RE: {The CDC said it will issue daily updates at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/swine/investigation.htm.

[Guest guest]

Dear Doc,

 

What do we do to prepare for something

like this? How would something like this be treated?

 

Thanks for responding.

 

Debra

 

 

 

 

 

herbal remedies [herbal remedies ] On Behalf Of Ian

Friday, April 24, 2009 5:14

PM

To:

herbal remedies (AT) Groups (DOT) com

{Herbal Remedies} One

Reason of many, Why I don't like Grants and Government Largesse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DAVY CROCKETT'S " NOT YOURS

TO GIVE " SPEECH IN CONGRESS

 

History's

immortals sometimes offer a glimpse of their greatness in events other than

those that granted them immortality.

Tennessee militia colonel David Crockett,

perhaps best known for his role in the 1836 defense of the Alamo, also served

three terms in the United

States Congress between 1827 and 1835.

Nationally known during his lifetime as a political representative of the

frontier, Crockett apparently came by that reputation honestly, inasmuch as he

was not above listening to his constituents. The following excerpt from an 1884

biography by Edward S. Ellis, " The Life of Colonel David Crockett, "

reveals how his own rural electorate taught him the importance of adhering to

the Constitution and the perils of ignoring its restrictions.

Crockett was then the lion of Washington. I was a

great admirer of his character, and, having several friends who were intimate

with him, I found no difficulty in making his acquaintance. I was fascinated

with him, and he seemed to take a fancy to me.

One day in the House of Representatives, a bill was taken up

appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval

officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in its support. The Speaker

was just about to put the question when Mr. Crockett arose:

" Mr. Speaker --- I have as much respect for the memory

of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the suffering of the living, if

suffering there be, as any man in this house, but we must not permit our

respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead us into

an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument

to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of

charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the right, as

individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but

as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the

public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that

it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the

close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I have never

heard that the government was in arrears to him.

" Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We

cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment

of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as a

charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much money of

our own as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for

this bill, but I will give one week's pay to the object, and, if every member

of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks.

" He took his seat. Nobody replied. The bill was put upon

its passage, and, instead of passing unanimously, as was generally supposed,

and as, no doubt, it would, but for that speech, it received but few votes, and

of course, was lost.

" Later, when asked by a friend why he had opposed the

appropriation, Crockett gave this explanation:

" Several years ago I was one evening standing on the

steps of the Capitol with some other members of Congress, when our attention

was attracted by a great light over in Georgetown.

It was evidently a large fire. We jumped into a hack and drove over as fast as

we could. In spite of all that could be done, many houses were burned and many

families made homeless, and, besides, some of them had lost all but the clothes

they had on. The weather was very cold, and when I saw so many women and

children suffering, I felt that something ought to be one for them. The next

morning a bill was introduced appropriating $20,000 for their relief. We put

aside all other business and rushed it through as soon as it could be done.

" The next summer, when it began to be time to think

about the election, I concluded I would take a scout around among the boys of

my district. I had no opposition there, but, as the election was some time off,

I did not know what might turn up. When riding one day in a part of my district

in which I was more a stranger than any other, I saw a man in a field plowing

and coming toward the road. I gauged my gait so that we should meet as he came

to the fence. As he came up, I spoke to the man. He replied politely, but, as I

thought, rather coldly.

" I began: 'Well, friend, I am one of those unfortunate

beings called candidates, and--'

" 'Yes, I know you; you are Colonel Crockett. I have

seen you once before, and voted for you the last time you were elected. I

suppose you are out electioneering now, but you had better not waste your time

or mine. I shall not vote for you again.'

" This was a sockdolager... I begged him to tell me

what was the matter.

" 'Well, Colonel, it is hardly worth-while to waste time

or words upon it. I do not see how it can be mended, but you gave a vote last

winter which shows that either you have not capacity to understand the

Constitution, or that you are wanting in the honesty and firmness to be guided

by it. In either case you are not the man to represent me. But I beg your

pardon for expressing it in that way. I did not intend to avail myself of the

privilege of the constituent to speak plainly to a candidate for the purpose of

insulting or wounding you. I intended by it only to say that your understanding

of the Constitution is very different from mine; and I will say to you what,

but for my rudeness, I should not have said, that I believe you to be

honest....But an understanding of the Constitution different from mine I cannot

overlook, because the Constitution, to be worth anything, must be held sacred,

and rigidly observed in all its provisions. The man who wields power and

misinterprets it is the more dangerous the more honest he is.'

" I admit the truth of all you say, but there must be

some mistake about it, for I do not remember that I gave any vote last winter

upon any Constitutional question.

