Are We On Our Way To Gettysburg? March 18, 2011
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Dr. Robert Owens, energy policy, free trade, inflation, National Debt
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The nightly newsreel rolls and we watch in fascination as our friend and ally Japan struggles to regain its bearings after nature’s devastating one-two-punch seems to have set them up for a potential nuclear knock-out. Boosting the ratings of the wall-to-wall news channels we sit for hours glued to the scenes of devastation waiting to be amazed by the most recently discovered views of water overtaking land in a world where every phone is a video camera. The destruction of this latest mega-tragedy is reminiscent of World War II after America paid back Pearl Harbor in spades and today’s situation even has an atomic twist at the end. One major difference is that this time we are all praying that our partners in the land of the rising sun won’t have to surrender.
Today America faces an economic earthquake and a social tsunami. Our leaders have spent us into the poor house. Our melting pot has become a smelting pot. Our social glue consists of eating at the same fast food restaurants and watching the same game shows. Reality shows are more popular than reality. Our President fiddles while Rome burns more concerned about b-ball brackets then about a 14 trillion dollar debt, two wars, and a world aimed at meltdown. The only event able to hold the administration’s interest is the 2012 election and their obsession to maintain their grasp on power.
The lack of a Historical perspective may well prove to be the undoing of our nation. Once a people are divorced from their past they live in the Eternal Now and those who set the agenda can always change now. The study of History not only provides context it also provides an endless number of lessons, illustrations, and warnings.
The magnitude of the calamities currently assaulting Japan cannot help but bring to mind the terrors of total war. In all our wars only one ever visited such destruction on our homeland. In the Civil War the North adopted a policy of total war to destroy the South’s will and ability to fight. After the South under a string of brilliant generals culminating in Robert E. Lee handed the Union defeat after defeat Grant and Sherman were able to convince Lincoln of the necessity of wonton destruction of civilian as well as military targets.
Flush with victory Lee launched his first invasion of the North in 1862. He marched into Maryland, a slave state which stayed loyal to the Union more because of an occupying army then because of popular sentiment. Lee’s goal was to defeat the Union Army and lead Maryland into the Confederacy thus surrounding Washington DC, probably winning foreign recognition, and possibly winning the war.
The previously invincible Army of Northern Virginia led by arguably the greatest tactician America has ever produced met General George McClellan and the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Antietam for the bloodiest day in American combat history. More than twice as many Americans were killed or mortally wounded at Antietam on that one day than in the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Spanish-American War combined.
After twelve hours of savage combat more than 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing. The fighting ended in a stalemate with combat stopping due to the sheer exhaustion of the armies not because one side had triumphed over the other. However, Lee and his men were at the end of a precarious line of supply through enemy territory with no hope for reinforcement and more Union forces were arriving all the time. Therefore, even though the Union sustained more casualties than the South, Lee was forced to withdraw. This was a tactical victory for the South but a strategic victory for the North opening the door for Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation thus seizing the moral high ground in the war and precluding any recognition of the South by the European powers.
One year later after fresh victories at Spotsylvania Courthouse, in the Wilderness, and Chancellorsville Lee once again sought to end the war with a second invasion of the North. This time he crossed the Potomac at Harper’s Ferry and marched into the heart of Pennsylvania hoping to destroy the North’s will to fight by bringing the war to them.
This time he met the Union Army under General George Meade a career officer and civil engineer. In this pivotal battle of the war the great bold tactician met the plodding bureaucrat. On the first day of the battle General Lee moved uncharacteristically slow and Meade moved uncharacteristically fast allowing the North to gain the high ground. This set the stage for the battle as the South wasted itself attacking strong positions culminating in the fruitless slaughter of Pickett’s charge. Bled white and facing a Union army that was constantly growing Lee turned around and carried the Confederacy’s last hope of victory from the field of honor.
But it didn’t have to end that way. Instead of attacking against fortified positions either uphill or over open ground Lee could have turned to the east to march towards Washington. Meade and the Union army would have had to follow him doing their best to move around him to shield the capitol. Lee could then have chosen his ground and allowed the North to waste itself against a fixed position as they had so many times before. A victory here would have left Lee with an unopposed road to Washington and possible victory.
Hindsight is 20/20 and at this distance without the hazard of battle and the gamble of combat it’s easy for an armchair general to improve upon the real life experience of one of the greatest generals in history.
What we need now is not hindsight but foresight. Domestically, America is facing the perfect storm of crushing debt, dwindling industrial capacity, high unemployment, and creeping inflation. Internationally we’re engaged in two hot wars, a desultory campaign against international terrorists, pirates on the high seas, and collapsing prestige.
Are we boldly marching towards our Gettysburg? Are we blindly relying on our past glories expecting them to propel us to future triumphs? Will we waste ourselves assailing massive debt with paltry cuts? Are we marching over open ground against the fixed positions of free trade agreements that are free in only one direction? Are we hamstringing ourselves with an energy policy designed to keep the earth green by devastating our pockets for the benefit of our enemies?
