First Blog For Liberty
I’m a 41 year old, white, middle class, small “L” libertarian. By small “L” libertarian, meaning I am not an official member of the Libertarian Party, but someone who strongly advocates the maximization of individual liberty. I hold a strong belief in, and appreciation for, our Constitution, the brilliant framers who drafted it and for my country. But I am distraught at the direction in which my country is headed as government continues to grow everyday and comprise our liberties.
Also I am a father of two living in suburban Buffalo attempting to raise two children and instill a respect for liberty. I’m also an entrepreneur in the fashion and textile industry that strongly believes in free markets, limited government and personal responsibility and loathes handouts and bailouts.
So in 2013 I created Frankie Scott USA Clothing Company as a way to express my (and hopefully others’) views with regard to promoting liberty. The name Frankie Scott is derived from Francis Scott Key, author of the Star Spangled Banner. Key, at the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812, wrote the anthem in 1814. This conflict has also become known also as our second war for Independence, but it is also our first defense of the country under The Constitution. The Frankie Scott mission is very similar to the oath of office each President must swear to. That is to “preserve, protect and defend The Constitution of the United States.” Frankie Scott does this through creating fashionable, libertarian themed clothing which gives Americans an additional voice and mechanism to help preserve, protect, defend and PROMOTE liberty, the cause for liberty and The Constitution of the United States which grants us our liberties and protections against Government.
Consider this. No one really knows how many Federal laws there are in the United States. We’ve been accumulating them for over 200 years. According to GovTrack.us, from the 93rd Congress in 1973 to our current 113th Congress, over 11,000 Federal Laws have been enacted. According to Kowal Communications, between 2000-2007 Congress created 452 new Federal crimes bringing the total number to over 4,500.
Unfortunately, the role of Congress is to continually create new causes and pass new laws in support of them. Of course times change and laws need to be updated or even repealed, but this takes a back seat to the creation of new laws as members of Congress create their case for re-election based on the number of new laws they have sponsored or helped enact. Regardless of how harmful these new laws are, or how much they threaten our individual liberties and ignore The Constitution. Odds are good most of us have broken one of these 4,500 Federal crimes. On top of that 4,500 add in State laws, which according to Politifact, added 20,000 additional across the US in 2009 alone. So how do we as American keep track of all these laws? Don’t you get the sense that we are over legislated and over regulated in this country?
The continuous creation of laws in this country, on a whole, compromises our liberties granted through The Constitution. I believe the intent of our lawmakers in doing so is generally good-natured, but where they fail in drafting new law after new law is first testing it in a Constitutional context. What lawmakers seem to forget is, as we create more laws, more police and bureaucrats are needed to enforce them. Also more lawyers are needed to defend citizens against them, and more legislative and government staff is used to perpetuate the creation of more laws. This cycle only allows Government to continue to grow, coupled with the inability to curtail it. I believe it is ok to love our country but dislike its government. I believe that The Constitution is not out dated. I also believe that a strong moral fiber is needed to enjoy the benefits of liberty.
It’s pretty simple how the scope of the Federal Government has grown. According to the Constitution, the following is what the Federal Government is responsible for doing. Everything else should fall under the 10th Amendment.
1) Defense, war prosecution, peace, foreign relations, foreign commerce, and interstate commerce;
2) The protection of citizens’ constitutional rights (e.g the right to vote) and ensuring that slavery remains illegal;
3) Establishing federal courts inferior to the Supreme Court
4) Copyright protection;
5) Coining money;
6) Establishing post offices and post roads;
7) Establishing a national set of universal weights and measures;
8 ) Taxation needed to raise revenue to perform these essential functions.
In the Federalist Papers, Madison wrote that “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.” This is how it was intended. It’s amazing, how far the scope of the Federal Government has come. 