President George Washington &
America’s 9 Harbingers! March 19, 2012 by Volubrjotr follow the link to full story.. http://politicalvelcraft.org/2012/03/19/george-washington-americas-9-harbingers/ THE WATCHMEN, 911 and THE HARBINGERS [PDF] http://www.stevequayle.com/News.alert/11_Prophetic/110909.Watchmen.pdf And now, Almighty Father, If it is Thy holy will that we shall obtain a place and name among the nations of the earth, grant that we may be enabled to show our gratitude for Thy goodness by our endeavors to fear and obey Thee. Bless us with thy wisdom in our counsels, success in battle, and let our victories be tempered with humanity. Endow, also, our enemies with enlightened minds, that they become sensible of their injustice, and willing to restore our liberty and peace. Grant the petition of Thy servant, for the sake of whom Thou hast called Thy beloved Son; nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done. –George Washington ****2012 is not THE END OF TIMES for MANkind but the time has come for the END of Millions of lives around the World and in Amerikka. Rabbi Cahn provides Biblical Scriptures or Nine Harbingers for America to turn back to GOD. It is these NINE 'warnings' as Written in the Bible that directly relate to America in these current times. George Washington DEDICATED America to GOD on the Very spot we call Ground Zero that was DESTROYED on 911 as the First Harbinger or WARNING to America to REPENT but we have gone on in Vengeance to Defy GOD and KILL innocent children 'over there' and KILL over 50 Million of our unborn children over here and to Take children from their homes for our 'cash for kids' Industries operating out of our Government Agencies and government run courts. RISE UP America to PROTECT GOD's Children; to Stop our WARs, to Mentor our Youth; to invest in America for American Jobs; to Feed our hungry and Shelter our Homeless. It is Time to Stop 'looking the other Way' and blaming the suffering for their own circumstances as the Heavens are Crying OUT for Americans to REPENT and turn Back to GOD so we can once Again have GOD's Blessing and Again BE the LIGHT for the World's People. *** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEJl_zpqBok&feature=related THE HARBINGERS {PART #2 IS BELOW}
Based on Isaiah 9:10, – “The bricks have fallen, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycamores are cut down, but we will plant cedars in their place,” the northern 10 Tribes of Israel refused to repent after they were struck by the Assyrians – which was a warning from the Lord. Instead of listening to the alarm, of turning back, and humbling themselves in repentance, they boasted of their resolve, that they would rebuild stronger and better than before. They ignored the warning and rejected the call to return. They defied it. Sadly, their defiance led to the nation’s total destruction years later. The ancient prophecy forms the key to the nine harbingers of judgment, which are given to a nation in danger of judgment – each of which have reappeared on American soil – marking America as the nation in danger of judgment. The First Harbinger: The Breach. In 732 B.C., the hedge of protection was removed and Israel’s enemies invade the land and wreak havoc. The calamity traumatizes the nation but it takes place on a limited scale, as with 9/11. The warning is the removal of the hedge. On September 11, 2001, America’s hedge of protection was removed – the breach of America’s security, and was a sign that God has lifted His protective hand. The Second Harbinger: The Terrorist. It was the dark shadow of Assyrian terror that loomed over the kingdom of Israel. The danger against which the prophets had warned. And when, years later, Israel’s final judgment came, the Assyrians would again be the means through which it would happen. So, too, the attack on America is carried out by terrorists. The Assyrians were a Semitic people, children of the Middle East. So too were the terrorists of 9/11. The Third Harbinger: The Fallen Bricks. The most visible signs of the attack on ancient Israel were that of the fallen buildings and the ruin heaps of fallen bricks. The third harbinger is the sign of the fallen bricks of the fallen buildings. On Sept 11, 2001, Americans were confronted with the same sign, fallen bricks of the fallen buildings of the wreckage of Ground Zero. America was not turning back to God. It was a short-lived spiritual revival that never came. The Fourth Harbinger: The Tower. Israel defiantly began rebuilding on the devastated ground, vowing to rebuild higher and stronger. So, too, in the wake of 9/11, American leaders vowed to rebuild at Ground Zero higher and stronger – the Tower begins to rise at Ground Zero. Those involved act unwittingly. The Fifth Harbinger: The Gazit Stone. We will rebuild with quarried stone - The Israelites carve out quarried stone from mountain rock and bring it back to the ground of destruction where clay bricks once stood. Three years after 9/11, a stone is quarried out of the mountain rock of New York. This massive stone was brought back to Ground Zero. In ancient Israel this stone became a misplaced embodiment of the nation’s confidence in its own power. So too the massive stone at Ground Zero became the symbolic cornerstone of the rebuilding. Public ceremonies accompanied the stone placement. Plans to rebuild Ground Zero would be frustrated for years. Eventually they would remove the stone from GZ altogether. The Sixth Harbinger: The Sycamore. The Sycamores have been cut down - The attack on ancient Israel resulted in the striking down of the sycamore tree, a biblical sign of national judgment. The fallen sycamore is a sign of uprooting, a warning and, in ignoring the warning, it becomes a prophecy of judgment. On 9/11, as the North Tower fell it sent debris and wreckage which struck and uprooted an object – a sycamore tree growing at Ground Zero. The tree was made into a symbol and named The Sycamore of Ground Zero. When it fell in ancient Israel it prophesied the nation’s downfall and the end of its kingdom. What happens to America depends on if the warning is heeded. The Seventh Harbinger: The Erez Tree. But we will plant cedars in their place- In their defiance of God, the Israelites replace the fallen sycamore with a Cedar tree. The cedar, being stronger than the sycamore becomes a symbol of the nation’s arrogant hope that it will emerge from the crisis stronger than before. The English name for this tree is “Cedar,” but the Hebrew word is “Erez.” Erez stands not only for cedar but for a conifer tree of the panacea family. In November of 2003, a tree was lowered at the corner of Ground Zero into the soil where the fallen sycamore once stood. The tree was a conifer, a panacea tree, the biblical Erez. A ceremony was held around the tree and it, too, became a symbol – entitled The Tree of Hope. There is always hope. A nation’s true hope is found only in returning to God. The Eight Harbinger: The Utterance. The Eighth Harbinger was the public speaking of the ancient vow of defiance. For this harbinger to manifest, the vow would have to be spoken in the nation’s capital by a national leader, as it had been in ancient Israel. On Sept 11, 2004, every object mentioned in the prophecy of Isa 9:10 had manifested. The public utterance of the prophecy had to take place publicly, which happened on Sept 11, 2004 when VP candidate John Edwards, giving a speech in the capital city, quoted this exact scripture word for word in Wash., DC. Without realizing it, he was joining the two nations together and, without realizing it, pronouncing judgment on America. The ancient and the modern were bound together. The Ninth Harbinger: The Prophecy. The Ninth Harbinger is the proclaiming of the ancient vow as prophecy, as a matter of public record, and spoken before the words come true. On Sept 12, 2001, the day after 9/11, America issues its official response to the attack. The one in charge of issuing the response was Tom Daschle, Senate Majority Leader. As he closes his speech he makes a declaration – he proclaims the ancient vow of defiance, word for word, to the world. By doing so he prophesies the nation’s future course, all of which comes to pass. The Second Shaking – The mystery of the Harbinger continues – and lies behind everything from the Global War on Terror, the Collapse of the American economy, the crash of Wall Street, the Great Recession, and more. Amazingly, events happened with an unseen hand, and people acted unwittingly in the unfolding of this prophecy. The Prophet character says that “The Almighty has His own purposes.” God, in His mercy, always reaches out in mercy. At Ground Zero, the ground of devastation becomes the ground of restoration. Incredibly it was at the site of Ground Zero in the miracle church, St Paul’s Chapel, that this nation was dedicated to God by first president George Washington & other leaders at his inauguration in 1789. The nation’s first government was formed in New York City before DC was formed. God is calling the nation back to Himself. “The heart of God wills for salvation,” the Prophet says. “Greater than his judgments are His compassions.” THE STORY BEHIND THE MESSAGE Not long after 9/11 Jonathan sensed that somehow these events were linked to what happened to ancient Israel per Isa 9, the first massive divine warning given to that nation. A number of years later, he was standing at the corner of Ground Zero and his attention was drawn to an object that was the first puzzle piece of an ancient mystery and a prophetic warning for America. He first shared the word at his congregation Beth Israel in 2005. A few years later he was led to begin committing the message to book form. When the Lord started revealing these things Jonathan had an urgent sense that this word needed to get out. COMING TO MESSIAH Jonathan was raised in the synagogue but at age 8 questioned what he was taught. Didn’t believe, and at age 11 he decided not to pursue a bar mitzvah. By age 13 he questioned his atheism. In 7th grade he became friends with a boy who spoke to him of Jesus – began searching for answers. Reading The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey led him to open the Bible and begin reading about end-time prophecies. There he discovered the prophecies of the Jewish Messiah in the Hebrew Scriptures. It all pointed to Jesus, but Jonathan continued living as before, leading a rock band. He began telling everyone about the prophecies and ended up winning others to the Lord, though he himself wasn’t saved. He eventually realized that it wasn’t enough to just agree with it in his mind. If Messiah came back, he would not be ready to meet Him. He knew there was only one way to God but he didn’t want to give his life to God. But feeling the continual call of God, he made a deal with Him. If God would grant him long life, then he would accept the Lord… at the end – when he was about to die. Soon after that he was almost killed. Twice. He was driving about 45 miles per hour in two lanes of traffic when the car went out of control, swerving into two oncoming lanes, spinning in and out of cars. By a miracle he wasn’t killed. A few months later, at night, he was driving across a train track and got stuck on it, even though he was trying to be careful. He saw a big light – and it was the train which plowed into his little Ford Pinto. As the car crumbled before him, he could only call out to God. The car was demolished and the crash made headlines, but Jonathan escaped without a scratch. Strike two. Jonathan quickly changed his deal with God and accepted the Lord when he turned 20. Not knowing much about salvation or how to come to God, he drove up to the top of a mountain, kneeled down to pray and dedicate his life to God. Not long after he was asked to lead a Bible study. After college the Lord interrupted his plans and called him into full-time ministry. He wanted to do what Messiah would do, working with the needy, homeless and disabled. He and others helped found a Messianic outreach. A few years later in 1988, he was asked to lead Beth Israel, the largest Messianic congregation in America made up of Jew and Gentile alike. TerroristCitizen on Sep 16, 2010 Daily News @ http://RevolutionNews.US ~ The massacre occurred in a carefully planned attack on the tent colony by Colorado militiamen, coal company guards, and thugs hired as private detectives and strike breakers. They shot and burned to death 20 people, including a dozen women and small children. Later investigations revealed that kerosine had intentionally been poured on the tents to set them ablaze. The miners had dug foxholes in the tents so the women and children could avoid the bullets that randomly were shot through the tent colony by company thugs. The women and children were found huddled together at the bottoms of their tents.
