Posted on 12/31/2010 7:47:22 AM PST by Alaphiah123
Returning to the Constitution, that’s what Republicans want to do in the new Congress. In the last year, the two hundred and twenty-three year old document has been getting a whole lot a lip service so when the One hundred and twelfth Congress is sworn in next week expect to hear a lot more about it because the Constitution is at the center of three coming Congressional battles. —Nora Roberts
Nora Roberts on the daily rundown interviewed Ezra Klein of The Washington Post regarding Republicans who have the majority in the House of Representatives coming in January. They discuss Republicans’ plan to read the Constitution in the House and Republicans’ plan to cite Constitution authority for every bill when 112th Congress reconvenes.
(Excerpt) Read more at creatingorwellianworld-view-alaphiah.blogspot.com ...
Communist goal number 29 as read on the house floor in 1963.
“29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.”
I have a set of history books written by 19th Century historian Charles C. Coffin. They were written for elementary school children, as he addresses his readers as “boys and girls”.
The writing style, the syntax, and the vocabulary would present a challenge to most of the college educated people I know. Even I had to acclimate myself to the dense prose and rich literary textures.
The Constitution was brief, because, by my reckoning, most people had a richer, broader language and a deeper understanding of words, thus fewer words were necessary to convey precise meaning.
To the average Leftist, even Marx or Darwin would be too dense a read, and I regard both as simpletons when compared to other authors and thinkers in their day.
CC,
This is exactly what is going on!
Yes West, America has been dumbed down by Liberals, me thinks
Its because we allowed men like William Ayers to slink away into the shadows when they should have been crushed, imprisoned, or allowed to flee the country in fear for their lives.
In addition to a public reading of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, it might also be instructive to the American people to have a public reading of the Communist Manifesto’s ten principles in order to see how closely they align with the positions of the American democrat party.
1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal obligation of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc.
Along with the communist goals.
1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.
2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.
3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.
4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.
6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.
7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.
8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev’s promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.
9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.
10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.
11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)
12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.
13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.
14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.
15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.
16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.”
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.”
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.”
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a “religious crutch.”
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the “common man.”
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the “big picture.” Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture—education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.
36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].
39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use [”]united force[”] to solve economic, political or social problems.
43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.
44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.
45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction [over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction] over nations and individuals alike.
The communist manifesto was written over 150 years ago, in 1848. But I bet this POS journalist knows it by heart. Or whatever black organ resides in his chest.
Oh they understand it very well. But it interferes with their agenda.
Bingo. That says it all. End of story. Period. These people are nothing but the same old communists
That pesky Constitution just keeps getting in the way of the Brave New World.
LOL. That's a good one.
Ah the father of the JournoList. Is he admitting that he’s as stupid as we know he is?
HR Herlong read that on the floor of the house in 1963 as a means of exposing the left as the source of the strife that was going on at the time.
It needs a reading again and I suspect there would be a great many official objections from democrat representatives.
...and the recent Health Care bill was so easy.
Liberals do suffer from mental illness and there is even a book out on that. I’ll just say in this case the illness displaying itself as premeditated ignorance and practiced irrationality.
Alexander Hamilton explained how to read the Constitution in the Federalist Papers. The essence of our Constitution embodies positively allowed actions. Intentionally, the multitude of actions not allowed by each government branch remains unexpressed. Therefore, Hamilton in Federalist Paper 78 uses the term “manifest tenor” meaning clearly visible direction of thought, and in Federalist Paper 81 rejects a popularly acclaimed “spirit’ when explaining judgment. With his guidance it is not that difficult to figure out.
What a dork, and I usually don’t attack a person’s appearance unless, of course, that person is Michelle Obama.
He looks like Pinky Lee.
First off, like a lot of conservatives, you treat the Constitution as if it were something that it's not. You invoke the Constitution as a magic word -- ascribing to it mystical powers of organizational perfection, as if the Constitution, in itself, holds the power to make us all free, well-behaved, and self-sufficient.
Second, you tacitly assume that everybody basically agrees on the principles embodied in the Constitution, and on how those principles should be applied in real life.
The fact that you wrote this piece at all, should be a big clue that your assumptions are wrong.
It's not just you -- it's a failing common to a lot of conservatives, who apparently do not understand what John Adams meant when he said,
We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
John Adams understood what today's conservatives do not: that the Constitution -- as wonderful as it is -- is nothing more than a formal statement of a pre-existing common agreement on how government and people should co-exist. It was based, further, on an assumption that people are not only "moral," but more importantly that people have a common understanding of what "moral" means.
That common understanding no longer exists (if it ever really did....). It is not possible to "return" to the good old days, unless and until some sort of common agreement can be re-established.
If you want to be effective, you need to start making the case for conservative and moral behavior. Because the alternative -- expecting people to live by principles with which they do not agree -- leads to the use of force to make them live that way.
Only liberal commies disagree with the Constitution. And you are still a troll.
It would be really wonderful if, some day, you demonstrated the capacity to behave and discuss like an adult.
