I have watched “The Judge” for many years now on Fox News. The knowledge he imparts via the TV is what led me to pick up this book to read. With everything that is happening in our country, I trust his legal and historical perspective to put the pieces in place. What I found was a very hard read.
The hard read was, in part, because of the wealth of information he shares that really highlights the direction of our government. We all grow up and our taught that our government is there to protect us, to help us, and to put in place the pieces that will allow this long lasting experiment of democracy to continue. What he shares in an eye opening view that our government is truly made up of men and women and their actions are not always to best to protect, help, and foster freedom.
I found myself reading and then re-reading much of the book to really get a picture of what we think and what is really happened or is happening. For that reason, I found this a hard read.
Going back to the Founders beliefs, Naplitano points out that government does not take fast, quick power grabs but slowly, methodically makes laws and decisions that, over time, erode our freedoms. The older I get I can see the times that the “foot has got in the door” and earlier decisions are built upon leading us to the point of non-reversal. We gave and inch and our government took a mile when it was all said and done. A”gradual, piecemeal erosion of liberty” is what he refers to this as.
This book should be a wake up call to Americans showing all of us that things are changing and much faster than we want to admit.
In this era of debt, Napolitano quotes Benjamin Franklin who said, “When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” This book points out that Franklin’s wisdom is truly being felt today in our country. The author closes the book to show that our government’s debt is getting so high the soon they may begin issuing bonds to keep up with the payments and goes on to equate debt payments with a Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme.
In the words of Earl Pitts, “wake up America!”