Posted on 06/29/2009 4:54:58 AM PDT by Walter Scott Hudson
I no longer subscribe to either of the following perceptions of our government:
1. The popular impression that we are a democracy where the will of the majority determines public policy.
2. The originally intended conception of American government as a constitutional republic consisting of representatives of the people whose votes reflect the will of their constituents, balanced with an intelligent, complete, and benevolent pursuit of the general welfare.
We have neither of those. What we have, as evidenced by the passage of the 1500 page Cap and Trade bill which included "a 300 page amendment that was introduced in the wee hours of Friday morning just before the five hour debate took place," is nothing less than socialist oligarchy. At the risk of projecting an amount of condescension, allow me to define that term. Socialism is when the state owns and administrates a society's means of production. Oligarchy is a form of government defined by the domination of a small elite distinguished by some common bond. In this case, the bond is religious belief in and intellectual advocacy for socialism, coupled with the power to manifest it.
The idea that our government values democracy, at least at the federal level, is laughable. How can it possibly be argued that the will of the people plays any role whatsoever in the formation and execution of law, when the very legislators creating it have no idea what it is, because it is brought to vote so quickly they cannot possibly have read it, and therefore cannot possibly have considered the perceived or actual will of their constituent's regarding how they should vote on it? Make that argument for me, please! Tell me what part of passing bills no one has attentively read, properly considered, and thoughtfully debated is democratic! Tell me how the legislators supporting it, overwhelming Democratic, are truly democratic champions of "the poorest of the poor" when they pass a Tax on Existence they admit will hit the poor harder than anyone?!
How does this happen? How does it keep happening time and time again? Where is the outrage? Anecdotal evidence suggests, just as with the bank bailout legislation before it, this Cap and Trade bill was overwhelmingly opposed by constituencies across the nation. Multiple media sources reported "melted" phone lines at Capital Hill, as citizens pushed and shoved their digital avatars through inadequate bandwidth, to bang on the doors shutting them out of the corridors of power, and demand the Congress not tax them any further. Please, they said, don't raise the cost of gas for us to get to our jobs everyday. Please, they said, don't raise the cost of heating our homes in the dead of winter. Please, they said, don't cost our employers anywhere from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars that they will only be able to recoup by outsourcing our jobs to China or Mexico. Please, Members. Please! Listen to us! We are your constituents! We put you in office to represent us, to provide for the general welfare, to act in reverence to the Constitution of the United States of America and the principles of governance upon which it is based! We are you! You are us! Why won't you listen?! Why don't you hear?!
They do hear, folks. They do. They don't listen, because they don't have to, because listening to constituents is a defining characteristic of representative government, and that is not what we have. We have no democracy. We have no republic. We have no constitution. There is only the Nietzschian will of an elite class of oligarchs, led by a personality cultist who openly despises the foundations of the nation he purportedly serves.
Where is the revolution?! It lies muted beneath the death of a likely child molester who could sing and dance. Where is the revolution?! It has been upstaged by the adulterous affair of a state governor. Where is the revolution?! It cannot compete for the fascination of a tabloid nation with the divorce of Jon & Kate. There is no revolution. At this rate, there won't be. Not enough of us realize what is happening to our country and our world. Of those who do, not enough will stand against it.
Forget phone calls. Forget letters. They do nothing. They have become steam values to release political pressure without effect. Folks, we need to take back our government now. Average citizens need to become the media, and replace our career-minded overseers in government, because the professionals are not doing their job. As consumers of media, we must stop ravenously snatching up the sensational bones we are thrown. Michael Jackson is dead; his problems are over. Wake up to yours! The enemy isn't at the gates; he's in your house! And he's kicking you out! Can't you see that through the pomp and circumstance of tabloid journalism? Can't you hear it over the worship hymns of Thriller and Billy Jean? Can't you feel it as it reaches out for your throat to choke the life from you and your children?! Wake up!! Your liberty is gone! The frog is cooked! You are subjects, not citizens. And you have no one to blame but yourselves.
It is my firm belief that people, on the whole, get the government they deserve. That was why, in my view, it was folly to go into Iraq with the notion that we would build that nation into a democracy. The only nation built from people outside it is the province of empire. And hey, that's fine if that's how you want to play it. Rome was both republic and empire. We can go that route if you want. But let's be honest about it, shall we? Let's call it what it is. Let's not fool ourselves into believing we're out spreading democracy abroad when we can't muster two beads of sweat to protect it at home!
