A few days back I wrote an article in which I discussed my belief that our government is unfit to exist, and that the Constitution itself is to blame for the out of control government we have today. As most of the things I write generate very few comments in response, it came as somewhat a surprise to have this one come under attack by the few who spoke out against what I had written.
One person, although they didn’t use this particular word, may as well have accused me of blasphemy for voicing any disrespect for the Constitution. I find that highly ironic, especially considering the fact that the person who said that has shown time and time again that they probably have never even read the bloody thing.
However, it was comments made by a couple of other people that I would like to spend a few minutes addressing today. A few people told me they realized that the Constitution was flawed, but then they added the caveat that if those we elect would just adhere to it then we could fix the problem of a government that does not stick to the few limited powers delegated to it, while at the same time preserving and protecting our rights and liberty.
I don’t mean to be insulting but that sounds like someone saying that even though a recipe for a meal is missing a few essential ingredients, if we would just follow it as written the food would end up tasting the way it is supposed to taste. If our Constitution is flawed, and if those flaws are serious enough, why do we insist on trying to vote ‘fresh meat’ into a system that was designed in such a manner as to produce failure and the loss of liberty it was proclaimed it was written to secure?
Again, I don’t mean to be insulting, but I sometimes think that the only Founding Fathers people today recognize are those whose images appear on the money they carry in their purses and wallets; even though the image on the $5 bill is NOT a founding father. There were 56 signatures on the Declaration of Independence, and I’d be willing to bet that most people only recognize two or three of them. The same goes for the Constitutional Convention; only a few of the names of those who attended that convention are readily recognizable by most people today. It’s almost as if some people believe that our country went from 13 British Colonies to the nation it is today solely because of the actions of a half dozen or so men.
There is a vast ocean of knowledge out there, just waiting to be explored, and most people prefer to sit comfortably on the beach watching the waves without ever exploring the wonders that exist below the surface. Therefore it comes as no surprise to me that the thoughts and opinions of someone like Melancton Smith or Robert Yates is paid very little attention, yet people fawn over whatever is said by someone like Barack Obama or Donald Trump. After all, who cares about what a bunch of guys who have been dead for over 2 centuries had to say?
Yet these men, our Founding Fathers, even the ones I despise such as Alexander Hamilton, had more political knowledge and insight in their pinkie toes than most Americans today have in their entire body. Yet people today have the sheer audacity to go around claiming to be politically informed just because they are up to date on current events – even though the majority of that information is sheer propaganda and media manipulation designed to shape and control your thought process rather than cause actual critical thinking.
It amazes me that someone can claim to be politically informed, yet they cannot, with any clarity of thought, explain the difference between a federal and a national form of government; or which one we have today. Try asking someone to explain what a true republican form of government is and most people can’t; yet Article 4, Section 4 of the Constitution declares that each State shall be guaranteed one.
Like I said in another recent article, I don’t claim to be the smartest, or best informed person in the country, but I’m light years ahead of most people when it comes to understanding how our system of government was designed, and how it has strayed from what was promised to those who were tasked with deciding whether or not to adopt it. The difference between me and the vast majority of people in this country is that I recognize the fact that I know very little about these things, while most people are content to wallow in their own ignorance.
So when I discuss politics with most people I am speaking from a historical and factual position, while most are speaking from the position of having heard some politician say something that, to use the analogy, sounds good on paper. That is why campaign slogans and promises like Hope and Change, or Make America Great Again work so well; they lack any substance, but they stir up emotions and patriotic sentiments; causing people to flock behind those who utter them.
So when I say that the Constitution is flawed, although it angers me, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise to hear some people say that if we would just adhere to it we could fix the problems with our government. If you haven’t read the document itself, or read the positions taken by those who both opposed and supported it, or read the notes taken during the conventions that ultimately chose to adopt it, the only knowledge you have is what you have been told by others; and that is not sound foundation to base your entire belief system upon.
Before one can even attempt to dissect the Constitution, and discover its faults, one must first attempt to discern its intent; or the purpose this particular form of government was supposed to serve. Only then can you hope to come to an understanding of whether or not the plan outlined by the Constitution is capable of serving its intended purposes. Not only that, but that should be the sole determining factor in deciding whether or not you support whatever actions our current government undertakes…do they serve the purposes for which the Constitution was written to perform, or do they exceed those purposes.
The Preamble to the Constitution is a declaratory statement outlining the purposes for which the proposed document is intended to serve. There are five stated purposes which our Constitution was supposedly written to provide:
– Form a more perfect Union
– Insure domestic Tranquility
– Provide for the common defense
– Promote the general Welfare
– Secure Liberty
I could probably sit here until next week writing about each of those functions our government was supposed to serve, but for the sake of brevity, and the fact that I have to go to work in a few hours, I will confine my discussion to securing liberty.
Liberty, or the quest for it, is what drove our Founders to rise up against their existing government in 1776; to take up arms against their government and risk their lives to obtain. In his first essay to the people Melancton Smith writes, “I can consent to no government, which, in my opinion, is not calculated equally to preserve the rights of all orders of men in the community.” Smith then goes on, in 16 lengthy essays, to outline the deficiencies he sees in the plan for a system of government the people were then being asked to consider.
