Let me first preface this little missive by stating categorically and for the record that I am NOT a constitutional scholar, a constitutional lawyer or a constitutional expert. I'm what would be more probably called a constitutional maven, aficionado...or more simply...an admirer. It is believed by most people who understand it to be the most brilliant declaration of human rights ever penned by the hands of men. It made clear that freedom was the natural state of men on Earth and that that freedom was bestowed not by other men, but by a creator whose intention was that all men would live free regardless of race, creed or religious belief.
I've viewed this document with my own eyes as well as the Declaration of Independence in the National Archives. It was a strange set of events that led me to the spot where those documents were housed but that is another story for another day. Long story short, I convinced my former wife to take our annual anniversary trip to Washington D.C. in November so that I might stand on the steps of the Supreme Court like some groupie trying to get Antonin Scalia's autograph. I can be very persuasive it seems. Having been a history buff since high school, a trip to DC was like going to Disneyland to me. I wanted to see it all but I wanted the trip to culminate with a trip to the National Archives to see the founding documents.
I bought the replicas of the Constitution and Declaration in the gift shop and proudly displayed them in my den back at home. I felt a sense of pride as an American for having journeyed to DC to experience what many never do. I felt prouder still to have been born in the country that essentially set the entire world free with it’s founding. Freedom is not a uniquely American thing really. It is what the entire world should be but is not.
In recent weeks, there has been a lot of talk about our constitution and what it means to modern men. The rise of the Tea Party has brought our need to adhere to it more strongly to the fore but there are always voices on he other side who seek to cast aspersions on it and call it a dry, dusty document with little meaning in today’s world. Most on the right see the constitution as a starting point for all discussions on policy and procedure, to be followed closely with precious little interpretation unless by the high court. Some on the left, however, see the constitution as an impediment to social change, as a roadblock to be skirted around at every turn. President Obama described the constitution this way:
“It’s a charter of negative liberties. It says what the federal and state governments can’t do to you but it doesn’t say what the government MUST do on your behalf.”
(emphasis mine)
As one who actually is a constitutional scholar, Mr. Obama should understand that that was the whole point of the constitution. It was to provide a limit on the power of government. It is a charter of negative liberties to one who sees the government as all powerful. It’s a charter of positive liberties to those of us who see it as a weapon against a tyrannical government seeking to do what MUST be done on our behalf. Never has there been a more slippery slope than allowing government to decide what must be done on our behalf. If mandating an American to buy health insurance MUST be done, what lies in store next? How deep does that rabbit hole go before we discover that we have no rights anymore? Let’s play a little game and see how it turns out.
Problem: Fatty foods cause obesity and health problems later in life. Some people will not change their eating habits though.
Solution: Government MUST step in to disallow the consumption of fatty foods. Either through taxing the food itself at a much higher rate or disallowing medical care based on diet choices.
Problem: Modern life dictates the need for ever growing energy needs and consumption. Some people will not change their behavior though.
Solution: Government MUST step in and force Americans to lower their energy requirements through higher costs or less access to usage.
At this point some of you have decided that I may be getting a little paranoid but ask yourself, when was the last time you saw an incandescent light bulb on the shelf of a Home Depot? The death of Edison’s brilliant invention at the hands of well meaning but poorly misguided government bureaucrats is only the beginning though. That too, is a story for another day however.
What prompted this note was a story I read recently in Time magazine titled “One Document: Under Siege” by managing editor Richard Stengel. In it, Mr. Stengel makes clear that the constitution is merely a blueprint. According to him, the Founders saw the constitution “as a set of principles, not a code of law.”
Is the constitution not the foundation upon which all law and the ability to govern is held up? Without a constitution, there is no law, no just governance and no liberty for the people. Liberty and freedom do not come from the constitution any more than they come from government. Freedom is bestowed at birth by virtue of birth itself. No man can make another man free. Men can only take freedoms away from other men. The constitution makes certain that men can be governed by other men but only so long as all men adhere to a set of laws and principles.
Stengel goes on to talk about the “kinetic military action” in Libya and the President’s apparent disregard of the War Powers Act and describes it this way:
“The War Powers Resolution is a check on presidential power, but the President seeks to balance this by, well, ignoring it. That’s not unconstitutional; that’s how our system works.”
