Posted on 04/12/2012 7:14:38 AM PDT by Kaslin
What if the government never took the Constitution seriously? What if the same generation -- in some cases the same human beings -- that wrote in the First Amendment, "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech," also enacted the Alien and Sedition Acts, which made it a crime to criticize the government? What if the feds don't regard the Constitution as the Supreme Law of the Land?
What if the government regards the Constitution as merely a guideline to be referred to from time to time, or a myth to be foisted upon the voters, but not as a historic delegation of power that lawfully limits the federal government? What if Congress knows that most of what it regulates puts it outside the confines of the Constitution, but it does whatever it can get away with? What if the feds don't think that the Constitution was written to keep them off the people's backs?
What if there's no substantial difference between the two major political parties? What if the same political mentality that gave us the Patriot Act, with its federal agent-written search warrants that permit unconstitutional spying on us, also gave us Obamacare, with its mandate to buy health insurance, even if we don't want or need it? What if both political parties love power more than freedom? What if both parties have used the Commerce Clause in the Constitution to stretch the power of the federal government far beyond its constitutionally ordained boundaries and well beyond the plain meaning of words?
What if both parties love war because the public is more docile during war and permits higher taxes and more federal theft of freedom from individuals and power from the states? What if none of these recent wars has made us freer or safer, but just poorer?
What if Congress bribed the states with cash in return for their enacting legislation that Congress likes, but cannot lawfully enact? What if Congress went to all states in the union and offered them cash to repave their interstate highways, if the states only lowered their speed limits? What if the states took that deal? What if the Supreme Court approved this bribery and then Congress did it again and again? What if this bribery were a way for Congress to get around the few constitutional limitations that Congress acknowledges?
What if Congress believes that it can spend tax dollars on anything it pleases and tie any strings it wants to that spending? What if Congress uses its taxing and spending power to regulate anything it wants to control, whether authorized by the Constitution or not? What if anyone other than members of Congress offered state legislatures cash in return for favorable legislation? What if Congress wrote laws that let it break laws that ordinary people would be prosecuted for breaking?
What if the Declaration of Independence says that the government derives its powers from the consent of the governed? What if the government claims to derive powers from some other source that it will not -- because it cannot -- name? What if we never gave the government the power to spy on us, to print worthless cash, to kill in our names, to force us to buy health insurance or to waste our money by telling us that exercise is good and sugar is bad?
What if we never gave the government the power to bribe the poor with welfare or the middle class with tax breaks or the rich with bailouts or the states with cash? What if we don't consent to what has become of the government? What if the Constitution has been tacitly amended by the consent of both political parties, whereby instead of ratifying amendments, all three branches of government merely look the other way when the government violates the Constitution? What if the president cannot constitutionally bomb whatever country he wants? What if the Congress cannot constitutionally exempt its members from the laws that govern the rest of us? What if the courts cannot constitutionally invent a right to kill babies in the womb?
What if the federal government is out of control, no matter which party controls it? What if there is only harmony on Capitol Hill when government is growing and personal liberty is shrinking? What if the presidential race this fall will not be between good and evil, between right and left, between free markets and central planning or even between constitutional government and Big Government; but only about how much bigger Big Government should get?
What if enough is enough? What do we do about it? What if it's too late?
“What if enough is enough? What do we do about it? What if it’s too late?”
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Say a prayer at the funeral of our late, great republic, she’s dead, Jim.
Wow . . . just wow.
I wish "Constitutionalists" would stop carping about the Alien and Sedition Acts.
They were unconstitutional, as they were outside the area of the enumerated jurisdiction of the federal government.
Why in the world would we ignore pertinent facts?
Even Patrick Henry, one of the original anti-federalists who opposed ratification of the Constitution, became a Federalist after its adoption. One of his last public acts was to argue against the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions and in defense of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Are you even aware that they were the response to the very first "red scare" in our history?
Conservative worship of Thomas Jefferson has got to stop.
No. Not now. Not EVER!
Have you lacerated your Bible as well?
And I agree.
I merely point out that Jefferson's "strict construction" theory was one of two positions taken by the Founders. The conservatives were Federalists.
You mean like 1861? 750,000 dead in that one, they would never settle with that few casualties now.
George Wallace set the precedent for that when he acknowledged that a U. S, Marshal could arrest him, of defying a court. Since then federal courts have cr@pped all over the governors. Jan Brewer comes to mind.
Whwn have we had a governor use the State National Guard like a State Army? Oklahoma's 9th Governor, Alfalfa Bill Murray,
Interesting post.
Since the man who WROTE the Constitution said they were unconstitutional, Henry's change of position is immaterial, as his opinion could not make them so.
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Are you even aware that they were the response to the very first "red scare" in our history?
Don't be insulting. I know exactly why the acts were passed.
So do you believe if people are frightened enough, the Constitution becomes moot?
