Discrimination by Congressional Legislation?

Laws that protect a group of individuals from discrimination seemed like a good idea at the time. Save for a minority of representatives who argued against such legislation on grounds of constitutional validity were at the time called racists. We face the same issues today but on a multitude of fronts.

Gay rights, immigration rights, religious rights, every special interest group wants their own rights, and it is at the expense of individual rights. To single out any special interest group with legislated rights is to discriminate against all others.

Our nation was founded on the principles of rights granted by our Creator, and that is why the Constitution for the United States of America did not grant special rights to special interests. It did however single out slaves as being less than equal to all others and that was a mistake. The Fourteenth Article of Amendment (now the Thirteenth by virtue of the hiding of the original Thirteenth Article a.k.a. The Title of Nobility Amendment) was supposed to correct that indiscretion, but it did not. Today, there are prisons where minorities are subjected to a form of slavery sanction by the federal and state governments that rob those incarcerated of must of their constitutional rights while doing nothing to pay restitution to the victims of their crimes. Instead the general public is taxed to pay for the penal systems, most of which are now privately-run businesses, and those incarcerated are treated better than their victims.

There are no Congressional Caucuses outside of the Black Caucus that discriminates against all other groups. And the reason for that is simple: It is believed that blacks are owed something for the many years of slavery they endured up to the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The truth is hard for most to swallow.

Immigrants from Europe like my ancestors, did not arrive on the Mayflower nor were they early settlers. They did not own slaves here or in their homelands, yet they are forced by law to pay the same taxes as restitution as the rest. That in itself is a violation of individual rights, but nobody is making and noise about that.

I do not feel that any group has the right to discriminate against any other group. Are ancestors came here for freedom and opportunity, many with only the clothes on their back an a desire to make themselves self-sufficient and to provide for their families. Many went without basic needs until they were able to secure employment or to establish themselves as self-employed tradesman or business proprietors.

When they arrived at Ellis Island they did not get food stamps, medical benefits, or grants for educations. They did not get housing whether it was subsidized or fully paid for. They worked until they could afford it. Some had relatives that helped and others had ethic or religious groups that helped a little. Their were no government programs whatsoever. And they succeeded in making a life for  themselves here in America, and instilled that same ethic and motivation in their children.

With the New Deal and other legislation since FDR was President, Americans paid into Social Security as a government administered retirement account and then When LBJ was President they began paying into Medicare for their health care when they retired.  Many employed workers received benefits for health care from their employers while they remained employed and some even had their own health care coverage in addition to whet their employers provided.

The point being, they were not entitled to anything from the government. When laws were passed to give special interests "rights" above and beyond the rights of all people, more and more special interests wanted special rights as well. It was a bad idea from the start and it still is a bad idea.

It may seem like a cold and harsh view to many, but I make no apologies. I worked for the best part of forty four years, paying taxes every year and contributing to Social Security and Medicare. When I became disabled and could not secure employment to remain self reliant, I applied for disability "benefits" which is part of the Social Security Act and therefore this benefit is not an entitlement per se, but more of an early retirement.

I did not have a Congressional Black, White, Italian, Jewish, or any other caucus through which I could claim my "rights" to benefits. In fact it took over a year and three denial notices before I was finally granted a hearing to present my case before an administrative law judge. I was finally awarded my disability although I will probably not receive any funds until after the first of the new year. As a result, I will remain homeless and in a shelter that provides beds for over three hundred people.

To have any group singled out and granted rights above all others in not only unconstitutional, it is discrimination against the rest. If only more Americans understood the real issue here, I think there will be more calls for repeals of these laws or at the very least, nullification legislation passed by the States' Assemblies.

Now if you want to do something about real discrimination, repeal the unconstitutional drug laws, especially those that make cannabis a crime. How can a plant be outlawed when it was a crop that helped build this nation into one of greatness through economic prosperity?