Letters to the Editor

1= Opposition to NAFTA
2= Defend the constitution
3= Stimulus package is like pouring gas on fire
4= NAFTA is for rich, powerful

1- Sent to the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Nov. 9, 1993 -- NOT published.

To the Editor:

I oppose NAFTA - it's unconstitutional.

NAFTA promoters ignore our Constitution which says the President can make Treaties if two-thirds of the Senate concur. Treaty: "formal agreement between two or more [nations] in reference to ... commerce or other international relations." (1,000+ pages is pretty formal!) Therefore, two-thirds of the Senate, not Congress must concur.

NAFTA drowns in commissions, secretariats, review boards, dispute panels, tribunals, and evaluation committees - none responsible to the people - insulating decision-makers from us and creating tyranny.

Our forefathers, in their excessive personal experience with tyranny, wrote an inspired constitution protecting our God-given rights. This constitution, accepted by the people, embodies principles we agree will govern us. There's no justification for overturning this document.

NAFTA governs by bureaucrats we have no effective access to nor relief from - mostly those who don't understand or won't operate under our form of government. Oaths of allegiance to our Constitution won't be required, so they'll ignore and trample it.

NAFTA removes constitutional states' rights. "If the Constitution be picked away by piecemeal, it is gone -- and gone just as effectually as if some military despot had trampled it beneath his feet." (Daniel Webster)

It's sad when our President and some Congressmen seek to circumvent our Constitution. Where are the honest who ask, "Is it right?" not "How can I profit?" Who'll emulate our Founding Fathers, standing for right because it is right; voting down what weakens our Constitution. We need citizens who will use their influence to protect our constitution.

Sincerely,
Becky Maddox



2- Published in the Ogden Standard-Examiner on Sunday, July 22, 2007:

Defend the Constitution

Each July, when celebrating the commitment, courage and wisdom of the Founding Fathers who wrote our Constitution, how do you feel about them and their work? Have constitutional truths changed, or has technology changed, leaving human nature and constitutional principles unchanged? Do you support and protect the constitutional principles of three equal branches of government having separate duties that cannot be traded nor given away -- constitutional changes can only be made by amendment, and our basic rights are God-given?

Do you believe that by honoring and obeying God and befriending the Constitution, we are the most blessed of nations? Do you share the Founders' commitment to eternal principles of good government? Can you understand and help preserve the constitution by reading it and the words of the Founders, learn how and by whom it is threatened and then act upon that knowledge?

Do you approve of agreements like the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), which commits us to merge with Canada and Mexico into the North American Union, and will destroy our Constitution? Did you know that Congress has never approved the SPP, even though the president is implementing it?

If you understood the real goals and objectives behind this and similar plans, would you help stop them? When did you last read the Constitution and send a letter to your congressperson asking for their support of that document? Will you do this to help preserve our Constitution, freedom and sovereignty?

Becky Maddox



3- Published in the Ogden Standard-Examiner on Wednesday, January 23, 2008:

Stimulus package is like pouring gas on fire

We are going into a recession and the president intends to speed up the process by doling out what one news source described as "an economic rescue package ... (including) tax rebates of hundreds of dollars each for millions of Americans."

A major cause of the problem is government interference. Remember, the only source for the government to get money is you and I, the taxpayers. The private sector (banks, credit unions, etc.) have strong incentives to loan only to those with enough income, capacity and willingness to pay back on time.

The government has no such incentives and, showing a misplaced solicitude for the "downtrodden," rushed to pass laws penalizing financial institutions for not giving enough money (yours and mine), in high-risk loans, to those most likely to default. Then we are stuck bailing out the financial institutions.

Now our legislators and president want to pour gas on the fire via "a stimulus package" to hasten and stimulate our downward economic spiral. If politicians really want to help, they will get out of the business of "stimulating and rescuing" the economy which raises prices, and go back to our Constitution.

We need to care for ourselves without government "charity," and vote out of office those who think the government is and should be a charitable organization.

Where is our sense of independence? In a truly free society, citizens do all they can to care for themselves. True charity comes voluntarily from sources other than government.

Becky Maddox
Washington Terrace



4- Published in the Ogden Standard-Examiner on Wednesday, March 12, 2008:

NAFTA designed to benefit rich, powerful

Those who claim the North American Free Trade Agreement is good for America haven't done enough homework.

I've researched the subject extensively. "Free trade" agreements are tightly managed agreements designed to benefit the rich and powerful, and severely handicap you and me. Professor Robert Pastor, a major NAFTA designer, said in 2002: "NAFTA has been encouraging illegal migration, not reducing it."

In his speech, "NAFTA Is Not Enough," (Brookings Institution, Dec. 2001), he said, "A North American federal union (Canada, Mexico and the U.S.) would require that the federal governments in Canada and the United States retrieve authority from their provinces and states, and then divide power between the union and the three countries. The unified, multinational-state option would eliminate or fundamentally alter the three existing nation-states."

There goes our Constitution! "... the three governments should also exchange legislative and executive branch personnel for temporary assignments," he continued. What a convenient excuse for poor legislation or to make a good legislator ineffective. Some politicians would say, "It's not my fault (whatever) did (or didn't) happen, I wasn't there," or "I would have done it differently."

A very telling statement from Brookings reveals what NAFTA is really about. It came from the editor's introduction: "Policy harmonization might eventually aim toward a common currency (although a consensus at the December Brookings meeting was that talk of a common currency is premature ...)"

You think we'll get the full story, from them, in time to negate their plans? Don't count on it!

Becky Maddox
Washington Terrace