A quote from David Rockefeller's autobiography 'Memoirs' - "For more than a century, ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure - one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it." - David Rockefeller This video taken from the film: Psywar - The real battlefield is your mind http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7A2hVDdB10 "Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." —Thomas Jefferson Time For A New American Revolution? ♥☠✿☮❀☠✿☮❀☠✿♥❀☠✿☮❀☠ http://RevolutionNews.US ☠✿☮❀☠✿☮❀☠✿♥ |
THE RESTORED CHURCH OF GOD http://rcg.org/landing/government.html http://rcg.org/questions/p068.a.html Some have cited these verses to validate the immortal soul doctrine and the belief that, upon death, people go to heaven. However, this description is not literal, but rather is entirely symbolic. The Bible plainly teaches that souls are mortal. In vision, the apostle John saw before him a book or scroll sealed with seven seals. As Christ opened each seal (Rev. 5:5), John was shown a preview of an event that would happen in the future (“hereafter” [4:1]). Since John was “in the spirit” as the seven seals were opened (vs. 2), the events he witnessed were not actually occurring at that time. They were heavenly previews of things that would happen later on earth. Upon the opening of the fifth seal (Rev. 6:9), John “saw under [at the base of] the altar the souls of them that were slain.” Christ had shown the meaning of the seven seals when He was on earth. He explained that the fifth seal symbolizes the coming time of Great Tribulation (Matt. 24:9-28), an event that will occur on earth. In this vision, John was shown the future, this modern age, a time when one martyrdom has already taken place (during the Middle Ages) and a greater one (the Great Tribulation) is yet to happen. The souls who were “slain” (martyred Christian throughout the ages) were told, in Revelation 6:11, to “rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.” Those who have died will continue to “rest” (remain “asleep [Eph. 5:14; I Cor. 11:30]” in their graves), until others are also martyred as they were. The “souls” (dead saints) crying “avenge our blood” (vs. 10) is akin to Abel’s blood (his life [note Lev. 17:14]) crying to God from the earth (Gen. 4:10). Since blood does not talk and neither do the dead (Psa. 115:17; Ecc. 9:5, 10), we understand the meaning to be symbolic, not literal. Therefore, the “souls under the altar” represent those awaiting the future martyrdom of saints. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DISCOVER THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE http://www.bible-studys.org/ email us at: [email protected] BOOK OF REVELATION email [email protected] Know Bible Facts From Fiction, Science and Prophecy for today! Revelation Six, “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” Explained as never before! Revelation 6 (King James Version) By B. Walker http://www.knowbiblefactsfromfiction.com/revelation-six-ldquothe-four-horsemen-of-the-apocalypserdquo-explained-as-never-before.html ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ http://university.ucadia.info/e107_files/downloads/remedy/the_history_of_todays_slavery.pdf ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ AMERICAN KABUKI-CREATING THE PROMISED LAND http://americankabuki.blogspot.com/2012/03/on-creating-promised-land.html +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ "No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.". -- President George Washington |
THE LAW THAT GOVERNS
GOVERNMENT:
RECLAIMING THE CONSTITUTION FROM USURPERS
AND SOCIETY’S BIGGEST LAWBREAKER
A PAMPHLET OF PRINCIPLES, PURPOSE AND PROPOSALS
FOR CONSTITUTIONAL CONSERVATIVES
By Richard A. Viguerie and Mark J. Fitzgibbons
Published by ConservativeHQ.com, Inc.
The authors waive copyright restrictions so that people may
copy and publish the contents of our pamphlet with or
without attribution to the authors, and without the need to
obtain the authors’ permission
For more information, go to
ReclaimtheConstitution.com
CONTENTS
THE PEOPLE’S OPENING ARGUMENT......................................................................... 1
RECLAIMING THE CONSTITUTION FROM THE
SCOFFLAW POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENT ................................................................. 8
A CENTURY OF PROGRESSIVES’ MISUSING
THE LAW TO VIOLATE THE CONSTITUTION .......................................................... 13
A LAW GOVERNING GOVERNMENT
FOR OUR POSTERITY...................................................................................................... 16
CONTEMPT FOR THE CONSTITUTION AS LAW
IS ENDEMIC IN THE POLITICAL CLASS.................................................................... 18
RESTATING AN OLD TRUTH.......................................................................................... 20
GOVERNMENT IS THE BIGGEST LAWBREAKER.................................................... 22
GOVERNMENT LAWBREAKING
IS LUCRATIVE FOR CRONIES....................................................................................... 25
THE CONSTITUTION IS LAW,
NOT A BLUEPRINT TO BE IGNORED........................................................................... 27
A GRADATION OF AUTHORITIES ................................................................................ 29
THE RIGHTFUL SKEPTICISM OF THE ANTI-FEDERALISTS................................ 32
WHY NOW THE MOVEMENT FOR
THE LAW THAT GOVERNS GOVERNMENT? ............................................................ 33
A REMEDY OBTAINED FROM THE PEOPLE............................................................. 35
APPENDIx 1: RECLAIMING THE CONSTITUTION THROUGH
CROSS-ExAMINING CANDIDATES FOR OFFICE ........................ 40
APPENDIx II: ExAMPLES OF GOVERNMENT LAWBREAKING.......................... 43
ABOUT THE AUTHORS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................. 60
The Law That Governs Government
i
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The People’s Opening Argument
Government is the oldest, largest and most pervasive
lawbreaker in America.
Lawbreaking by government in terms of cost and the number
of people victimized is of a scale unmatched by any other
organization or group — leaving nothing as a close second.
Government has injected itself into nearly every aspect of private
affairs, and has taken an excessive, intrusive and omnipotent
view of what are public matters. Given the vast and unilateral
authority it claims to have over so much of society and property,
government has unmatched opportunity for lawbreaking. It
makes and rigs the rules in its favor. It cloisters and covers up its lawlessness, and makes
it almost impossible to challenge its lawbreaking when exposed.
Government lawbreaking is bringing down the greatest and fairest engine of
prosperity in history — the American economy. Political establishment
lawbreaking is economically and morally rotting America from within.
The political establishment is now openly contemptuous and arrogant in its high
profile lawbreaking. After all, who’s going to prevent the government from breaking
the law? The government has more resources, and is bigger and more powerful than
any of its victims. Plus, it has what private lawbreakers do not have: the power to
control and change the rules of the game, and with penalties of law on its side.
