The inquiry is a difficult one, for it pits the judiciary’s search for truth against the executive’s duty to maintain the nation’s security.There remains a contingent of fantasists in this country whom I'll call Restorationists. Unlike past Restorations, which sought, usually successfully, to retake government from usurpers and reinstate dynastic monarchies, our Restorationists believe that through the concerted efforts of concerned citizens, electoral politicking, a sound legal strategy, and good public relations, the United States can be restored to its semi-mythical existence as a Republic. Some of these people are deeply intelligent and command my highest respect. Ron Paul. Chalmers Johnson. Others are morons and think that Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will have something to do with the restorative transformation. All of them are wrong.
-Judge Robert B. King of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
Section. 2.
The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States [...] and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties [...] shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States [....]
Section. 3.
He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.
-The powers of the Presidency as outline in Article II, sections 2 and 3 of the Constitution of the United States of America
The case of Khaled al-Masri is indicative of this point. An innocent man was kidnapped, spirited away to a secret American prison in Afghanistan, degraded, abused, tortured, and then dumped in the middle of another foreign country. The executive condones it. The Congress accedes to it. The courts ignore it out of deference to the executive. Through what mechanism will a free Republic be restored? Through the courts? The Congress? The Presidency?
Και τώρα τι θα γένουμε χωρίς βαρβάρους.
Οι άνθρωποι αυτοί ήσαν μια κάποια λύσις.
What will become of us without any barbarians?
Those people were some kind of solution.
16 comments:
God, Ioz.
A friend noted, in descirbing me, that I walk around with a little black cloud of gloom floating over my head. You ain't helping, Man!
Say what you will about National Socialism, Dude......
Those of us "fantasists", as you call us, who aim to restore the Republic also include "fair trials" (and recently one sees mention of a Truth Commission)
The removal of rotten judges, for example, is certainly within the powers of the Congress under the Constitution as currently written
For the dawn of this new Golden Age of the Republic to occur, admittedly the congresspersons would have to behave differently - I think different leadership, rather than a complete purge, is all that is necessary
it would take an aroused citizenry to make this happen, of course - that's the rub - but if we who see the necessity of change don't fight for truth, justice, and the potentially sentient way - who will? if not now, when?
For the real golden age, fairies would have to descend from the sky, towing magic cauldrons of gold and mystical cures for all that ails humanity. Especially the dark depths of our souls.
Maybe not fairies. Maybe 900 FOOT MC JESUS would be necessary for the Golden Age to dawn? (After he smites and throws into the pits of hell 95% of humanity, but....you gotta break a few eggs)
:) (Just kidding. Somebody has to fight the good fight, mistah charley)
More seriously, an "aroused citizenry" is generally a factor when the State is human scaled. A continental-scaled State riven with fault lines and ruled by an elite that specializes in divide and conquer ("Southern Strategy", anyone?)-it's hard to see how an aroused citizenry could do much. The Solution is Dissolution, with the hope that a few centuries hence, even the more benighted ministates would pull themselves together.
This is why I both hate you and love to read you. Color me 98% convinced.
Now it's time for you to start talking us either into or out of the only thing left when we hit 100%.
I'm usually aroused in the morning.
there is no solution. there is no savior.
abort.
The "only thing" that Ashley hints at won't work either. But I've gotten tot he point where I favor it anyway, since the goal is IMO no longer to save the Republic, but to save the rest of the world. A hideously bloody civil war in the U.S. won't save the U.S., but it might save the rest of the world.
I have a family to support so I'm nt going to do it myself, but it is past time that SOMEONE started shooting these warmongering fuckers dead in the street.
Re shooting warmongering fuckers dead in the street, I have to say that it would probably be less satisfying than you imagine and considerably more inconvenient for the rest of the human race, including, inter alia, the prospect of lots of torture. Anybody who thinks that the answer to tyranny is civil war ought to take a gander at Iraq.
IOZ's position that there is no affirmative way to save this country seems fairly defensible to me--or to put it another way, any attempt at direct intervention, whether constructive or destructive, will make things worse. People of a proactive temperament (not IOZ, perhaps) should start building their new Jerusalem. That's probably the best thing we can do now, other than not paying taxes.
"...since the goal is IMO no longer to save the Republic, but to save the rest of the world. A hideously bloody civil war in the U.S. won't save the U.S., but it might save the rest of the world."
Terrifying thought. But oh so true/
I doubt a civil war would do anything but make things a whole lot worse. You'd have warlords running around with nukes and other death-dealing nastiness, issuing woof tickets to any outsiders they thought were messing with their chances for success.
War tax resistance
My (limited) experience of building New Jerusalem is that people find it hard to leave control freak/statist baggage behind. The urge to recapitulate the same mistakes is hard to shake. But things built around local autonomy -- community supported agriculture, community currencies, co-op businesses -- do a bit better.
Greetings from London.
We're going to Hell in a handcart, too, if that's any consolation.
Here in the USA, we call it a handbasket, you dirty limey.
Aaron, by the way, is right everyone, in Re: the matter of shooting people dead.
IOZ, what is the Ancient Greek from? Which text? Did you study the Greek? Are you a Johnnie perhaps?
yes, Aaron is right, but it sure would be be satisfying to know that some of these punks had been punked, let's say, and that there was some V for Vengence on the loose....
It's modern Greek. Cavafy. Translated below.
I don't read Greek myself, but a buddy of mine is from Ikaria and gave me the original text.
john b,
Waiting for the Barbarians by Constantine P. Cavafy.
Excellent stuff, IOZ.
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