Posted on 04/15/2015 7:12:15 PM PDT by dontreadthis
In a recent article entitled “Falsehoods Mark the Campaign for a Constitutional Convention,” the John Birch Society (JBS) President John McManus, paints a picture of longstanding, consistent JBS opposition to the use of Article V’s convention mechanism. He states:
“For one excellent reason, The John Birch Society has always opposed the creation of a constitutional convention (Con-Con) as authorized in Article V of the Constitution.” (1)
“Some [Article V] proponents also claim that John Birch Society Founder Robert Welch and Congressman Larry McDonald, his 1983 successor, advocated the Con-Con route in favor of the “The Liberty Amendment.””
“But neither Robert Welch nor Larry McDonald nor this writer (current JBS President) has ever advocated a Con-Con on behalf of the Liberty Amendment or any other amendment.”
But McManus’ claim that JBS has always opposed a convention under Article V is simply not accurate.
Let's go back in time and see how all of this unfolds. In 1944, Willis E. Stone drafted the Liberty Amendment, which sought to vastly restrict federal authority and repeal the Sixteenth Amendment. Nine states passed Liberty Amendment resolutions.
(Excerpt) Read more at conventionofstates.com ...
Anyone who uses the term “Constitutional Convention” to denote an Article V Convention of the States is intellectually dishonest.
The John Birch Society? They’re the ones who called President Eisenhower a Russian spy.
John Birch had nothing to do with the “John Birch Society.”
I remember the John Birch Society.......
They went on and on and on and on..
About How the United States would become EXACTLY the way it has become.. AND WORSE..
Article after article warning of the treasonous environment to come..
Much like it is NOW.. actually it’s worse now..
The Bircher’s didn’t think the main Stream media would become THIS BAD..
Heck they didn’t even know Walter Cronkite was a commie..
***
I always thought it was the Birch John Society........their goal was the preservation of wooden toilet seats.
Had I any hope that this country could hold a legitimate plebescite where the votes could be cast and counted honestly, I too would back an article five effort. Since I am convinced that it is now impossible to have an honest vote of any sort I believe fundamental change now will require the accurate application of hardware by the people.
A constitutional convention is scary when you consider that all of the Constitution is open to revision, not just the part that caused you to support the notion.
Article V ping.
If we are to reclaim republican government, anything that 3/4 of the states can agree to should be in the constitution. It is called self-government.
We are a Republic and the Constitution guarantees a Republican form of government.
You have not witnessed wholesale revision of the US Constitution. You have witnessed a change from a legislative government to an administrative government.
However, that is not where to hang your hat. The words in the Constitution have not changed and you are well within your rights to demand a constitutional government, and you should.
Oh were it but that simple.
In order to implement your sage advice we will first have to elect people who will honor us by honoring their oath to uphold the Constitution.
You didn’t read the link.
On second thought . . . don’t.
At the time our founding fathers created our form of government, the term “republic” was used to distinguish us from a monarchy form of government as existed in England.
The gold-standard for definitions of words in the English language is the Oxford English Dictionary. OED provides the following definitions of democracy. It shows the earliest English usage of the word commencing in 1531.
DEMOCRACY
“1. Government by the people; that form of government in which the sovereign power resides in the people as a whole, and is exercised either directly by them (as in the small republics of antiquity) or by officers elected by them. In modern use often more vaguely denoting a social state in which all have equal rights, without hereditary or arbitrary differences of rank or privilege.”
“2. That class of the people which has no hereditary or
special rank or privilege; the common people (in reference to their political power).”
Political extremists such as the Birch Society claim that our Founding Fathers distrusted and detested democracy but Thomas Jefferson and James Madison named the political party they founded the “Democratic-Republican Party”.
Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to I.H. Tiffany in 1816, which certainly contradicts the understanding Birchers et al regarding ancient Greek “democracy” versus what our Founding Fathers thought.
With respect to the Greeks, Jefferson wrote:
“They had just ideas of the value of personal liberty, but none at all of the structure of government best calculated to preserve it. They knew no medium between a democracy (the only pure republic), and an abandonment of themselves to an aristocracy or a tyranny independent of the people.”
Birchers like JBS founder Robert Welch make much of the difference between a democracy and a republic but Thomas Jefferson (as shown above) used the terms interchangeably.
To Kercheval in 1816, Jefferson wrote:
“I am not among those who fear the people. They, and not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom.”
Hmmm-—sounds like Jefferson harbored some animosity toward persons of wealth and how they might use their wealth for their own selfish interests instead of the commonweal. Does that mean Jefferson was a “socialist” in the Birch Society scheme of things?
Birchers et al vehemently proclaim their belief in our “Constitutional Republic” form of government.
The Ku Klux Klan ALSO proclaims its devotion to our basic Constitutional principles. For example, see the text of the recruitment flyer most frequently used by the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Mississippi—the most violent Klan in our nation’s history.
Among the reasons it gives for joining the White Knights are:
“#8: Because it is a pro-American organization that opposes any thing, person, or organization that is un-American.
#9: Because it is an organization that is sworn to uphold the lawful Constitution of the United States of America.”
The flyer also proclaims the KKK’s devotion to:
“Our governmental system is a Constitutional Republic, primarily designed to protect the Responsible Individual Citizens from all tyranny...”
Obviously, GENERALIZATIONS are worthless. As discussed above, one can vehemently proclaim one’s devotion to a “Constitutional Republic” while simultaneously enslaving an entire category of human beings and/or committing acts of barbarism against one’s fellow countrymen.
Consequently, the FORM of government should NOT be the primary concern. Instead, it is the UNDERLYING VALUES that require our scrutiny.
Individuals and nations that genuinely subscribe to democratic values are indisputably more tolerant and more accepting of politically diverse ideas. Furthermore, they place more value upon human life and they more readily recognize the legitimacy of alternative viewpoints, as well as the need for compromise within society.
Merely proclaiming one’s belief in a “Republic” tells you nothing whatsoever! And, in fact, many of the most tyrannical governments in history were organized as “republics” !
MosesKnows wants us to believe that he has a singularly correct understanding of our Constitution and anybody who disagrees with his personal public policy preferences must be ignorant of (or even hostile to) our Constitution.
This argument has been standard extreme right propaganda since the beginning of the 20th century. In fact, many adherents of extreme right dogma declare that our nation has implemented most (or all) of the planks of the Communist Manifesto!
So-—given the ultimate logic of their argument — one would have to conclude that our success as a nation has been the result of our acceptance and implementation of Marxist ideas?
As do I.
I can't help but wonder if you haven't confused a Republic with a Republican form of Government.
The JBS has lost standing, credibility, and share value in the marketplace of ideas.
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