Government has become a bully to the very people it is supposed to protect and
keep free.
In addition to its lawbreaking that takes place in the open, there is the cloistered
lawbreaking done by anonymous bureaucrats and in backroom deals by public
officials. Government transparency is mostly a fiction. We see and know only
what government wants us to.
The irony is that government lawbreaking is done mostly under the guise and misnomer
of the rule of law. The law has become one big slap in the face to all Americans.
Americans are fed up with the political establishment and how it abuses and
misuses the law, legal systems and public policy to benefit and enrich its members
and its cronies. The polls show it. People discuss it daily. Why, then, haven’t we
put a stop to the rampant lawlessness of the political establishment?
Why aren’t there more political leaders willing to stand up to government lawbreaking?
The Law That Governs Government
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Law, freedom and America’s vanishing exceptionalism
People on the political center-right who believe in small, limited government have
in recent years lamented the loss of “American exceptionalism.” How many of us,
though, can accurately describe American exceptionalism? As importantly, who
can describe what enables it?
Old-line liberal commentary writer Richard Cohen calls American exceptionalism a
“myth.” Liberals who believe in big, intrusive government are determined to
eviscerate our exceptionalism.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal about the liberal attack on American
exceptionalism, conservative intellectual Shelby Steele puts it this way: “To
civilize America, to redeem the nation from its supposed avarice and hubris, the
American left effectively makes a virtue of decline — as if we can redeem America
only by making her indistinguishable from lesser nations.”
Where you stand on the issue of American exceptionalism, and whether you believe
American government has created or greatly contributed to its decline, will influence
whether you will take the relatively brief amount of time to read our pamphlet.
It is about our remedy against government lawlessness. It is about how enforcing the
law on government is the key to returning and maintaining American exceptionalism.
It is about how the constitutional conservative movement is the last and best chance to
save America, and what you can do to reclaim your individual freedoms, protect your
property rights, and keep America secure and prosperous for generations to come.
This pamphlet is for those who believe America has been short-changed, weakened,
corrupted and even embarrassed by our political leaders. Anyone, though, looking
for a short and easy solution need not read any further. Return to your quiet lives of
servitude. Those who are looking for the easy way will not be part of the solution.
The history of freedom is one of ebbs and flows. There are always those who will
take away the freedom of others; then there are those who through struggle and
sacrifice claim it back. People who have struggled to obtain or reclaim freedom
almost unfailingly appreciate and understand it better than people who didn’t struggle
for it. The timid who lack the bigger vision never have been part of the solution.
The American history of freedom is no different except that our Constitution was
written to secure liberty better than any system of government in history.
Americans have an advantage others throughout history seeking their freedom did
not have: We have a structure and process designed to protect freedom.
The Law That Governs Government
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The Constitution, though, does not run on automatic pilot. It is not a passive
guarantee of freedom. The Constitution must be enforced on government.
Adherence to the Constitution is the very foundation of American exceptionalism.
Without understanding that one critical concept, America is lost.
It is time for conservatives to acknowledge why we don’t govern effectively
The modern conservative movement began in the 1950s, and was a response to those
who were attempting to take away America’s freedoms and lessen our exceptionalism.
Conservatism is based in constitutionalism and its Madisonian liberal principles.
Big government was on the rise domestically. The threat of communism was real
and growing. Our God-given freedoms, which are the basis for American
exceptionalism, were in decline internally and were threatened from without.
We are now in the fourth generation of the modern conservative movement. Future
generations of conservatives should understand the movement’s successes and its
failures if they are to return America to its promise and secure its exceptionalism.
The first generation of the modern conservative movement was comprised of
intellectuals such as Russell Kirk, William F. Buckley, Jr. and the fusionist Frank
Meyer. It included two politicians of vision and courage, Barry Goldwater and
Ronald Reagan.
The second generation of the modern conservative movement saw the rise of activists
such as the late Paul Weyrich, Heritage Foundation’s Ed Feulner, constitutional
conservative lawyer and author Phyllis Schlafly, and Dr. Jerry Falwell. The second
generation of the movement created some, but not enough, conservative organizations.
In the third generation, conservatives began forming even more national
organizations to compete against the thousands of liberal activist organizations.
Third-generation conservative Rush Limbaugh became America’s number one talk
radio host. Brent Bozell, III, son of first-generation conservative Brent Bozell, Jr.,
rips apart liberal media bias at his Media Research Center. Morton Blackwell
founded The Leadership Institute, which has trained over a hundred thousand
conservatives to be effective leaders.
The fourth generation began the greater opening of channels of conservative
communication. Relying greatly on the Internet, the fourth generation has ensured
that the liberal elite no longer control the flow of communications about politics.
Michele Malkin, Ann Coulter, Andrew Breitbart and other fiery fourth-generation
conservatives help put the old liberal establishment to shame.
The Law That Governs Government
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The modern conservative movement has had success in slowing down the growth of
liberal big government, but we have not succeeded in scaling it back to where
American freedom and exceptionalism may thrive. For in-depth histories of the
conservative movement, we recommend The Conservative Revolution: The
Movement That Remade America by Lee Edwards, and Upstream: The Ascendance
of American Conservatism by Al Regnery.
Gallup polling shows that for decades people who self-identify as conservatives
have consistently outnumbered liberals by about two to one, and have regularly
outnumbered moderates. Yet for the most part, liberals control the corridors of
government power from the courthouses to the White House. Why is that? What
mistakes do conservatives keep repeating? What is it that would take conservatives
to the point that we govern in a way that returns America to its promise?
How did conservatives allow the Republican Party to stray so far into corrupt, biggovernment
territory that from 2006 to 2008 Americans booted Republicans out of
office and elected the most radical leftwing president in history under his
duplicitous, Orwellian mantra “Hope and Change?”
The number one problem with the conservative movement is that too many
conservative leaders and organizations became appendages of the Republican
Party. Constitutionally, the Republican Party lost its way and dragged many
conservative leaders along with it.
The Republican Party establishment has not only tolerated government
lawbreaking; it has participated in it. Americans did not so much choose Barack
Obama as they rejected the corrupt and weak-principled Republican establishment.
To save America, we conservatives must take the Republican Party with us and
reclaim the Constitution as the law that governs government. That should be our
number one priority. Otherwise — like Sisyphus, the king in Greek mythology
stuck for eternity pushing a rock uphill only to watch it roll back down over and
over again — we will always face an unending fight we cannot win.
Enter the Tea Party and the renewed constitutional conservative movement
In 1976, Ronald Reagan was running against the Republican establishment that
included Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Nelson Rockefeller. Reagan said
something then that applies today: “We need new leaders unfettered by old ties and
old relationships.” The Tea Party is just that.
The Law That Governs Government
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It is a credible argument that the Tea Party has had a more substantial impact on the
national debate in its brief tenure than the conservative movement has had over the
course of decades. The Tea Party is forcing the political establishment to confront
and react to principled, small-government, constitutional conservatism.
Mark Levin’s Liberty and Tyranny is the single best and most detailed explanation
we’ve read about the principles of the constitutional conservative movement. What
is perhaps most fascinating about his bestselling book is that so much of it is about
the law. Levin manages to take a subject matter most people find rather boring --
the law — and turns it into a rallying cry for principled conservatism.
We believe our pamphlet adds two central themes that may help advance the
conservative cause, and scale back government to its rightful size and place in society.
The first theme of our pamphlet is to articulate that the Constitution is the law that
governs government.
When people — whether they self-describe as conservatives, libertarians,
independents or Tea Partiers — start thinking of the Constitution as the law that
governs government instead of a compact (or, as liberals treat it, a token guide for
government), we begin to approach political solutions in a different way.
Instead of simply working to elect more small-government proponents, we begin to
think: How is it that Americans can enforce the law against government? That is a
mindset broader than just trying to win the next election.
A sub-theme of the law that governs government is that we must reclaim the
Constitution, not merely restore it. The political establishment disregards and
shows contempt for the notion that the Constitution is the law that binds them.
They have usurped power, and they will not sit back and allow the Constitution to
be restored. We must therefore take it back. This requires a more proactive
approach, and is different from seeking to merely restore the Constitution.
The second major theme of our pamphlet is that government is society’s biggest
lawbreaker. People tend to think of government as protection from lawbreakers,
and indeed it should be. The reality, though, is that we now need protection from
government lawbreaking.
We now live in a regulatory state where government doesn’t enforce the law so
much as it picks the winners and losers in private matters. Government has
corrupted the law so that it is no longer protection against the “bad guys.”
