The United States Constitution in Article IV Section 4 states, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government”. Not to be confused with the GOP (Republican Party), it simply means that we have a representative republic for a national government. We don’t have a democracy, an oligarchy, a monarchy, or a dictatorship. We allegedly have the rule of law, division of branches of government, and a system of checks and balances. That seems to be lost on our current Commander in Chief.
There were three decisions by the Obama administration that directly affect some or all of us, depending upon your status, all of which are beyond the constitutional authority granted to the executive branch of government. Over-reaching power is nothing new. As a matter of fact, as of this writing (Monday afternoon), I will be teaching in a few hours on a huge power grab by the Supreme Court in the Marbury vs. Madison decision of 1803.
The Obama administration has determined that they will continue to enforce the so-called Obama Care health care reform legislation even though two courts have ruled it as unconstitutional. In another instance, the Obama administration has refused to allow the re-importation of historic military surplus rifles back into the United States, thus violating the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. Thirdly, the administration has decreed that the Defense of Marriage Act signed into law by then President Bill Clinton is unconstitutional and therefore will not enforce its provisions.
In the instance of Obama Care, it is sheer arrogance to continue to ram down a defeated and unwanted agenda. The government and the American people have bought into the principle of judicial review, a power never granted the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) or judicial branch yet was usurped anyway. That power was specifically debated and denied the judicial branch during the Constitutional Convention of 1787. If the judicial usurpation is accepted, then it applies regardless and we can not cherry pick what laws they can declare null. Either the court’s decision stands or it does not. If the law is indeed unconstitutional, then its continuation must also therefore be considered as such.
In the case of rifle importation, the Obama administration has simply decided to disallow the return of what General George Patton termed “The greatest battle implement ever devised”, the M1 Garand rifle. It served us brilliantly in World War II. During the Korean War, we left nearly a million M1 Garands and M1 Carbine rifles with the South Korean government.
I am a federally licensed Curio and Relics firearms collector. That means like thousands of other collectors in the nation, I went through a background check with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Many freedom loving, law abiding Americans, and/or shooting and history enthusiasts would also love to own an M1. This right is being denied by Barack Obama under the guise of not wanting the guns to “fall into the wrong hands”. Somehow I doubt that criminals will be engaged in using a long gun designed in the 1930’s that only holds 8 rounds when handguns are the preferred weapon of your average criminal. It is sort of hard for gang members to conceal the rifle, to carjack a car with, or for burglars to carry an M1 Garand during a break-in. This ban on the re-importation of historic rifles made by Americans for Americans is ridiculous.
Believe it or not, I tend to agree with Obama that the DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) is unconstitutional. However, the opportunity for the executive branch of government to declare it as unconstitutional rested with President Clinton. A later President can not simply declare something as unconstitutional and therefore not enforce the laws of the country. If you find the law repulsive, repeal it. We have a process set up for that. If we really want DOMA to be the law of the land, we should make it an amendment to The Constitution.
I have a copy of the letter sent to the Speaker of the House by the Attorney General’s office. The reasoning that DOMA “violates the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment” is preposterous. Not only is the Attorney General in error (the equal protection clause is not in the Fifth Amendment, it is in the 14th), but the amendment was designed to provide equal treatment under the law to people regardless of their skin color. Homosexuals have the same right to marry someone of the opposite sex as I do, so there is therefore equal protection under the law.
For the executive branch to simply deem a law unconstitutional and therefore refuse to enforce the law is a dangerous precedent, not to mention that ironically is in itself unconstitutional. What if a future president decided that the Civil Rights Act was unconstitutional and therefore refused to enforce it? This sort of thing can cut both ways.
We are supposed to be a representative republic, but if we allow things to continue, we are well on the way to becoming the very sort of dictatorship that President Obama has recently condemned in Libya, Egypt, and the Middle East.
Showing posts with label republican government. Show all posts
Showing posts with label republican government. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Column for Dec. 18, 2008
The end of days for America if we have a new Constitutional Convention
I have heard for years about signs of the end of time, and that we are living in "the end times". People have thought that same thing in every generation since the first century A.D. I do believe, however, that we are living in the end times of the United States of America. America as we know it will cease to exist.
