Posted on 03/01/2016 3:17:55 AM PST by The Ghost of FReepers Past
Donald Trump's affection for the Mussolini statement, "It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep." reveals a mindset very much at odds with the Framers of our U.S. Constitution.
To the Framers, power was something they wanted to minimize, in every government office and officeholder.
Patrick Henry said, "Power is the great evil with which we are contending. We have divided power between three branches of government and erected checks and balances to prevent abuse of power.
Thomas Jefferson worried about abuse of power in the Judicial Branch. He said, ""The judiciary of the United States is the subtle corps of sappers and miners constantly working under ground to undermine the foundations of our confederated fabric. They are construing our constitution from a co-ordination of a general and special government to a general and supreme one alone."
Jefferson saw the role of the President as being administrator of the Constitution, a Constitution belonging to the people and in accord with its original meaning. He said, "The Constitution on which our Union rests, shall be administered by me [as President] according to the safe and honest meaning contemplated by the plain understanding of the people of the United States at the time of its adoption -- a meaning to be found in the explanations of those who advocated, not those who opposed it, and who opposed it merely lest the construction should be applied which they denounced as possible."
Thomas Paine worried about executive power when he wrote the pamphlet, "Common Sense." He said, "But where says some is the king of America? I'll tell you Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America the law is king. For as in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other. But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right it is. "
Samuel Adams noted his distaste for a strongman lion leader when, after all the delegates signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, he said: "We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in Heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His Kingdom come."
The Declaration itself was a detailed list of grievances against a lion leader. A portion of that sentiment was this: "The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world."
After listing their grievances they stated this: "We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown..."
Instead of a strongman, the Founders of this Nation considered the only hands in which our liberty was safe were the Hands of God. As Jefferson said, "Can the liberties of a nation be sure when we remove their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people, that these liberties are the gift of God?"
They believed that our Nation was blessed, not because of its own goodness, but because of God's grace and our dependence on Him. Benjamin Franklin: said “The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?”
Notice the lack of self pride and arrogance in these men? They were students of history and deep thinkers. They understood the danger of power in the hands of corruptible men. They believed that power and glory belonged to the Creator, not the President.
Mr Trump, being the self proclaimed good Christian that he is, ought to know, the Bible teaches pride comes before destruction; humility comes before honor; that it is better for another to tout your accomplishments, rather than brag about yourself; that God commands we humble ourselves before Him; that it is His greatness and honor and glory we should seek, not our own; that God will bless the meek and punish the proud and defiant; that vengeance belongs to God, not to Donald Trump.
Right and wrong are not the flip side of winning and losing. Mussolini's lion like power was an evil power. Right and wrong are revealed in the understand of the difference between good and evil. That sort of wisdom is understood over time, by a careful self examination and effort to inform ones conscience, preferably with wisdom from above shown through the light of history. People who show signs of possessing that wisdom do not dwell on their own greatness, but they are able and willing to admit when they are wrong.
God is the only one who can make America great again. Unless we "restore the Sovereign to whom all men ought to be obedient" it will never happen.
Mr. Trump, maybe you have been reading the wrong experts.
I think he only reads tweets. Obviously low info guy, probably why he doesn’t release his transcripts. But he can say wall.
Oh, I don’t know, my image of Samuel Adams is pretty darn bombastic !
I think we need a little more of Samuel Adams’ bombastic right now.
Right. But the country survived. That’s the point.
Trump will be hired for 4 year job. Some people tend to overcomplicate it and get too poetic.
That’s right, our founding fathers were not lions... They were giant lions with wings and foresight.
Bunch of wussified pansies all worried about it.
Excellent !!!
Our founding fathers led a war to expel England. They were not exactly pussy cats. They also had to fight to defend the constitution against royalists.
1 Peter 5:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
We’ll get back to the Constitution AFTER cleaning up the NIGHTMARE that both Bush-43 and Obama has left this country in.
We had to do EXACTLY THE SAME in WW2, and we survived it.
They were removing lion rule and establishing “we the people” rule with only God as their Sovereign and the law as their contract.
It was exactly the point.
It was an attempt by Gawker to entrap Trump into quoting a fascist dictator. It backfired because it wasn't a Mussolini quote, it was from Italian soldiers in 1917 defending to the death their village from attack in WW1.
-PJ
Churchill foresaw the threat not only from the rearmament of Germany in the 1930s, but the threat of Soviet expansionism after World War II. He was far more prescient and analytical than Trump ever could be.
BFD. The British were the roaring lions, look at their livery.
In any case it’s a statement about living your life boldly and not as a timid follower. Much like Teddy Roosevelt’s statement about the man in the arena.
Yes, I understand that you are an expert on Churchill. So expert that you write 3 lines in reply.
The common factor between the two is grim determination to bring their nation to its full potential.
Just because you continually look for a savior does not mean I do. You are wrong about that.
Trump has accomplished much in business, and there is no reason to believe that he will not be a great president. He seems to have done quite well so far despite the continuous slings and arrows of detractors. When anyone steps forward to accomplish much, in the modern era, the attacks signify the potential for greatness.Quietude loves the mundane, and these are hardly the times for that.
Churchill stepped up when his country needed him. It is the same with Trump.
Yes, I understand that you are an expert on Churchill. So expert that you write 3 lines in reply.
The common factor between the two is grim determination to bring their nation to its full potential.
Just because you continually look for a savior does not mean I do. You are wrong about that.
Trump has accomplished much in business, and there is no reason to believe that he will not be a great president. He seems to have done quite well so far despite the continuous slings and arrows of detractors. When anyone steps forward to accomplish much, in the modern era, the attacks signify the potential for greatness.Quietude loves the mundane, and these are hardly the times for that.
Churchill stepped up when his country needed him. It is the same with Trump.
I am not a Trumpster... however, I do find the irrational reactions everyone has to his tweets or statements incredulous. The one thing Trump understands better than anyone, is how to manipulate the media... and in that I mean so that they give him Free air time in exchange for ratings. The overreaction to him, which gives air to the Trump=Hitler memes is pathological.
Let’s pretend for a moment, Trump is Hitler. And? Is our system of govt set up to support a fascist? I would argue that Obama has already attempted to take us down the road of fascist socialism, and that was only possible because of a complicit democratic congress. So do you believe the republican or democratic congress would support a Hitler? I also do not believe merely holding a nativist view is what designates you as a fascist. Supporting the idea that the federal government directs the means of production, is what ultimately directs control to a totalitarian system.
The Mussolini quote is actually a great quote, and not his originally... the fact Trump tweeted it, is sticking his finger in the eye of the left.
The population of the festering sore on the Potomac is now 6 million.
This is very thin.
Moreover while getting out his own message he so distracts his opposition that they forget to get their own message out. What does Rubio stand for? Marco may know - he doesn't - but we certainly don't. Foam boy is so distracted about worrying about his manhood that he doesn't tell us what he would do.
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