Awareness of the state of American socialist oligarchy must erupt to a level triggering revolution now, or the increasingly shrinking window to revolt non-violently will pass. It has to start from the ground up, with private-citizen media rising up at the local level and state electoral overthrows of every single sitting incumbent legislator, along with any executive who has failed to be a leader in pursuit of liberty. Laws must be passed aggressively requiring the due consideration of legislation, perhaps with a set number of days required for debate for every page of a bill written to a defined format, something to keep this overnight passage of unread oligarchical decree from becoming the law of the land. Such law would have to be, to some reasonable extent, retroactive in recognition of the bad faith with which previously hyper-passed legislation has been foisted upon the people without their effective representation and often against their stated apparent will. Such good faith debate laws must be enacted for responsible media to be effective. After all, who needs media when the government doesn't answer to the people?
If you have never considered running for office, or attending a town hall meeting, or participating in a caucus, or starting a blog or podcast or video blog, you are the person that needs to take action now. Those who have already stepped up are clearly overwhelmed or otherwise ineffectual. You can no longer afford to sigh and plant your face in your palm and content yourself to blow off steam calling in to talk radio or engaging in pointless flame wars on a forum, assuming someone with more time or perceived skill will step up and represent your interest. They will not! You have to stand up for you! And you have to do it now! If you believe it is too late to restore the republic, then you are right.
Did FR crash this morning (or semi-crash) at 7:36 this AM?
It seems like the “Articles” are stuck with a Swiss Banking one as the last posted today at 7:35.
Anyone else see this?
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At one time I would have believed you. But since November 5, 2008, I have lost all faith in the American people. When all of what you mentioned happens, and it will what they will do is listen to the media. The media will blame former President Bush and the Republican Party. And so will the people.
I agree, the Tea Parties are the start..... I am willing and able to do everything possible to get rid of obamanation....
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I’m often struck by the atrocious conditions people have historically been willing to live in rather than leave or revolt. So long as they can develop a personally acceptable routine they will live it. Even today I’m baffled at white farmers still in Zimbabwe, civilians in Darfur (including a Canadian acquaintance raising his family there), and any number of other “hotspots” where the writing isn’t just on the wall - the message is screamed in everyone’s face every moment.
Last week I was touring crumbling remains of a fort, noting how not that long ago the upper crust of society lived in meager settings which would be deemed officially inhospitable today. We have a long way to fall in our modern culture before people would “do something”; so long as the TV is on and food is available, much will be tolerated.
what happened?
Look Rob - Janet Napolitano is looking for “proof” that the right wing is violent. They have shills trying to gin up the frustrated. Don’t fall for it. If you want to see violent people look at the local prisons and jails - all democrats. Look at the riots and cities burned in the last 50 years - all done by democrats. And I don’t mean one nutcase democrat - hundreds of democrats rioted. Hundreds of thousands of democrats are in jails and prisons. THEY ARE THE VIOLENT one. NOT US.
We don’t need a revolution and quit talking the “janet napolitano wet dream” talk. We need to vote in responsible people and vote out liberal idiots.
It is not about violence. It is about when it is applies.
Here are some more violent people:
The Korean business owners during the LA riots:
And, of course, this famous guy:
If our side ever gets violent, how "they" see us will be as irrelevant to us as King George's viewpoint was to George Washington on that cold evening on the Delaware.
There is violence, and then there is "violence".
Good counter-point.
[i]Are we their constituents ? If we didn’t vote for them, then we are not. A politician is in office because the majority of the people in his district believe in his views. Therefore, he is representing his constituents when he votes. So what good does it do to complain that he’s not representing those who didn’t vote for him. We need to vote in the guys/gals that represent OUR views in order to have the agenda go our way.
That’s how it works....[/i]
I disagree. If it were that simple, we’d just have a pure democracy. Being a statesmen in a republic means recognizing a responsibility larger than catering to the whims of those who voted for you instead of the other guy. It means representing the best interest of all the people in your constituency, whether they voted for you or not. If proposed legislation adversely affects one group at the expense of another, or violates the principles enshrined in the Constitution, it does not serve the general welfare.
But I get where you’re coming from. You’re reflecting the modern sense that we elect people to office, not to do a defined job, but to do whatever we want them to do for us. This is the way it has become, but not the way it is supposed to be. The election should be about qualification and affirmation of the constitutional role of government, not what the candidate can do for you or your special interest group.
They don’t listen, because they don’t have to, because listening to constituents is a defining characteristic of representative government, and that is not what we have. We have no democracy. We have no republic. We have no constitution. There is only the Nietzschian will of an elite class of oligarchs, led by a personality cultist who openly despises the foundations of the nation he purportedly serves.
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well said!
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