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Have you lacerated your Bible as well?
Have you stopped beating your wife?
Just because Jefferson detested the politicalization of the church didn't mean he wasn't a Christian.
Thomas Jefferson- Letter To Dr. Benjamin Rush (April 21, 1803) :
In some of the delightful conversations with you in the evenings of 1798-99, and which served as an anodyne to the afflictions of the crisis through which our country was then laboring, the Christian religion was sometimes our topic; and I then promised you that one day or other I would give you my views of it. They are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from that anti-Christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed, but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he wished anyone to be: sincerely attached to his doctrines in preference to all others, ascribing to himself every human excellence, and believing he never claimed any other.
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One would think someone who is so quick to question the historical knowledge of others would be aware of a few facts themselves.
Are you even aware that they were the response to the very first "red scare" in our history?
Don't be insulting. I know exactly why the acts were passed.
So do you believe if people are frightened enough, the Constitution becomes moot?
Do you regard Senator McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover as potential tyrants as well for their opposition to subversion?
Just because Jefferson detested the politicalization of the church didn't mean he wasn't a Christian.
Jefferson's own definition as you have quoted it defines "chr*stianity" as adherence to the ethical concepts taught by J*sus rather than to any dogmatic religion. This is the same "chr*stianity" of the National and World Council of Churches, Barak Obama, and ever liberal chr*stian.
Does your religion reduce to rationalistic ethics as well?
Just go vote for Romney and get over it.</sarcasm>
Exactly. The best armed forces outside of our military are the Narco Terrorists, we would be hard pressed to mount a successful defense against those guys let alone a full fledged army.
LOL! We're talking about the Founders, NOT McCarthy and Hoover.
Stop trying to change the subject and answer the question.
So do you believe if people are frightened enough, the Constitution becomes moot?
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Jefferson's own definition as you have quoted it defines "chr*stianity" as adherence to the ethical concepts taught by J*sus rather than to any dogmatic religion.
If a dogmatic religion was used as a cudgel to rob and beat the masses into submission, would that be okay with you as long as it met your personal standard of 'purity'?
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Does your religion reduce to rationalistic ethics as well?
'Rationalization' is a subjective term.
Does you religion allow you to pass judgment on the beliefs of others?
Well the Obama regime has left me a bit disillusioned. I’m no longer so sure about the Constitution, democratic government, or American exceptionalism. The fact that out of all the people we could have possibly picked to run against Obama, we chose Mitt Romney, just adds to the disillusionment.
Many people don’t realize that the French Revolution was a precursor to Hitler’s ascent to power and the Russian Revolution. Read Leftism or Leftism Revisited, which shows how Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union were liberal movements that followed in the footsteps of the French Revolution. In fact, the books name the French Revolution as THE quintessential leftist event. It’s no surprise that the author of Liberal Fascism, Jonah Goldberg, listed Leftism Revisited as one of his top five conservative books.
It is.
What do we do about it?
Nunya bidness.
What if it's too late?
It's never too late.
“Uncle Sugar will be a listening in boy’z. Watch what’ya say!”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I merely quoted the second paragraph of our Declaration of Independence - I’m assuming they might consider that worrisome, but as far as I’m concerned they can imprison me for it if they want.
The founders of our republic believed that successful representative governments
required the subordination of individual personal interests to the welfare of the
community. (Read the last sentence of the Declaration of Independence.)
They believed that the political process was all about identifying the common good.
It was not about competition and disagreement; politics was a process in which
rational voters and officials calmly sorted out what best served the entire community.
The end result was not one camp of winners and another of losers, but the entire
electorate united behind a common vision.
How far we have come from having a common view for the good of the republic. It is all
about me me me. Listen to politicians at every level and party, they start everything
with “I believe” or “I want to” or “My vision” with rarely any following relation to our
republic, but instead to some special group or interest or generically “the people”.
I am reminded again of Ronald Reagan’s speech...
It’s time for choosing...
our republic or our special interests:
“You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a Left or Right. Well I’d like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There’s only an up or down: [up] man’s old — old-aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course....
You and I know and do not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery. If nothing in life is worth dying for, when did this begin — just in the face of this enemy? Or should Moses have told the children of Israel to live in slavery under the pharaohs? Should Christ have refused the cross? Should the patriots at Concord Bridge have thrown down their guns and refused to fire the shot heard ‘round the world? The martyrs of history were not fools, and our honored dead who gave their lives to stop the advance of the Nazis didn’t die in vain. Where, then, is the road to peace? Well it’s a simple answer after all.
You and I have the courage to say to our enemies, “There is a price we will not pay.” “There is a point beyond which they must not advance.” And this — this is the meaning in the phrase of Barry Goldwater’s “peace through strength.” Winston Churchill said, “The destiny of man is not measured by material computations. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we’re spirits — not animals.” And he said, “There’s something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty.”
