What we have now is American Caesarism, no longer the Rule of Law but the Rule of Man

The Evening Sun ^ | 02/22/2013 | Jason McNew

[Gennie]

George Washington, a man much loved, was the father of our country. Frederick Nietzsche, a man much loathed, was a 19th century German philosopher who brazenly declared that "God is Dead."

While these two men could not have been more different, their descriptions of government were oddly similar. Washington compared government to fire; "Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force. Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." (It cannot be proven conclusively that Washington himself originated this quote. However, it has been attributed to him for over a century and is in keeping with what he and the Founders said and wrote.)

Nietzsche groaned: "The state is the coldest of all cold monsters. Coldly it lies, too; and this lie creeps from its mouth: 'I, the state, am the people.'... Everything about it is false; it bites with stolen teeth." These observations by Nietzsche defy the romantic ideals laid forth by Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address: government of the people, by the people, for the people. Nobody ever said philosophy was easy.

While a safe and civilized society is not possible absent a properly empowered government, there is one lone fact which distinguishes government from all other human enterprises. Government is granted, by consent of the governed, the authority to utilize violence against citizens who break the law.

This singularity is shared by all forms of government; whether Democratic, Totalitarian, Feudal (rule by a noble class) or Theocratic (governed out of religious text.) Fail to pay taxes or send the children to school, and after the letters and telephone calls - eventually the authorities are going to kick the door down with guns drawn. The law is not voluntary, and it is the gun which puts the "force" in "enforcement." Government, while wholly indispensable, is also inherently dangerous.

Arguments about the proper size and role of government aside, I think most can agree that the foremost task of government is to ensure that the citizens are not deprived of life, not deprived of liberty, and not deprived of their (justly acquired) property. Marxists are free to disagree on the last point.

Looking back over the last forty or fifty centuries, governments in general have a very poor track record of protecting human rights. The 20th century was particularly atrocious in this regard - Bolshevism and Naziism produced in excess of 100 million human corpses. Human liberty is an exception - not the norm. We Americans take our freedom for granted.

A crucial feature of the American Constitution is a principle known as the Rule of Law. The Rule of Law requires that no one is exempt from the law, not the police or government officials, not the wealthy or celebrities, not industry or unions. While Rule of Law is far from perfect, unless strictly adhered to, what then remains is Rule of Man - government by whim of the political class.

As with many bygone nations, America finds herself slipping away from the Rule of Law, and sliding toward the Rule of Man - an American Caesarism. At whatever pace, the slightest perceptible movement toward Caesarism is reason to dispense (via ballot box) with every last elected politician in Washington D.C.

So what is American Caesarism? It is when the political class:

- Treats peaceable citizens as suspects of crime (Patriot Act, TSA, NDAA, etc.)

- Plunders the citizens' wealth by devaluing their savings via expansion of the money supply (inflation.) Thinkers ranging from Jefferson to Lenin wrote about this form of stealth robbery. Lenin was in favor of it. This is stealing, and the net results are no different than the forceable taking of ones valuables. Quantitative Easing makes the middle class poorer - especially seniors living off their savings.

- Repeatedly wages undeclared wars outside of our own borders, on other peoples' lands (their property), which causes violent "blow back" (a CIA term.) In his farewell address, Dwight Eisenhower warned of the dangerous influences of the military-industrial complex. Aggressive wars make Americans materially poorer and less safe, while enriching politicians and their favored donors.

- Makes a mockery of free markets by passing and signing unreadable, incomprehensible bills which were actually written by industry lobbyists. Housing, education, and health care are now unaffordable because Congress literally lets the banking and health care industries write their own legislation.

- Allows an entrenched Robber Baron class, which is not "one percent" but actually a tenth of that, to fund both "sides" of national elections.

- Deliberately creates a Moocher class, which is nowhere near 47 percent, in order to secure party votes.