Before it’s too late we should turn and march towards victory! Stop the over spending. Renegotiate all our trade deals, and make them equitable for all sides. Put the welfare genie back in its lamp before Ali Baba and his 535 thieves pass another budget, loot the treasury, and we end up sitting in the dirt eating leaves.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com View the trailer for Dr. Owens’ latest book @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ypkoS0gGn8 © 2011 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
What Will You Do When the Lights Go Out? March 11, 2011
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Dr. Robert Owens, drill baby drill, Energy costs, energy policy, Gas prices, nuclear power
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When the power goes off leaving you with no TV, Internet, or email you have a lot of time on your hands. Thankfully there are batteries, so my trusty computer will still work for a few hours, and I can follow my fingers into my thoughts. Looking out my window I can’t see any lights in the neighborhood so at least I know it isn’t just our house that’s in the dark. In addition, there are cars running up and down the street, so I know at least it wasn’t the dreaded EMP blast. The wind was making a strange noise but stopped, so we have come out from under the table since there’s no indication of a tornado on the way. All these kinds of thoughts run through your mind when the lights go off. In other words, when you’re in the dark there’s little light.
This lack of power also brings to mind the recent spike in oil prices and the resulting sticker shock at the pump. Our government assures us there is no inflation. Anyone who goes to the supermarket or the gas station can gauge the validity of those claims for themselves. When the power goes off in the middle of the night it’s impossible to know why, but when America runs out of energy we should all know why.
Beginning in 1974 when the former anti-establishment protesters became the establishment and the Watergate Congress grasped the reins of power the United States has been systematically hamstrung in its production of energy. They founded the department of Energy in 1977, and through its enlightened management of our energy production and power needs the percentage of our energy needs coming from domestic sources has steadily fallen as our dependence on imported oil has soared.
America has some of the greatest proven reserves of oil in the world, but due to unproven and sometimes disproven environmental concerns we aren’t allowed to explore, drill, or pump at anywhere near full capacity. We have one of the world’s largest supply of coal, but for the same tenuous reasons its use is maligned and restricted. We are the preeminent designer and builder of nuclear power plants, but due to unsupported safety concerns we haven’t licensed or built a new plant for decades. We have the technology and the space to build refineries that don’t pollute; however, the all powerful environmental lobby has blocked the construction of a new one for over thirty years. So when the price hits $4 a gallon and the lights go out don’t sit in the dark and wonder why.
Right now the Obama Administration is fighting the federal courts that have said the moratorium on oil exploration in the Gulf, which was imposed by decree, is illegal. In a knee jerk reaction our President declared the gulf off limits for drilling, economically devastating the deep water oil business and the many industries and people it supported. The government argues it’s too dangerous to drill in deep water after the BP leak. No one contends it isn’t difficult but since the same government makes it almost impossible to drill on land where it is the safest or in shallow water where it is much less dangerous what alternative is there? Only the one each successive administration for decades seems to favor: buying oil from the Mideast. Our elected leaders are trading our energy independence and our treasure in exchange for letting someone else drill somewhere else.
Instead of oil and coal and nuclear we are told that America’s future energy needs will be met by ethanol, solar, and wind. Our massive use of ethanol, which is a very inefficient energy source, has driven up the price of corn worldwide causing food prices to escalate. This in turn has contributed to the current unrest which is driving up oil prices. The same environmentalists who campaign against oil, coal, and nuclear also work to block the construction of solar power plants in the vast deserts of the Southwest. The same politicians who work for the demise of our traditional forms of energy fight the construction of wind farms if they happen to be anywhere near them. All three of these boondoggles have received billions in federal dollars, tax breaks and incentives for decades and the answer to our energy needs are still blowing in the wind.
The only growth industry left by the government is the government. It is powered by its own inertia. America’s energy policy seems to be to manufacture an energy crisis. Typing away on my battery operated computer by the flickering light of an oil lamp, the vision of America’s energy future seems almost as dark as the scene outside my window in a blackout. We’ve allowed demagogues preaching a false gospel of man-made global warming chanting songs of pollution hysteria while serving sacraments of social guilt to give our enemies a chokehold on our energy artery. The next time you pull into a gas station as you pump your fuel look at the price. Remind yourself we have a Secretary of Energy who thinks the price should be at European levels and a President who has said energy prices will skyrocket under his programs. Now ask yourself, “If that’s their plan, what’s mine?”
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com View the trailer for Dr. Owens’ latest book @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ypkoS0gGn8 © 2011 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
And the Dead Beat Goes On March 3, 2011
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: 2010 election, Dr. Robert Owens, National Debt, Republican majority, Tea Party, Thomas Jefferson
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Now we’re getting tough! Since the Tea Party Turnaround last November the new Republican majority in Congress is taking the bull by the horns and showing that they mean business! They would only agree to raise the debt limit for two weeks. That’s like telling your shopaholic alter ego who’s emptied the family savings, overdrawn the checkbook, mortgaged the house, and taken out a juice loan with a loan shark just to cover the interest, “This has got to stop! Here’s a new credit card, but you can only use it for two weeks.” How could that possibly go wrong? Just charge it to someone who hasn’t been born yet. They never seem to complain.