" 'No, Colonel, there's no mistake. Though I live here

in the backwoods and seldom go from home, I take the papers from Washington and read very

carefully all the proceedings in Congress. My papers say that last winter you

voted for a bill to appropriate $20,000 to some suffers by a fire in Georgetown. Is that

true?'

" Well, my friend, I may as well own up. You have got me

there. But certainly nobody will complain that a great and rich country like

ours should give the insignificant sum of $20,000 to relieve its suffering

women and children, particularly with a full and overflowing Treasury, and I am

sure, if you had been there, you would have done just as I did.'

" 'It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of; it

is the principle. In the first place, the government ought to have in the

Treasury no more than enough for its legitimate purposes. But that has nothing

to do with the question. The power of collecting and disbursing money at

pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be intrusted to man, particularly

under our system of collecting revenue by tariff, which reaches every man in

the country, no matter how poor he may be, and the poorer he is the more he

pays in proportion to his means. What is worse, it presses upon him without his

knowledge where the weight centers, for there is not a man in the United States

who can ever guess how much he pays to the government. So you see, that while

you are contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it from thousands who are

even worse off than he. If you had the right to give anything, the amount was

simply a matter of discretion with you, and you had as much right to give

$20,000,000 as $20,000. If you have the right to give to one, you have the

right to give to all; and, as the Constitution neither defines charity nor

stipulates the amount, you are at liberty to give to any thing and everything

which you may believe, or profess to believe, is a charity, and to any amount

you may think proper. You will very easily perceive what a wide door this would

open for fraud and corruption and favoritism, on the one hand, and for robbing

the people on the other. No, Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity.

Individual members may give as much of their own money as they please, but they

have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that purpose. If twice

as many houses had been burned in this county as in Georgetown, neither you nor any other member

of Congress would have thought of appropriating a dollar for our relief. There

are about two hundred and forty members of Congress. If they had shown their

sympathy for the suffers by contributing each one week's pay, it would have

made over $13,000. There are plenty of men in and around Washington who could have given $20,000

without depriving themselves of even a luxury of life. The congressmen chose to

keep their own money, which, if reports be true, some of them spend not very

creditable; and the people about Washington,

no doubt, applauded you for relieving them from the necessity of giving by

giving what was not yours to give. The people have delegated to Congress, by

the Constitu- tion, the power to do certain things. To do these, it is

authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything beyond

this is usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution. So you see, Colonel,

you have violated the Constitution in what I consider a vital point. It is a

precedent fraught with danger to the country, for when Congress once begins to

stretch it's power beyond the limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to

it, and no security for the people. I have no doubt you acted honestly, but

that does not make it any better, except as far as you are personally

concerned, and you see that I cannot vote for you..'

" I tell you I felt streaked. I saw if I should have

opposition, and this man should go to talking, he would set others to talking,

and in that district I was a gone fawn-skin. I could not answer him, for the

fact is, I was so fully convinced that he was right, I did not want to. But I

must satisfy him, and I said to him: Well, my friend, you hit the nail upon the

head when you said I did not have sense enough to understand the Constitution.

I intended to be guided by it, and thought I had studied it fully. I have heard

many speeches in Congress about the powers of Congress, but what you have said

here at your plow has got more hard, sound sense in it than all the fine

speeches I ever heard. If I had ever taken the view of it that you have, I

would have put my head into the fire before I would have given that vote; and

if I ever vote for another unconstitutional law I wish I may be shot.

" He laughingly replied: 'Yes Colonel, you have sworn to

that once before, but I will trust you again upon one condition. You say that

you are convinced that your vote was wrong. Your acknowledgment of it will do

more good than beating you for it. If, as you go around this district, you will

tell people about this vote, and that you are satisfied that it was wrong, I

will not only vote for you, but will do what I can to keep down opposition, and

perhaps, I may exert a little influence in that way.'

" If I don't [said I] I wish I may be shot; and to

convince you that I am earnest in what I say I will come back this way in a

week or ten days, and if you will get up a gathering of the people, I will make

a speech to them. Get up a barbecue, and I will pay for it.

" 'No, Colonel, we are not rich people in this section,

but we have plenty of provisions to contribute to a barbecue, and some to spare

for those who have none. The push of crops will be over in a few days, and we

can then afford a day for a barbecue. This is Thursday; I will see to getting

up on Saturday week.. Come to my house on Friday, and we will go together, and

I promise you a very respectable crowd to see and hear you.'

" Well, I will be here. but one thing more before I say

good-bye. I must know your name.

" 'My name is Bunce.'

" Not Horatio Bunce?

" 'Yes.'

" Well, Mr. Bunce, I never saw you before though you say

you have seen me, but I know you very well. I am glad I have met you, and very

proud that I may hope to have you for my friend.

