One third of Americans want to impeach President Obama.

Although many Republican leaders, like House Speaker John Boehner, think there are no grounds for impeachment, or just not enough evidence to convict, the group that supports impeachment thinks there is more than enough evidence ranging from the IRS scandal, to Benghazi, to Fast & Furious, to various instances of government overreach and violations of the Constitution with Executive Orders.

I believe they’ve all got it wrong. The perfect impeachment charge isn’t any of those. It isn’t even the soon-to-be-charge of violating the Constitution by giving amnesty to millions of illegal aliens through Executive Order (rumored to be coming within 30 days).

The perfect impeachment charge is FRAUD. 

Consumer fraud was committed when President Obama knowingly lied, “If you like your insurance, you can keep it.” And “If you like your doctor, you can keep him.” And “Your insurance premiums will not go up.” There is no question Obama knew they were lies when he said them…

AND THAT IS CLEARLY FRAUD!

This crime has 300 million witnesses. This crime was recorded on television dozens of times. This crime is easy to prove. You can add in all the other scandals, frauds, and lies as Articles of Impeachment 2-10, but Article #1 is the Obamacare lies.

And here’s the important part- this crime resonates with the average American. This crime hits home- it’s costing them dearly (in the pocketbook), and also some with their lives (cancer patients who have lost their insurance). Americans already talk about this crime in their living room and around the kitchen table.

This crime is simple, easy to prove, and easy for the average American to understand. Obama knowingly used fraud, lies, misrepresentation and coercion (by the IRS) to induce Americans to support Obamacare, knowing if he told the truth they would never support it. We the citizens of America are victims of a massive criminal conspiracy. The man at the center of this world-class fraud is Barack Obama.

If you have any doubt this was a criminal act, let’s compare the crimes committed by Obama to those of convicted TV infomercial conman, Kevin Trudeau. Remember him? His 30-minute infomercials ran day and night on cable TV for the past decade. This past February Obama’s own administration convicted and sentenced Trudeau to 10 years in federal prison for knowingly making untrue statements about a weight loss book he was selling.

I don’t question whether Mr. Trudeau is a fraud. I’m sure he got what was coming to him. But Trudeau is a small time crook compared to our President. Obama scammed millions of Americans out of their health insurance, raised prices dramatically (thereby damaging and bankrupting the middle class), killed millions of jobs (ask the Congressional Budget Office about that one) and arguably contributed to a number of deaths (with many more to come).

In my new book, “The Murder of the Middle Class,” I made the prediction that we’d soon hear about sick Americans who died because of Obamacare. The wait is over. Linda Rolain, a Las Vegas woman, lost her battle last month to brain cancer after a 3-month delay due to the faulty design of the Nevada Obamacare exchange.

The government accused Trudeau of lying and exaggerating to sell his weight loss book. Their argument is that he called weight loss “easy” on TV…but then when you actually read the book you found out it’s pretty hard to lose weight. The government argued without the lies, he couldn’t have sold the book and that is fraud.

Isn’t that exactly how Obama sold Obamacare? He knowingly lied again and again. He painted a picture of 30 million new patients, but no cost increases. As a matter of fact he claimed costs would be reduced. He relied on words like “free”… “no cost”… “prices will go down”… “the debt will go down”… “no jobs will be lost”…and “Obamacare will help the economy.” All lies, and he knew it all along – pure fraud. The kind of fraud that results in long prison sentences for private sector CEOs.

The biggest whopper of all: “If you like your insurance you can keep it.” He told this lie while his own internal White House reports showed that up to 93 million Americans would lose their insurance because of Obamacare. http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/10/31/obama-officials-in-2010-93-million-americans-will-be-unable-to-keep-their-health-plans-under-obamacare/

Obama told the middle class a lie to sell his product, because he knew if he told the truth, no one would buy it. How does that differ from Kevin Trudeau?

Like Kevin Trudeau, Obama could never have sold Obamacare to the American people without lying and misrepresenting. But Obama’s fraud didn’t cost us $30 each. Obama’s fraud is costing each of us thousands of dollars per year. Obama’s fraud may add up to the first-ever trillion dollar scam. Bernie Madoff get out of the way. Obama is arguably the biggest thief in world history.