You and I have a rendezvous with destiny.
We’ll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we’ll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.” — Ronald Reagan
When was the last time that war was declared by Congress? Are you still not aware of what they are doing?
IGNORING THE CONSTITUTION is a form of advocating for the overthrow of the Republic!
The National Defense Act last month was a form of advocating for the overthrow of the Republic!
The 10 PLANKS stated in the Communist Manifesto and some of their American counterparts are...
1. Abolition of private property and the application of all rents of land to public purposes.
Americans do these with actions such as the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (1868), and various zoning, school & property taxes. Also the Bureau of Land Management (Zoning laws are the first step to government property ownership)
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
Americans know this as misapplication of the 16th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, 1913, The Social Security Act of 1936.; Joint House Resolution 192 of 1933; and various State "income" taxes. We call it "paying your fair share".
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
Americans call it Federal & State estate Tax (1916); or reformed Probate Laws, and limited inheritance via arbitrary inheritance tax statutes.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
Americans call it government seizures, tax liens, Public "law" 99-570 (1986); Executive order 11490, sections 1205, 2002 which gives private land to the Department of Urban Development; the imprisonment of "terrorists" and those who speak out or write against the "government" (1997 Crime/Terrorist Bill); or the IRS confiscation of property without due process. Asset forfeiture laws are used by DEA, IRS, ATF etc...).
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
Americans call it the Federal Reserve which is a privately-owned credit/debt system allowed by the Federal Reserve act of 1913. All local banks are members of the Fed system, and are regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) another privately-owned corporation. The Federal Reserve Banks issue Fiat Paper Money and practice economically destructive fractional reserve banking.
6. Centralization of the means of communications and transportation in the hands of the State.
Americans call it the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Transportation (DOT) mandated through the ICC act of 1887, the Commissions Act of 1934, The Interstate Commerce Commission established in 1938, The Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Communications Commission, and Executive orders 11490, 10999, as well as State mandated driver's licenses and Department of Transportation regulations.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state, the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
Americans call it corporate capacity, The Desert Entry Act and The Department of Agriculture… Thus read "controlled or subsidized" rather than "owned"… This is easily seen in these as well as the Department of Commerce and Labor, Department of Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Mines, National Park Service, and the IRS control of business through corporate regulations.
8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
Americans call it Minimum Wage and slave labor like dealing with our Most Favored Nation trade partner; i.e. Communist China. We see it in practice via the Social Security Administration and The Department of Labor. The National debt and inflation caused by the communal bank has caused the need for a two "income" family. Woman in the workplace since the 1920's, the 19th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, assorted Socialist Unions, affirmative action, the Federal Public Works Program and of course Executive order 11000.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries, gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of population over the country.
Americans call it the Planning Reorganization act of 1949 , zoning (Title 17 1910-1990) and Super Corporate Farms, as well as Executive orders 11647, 11731 (ten regions) and Public "law" 89-136. These provide for forced relocations and forced sterilization programs, like in China.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.
Americans are being taxed to support what we call 'public' schools, but are actually "government force-tax-funded schools " Even private schools are government regulated. The purpose is to train the young to work for the communal debt system. We also call it the Department of Education, the NEA and Outcome Based "Education" . These are used so that all children can be indoctrinated and inculcated with the government propaganda, like "majority rules", and "pay your fair share". WHERE are the words "fair share" in the Constitution, Bill of Rights or the Internal Revenue Code (Title 26)?? NO WHERE is "fair share" even suggested !! The philosophical concept of "fair share" comes from the Communist maxim, "From each according to their ability, to each according to their need! This concept is pure socialism. ... America was made the greatest society by its private initiative WORK ETHIC ... Teaching ourselves and others how to "fish" to be self sufficient and produce plenty of EXTRA commodities to if so desired could be shared with others who might be "needy"... Americans have always voluntarily been the MOST generous and charitable society on the planet.
Do changing words, change the end result? ... By using different words, is it all of a sudden OK to ignore or violate the provisions or intent of the Constitution of the united States of America?????
The people (politicians) who believe in the SOCIALISTIC and COMMUNISTIC concepts, especially those who pass more and more laws implementing these slavery ideas, are traitors to their oath of office and to the Constitution of the united States of America... KNOW YOUR ENEMY ...Remove the enemy from within and from among us. http://www.libertyzone.com/Communist-Manifesto-Planks.html
The Constitution is the contract that brought the federal government into BEING.
If the feds by their actions violate the contract, they have breached it. Then the people have the right either to try to enforce it (good luck with that) or view it as null and void, having been breached by the other party.
If the feds repudiate it and claim it to be invalid or that it says something it clearly does not, then THEY are declaring it null and void.
In either case, the problem (for THEM) is, without the Constitution, they no longer have a legitimate claim to existence, or to expect anyone to do anything they say. Their only claim to power is brute force. They then have made themselves into tin-pot dictators.
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