Dear Friends,
It seems to me, the debt ceiling and government shutdown is not about spending, and it is not about winning or loosing a mere political battle, it is a Constitutional crisis. The needless rhetoric that has been thrown around during this debate has been a way to change the subject to mere name calling and fear mongering. The malpractice of the media that calls itself unbiased has been even more pathetic than usual and is a large part of why the real issue has been overlooked. Our republic is jeopardized by this type of emotional manipulation of us, by the political elite, the media and intellectuals.
The Constitutional principle in question is separation of powers and the power of Congress to control spending. This is the only fundamental power left to the neutered legislative branch of our government. In this debate, as it now appears, the Executive branch has seized almost all of the powers the Constitution bestowed on the Legislative branch. The power of the purse, as it is called, has now fallen to the Executive as has the power to legislate via the Bureaucracy. Once this episode is over the Legislative branch will have no power whatsoever. Even the power of oversight has been taken from the impotent Legislature by Executive privilege, stonewalling and outright lying under oath.
The rhetoric that has been used by Obama, the media and the democrats has been over the top. They have called the Tea Party wing of the republican party, bomb throwers, terrorists, and hostage takers among other detestable things. The toadies in the media have backed the progressive elite up even to the point of agreeing with them. Elenore Clift is one such example Sunday on the McLaughlin Group. To draw a moral equivalence between people who engage in such evil acts as killing innocents, with people who are making a principled stand for Constitutional rule, shows one of two things. Either those who draw the equivalence are horribly broken inside or they are liars. Both disqualify them from holding any power over anyone.
I hadn’t written The Frog and the Scorpion a month before the AP phone scandal broke. We later found out FOX news reporters phones were being tapped as well. The press feigned outrage but in fact quivered in their boots. Terrified of the power they had bestowed upon the new imperial President. Today news reporters have few sources and those they do meet them in dark alleys and fear they are being followed. Story after story has come out describing the fear the press holds of this president. In this latest struggle between the imperial president and the legislature, the media has uniformly followed the the talking points of their oppressor. Perhaps they have Stockholm Syndrome? Regardless, if it was out of fear, cognitive dissonance or blind obedience, they have done themselves and our country a great disservice.
The separation of powers was supposed to be a bulwark against an executive becoming imperial. Our republic was founded on the knowledge, historically tyranny has risen from the executive branch, in a republic. Montesquieu made the argument that the Judiciary should be separated from the Executive Branch to further weaken it and prevent this outcome. Our founding fathers agreed and placed the Judicial Branch into our Constitution. The provision for a free press was an idea incorporated into our Constitution as another means to prevent tyranny. As this sad episode has shown us, this president has effectively neutered the Legislative Branch, he has whipped the unbiased media into line, he disregards Judicial rulings, he enforces the law arbitrarily and he is caught lying to the American people without consequence. In the Federalist Papers Madison, Jay and Hamilton warn this would be the end of our republic and limited government. I fear that unless drastic measures are not taken, like impeachment or installing a NUMA, to reign in this president, WE will be the generation that lost liberty… to our eternal shame.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