And some of us will lose our lives because of his fraud. Ask Linda Rolain’s family about that.

If Kevin Trudeau deserves ten years in prison, shouldn’t Obama receive a life sentence for the fraud he’s committed?

While it is my personal belief that Obamacare was always the centerpiece of Obama’s purposeful plan to “Murder the Middle Class,” and kill capitalism, there is no possible doubt that legally and constitutionally the lies told by Obama (on camera) to sell Obamacare are an impeachable offense.

Postscript: Day ago, the health insurance policy for my family of six was cancelled by Aetna, who blamed the cancellation on the mandates of Obamacare. Under President Obama my health insurance premium has gone from $500 per month to $1,700 per month. Now it is cancelled.

I can testify as to the fraud committed. I am a witness to the murder of the middle class. Obama must pay. If no business is too big to fail, I think we can all agree that no political leader is too big to jail.

It’s time for impeachment.

Barack Obama famously declared that as a former teacher of Constitutional law, he actually respects the Constitution, unlike his predecessor in the Oval Office. 

Subsequent events make it fair to wonder exactly how he shows this respect.

Some on the Left barely conceal their disdain for the world-changing handiwork of dead white males. 

Reverence for the Constitution isn’t universal even among its chief custodians. Justice Ruth Ginsburg raised eyebrows when she advised Egyptian civic activists she wouldn’t look to the US Constitution as a model today. She pointed instead to the constitutions of South Africa, Canada, and the European Charter of Rights and Freedoms, praising them as “great work,” more recent and more generous in protecting “human rights.” The late Justice Thurgood Marshall also was cautious about putting too much stock in Constitutional guidance, asking a PBS interviewer: “What does the Constitution say about rocket ships?”

Actually, the Constitution says as much about rockets as it does about horses and buggies: basically nothing. The Constitution is not the US Code of Statutes, setting out the federal law. It’s more like the rule book or citizens’ owners’ manual that governs the government. It’s a uniquely successful compact in history. But it remains vital only as Americans understand it, support it, and demand politicians do likewise.

Citizens who accuse President Obama of violating the Constitution should have a clear idea what they mean. This would include being able to explain to a friend or child basic constitutional principles and describe the ways they are threatened. Here’s my attempt at a simple, easy to share explanation: 

Life is hard and sometimes dangerous. Government can help protect peace and security, but it’s important to think seriously about what government should be and do, as our Framers had to when they organized America.

The big thing they realized is government is unique. Some things need governing, but others just involve voluntary cooperation. Lots of people or groups--like street preachers, hotdog vendors, corporations, your mother—have things they want you to do: repent, buy stuff, call home. But government decides things you have to do or can’t do, at the risk of fines, jail, or, at some level of resistance, getting shot.

Government’s essence is controlling people—forbidding things, requiring things, and extracting the taxes to pay for things. Our Founders realized the power to control people, as opposed to offer or invite in voluntary exchanges is potentially dangerous. It must be limited and channeled, as in the apocryphal wisdom of George Washington: like fire, government is a dangerous servant and fearsome master.

The Founders figured out controlling people involves three different kinds of power: making rules, enforcing rules, and resolving disputes between people and between the enforcers and the people. They also realized the controllers could be kept honest and fair only if those different powers were kept apart: the people who make the rules shouldn’t be the ones who enforce them; the enforcers shouldn’t decide disputes between themselves and the people.

That’s why the Founders arranged separation of powers. They created Congress in Article I, the Executive in Article II, and the Supreme Court and judiciary in Article III.

Our Founders also realized the young nation sat at the edge of a continent it might grow to fill. Even the 13 colonies had a diverse mix of heritage, religion, resources, climate, industry, and so forth. They determined people should govern themselves as locally as possible. Daily government was left with the states. The national government would be limited to matters that truly needed to be nationally uniform. It was delegated only enumerated powers.

The Founders crowned their structure with a Bill of Rights, identifying some, but not all, of the sacred liberties and protections needed for the free pursuit of happiness. The finished work was an intellectual revolution more spectacular than the military revolution that made it possible. The path has not always been smooth or safe. But most people agree, it’s the most successful system of governing ever designed.