In a letter to James Madison, referring to the idea of running up a national debt beyond the power of the current generation to fully fund or pay off, Thomas Jefferson said, “I say, the earth belongs to each of these generations during its course, fully and in its own right. The second generation receives it clear of the debts and encumbrances of the first, the third of the second, and so on. For if the first could charge it with a debt, then the earth would belong to the dead and not to the living generation. Then, no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence.”
Currently the national debt of the United States stands at over 14 trillion dollars and it’s growing at the rate of more than one trillion per year for as far as the eye can see. It has increased by an average of $4.13 billion per day since September 28, 2007. We can question the wisdom of this but did you know that it is illegal to question the validity of the practice? According to the14th amendment Section 4 it’s illegal to question the validity of the National Debt. This section says, “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law … shall not be questioned.”
When we take actions like making Health Care a right we have just placed an obligation on everyone else to pay for it. I want to be healthy. I want everyone else to be healthy. I also want the economy to be healthy. Creating another entitlement that requires taking money from productive people and using it to give benefits to a third party only points to the coming double-dip in this Great Recession and the shell game which is our national budget. We sent Bernie Maddoff to jail for doing on a smaller scale what our government does every day: robbing Peter to pay Paul. The problem with robbing Peter to pay Paul is eventually Peter changes his name to Paul.
Although it was stated before it was illegal to do so Thomas Jefferson was willing to say the practice of robbing our children and grandchildren because we cannot quit spending is not a valid way to manage our affairs, “The conclusion then, is, that neither the representatives of a nation, nor the whole nation itself assembled, can validly engage debts beyond what they may pay in their own time.”
Along with much of the wisdom of our Founders this has been forgotten by an ever growing government seeking to be all things to all people. Our current leaders may have forgotten the wisdom of our Founders but they seem to have accepted the wisdom of Salvador Dali, “I believe that the moment is near when by a procedure of active paranoiac thought, it will be possible to systematize confusion and contribute to the total discrediting of the world of reality.” This may describe our current descent into the bizarre world of a fundamentally Transformed America, but it doesn’t sound promising as a plan for political success.
We can’t spend our way to prosperity. We can’t borrow our way to solvency, and we shouldn’t condemn our descendants to a life of limited opportunity crushed under the debt for the entitlements we wanted but couldn’t afford. That’s the reality our actions are ignoring as our shopaholic alter ego pouts, “But, I want it now!”
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com View the trailer for Dr. Owens’ latest book @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ypkoS0gGn8 © 2011 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
Tomorrow Begins Today February 25, 2011
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: America first, Dr. Robert Owens, foreign policy, NAFTA, Taxes
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Today America’s leaders, ignoring the example of Dr. Kissinger, have abandoned realpolitik. Otto von Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor who united Germany coined the term. In its original German it means “the politics of reality.” According to the tenets of realpolitik, foreign policy has only one purpose: the security of the state. Instead our leaders have subverted it to crusading for the touchy feely advancement of causes and ideologies.
The recent visit of Hu Jintao, the President of Communist China, revealed the fruits of this strategy. Prior to his arrival he demeaned the status of our currency and announced that he will not compromise over trade deals radically skewed in China’s favor. And why should he? He, along with the rest of the world, have taken their measure of our current leadership and they know even if they don’t receive the infamous bow they will receive the deference reserved for everyone except our traditional allies.
Our trade policies force us to open our markets while those of our trading partners are blocked by fees and regulations. Our foreign policy is littered with wars we aren’t allowed to win and we won’t stop fighting. Our once dominate high technology has been given away or stolen. Our once predominate industrial base has been shipped overseas. And our once prevailing credit surplus has been changed into the biggest debt in History. This is the record of the last twenty years, and a record that reminds me of an old song, “Once I built a railroad, I made it run, made it race against time. Once I built a railroad; now it’s done. Brother, can you spare a dime? ”
Ronald Reagan emerged through the ridicule and derision of the establishment to take realpolitik to its logical conclusion: engineering the destruction of the Evil Empire and the absolute ascendancy of the United States. Since he left the scene our Presidents have led a steady advance to the rear. The North American Free Trade Act ( NAFTA) opened the flood gates as co-called free trade gutted our industrial base. Social engineering and the colossal spending it requires have bankrupted us.
Are we to be the generation that drops the ball? Each generation of Americans has bequeathed to their posterity a land stronger than they received. We were handed the unquestioned leadership of the world and after less than two decades we have frittered it away. If we are to reverse the slide we must make the decision that from this day forward we will chart a new course. From this day forward we will face reality and do the hard things necessary to reclaim our greatness and preserve the heritage of America for our children
What are the solutions to the seemingly unsolvable problems we face? They aren’t hard; mostly they’re just common sense. Government and people stop over spending and live within your means. Lower or repeal all taxes. Cut the regulations on everything. Abandon so-called free trade and seek equitable trade. End the wars. Quit being the policeman of the world. Bring our troops home. Seal the borders. Admit that Social Security has been a ponzi scheme since day one. Realize that all the money we’ve paid into it over the years has been flushed down a rat hole. It isn’t there. Now Figure out a fix with that in mind. Drill baby drill and approve a few permits to build some new refineries while you’re at it. And if we must buy oil quit buying it from people who hate us in areas where they don’t want us. Instead buy our oil from Mexico. This would pump money into our neighbor’s economy instead of Al Qaeda’s and perhaps our neighbor’s citizens might want to stay in their own country. Quit apologizing for our past and put America first.