Government itself has become the equivalent of a criminal syndicate, but with
The Law That Governs Government
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virtually limitless power and resources, including the capacity to make and enforce
public laws its victims must follow.
Liberals have misused the law by making it authoritarian and dictatorial, and have
targeted and suppressed the free exercise of rights. The law is now misused to hold
back private achievement, supplant it with government-based approaches, and
advance the political establishment and its cronies.
We are becoming more of a police state where individual and private property
rights are violated. Private, civil acts — even political speech — are criminalized
and over-criminalized by a government that fails to follow the rules.
The political establishment has actually come to rely on government lawbreaking,
and there is no one policing government.
When we understand that government is America’s biggest lawbreaker, inevitably
we conclude that we cannot depend on or trust government the way liberals want
people to. The rats are running the cheese factory, so to speak. Big-government
liberalism is no longer a credible ideology once people understand the scope of
government lawbreaking.
This pamphlet does not have the space to document all the ways in which — never
mind all the examples of how — government breaks the law. However, we do
provide an appendix listing just some examples of how government breaks the law
and violates rights.
As we explain, most government lawbreaking goes undisclosed for a variety of
reasons, so documenting government lawbreaking is difficult. Government
operates more and more in secrecy. It violates public transparency laws to hide its
lawbreaking. Government uses intimidation and bribery to silence whistleblowers.
Knowing that exposing government lawbreaking hurts ‘their side,’ the liberal media
provide cover for it. The amount of government lawbreaking that is actually made
public and known is probably not even the tip of the iceberg.
When people know the government has violated the law, the government’s reaction
tends to be, “So sue us.” Government, though, has also rigged the rules for
obtaining legal remedies. Justice is denied and government lawbreaking is
protected through judge-made doctrines.
The United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, for example, invoked a judge-made
doctrine called “standing” to deny Virginia’s constitutional challenge to Obamacare.
The Law That Governs Government
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What an outrage! Federal judges protect government lawbreaking by refusing to give
citizens and states their day in court to protect their constitutional rights.
Suffice it to say, however, there is no close second place to government as society’s
biggest lawbreaker. Again, when we think of government this way, the political
solutions we must implement become clearer.
Like all efforts for freedom, we stand on the shoulders of giants. The constitutional
conservative movement is comprised of people whose names we recognize, and
people whose names we don’t. It is a peaceful uprising of the middle class, but it is
deadly serious about its mission. And, it is growing.
The law of the jungle is to eat or be eaten. The law of politics is to define oneself
or be defined. The left is anxious to define the constitutional conservative
movement in ways and as something it is not.
There are those who call constitutional conservatives “extremists,” “anti-government,”
or even “terrorists.” Those are of course false, pejorative descriptions, even projection
from the anti-freedom left.
We, on the other hand, may accurately describe many of our critics as
“lawbreakers” and “abettors.” That changes the conversation, doesn’t it?
The constitutional conservative movement must therefore define itself. We hope
our pamphlet not only offers perspectives that form the bases for action, but also
articulates and confirms what constitutional conservatives understand to be sound
principles and purpose.
Because the Constitution is truly the law that governs government, this pamphlet is
about the law, not politics per se. The law is intended to protect society and our
freedoms, and all of us have an equal say about it.
The law is not the exclusive domain of lawyers, although a fair number of them
would prefer the law to be theirs to dictate and control. This pamphlet is not
written for lawyers, but addresses some legal terms applicable to the Constitution.
We urge you to embrace them.
Above all else, this pamphlet is about one legal term in particular: remedy. It is
about the constitutional remedy of reclaiming our rights that are the cornerstone to
America’s exceptionalism. If you wish to be a part of that remedy, read on.
The Law That Governs Government
Reclaiming the Constitution from the
scofflaw political establishment
If old truths are to retain their hold on men’s minds, they must be
restated in the language and concepts of successive generations.
F.A. Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty
Is the Constitution effectively dead as a legal constraint on government, as some
have claimed? Or, as the character Miracle Max in the fantasy movie The Princess
Bride might say, is it only mostly dead? If the Constitution is only ‘mostly’ dead,
can it be revived? And, if the Constitution can be revived, why should its revival as
a legal constraint on government be the top priority of the conservative movement?
The effort to revive the Constitution as the law that governs government is afoot, and
it may be the last chance to save America for what it was meant to be. America’s
exceptionalism is not created by vast natural resources, wealth, military might, or
technology. It isn’t anything in our DNA, either. Our Constitution is what enables
our exceptionalism by securing our liberties. Without the Constitution as the law that
governs government, America is a failed experiment, and in turn, a weaker country.
The constitutional conservative movement consisting mostly of middle-class Americans,
but honest-broker intellectuals and patriotic freedom-lovers across the economic spectrum
as well, isn’t merely seeking to revive the Constitution. Americans of conservative
principles are reclaiming the Constitution. We reclaim not what was merely lost, but what
was taken from us — stolen, if you will — by others. The term the Founders used in the
Declaration of Independence and the Federalist Papers was “usurped.”
The Constitution has been usurped, not at the point of a gun, but by the very people
elected and entrusted to enforce it. We turned our government over to a series of
Bernie Madoffs. Like trustees cleaning out the funds in a trust, they misused their
power to loot the Treasury on a vast scale. They created a massive Ponzi scheme
unmatched in history — which is much of the government and its programs — and
reduced our freedoms in the process.
“They” are the political establishment comprised of progressives and statists.
Statists are those who believe in the collective benefits of the power of government
regardless of their ideology. There are, for example, Republican statists who use
government solutions for private matters. At the risk of offending President George
W. Bush supporters, we would consider him a statist Republican although he
sometimes espoused conservative views.
- 8 -
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Progressives are ideologically to the left. The term comprises those who are
referred to as “liberals,” “socialists,” “Marxists,” and their ideological allies.
Progressives are statists, but not all statists are progressives.
Progressives and statists comprising the political class are often interchangeable
and indistinguishable from each other in how they have eroded the Constitution as
law. “They” think they are not bound by the Constitution.
“They” have replaced freedom of the individual by creating a class system of
power, privilege, prestige and entitlements dictated by government authority.
Those who aren’t on the in with this system have caught on to the fact that the
political establishment relies on violating our paramount law to create this class
system of who is in and who is out.
Those in the political establishment who dictate this system have every human
foible that the Constitution was written to address and constrain. By replacing the
law of freedom under the Constitution with a form of authoritarian, statist power,
the political establishment and their cronies sit at the table of privilege.
Sycophants feed off the scraps. The rest of us are restrained from achieving what
freedom would otherwise allow.
As more Americans come to recognize that their freedoms protected by the
Constitution have been usurped, and that the political establishment is driving
America toward shameful economic conditions, the constitutional conservative
movement grows.
The rise of constitutional conservatism and its focus on America’s founding
principles has forced statists to engage in this fight over the role and meaning of
the Constitution. Progressive statists don’t quite grasp exactly what this
movement is, but they know it can’t be good for their agendas.
Time magazine’s Richard Stengel, The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne, and The
New Republic’s Ed Kilgore are just a few of the progressive bellwethers who have
recently written defensive-aggressive articles about the constitutional conservative
movement. Globalist Brit Gideon Rachman of The Financial Times petulantly
describes the movement as “a dangerously simple-minded approach to
government.” Progressives are flustered by the exposure of the historical and
inevitable flaws of centralized government power, and an emphasis on our
founding principles.
The Founders, motherhood, apple pie? Surely, conservatives have the upper hand
in this debate. Progressives, it seems, have failed to follow Sun Tzu’s advice
about engaging the enemy on your own turf. Or have they?
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The strength of statists, and especially progressives, is politics, and politics is above
all else about the law. Progressives have used the law as their most devastating
political weapon. They are civil-warriors with it, and theirs is a war of legal
attrition, conquering their political opponents by amassing more and more laws
regulating and suppressing freedoms.
On the other hand, the average conservative-by-nature American has a bit of an
aversion to politics, never mind using the law as a weapon of politics. We’d prefer
going about our family life, our work, our “pursuit of happiness” in our individual
ways, through our places of worship, or through other private associations.
The times, though, they are a-changing. In the face of ever-creeping “socialism” or
“statism” — call it what you will — more and more Americans have begun to
understand that if our country is to be truly a nation of laws, we must reclaim the
Constitution as the law that governs government.
And, at no time since the American Revolution has there been a greater need for
government to be governed. The anger at, and distrust of, the political class is setting
records, and for good reason. Speaking on Fox News after Standard & Poor’s recent
downgrade of America’s credit rating, Democratic pollster Pat Caddell called our
situation a “much graver constitutional crisis” to the point that it is “pre-Revolutionary.”