When the Commonwealth of Virginia held its State Ratifying Assembly, the Voice of Thunder, Patrick Henry, who loudly proclaimed to King George, “Give me liberty or give me death“, spoke of his concern over how quickly the love of liberty had faded from the hearts and minds of his countrymen, “Perhaps an invincible attachment to the dearest rights of man, may, in these refined, enlightened days, be deemed old fashioned: If so, I am contented to be so: I say, the time has been when every pore of my heart beat for American liberty, and which, I believe, had a counterpart in the breast of every true American.”
In his 4th essay under the pseudonym of Centinel, Samuel Bryan wrote a scathing condemnation of the Constitution, and those who were pushing for a quick adoption of it, “The evil genius of darkness presided at its birth, it came forth under the veil of mystery, its true features being carefully concealed, and every deceptive art has been and is practising to have this spurious brat received as the genuine offspring of heaven-born liberty. So fearful are its patrons that you should discern the imposition, that they have hurried on its adoption, with the greatest precipitation; they have endeavored also to preclude all investigation, they have endeavored to intimidate all opposition; by such means as these, have they surreptitiously procured a Convention in this state, favorable to their views; and here again investigation and discussion are abridged, the final question is moved before the subject has been under consideration; an appeal to the people is precluded even in the last resort, lest their eyes should be opened; the Convention have denied the minority the privilege of entering the reasons of their dissent on its journals.– Thus despotism is already triumphant, and the genius of liberty is on the eve of her exit, is about bidding an eternal adieu to this once happy people.”
Yet the Federalists, (those who supported ratification), promised that no such threat to liberty existed within their precious Constitution; that it had all the proper and necessary safeguards which would ensure that liberty lived long into the future for the inhabitants of these States united.
Yet James Madison, one of those so-called Federalists, wrote, “But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.“
Madison all but said that people are weak and flawed, and that any system of government resting upon the consent of such flawed creatures was destined to become tyrannical and oppressive. Yet if you recall what Melancton Smith said, “I can consent to no government, which, in my opinion, is not calculated equally to preserve the rights of all orders of men in the community.” then you must ask yourself why you still consent to a government that has clearly proven that it is incapable of, or unwilling to, preserve and defend the liberty it was supposedly established to secure.
Oh, but that’s okay, the economy is doing good, the military is strong and kicking ass over there in Iraq, and we’re spreading democracy and freedom across the globe…even though freedom and liberty is in intensive care here in America. I find it hypocritical as hell how people can disparage petty dictators all over the planet, yet ignore the dictatorial nature of their own system of government; how nearly every agency within it serves but one purpose; to control and regulate almost every aspect of our lives.
But hey, you should vote so that you can make sure your guy gets elected. You might as well be asking me to choose between a dog shit milkshake flavored with either chocolate or strawberry for all the good voting does to preserve and protect my liberty!
As far as I’m concerned I cannot, in clear conscience, give my willing consent to any system of government that does not provide iron clad protection for my rights and my liberty. Without such guarantees and protection for my rights and my liberty, I cannot support any government, or any individual within it.
Unless they can be arrested, jailed, or killed, (just as we can for violating the laws they enact), then our government, as it exists now, is incapable of securing the liberty it was supposedly designed to secure…therefore IT IS MY ENEMY.
The problem is, not only have our inherent and unalienable natural rights come under attack by this system of government, due to the creation of a centralized bank and the ever increasing debt produced by this system of government to fund its operations, we have become debt slaves; with each of us tied to an astronomical $22 Trillion debt. Our labor, our property, and our very existence as free individuals is collateral upon that debt.
Yet you have the gall to say we live in the land of the free and that I should vote to try and fix this mess. You may as well drive a car for 250,000 miles without performing any maintenance, and then when it starts breaking down do an oil change and expect it to run perfectly again. Our country has been on the pathway to tyranny and oppression since its inception in 1789, and if you think voting for a few good candidates after 230 years of corruption and abuse of power is going to make any difference, you’re delusional.
Thomas Jefferson was elected President just 10 short years after the government outlined by the Constitution was put into effect, yet in a letter to P.S. Dupont de Nemours Washington, dated 18 January 1802, Jefferson wrote, “When this government was first established, it was possible to have kept it going on true principles, but the contracted, English, half-lettered ideas of Hamilton, destroyed that hope in the bud.”
Oh but the American people today, in their infinite wisdom and knowledge, think that by making a few changes in a broken and corrupt system, they can magically restore America to the land of the free and the home of the brave. Like I said, y’all are delusional…
I think John Adams was right, “Liberty once lost is lost forever. When the People once surrender their share in the Legislature, and their Right of defending the Limitations upon the Government, and of resisting every Encroachment upon them, they can never regain it.”
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but we, and our ancestors screwed the pooch; we let liberty slip through our fingers, and if you think you can get it back by voting…well like I keep saying, you’re delusional.
June 15, 2019
~ The Author ~
Neal Ross, Student of history, politics, patriot and staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment. Send all comments to: bonsai@syix.com.
If you liked Neal’s latest column, maybe you’ll like his latest booklet: The Civil War: (The Truth You Have Not Been Told). Life continues to expand for this prolific writer and guardian of TRUE American history.