If we’re to have a tomorrow we must make today count. We must live each day as a day worth living for each day lived is one less we have to live, and there are only so many days. Today is the day to make tomorrow happen.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com View the trailer for Dr. Owens’ latest book @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ypkoS0gGn8 © 2011 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
Don’t Not Do That! February 18, 2011
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: 10th amendment, 14th Amendment, Commerce Clause, Dr. Robert Owens, Obamacare, Supremacy Clause
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For the first time the Federal Government has mandated that all citizens must purchase a product: health insurance. If citizens fail to purchase the product they become law breakers subject to fines and penalties enforced by the IRS although we’ve been repeatedly assured this is not a tax. According to the Federal attorneys arguing that this ground-breaking regulation is constitutional the Commerce Clause provides the authorization. In other words, not taking an action is now considered commerce by the Federal Government. In effect the Federal Government maintains for the first time in American History and perhaps in the History of the world that not doing something is doing something. It is this type of newspeak, circular logic, and sophistry which destroys the credibility of those who tell us less is more.
Officially known as America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, this was the first entitlement passed without bipartisan support. The only bipartisan part about it was that thirty nine Democrats voted with the Republicans against it. Thus it passed with a slim majority and no Republican votes. It was also passed over the objections of a majority of the population. The new entitlement popularly known as Obamacare purports to insure tens of millions of previously uninsured people maintain the benefit levels of everyone else and lower the costs. But will it stand the tests to which it is being subjected? Will it ever be implemented?
With the date for full implementation placed years in the future step-by-step the new regulations, fees, and mandates are trickling into our lives. However, although the President and his party managed to push this through Congress it won’t stand without a fight. The debate has moved from the legislature and is wending its way through the courts. So far two judges have ruled it constitutional and two have ruled it unconstitutional. These rulings also followed party lines. Judges appointed by Democrats ruled it constitutional and judges appointed by Republicans ruled it unconstitutional. This will eventually be decided by the Supreme Court.
If this is decided in favor of the Federal Government it paves the way for a classic 10th Amendment confrontation. Several states such as Virginia, have passed laws saying that no law can require their citizens to purchase health insurance. Since nowhere in the document does the Constitution give the Federal Government the power to mandate that citizens purchase anything this would clearly lie with the confines of the 10th Amendment which states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
In contravention to the States appeal to the 10th Amendment the Federal Government will point to the Supremacy Clause which states, “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.” Using this as their rational as they did in the Arizona Immigration case the Federal Government using the Federal Courts will force states to legally step aside. Then buying health insurance will no longer be an option because failing to do so will be illegal. In other words, “Don’t not do that!” or face the full force of the law and miraculously not doing something becomes doing something.
Another issue which might surface along the way is the question of waivers. It seems many of the organizations, unions, and businesses who supported the law and helped lobby for its passage don’t want to live under its benevolent care. Consequently the Obama Administration has issued hundreds of waivers exempting the President’s supporters from compliance. This raises the question of the government passing laws that apply to some people but not to others. Traditionally legislatures have always had the power to suspend the enforcement of laws in special cases. However this has never been a power wielded by the executive in any except authoritarian states. This flood of waivers raises another potential constitutional question with reference to the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment which states that everyone is guaranteed, “the equal protection of the laws” meaning that the state must apply laws equally and cannot give preference to one person or class of persons over another.
In reference to all these matters whatever the courts may say President Obama has already signaled that he will enforce the strictures of the law even if they are found unconstitutional.
Considering not taking an action to be commerce opens the door to many interesting possibilities. I didn’t buy Apple stock when it was $10 a share can I have my profits now?
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com View the trailer for Dr. Owens’ latest book @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ypkoS0gGn8 © 2011 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
How Long Did the Limits Last? February 11, 2011
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: alien and sedition act, Dr. Robert Owens, Indian removal act, Unconstitutional, undeclared war
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In 1798, a mere ten years after the ratification of the Constitution war with France seemed imminent. In reaction to opposition regarding the policies of the government John Adams, hero of the Revolution, co–author of the Declaration of Independence, one of the Framers of the Constitution, and only the second President of the United States Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Congress eventually passed four of these laws in an effort to strengthen the Federal government against internal dissent. The former supporters of the Constitution, now known as Federalists sponsored the legislation meant to silence political opposition which was coming mainly from the Democratic Republicans and their leader Thomas Jefferson.
First Congress passed the Naturalization Act which required people to be residents of the United States for fourteen years instead of five years before becoming eligible for U.S. citizenship.
Then they passed the Alien Act which authorized the President to deport aliens who the government determined to be dangerous or a threat to the peace and/or safety of the United States. It must be remembered that while many believed America was under a threat of war this law was passed and enforced during peacetime.
Seeking to extend the power of the central government even further Congress next passed the Alien Enemies Act. This third act allowed the arrest, imprisonment, and deportation of aliens who were from to an enemy country.
Finally Congress added the Sedition Act, aimed at any action deemed by the government to be treason. This included the publication of any material judged to be false, scandalous, or malicious. No matter what the Bill of Rights said the government declared these activities to be a severe misdemeanor that was punishable by both fine and imprisonment.
