The Fourth of July is a time of celebration for the principles underlying the Declaration of Independence:
- All people are created equal.
- All of us are endowed with unalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
- Governments are instituted to secure those rights and they derive their “just powers from the consent of the governed.”
We often take these ideas for granted, but they are profound and very different than the principles guiding governments in many other nations.
The Constitution provides for a constrained government, with limited powers, and a separation of power among three co-equal branches of government – the courts, the Congress, and the Executive Branch. Each branch is to provide a check against abuses by the other branches.
At the core of the Constitution is a commitment to the principle that what is allowed or disallowed is determined by the rule of law, not by the dictates of one person or a cabal of a few people.
The Constitution was created to “form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”
However, these documents are not sufficient for the fulfillment of their grand promises and principles. Without constant diligence by each generation, our nation is at risk of transformation into a tyranny, where our liberties are lost, where an imperial presidency assumes dictatorial powers, and where, bit by bit, the principles upon which our nation was founded are eroded.
As he was leaving the constitutional convention in Philadelphia, Ben Franklin was asked by a woman, “Well, doctor, what do we have – a monarchy or a republic?” Franklin responded, “A republic, ma’am, if you can keep it.”
That is the challenge for every generation. Constant vigilance is essential for liberty and the preservation of our republic.
We must face the truth: As a nation, we are now doing a very poor job of preserving our Republic and our freedoms, which, in earlier times, distinguished the United States from authoritarian regimes in other nations. Consider the following:
War Power
The War Power Clause of the Constitution makes it clear that Congress, not the President, has the sole power to decide whether to go to war. Yet, without a congressional determination that our country should engage in war, President Bush illegally invaded and occupied Iraq, a nation that posed no danger to the United States.
Without any authorization from Congress, President Obama has ordered military strikes against Libya, as well as killings from bombs delivered by drones (which have resulted in the murder of innocent civilians – men, women, and children) – all of which are acts of war – in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia.
All of this has been in blatant violation of the War Power Clause, yet when these usurpations have been challenged in our judicial system, the courts have, in derogation of their constitutional responsibilities, begged off, refusing to decide the vital constitutional issues on the purported basis that they are “political questions”.
Due Process
The Due Process Clause of the Constitution provides that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. However, without any semblance of due process, President Obama has targeted U.S. citizens for assassination. President Bush was justifiably criticized for kidnapping, disappearing, and torturing people in violation of domestic and international law. Now, President Obama skips the kidnapping and incarceration and simply has them killed.
In 2009, Obama argued he should have the power to indefinitely detain people because they might – in the future – prove to be a danger to the United States. On New Year’s Eve (2011-2012), Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”), which provides that our government can kidnap people and detain them indefinitely, up to the rest of their lives, without any charges, trial, legal assistance, or right of habeas corpus. The NDAA is perhaps the most un-American, subversive statute ever passed by Congress and signed into law by any U.S. president.
Separation of powers and the constitutional system of checks and balances.
The separation of power and the system of checks and balances provided for in our Constitution has been eviscerated. As the President has assumed more and more dictatorial powers, Congress has stood timidly by and the courts have, in several instances, simply dodged their vital constitutional duties.
Congress has passed laws, then instead of the President vetoing them and providing the opportunity for Congress to override the veto, Presidents Bush and Obama have unconstitutionally issued “signing statements,” indicating that they will not abide by the legislation. Instead of abiding by the principle that “no person is above the law,” they seem to endorse the tyrannical sentiment of Richard Nixon that “when the President does it, that means it is not illegal.”
That assertion of dictatorial powers has been most clearly demonstrated when people in the Executive Branch (including the president) have violated federal laws by engaging in abuses such as torture and warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens’ communications, in violation of federal statute and the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. When the illegal conduct has been challenged in federal court, the Executive Branch has asserted the court-made “state-secrets” doctrine, arguing that the court must dismiss the cases to prevent the disclosure of important state secrets. Hence, the very perpetrator of criminal acts (i.e. the Executive Branch) is allowed to dictate to the courts whether the perpetrator can be held accountable under the law.
Equal Protection of the Laws
Consistent with the observation in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal” is the provision in the Constitution requiring the equal protection of the laws. However, President Obama, who delayed until 2012 his utterance in support of marriage equality, still asserts that equal treatment under the law for gays and lesbians who want to marry is solely a matter for the states to decide. Apparently, for Obama, federal protections for equal treatment under the law are appropriate for people of different races or religions, but not for members of the GLBT community. That is a betrayal of equal treatment under the law, a core value of our Constitutional system.