" It was one of the luckiest hits of my life that I met

him. He mingled but little with the public, but was widely known for his

remarkable intelligence and incorruptible integrity, and for a heart brimful

and running over with kindness and benevolence, which showed themselves not

only in words but in acts. He was the oracle of the whole country around him,

and his fame had extended far beyond the circle of his immediate acquaintance.

Though I had never met him before, I had heard much of him, and but for this

meeting it is very likely I should have had opposition, and had been beaten.

One thing is very certain, no man could now stand up in that district under

such a vote.

" At the appointed time I was at his house, having told

our conversation to every crowd I had met, and to every man I stayed all night

with, and I found that it gave the people an interest and a confidence in me

stronger than I had ever seen manifested before. Though I was considerably

fatigued when I reached his house, and, under ordinary circumstances, should

have gone early to bed, I kept up until midnight, talking about the principles

and affairs of government, and got more real, true knowledge of them than I had

got all my life before. I have known and seen much of him since, for I respect

him --- no, that is not the word --- I reverence and love him more than any

living man, and I go to see him two or three times a year; and I will tell you

sir, if everyone who professes to be a Christian, lived and acted and enjoyed

it as he does, the religion of Christ would take the world by storm.

" But to return to my story. The next morning we went to

the barbecue, and, to my surprise, found about a thousand men there. I met a

good many whom I had not known before, and they and my friend introduced me

around until I had got pretty well acquainted --- at least, they all knew me.

In due time notice was given that I would speak to them. They gathered up

around a stand that had been erected. I opened my speech by saying:

" Fellow-citizens --- I present myself before you today

feeling like a new man. My eyes have lately been opened to truths which

ignorance or prejudice, or both, had heretofore hidden from my view. I feel

that I can today offer you the ability to render you more valuable service than

I have ever been able to render before. I am here today more for the purpose of

acknowledging my error than to seek your votes. That I should make this acknowledgment

is due to myself as well as to you. Whether you will vote for me is a matter

for your consideration only.

" I went on to tell them about the fire and my vote for

the appropriation and then told them why I was satisfied it was wrong. I closed

by saying:

" And now, fellow-citizens, it remains only for me to

tell you that the most of the speech you have listened to with so much interest

was simply a repetition of the arguments by which your neighbor, Mr. Bunce,

convinced me of my error.

" It is the best speech I ever made in my life, but he is

entitled to the credit for it. And now I hope he is satisfied with his convert

and that he will get up here and tell you so.

" He came upon the stand and said: "

'Fellow-citizens --- It affords me great pleasure to comply with the request of

Colonel Crockett. I have always considered him a thoroughly honest man, and I

am satisfied that he will faithfully perform all that he has promised you

today.'

" He went down, and there went up from that crowd such a

shout for Davy Crockett as his name never called forth before.

" I am not much given to tears, but I was taken with a

choking then and felt some big drops rolling down my cheeks. And I tell you now

that the remembrance of those few words spoken by such a man, and the honest,

hearty shout they produced, is worth more to me than all the reputation I have

ever made, or shall ever make, as a member of Congress.

" Now, sir, " concluded Crockett, " you know why

I made that speech yesterday. There is one thing now to which I wish to call to

your attention. You remember that I proposed to give a week's pay. There are in

that House many very wealthy men --- men who think nothing of spending a week's

pay, or a dozen of them, for a dinner or a wine party when they have something

to accomplish by it. Some of those same men made beautiful speeches upon the

great debt of gratitude which the country owed the deceased --- a debt which

could not be paid by money --- and the insignificance and worthlessness of

money, particularly so insignificance a sum as $10,000, when weighed against

the honor of the nation. Yet not one of them responded to my proposition. Money

with them is nothing but trash when it is come out of the people. But it is the

one great thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them sacrifice

honor, integrity, and justice to obtain it. "

 

David Crockett was born August 17, 1786 at Limestone (Greene

County), Tennessee. He died March 06, 1836 as one of

the brave Southerners defending the Alamo.

Crockett had settled in Franklin County, Tennessee in 1811. He served in the Creek

War under Andrew Jackson. In 1821 and 1823 he was elected to the Tennessee legislature.

In 1826 and 1828 he was elected to Congress. He was defeated in 1830 for his

outspoken opposition to President Jackson's Indian Bill - but was elected again

in 1832.

In Washington, although his

eccentricities of dress and manner excited comment, he was always popular on

account of his shrewd common sense and homely wit; although generally favoring Jackson's policy, he was

entirely independent and refused to vote to please any party leader.

 

At the end of the congressional term, he

joined the Texans in the war against Mexico,

and in 1836 was one of the roughly 180 men who died defending the Alamo. Tradition and diaries of Mexican Officers has it

that Crockett was one of only six survivors after the Mexicans took the fort,

and that he and the others were taken out and executed by firing squad.

 

Doc Shillington