I ask my Congressman why he insists on giving taxpayer money to foreign nations while we are in foreign debt.
by Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution
Originally published on Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at http://www.nolanchart.com/article6649.html
“Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.” – Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address as President of the United States, 1801-1809
“If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” – James Madison
“I think Americans should have a policy of love. That should be the foreign policy, love. Export Love.” – Ziggy Marley
The following is a letter sent to my local Congressman today. Although I happen to be running against him in the 2010 election, I am obviously writing as a concerned citizen. I have sent this note to his office and also called his office to state my opinion, which was courteously received.
An excellent op-ed in the Washington Times today authored by Congressman Ron Paul hammers home the Old Right ideas of non-interventionism in foreign policy arguably better than he ever did during his Presidential campaign.
Paul writes:
Neoconservatives who have come to power in both the Democratic and Republican parties argue that the U.S. must ether confront every evil in every corner of the globe or risk danger at home. We need to “fight them over there” they say, so we don’t have to “fight them over here.” This argument presents a false choice. We do not have to pick between interventionism and vulnerability. The complexity of our world is exactly why the lessons of our past should ring true and demand a return to a traditional, pro-American foreign policy: one of nonintervention.
In this piece Ron Paul seems to be taking some lessons from his son Rand. Paul the elder is framing his non-interventionist foreign policy beliefs in a way that should be less off-putting to die hard neo-conservatives.
If Obama starts jawing strongly against the Iranian government what happens next? Does his God-complex become reality and the Iranian government crumble underneath every syllable? I doubt it.
There’s every reason to believe that forcefully condemning Iran today will lead to more direct intervention tomorrow. Obama, thus far, has played it properly. If he starts drawing lines in the sand we are in trouble. Or perhaps that is what his opponents would like?
Imagine this… Obama succumbs to political pressure and speaks strongly against Iran to the point of threats. When Iran fails to cease their savagery he has two choices:
Draw another line in the sand further back which would only give his opponents more ammo to hit him with the weak President charge.
Follow through on the condemnation and intervene more strongly, possibly with troops or other aid, embroiling us in yet another “entangling alliance” that could be expensive, both in blood and money.
This is one of those situations that illustrates why Presidents enter office with their natural-colored hair and leave office with a full head of gray.
I must confess. This Ron Paul supporter suffered from a temporary bout of neo-conservatism after viewing that completely horrifying video of the young woman lying in the street bleeding to death in Iran over the weekend. I will not link to it because I don’t want to infect anyone else. My long lost compassionate conservatism gene made a return as I was filled with hatred and sadness. I thought, “Something must be done!. America needs to intervene!” A few hours and a reality check later I found myself back on firm Founding Father-style non-interventionist footing once again.
Some claim taking a non-interventionist approach on the Iran election aftermath is the height of hypocrisy from someone who claims to believe in liberty. Ron Paul is being criticized for his lone “Nay” vote on condemning the Iranian government’s heinous actions on it’s own people. On the surface it appears Obama is taking a similar non-interventionist approach for now, although there are some arguing the opposite may be true. Hopefully, Obama stands his ground (this time) against the interventionist opposition.
Those clamoring for intervention need to answer a few questions, but there is one question that trumps them all.
Quotes of the Day: “The Democrats’ failure to pass a troop funding bill that will actually get our armed forces the money they need is nothing less than a disgrace.” — House Minority Leader John Boehner, June, 2008
“It’s going to be an interesting fall as Republicans try to explain their vote against legislation that they’ve described as funding for our troops in a time of war, because I’m confident their constituents will be reminded.” – a White House Official, June 2009
The Democrats are pro-war, the Republicans anti-war.
But when the Senate got their hands on it they added still more unrelated items . . .
* Funnelling billions of dollars to a failed, neo-colonial (i.e. “foreign aid”) scheme called the International Monetary Fund
* The Graham-Lieberman measure, an amendment to the Freedom of Information Act to continue the coverup of the detainee abuse scandal
House Republicans wanted the IMF provisions stripped from the final bill, and the detainee abuse coverup retained. Instead, they got the exact opposite of what they wanted, and so they voted no, even though this meant they would not be “supporting the troops.”
It’s funny. Four years ago, Republicans supported the bill to “support the troops” even when Real ID was attached. Last year, they voted to “support the troops” even though the Democrats added $95 billion in domestic pork spending to it.
Why the change of heart now? Probably because a Democrat’s in the White House. It’s not “their” war anymore. As our quotes of the day demonstrate, charges of hypocrisy are flying fast and furious, and will likely continue for some time. Read More »
On Monday a few of us here at Liberty Maven took the opportunity to attend a speech given by Bruce Fein at George Mason University as part of The Economic Liberty Lecture Series sponsored by The Future Of Freedom Foundation. I must admit I was surprised at how animated and passionate Fein was during his speech. I was expecting a more subdued speech after watching him testify on Capitol Hill and seeing him deliver the speech he gave at Ron Paul’s “Rally for the Republic” last year.