Under these bills twenty-five men, including numerous editors of newspapers, were arrested. In addition, their newspapers were shut down.
The net of suspicion was spread so far that it included Benjamin Franklin Bache, Benjamin Franklin’s grandson who was the editor of a Philadelphia newspaper. He was charged with libeling President Adams. This arrest elicited a mounting public reaction against all four of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Many Americans questioned the constitutionality of these laws. Indeed, public opposition to the Alien and Sedition Acts was so great that they were in part responsible for the election of Thomas Jefferson, a Republican, to the presidency in 1800. Once in office, Jefferson pardoned all those convicted under the Sedition Act, while Congress restored all fines paid with interest.
The unpopularity and questionable legality of these acts led to Adams being the first one-term president. And these actions by one of the foremost Framers and most vocal supporters during the ratification process used these oppressive laws to silence opposition. Here at the very beginning of the Constitutional republic one of the architects of the document believed it gave him and Congress the power to silence the people when the people disagreed.
Jefferson and his Democratic Republicans defeated Adams’ bid for a second term by capitalizing on the public’s disgust at what were perceived to be unconstitutional and repressive actions by the very people who wrote and led the fight for the adoption of the constitution. Now those who portrayed themselves as the protectors of liberty would make sure that the limits placed upon the Federal Government were strictly observed.
In 1803, during their long wars with England and in need of financial relief France offered to sell Louisiana to the United States. This caused a novel situation and became the cause of a grave constitutional question and a major problem for President Thomas Jefferson and his ruling party. Seeing the opportunity to double the size of the United States, President Jefferson immediately wanted to purchase the territory.
This was rather surprising in that Jefferson advocated a narrow or strict interpretation of the Constitution. And no matter how you read the document nowhere in it does it authorize the President or even the Congress to buy additional territory. Not debating this point, not disputing this limitation but at the same time feeling the need to act quickly, and believing there was not time for the amendment process to legally change the Constitution.
This being the case, President Jefferson and his Democratic-Republicans merely passed legislation giving the President permission to sign a treaty obligating the United States to pay the money and to take possession of Louisiana. In addition, the Democratic-Republicans also appropriated the money to pay France for the territory. Where did Democratic-Republicans in Congress believe they acquired the authority to do this? They claimed to act under the provision of the Constitution (Article 5, Section 3) which gave Congress the power to regulate the territories.
The third President and a compliant Congress interpreted the Constitution to do what they wanted to do even though it violated their own previously stated position.
As a third and final example of how soon the limited government promised by the Framers of the constitution began to encroach upon the liberty it was meant to preserve let us look at the Monroe Doctrine.
During the presidency of James Monroe there occurred several revolutions against Spanish rule in South and Central America. The United States quickly recognized these newly established countries. Believing there was a strong possibility that European governments would intervene and try to reassert their control over the former colonies; President Monroe declared the doctrine in 1823. This doctrine declared that from that time forward America saw itself as the dominant power in the Western Hemisphere. It also warned that European interference in the Americas would not be allowed. The Doctrine consists of three principles:
1. The United States would remain neutral in European wars unless American interests were involved
2. Both North and South America were no longer subject to colonization by European powers.
3. The United States would consider any and all attempt at European colonization in the New World as an “unfriendly act.”
And although the United States did not have the military power to enforce these claims, the declaration had symbolic importance: announcing the United States’ posture as the power to be reckoned with in the New World.
Monroe’s Doctrine aggressively asserted the position of dominance claimed by the United States in the Americas, and it has been a cornerstone of American foreign policy ever since.
An interesting point that is little mentioned or considered is that this doctrine (and every doctrine proclaimed since) is not law but merely a declaration of a presidential policy. It is this fact that persuaded Monroe that as President he was authorized without any Constitutional authorization, to establish a foreign policy that commits the United States to military action without a declaration of war by Congress. Thus following in the footsteps of the second and the third our fifth president moved well beyond the limits the Constitution had imposed.
How long did the limit last? The Anti-Federalists were still active in politics as the warnings they gave were realized and the children of the Revolution took their first steps down the road to tyranny. These earliest assaults upon limits were followed by:
Jackson used the spoils system to pack the federal bureaucracy with his supporters. Jackson advocated the removal of all Native Americans across the Mississippi in violation of numerous treaties passing the Indian Removal Act. When the Supreme Court ruled that Georgia’s expropriation and removal of the Cherokee was unconstitutional, referring to the Chief Justice Jackson said, “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.” He then used the standing army the anti-federalists had warned against to complete the deportation acting as ruthlessly and as arrogantly as any Babylonian king. Lincoln decided that States which had voluntarily joined could not leave though this is stated nowhere in the Constitution.
Teddy Roosevelt ran rough shod over Latin America with his gunboat diplomacy. He provoked a revolution in Columbia, established Panama as a near colony, seized the Canal Zone, and in many ways used his big stick like a cudgel to establish and maintain an American Empire from Asia to the Dominican Republic in contravention to the advice of Washington and the words of the Constitution.
Wilson rounded up and interred Italians and Germans during WWI, took over mines and factories, fixed prices, took over the transportation and communications networks, and strictly managed the production and distribution of food.
