Uphold Our Liberties

March 22, 2009

An article in the Army Times (9/30/08) stated that the “1st Brigade Combat Team will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.” The article goes on to describe its objectives to serve as a military police force. A most high principle of the victorious colonies was that a national standing army never be used for domestic law enforcement. This was reinforced and secured in 1878 by the passage of the Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act. These substantially limited the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement. Our government has violated its own principles and laws. And “you” did not even know about it.

In the past few months we’ve seen the bailouts and the bailouts of the bailouts. Everyone points the fingers, but the truth is not spoken regarding these payoffs. The vast majority of these dollars are earmarks, pork and payback for election contributions. They also nationalize private industry – the government now owns controlling interest in our banks. These banks can tell you that 95 plus percent of the U.S. economy is based on small businesses of 100 employees or less. Less than 1% of the stimulus package helps these economic drivers. In the first 30 days of 2009, our government has spent more than what was spent in the previous eight years. Why are they selling us out while telling us this is change from the excesses of the past? It appears to be an orchestrated effort to take over the economy.

Recently, we’ve all heard the news about A.I.G. I personally am tired of rehashing the story. But there’s a side to the story that the press either omits or refuses to report. The dollars given A.I.G. included two things. First, the U.S. Government would own 79.9% of the company and oversee its governance. Second, as offered by the Treasury, signed by Gietner and Christopher Dodd, and approved by President Obama, retention bonuses were written into the contract. An interesting side note: Dodd and Obama both took campaign contributions from A.I.G. in excess of $100,000 this year. Dodd denied this at first on CNN, but when the truth came out stated that he “had misspoken”. But what makes this egregious is the movement in the Congress and Senate to break that contract via legislation. The basis of our nation’s legal system is “common law”. One of the principles of that law is to honor contracts and covenants. The government has again, chosen to violate constitutional principles and violate its own contract. If you don’t like the retention bonuses, you have only your own government to blame. They own the company and agreed to the bonuses. But like it or not, the atrocity is the government reneging on its own contract.

Allegiance to our Constitution preserves our liberties and way of life. Most of the problems and frustrations that trouble our republic are due to the tendency of our elected officials and judicial representatives to brush off or abuse constitutional law. Only fidelity to the Constitution will repair the damage done by our corrupted government.

As free people, we are all called to uphold and defend the principles that ensure our liberty. The U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence contain and protect that liberty. Thus, it is the responsibility of every American to studiously familiarize himself with these principles. Even more importantly, it is the duty of each American to aggressively hold their elected representatives accountable to his or her oath to the Constitution. The U.S. Constitution is a contract made between the civil magistrates and “We the People”. If this contract can be broken by our elected officials trampling on the Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act, through the political payoffs of the stimulus and bailouts, and by demonizing executives and reneging on the contract they made with them, how much further will they go with ignoring or limiting your liberties?

Publius