For those who do not know, I regularly teach along with two cohorts in a project called The Patriots Pub. In The Pub (as I call it), we have taught about American history and what led to the writing of our Constitution. Currently, we have been teaching through the day by day account of The Constitutional Convention of 1787. There are some 50+ hours of narrative and commentary available on the internet thus far. www.patriotspub.us
There has been a call for another Constitutional Convention. That is nothing new. What is new is that we may actually get one this time. At the time of publication, 32 states have already signed on to the idea. Only two more states need to agree to the concept before Congress has to call for a convention. Once 2/3 of the states agree to call for a convention, it is required under the existing constitution to have one (Article V).
Make no mistake that if there is a new convention, our existing constitution will be tossed out the window. Congress gets to decide how delegates to the convention would be chosen. We currently have liberals in charge of Congress. We are going to have a flaming liberal (rated as the most liberal Senator in the entire Senate) as our president.
I have had the discussion lately with those who support the automobile industry bail out about its merits. My repeated question was to show me where in the Constitution that the government was allowed to make any sort of loan to the automobile industry, much less the financial system bail out that is 57 times larger. Alas, there was no answer found. Such an idea may end up in a new constitution.
In a constitutional convention, there is no limitation on the scope of the convention. In the 1787 convention, the Articles of Confederation were to be revised for better efficiency in government. Instead, the convention eventually scrapped them in favor of an entirely new constitution. We could see the same thing happen in our day.
If this were to happen, know that your First Amendment rights could be curtailed if the amendment is either stricken or amended. The same goes for the Second Amendment. Our gun rights, freedom of speech, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, freedom of press, and reservation of rights to the states, to name a few, could all be wiped out. We could easily lose the requirement of natural born citizenship for eligibility to be president. We could have someone from nations in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, or any other place in the world run for and be elected as the chief executive in this nation. The wisdom of the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 was to ensure a nationalistic tendency and loyalty.
When corrupt men write documents to justify or further their corrupt ways, it can only harm a nation. I have read extensively through the notes of James Madison about the first convention and the fears of government getting into the hands of corrupt men. Thus, we have some of the provisions and methods of government we have today and have had for well over 200 years. I can foresee the Constitution being rewritten or replaced to adapt to the whims of the ethically challenged.
President-elect Barack Hussein Obama has himself criticized the Constitution "because it fails to address wealth redistribution". Wealth redistribution? Folks, did you get that? He believes that the Constitution should allow for the government to forcibly take away your money at gunpoint and give it to those who have less of it than you do. Does this give you just a hint of what his supporters in Congress (who are in the majority) are going to do when appointing convention delegates?
I guarantee that we are going to have written into a new constitution provisions for homosexual marriage, abortion rights, gun control, a provision for the currently absent "separation of church and state" (only in the Supreme Court's opinion does this separation exist. It is not in the present constitution, just as with abortion rights), and a host of other liberal twaddle. Obama has said that the Constitution "needs to be interpreted through the lens of current events". That is indeed liberal twaddle.
Our own state, North Carolina, has already voted in the call for a new convention. If just two more states call for the same, then America may very well cease to exist as we know it.
I have heard for years about signs of the end of time, and that we are living in "the end times". People have thought that same thing in every generation since the first century A.D. I do believe, however, that we are living in the end times of the United States of America. America as we know it will cease to exist.
For those who do not know, I regularly teach along with two cohorts in a project called The Patriots Pub. In The Pub (as I call it), we have taught about American history and what led to the writing of our Constitution. Currently, we have been teaching through the day by day account of The Constitutional Convention of 1787. There are some 50+ hours of narrative and commentary available on the internet thus far. www.patriotspub.us
There has been a call for another Constitutional Convention. That is nothing new. What is new is that we may actually get one this time. At the time of publication, 32 states have already signed on to the idea. Only two more states need to agree to the concept before Congress has to call for a convention. Once 2/3 of the states agree to call for a convention, it is required under the existing constitution to have one (Article V).