Again, only commies disagree with the Constitution. And I’m never insulted by anything a troll says. You are critical of everything Conservative, including the Tea Party. NS got a trip out the door. Hopefully you will too.
Do you have anything intelligent to say about my post? Or are you just in typical stomp and pout mode.
NS got a trip out the door. Hopefully you will too.
Oooohhhh, comrade. You want to sic the though police on me? How very Constitutional of you. But thanks for proving my point.
The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government." Patrick Henry
I have only read history since retirement, but my younger son keeps bringing up 1984 in discussions we have and I have not read it since high school. You and my son may soon get me to brake the history habit, if just for a little while.
And you know this ... how? Because your hissy fit tells you so?
The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government." Patrick Henry
And yet, "the people" have not restrained the government, and in fact have seemed quite willing to let it expand.
Do you have any clue as to how that might have come about?
Perhaps, should you choose (for once) to think rather than to emote, you might go back to what I wrote. You might actually learn something.
Because you have no idea what the Constitution is.
Parrots say the same thing over and over, not knowing what they’re saying. Are you a parrot?
And your post 21 is a load of liberal feel good claptrap.
"The way to have safe government is not to trust it all to the one, but to divide it among the many, distributing to everyone exactly the functions in which he is competent....To let the National Government be entrusted with the defense of the nation, and its foreign and federal relations..... The State Governments with the Civil Rights, Laws, Police and administration of what concerns the State generally. The Counties with the local concerns, and each ward direct the interests within itself. It is by dividing and subdividing these Republics from the great national one down through all its subordinations until it ends in the administration of everyman's farm by himself, by placing under everyone what his own eye may superintend, that all will be done for the best." Thomas Jefferson
“I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform them.” James Madison
Is John Adams' quote really "liberal claptrap," or do you simply refuse to acknowledge his point?
Your post was liberal claptrap and it isn't Adams fault that you dragged him into your feel good nonsense.
"... God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty.... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 (C.J. Boyd, Ed., 1950)
I’m sorry but I have to sign off and go lay down. My fever isn’t coming down. Later. Maybe.
.... taking advantage of people (including us) who have forgotten that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Not only that, but conservatives are just as likely to support expansion of government into those areas that most tickle our fancies -- the military (and military/industrial complex) being an excellent example.
The problem with conservatism is (and has always been) the tendency to assume that people agree with us, and that simply to state some principle or clause of the Constitution is sufficient to win any argument.
But we tend to lack any mechanism by which to educate regular people about conservative ideas, and we definitely lack convincing answers when faced with an actual argument, especially in a situation for which the power of government seems to offer a sensible solution.
You are doing God’s work.
Its because we allowed men like William Ayers to slink away into the shadows to become the architects of the American educational system.
Mark
No. You did not.
First off, like a lot of conservatives, you treat the Constitution as if it were something that it's not. You invoke the Constitution as a magic word -- ascribing to it mystical powers of organizational perfection, as if the Constitution, in itself, holds the power to make us all free, well-behaved, and self-sufficient.
It is magical. America was The Great Experiment, labeled such by George Washington. And a successful one until communists started destroying it from within. There has never been another country like ours and never will be.
holds the power to make us all free, well-behaved, and self-sufficient
No. It gives us the right to Life, Liberty and the PURSUIT of happiness as was stated in the Declaration. It gives people the right to succeed or fail WITHOUT government interference.
Second, you tacitly assume that everybody basically agrees on the principles embodied in the Constitution, and on how those principles should be applied in real life.
Are you Ezra Klein? This is pure liberal claptrap. The Constitution VERY CLEARLY lays out the powers of government and the rights of the citizens. Anyone who disagrees with the limited power of government and the freedoms of the people is cordially invited to move to their favorite totalitarian regime.
that the Constitution -- as wonderful as it is -- is nothing more than a formal statement of a pre-existing common agreement on how government and people should co-exist.
More liberal claptrap. Again, the Constitution enumerates the LIMITED powers of government and the FREEDOMS of the governed.
It was based, further, on an assumption that people are not only "moral," but more importantly that people have a common understanding of what "moral" means.
People DO know what is moral and what is not. And the immoral constantly push the envelope. Government engages in immoral behavior in order to make citizens slaves. William Pitt said ""Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves." We need to cutoff and destroy overblown government in order to free the people. The Tea Party that you hold in contempt is trying to do that.
That common understanding no longer exists (if it ever really did....).
Yes. It does. Liberals wish that it didn't.
Horticulture.
Where is your response? Haven’t got one?
Your responses to me are ridiculously shallow, and they demonstrate that you are either unable, or unwilling, to think beyond the easy bumpersticker answer that somebody has fed you.
Your responses to me are ridiculously shallow, and they demonstrate that you are either unable, or unwilling, to think beyond the easy bumpersticker answer that somebody has fed you.
I see. You haven’t got one so you engage in insults in order to deflect. Got it.
You're simply not worth the effort.
BS. I quoted you.
You're simply not worth the effort.
Typical.
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