- Allowed the national debt to continually grow at a faster rate than GDP, and then claiming that net output is growing. (See Karl Denninger's book Leverage, and his website www.market-ticker.org.) The U.S. economy has not grown based on the reinvestment of real surplus capital (savings) since before 1980. It is impossible for sustainable wealth creation to occur based on the emission of unbacked credit. What happened in 2008 was an economic prequake.

- That which cannot go on forever, won't. History tells us that an entrenched political class will not just give up their power willingly. It is entirely possible they will turn on the citizenry, just as they did in modern democratic states like Spain, France, and Germany.

While there is much that can be done to reduce gun violence, that is the subject of another article. Peaceable American citizens must not accept any further encroachments upon their right to bear arms. To do so would be a monumental error.

[DustyMoment]

Gee, no sh . . . . . kidding!

I’ve been saying this for a couple of months, now!

[going hot]

The subject of the last paragraph is due to the subject of all the preceding paragraphs.

[null and void]

That’s a man?

[mjp]

While Rule of Law is far from perfect, unless strictly adhered to, what then remains is Rule of Man - government by whim of the political class.

The rule of man assumes that man knows what is best for man. This, however always means that a few fallible men seem to know what is best for all mankind.And libtards believe that they are the ones that know best. And what they know is that the state must guide and shape man in their own libtard image.

[RJS1950]

We are fast approaching a 1776 moment. The time for beginning a reissue of the Declaration of Independence was a couple of years back. Even Caesar did not want to destroy Rome and this POS kenyan has made it clear that is what he wants. He has styled himself more as the new Fuehrer, with his cult of personality and use of dictatorial powers.

Piss on him, his National Socialist Democrat Party, and piss on all democrats.

FUBO & FAD

[Ouderkirk]

With the Feds watching forums like this for incitement...one cannot say what needs to be said, but it should be understood.

[Navy Patriot]

Since spring 2008.

[factoryrat]

Been coming for a long time. No republic in the history of man has survived for more than a few centuries. The only real question is what or who will take over our current form of government? With the current crop in our political class, I’m thinking we’re headed towards a fascist regime, with a communist backbone, basically a smaller version of china. Or we might end up like south africa or zimbabwe.

[loveliberty2]

Perhaps an examination of the underlying principle of America's Declaration of Independence and Constitution might help to shed light on its problems today. The following essay can be downloaded here. It highlights the difference between the founding idea of individual liberty and other ideas which place government over people.

"The Unique Idea"

Our Constitution embodied a UNIQUE IDEA. Nothing like it had ever been done before. The power of the idea was in the recognition that people's rights are granted directly by the Creator - not by the state - and that the people, then, and only then, grant rights to government. The concept is so simple, yet so very fundamental and far-reaching.

CREATOR

People

Government

America's founders embraced a previously unheard-of political philosophy which held that people are "...endowed BY THEIR CREATOR with certain unalienable rights...." This was the statement of guiding principle for the new nation, and, as such, had to be translated into a concrete charter for government. The Constitution of The United States of America became that charter.

Other forms of government, past and present, rely on the state as the grantor of human rights. America's founders, however, believed that a government made up of imperfect people exercising power over other people should possess limited powers. Through their Constitution, they wished to "secure the blessings of liberty" for themselves and for posterity by limiting the powers of government. Through it, they delegated to government only those rights they wanted it to have, holding to themselves all powers not delegated by the Constitution. They even provided the means for controlling those powers they had granted to government.

This was the unique American idea. Many problems we face today result from a departure from this basic con­cept. Gradually, other "ideas" have influenced legislation which has reversed the roles and given government greater and greater power over individuals. Early generations of Americans pledged their lives to the cause of in­dividual freedom and limited government and warned, over and over again, that eternal vigilance would be required to preserve that freedom for posterity.

---

Footnote: Our Ageless Constitution, W. David Stedman & La Vaughn G. Lewis, Editors (Asheboro, NC, W. David Stedman Associates, 1987) Part III:  ISBN 0-937047-01-5 Here.

