933 the United States prohibited the
sale, production, importation and transportation of
booze. Prohibition, of course, did not stop anyone who
really wanted to drink from having one, All it did was
create more criminals, including the bootleggers who
became very wealthy.
We didn’t heed those lessons, though, because this
is exactly what is happening with the current drug
war. Criminals are being made out of otherwise
honest Americans for producing, selling, buying and
consuming a product there is large demand for.
Despite the government’s best efforts, Americans
remain enthusiastic consumers of everything from
marijuana - which, of course, is becoming more and
more legal - to cocaine to other illegal narcotics.
The drug war, like Prohibition did, is also creating
its share of violence. Does anyone really believe the
Mexican border would be wracked with violence if
drugs were legal? Is there violence on the Mexican
border over the importation of coffee? Of course there
isn’t. Coffee is legal. There is no reason to fight over
bringing it into the United States. It will be the same
thing with drugs that are currently banned. People
currently considered evil arch-criminals immediately
become vendors trying to move some product. The
violence, on both sides of the border, disappears.
Those worried about our social fabric need only at
Colorado. We legalized marijuana here in 2013 and the
sun still rises in the east every morning. Nobody tries
to sell me weed in the supermarket parking lot, kids
43
aren’t smoking it on street corners – or at least not
any more than they were before legalization – and my
neighborhood is still nice to live in.
One thing I did disagree with was the state getting
involved. Legal marijuana in Colorado is heavily
regulated, from planting to harvesting to selling and,
of course, it is taxed. This is wrong. The government
should stay out. Potheads had a satisfactory supply
and payment system before legalization and we are
taxed enough. All the government needs to do is
remove the penalties for producing, selling and using.
Now, you may not want to do drugs yourself. I
actually applaud that because I don’t do them, either.
In fact, I don’t even particularly like being around
people who do drugs because smoking weed or
snorting cocaine doesn’t make you particularly great
company in my book.
But that doesn’t mean people shouldn’t be allowed
to do these things. No one can seriously claim using
tobacco or drinking heavily produces any benefits, but
we are free to smoke and drink as we see fit. It’s the
exact same thing with drugs.
Friends, by allowing our government to tell us
what we can and cannot do in the privacy of our own
homes, we are doing nothing more than – as liberty’s
friend David K. Williams says – collaborating in our
own oppression. It is useful to remember that just
because something is legal does not make it
mandatory. Those opposed to drug use do not have to
do drugs.
44
As American citizens – citizens of a nation
conceived in liberty – and we are entitled to decide
this matter for ourselves, not have our government
decide it for us.
Some cite religious beliefs as reasons for a
government to ban certain things. This is
understandable, too. Religious adherence has been a
part of the human experience since time immemorial.
Over the centuries religion’s influence – both good
and bad – has been as profound as it has been
extensive and it is an indelible part of the American
fabric.
As it should be. The first Europeans came here to
escape religious persecution at home and the right to
worship – or, equally important, not worship – as we
see fit is one of the fundamental tenets of our
republic. Our own experience is a satisfying spiritual
life is one of life’s great prizes. We humans have
always needed to believe in a power greater than
ourselves and to strive for something more than daily
selfishness.
Influence over its adherents is where a specific
religion’s influence should end, however. Specific
religious beliefs – yours, mine, your aunt in Leadville –
should have no place in the government of a nation
conceived in liberty. It is enough our government
ensures our rights to believe as we want. There are a
lot of religions out there and there is room for all of
them in our country, but our government must not
reflect the tenets of any one of them.
45
As long as we’re keeping it light, let’s discuss abortion.
Now, the purpose of this section is not to discuss
the moral aspects of abortion. This is your lookout,
not mine and these decisions are very personal, so
personal that it is unlikely anyone ever changes
anyone else’s mind on the issue. I am not going to
waste our time by telling you abortion is either
morally acceptable or unacceptable.
We are going to talk about the government’s role
in this issue. When discussing the government’s role,
it is important to leave our moral and religious views
out of the discussion.
I favor keeping the government out of the
abortion debate. Now, abortion might be a violation of
your religious beliefs, but from a liberty perspective,
there is no other possible policy.
Over history governments have criminalized
abortion for a couple of reasons. One is to eliminate it
and the second is to provide penalties for having or
performing one.
If we are looking to provide penalties for having or
performing an abortion, we are punishing people for
making a choice. Now, you may not like this choice
and it may not be the choice you, personally, would
make, but it is not the government’s responsibility to
take this choice away.
If the goal is to eliminate abortion, good luck, this
simply will not happen. Humans have been
terminating pregnancies for four thousand years. This
does not make it right and it doesn’t make it wrong,
46
but it does illustrate that, no matter what we do it is
not going to go away.
Friends, I had 13 years of Lutheran schooling. I am
familiar with – and have a great deal of respect for –
the views that forbid abortion. But this is something
our government must stay out of.
The American Way to keep government from making
decisions for us. It’s human nature, too. We must all be
allowed to live the life we want to live.
47
Chapter Eleven
The American Way: Term Limits
Though term limits might seem a rather recent
phenomenon, they actually have a long history here
in America, going back to the Articles of
Confederation which restricted delegates to the
Continental Congress to serving “no more than three
years in any term of six years”
They continue today, where the president of the
United States is limited to two terms because Congress
got their shorts in a knot after Franklin Delano
Roosevelt was elected president four times. While this
is the only federal term limit, 36 states have term
limits for their governors while 15 have them for their
legislators.
I am not in favor of term limits. Sure, they might
prevent an individual from monopolizing an office,
but districts are generally so gerrymandered the party
in control merely replaces one with another. Nothing
ever changes. It really only means that those
subjected to term limits have less time to consolidate
wealth and power.
The best way to avoid career politicians and to
keep fresh blood in Congress is to stop voting for the
status quo. The very best form of term limits are the
regular elections us Americans have. Every two years
the entire House of Representatives and roughly
one-third of the Senate are up for re-election and
every four years we elect a president. If we do not like
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