He spoke without notes and hammered home the ideas of foreign policy non-interventionism. The Q and A period following his talk was in some ways better and more passionate than the speech itself. Luckily the FFF recorded the entire event and has put it online for viewing.
It’s hosted at Vimeo which sometimes presents connection problems for me, but your patience with it loading will pay off in the end when you get to watch this foreign policy expert rip apart any notion of supporting the idea of American empire.
Wow, this one is a doozy! A ton of new bills were introduced in Congress on Friday: 188 in total. For those who haven’t read this series of articles from the beginning, there are a few things to keep in mind…
When taking a look at the list below, keep in mind that the U.S. Constitution, which created our Federal Government, clearly enumerated 18 specific functions that it is given. For all other things, the 9th and 10th amendment make it clear that the individual states have the power. Note that it states in the Constitution that it is the Supreme Law of the Land, which can be usurped by no other. This means that all opinions to the contrary made by the Supreme Court are technically invalid. Throughout the past couple of hundred hears the Supreme Court has rule one way or another on some “interpretation” of the Constitution, but in fact no interpretation is necessary, as the intention of the founding fathers are quite clear. For example, if the “general welfare” clause or the “interstate commerce” clause was intended to be used as a catch-all for any arbitrary piece of legislation, then the 10th amendments which reads:
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.
would be completely meaningless. So simple logic, in addition to the writings of Madison and other founding fathers, dictates the notion that the Federal Government was set up to have very little power, and that these United States are intended to be a loose federation of sovereign states.
Only due to politician’s greed and overwhelming desire for power does the Constitution get relegated to the trash heap.
So, despite the noble intentions of many of these bills, it doesn’t mean they are legal.
No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it.
– 16 Am. Jur. Sec. 177 late 2d, Sec 256
Of the bills introduced yesterday, these are ones that are clearly not legitimate functions of the Federal Government [as always, my commentary will appear in red]:
HR1892 – To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 102 North Main Street in Cedarville, Ohio, as the “William ‘Brent” Turner Post Office’.
HR1929 – To establish the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Investigative Commission to investigate the policies and practices engaged in by officers and directors at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac responsible for making the decisions that led to the enterprises’ financial instability and the subsequent Federal conservatorship of such enterprises. [Keep in mind that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been basically nationalized, which is, of course, unconstitutional.]
HR1925 – To designate as wilderness certain Federal portions of the red rock canyons of the Colorado Plateau and the Great Basin Deserts in Utah for the benefit of present and future generations of Americans.
HR1924 – To amend the Indian Law Enforcement Reform Act, the Indian Tribal Justice Act, the Indian Tribal Justice Technical and Legal Assistance Act of 2000, and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to improve the prosecution of, and response to, crimes in Indian country, and for other purposes.
HR1922 – To require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to hold at least 1 public hearing before issuance of a permit affecting public or private land use in a locality.
HR1921 – To establish an Office of Public Advocate within the Department of Justice to provide services and guidance to citizens in dealing with concerns involving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and for other purposes. [Fantastic! Create another layer of bureaucracy to help people deal with bureaucracy...]
HR1978 – To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to improve the ability of State and local governments to prevent the abduction of children by family members, and for other purposes.
HR1977 – To require the Consumer Product Safety Commission to study drywall imported from China in 2004 through 2007, and for other purposes.
HR332 – Providing that the House of Representatives will focus on removing barriers to a prosperous economy and therefore renew the dream. [Reading the full text of the bill it all sounds nice, but it's really nothing more than platitudes. Nothing will come of this. It's not recommending anything concrete.]
HR1971 – To provide for the elimination of duties on certain comforter shells
HR1970 – To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to exempt unsanctioned State-licensed retail pharmacies from the surety bond requirement under the Medicare Program for suppliers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies (DMEPOS).
HR1969 – To promote freedom and democracy in Vietnam. [Oh god. Oh god, no! Haven't we gotten ourselves into enough jams with this interventionist crap?]
In a new video message from Ron Paul today he is critical of the reaction to North Korea launching a rocket that has the rest of the world up in arms, but mostly just the U.S.
It’s not shocking that Ron Paul takes a non-interventionist stance on this event as he does consistently when events like these occur. This non-intervention is the area where Ron Paul distinguishes himself from the neo-conservative warmongers. They may agree with him on limited government (although mostly they just pay lip service to it), but they openly chastise him on foreign policy. Of course, Barack Obama is a neo-con Democrat now, or is that redundant?