Make no mistake that if there is a new convention, our existing constitution will be tossed out the window. Congress gets to decide how delegates to the convention would be chosen. We currently have liberals in charge of Congress. We are going to have a flaming liberal (rated as the most liberal Senator in the entire Senate) as our president.
I have had the discussion lately with those who support the automobile industry bail out about its merits. My repeated question was to show me where in the Constitution that the government was allowed to make any sort of loan to the automobile industry, much less the financial system bail out that is 57 times larger. Alas, there was no answer found. Such an idea may end up in a new constitution.
In a constitutional convention, there is no limitation on the scope of the convention. In the 1787 convention, the Articles of Confederation were to be revised for better efficiency in government. Instead, the convention eventually scrapped them in favor of an entirely new constitution. We could see the same thing happen in our day.
If this were to happen, know that your First Amendment rights could be curtailed if the amendment is either stricken or amended. The same goes for the Second Amendment. Our gun rights, freedom of speech, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, freedom of press, and reservation of rights to the states, to name a few, could all be wiped out. We could easily lose the requirement of natural born citizenship for eligibility to be president. We could have someone from nations in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, or any other place in the world run for and be elected as the chief executive in this nation. The wisdom of the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 was to ensure a nationalistic tendency and loyalty.
When corrupt men write documents to justify or further their corrupt ways, it can only harm a nation. I have read extensively through the notes of James Madison about the first convention and the fears of government getting into the hands of corrupt men. Thus, we have some of the provisions and methods of government we have today and have had for well over 200 years. I can foresee the Constitution being rewritten or replaced to adapt to the whims of the ethically challenged.
President-elect Barack Hussein Obama has himself criticized the Constitution "because it fails to address wealth redistribution". Wealth redistribution? Folks, did you get that? He believes that the Constitution should allow for the government to forcibly take away your money at gunpoint and give it to those who have less of it than you do. Does this give you just a hint of what his supporters in Congress (who are in the majority) are going to do when appointing convention delegates?
I guarantee that we are going to have written into a new constitution provisions for homosexual marriage, abortion rights, gun control, a provision for the currently absent "separation of church and state" (only in the Supreme Court's opinion does this separation exist. It is not in the present constitution, just as with abortion rights), and a host of other liberal twaddle. Obama has said that the Constitution "needs to be interpreted through the lens of current events". That is indeed liberal twaddle.
Our own state, North Carolina, has already voted in the call for a new convention. If just two more states call for the same, then America may very well cease to exist as we know it.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Column for Nov. 20, 2008
Retreating is not a bad tactical move at times. I have been studying the American Revolutionary War, seeing the tactics used by various generals of both sides. There were a lot of tactical victories for the colonials seeking independence, though the traditional thought was that securing the field of battle at the end of a conflict was considered victory. In the economy of life, however, retreating can itself be victory.
I don't know if it is just a phase I am going through or what, but I have personally decided to retreat from many things and activities that have frustrated me, taken up time I felt was more valuably spent elsewhere, or just not really meaningful in the grand scheme of things. For a long time, I knew that there were changes coming in America. I knew the form in which they would come. I have even made some predictions i this very column. In today's time, I am watching them come to pass. The prophets of old did not always get to see their prognostications come to pass. Often, their prophecies would take hundreds or thousands of years to come to pass. One did not need to be a prophet, however, to see where this nation has been headed; just a casual student of history and a little bit of politics.
As much as I have desired to be more active in my community, I have decided to concentrate on those areas that have a more permanent or even eternal consequence. That does not mean that I have lost passion or opinion. I have just decided to retreat from other things like blogging, talk show hosting, memberships in ineffective organizations, etc. Sure, I still want to reach for the imaginary death ray or missile launch buttons on my car's dashboard when I see an Obama bumper sticker on the back of a car driven by some ignorant supporter. To be fair, I do have an adverse yet less visceral reaction to McCain bumper stickers.
Knowing that this nation is heading into a downward spiral, I have stayed the course by picking away bit by bit on the mountain of ideas. I pray that I have been effective to some degree. In the grand scheme of things, I wonder if it will make any difference.