Our federal government debt is over $14 trillion and growing — and that doesn’t
even count the debt of states, counties and cities, many of which are on the verge of
bankruptcy. There is no credible plan to make us solvent. Indeed, it became
accepted political establishment thinking that we had to raise our debt limit instead
of reducing the debt through spending cuts, passing on even more debt to future
generations. That’s worse than objectively irrational: It would be a criminal Ponzi
scheme if it were to occur in the private sector.
Sure, if government were to default or taxes were to increase, life goes on. But legal
theft and corruption through generations of statism has culminated and saddled our
posterity with the bill. It has also weakened and embarrassed America now.
While perhaps not always able to put their fingers on it with precision, people are
coming to understand more and more that there is an inextricable link between
violations of the Constitution and the immoral, unconscionable inter-generational
transfer of debt. Constitutional conservatives are challenging the lies and
corruption used to create and bolster the largest debt in the history of mankind.
They are seeking out the root causes instead of just applying band-aids.
But it isn’t just the unsustainable government debt that has spawned this
constitutional conservative movement.
It is that we’re tired of being lied to by elected officials.
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It is arrogant bureaucrats down to our state, county and city levels who act as
though they’re doing us favors just by doing their jobs.
It is our loss of self-determination, where at nearly every turn we need some permission
from a government official, or we must fill out some form required by law.
It is the sense that government has taken too much control over private decisionmaking,
yet is incompetent and corrupt.
It is the inexplicable situation of expanding property-tax bills at a time of declining
home values, combined with the fact that nearly half of Americans now pay no
income taxes at all.
It is high unemployment caused by government policies from people who do not
know how to create jobs; besides, job creation should not be government’s role.
It is high gas prices caused by government’s over-regulating and banning domestic
oil drilling and other free market energy alternatives, while subsidizing inefficient
energy sources.
It is low confidence that our retirement money will be there because Social Security
has become a Ponzi scheme where we’re left with nothing but IOUs, and there are
rumors that government will invade private retirement funds.
It is that Americans have become bookkeepers and tax collectors for the
government, where we must keep every receipt, and record every jot and tittle or be
subject to penalties of fines or even prison.
It is that government rewards and gives special preference to its supporters, and
disfavors or even punishes its critics.
It is that leaders of both major political parties are out of touch with average,
hard-working Americans.
Americans are beset by the creeping feeling, a uniquely American gut instinct
against misused authority, that we’ve lost something — our strength as one nation
under God — our exceptionalism that comes from being a free people.
A June 2009 Rasmussen poll, for example, found that 44% of Americans believe the
Constitution doesn’t restrict government enough, while only 10% believe it restricts
government too much. The remaining 38% think it achieves the right balance.
In November 2010, Rasmussen reported 44% of Americans believe government is
operating outside the Constitution, 39% believe it operates within the Constitution, and
17% aren’t sure. Unsurprisingly, this same poll found 83% of the political class says
government operates within the Constitution, but 62% of mainstream voters disagree.
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Rasmussen reported in August 2011 that only 17% of likely voters believe the
federal government has the consent of the governed, a new low for this central
principle of the Declaration of Independence.
These polls don’t merely reflect dissatisfaction born of a poor economy, nor may
they be easily dismissed by liberal statists as conservative nostalgia or paranoia.
They reflect that Americans are coming to realize the political establishment is
unmoored by the rules.
People are now questioning what the political establishment does not want
questioned. How is it that Congress passed a law requiring citizens to purchase a
product, as it did under the individual mandate in Obamacare, and it seems the
chances are at best 50-50 that the courts will overrule that? As George Will asked,
can the government compel people to attend Weight Watchers as well?
How did the Supreme Court conclude that a city could force Susette Kelo to sell her
private property so developers cozy to city officials could profit from it instead?
Why, after the Supreme Court upheld the First Amendment freedom to criticize
politicians did progressives, including President Obama himself, call the 2010
Citizens United decision dangerous?
How is it that President Obama took Toxic Asset Relief Program money intended to
bailout financial institutions, and used billions of it for the federal government to
acquire ownership interests in two American automobile companies? He also
managed to evade our federal bankruptcy laws and give ownership interests to his
automobile union friends and campaign supporters.
How can our legislators and other government officials grow rich profiting from the
same type of insider stock trading information they have made illegal for the rest of
us to use?
We constitutional conservatives are called “extremists” and other epithets, but it is
progressives and other statists who have created the largest debt in world history
and want to extend it even more.
Based on the facts, statists are the extremists. Not only that, they are irrational
scofflaws. Constitutional conservatives are on the right side of this fight and the
right side of history. It is no wonder the political establishment is nervous, and
progressives unhinged.
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A century of progressives’
misusing the law to violate
the Constitution
Progressives occasionally mention amending the Constitution,
such as the movement to reverse the Supreme Court’s decision
upholding free political speech by a slim margin of one in the
Citizens United case.
For the most part, though, progressives long ago stopped talking
about formally amending the Constitution to achieve their political
agendas. Instead, they’ve turned to electing officials and appointing judges who
simply ignore it. They achieve their political agendas by extra-constitutional means,
which is to say, by violating the Constitution through “policy.”
French political economist Frederic Bastiat of the 19th century understood the
important link between law and freedom, and how the ruling class manipulates the
law to take away freedom and to plunder.
Progressives have had a leg up on conservatives in this war of the law. Their goal
is to extend power through coercion, and progressives have become adept at
manipulating and misusing the law and the legal system for political ends. They
have rigged the game to subvert the underlying, basic law of the Constitution.
Unlike today’s progressives, the Founders weren’t professional politicians or paid activists.
They were, for the most part, farmers, inventors, surveyors, soldiers and businessmen, yet
they created a legal document unsurpassed in human history, our Constitution.
To reclaim it as the law that governs government, we don’t need to become citizenlawyers,
but conservatives do need to become more familiar and facile with the
Constitution as a legal document. Above all, we need to understand how we can
once again enforce the Constitution on government. We should also understand
how we came to the point where the Constitution is treated as less than the
fundamental law paramount to all other laws.
Since the progressive movement first surfaced in America over a century ago,
statism has compounded itself, sometimes gradually, other times more aggressively,
through legislation.
The executive branch and an ever-increasing number of administrative agencies
grabbed even more power though the regulatory state, itself a creation of progressives.
The rapid growth of the regulatory state began in the Woodrow Wilson-era and
expanded exponentially under Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The Law That Governs Government
Franklin D. Roosevelt
- 14 -
Americans failed to push back sufficiently against growing statism. Perhaps the
reason we failed to defeat the growth of statism was due in part to the political and
economic chaos of two world wars and a worldwide depression.
Statism may have appeared to many Americans to be an acceptable alternative to
the individualism secured by the Constitution. Americans traded their freedoms for
what they were told was more security. Coercion and authoritarian law replaced
individualism and freedom. America moved away from its uniqueness.
Statism became so commonplace that the “conservative” Richard Nixon and other
Republicans not only accepted it, but expanded upon it through the creation of
federal behemoths such the Environmental Protection Agency, which through
mission creep now acts as though it can regulate a natural gas humans exhale, CO2.
The result? Government has grown, and Americans have lost individual liberties
and private property rights — even under Republican government.
The success of unconstitutional policy is, in part, dependent on appointing statist
judges who likewise view the Constitution as something that does not constrain
government except when constraint on government might otherwise be consistent
with their own agendas.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt understood this, and tried to pack the Supreme
Court with big-government progressives, but was prevented from doing so by a
Democratic-controlled senate. Having failed that, he nonetheless succeeded in
converting the court to mostly statists by new appointments, and set the course for
future progressives to make new law through unelected judges. By the late 1930s,
activist judges began legislating from the bench rather than just adjudicating disputes.
The judge-created doctrine stare decisis (following precedent), which is not an
inherently progressive doctrine, has been misused to supplant the textual
Constitution as our paramount law. Judicial expert Ed Whelan noted it is “the
exaggerated view of stare decisis that some on the Left invoke in an effort to
preserve the ill-gotten gains from decades of liberal judicial activism.”
Judges began applying foreign law to interpret the Constitution, which mixes apples
and oranges. Because the Constitution is unique, foreign law cannot be a source of
interpreting the Constitution. Foreign law does not protect God-given freedoms the
way the Constitution does. Foreign law bastardizes the Constitution and American
law. Its use is another way to reduce American exceptionalism.
Perhaps not as troubling to conservatives as judicial activism, judicial restraint, an
admirable and appropriate doctrine among conservatives, too often became a
doormat for statism. Courts have long aided the loss of our rights through judgedeveloped
doctrines of judicial deference to violations of the Constitution by the
other two branches or even states.