FDR stretched the Constitution in so many ways it never snapped back. Since our first President for life established the bloated federal bureaucracy and its symbiotic military-industrial complex we have seen a succession of undeclared wars for peace, the welfare state, the Patriot Act, and preemptive war become emblems of a system that practice government of Washington, by Washington, and for Washington.
Congress has declared war on only five occasions: the War of 1812; the Mexican War; the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II. However, this has not been the extent of our involvement in armed conflict. When American citizens have challenged the constitutionality of these wars without a declaration Federal Courts have ruled a declaration is not required.
Ask yourself: How long did the limits last? Where did the limits go? How many limits are left? Which leads to the ultimate question: How can we get the limits back? Keep the faith. Keep the peace. We shall overcome.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com View the trailer for Dr. Owens’ latest book @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ypkoS0gGn8 © 2011 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
Meet Dr. Owens at CPAC February 8, 2011
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The Great Civil Debate February 4, 2011
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Constitution, Dr. Robert Owens, original intent, Progressives, Tenth Amendment, the constitution failed
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It is admitted by all except the liberal media and left-wing ideologues jockeying for political and partisan advantage, neither the tenor nor the content of our public discourse had any bearing upon the tragedy in Tucson. Nevertheless there have been calls for a return to civility in our speech. I heartily second that motion, believing as I do that civility should always be the hallmark of discussion among ladies and gentleman. However, that is not the topic of this discourse.
I seek to call my fellow Americans not to a more civil debate but to The Great Civil Debate. This is the debate we need if we’re to move beyond the gridlock of right versus left, the vitriol of Democrat versus Republican, and the hysteria of a coming conservative authoritarianism or a looming socialist one. The debate I’m calling for is not an innovation in American History. Instead it’s a re-play of a previous event and the sequel to our preliminary event: the debate over the ratification of the Constitution. What we need now is a debate over the relevance of the Constitution with regard to the actions of the Federal Government.
From the day the Constitution was signed, September 17, 1787 to the day it was ratified June 21, 1788, this country rang with the impassioned speeches and stirring essays of both the opponents and the proponents of this our founding document. Today is the day and now is the time for the debate to once again stir the hearts of the nation, will we have a limited government, personal liberty and free enterprise or are we going to have something else? There’s no greater admirer of the United States Constitution then the author of this article. None can be found who gives more veneration to the Framers or who pays more attention to its words.
However, after 222 years there’s no one more convinced that we’ve reached an historical impasse. The Constitution is still in force. It has been amended twenty seven times, but it has not been supplanted. Yet, it’s all but ignored by the Federal Government. Our continually expanding federal bureaucracy tips its hat to the commerce clause or uses the elastic necessary and proper clause as a political fig leaf to do whatever they want. This being the current situation this article is in fact an intervention. It’s well known that until a problem is recognized there’s no hope for a solution. Therefore, since every other commentator I’m aware of dances around the 800 pound gorilla in the middle of the room, I’ll acknowledge the obvious and take the afore-mentioned primate as my dancing partner and say what must be said: the Constitution has failed.
This is not to say that it is a flawed document, a vehicle for ulterior motives, or that it has always been a failure. This is not to say that I’m offering or advocating for a replacement. As I mentioned earlier, there is no greater admirer of the United States Constitution then the author of this article. What I do mean to say is that this great document which birthed and sustained a limited government for more than two hundred years has now become effectively irrelevant.
The proof for this sad statement can be seen in the unguarded rhetoric of the movers and shakers of our now unlimited government. When asked where in the Constitution a warrant for mandated health care could be found one congressman answers, “I don’t worry about the Constitution.” Another congressman says, “There’s nothing in the Constitution that says that the federal government has anything to do with most of the stuff we do. It means what we say it means.” When asked a question about the constitutionality of health care legislation former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s response is, “Are you serious?”
And we have a President who writes that the Constitution is not “…static but rather a living document, and must be read in the context of an ever-changing world.” No wonder a liberal pundit finds it odd that a candidate for Congress would promise to consider the constitutionality of legislation saying, “that certainly isn’t the job of Congress. They should just pass whatever they want and let the courts worry about it later.” These examples are joined by volumes of others, which show that not only is the Constitution irrelevant to these leaders it has become so accepted as irrelevant that they no longer even have to pay lip service to the integrity of the document they’ve sworn to uphold and defend.
We need a reset button. We need to return to limited government. But how do we get there from here? The Tenth Amendment which says, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people” has been emasculated through court rulings. The legal system has moved from original intent to precedent. From what the words mean to what can we say the words mean. This tsunami of change is led by the Progressives who believe that we need to evolve past the ideas and procedures devised and set down by the Framers and create a New America. A transformed America founded not on the equality of opportunity but on the equality of outcome. These big government leaders in both parties seek not mere equal justice for all but social justice, not free enterprise but central planning.
