Friday, September 14, 2012

Ron Paul (& Bill Barker) On the Decline and Fall of the American Constitutional Republic


The Honorable Ron Paul (R-TX)


The Honorable William R. Barker (Me, Myself, and I)

* * * * * *


Last week marked the conclusion of the grand taxpayer funded spectacles known as the national party conventions. 

YEAH... AT A TIME WHEN CERTAIN OF OUR EMBASSIES AND CONSULATES ACROSS THE GLOBE ARE - LITERALLY - ON FIRE... POLITICAL THEORY CAN BE EXPECTED TO TAKE A BACK SEAT. STILL... THE TRUTHS RON PAUL ADDRESSES HERE ARE SO FUNDAMENTAL TO EVERYTHING THIS COUNTRY IS SUPPOSED TO BE... I'M POSTING IT.

It is perhaps very telling that while $18 million in tax dollars was granted to each party for these lavish ordeals, an additional $50 million each was needed for security in anticipation of the inevitable protests at each event. 

This amounts to a total of $136 million in taxpayer funds for strictly partisan activities - a drop in the bucket relative to our disastrous fiscal situation, but disgraceful nonetheless. 

(*STANDING OVATION*)

Parties should fund their own parties, not the taxpayer.

HEAR, HEAR!

At these conventions, leaders determined, or pretended to determine, who they wished to govern the nation for the next four years amidst inevitable, endless exaltations of democracy. Yet we are not a democracy. In fact, the Founding Fathers found the concept of democracy very dangerous.

AS ANYONE WITH EVEN A HALFWAY DECENT EDUCATION SHOULD KNOW!

Democracy is majority rule at the expense of the minority. 

WHICH IS WHY CERTAIN RIGHTS ARE ENSHRINED WITHIN THE CONSTITUTION. THE ONLY PROBLEM IS... WHEN NEITHER THE ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PEOPLE (THE PRESIDENT... HOUSE MEMBERS... SENATORS...) NOR EVEN THE SUPREME COURT CAN BE COUNTED UPON TO VIEW THE CONSTITUTION AS A RESTRAINT UPON THEIR OWN POWERS...

(*SIGH*)

Our system has certain democratic elements, but the Founders never mentioned democracy in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or the Declaration of Independence. 

In fact, our most important protections are decidedly undemocratic. 

For example, the First Amendment protects free speech. It doesn't - or shouldn't - matter if that speech is abhorrent to 51% or even 99% of the people. Speech is not subject to majority approval. Under our republican form of government, the individual, the smallest of minorities, is protected from the mob.

IN THEORY... (AGAIN... WHEN THE CONSTITUTION IS DIMINISHED THE RULE OF LAW IS WEAKENED AND WHEN THAT HAPPENS... MIGHT MAKES RIGHT.)

Sadly, the Constitution and its protections are respected less and less as we have quietly allowed our constitutional republic to devolve into a militarist, corporatist social democracy. 

(*PURSED LIPS*) (*NOD*)

Laws are broken, quietly changed and ignored when inconvenient to those in power, while others in positions to check and balance do nothing. The protections the Founders put in place are more and more just an illusion.

SOUND FAMILIAR, FOLKS...?!?! SOUND LIKE WHAT YOU'VE READ RIGHT HERE - PENNED BY ME - TIME AND TIME AGAIN?!

FOLKS... IT'S THE TRUTH! WAKE UP! I DON'T MAKE UP THESE NEWSBITES! WHAT I "REPORT" TO YOU IS TRUE! MY ANALYSIS... IF YOU DON'T BUY IT THEN YOU'RE WELCOME TO COME UP WITH YOUR OWN... BUT FOR GOD'S SAKE BASE IT UPON REALITY - NOT WHAT YOU'D "LIKE" TO BELIEVE!

This is why increasing importance is placed on the beliefs and views of the president. 

YES... THE "COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF" AS HE'S KNOW WHENEVER THERE'S DISPUTE AS TO HIS POWERS OR THE "RIGHTEOUSNESS" OF WHAT HE'S DOING. (AND, YES...! IT WAS THE SAME WITH BUSH! INDEED, IT STARTED WITH BUSH! AND IF YOU'LL RECALL... I RANTED AND RAVED AGAINST IT WHEN IT WAS BUSH JUST AS I DO NOW THAT IT'S OBAMA!)

The very narrow limitations on government power are clearly laid out in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution. Nowhere is there any reference to being able to force Americans to buy health insurance or face a tax/penalty, for example. Yet this power has been claimed by the executive and astonishingly affirmed by Congress and the Supreme Court. 

AGAIN... THE RULE OF LAW IS ITSELF UNDERCUT BY THIS PRESIDENT (AND OTHERS BEFORE HIM)... BY MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE AND SENATORS... BY EVEN MEMBERS OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES - INCLUDING THE BUSH APPOINTED CHIEF JUSTICE!

WAKE UP, PEOPLE! WAKE UP!

Because we are a constitutional republic, the mere popularity of a policy should not matter. 

WE WERE A CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC. "WERE." WE NO LONGER ARE.

MY GOD, PEOPLE... FORGET OBAMACARE... IT IS NOW ACCEPTED OFFICIAL UNITED STATES "LAW" THAT A PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES CAN ORDER AMERICAN CITIZENS ASSASSINATED ON HIS ORDERS ALONE! NO TRIAL. NO JUDGE. NO JURY. NO DUE PROCESS. AND SHORT OF DEATH A PRESIDENT CAN NOW... SINCE BUSH... SIMPLY "DECLARE" A UNITED STATES CITIZEN AN "ENEMY COMBATANT" AND SUMMARILY STRIP HIM OR HER OF ALL CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTIONS!

MY FRIENDS... AMERICA 2012 IS CLEARLY NOT THE CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC OUR FOUNDERS BEQUEATHED US!

If it is in clear violation of the limits of government and the people still want it, a Constitutional amendment is the only appropriate way to proceed. 

YEP. THAT'S WHAT THE CONSTITUTION CALLS FOR. IT'S RIGHT THERE IN BLACK AND WHITE!

However, rather than going through this arduous process, the Constitution was in effect, ignored and the insurance mandate was allowed anyway.

AND ON AND ON AND ON... FROM FOREIGN POLICY TO DOMESTIC POLICY TO SECURITY POLICY... THOSE WITH THE POWER DO WHAT THEY PLEASE.

This demonstrates how there is now a great deal of unhindered flexibility in the Oval Office to impose personal views and preferences on the country, so long as 51% of the people can be convinced to vote a certain way. The other 49% on the other hand have much to be angry about and protest under this system.

We should not tolerate the fact that we have become a nation ruled by men, their whims and the mood of the day, and not laws. 

ALAS... THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE LARGELY LAZY, IGNORANT, AND SELFISH. WE ARE NOT THE MEN AND WOMEN OUR FOREBEARERS WERE. "WE THE PEOPLE" HAVEN'T BEEN ROBBED OF OUR HERITAGE - WE'VE SURRENDERED IT.

It cannot be emphasized enough that we are a republic, not a democracy and, as such, we should insist that the framework of the Constitution be respected and boundaries set by law are not crossed by our leaders. 

These legal limitations on government assure that other men do not impose their will over the individual, rather, the individual is able to govern himself.  

When government is restrained, liberty thrives.

LIBERTY DEFINITELY DOES NOT THRIVE IN 21st CENTURY AMERICA.

(*PURSED LIPS*)

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