Some clever and sophisticated people today say the Constitution is outdated. It was designed for a small, simple society. Our modern world needs something more complex. This claim is curious, both as a matter of observable history and of theory.

If you hear such criticism, you might challenge it. Historically, ask if any other national system has lasted longer, or produced better fruits, including freedom, due process, stable government, opportunity, prosperity, and a magnetic draw to people around the world. 

On theory, ask what has changed in the world or human nature that suggests government’s controlling powers shouldn’t be limited. Or why it makes sense to mix the powers to legislate, enforce, and judge. Ask too, if rigid, centralized government across diverse states and communities, geography, cultures, and economies makes any more sense than before.

The critics likely will talk about how things should be different; but they won’t show that anything has ever worked better than the United States Constitution. But the Transformer and his supporters find it very inconvenient. And for some, that’s all that matters.

"When we honor our flag we honor what we stand for as a Nation -- freedom, equality, justice, and hope." 

~Ronald Reagan


"We take the star from Heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing liberty."  

~George Washington.


"Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God."  

~George Washington


"A thoughtful mind, when it sees a Nation's flag, sees not the flag only, but the Nation itself; and whatever may be its symbols, its insignia, he reads chiefly in the flag the Government, the principles, the truths, the history which belongs to the Nation that sets it forth."  

~Henry Ward Beecher


"If anyone, then, asks me the meaning of our flag, I say to him - it means just what Concord and Lexington meant; what Bunker Hill meant; which was, in short, the rising up of a valiant young people against an old tyranny to establish the most momentous doctrine that the world had ever known - the right of men to their own selves and to their liberties."   

~Henry Ward Beecher


"It is the flag just as much of the man who was naturalized yesterday as of the men whose people have been here many generations."   

~Henry Cabot Lodge


"Oh! say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave, o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"  

~Francis Scott Key


"Today we celebrate Flag Day, the birthday of our Stars and Stripes. As we think back over the history of our nation's flag, we remember that the story of its early years was often one of hardship and trials, sometimes a fight for simple survival. ... As the American Republic grew and prospered and new stars were added to the flag, the ideal of freedom grew and prospered. From the rolling hills of Kentucky to the shores of California to the Sea of Tranquility on the Moon, our pioneers carried our flag before them, a symbol of the indomitable spirit of a free people. And let us never forget that in honoring our flag, we honor the American men and women who have courageously fought and died for it over the last 200 years, patriots who set an ideal above any consideration of self. Our flag flies free today because of their sacrifice."

~Ronald Reagan


"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."    

~The Pledge Of Allegiance 


"Off with your hat, as the flag goes by!
And let the heart have its say;
You're man enough for a tear in your eye
That you will not wipe away."

~Henry Cuyler Bunner


When Freedom from her mountain-height 
Unfurled her standard to the air, 
She tore the azure robe of night, 
 And set the stars of glory there. 

She mingled with its gorgeous dyes 
The milky baldric of the skies, 
And striped its pure, celestial white 
With streakings of the morning light.

Flag of the free heart's hope and home! 
By angel hands to valour given! 
Thy stars have lit the welkin dome, 
And all thy hues were born in heaven. 

Forever float that standard sheet! 
Where breathes the foe but falls before us, 
With Freedom's soil beneath our feet, 
And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us. 

~Joseph Rodman Drake

Ronald Reagan once said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.  We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream.  It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

How can we protect the great legacy of liberty and carefully share it with our children?  One important way is to recognize that liberty is a gift from God.  We cannot hope to preserve it without his help.  

Here are some quotes from leaders who helped to establish America as a beacon of liberty and hope to the world. 


“God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?  That they are not to be violated but with his wrath?”  

~Thomas Jefferson


“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” 

 ~Declaration of Independence


"Liberty is a gift of the beneficent Creator to the whole human race... and cannot be wrested from any people, without the most manifest violation of justice."  

~Alexander Hamilton


"Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature."  

~Benjamin Franklin


"When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers 'just men who will rule in the fear of God.'  The preservation of a republican government depends on the faithful discharge of this duty.


"If the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made not for the public good so much as for the selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded. If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws."    

~Noah Webster


“Providence seems by every means intent on making us a great people. May our virtues public and private grow with us, and be durable, that liberty, civil and religious, may be secured to our posterity, and to all from every part of the Old World that take refuge among us.”  

