From the July 2005 Idaho Observer:

All powers not claimed by the citizens are vacuumed by government

July 4, 1776: Independence Day

July 4, 2005: Dependence Day

This country was founded on a very simple principle: Powers not expressly provided to the federal government in the U.S. Constitution are reserved to the states and the people respectively. The U.S. Constitution is not a very complicated document. It confers to the federal government about 18 enumerated powers and a person of average ability can read it in about an hour.

Properly educated Americans would graduate from high school understanding that they have the right to follow their conscience and develop their God-given abilities in pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. They would also enter the adult world knowing that, so long as they harm no one nor damage their property, the role of government in their lives is limited to protecting their right to self-determination.

But most Americans have never read the Constitution. As a result, they have no idea of the power it leaves vested in each individual American citizen nor the limitations upon government it prescribes. With the passage of time, government has been vacuuming powers unclaimed by the silent citizenry while grossly exceeding its constitutional limitations.

And so today we must perform an 11th-hour rescue of our "right" to take care of ourselves because unelected individuals, somehow empowered to represent our interests without even consulting with us, agreed to provisions of an international treaty that will deny our free access to vitamins, minerals, supplements and herbs. On July 4, 2005, the International Codex Alimentarius Commission decided to adopt the German model of healthcare. Soon, Americans will no longer be able to buy vitamin C in doses higher than 250 mg. without first obtaining prescriptions from government-licensed physicians.

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), a physician himself and one of the only constitutional voices on Capitol Hill, observed, "When we give government the power to make medical decisions for us we, in essence, accept that the state owns our bodies."

The Codex agenda has been in motion since the 70s. By the 80s there were a few voices in the wilderness sounding the alarm. Their energies resulted in the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994—a law that protected Americans’ access to vitamins, supplements and herbs. Unfortunately, DSHEA is "inferior law" since the Supreme Court decided a long time ago that international treaties trump federal law and the U.S. Constitution.

John Hammell of the International Advocates for Health Freedom has been sounding the alarm regarding the bureaucratic progress of Codex for the last decade. Yet despite Hammell’s noble efforts, the public has remained largely clueless to the imminence of the Codex threat.

The U.S. delegation to the International Codex Commission, undaunted by DSHEA (and encouraged by Americans’ perpetual ignorance of its intentions), kept working toward the day when we would have to visit pharmaceutically-trained doctors to obtain prescriptions for vitamins and herbs.

By government claiming total control of what we put into our bodies, it gains de facto ownership of them. This is one of the many ways Americans, through their ignorance and silence, have given away their power.

Government claims ownership of our productive energy through unjust taxation:

* Since alleged ratification of the 16th Amendment in 1913, we have been subjected to a progressive tax on our wages and salaries under the false pretense they are income.

* The Social Security Act, which allows working Americans to retire into poverty while government employees retire into upper middle class with much better pension plans, is also an unconstitutional "wage" tax passed under the guise of a retirement plan for working Americans.

* Adding all taxes up—income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, inheritance taxes, capital gains taxes—Americans pay at least 60 percent of their wages and salaries to support the operations of government.

Government claims ownership of our property:

The proof of property ownership is in its use and disposal. Laws or ordinances that prohibit certain uses for property indicates government has a higher claim to it.

* When property goes into foreclosure for nonpayment of property taxes, government exercises its higher claim to the property by putting it up for auction.

* At any time and for almost any reason, government can take property for public purposes under "eminent domain" (government is supposed to pay "just compensation" for such properties, but often administratively condemns them first to avoid justly compensating property "owners").

* The Supreme Court recently expanded the concept of eminent domain by ruling that government has the right to take your private property for a private purpose even if, in government’s mind, it will better serve the public interest, in the hands of a corporation.

Government claims ownership of our minds:

* Government schools perpetuate the trans-generational ignorance of Americans’ rights and responsibilities as citizens of a free society in a multiplicity of ways that are beyond the scope of this article but understood by most parents whose children attend one.

* To support the Bush administration’s "Freedom Commission on Mental Health," various states are beginning to mandate mental health screening for teens and pregnant women. Those diagnosed with mental illness are being forced to take psychotropic drugs.

Government claims ownership of our persons, papers and effects:

* The government can tap phone lines, monitor electronic correspondence, break into houses and steal the papers and effects of anyone it suspects of fitting its expansive definition of a terrorist—without a warrant—in flagrant disregard to the 4th Amendment.

* The government has access to all records and files containing information about us—including our financial records, banking records and medical records.

Go back as far as you can in your memory and recall what life used to be like in America. Now bring your memories forward slowly and recall the timelines of how government has become steadily more intrusive in our private and professional lives. What you will notice is that, without exception, government’s role in our everyday affairs has been increasing incrementally. If you think again, you will recall how brave men and women have been giving us fair warning of government power-vacuuming every step of the way in every instance mentioned.

Take Codex as a warning that the power we, as Americans, refuse to wield ourselves will be vacuumed by government. An axiom of "civilized" life not taught in government schools is that government will continue vacuuming power until there is no more power to vacuum. The only question remaining is, "Will government stop vacuuming power after it has completely enslaved us or after we, individually and as a nation, begin reclaiming the power the framers of our Constitution entrusted to us?" (DWH)