-- Posted Friday, 30 January 2009 | | Source: GoldSeek.com
By Terry L. Krohn
The Declaration of Independence (1776) – even more so than the Constitution – expressed the underlying and beneficent mentality that allowed the creation of this once great republic, these United States of America. I say “once” with purpose and emphasis. Increasingly and repeatedly, we are seeing legislation and policy decisions designed to enrich elitists at the expense of the average citizen (e.g. TARP, Bad Bank, New Bailout) – significant warning signs of a decaying republic as best expressed by a quote often attributed to historian/lawyer/writer Alexander Tytler (1747-1813): “A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury... with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years.”
Aside: Many mistakenly refer to the United States as a democracy. The United States was founded as a constitutional republic as opposed to a democracy. A republic is characterized by the Rule of Law and a democracy is characterized by the Rule of Majority. Thomas Jefferson said, "A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." In a republic, even ninety-nine percent of the people cannot take away the rights of the one percent. The historian Alexander Tytler obviously knew the distinction as exemplified by his consistent use of “democracy” with “voter” in the prior quote, but I strongly suspect he would allow the respective replacement of these words with “republic” and “elected officials/elitists” as is more applicable to contemporary times in the U.S.
The Constitution, a critical document in its own right, was an attempt to formalize the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence by creating a tangible form of government to serve the best interests of the People. As a nation, however, we have strayed far from our founding principles (e.g. Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 10, Paragraph 1, Clause 5: “No State shall ... coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts”).
The preceding is cited as one of the primary (but certainly not the only) abuses of the Constitution because honest money is so fundamental to honest governance, and because it is so timely in relation to the current monetary crisis (i.e. I submit that monetary dislocations are a direct result of ignoring this clause in the Constitution because fiat monetary systems do not constrain governments’ ability to issue new monies – e.g. Governments can spend even when their bank accounts are 2,000,000,000,000 dollars in the red.) Mayer Amschel Rothschild – an international banker – is attributed this quote in 1790: “Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws.” Well, fellow citizens, with the establishment of the Federal Reserve in 1913, we have done just that – given control of our monetary system to international bankers – and are now paying the price for this horrific misjudgment.
But really, why should you care? “Yes things are bad, and yes, we see some of this corruption, but we’ll get through this. We’re still paying the bills and putting the kids through college, not to mention watching American Idol. Besides, the news gives us hope here and there. Our government is working the problem, and what can one person do anyhow?”
Wake up. Do you think everyone in pre-Hitler Germany was a bad person? So many good people in this country would stand up and act to turn this country back to a path of prosperity and honorable constitutional governance if they would only take off their rose-colored glasses – glasses painted by a media machine that is bought and paid for and having the express charter of deluding the People. (Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. – Thomas Jefferson). As a nation, we are not doomed to repeat history – the fall of Republic to Oligarchy and then Despotism is not a fait accompli. But preserving beneficent governance is not achieved without diligence and hard work.
Allow yourself to be outraged when you see Congress voting to give elitists your money. Write a letter to your Congressman. Research the facts; don’t assume what you hear on the TV or the radio is the whole truth – or even a partial truth for that matter. (Truth and news are not the same thing. – Katharine Graham, owner of the Washington Post). Tell your neighbor your perspectives and findings. Scrutinize the true credentials of the candidate up for election and if no candidate is offered with the needed integrity, find one and initiate a write-in campaign. Opportunities are endless to make a contribution towards moving this nation back to its founding principles.
Many remember the Declaration of Independence for the admittedly soul-stirring fundamental proposition: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. But I submit for your consideration that there is an even more fundamental principle offered by this document, words that frame the citizens’ ability to understand when they need to wake up from the dream – the dream that unalienable rights may be gained and sustained without diligence, hard work, and yes the “s” word, sacrifice.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn [arch.] that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security – Declaration of Independence.
We here in these United States are now at the crossroads between being “more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable” than to “abolish the forms to which we are accustomed”. This crossroads is framed by the number of citizens feeling the pain from a corrupt monetary system (knowingly and purposely being supported by many of our elected officials). As in atomic physics, it takes critical mass to set off a chain reaction.
Let’s be perfectly clear. There is time to work within the system (e.g. voting, writing letters, peaceful demonstrations, group discussions) to make the changes necessary to reinstitute those principles which founded this great nation, and this is precisely that which I support and encourage.
Counterintuitively, the hurdle is not so much in holding bad people accountable for their transgressions and/or forcing them to change their ways – rather this is the natural outcome of a more fundamental need. Good men and women throughout the world must recognize that bad people exist; people who are driven by a felt need to accrue ever more control; people who have bubbled up into positions of wealth and power; people who would destroy any Republic standing in their way; people who think less of you than an insect; and yes, people who conspire on a daily basis to profit regardless of the misery that they cause. And once recognizing the face of the enemy, the People must take action to thwart any such malevolent objectives.
On this cheery note, I will leave you to have that next cappuccino, or perhaps, just perhaps, to do that little something – maybe just a little follow-up research – to help save this country. It is my honor and my duty to contribute in whatever small way that I can to help move this nation back to its days of former glory and link arms with like-minded people – people who understand that “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” are not only self-evident truths, but are also rights to be both cherished and protected through diligent action.
Terry
PS - Please remember that the more fear or trepidation you have about repercussions from peacefully expressing your opinions as herein, the more urgent the need for you to do so. (Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us all. – Justice William O. Douglas). I personally know many good people in government, the military and the banking industry, but this does not belie the essence of the subject discussion. For tyranny to flourish, it only takes good men and women to do nothing to stem its proliferation.
Terry L. Krohn is the author of two novels, which include the sordid history of money as historical content set in a fictional plot of mystery and intrigue. The first, Eye of the Pyramid written in 2004, tends to shine light on the “whys and wherefores” of current financial dislocations. The second, Power of the Scepter written in 2006-7, is the sequel and tends to highlight the darker side of the moneychangers’ machinations.
http://www.axiomhouse.com/specials.htm
Copyright © 2009 by Terry L. Krohn
-- Posted Friday, 30 January 2009 | Digg This Article
| Source: GoldSeek.com