The principle of equal treatment under the law has also been betrayed by the creation of a two-tiered system of justice, where the rich and powerful are not held accountable under the law, while everyone else is subjected to full accountability, sometimes with a vengeance (as under our Draconian drug laws, which have resulted in the incarceration of more people in the U.S. than are incarcerated for all crimes throughout Western Europe). Among those who President Obama and his administration have excused from any accountability for their crimes are torturers, those responsible for illegal surveillance of U.S. citizens, and Wall Street criminals who committed massive fraud contributing to the economic crippling of millions of people throughout our nation.
The Supreme Law of the Land
Article 6 of the Constitution provides that the supreme law of the land is the Constitution, laws passed by Congress, and treaties ratified by the United States Senate. That constitutional mandate, insofar as it relates to treaties, is now treated with disdain, as if our treaty commitments are optional, depending on the dictates of the President.
For instance, President Bush determined that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to certain instances of torture authorized by him. The Supreme Court held he was wrong.
President Obama declared that, as to illegal torture and warrantless surveillance, he would not seek to have anyone held accountable under federal criminal laws, saying we should look forward and not backward. That, of course, severely undermines the rule of law.
Tyranny is the proper label for one who purports to determine against whom the law will be applied and under what circumstances. In the case of torture, President Obama has aggravated the situation by ignoring the mandate in the Convention Against Torture, which requires every signatory nation to prosecute cases of torture as they do other serious offenses. Obama’s failure to hold people accountable for authorizing or engaging in torture is itself a violation of the Convention Against Torture.
Perhaps the most important treaty obligation is the duty to refrain from wars of aggression under the Kellogg-Briand Pact and the United Nations Charter. A war of aggression is comprised of military aggression against another nation that has not attacked, or is not about to attack, the aggressor nation. For a violation of that international prohibition, people were tried and convicted for aggressive war at the Nuremberg Tribunal.
President Bush cavalierly disregarded the prohibition in attacking and occupying Iraq and President Obama has continued our nation’s tragic pattern of disregard of the prohibitions against aggressive war by ramping up the war in Afghanistan and ordering drone killings in sovereign nations that pose no threat of harm to the United States.
As is evident, our Constitution is being blatantly violated in many ways by those who are sworn to uphold it – and, in the process, our Republic is being transformed into an international outlaw, with a president that has exercised unprecedented abusive powers, a Congress that is sound asleep at the constitutional switch, and courts that too often step aside and find excuses for not deciding important constitutional questions.
On this Fourth of July, let us keep this in mind: Blindly following leaders who disregard the Constitution and undermine the rule of law is not patriotism. In fact, it is a betrayal of the values that gave rise to our country’s founding and for which so many have fought and died.
Here’s to each of us doing all that is required to keep our Republic.
Rocky Anderson is the presidential nominee of the Justice Party, a new national political party. Contact him at www.voterocky.org.
delia posted at 7:11 pm on Mon, Oct 29, 2012.
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Engaged Voter posted at 4:53 pm on Sat, Jul 7, 2012.
Wow. Tattletale? Is that the same title you give to parents who report drug dealers to the police?
"whose language is equally as objectionable"
If you can provide an example of me using hate speech to discriminate in the same manner, I will concede the point. Failing that...well let's just say I am used to false claims against me on these forums.
Oh, and if I ever happen upon you face to face and you are committing some ignorant bigoted hate crime...I will "tattletale" once again. It's my duty as a Citizen of the United States of America.
On a side note, which country are you visiting from, and when will you be leaving? ;)
mnjcpa posted at 7:47 am on Sat, Jul 7, 2012.
A tattletale whose language is equally as objectionable. Sweet.
Engaged Voter posted at 12:59 pm on Fri, Jul 6, 2012.
"Maybe you should reconsider that chill pill."
Maybe you should engage your brain before opening your mouth and making yourself look like an idiot.
Also you might want to stop defending people who degrade and insult handicapped people. It's not making you look real good right now. ;)
Engaged Voter posted at 12:54 pm on Fri, Jul 6, 2012.
And it continues to defend an attack on handicapped people, without ever having seen the offending post.
"If you look at VofReason's comments - absent comments I never saw "
You attacked ME for responding to a comment that has been removed. Put the pipe DOWN and understand this simple fact.
Toilet, indeed.
mnjcpa posted at 11:31 am on Fri, Jul 6, 2012.
