"Let America Work"

HotAir has the video of Sen. DeMint and the full text of his speech against the "Give Act" here.

I told you at CPAC that this guy gets it.

These are not Government decisions. We need to focus on what we were set up to do and do it much better than we are doing, instead of every week coming in here, bringing our good intentions and our compassion and every problem we see across the country we say something needs to be done. Then we say: The Government needs to do it.

That is the fatal flaw of the Congress today, is we forget that sacred oath of office that says: We will protect and defend the Constitution which says this Federal Government has a very limited function. And those functions that are not prescribed in the Constitution are left to individuals and to the States.

Contrary to what many of you believe about Democrats, they are not evil little socialists waiting to take over. Just as DeMint says, they are well intentioned. But we all know where the path paved with good intentions leads to.

Democrats believe that the government can better serve the people by orchestrating programs that help them in all areas of life. It's fine to believe that. But that is not what our founding fathers believed. It is not what our Constitution requires.

We are now at a point where we soon won't recognize the principles upon which our country was founded. As government has creeped into our lives over these many decades, we stood by quietly. We hoped that these programs, laws, intervention, and regulations would make our lives better. We "fought" a war on poverty through our government and clearly lost. We "fought" a war on drugs through our government and clearly lost. Our social ills will never be solved by the government. Never. Stop looking there and look in the mirror. The answer is with us and in us.

As more taxes eat away at our hard earned money, and more and more people become more dependent on the government, we are losing everything that made this country great. Liberty and freedom.

DeMint:

Civil society works because it is everything Government is not. It is small, it is personal, it is responsive, it is accountable. Civil society must be protected from any effort to make it more like Government.

That is what we are doing with this bill today. This bill centralizes control of important functions of our civil society. There is a downside to good intentions here in Government. The Founders created a limited government and our oath to support and defend the Constitution means that is our focus here. Our oath is to a limited government. The Founders wanted the people to be free from our good intentions. Government charity is anathema to what our Founders intended and what our Constitution stands for. Despite our good intentions, where we try to implement those good intentions and our compassion through the force of Government, we are effectively violating our oath of office here.

The key:

Do you see anything in our history as a Federal Government that shows we have the ability to effectively manage something like that without extreme levels of waste and fraud and abuse? Look what we have done recently with the stimulus plan and the bailout plans. As soon as it comes to light what is actually happening with that money, people are outraged at what is going on. Despite the good intentions of this bill, we are creating a huge new government entity that will be unmanageable and violates some of the core principles of our civil society. Every time the Government steps in to solve a problem, it creates three new problems in its place.

I'm just heartsick at what is being done here. Before Obama's 4 yr term is done government's sticky fingers will touch almost everything in our lives from healthcare to charitable giving and volunteerism. From increased taxes to owning banking institutions.

More:

Jefferson called it little democracies, when he saw these little groups all around America voluntarily doing things to solve problems and make communities better. Burke called them little platoons. Most people who understand America know that those voluntary groups are what made our country great and what sustain us even today. Civil society binds communities, not by its fruits, but by its motives–charity, donations, giving without thought of getting anything in return. This is the selfless sacrifice that happens throughout America today. This is what works.

This is what works. Each of us, in our own communities and in our own towns, know what we need. We work through local government if need be. What is good for the people of Texas might not be good for the people of New York. Each place, each person should have a say. It's called State Rights and we seem to have completely forgotten that.

The answer:

...we need to realize this Government needs to stop spending and stop borrowing, stop taxing, and let America work.