This intervention sadly begins with the assessment based upon the current reality that the Constitution has failed. However, it ends on a note of hope. We’re the descendants of the Pioneers, the offspring of the Framers, and we can do this. We can find a way within the legal framework of the Constitution itself to press that reset button. We can solve this problem, because we’re Americans and we’re a can-do, get-it-done people. But if we refuse to admit there’s a problem we’ll be doomed to suffer silently in the shadows as our beloved city on the hill becomes a lost dream in the twilight of freedom. Instead let’s start The Great Civil Debate. How can we restore limited government, ensure liberty and revitalize free enterprise? How can we get there from here? Keep the faith. Keep the peace. We shall overcome.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com View the trailer for Dr. Owens’ latest book @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ypkoS0gGn8 © 2011 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
Hu’s On First January 27, 2011
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Chinese military build-up, Chinese trade policies, Dr. Robert Owens, Obama bows
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A cliché is defined as a trite expression. It’s often a figure of speech whose effectiveness has been worn out through overuse and excessive familiarity. Yet a cliché is also a type of short hand: an instantly recognizable illustration that carries a wider meaning in a shorter phrase. The recent triumphal visit by the Chinese President Hu Jintao has left many Americans wondering if Hu’s on first.
Most of us have seen something called a Chinese fire drill. This is when a car, usually driven by teenagers, stops at a traffic light and everyone jumps out of the car for a blurred moment of deranged rearrangement. The driver becomes a passenger, a passenger becomes the driver, a person from the back moves to the front, and the occupant of the coveted shotgun seat descends to the rear. This is an apt picture of the current state of international affairs.
The once world-shaking empires of Europe suffering the effects of two suicidal wars and decades of social welfare rot now stand in line to collapse as History passes them by. America, once the arsenal of democracy silently watched as China went from making our socks to making our I-pods, cell phones, and computers. Now as the light is about to change China climbs in the driver’s seat and says, “Hold it down in the back seat!” How long will it be before they’re saying, “Don’t make me pull this car over” if we keep impudently petitioning for a level playing field?
To watch our President bow, to see the communist flag flying at the White House it’s easy to believe China has assumed its place as the Middle Kingdom: the land between heaven and earth where Red Emperors sit on Dragon Thrones doling out cash to rescue the poor barbarians who can’t seem to balance their books.
Our trade policy, with the Chinese, resembles their famous water torture where drip after drip bores a hole in an upturned and exposed forehead rather than equitable relations between equals. Another fitting illustration for our trade policy with China is death by a thousand cuts. Whenever something was a long time coming people used to say it was on a slow boat from China. Now that almost everything in America comes here on a boat from China it’s beginning to appear that slow and steady has won the race.
For all the expertise of our mature government, that has had a century of international prominence, our negotiations with the novices from Beijing resemble more a bull in a China shop than anything else. We are bested at every turn often surrendering our advantages with all the wisdom of a man with a royal flush folding because someone else is bluffing with a pair of eights.
You might ask what any of this has got to do with the price of tea in China. The Bush dynasty, the Clinton Interlude, and the Administration at the End of the World have spent us into oblivion. They’ve exchanged the reality of being the number one manufacturer and the go-to creditor of the world for the mirage of being a kinder gentler social welfare state with our hand out. We politely ask if our East Asian Bankers could please in their infinite much appreciated kindness assist us in any of numerous foreign policy debacles, such as Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, or North Korea. Our imperious masters smile and say, “Not for all the tea in China.”
It’s imperative that the Red Emperors on their Dragon Throne eventually squelch or emasculate any competing systems that allow their populations to have true freedom. As long as there’s freedom somewhere the inhabitants of slave states will yearn for liberty. As long as those in chains can see others walking where they wish as they wish uneasy lays the head that wears a crown. Consequently they must ultimately compete for mastery not co-existence.
So will our inscrutable financiers compromise? Will they relent and give our goods the same open door we give theirs? Will we convince them to abandon their mercantilist policies, which resemble nothing more than the policies we followed in the 19th century which led to our economic and industrial rise, and instead embrace our open border free trade policies which don’t seem to work so well for us? The possibility of Mr. Obama’s kowtowing bringing compromise or even respect hasn’t got a China man’s chance.
So are all these illustrations merely an illusion, or has China built a great wall between our inept leaders and America’s ability to maintain its place in the first ranks of the world? Look at our military stance with regard to China. Our leaders make assumptions based on China’s publicly announced defense budget when people standing on the corner reading local papers realize their announced defense budget is the tip of an iceberg heading for the USS Titanic.
In the past decade the Chinese launched 30 submarines while our fleet of submarines has shrunk. They’ve developed a stealth fighter that just by coincidence looks almost exactly like ours and while we’ve quit building the original they’re gearing up to turn their clones out like toasters. And for a real game changer our peaceful trading partners have developed a ballistic missile which can take out our Aircraft Carrier battle groups anywhere in the world.
As we flush our power down twin drains fighting insurgents we call terrorists, the Chinese are preparing to stand toe-to-toe with America on the world stage. Do they want war? Their greatest military genius taught them long ago, “To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.”
We watch as our hapless leaders bumble around like vaudeville comics dropping their hats and pulling at their ties as the scales of time tilt leaving America wondering, if Hu’s on first, “What’s on second?” After years of deficit spending and leadership by the twin headed party of government growth it may end up that “Don’t Know’s on third.” When will the lights go out? When will our increasingly imperious banker call the note? Perhaps only Hu knows Wen.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com View the trailer for Dr. Owens’ latest book @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ypkoS0gGn8 © 2011 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
The 8th Deadly Sin January 21, 2011
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Dr. Robert Owens, repeal obamacare, Republican majority
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He who hesitates is lost.