Exactly what I was pointing out folks, you got to go to the toilet with trash talk.
If you look at VofReason's comments - absent comments I never saw - what remains is a stellar contrast of ideas. It's hardly an attack.
Maybe you should reconsider that chill pill.
Engaged Voter posted at 10:17 am on Fri, Jul 6, 2012.
"I'm not going to apologize for something I didn't see."
Then you should probably stop attacking responses to something you didn't see.
It makes you look like an ignorant hypocrite. ;)
Engaged Voter posted at 10:16 am on Fri, Jul 6, 2012.
"It's not the way to debate a liberal. All you got to do is stay on topic and debate the issue and they get skunked every time. "
I had no idea that VofReason and mrconservative were liberals.
But you are correct - stay on topic, debate the actual issues, and they get skunked every time. ;)
mnjcpa posted at 10:10 am on Fri, Jul 6, 2012.
Hey Engaged - I'm not going to apologize for something I didn't see. Invectives flying back and forth make me cringe but I've seen plenty of personal insults that you've been quite happy to report.
It's not the way to debate a liberal. All you got to do is stay on topic and debate the issue and they get skunked every time.
Engaged Voter posted at 9:37 am on Fri, Jul 6, 2012.
I fail to see the connection between "demonstrating the destruction of our country through liberalism" and telling me there's an "olympics" for "special" people like me.
But you go ahead and keep defending it (without having even seen it).
mnjcpa posted at 8:52 am on Fri, Jul 6, 2012.
I stand by what I said....VofReason is aptly demonstrating the destruction of our country through liberalism.
Engaged Voter posted at 8:15 am on Fri, Jul 6, 2012.
mnjcpa - Remove foot from mouth.
"Not sure how you've taken VofReason's comments & somehow twisted them around to be about you and disabled people"
That's because the editors at the Trib removed the offending comment.
Oops! I'll accept that apology now. ;)
mnjcpa posted at 7:32 pm on Thu, Jul 5, 2012.
Bizarre....Engaged hunt down some serious chill pills.
Not sure how you've taken VofReason's comments & somehow twisted them around to be about you and disabled people. All that's being conveyed is the contrast with what America IS about versus the Obama administration has done to our culture. It's what happens in any country where liberalism endures - just like Eorope.
Engaged Voter posted at 4:12 pm on Thu, Jul 5, 2012.
Aww, how cute! The spineless weasel has resorted to insulting me on articles where I haven't even commented (probably hoping I won't see it and respond to his idiocy).
Sorry Voice, but I not only saw it, but reported it as well.
Making fun of handicapped people may be okay with you, but it is NOT okay with me, and I'm betting the editors at the Trib will feel the same way as I do.
VofReason posted at 2:26 pm on Thu, Jul 5, 2012.
All people are created equal. Except evidently those who must be given tools like affirmative action to equalize the playingfield. Oh and those given generational welfare becuase they certainly cannot figure it out on their own.
All of us are endowed with unalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Oh, except those who are aborted because mom needs to squeeze into her prom dress or cannot take time out of clubin to bring a life into the world.
Governments are instituted to secure those rights and they derive their “just powers from the consent of the governed.” Except when the President and his minions have a great idea like Obamacare that dispite overwhelming rejection from the people gets shoved down your throat.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 7:55 pm on Wed, Jul 4, 2012.
Sadly, when we look at today's residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, we come up wanting. A President who does not lead but issues dictats and writs as if he was a dictator in a 3rd World County and he is certainly doing his best ($15,000,000,000,000.00 = $15 TRILLION DOLLAR OBAMA DEFICT) to put America in that debtor status. A First Lady who until she was 40years old was "ashamed to be an American" and had done little to bring honor to the First Lady's stature other than take ever-more expensive vacations with an entourage of family member and hangers-on that would make a "Rap Diva".....blush.
Accuracy posted at 5:53 pm on Wed, Jul 4, 2012.
In the midst of the 2012 presidential campaign, is former Democrat "Rocky Anderson Rocking the Vote," as a Justice Party presidential candidate?
In his jump from Democrat to third party presidential candidacy, Rocky Anderson (former two-term Mayor of Salt Lake City) speaks up on this Independence Day to explore what he thinks the USA was intended to be as a beacon of light to its own people and to all nations.
Rocky has always been committed to the principle that justice – social justice, environmental justice, and economic justice – and while he was Mayor of Salt Lake City, he was considered by many to be the "greenest mayor" in the U.S.