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.
The time is long past for the right to continue to fight with our hands tied behind our backs while the left fights with nukes.
The Constitution isn’t a suicide pact.
With the presidency, the supreme court, and 40 million illegal potential Democrats hiding in the shadows waiting for amnesty, this one is for all the marbles, and we MUST NOT LOSE.
You mean.. non-answer. Just as I expected.
It always crack me up to see bad grammar and/or misspellings from posters using "moron", "idiot", etc.
Great way to prove your point, ascheloche.
Do you feel stupid now? You made a whole thread with a wrongly attributed quote. Hahahahahahaha
Typing on a phone when you just wake up is not a good idea.
You beat me by only...an hour and a half...lol.
I hear you. But I was on a thread yesterday which surprised me with respectful disagreement.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3403392/posts
I agree that repetition of the same old, same old (regardless of content) is frustrating and provocative, unless some new argument can be made to support it. One liner drive by posts are a waste of electrons.
And it is especially frustrating to see them from the same handful of posters - regardless of "side."
Ed
The “various others” are listed. They are the people I quoted.
Let's examine: Donald Has Been Reading The Wrong Experts.
This is meant to invoke the image that Donald views negative players in history as "experts". They know a certain percentage will buy into this if for no other reason that people do not want to support a bad person. So if it is even remotely a possibility they move their support to someone else.
Has Donald ever said Mussolini was someone to look up to as a great leader, or that Mussolini was an expert at some particular endeavor? If he has provide the proof. Well of course there is no proof because he never made such a claim. However, it sets a tone that he must view him as such, otherwise, why would he quote him.
The reality is the quote did not begin with Mussolini anyway. The true goal is to imply that if Trump can share a quote that Mussolini once uttered he may be another Mussolini. We have had enough of these sophomoric attempts yo use innuendos to impugn not only Trump but ourselves. That we are somehow incapable of seeing Trump for who he is and what they want people to believe, what he may be. They have no proof of course, but they do have conviction.
Conviction of what I have come to the conclusion is, to aid the GOPe. I sure don't see it as supporting Ted Cruz, because they never even mention his name.
So sad, too bed, for them. Their tactics are not working. Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee and the 45th President of the United States unless they use their nuclear option of assassinating him.
Ben Franklin with his private navy under Pirate Luke Ryan?
Circumstances sometimes conspire to force a leader to rise against his inclination and and his will.
YOU missed the point of your own post. (stay with me a bit here)
You make valid points about co-equal government and being public servants etc. But you totally misapply your post to the reality we face today.
"It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep"
A lion is free (and fights for his freedom). A sheep is a slave (and meekly accepts his slavery).
This exact concept was phrased by Patrick Henry as "Give me liberty or give me death"
Over the last 20 years (or more!) the republicans have been acting like sheep. Meekly rolling over and letting the democrats (who have been acting like lions) get anything and everything they want. In those 20 years our country has been reduced from the best in the world to a mere shadow of itself.
Our freedoms have been eroded to the point that we can no longer speak truth in the public market place without being imprisoned or destroyed.
We have been enslaved to a government that rations health care and FORCES us to buy products we do not need or want.
Criminal elements (thugs and moslems and homosexuals) have been emboldened to the point that they now commit their crimes with no fear of suffering the consequences. Crime now pays!
Our borders have been left wide open and our border patrol has become no more than targets.
The list of damages goes on and on.
Because the republicans have been acting like sheep instead of like lions our equal branches of government have been thrown totally out of balance. We have an imperial presidency and a congress that merely rubber stamps anything he wants. We have a judicial system that is infested with evil people driven by their agenda who have no regard for the rule of law or our founding documents.
Acting like sheep CANNOT fix a system that is horribly broken. Only a lion has a chance of restoring our republic.
So when do we stop acting like sheep and rolling over and letting evil reign in this country? When do we start acting like lions and fighting to defend ourselves and the innocents that are being slaughtered here?
