After 239 years, you would think the tried, tested and established ways of governing would be settled. But no, we always have those who want to change things for their own political benefit or warped idealistic ideology of what government should be. Our founding fathers were not inadequate, like some we have today. They were brilliant men concerning government and the role it should play in a democratic republic. They were visionaries and most of the problems we have today were addressed by them from the very beginning.

It is unfortunate that both sides of the isles in Congress, the executive branch and the judiciary aren’t required to study the Constitution and writings of the founders before taking the oath of office. If each branch would stick to its Constitutional duties, we would not be constantly in turmoil and conflict. The legislative branch, Congress, makes the laws; the executive branch, President, implements the laws the Legislative branch makes, and the judiciary branch, Supreme Court, interprets the laws according to the Constitution. Apparently, our present administration, representatives, and judiciary do not adhere or even understand those basic principles.

Lately, since the election cycle is drawing near, we have heard a lot about income inequality. The Democrats, who incidentally never saw a giveaway bill they didn’t like, are especially harping on the subject trying to attract votes.

Founding father Thomas Jefferson, Democratic-Republicans, in a letter to Joseph Milligan in 1816 had this to say: “To take from one because it is thought that his own industry and that of his father’s has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.”

Government should be run like a business, not as a charity. It is alarming the number of people wholly dependent upon government programs to subsist.

Instead of government providing incentives for businesses to expand and employ, it does the opposite and provides incentives not to work.

Jefferson in a letter to Thomas Cooper in 1802 said this: “If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretense of taking care of them, they must become happy.”

The military issue was addressed by George Washington in 1793: “There is a rank due to the United States, among nations, which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness. If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known that we are at all times ready for war.”

These are just a few examples space will allow of the wisdom of our founding fathers. There are many more and on most any topic challenging the nation today.