During the general election I called John McCain, Bush 3.0 (along with many Democrats) . Now Barack Obama is proving to be Bush 3.0 when it comes to foreign policy. This is yet more proof that there is only one party in America. Sure they call themselves Democrats and Republicans, but they argue over technicalities, and only represent the status-quo. There should be a new symbol for the party of the State, a donkey’s head with an elephant’s ass.
Yesterday in Congress, fifty-one new bills were introduced. Due to recent controversy, and for those who start reading this series of articles in the middle, I will include the following boilerplate information in every article.
When taking a look at the list below, keep in mind that the U.S. Constitution, which created our Federal Government, clearly enumerated 18 specific functions that it is given. For all other things, the 9th and 10th amendment make it clear that the individual states have the power. Note that it states in the Constitution that it is the Supreme Law of the Land, which can be usurped by no other. This means that all opinions to the contrary made by the Supreme Court are technically invalid. Throughout the past couple of hundred hears the Supreme Court has rule one way or another on some “interpretation” of the Constitution, but in fact no interpretation is necessary, as the intention of the founding fathers are quite clear. For example, if the “general welfare” clause or the “interstate commerce” clause was intended to be used as a catch-all for any arbitrary piece of legislation, then the 10th amendments which reads:
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.
would be completely meaningless. So simple logic, in addition to the writings of Madison and other founding fathers, dictates the notion that the Federal Government was set up to have very little power, and that these United States are intended to be a loose federation of sovereign states.
Only due to politician’s greed and overwhelming desire for power does the Constitution get relegated to the trash heap.
So, despite the noble intentions of many of these bills, it doesn’t mean they are legal.
Of the bills introduced yesterday, these are ones that are clearly not legitimate functions of the Federal Government [as always, my commentary will appear in red]:
HCR89 – Supporting the goals and objectives of the Prague Conference on Holocaust Era Assets.
HCR86 – Authorizing the use of Emancipation Hall in the Capitol Visitor Center for the unveiling of a bust of Sojourner Truth.
HCR87 – Observing the 15th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide and calling on all responsible nations to uphold the principles of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
HR298 – Congratulating the on-premise sign industry for its contributions to the success of small businesses.
HR299 – Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that public servants should be commended for their dedication and continued service to the Nation during Public Service Recognition Week, May 4 through 10, 2009, and throughout the year.
HR300 – Congratulating Camp Dudley YMCA of Westport, New York, on the occasion of its 125th anniversary.
HR301 – Honoring the life of Dr.John Hope Franklin
The debauchery on Capitol Hill continues unabated, with an amazing ninety-three new bills introduced yesterday in Congress, many of which attempt to do the same thing. How many of these bills do you think are Constitutional? (Answer: very few). Here are some of the worst:
HR1652 – To require institutions receiving certain assistance from the Troubled Asset Relief Program or the Federal Reserve to have employee bonus payment plans approved in advance of the payments being made. [Each member of Congress must operate in a bubble, and/or they're all hoping for the "credit" if their bill is passed. This is at least the fifth bill on this subject in the past three days!]
HR1650 – To enhance the oversight authority of the Comptroller General of the United States with respect to expenditures under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. [Yet another TARP regulation bill. The full text of the bill is not currently available, so I couldn't tell if it specifically mentions employee bonuses so I could add it to the list above. Why don't these people just come out and admit that this TARP garbage is immoral an unconstitutional in the first place?]
S-651 – A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose an excise tax on excessive bonuses paid by, and received from, companies receiving Federal emergency economic assistance, to limit the amount of nonqualified deferred compensation that employees of such companies may defer from taxation, and for other purposes. [Number 7, by Sen. Max Baucus [D-MT]…]
HR1649 – To authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants to reduce the size of core curriculum classes in public elementary and secondary schools, and for other purposes.
HR1645 (also S-638) – To provide grants to promote financial and economic literacy. [While I think it's critical that people become more financially and economically literate, government should certainly not be the teacher, or else we'll end up with more Keynesian nitwits that have destroyed our economy to date. Rather, people can take Chris Martenson's Crash Course for free, and read books like Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson and Tom Woods' Meltdown.]
HR1643 (also S-648) – To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish a prospective payment system instead of the reasonable cost-based reimbursement method for Medicare-covered services provided by Federally qualified health centers and to expand the scope of such covered services to account for expansions in the scope of services provided by Federally qualified health centers since the inclusion of such services for coverage under the Medicare Program.
HR1642 – To provide loans and grants for fire sprinkler retrofitting in nursing facilities.
HR1641 – To amend the National Trails System Act to provide for a study of the Cascadia Marine Trail.
HR1640 – To amend the Truth in Lending Act to protect consumers from usury, and for other purposes. [Caveat emptor. The process of buying a home would be much quicker and hassle-free if not for the myriad of regulations and bureaucratic red-tape imposed by the federal, state, and local governments.]
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