Really? The President can choose to ignore the constitution when it suits a political or other goal? I wonder if Mr. Stengel would be so flippant if it were the first amendment being ignored and his paper was shut down. He is right in one respect though. This President, more than any other, has chosen to ignore the constitution in a wide variety of cases and each time he does it, he weakens the document irreparably.
Obamacare aside, flouting the War Powers Resolution is perhaps the most grave abuse of presidential power. There have been three Presidents who have abused the War Powers Resolution in modern times; Harry Truman in Korea, that wasn’t a war, that was a police action…sound familiar? ; Bill Clinton in Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo and most recently, by Barack Obama in Libya.
So, from it’s ratification in 1789 to 1950, every president, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, the rest, Polk, they all went to Congress either for authorization or a declaration. That is until Democrat Presidents’ saw it as an obstacle to be avoided. The resolution allows the President to repel sudden attacks, e.g. the attack on Pearl Harbor or 9/11, but in any other case, only Congress has the power to declare hostilities on another nation.
President Bush spent more than a year seeking approval to invade Iraq to oust a vicious dictator. It was a year of listening to Democrats call his request a rush to judgment and not in the best interests of the country but strangely, I hear none of those cries from the left about Libya. What national interest is served with military action there? The left’s argument for action there is eerily similar to Bush’ arguments for invading Iraq. There’s a bad man there who abuses and harms his people and he must be removed. The main and very important difference is that President Bush made his case to Congress until he got approval and THEN he acted. Not as the “cowboy” he was called and certainly not unilaterally as Obama has done. Hell, Obama wasn’t even in the country when he authorized the use of force in Libya.
For those of you about to say that the UN or NATO initiated this action, the constitution also makes plain that no treaty, charter or other agreement between nations can supersede the power of the Congress to declare war.
I’ve strayed a bit from the Time article and from my point so let’s return.
In what can only be described as extreme short term memory loss, Mr. Stengel then proceeds to tell the reader whether America “defaults on our national debt is not only reckless; it’s probably unconstitutional.”
I see now. I think I understand how this works after all. The constitution should only be adhered to strictly depending on your party affiliation and who’s in the White House.
Recently I’ve heard everyone from Fareed Zakaria to Chris Mathews and Ed Schultz calling the constitution outdated, almost irrelevant and in desperate need of an overhaul.
Well, there is also a well defined process by which changes can be made to the constitution but in modern times, that process is too complicated to be bothered with so we’ll just let the courts do it instead. We’ll appoint activist judges who also see the constitution as a document that has fallen behind the times and must be ignored so that government can do what it MUST do…on our behalf.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
AMNESTY NOW!
The Pacific northwest has been a breeding ground for liberal lunacy for many years, so what I’m about to tell you now may not come as a surprise. We all remember the plight of the northern spotted owl in Oregon back in the early nineties, right? The poor creature had been pushed to the point of extinction by the overly aggressive development of mankind and was placed on the endangered species list. All commercial logging was halted in an area rich with timber and hundreds of jobs were lost in the local timber industry as well as an economic stagnation due to those jobs disappearing. The radical greenies and the government then set about bringing the poor bird back from the brink.
It was a cause you could really get behind and the bird soon became the symbol for the conservation movement as it railed against the never ceasing demands of human industry.
Well, fast forward to today and that majestic bird is once again under attack from an aggressive species that seeks to force it from it’s protected territory The attack isn’t coming from who you think it is though. It’s coming from another species of owl, the barred owl, that is better suited to the environment, able to nest in a wider area and has a diet that includes much that the northern spotted owl will not touch. Also, the barred owl is not a outside species introduced to the environment, it’s native to the pacific northwest area to begin with. The two species have coexisted alongside each other for hundreds of years but the barred owl proved to be the stronger of the two.
In simple terms, the barred owl is a hardier species more aptly suited to the environment and thus, is pushing the spotted owl down the evolutionary ladder and back to the brink of extinction. This is natural selection at it’s finest. This is not man encroaching on yet another defenseless animal and destroying it’s habitat, this is the way of nature. When nature selects a species for extinction, there is no Supreme Court appeal process. There is no legislation or “feel good” policy that can deny the inevitable. When you are selected for extinction, that’s it. Ask the dinosaurs how they fared in the “natural selection lawsuit”.