[kreitzer]

“History tells us that an entrenched political class will not just give up their power willingly. It is entirely possible they will turn on the citizenry...”

They are electing a new citizenry for this reason, deliberately importing third world immigrants dependent on our ruling class’s handouts. The Republicans are willing junior partners.

[tacticalogic]

Render unto God what is God's.
Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's.
Sometimes Caesar due an ass kicking.

[freedumb2003]

It isn’t the rule of man that we need fear — laws are written by man.

It is when the rules are established by A Man (or small cadre). Be it Unconstitutional XOs creating illegal branches of government and opening the borders to all comers, when we go from Constitutional Representation to Fascism.

Tell your kids the final straw of liberty was in 2008. It started with the 16th and 17th Amendments, accelerated downhill while the Great Society was built and has now hit the wall.

Bread and Circuses and Santa Claus.

[wintertime]

It started with the 16th and 17th Amendments,...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

It started with the socialist-entitlement, single-payer, prison-like, and compulsory-use K-12 schooling that was forced upon the nation in the mid-1800 to early 1900s. These schools also fed the children a lukewarm and generic pap of Protestantism.

It only took one to three generations of socialist-entitlement K-12 schooling to give the nation enough voters to support usurpation of large tracts of state land for federal parks, feminism, the federal reserve, popular election of Senators, the failed “one world” League of Nations followed by the U.N., the communist dominated union movement, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

If children are schooled in socialist-entitlement, prison-like, compulsory, and godless schools we will eventually have a nation with a majority population of citizens who are comfortable with socialism, government compulsion, and godlessness. And...They will have no problem being state prisoners.

Personally, I have made a decision. I consider the government's socialist-entitlement K-12 schools soooooo EVIL for the child and such a threat to our nation's continuing freedom that I will NOT have a government teacher or worker for a friend. They are too evil, too stupid, or too much of a useful idiot to be my friend. They are NOT welcome in my house. ( I don't have abortion workers or Nazis for friends either. )

[Logical me]

And the rule of man is equal to Nazi Germany. The communists controlling government have a hard grasp on America. Lets turn that around.

[shove_it]

Allowing people to become career politicians and bureaucrats to be represented by unions are the main problems.

[Paladin2]

We have the tyrannical rule of man through selective law enforcement.

[Shery]

Good post! Thanks!

[sand88]

With the Feds watching forums like this for incitement...one cannot say what needs to be said, but it should be understood.?

The Feds are becoming more paranoid by the day. I pursue many news sites feeds, blogs, etc for user comments: What you read here is often much tamer than what is expressed elsewhere.

The comments by leftist pukes is beyond outrageous. They have a boiling hatred of Conservatives.

At the delight of the Marxist this Republic is being torn asunder. I have no doubt that before his term is up that some serious civil disorder will occur (of course started by his underlings)

If you can suffer the foul language and hatred, go and read people's sentiments posted around the web. It is quite eye opening.

Conservatives mostly comment about Constitutional principles and being left alone. The lefts comments are mostly about having Conservatives being eliminated.

[PieterCasparzen]

America's founders embraced a previously unheard-of political philosophy which held that people are "...endowed BY THEIR CREATOR with certain unalienable rights...."

The idea of Church and civil government being two God-ordained powers that have complementary roles goes back to the Old Testament. The role of civil government is clearly laid out in the whole counsel of God, notably by histories recounted of the Kings, prophets and priests of ancient Israel.

For example, Kings were to be held to the same laws as much as the least of the citizens were; they were bound to discharge their duties in a godly manner. Of course, there were many wicked Kings who did not, but certainly in the end God holds them accountable the same as everyone else. The monarchies of Christendom typically recognized that they were God-ordained institutions, however they certainly very often neglected many of their true obligations as described in the whole counsel of God.

The American founders simply chose the representative form of government, specifically, that the selection of leaders would not be by inheritence but by elections.