When we have the opportunity to accomplish something and we miss that opportunity because we fail to take action or we allow ourselves to be diverted from the best to accomplish the good that isn’t defeat it is capitulation.
To concentrate on attempting what cannot be accomplished while ignoring what can is beyond folly it’s culpably poor leadership. It ranks right down there with decision of the captain of the Titanic to dismiss warnings of icebergs ahead because his ship was unsinkable.
To lose momentum is to gain inertia.
The new House majority is locked in a confrontation with an adversary shameless enough to use a senseless tragedy perpetrated by an obviously deranged individual for political gain. An adversary aided by a mass media willing to present a surreal pseudo reality as if it were the real thing. Thus it is useless to expect a level playing field. Rolling a big rock up a steep hill is the order of the day. All of which says it is time to roll up the sleeves and get to work. Real work not symbolic work.
Reading the Constitution is good political theater. Demanding that every piece of legislation explicitly state where in the Constitution it is authorized should have been standard operating procedure. In fact most bills have always included a section pointing to the constitutional validation of the law. In the end this will probably lead to a continuation of the over use of the words, “Commerce Clause” and “Necessary and Proper” which in effect mean, “Because we want to.”
Conservatives are confronting a relentless opponent who has gained strategic and tactical advantage. An opponent, supported by the media, in control of the educational and entertainment establishments who has the cohesion of shared ideology and goals. To make concessions and compromises merely hastens their goal of an unlimited government and central planning.
Ultimately what it is; is what it is. This sounds obvious doesn’t it? The truth often is obvious, so obvious that it hides in plain sight and is either forgotten, overlooked, or missed.
Today what it is; is a political environment which ignores the Constitution and the limits it imposes. We may wish it wasn’t. We may tell ourselves it isn’t but it is. It isn’t what we wish it was and it won’t become what we want it to be unless we take positive steps to build upon our enlightened past to change the revisionist present. We must divert the flow of current events into a path that leads to the future we desire or we’ll end up in a future that repudiates our past and validates the present we now inhabit, one which in many ways will be the opposite of our constitutionally limited representative republic.
It will still be called the United States of America. We will be told that we have the most freedom and opportunity of any people on earth. But the fact will be that we will have become the creatures of an unlimited government, the playthings of a faceless bureaucracy.
We can’t know what we don’t know but we can know that we don’t know.
He who writes the past controls the present and he who controls the present shapes the future. We need to examine our own knowledge base. Each of us needs to frankly admit what we don’t know and actively strive to fill in the gaps.
If we aren’t sure how we got here we must learn our own history. If we aren’t sure how the economy works we must study economics. If we can’t understand why our leaders do what they do we must examine political theory. Americans were once known as the most politically involved and informed people on earth. An informed and involved populace is the rampart of a free nation. We must do the work, put in the effort necessary to take our place beside our ancestors as the guardians of liberty and the advocates of the limited government which alone can ensure its survival.
One can only do what one can do and one cannot do what one cannot do.
What am I calling for in the way of concrete actions by the new Republican majority in the House? Don’t waste precious time doing things you think will placate the Tea Party. Don’t spin your wheels in dead-end gestures as a way of tipping your hat to the newly activated voters. Instead do what you can do.
Refuse to add to the deficit. Refuse to grow the government. In other words refuse to be an accomplice to the building of the social welfare replacement state. Instead use your investigative powers to uncover the corruption that lies at the foundation of Chicago on the Potomac. Use the bully pulpit of being an elected representative, of being the majority leader and speaker of the House to state the case that one side in Washington are working to establish an unlimited federal bureaucracy and one side wants to re-establish limited government.
Do what you can do don’t pretend to do what you know you can’t do. Stand up and be counted or continue to do what you have done previously and eventually you might be counted out, at the ballot box.
There are latitudes to platitudes which often lead to the gratitude of the multitude and there are limitations to alliterations which leverage the legitimacy of literature. Rising above the temptation to be catchy in an industry that rewards catchiness while striving to enlighten as well as entertain leads us back to the reality of what it is; is what it is. And what this is; is a wake-up call to the new Republican majority in the House.
Act as a Conservative majority, a break upon the Progressive’s relentless advance toward the corporate state and the social justice welfare shabbiness it entails. Stand-up for what you stand for don’t fritter away your present advantage for hollow compromises which merely serve to advance the agenda of your opponents. Remember they see victory as anything bringing any movement in their direction. They realize there is a tipping point and that it’s approaching.
One last word to the wise; don’t mistake the victory of the last election as a vindication of your past tactics or motives understand it instead as a last chance reprieve. If you sell the birthrights of the American people for a photo-op and a friendly write-up in the media of record come 2012 you may be in for a shock. Strike now while the iron is hot. Do not commit the 8th deadly sin of procrastination or the voters won’t hesitate to try something else the next time around.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com View the trailer for Dr. Owens’ latest book @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ypkoS0gGn8 © 2011 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
