Posted on 02/26/2013 6:53:41 PM PST by marktwain
For some reason, I just don’t get juiced by the idea of listening to an hour long podcast from an economist, but I’m glad that Ed Driscoll did.
He transcribed the part where Glenn Reynolds, law professor at the University of Tennessee and blogger of Instapundit fame, dropped the boom on the socialist supporters of Georgetown law professor Louis Michael Seidman, who advocates giving up on the constitution.
REYNOLDS: Here’s the problem with public officials — because that’s really [Seidman’s] audience — deciding to ignore the Constitution: If you’re the president, if you’re a member of Congress, if you are a TSA agent, the only reason why somebody should listen to what you say, instead of horsewhipping you out of town for your impertinence, is because you exercise power viathe Constitution. If the Constitution doesn’t count, you don’t have any legitimate power. You’re a thief, a brigand, an officious busybody, somebody who should be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail for trying to exercise power you don’t possess.So if we’re going to start ignoring the Constitution, I’m fine with that. The first part I’m going to start ignoring is the part that says, I have to do whatever they say.
ROBERTS: But his argument is that we already ignore the Constitution; it’s not really much of a binding document.
REYNOLDS: Oh, well, then I’m free to do whatever I want! And actually, that is a damning admission, because what that really says is: If you believe Seidman’s argument; if you believe that we already ignore the Constitution anyway, then in fact, the government rules by sheer naked force, and nothing else. And if that’s what you believe, then all of this talk of revolution suddenly doesn’t seem so crazy, it seems almost mandatory.
Reynolds wrote a column on Feb 4th explaining those views in more detail.
Americans are out of sorts, and increasingly they’re unhappy with the government. According to a Pew poll released last week, more than half ofAmericans view government as a threat to their freedom.And it’s not just Republicans unhappy with Obama, or gun owners afraid that the government will take their guns: 38% of Democrats, and 45% of non-gun owners, see the government as a threat.
Add this to another recent poll in which only 22% of likely voters feel America’s government has the “consent of the governed,” and you’ve got a pretty depressing picture — and a recipe for potential trouble. Governments operate, to a degree, by force, but ultimately they depend on legitimacy. A government that a majority views as a threat, and that only a small minority sees as enjoying the consent of the governed, is a government with legitimacy problems.
We’re rapidly approaching a point where Americans are going to have to make a choice to gut the power of the federal government, or the federal government is going to gut us.
Professor Reynolds suggests a constitutional convention will be the best way out, and indeed, it may be.
Myself, I have the same wary view of a convention that Matt Bracken does. Would-be elites who can steal elections can steal constitutional conventions, and I don’t think for a second that the GOP wouldn’t collaborate with the socialists to stay in power to keep feeding off the corpse of the Republic.
Judging by the continued arms an ammunition shortages, that appears to be a fairly common belief.
Yet another mandate in DC!
a CC would be dominated by leftists. Imagine mandatory prison sentences for school kids who refused to shower with trannies of the opposite sex.
“Governments operate, to a degree, by force, but ultimately they depend on legitimacy.” Ah so; perhaps some are beginning to understand why the pirate Roberts was placed at the head of the SCOTUS ... unConstitutional laws must be given an air of legitimacy that the sheeple will accept. But Roberts has proven too quickly that he is under orders from someone not sitting the bench! Sadly, the sheeple will not catch on until it is too late, because the most demonic force, the media, is employed to prevent truth from reaching the people.
if the government can ignore it, the people can, too.
they cant demand we respect their power, esp their unconstitutional powers they’ve taken that they don’t have, and they take away our guaranteed rights.
Yippee! No more income taxes!
Good series of articles. Thanks for linking.
ping
Many of us, will not see the day, when Our Republic is re- Constitutionaly established. Regardless, this will happen.
Very.
The problem is that, for all our population, I don’t see a single George Washington.
Many of us, will not see the day, when Our Republic is re- Constitutionaly established. Regardless, this will happen. By the grace of God, and our great efforts now.
Would-be elites who can steal elections can steal constitutional conventions, and I don’t think doubt for a second that the GOP wouldn’t will happily collaborate with the socialists to stay in power to keep feeding off the corpse of the Republic.
Their you go fixed the mistakes. /scarc
bttt
Thanks for the link in post #16.
It is, indeed, an important series of articles. The connection between Bill Ayers and Barack Obama cannot be emphasized enough.
SPOT ON
BOOKbump
CW2 bump!
Their voting patterns make absolutely no sense, even for Democrats.
There’s nothing wrong with the original Constitution, applied equally to everyone. Any variance from that is an insult and danger to freedom. If we could only push a reset button on the Constitution. Now that would be wonderful, before the 16th and 17th Amendments...
I said this right after the election...
...Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, ...
When elected officials and bureaucracies act outside the law they are simply lawbreakers. When the majority of the people vote in favor of total lawlessness in the highest offices they are withdrawing their consent to be governed by a constitutional government. By what legitimate basis does the United States of America, as a Constitutional republic, still exist?
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
'The People' no longer support that. They voted in support of lawlessness from the highest office on down. They voted against the rule of law. By referendum we now have a banana republic. The USAINO.
God I pray America wakes up before the dogs of war are unleashed, because, the American people are a good people and will clean up this country in short order when SHTF!
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