I read this story with gusto for two reasons. First and most importantly, it points out the folly of the green movement when it seeks to limit man’s progress for the sake of an animal that will die out anyway, and secondly because it brought to mind another issue that once again rears it’s ugly head in our pre-election season.
Immigration.
Yes, I said immigration. How do the two link you might ask? I’m glad you asked. Let me expound on my point and you will see the wisdom of this connection.
Let’s put this in terms that everyone can understand.
The barred owl just wants to come into the spotted owl’s land and raise it’s little owl family. It just wants a better way of life and besides, it’s just there to do the job the spotted owls won’t do. Why should some imaginary boundary keep the barred owl out? After all, does the spotted owl own the land in which it resides? No, I say. The earth belongs to no one species alone and I say we should immediately pass legislation providing immunity for all the barred owls so that they can stay. They’ve been there so long, they don’t know any other land. The term “anchor egg” has been bandied about by the spotted owls, racists that they are, and this must stop.
Oh yes, what are they going to do about the barred owls to further protect the spotted ones?
They’re going to hunt and KILL them for heavens sake. Thousands upon thousands of birds will be slaughtered mercilessly every year to control their breeding and encroachment. This is simply barbaric, I tell you. Look, we can’t simply deport every barred owl, that would be far too costly so I say instead that we offer amnesty and bring the noble barred owl out of the shadows. Free to pursue the American Owl dream, to live in the freest territory on Earth
Besides, it IS the backbone of the environment of the Pacific Northwest…isn’t it?
It was a cause you could really get behind and the bird soon became the symbol for the conservation movement as it railed against the never ceasing demands of human industry.
Well, fast forward to today and that majestic bird is once again under attack from an aggressive species that seeks to force it from it’s protected territory The attack isn’t coming from who you think it is though. It’s coming from another species of owl, the barred owl, that is better suited to the environment, able to nest in a wider area and has a diet that includes much that the northern spotted owl will not touch. Also, the barred owl is not a outside species introduced to the environment, it’s native to the pacific northwest area to begin with. The two species have coexisted alongside each other for hundreds of years but the barred owl proved to be the stronger of the two.
In simple terms, the barred owl is a hardier species more aptly suited to the environment and thus, is pushing the spotted owl down the evolutionary ladder and back to the brink of extinction. This is natural selection at it’s finest. This is not man encroaching on yet another defenseless animal and destroying it’s habitat, this is the way of nature. When nature selects a species for extinction, there is no Supreme Court appeal process. There is no legislation or “feel good” policy that can deny the inevitable. When you are selected for extinction, that’s it. Ask the dinosaurs how they fared in the “natural selection lawsuit”.
I read this story with gusto for two reasons. First and most importantly, it points out the folly of the green movement when it seeks to limit man’s progress for the sake of an animal that will die out anyway, and secondly because it brought to mind another issue that once again rears it’s ugly head in our pre-election season.
Immigration.
Yes, I said immigration. How do the two link you might ask? I’m glad you asked. Let me expound on my point and you will see the wisdom of this connection.
Let’s put this in terms that everyone can understand.
The barred owl just wants to come into the spotted owl’s land and raise it’s little owl family. It just wants a better way of life and besides, it’s just there to do the job the spotted owls won’t do. Why should some imaginary boundary keep the barred owl out? After all, does the spotted owl own the land in which it resides? No, I say. The earth belongs to no one species alone and I say we should immediately pass legislation providing immunity for all the barred owls so that they can stay. They’ve been there so long, they don’t know any other land. The term “anchor egg” has been bandied about by the spotted owls, racists that they are, and this must stop.
Oh yes, what are they going to do about the barred owls to further protect the spotted ones?
They’re going to hunt and KILL them for heavens sake. Thousands upon thousands of birds will be slaughtered mercilessly every year to control their breeding and encroachment. This is simply barbaric, I tell you. Look, we can’t simply deport every barred owl, that would be far too costly so I say instead that we offer amnesty and bring the noble barred owl out of the shadows. Free to pursue the American Owl dream, to live in the freest territory on Earth
Besides, it IS the backbone of the environment of the Pacific Northwest…isn’t it?
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
An open letter to Sarah Palin...