The Law That Governs Government
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Our elected officials who have too often proven their ignorance of, or contempt for,
the Constitution are unworthy of such statist judge-made doctrines of deference.
The “presumption of constitutionality” of statutes is one such judge-made doctrine
whereby the burden is on the people to prove unconstitutionality.
Constitutional law professor Randy Barnett suggests there should be a presumption
of liberty instead. The burden should be on the government to prove
constitutionality. Judge-made constitutional doctrine is often backwards in favor of
government power over freedom.
“First principles” now take a back seat to precedent set by statist judges, which has
allowed the unconstitutional policy movement to restrict our freedoms one court
decision at a time. Judges enabled the progressive movement to flourish at the
expense of constitutionally protected liberties.
In the 2007 First Amendment case, Wisconsin Right to Life v. Federal Election
Commission, Chief Justice John Roberts first painstakingly addressed convoluted
campaign finance law precedent, and only then did he observe poignantly and
pointedly in the final paragraph of his written opinion:
Yet, as is often the case in this Court’s First Amendment opinions, we
have gotten this far in the analysis without quoting the Amendment itself:
‘Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech.’ The
Framers’ actual words put these cases in proper perspective.
Roberts was saying the statist’s great ally, complexity of the law, has overtaken the
law’s virtues and principal purposes: clarity and protecting freedom.
Think of the indecipherable tax code where tax lawyers and accountants have often
become more important in business decisions than productivity and profit.
As to our freedoms, where, for example, do we find the wall of separation of church
and state in the First Amendment? The wall of separation between church and state
has taken on meaning different from Jefferson’s original use of that phrase in a
letter written long after the Constitution was written and ratified.
Jefferson’s point was that there should be no government in religion. Religion may
involve itself in government. Jefferson’s “wall” intended to protect freedom is now
used to reduce freedom, a point made by losing Delaware candidate for Senate
Christine O’Donnell in the 2010 campaign. She was mocked for it.
What went wrong? Or, as progressives argue, is this just the natural course our
nation was intended to take, and that our Constitution is malleable enough to
accommodate all these inconsistencies between the written text and application?
The Law That Governs Government
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A law governing government for
our posterity
We often hear — even from the left — that we are a nation of
laws, not of men. However, when lawmakers, the president,
judges and a vast unelected bureaucracy deem themselves to be
law givers and enforcers unaccountable to some higher legal
authority, then we have a form of tyranny, even if it is a tyranny
of, and under, the law.
This legal tyranny is entirely inconsisteant with the purposes of
the Constitution to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,”
as stated in its Preamble.
In his authoritative 1833 Commentaries on the Constitution, Joseph Story (an
Associate Justice of Chief Justice John Marshall) wrote about the importance of the
Preamble in determining the nature of the Constitution as law:
We have already had occasion, in considering the nature of the
constitution, to dwell upon the terms, in which the preamble is
conceived, and the proper conclusion deducible from it. It is an act of
the people, and not the states in their political capacities. It is an
ordinance or establishment of government and not a compact, though
originating in consent; and it binds as a fundamental law promulgated
by the sovereign authority, and not as a compact or treaty . . . . We have
the strongest assurances, that this preamble was not adopted as a mere
formulary; but as a solemn promulgation of a fundamental fact, vital to
the character and operations of the government. (Emphasis added.)
To achieve their ends, progressives and statists have diminished the legal
superiority of the Constitution. It is of no small consequence, therefore, that a
major thrust of the Tea Party, an inherently conservative, libertarian movement, is
to restore the Constitution.
Unlike some voters content to elect big-government Republicans instead of
Democrats, Tea Partiers want something different from elections. Tea Partiers want
constitutionally driven elected officials.
Consisting of non-professional activists unfettered by ties to the Republican Party,
the Tea Party brings a fourth leg to the conservative movement. By adding this
The Law That Governs Government
James Madison
- 17 -
fourth leg to the traditional three-legged stool of the conservative movement (strong
national defense, fiscal responsibility and faith), the constitutional conservatives of
the Tea Party movement have helped create a stronger and bigger four-legged table.
Tea Partiers are the breathing example of what James Madison wrote in Federalist
No. 44:
the success of the usurpation [of power by the Congress] will depend
on the executive and judiciary departments, which are to expound and
give effect to the legislative acts; and in the last resort a remedy must
be obtained from the people who can, by the election of more faithful
representatives, annul the acts of the usurpers.
Many Tea Partiers understand the root cause of a variety of problems including excess
government spending that has placed the United States into what would be insolvency
if it were a non-governmental entity: We have returned elected officials to office even
after they demonstrated insufficient regard for constitutional government.
Statists have transformed our nation in a devastating way misusing the rule of law,
but at the same time have violated our paramount law. We must therefore devise
another approach to re-establish the “old truths” on which America was founded
and accomplished exceptional feats.
“Unfaithful representatives” need to be replaced with ones who abide by the
Constitution as law.
If we can return the Constitution to the law that governs government, and make it
more than just a token symbol, we might — just might — reclaim our freedoms that
are the basis for American exceptionalism. We cannot approach the situation
passively as merely restoring the Constitution. We must reclaim it from an outlaw
government, a more daunting task indeed.
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Contempt for the Constitution as
law is endemic in the political class
Our fourth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Marshall,
wrote about our Constitution as “the fundamental and
paramount law of the nation.”
Fast forward to the legislative debate over Obamacare. When asked
where in the Constitution then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi found the
authority for federal legislation requiring individuals to buy health
insurance, she responded condescendingly, “Are you serious?”
Ms. Pelosi’s response came when she was a constitutional
officer and second in line to the president. She was either ignorant of, or
unconcerned with, whether she might be participating in a violation of our
paramount law. We can assume safely her culpable intent.
Yet we can expect no better from statist, establishment Republicans.
When President George W. Bush was presented the McCain-Feingold campaign
finance reform legislation, he stated he thought the bill to be unconstitutional, but
would sign it anyway and let the courts decide.
Much as progressives pervert the First Amendment to subvert the free exercise of
religion, through McCain-Feingold and other laws many Republicans were willing
to censor political speech during the most critical time right before elections.
Corruption was committed and fostered in the name of preventing the appearance
of corruption. Politicians abridged fundamental freedoms that are essential to our
republican form of government all in the name of the rule of law. In reality,
politicians violated the law — the First Amendment to the Constitution --
regardless of the justifications used.
One might view these two incidents as either a symptom or the disease. However,
it is the disease.
Whether through indifference, impudence or imperiousness, our elected officials act
unencumbered by the Constitution. And, since elected officials who are at least
accountable to the electorate show such disdain for, and arrogance about, our
paramount law, then it is easy to understand why the millions of unelected
government employees may scoff that they too are bound by it.
Much like the antidote is derived from the venom or the vaccine from the germ, the
cure for this disease, oddly enough, may result from the Obama presidency. During
The Law That Governs Government
John Marshall
- 19 -
his tenure in office, he has greatly accelerated what was previously a slow death of
our constitutionally limited government under both Democrats and Republicans. In
doing so, he has shaken millions of Americans from their sleep; he has hastened the
rise of the constitutional conservative movement.
We now understand that our future as a free people is at stake. It is not too much to
believe that President Obama will be either the last president of the progressive era
in America, or the last president of the American era in the world.
The Constitution’s creation was unique in world history. It was not merely a grant
of power from the sovereign people to the government; it was a written law that
limited — governed — the national government.
It’s not merely that the Constitution was written to govern government, thereby limiting
it; the Constitution was written to enforce on government a set of ideals, and protect and
guarantee them for our posterity. Our exceptionalism has been no coincidence.
The progressive agenda is antithetical to the ideals enforced by the Constitution.
Undermining the Constitution is therefore the key to progressives’ achieving their
agenda. This is why progressives, including former constitutional law instructor
Obama, feel threatened by the constitutional conservative movement.
The constitutional conservative movement, however, is not solely a response to Obama
progressives. Many constitutional conservatives have no great or sacrificial love for the
Republican Party, and out of exasperation some have discussed forming a third party.
Too many Republicans over the past decades have been useful idiots or knowing
collaborators in allowing the slow but sure progressive transformation of America
toward statism and away from a government ruled by the Constitution. The reasons
may vary, such as an under-developed understanding or vision of American ideals,
a level of progressivism in their own views, or, as members of the ruling class, they
see statism as protecting their standing and the establishment institutions created to
profit from the growth of government.
