One of my long-term pet peeves has been, and remains, elected
officials who
swear an oath “to preserve and protect the Constitution against all
enemies, foreign and domestic …” who immediately set about to
undermine, abrogate, rewrite, denigrate or destroy the very document to
which they have sworn a sacred oath.
My stomach turns at the utterance of the California member of the
House of
Representatives who said, “The Constitution is like my old blue dress
… it doesn’t fit anymore.” When an Ellen Tauscher compares compliance
with the Constitution (and her sworn duty to defend it) to her
middle-age weight challenges, what (if any) is her crime? Has she
committed perjury, fraud … worse, or less? Is her sin of pride to be
accepted, ignored or admonished? Certainly, she is not alone. Her
ignorance and arrogance is not unique, but rather routine. She is a
single mom struggling to care for her children on her modest
congressional salary complemented with a mere $30,000-a-month in alimony
and child support.
I am reminded again of that old Pogo cartoon in which we read, “We
have met the enemy … and he is US.” It was again Jefferson who noted,
“When governments fear the people there is liberty. When the people fear
the government there is tyranny.” Using that Jeffersonian measure, what
do we have in America today? Are we still blessed with a liberty
guaranteed by our leaders’ healthy fear of “we the people”? Or are we
now subject to a tyranny in which “we the people” fear the government we
have elected? Do you fear the IRS, FEMA, or Janet Reno’s Justice
Department? Do you fear a White House that targets critics for daring to
ask hard questions? Do you fear (or do you encourage) legislative and
judicial malfeasance?
Robert A. Heinlein was a writer of fiction. However, his fiction has
(like Orwell and Huxley) taken on a strange prophetic underpinning.
Heinlein observed “The human race divides itself politically into those
who want to be controlled, and those who have no such desire.”
Obviously, the Framers and Founders of this republic had “no such
desire” to be controlled.
The Framers struggled mightily to articulate their grievances against
the tyranny of King George. It has been argued that the primary cause of
our War for Independence was less the founders’ desire to establish a
new union, and frankly more the hubris of the British crown, and its
inability to acknowledge and correct problems.
The Golden Rule (“Those with the gold make the rules”) has either
blinded or overshadowed reason of many a leader.
Heinlein was right in observing that there are “those who want to be
controlled.” Arguably, these are the contemporary polltakers who
continue to respond favorably to questions about a contemptible,
reprehensible, serial liar who has converted abuse of power into an art
form that would humble Machiavelli.
President Clinton’s initial failure to manage national health care
with fascism should have been the Scribean forewarning, or “heads up”
alert to those who (unlike the sheeple) “… have no such desire” to be
controlled cradle to grave/sperm to worm.
NAFTA, GATT, the Crime Bill, the Chemical Weapons ban treaty,
assorted Presidential Decision Directives, and insidious Executive
Orders, have all provided a documented litany. A list of this
administration’s desire, willingness, and goal, to undermine, abrogate,
and flush the very document to which so many have for so long taken a
sacred oath. Remember the controversy over the $60-Billion or so of
financial assistance to Mexico? Congress (blessedly) refused to
authorize the money. Billy-Jeff’s response (at least by his actions) was
“Congress? Congress? We don’t need no stinking Congress. …”
By the way, the nexus of that Mexican bailout didn’t do Jack-spit for
the people of Mexico. The bulk of that kiss went to Wall Street
investors. Those investors had bought Mexican bonds with a return of 20
percent. They COULD have purchased insurance for those bonds which would
have cost 1 percent, but they were SO greedy they refused to settle for
a mere 19 percent return on their investments when they could scam 20
percent. I am a very unsophisticated investor. However, it is my
understanding that conventional wisdom dictates “the higher the
return/the greater the risk.” I never saw the caveat to that: “unless
you’ve got Bob Rubin and the President in your hip pocket.”
But hey, the economy is so good! I’ve got mine. The DOW has broken
10,000 (a couple of times already). We remain at peace (kinda). Why
don’t we just leave the President alone and let him get on with doing
the people’s work? After all these critics of the besieged president are
just a cabal of radical right-wing wackos taking marching orders from
the “Vast Right Wing
Conspiracy.” BULLFEATHERS!!!
In an 1823 letter to Justice William Johnson, Thomas Jefferson wrote:
“On every question of construction [of the Constitution] let us carry
ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect
the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning
may be squeezed out of the text, or intended against it, conform to the
probable one in which it was passed.” In other words, the Constitution
means what it
says! The words expressing the intentions and desires of the framers
were (and are) axiomatic (proverbial, self-evident, well known, and
obvious).
The republic is in very real danger. The Executive, Legislative, and
Judicial branches have, and are, independently, and jointly failing to
honor the sacred oaths they have taken, and for which they should be
held accountable.
When “we the people” entrust our elected officials to do a job, and
they fail to do so, we must hold them accountable. When an elected
official swears an oath to “preserve and protect the Constitution
against ALL enemies, foreign AND domestic” and fails to do so, we must
hold them accountable.
I love my country, but I am one of those who fears and distrusts my
government. I have struggled for years with what my government has done,
is doing, and will do. There is a book titled, “None Dare Call it
Treason.” What is it when an oath is taken, and ignored, or violated? Is
it fraud? Is it perjury? Or IS it worse. …
My Mom’s first Christmas in Heaven
Chuck Norris