Mrs. Palin,
May I call you Sarah? After all your exposure in the press the past three years, I feel like I know you. Better than any other politician I've ever followed before in fact. More than Reagan, Bush and Nixon combined. I've seen and read more minutiae about you than at any other time during an election season. I've alternately heard how stupid you are and in the next breath, what a savvy politico you are. One of those stances has to be true. The other, by virtue of reality, must be false. I choose to believe that you are a caring human being, a good mother and wife and a patriot at heart. I believe that your vision for America closely matches my own. I refuse to believe the numerous and horrible rumors that are sometimes spread about you in the press. No one that hasn't killed 6 million Jews can be as bad as the press obviously believes you are. Having said that, I have taken quite a bit of flak for my support and admiration of you. As the old adage says however, "When you start getting flak, you must be over the target." That derision has come from both the left and the right. I am never surprised by the left's hatred of you. Yes, I use the word hatred because mild dislike doesn't prompt one to verbally abuse a special needs child or claim that you are the most incompetent and corrupt individual ever to hold public office. As I said, that doesn't really surprise me. I've grown used to hearing that kind of extremism from the voices on the left.
What does surprise me is listening to my compadres on the right say many of the same things about you. Hearing them spew the same lines that I read and hear from the mainstream press is disconcerting for me. Mind you, these are the same people who like me, were crushed when John McCain won the Republican nomination but were suddenly and thankfully buoyed by his naming you as his running mate. I voted for YOU Sarah, not for McCain. Most of the votes he won in 2008 were for you as I'm sure you already know. Fast forward to three years, countless investigations, (fruitless ones I might add) and dozens of scurrilous rumors later and many of the people who lauded your Vice Presidential selection now equate you to a walking joke in a dress and sensible shoes. I applaud your strength against the mob-like chorus that assails your every move. Lord knows I wouldn't be equal to the challenge. I honestly don't know how you do it. Maybe it's your faith, maybe it's your belief that no one can tell you who you are or maybe...just maybe it's the old "sticks and stones" thing. Regardless, you have managed dignity and composure in the face of the most hateful rhetoric I have ever seen any political personality, male or female, go through. I often wonder if Chris Matthews or Ed Schultz could stand the glare of the spotlight you have endured and still possess something resembling a "normal" family life. I suspect they wouldn't be able to take the pressure that you have taken.
Enough of me telling you what you already know though. I should get to the point of this letter before I lose you completely. The point of my letter is this:
Run Sarah. Run as fast and as hard as you can and you should reach 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue by January of 2013. You know how much your country needs you, don't you? I've read your posts in Facebook and heard you speak at events all over the country so I'm certain you understand the dire situation we are all in right now. Our past is being rewritten by Harvard bookworms who have no love for those of us who still believe the dream. Our present is marred by slick talking used car salesmen who seek only to enrich themselves and our future, for the first time in 224 years...is in doubt.
There is a wonderful quote from the movie "Gladiator" that comes to my mind every time I see another of my rights infringed by our current President and it is this,
"There was once a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish... it was so fragile. And I fear that it will not survive the winter."
Autumn approaches quickly Sarah. Do you not see the leaves turning color? Do you not feel the chill in the air? The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting colder with every passing day. There once was a dream that was America. It stood for freedom, liberty and self reliance. A dream that drove men to defeat arguably the strongest military power on the planet all in the name of self determination. A belief that men could rule themselves if given the chance and shown the way by honorable and trustworthy leaders. I believe that leader is you. As do many of those in my circle of friends and across the nation as well.
Run Sarah. Run and we will follow you. Lead the way for a weary nation, lost and discouraged by scandalous and unscrupulous "leaders". Disillusioned that so many of our countrymen have forgotten about the dream that was America. The dream that sought to make men free, brother against brother. The dream that drove us to the moon and beyond. The dream that filled my heart the day I stood in the National Archives and read the Declaration of Independence and the Bill Of Rights. The dream I refuse to see slip away for my children. For your children. For all children, everywhere in this most compassionate nation on Earth.
I will take my lumps for my belief that you are the right person at the right time. I will endure the ridicule of my conservative friends and the scorn and derision of my liberal friends. It is, after all, the least I can do, is it not? For it is minuscule when compared to the derision, scorn and ridicule that you and your family have faced, lo these many months.
For the dream that was America...
Run Sarah...run.
