Suzan Bowman

Hi, my name is Suzan Bowman. I am a non-traditional student at APSU. My views are mainly republican and conservative. I think the government should stick strictly to the Constitution, and nothing else. I believe there has been a lot of misinterpretation of the Constitution, specifically "church and state", and " the right to bear arms." We have recklessly taken God out of our government and schools, therefore deteriorating the moral fiber of our country. Also, not realizing the problem, some have decided that the cure is to get rid of guns. Wrong! The problem is that criminals are not being punished for crimes they commit. However, my biggest concern about the government is that it has become too big. It regulates everything!

By way of democracy, we have voted away many of our rights held by the Constitution, and bill of rights. First, we are not a democracy. We are a republic, which is government by law. That law is the Constitution. When we say the pledge of allegiance, it's not to the democracy, but to the "Republic, for which it stands." This republic has three basic divisions of government-the legislative, executive, and judicial. No single governmental body has the right to make, pass, and enforce laws. In other words, we have a system of checks and balances which prevents one agency from gaining too much power over the people. Unfortunately, there are now several governmental agencies that have these capabilities, including the IRS [Internal Revenue Service]. Also, the Constitution does not give the federal government the authority to create huge government programs to "help the people." These problems should be left up to individual states, people and churches.

I think the United States should mind its own business when it comes to war. We have become global cops trying to help everyone. By doing so, we are putting ourselves further into debt. Even worse is that we are giving our soldiers to a global police force, the U.N. Being a veteran, I remember taking the oath of protecting and defending the Constitution of the United States and being loyal to my country, not everyone else. We have no business forcing our troops on other people. We should never remove the American insignia and replace it with that of the U.N. I believe that government leaders of the world should sit down together and work out peaceful plans for the future, but that the United States and her allies should stay out of each others' business and remain independent of world organizations like the U.N.

America needs to take care of America. The government needs to be cut in half and all that power given back to the states. I believe all government agencies that have become three in one, (judicial, legislative, and executive) should be done away with. Welfare should be temporary, and should provide education for self reliance, not dependance on the government. Finally, God should no longer be a forbidden word in our schools or government.