[Hoot Gibson]

I knew you would take my post like that. I was in a hurry and should have waited I suppose. Washington covered that base in the quote and I know you saw that. I hope you also know that it means nothing to me to get the last word, or win a debate for the sake of winning.

My position is that American government types have come to the point in time when they no longer revere the founders intent, or our national heritage as was recorded so carefully in US History. Being a student of history I can tell you that the greatest threat to any people is to forget their own origins and history. Revisionists have dismantled our history and our heritage has followed suit. Therefore, most people's knowledge of the story of this nation's birth goes no deeper than being able to sing "Yankee Doodle."

My concern is based in the change I see in everyday Americans. Polls reflect that this nation's youth are okay with just about anything including gay marriage and abortion. There are all kinds of colloquialisms for the condition, "the genie's out of the bottle," "that ship has sailed," "that train has left the station," "innocence lost'" and on and on. I saw the voter awaken and I was heartened. Then I saw members of government do their best to disenfranchise those good folks of their votes and their will. Some are okay with that because it suits their cause. Others are convinced that they know what's best for everybody else, and are more than willing to run over the voter to force whatever that may be on them, as in the case of ObamaCare. Or perhaps the nominee that Mitt Romney thinks is best for us.

I think the only safe haven we have, is to live and abide within the system set up by the founders. The system or checks and balances, the electoral process, the proud history of a lawful people. We are society of laws and we are governed by "the people." Like I said, we don't respect that anymore and the erosive side effects lie all around us. Schools can no longer truthfully educate our young, as standards have been watered down until education has become a joke. In fact, the student has become the master of late as those who have supposedly come to be educated now feel disposed to lecture everybody else. Crime is rampant, police have their hands tied behind them as do our military. We are in the midst of a debt crisis of nightmarish proportions, morality is now relative at best, many men just do not feel compelled to work, alcohol and drugs are literally everywhere including some church pantries. And we grind up babies to make cool stuff for consumers.

We are a people who despise laws. Our laws were not set forth in vague ambiguities, and newer and clearer laws will be run over with the same reckless abandon. Case in point. How clear really, does one have to say it is wrong to cut appendages off of the unborn until they are dead?

We turned our back on God, became lost and confused, and have forfeited the moral authority to govern ourselves. I had hoped that we were about to see a resurgence of personal dignity by a people who wanted to see Godly principles honored once again in America.

What Levin is proposing does not conflict with your quote of George Washington at all and his proposal is an amendment process provided for by the Constitution. Washington was a great believer in reserving as much power to the states as possible. He was reluctant to attend the first Constitutional Convention because he suspected that the attendees would seek to strip power away from the individual states and concentrate it in the federal government.

Based on my understanding of Levin's proposal, it would not be any easier to amend the Constitution than the way that it has been amended in the past. What the proposal would do would be to return some power to the states that was never intended to be vested in the federal government. That is a very conservative position. We will have to disagree about what Washington would have to say about the matter. I think that he would lead a movement to decentralize our government and return much of the federal government's power to the states.