Perhaps the number one reason why, however, is that we tolerated it. Republicans
have been in bed with Democrats’ using billions in taxpayer money to yearly
finance ACORN, Planned Parenthood and thousands of leftwing causes in
exchange for Republicans doling out big-farm and big-business subsidies.
Time after time, conservatives supported, contributed to, and voted for incumbent
Republicans, returning them to office even after they had participated in violations
of the Constitution and tit-for-tat corruption. We failed to enforce the paramount
law on them through the legal penalty and enforcement mechanism our Constitution
created, the ballot box.
The Law That Governs Government
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Restating an old truth
For Americans the “old truths,” as
Nobel Prize-winning economist
Frederick Hayek called them, are
expressed in our Declaration of
Independence. Among them is the
one and only reason why legitimate
governments are instituted: To
secure certain unalienable rights
endowed upon us by our Creator,
and expressly three rights of life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Government under the “old truths” of
the United States has no legitimate
purpose beyond this. When
government has become destructive
of these ends, it is our right to alter or
abolish that government.
While statists are normally master
thieves robbing freedom in the
margins, the Obama administration
is more open and notorious in its
violations of our paramount law.
Mr. Obama’s repeated removal of
our Creator in his references to the Declaration of Independence is transparently no
coincidence. Progressives believe at last they are on the verge of a more complete
transformation away from the ideals that distinguish America from all other nations
on earth.
Let us, however, thank God for Barack Obama. Following big-government,
lawbreaking Republicans of the past decade, where we lost freedom through our own
somnolence because the thieves had “Rs” after their names, President Obama is the
embodiment of a full-out progressive future. Mr. Obama’s administration, filled with
radical progressives who would regulate our health, our food supplies, and, well,
everything they can, has placed a hot spotlight on the true progressive agenda.
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Often tempering his words because the majority of Americans would reject that
future, he is nonetheless the transformational figure whom progressives wanted.
His guarded but unmistakable disregard for the “old truths” has triggered the push
back from constitutional conservatives. His methods of governing are the sevenalarm
fire giving urgency to the constitutional conservative movement.
Tens of millions of Americans are waking up to what Mr. Obama’s 2008 campaign
slogan meant. He was going to fundamentally change America. His goal was to
diminish American exceptionalism. We now know what he meant: He intended to
remake America by ignoring and violating the Constitution.
The Constitution was written to create a system of ordered, limited government to
protect God-given rights. Under the law that governs government, these ideals may
not be alienated by man-made rule of law. This is why we need to understand what
the Constitution is, and enforce it.
The Law That Governs Government
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Government is the biggest lawbreaker
We are conditioned to believe
government is more benevolent
than the rest of society. When
we travel to states, billboards
welcome us: “Buckle up. It’s
the law, and we care.”
Presidents’ State of the Union
Addresses have become Huey
Long campaign speeches about
how much the state will take
care of us — a chicken in every
pot. Through taxpayer-financed public service announcements, we’re propagandized
from an early age that government protects us from the “bad guys.”
What happens, though, when the government is the bad guys? Who protects us then?
Richard Nixon once told David Frost that when the president does it, that means it’s
not illegal. We now have nearly an entire government thinking it can’t be illegal
when government does it. To the contrary, government is society’s biggest
lawbreaker, yet we fail to think of it that way.
Well, we had better start thinking of it that way. Today’s government is of
unprecedented size in our history. Given its unprecedented interjection into
American business and individual matters through police and regulatory power,
when government officials regularly disregard legal boundaries on themselves, no
individual or entity could possibly come in a close second place as the biggest
scofflaw in America.
You wouldn’t know it from the government-lapdog news media, but Leviathan has
become public enemy number one.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms runs guns to Mexican thugs through
Operation Fast and Furious, maybe even on stimulus money meant to create jobs.
Department of Justice prosecutors withhold evidence, not just in criminal
proceedings against the weak and relatively defenseless, but even against the
powerful such as the late Republican Senator Ted Stevens, an even more brazen
demonstration of their contempt for the rule of law.
Government transparency laws such as the Freedom of Information Act are violated
routinely, keeping government’s bosses — the people — in the dark about public
matters. In some jurisdictions police officers may now arrest you for videotaping
them. All the while, government insists on more “sunlight,” licensing and Big
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Brotherism for private transactions and matters. The Roman historian Tacitus was
right. The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government.
Judge Andrew Napolitano, who gained fame as a Fox News personality, has for
years sounded the clarion call about government lawbreaking. He wrote in the
November/December 2004 Cato Policy Report, “In early 21st-century America, a
dirty little secret still exists among public officials, politicians, judges, prosecutors
and the police. The government — federal, state and local — is not bound to obey
its own laws.”
By way of anecdote, one of the authors was at a Washington reception where a
relatively new government employee in the ombudsman office of a federal agency
said candidly, and with a sense of disappointment, “You’d be surprised at how
many employees in the agency don’t follow the law.” While many people, such as
the ombudsman, might be surprised that government employees don’t follow the
law, we aren’t.
Government is not only a lawbreaker at the macro, constitutional level, but at the
micro, statutory and regulatory levels as well.
When United States Congressman Phil Hare of Illinois, sworn to uphold the
Constitution, says on video, “I don’t worry about the Constitution on [Obamacare],
to be honest with you,” what is it that would make the many millions of unelected
government officials enforcing statutory laws and regulations on businesses and
people care to abide by the law that governs them?
Contempt for the Constitution by elected officials has created what might be called
“trickle-down” lawbreaking. Unaccountable bureaucrats feel safe to violate the law
and even show disdain for it when so-called accountable officials publicly mock
legal limits on themselves.
The problem, however, is even more embedded.
Legislators from Congress to City Hall use taxpayer money to bribe voters with
pork and entitlements to remain in office. Public unions use compelled dues
indirectly paid by taxpayers to finance the election of statist elected official
scofflaws, creating symbiotic, systemized government lawbreaking. This is a circle
of corruption and legalized theft using taxpayer money.
Unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats are hidden by the shear size of the
bureaucracies in which they operate. They have power, and it is a condition of our
humanity that power corrupts. Their relative anonymity fosters their lawbreaking.
Government agencies are given power of law enforcement, quasi-legislative power
to create regulations with the force of law, and quasi-judicial power through
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administrative agency hearings to adjudicate their own violations of law. This is
the embodiment of tyranny — vesting the three fundamental government powers in
one entity. Sadly, judge-made doctrine typically defers to this tyranny.
Bureaucrats in such agencies are therefore free, in fact are practically invited, to be
arrogant in their violations of law. Especially with public employee unions
protecting lawbreaking members, but even without, we have created a class of
lawbreaking “untouchables” in government.
On June 16 of this year, for example, the Treasury Inspector General issued a report
that the IRS, when it seized taxpayer property, failed to follow the law in 38 percent
of the cases reviewed. Considering the theoretical inviolability of private property
rights, that’s a staggeringly high percentage. It is safe to assume higher percentages
of government lawlessness when so-called lesser rights are at stake.
Such levels of lawbreaking in the private sector would not be tolerated. If, say, a
mortgage lender were caught violating the law in 38% of the mortgages it issued,
this would be front-page news at The New York Times; Fannie Mae-lover Barney
Frank would be frothing at the mouth; and congressional hearings would ensue to
publicly humiliate bank executives. Existing laws would be lamented as
insufficient, and new, more burdensome laws would be added to the books.
Statists rely on or accept government lawbreaking, lies and corruption to expand
government. The fact that such systemic lawbreaking is financed by taxpayers
under the so-called rule of law, with penalties on the taxpayer for not financing
such lawbreaking, must make organized crime envious. Even our American
lexicon has been corrupted. Instead of saying government may not break the law,
people tend to say of high officials, “No one is above the law.”
Besides outright government lawbreaking, government often acts unlawfully by
engaging in conduct beyond the scope of its legal authority. There is a legal term,
ultra vires, that applies to acts beyond the scope of an entity’s legal authority. Acts
that are ultra vires are generally unlawful and invalid.
All three branches of the federal government engage in unlawful, ultra vires acts
when they exceed the powers vested in them by the Constitution. It is federal
agencies, though, that most frequently act unlawfully by exceeding their statutory
authority. Federal agencies are created by federal statutes, and derive all their
powers and authorities from statutory law. They frequently operate beyond their
statutory bases, and are far removed from accountability to voters.
The constitutional conservative push back against government lawbreaking infuriates
statists. Statism would be weakened immeasurably without government lawbreaking.
The Law That Governs Government
Government lawbreaking
is lucrative for cronies
Citizens, and even businesses lacking the
comparable resources of government to fight
violations of their rights through government
lawbreaking, succumb. Those who stand up to
protect their rights are targeted for harsher
treatment to teach them a lesson and to make
an example of them.
