San Antonio, TX
Post instigated by KH
Yesterday, I attended a professional society meeting where the topic was Politics for Engineers. In discussing his topic, and as a device to discuss some of the features of the Obama Administration, thed speaker asked the audience who Obama said his "hero" was.
Somebody said "Lincoln". The speaker then asked what Lincoln did, and, immediately seeing the connection between Lincoln, who himself was power hungry and a Constitutional usurper and sapper, and Obama who is more of the same, one soul at the back immediately remarked "Suspended Habeas Corpus". This was, of course, referring to the fact that Lincoln acted outside the Constitution that he had sworn to uphold, while at the same time, asserting that the States in Rebellion were the acting outside the Constitution, and therefore could be invaded and gutted by the Army of the North.
By way of reminder to us all - the operating manual for the United States is a delegated powers constitution. In the American system, it is (supposed to be) the people that have the power, and that to exercise that power, they articulated, through their proxies, a Constitution which confers only limited powers to the Government - all other powers being withheld .
This operating manual, in a move designed to limit the ability government's ability to tyrannize the citizens, partitioned the goivernment into 3 competing branches and delegated non-overlapping powers to those branches. For example, regarding revenue bills, ONLY the House has the power to propose a bill for spending money - all revenue bills MUST originate in the House. Another provision is that the power to suspend habeas corpus is a power reserved to Congress alone - it is a Legislative prerogative, not an Executive (Presidential) one. (Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution, dealing with powers conferred on the Congress' by the people.)
The speaker, on not hearing this comment concerning the illegal acts of Lincoln - acts that by the way were also judged to be illegal and without force by the Supreme Court - yet nevertheless were continued by Lincoln as the South was laid to waste, referred to his slide showing the various members of the Obama Cabinet and their party affiliation, and used it to draw a parallel between Lincoln and Obama in that they both had mixed Cabinets. (In Mexico a Cabinet is called a ....... "junta". )
This brought to my mind the fact that there was another president that had a mixed cabinet and that was Jefferson. It also brought to mind that Jefferson's cabinet was constantly going behind his back and working to undermine his Presidency. But that we can hope the same happens with this overweening President - a president that really thinks that it is the governments right and duty to "run the country, run the economy, run the economy", instead of it being the right of the people and that the government by design is supposed to stay out of such things. This guy reminds me of a Caesar or a Xerxes. This kind of thinking is called tyranny and it was tried in Russia.
As a parting shot to this entry, drafted I admit, on a short clock and therefore choppy, it is interesting to note that Lincoln, in his March 9 1832 Letter to the Sangamo Journal, exposes the "morality" that will guide his decisions decades later. He says:
"In cases of extreme necessity there could always be means found to cheat the law, while in all other cases it would have its intended effect. I would not favor the passage of a law upon this subject, which might be very easily evaded. Let it be such that the labor and difficulty of evading it, could only be justified in cases of the greatest necessity." [Emphasis Added] ~ .........Lincoln, in his March 9 1832 Letter to the Sangamo Journal
Translation - The future president is here saying that he (and other officials) can do what they want "in cases of greatest necessity". Thus, all I have to do as a President is to declare a "public emergency" (a.k.a necessity) and then I can do what I want. For example, Mississippi Flood of 1927, The Depression, The Recession, the Stagnation, 9/11, Katrina, War of Terror", War on Drugs", War on the Economy", War on Poverty"
Yeah Right, sounds just like the English Kings - or Jack Bauer - or George Bush - or Obama. All doing things "for the good of the people". No thank you sir, I can do just fine without your meddling in affairs that are not in your constitutional purview.
THAT is why WE have a Constitution - to limit your power grab.
1 comment:
I cry for my country.
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