~Benjamin Franklin


“I believe with all my heart that standing up for America means standing up for the God who has so blessed our land.  We need God’s help to guide our nation through stormy seas.  But we can’t expect Him to protect America in a crisis if we just leave Him over on the shelf in our day-to-day living.”  

~Ronald Reagan


"From the poignancy of General Washington's legendary prayer in the snow at Valley Forge to the dangerous times in which we live today, our leaders and the people of this Nation have called upon Divine Providence and trusted in God's wisdom to guide us through the challenges we have faced as a people and a Nation." 

~Ronald Reagan

When President Reagan recalled memories of his early Fourth of July experiences, he described a "special kind of nostalgia" and a "day almost as long-anticipated as Christmas."

While Christmas is pretty hard to compete with these days, we can plan celebrations that are full of fun, learning, and family togetherness, and create treasured memories that can last a lifetime.

Here are some ideas.  Choose a few that your family will enjoy.  Include your kids as you make your plans and preparations.  Getting ready can be half the fun!  Keeping it simple will let you focus on the things that matter most. 

• Invite your family to dress in red, white, and blue.    


• Play patriotic music as your family is waking up and during the day.  

• Learn about the Declaration of Independence.  You might want to choose from the following:

          *  Read the Declaration of Independence.
          *  Talk about the importance of the Declaration of Independence.
          *  Learn about Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration.
          *  Learn how John Adams created support for the Declaration.
          *  Remember the price paid by the signers of the Declaration.
          

• Learn about George Washington.  (Congress formed the Continental Army and appointed Washington commanding general, so he was unavailable to participate and sign the Declaration.  But his role in our nation's history is so significant that he is known as the father of our country.)

• Attend a local parade. (Google "4th of July parade" with your zip code to find one near you.)

• Have a patriotic program.  Some of our favorite memories are of fun patriotic programs and concerts with family and friends.  

          You could sing patriotic songs and  invite family and friends to: 
          *  Read or recite patriotic quotes.
          *  Tell patriotic stories or read this classic letter from Paul Harvey.
          *  Share a favorite patriotic memory.
          *  Tell what it means to them to be an American.

         Or, you might want to follow Dennis Prager's 4th of July Declaration program.

• Make and enjoy delicious red, white, and blue food.   

• Make patriotic crafts with your kids.  Here are some more ideas.  

• Go camping or on a picnic together.  If allowed, you could build a campfire, cook a campfire dinner,  sing patriotic songs around the fire, then talk about the things that make America great. 

          
           (Thanks to Six Sister's Stuff for the fun recipes and craft ideas!)

"[Independence Day] ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. 

"You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means."      ~John Adams 

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."  ~Thomas Jefferson


"What do we mean by the American Revolution? The revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people....This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution."  ~John Adams


"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."  ~Benjamin Franklin


"Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right…and a desire to know; but besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean of the characters and conduct of their rulers."  ~John Adams


"Posterity who are to reap the blessings will scarcely be able to conceive the hardships and sufferings of their ancestors.”  ~Abigail Adams


"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."  ~Thomas Paine


"Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of. Our enemies are numerous and powerful; but we have many friends, determining to be free, and heaven and earth will aid the resolution. On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important question, on which rest the happiness and liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves.”  ~Joseph Warren 


"We have proclaimed to the world our determination to die freemen, rather than to live slaves."   ~Samuel Adams


“Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun!  The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"   ~Patrick Henry


"The hour is fast approaching, on which the Honor and Success of this army, and the safety of our bleeding Country depend. Remember officers and Soldiers, that you are Freemen, fighting for the blessings of Liberty - that slavery will be your portion, and that of your posterity, if you do not acquit yourselves like men."   ~George Washington 


"Yonder are the Hessians. They were bought for seven pounds and tenpence a man. Are you worth more? Prove it. Tonight the American flag floats from yonder hill or Molly Stark sleeps a widow!"  ~General John Stark


"I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure, that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means."  ~John Adams

Fifty-six individuals from each of the original 13 colonies participated in the Second Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence. 

