Part II: Why We Need To Reeducate Ourselves to the US Constitution
What a miracle our Constitution represents and why we are a nation ruled by laws and not men.
9.18.2009
Written by Russ Magarity
Edited by Chris Janelli
Howdy Folks,
First a couple of comments regarding the news and the loons writing it, or spotlighted.
Jimmy Carter needs to go back to the peanut farm. He is just one of the left wing loons trying to build a case that anyone criticizing the President is a racist. How about we the people just do not like the left wing programs he is trying to jam down our throats while lying about most of it.
New polls out reveal that 65% of physicians polled oppose the HR health care proposal, and 45% said they would retire if it passes. And by the way, when the administration runs around saying that the AMA is supporting the bill, the AMA only represents about 17% of all doctors. And I guess the One’s HOORA speech in front of Congress was only good for about 2 days. A small spike up, 7 points in the polls, and then right back down to 55% oppose.
And poor Max Baucus, the head of the Senate Finance Committee chair of the gang of 6; he must have been sick to his stomach when he couldn't even round up a lone Democrat to stand beside him when he made his big announcement of the compromise bill coming out of the Senate Committee. That’s what happens when you have a public option still in this crappy bill, to say nothing of the cost.
Let me just say a word about cost. Everyone knows that this bill is not expected to be implemented right away; right? Well parts of it are, like the part where it is mandatory to participate and taxes and fines are levied, that part is there. However, I think this is used to bankroll, i.e. squirrel away funds for the first 9 years so it won't show a deficit. The Trillion dollar gap is in the second 10 years. This is all a fraud. Queen Pelosi and Dufuss Reid cannot seem to muster the votes. The "nuclear" option of "reconciliation" is back on the table. If they attempt this they had better kill everyone because the nuclear response will incinerate whoever thought this is/was a good idea.
Speaking of incineration, ACORN is finally on the front burner, although not sure where ABC’s Charley Gibson’s head is at. Two days ago, days after the scandal broke, Charlie still hadn't even heard about it and didn't even know there was a problem! Now that highlights the real problem of main stream media’s glaring reluctance to honestly address real issues. What about the 7 Senators who did not vote to defund ACORN!! Six of them lawyers, two were state attorney generals and others had been state treasurers and controllers. I guess they’re saying “ACORN is innocent until proven guilty so keep the funding going to them.”
Email these corrupt politicians, and your representatives demanding an investigation and top to bottom audit to find out where our $55 million doled out to ACORN went. And stop every dime, including pulling back the $8.5 billion set aside in the stimulus bill, until we get some answers. Expect more than a few folks to get thrown under the bus by team O before this one is over.
I think it is time to embrace regular Democrats, I mean give them a hug. They cannot have voted for this kind of stuff. We need a new party of Americans.
This gives me a good segue way into tonight’s lesson on the constitution and why it is such a great document. This comes courtesy of the C. Skousen who wrote The 5000 Year Leap, a book I hope you will buy, read and pass on.
We left off where the Founding Fathers wrestled with the concepts of ruling or controlling through the use of political power and not by the more misunderstood use of political parties. They were looking for balance and found it in establishing a Republic and The People's Law. For this reason I am going to skip ahead a bit to clarify some confusion as to whether we are a Republic or a Democracy.
Folks we are.......drum roll please.............a Republic.
This is highlighted of course in our pledge of allegiance-- "And to the Republic for which it stands.” The reason the founders wanted us to have a Republic was because a republican form of government is not democratic. "Theoretically a democracy requires the full participation of the masses of the people in the legislative or decision making processes of government." This never really works in practice as people are just too busy with their lives to properly study the issues and participate to say nothing of the distance between population centers. Even the Greeks had trouble with this in their City States due to the unwieldy nature of the process compounded of course by increases in population. A Republic on the other hand governs through elected representatives. Madison offered this definition: ".....a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure for a limited period of time, or during good behavior. It is essential to such a government that it be derived from the great body of the society, not from an inconsiderable proportion or a favored class of it."
There was a strong wish to avoid Tyranny, or Rulers Law, which are best recognized by some of these characteristics. You may recognize some of them in our current state of affairs:
"All sovereign power is considered to be in the conqueror or his descendents.
The thrust of governmental power is from the top down, not from the people up
The entire country is considered to be the property of the realm and frequently bears his name.
The people have no inalienable rights.
The "king" giveth and the "king" taketh away.
Government is by the whims of men, not by the fixed rule of law, which the people need in order to govern their affairs with confidence.
The ruler issues edicts which are called "the law." He then interprets the law and enforces it, thus maintaining tyrannical control over the people.
