By Elizabeth Ames Jones Texas Railroad Commissioner

According to Former British Prime Minister Dame Margaret Thatcher Europe will never be like America. Europe is a product of history; America is a product of philosophy." Thatcher was right. She recognized that Americas strength is our philosophy a word defined by Websters as a system of principles for guidance in practical affairs."
Self-responsibility and decentralized government were among the principles upon which our founding fathers relied and even today we should rely upon them to give guidance in the practical affairs" of the American experiment in representative self-government. The Constitution of the United States and its Bill of Rights are the expression of that very philosophy from which America sprung.
The Constitution is our national compass drafted by mortal men at risk to their lives and their families lives. It was created as Henry Clay said in 1850 not merely for the generation that then existed but for posterity - unlimited undefined endless perpetual posterity."
Recently the world watched when the antithesis of our founding fathers philosophy of self-responsibility and decentralization was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and signed that week by the President. HR 3590 the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a complete paradigm shift in how our government should function as is the alarming stimulus bill entitled the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" that was passed in February 2009.
Both these bills fly in the face of limited government. They are simply the enactment of the pent-up wish list of those who have long assumed that the solutions to all their problems could be found in Washington D.C. In reality such policies perpetuate dependence on bureaucrats at the expense of our individual liberties.
Lets face it. The philosophy that embraces the notion that the federal government knows best - and does things better - has been struggling for dominance since FDRs New Deal of the 1930s. Since then that alter ego has been trying to ignore the provisions of the 10th Amendment to the Constitution: The Powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the States are reserved to the states respectively or to the people."
The conditions that brought America to this point didnt happen overnight. Even some Republicans in the Congress for whom limited government is supposedly the mothers milk of our party have been asleep at their posts. Congresses have passed laws with impunity for years and have trampled on rights clearly reserved for the states and the people in direct conflict with the 10th Amendment.
And yet an embarrassingly anemic percentage of registered American voters send undeserving incumbents back to office ensuring that the transfer of power from the people to the federal government progresses. President Obama has now advanced that transfer of power by a giant leap.
The Presidents Health Care legislation mandating every American purchase an insurance plan deemed appropriate by Washington leaves no vestiges of the federal system envisioned by our founding fathers. Yet the passing of it has been hailed as a victory" by the progressive elite. But it will be a pyrrhic victory for the President and his Democratic leadership. In the words of King Pyrrhus of Epirus after defeating the Romans in 280 BC but incurring devastating losses among his own army One more such victory will be our undoing."
This victory will ensure that our children and grandchildren will be locked into indentured servitude to pay for the costs of this bad public health care policy. How many more victories like this can the foundations upon which our country was built withstand?
The culture of our country is at a crossroads. It is not just about the trillions of dollars in debt we are passing on to our children and theirs. It is about the system of government of the United States of America and whether the persons we elect are willing to fight to protect the standards for which our country was formed including the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. Will we the people" do our part too?
Even a British Prime Minister recognized the uniqueness of what America is. Can we claim to be a nation that is the product of the philosophy of our founders? Are we that country recognized by Margaret Thatcher as being different from Europe? We are less so today than we were yesterday.
Thankfully there is a great awakening going on and its about time. Its time to change constructively the course on which our nation is headed by assuming our responsibilities as citizens while we hold elected officials to their responsibilities too.
It has been said by others that to live under the American Constitution is the greatest political privilege that was ever accorded to the human race.
So let us decide to act here and now to reclaim the virtues and responsibilities of limited government and self-determination. Let us celebrate the greatest political privilege ever accorded the human race by truly living under the Constitution of the United States of America and reclaiming the rights and responsibilities of the states and the people.