Pennsylvania sent nine delegates to the congress, followed by Virginia with seven and Massachusetts and New Jersey with five. Connecticut, Maryland, New York, and South Carolina each sent four delegates. Delaware, Georgia, New Hampshire, and North Carolina each sent three. Rhode Island, the smallest colony, sent only two delegates to Philadelphia.

Nine of the signers were immigrants, two were brothers, two were cousins, and one was an orphan. The average age of a signer was 45. The oldest delegate was Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, who was 70 when he signed the Declaration. The youngest was Thomas Lynch, Jr., of South Carolina, who was 27.

Eighteen of the signers were merchants or businessmen, 14 were farmers, and four were doctors. Forty-two signers had served in their colonial legislatures. Twenty-two were lawyers--although William Hooper of North Carolina was "disbarred" when he spoke out against the Crown--and nine were judges. Stephen Hopkins had been Governor of Rhode Island.

Although two others had been clergy previously, John Witherspoon of New Jersey was the only active clergyman to attend--he wore his pontificals to the sessions. Almost all were Protestant Christians; Charles Carroll of Maryland was the only Roman Catholic signer.

Seven of the signers were educated at Harvard, four each at Yale and William & Mary, and three at Princeton. John Witherspoon was the president of Princeton and George Wythe was a professor at William & Mary, where his students included the author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson.

Seventeen of the signers served in the military during the American Revolution. Thomas Nelson was a colonel in the Second Virginia Regiment and then commanded Virginia military forces at the Battle of Yorktown. William Whipple served with the New Hampshire militia and was one of the commanding officers in the decisive Saratoga campaign. Oliver Wolcott led the Connecticut regiments sent for the defense of New York and commanded a brigade of militia that took part in the defeat of General Burgoyne. Caesar Rodney was a Major General in the Delaware militia and John Hancock was the same in the Massachusetts militia.

Five of the signers were captured by the British during the war. Captains Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, and Arthur Middleton (South Carolina) were all captured at the Battle of Charleston in 1780; Colonel George Walton was wounded and captured at the Battle of Savannah. Richard Stockton of New Jersey never recovered from his incarceration at the hands of British Loyalists and died in 1781.

Colonel Thomas McKean of Delaware wrote John Adams that he was "hunted like a fox by the enemy--compelled to remove my family five times in a few months, and at last fixed them in a little log house on the banks of the Susquehanna . . . and they were soon obliged to move again on account of the incursions of the Indians." Abraham Clark of New Jersey had two of his sons captured by the British during the war. The son of John Witherspoon, a major in the New Jersey Brigade, was killed at the Battle of Germantown.

Eleven signers had their homes and property destroyed. Francis Lewis's New York home was destroyed and his wife was taken prisoner. John Hart's farm and mills were destroyed when the British invaded New Jersey and he died while fleeing capture. Carter Braxton and Thomas Nelson (both of Virginia) lent large sums of their personal fortunes to support the war effort, but were never repaid.

Fifteen of the signers participated in their states' constitutional conventions, and six--Roger Sherman, Robert Morris, Benjamin Franklin, George Clymer, James Wilson, and George Reed--signed the United States Constitution. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts attended the federal convention and, though he later supported the document, refused to sign the Constitution.

After the Revolution, 13 of the signers went on to become governors, and 18 served in their state legislatures. Sixteen became state and federal judges. Seven became members of the United States House of Representatives, and six became United States Senators. James Wilson and Samuel Chase became Justices of the United States Supreme Court.

Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Elbridge Gerry each became Vice President, and John Adams and Thomas Jefferson became President. The sons of signers John Adams and Benjamin Harrison also became Presidents.

Five signers played major roles in the establishment of colleges and universities: Benjamin Franklin and the University of Pennsylvania; Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia; Benjamin Rush and Dickinson College; Lewis Morris and New York University; and George Walton and the University of Georgia.

John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Charles Carroll were the longest surviving signers. Adams and Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Charles Carroll of Maryland was the last signer to die -- in 1832 at the age of 95.

Sources: Robert Lincoln, Lives of the Presidents of the United States, with Biographical Notices of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence (Brattleboro Typographical Company, 1839); John and Katherine Bakeless, Signers of the Declaration (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1969);Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-1989 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989).

--Matthew Spalding is Director of the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies at The Heritage Foundation.