Under the Ruler's Law, problems are always solved by issuing more edicts or laws, setting up more bureaus, harassing the people with more regulators, and charging the people for these services by continually adding to their burden of taxes.
Freedom is never looked upon as a viable solution to anything"
Characteristics of the People's Law, particularly admired by Thomas Jefferson, stemmed from Anglo Saxon Common Law. Here are a few points which are freedoms that we all believe we have, but are today mostly illusory :
"You are considered to be a commonwealth of freemen. All decisions and the selection of leaders had to be with the consent of the people, preferably by full consensus, not just a majority.
The law by which we are governed is considered natural laws given by divine dispensation, and so well known by the people they did not have to be written down.
Power is dispersed among the people and never allowed to concentrate in any one person or group.
Even in time of war, the authority granted to the leaders was temporary and the power of the people to remove them was direct and simple.
Primary responsibility for resolving problems rested first of all with the individual, then the family, then the tribe or community, then the region, and finally the nation.
The people were to be organized into small manageable groups where every adult had a voice and a vote. They considered dividing into units of 10 families who elected a leader; then fifty families who elected a leader; then a hundred families who elected a leader, and then a thousand families who elected a leader......
The people's rights were considered inalienable, and could not be violated without risking the wrath of the divine justice as well as civil retribution by the people's judges.
The system of justice was structured on the basis of severe punishment unless complete reparations to the person who had been wronged were made. Problems were expected to be solved at the level where the problem originated.
It took the Founders 180 years to come up with the right formula. There were in fact a couple of missteps. Eleven years before the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, the framers met in 1776 to write the first Constitution for the Country; it is known as the Articles of Confederation. This almost cost us to lose the War for Independence. At first you will recall that the Revolutionary War began as a war to protect the rights of the people from the arrogant oppression of a tyrannical king. The Articles of Confederation as initially drafted was thought to have taken too much power from the colonies in favor of the central government. In the end the central government was given no power whatsoever except for those expressly authorized by the states following Independence. There was no executive, no judiciary, no taxing power, and no enforcement power. It functioned more like a committee making recommendations; it failed. It had moved too far toward Anarchy.
The losses at Valley Forge and Morristown were a result of not being able to supply the Continental Army highlighted the weakness of such a government. So in the context of terrible divisions between the states, a depressed economy, a devalued Continental dollar, 60 men met for 4 tedious months. Their objective was to seek a consensus or general agreement on what the Constitution should provide, and succeeded except for a couple of contentious issues: slavery, proportional representation, and regulation of commerce. These issues had to be settled by compromise. When it went to the states to be ratified, several of the larger states rejected it based on the more contentious areas. Thus the attempt was made to ratify the parts they could agree upon and make amendments to areas they could not come to agreement on. Of the 189 submitted, they were reduced to 12, or which 10 were approved. Today these 10 are known as our Bill of Rights.
Tomorrow a few warnings from the Founders and the 1st Principal enunciated based on the writing of Cicero’s “Natural Law.”
Your Humble Writer, Russ
About Russ Magarity
Jackson, Wyoming Distressed Patriot Russell Magarity and Chris Janelli, Chief Distressed Patriot, have been business associates and close friends since working together at Chase Manhattan Asia in Hong Kong. Russ grew up in Cuba and Panama and graduated from High School in Peru. He received a BA in International Relations from the University of Oklahoma (Norman), an M.B.A. from the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara (Mexico), and a Masters in International Management (with Distinction) from the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird).
Russ spent his career with Chase running countries and managing corporate finance businesses in Brazil, Mexico, Hong Kong and throughout SE Asia. Prior to joining Chase, he served in the US Navy for 9 years first as a Midshipman and Naval Aviator. As a carrier pilot, he served 3 tours in Vietnam and flew over 250 missions.
|
2.8.2010
When the Census Clowns Come Knocking, Remind Them the U.S. Constitution Enumerates Exactly What You Need to Answer; and Nothing More
I love my country, but I am appalled by my government
12.21.09
The Republicans Had 6+ Years to Legislate Changes to America's Health Care Problems
12.15.09
Nobel Peace Prize Recipient Honest Al Say's Planet Core Millions of Degrees Hot
For all the hoopla, earth's atmospheric temperature has risen one half of 1% in the last 100 years.
12.11.09
Meet Ted Cruz, the Republican Obama
Republican leadership must speak to the values of mainstream Americans; there are few doing that. The Republican Party must elect people who have firm principles; backbone and the ability to communicate.
12.10.09
American Prisoner Labor to Put More Americans on Unemployment
The title of their new playbook should be: American Gulag by Barry Soetoro and Van Jones
11.8.09
THE SCIENCE OF CLIMATEGATE, MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS, AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PARADIGM CHANGE
What Might They Have in Common?
|