I wrote one time about the quotation attributed to Alexander Tytler, a Scottish history professor from the 1700's. "A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship." We are seeing that very thing right before our eyes with massive federal and state spending, bailouts, entitlement programs, and the promise of government run health care.
Tytler also wrote that on average, the age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During the 200 year cycle, each great civilization always progressed through the following sequence:
1. From bondage to spiritual faith
2. From spiritual faith to great courage
3. From courage to liberty
4. From liberty to abundance
5. From abundance to complacency
6. From complacency to apathy
7. From apathy to dependence
8. From dependence back into bondage
I believe that we are in the apathy to dependence stage right now, and have been losing ground in that stage for the past 20 years or so.
What is it that yields a nation that looks to raid the public treasury for their own benefit? Power and money. The root of all sorts of evil, we are told by scripture, is the love of money. How then, can people who claim to support or uplift those same scriptures vote for someone such as Barack Obama? I have wondered that myself and seriously doubt the spiritual Moxie of anyone who did vote for him or anyone else of his ilk. I make no apologies for the position. I have had people question my staunch position as such in the past, though not necessarily dealing specifically with Obama. Usually I get an accusation, I reply with reasoned answers and citations for my faith or positions, and get either no or emotional responses. That is fine. I know where I stand and why.
With our slide towards apathy and dependence rather than concern and independence, I have been preparing for quite a while for the apostasy of not only spiritual values, but also of this nation's civil values upon which it was built.
I don't know if it is just a phase I am going through or what, but I have personally decided to retreat from many things and activities that have frustrated me, taken up time I felt was more valuably spent elsewhere, or just not really meaningful in the grand scheme of things. For a long time, I knew that there were changes coming in America. I knew the form in which they would come. I have even made some predictions i this very column. In today's time, I am watching them come to pass. The prophets of old did not always get to see their prognostications come to pass. Often, their prophecies would take hundreds or thousands of years to come to pass. One did not need to be a prophet, however, to see where this nation has been headed; just a casual student of history and a little bit of politics.
As much as I have desired to be more active in my community, I have decided to concentrate on those areas that have a more permanent or even eternal consequence. That does not mean that I have lost passion or opinion. I have just decided to retreat from other things like blogging, talk show hosting, memberships in ineffective organizations, etc. Sure, I still want to reach for the imaginary death ray or missile launch buttons on my car's dashboard when I see an Obama bumper sticker on the back of a car driven by some ignorant supporter. To be fair, I do have an adverse yet less visceral reaction to McCain bumper stickers.
Knowing that this nation is heading into a downward spiral, I have stayed the course by picking away bit by bit on the mountain of ideas. I pray that I have been effective to some degree. In the grand scheme of things, I wonder if it will make any difference.
I wrote one time about the quotation attributed to Alexander Tytler, a Scottish history professor from the 1700's. "A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship." We are seeing that very thing right before our eyes with massive federal and state spending, bailouts, entitlement programs, and the promise of government run health care.
Tytler also wrote that on average, the age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During the 200 year cycle, each great civilization always progressed through the following sequence:
1. From bondage to spiritual faith
2. From spiritual faith to great courage
3. From courage to liberty
4. From liberty to abundance
5. From abundance to complacency
6. From complacency to apathy
7. From apathy to dependence
8. From dependence back into bondage
I believe that we are in the apathy to dependence stage right now, and have been losing ground in that stage for the past 20 years or so.
What is it that yields a nation that looks to raid the public treasury for their own benefit? Power and money. The root of all sorts of evil, we are told by scripture, is the love of money. How then, can people who claim to support or uplift those same scriptures vote for someone such as Barack Obama? I have wondered that myself and seriously doubt the spiritual Moxie of anyone who did vote for him or anyone else of his ilk. I make no apologies for the position. I have had people question my staunch position as such in the past, though not necessarily dealing specifically with Obama. Usually I get an accusation, I reply with reasoned answers and citations for my faith or positions, and get either no or emotional responses. That is fine. I know where I stand and why.
With our slide towards apathy and dependence rather than concern and independence, I have been preparing for quite a while for the apostasy of not only spiritual values, but also of this nation's civil values upon which it was built.
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