God called out men throughout His word to stand up and do what needed to be done. Sometimes he even used men who were NOT his people to get the job done (Nebuchadnezzar for one). Right now we NEED a lion to stand up and fix what is wrong here. Who are we to complain if God chooses (for His own purposes) to use someone who is apparently not a Christian or not what we would expect as long as the job gets done? Yes we are to pray. After all, God is sovereign. But we are also to work. God called us to be strong, not to be stupid.
You present a skewed picture of the founders...They were not sheep...They were Lions of the highest order...And what about the creator??? He told his disciples to go into the world and preach the Gospel...He certainly didn't send a bunch of sheep out there...He told them to grab a sword a go...You got this all wrong...Trump didn't get this wrong, you did...
LOL...great work on your homepage! All is forgiven! lol
My son found out it's a bad idea to use one's smartphone to fill out a job application, too. He couldn't figure out why his was rejected a nanosecond after submission. Simple, the type was too small to read, and he checked the wrong box on education. lol
Also requesting your forgiveness on my original post, I should have not inserted a German term.
Hitler said he’d like sausage for breakfast. At IHop, my daughter said she would like sausage for breakfast; therefore, my daughter is a Nazi.
You Rove-bots are bat-chit crazy.
Thank you for the well thought out post. Provocative headlines are there to attract attention, of course.
Which reminds me of a book that I have often mentioned on this board. I continue to believe it to be THE vital work to understand the information culture we all inhabit. It is amazing that Postman wrote it pre-Interned.
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985)
I would summarize the thesis as:
By it's very nature, television cannot be relied on to deliver complete information about anything. And when it tries to be most serious, it is most dangerous. Attracting the most eyeballs for highest revenues is the highest good. Every other agenda is in a distant second place.
Gotta go - meeting with the city on some drainage issues.
Churchill left Sandhurst and soldiered as a Subaltern, volunteering to join the forces going to fight a Muslim army in Sudan. He joined Kitchener and took part in the last cavalry charge of the British Army. Brandishing a Broomhandle Mauser pistol, due to having dislocated his shoulder, he plowed his horse headlong through a wadi packed with the enemy, shooting a man with every shot and killing at least five point blank.
After being taken as a prisoner of war in the Boer War he escaped, returning to England to win a seat in Parliament. At turns he earned a living as a Nobel Prize winning historian and rose in prominence as a recognized force in British politics. He was also a devoted and doting father.
During WWI he served as First Lord of the Admiralty, instituting a winning strategy to defeat the German U-boats, and somehow managing to develop tracked armored vehicles (tanks), which turned out to be the only effective offensive weapons. After his plan to force Turkey out of the war failed, he resigned and took a position as a Colonel with the forces at the front. He served there for the rest of the war.
After the war, he worked to resurrect his career and continued writing. However, through the 1920s and 1930s he was so unapologetically adamant about the looming threats of Soviet Communism and Italian/German Fascism that he was relegated to being a backbencher, an outcast in his own party, but he would not give up. He continued to work tirelessly, speaking to deaf ears, and being ridiculed mercilessly for it.
When war came and Chamberlain failed, he stepped up to the plate and became recognized for the bulldog that he was.
After the war, Churchill continued his fight against British socialism and Soviet Communism for another 20 years, being the central figure in the formation of NATO and tagging the Eastern bloc as the Iron Curtain.
Now let's look at Trumps accomplishments and tenacity.
Trump turned $100 million of 1970s NYC real estate into $4 billion of 2015 NYC real estate, a period when average NYC real estate increased in value by 1000%. Trump showed a willingness to take any position that got him press and he greased the palms of any politician that would take the money and perhaps worked with the mob to forward his own interests.
Good for Trump, but he is no W.S. Churchill.
I'd thank you to not insult Churchill's memory in such a manner again.
Yes, I'm familiar with the concept of which you speak, from my reading of Edward Gibbons seminal works.
The Roman Senate passed a senatus consultum authorizing the consuls to nominate a dictator based on the same premise as yours, i.e. sometimes you need a strong man and all those laws just get in the way.
If you really want to see an accurate description of the Trump phenomenon from our Framers, read what they wrote in Federalist #46.
-PJ
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