May I call you Sarah? After all your exposure in the press the past three years, I feel like I know you. Better than any other politician I've ever followed before in fact. More than Reagan, Bush and Nixon combined. I've seen and read more minutiae about you than at any other time during an election season. I've alternately heard how stupid you are and in the next breath, what a savvy politico you are. One of those stances has to be true. The other, by virtue of reality, must be false. I choose to believe that you are a caring human being, a good mother and wife and a patriot at heart. I believe that your vision for America closely matches my own. I refuse to believe the numerous and horrible rumors that are sometimes spread about you in the press. No one that hasn't killed 6 million Jews can be as bad as the press obviously believes you are. Having said that, I have taken quite a bit of flak for my support and admiration of you. As the old adage says however, "When you start getting flak, you must be over the target." That derision has come from both the left and the right. I am never surprised by the left's hatred of you. Yes, I use the word hatred because mild dislike doesn't prompt one to verbally abuse a special needs child or claim that you are the most incompetent and corrupt individual ever to hold public office. As I said, that doesn't really surprise me. I've grown used to hearing that kind of extremism from the voices on the left.
What does surprise me is listening to my compadres on the right say many of the same things about you. Hearing them spew the same lines that I read and hear from the mainstream press is disconcerting for me. Mind you, these are the same people who like me, were crushed when John McCain won the Republican nomination but were suddenly and thankfully buoyed by his naming you as his running mate. I voted for YOU Sarah, not for McCain. Most of the votes he won in 2008 were for you as I'm sure you already know. Fast forward to three years, countless investigations, (fruitless ones I might add) and dozens of scurrilous rumors later and many of the people who lauded your Vice Presidential selection now equate you to a walking joke in a dress and sensible shoes. I applaud your strength against the mob-like chorus that assails your every move. Lord knows I wouldn't be equal to the challenge. I honestly don't know how you do it. Maybe it's your faith, maybe it's your belief that no one can tell you who you are or maybe...just maybe it's the old "sticks and stones" thing. Regardless, you have managed dignity and composure in the face of the most hateful rhetoric I have ever seen any political personality, male or female, go through. I often wonder if Chris Matthews or Ed Schultz could stand the glare of the spotlight you have endured and still possess something resembling a "normal" family life. I suspect they wouldn't be able to take the pressure that you have taken.
Enough of me telling you what you already know though. I should get to the point of this letter before I lose you completely. The point of my letter is this:
Run Sarah. Run as fast and as hard as you can and you should reach 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue by January of 2013. You know how much your country needs you, don't you? I've read your posts in Facebook and heard you speak at events all over the country so I'm certain you understand the dire situation we are all in right now. Our past is being rewritten by Harvard bookworms who have no love for those of us who still believe the dream. Our present is marred by slick talking used car salesmen who seek only to enrich themselves and our future, for the first time in 224 years...is in doubt.
There is a wonderful quote from the movie "Gladiator" that comes to my mind every time I see another of my rights infringed by our current President and it is this,
"There was once a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish... it was so fragile. And I fear that it will not survive the winter."
Autumn approaches quickly Sarah. Do you not see the leaves turning color? Do you not feel the chill in the air? The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting colder with every passing day. There once was a dream that was America. It stood for freedom, liberty and self reliance. A dream that drove men to defeat arguably the strongest military power on the planet all in the name of self determination. A belief that men could rule themselves if given the chance and shown the way by honorable and trustworthy leaders. I believe that leader is you. As do many of those in my circle of friends and across the nation as well.
Run Sarah. Run and we will follow you. Lead the way for a weary nation, lost and discouraged by scandalous and unscrupulous "leaders". Disillusioned that so many of our countrymen have forgotten about the dream that was America. The dream that sought to make men free, brother against brother. The dream that drove us to the moon and beyond. The dream that filled my heart the day I stood in the National Archives and read the Declaration of Independence and the Bill Of Rights. The dream I refuse to see slip away for my children. For your children. For all children, everywhere in this most compassionate nation on Earth.
I will take my lumps for my belief that you are the right person at the right time. I will endure the ridicule of my conservative friends and the scorn and derision of my liberal friends. It is, after all, the least I can do, is it not? For it is minuscule when compared to the derision, scorn and ridicule that you and your family have faced, lo these many months.
For the dream that was America...
Run Sarah...run.
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