Unconstrained by constitutional limits,
government intimidates and bullies individuals
and companies through the threat of
investigations that cost time, money and market credibility. When individuals and
companies are found innocent of wrongdoing, their good names are not restored
and they cannot recoup their costs of complying with bad-faith investigations.
As they often do when threatened by the mafia, most companies conclude it’s better
business to pay tribute or protection money in the form of campaign donations to
keep favor with those in power rather than face investigations. As New York’s
Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer mastered the art of using the overhanging threat of
government investigations to help fill his campaign coffers. Authority exacts its
respect one way or another.
Government unconstrained by the Constitution uses the carrot as well as the stick.
Big government encourages or induces anti-free market behavior by big business.
Why wouldn’t big businesses in bed with government such as General Electric, for
example, support the ban on incandescent light bulbs when the rule of law will create
new, lucrative markets for green energy bulbs, complete with a readymade marketing
slogan and free advertising by the government? Government uses tactics of the mob.
Businesses turn to crony capitalism both for safety and a competitive edge.
For lawyers, lawbreaking by the State is a lucrative business. Through their
professional associations such as the American Bar Association and the American
Association of Justice (the euphemistic name change for the Association of Trial
Lawyers of America), they participate in supporting statist lawmakers and
bureaucracies, or even help craft laws that make their services all the more needed.
Their clients are hostage to, and victims of, the lawyers’ own actions.
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- 26 -
Lawyers understand, perhaps better than most, that cases (and freedoms) are won and lost
in the margins; that is to say, not by the notorious violations of law, but in the minutiae.
The minutiae compounds itself in ways not or barely noticeable until it’s too late.
The introductory comments to a recent draft of a model state law called the
Protection of Charitable Assets Act, a project of the Uniform Law Commission
comprised mostly of private lawyers, provides an example of the thousands of ways
we lose rights without publicity:
Some observers expressed concern that an [Attorney General] might use
the power of investigation for political purposes. While the risk of
misfeasance exists with any power, the Drafting Committee concluded that
it could not make decisions based on an assumption or a possibility that a
state official would misuse authority provided in the Act. (Emphasis added.)
In other words, the law was crafted with the equivalent of government official
infallibility. But our entire system of constitutional governance is based on the
presumption that government officials are fallible and will abuse power. As
Madison said, “The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must
be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.” Such malfeasance by these
lawyers is an invitation for government officials to violate rights.
Writing laws using a presumption that government officials won’t abuse them is
unconscionable, yet it happens all the time. This particular committee of lawyers
simply admitted it. Private, statist lawyers work hand in hand with government to
undercut our liberties and the law that governs government. The lawyers in turn benefit
from their own statism. They help make the legal mess, and then hire themselves out to
navigate you through it. This is the moral equivalent of legal malpractice.
Between work and family, most Americans have little time to focus on national
policy issues. Statists, on the other hand, are professionals at robbing us of our
freedom incrementally and mostly unnoticed, like thieves in the night. To avoid
backlash, they tend to violate the law that governs government a little here and a
little there, as opposed to all at once. Judges too often defer to the government on
these smaller, incremental violations of rights. It eventually compounds itself into a
larger loss of freedom.
Fortunately we have a growing community of principled, small-government
conservative lawyers who fight government lawbreaking and the ill effects of their
statist colleagues. The Federalist Society, with its focus on originalist
jurisprudence, is the most high-profile lawyer organization dedicated to
constitutional conservative principles.
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The Constitution is law, not a
blueprint to be ignored
What then can we do when the constitutional structure
that was designed to protect us against scofflaw
government is damaged and seems headed for
oblivion? Economically, the barbarians have broken
through the gates and are in the citadel. Our institutions have been taken over by
progressives. Our culture lacks enough visionaries of self-restraint.
Politically, we may have the worst and certainly the most ideologically hard-leftist
president in history. Even that does not seem to be enough to sober up the entire
Republican leadership from its drunken bender of power and compromise.
It is becoming clearer that the answers to our political problems, at least, depend in
large part on how we view the Constitution, and how we enforce it against a
government prone to violate it.
The Constitution has been subject to many views and interpretations. Some call it a
“compact,” a “social contract” or a “living document.” Time magazine’s June 23
cover story calls it “a blueprint for the protection of democratic freedoms,” and then
lists the magazine’s perceptions of the Constitution’s flaws and why it is acceptably
ignored. Using the approach of the essay’s author, Time managing editor Richard
Stengel, this “blueprint” couldn’t be much of a protection of freedoms.
The evidence that those views are insufficient “to retain their hold on men’s minds” is
not necessarily Obamacare or unlawful actions of unnamed bureaucrats. The Framers
anticipated there would be unconstitutional acts by government, which is why they
created a structure of checks and balances to minimize government lawbreaking.
The greater evidence that we need a restatement of the old truths for our time is the
contempt shown by public officials for the notion that a law governs them at all,
except when they might seek to expand government through curious, strained or
radical interpretations of the Constitution.
Without respect for the Constitution as law, our system of checks and balances
breaks down and becomes ineffective. Ultimately, that respect is derived and
imposed on elected officials by their sovereign bosses, the people. We’ve learned
the hard way that the buck stops with us.
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We must therefore begin by continuously reminding ourselves that the Constitution
is the law that governs government. How we approach scofflaw government and
cure the problem begins from that first step. If we are merely a nation of laws
unbound by our paramount law — or as stated by Chief Justice Marshall in
Marbury v. Madison, if the Constitution were “on a level with ordinary legislative
acts, and like other acts . . . alterable when the legislature shall please to alter
it” — then we are subject to tyranny under the law.
Unless we shift the discussion from merely being a nation of laws to one in which
the Constitution is the law that governs government, we will continue the spiral
downwards from our founding principles that are the basis for our exceptionalism.
Unconstrained by the notion that government is subject to an overarching law,
government will continue to be the biggest and most pervasive lawbreaker.
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A gradation of authorities
Unlike other laws, the Constitution is not a regulation of,
or a penal system for, the activities of private individuals
or entities. It is an affirmative grant to, and express
limitation on, power of the federal government, along
with some restrictions on, and reservations of, the
authority of state governments. States, of course, are
otherwise subject to their own sovereign constitutions.
Thomas Jefferson wrote after his presidency, and not as a
false campaign inducement to voters, about what he
called a “gradation of authorities”:
[t]he way to have a good and safe government is not to trust it all to
one, but to divide it among the many, distributing to every one exactly
the functions he is competent to do . . . . 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 every man’s
farm by himself . . . that all will be done for the best . . . . What has
destroyed liberty and the rights of man in every government which has
ever existed under the sun? The generalizing and concentrating all
cares and power into one body . . . .
Can we think of anything now — from the air we breath to the CO2 we exhale, our
health decisions, our food, our means of protesting against bad policy — that isn’t
regulated and monitored by the central federal government?
The painter who paints your house may need a certification from the Environmental
Protection Agency. The Federal Communications Commission tries to regulate talk
radio and the Internet under rationales that don’t sound like ideological censorship
although that is the goal.
Under Obamacare, the federal government may compel you to buy products you
don’t want, and gives the government discretion to grant exemptions for the
selected few, such as high-priced restaurants in Nancy Pelosi’s congressional
district, labor unions and corporations that support Democratic campaigns.
Far from Jefferson’s vision after he held the office now occupied by Barack Obama,
we’re taxed, taught, touched and tormented at the direction of strangers who work
in Washington, D.C.
The Law That Governs Government
Thomas Jefferson
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First Lady Michelle Obama, who once told young people to take government or
charitable sector jobs instead of corporate ones, has her Let’s Move! campaign,
ostensibly to promote healthy eating habits. All the while, her husband’s Federal
Trade Commission is waging war on free market advertising of health food using
stringent federal standards for pharmaceuticals. American government has come to
rely on cronyism, hypocrisy, bullying and everything that has the trademarks of
tyranny and authoritarianism.
Both President and Mrs. Obama are lawyers whose careers have been dedicated to
central-government policy. They achieved power, fame and even wealth through
promising better health, more happiness — controlling sea levels, no less – through
manipulating the law.
Progressives have used a corrupted view of the rule of law that relies on coercion.
That view has replaced our Creator as the universal source of our wellbeing. The
Constitution is an inconvenience, a flawed relic, a speed bump on the path to
Utopia. Instead of protecting freedoms, the rule of law has become a cover for
force and coercion. Absent a law governing government, the rule of law no longer
secures liberty for ourselves and our posterity. The federal government using a
more authoritarian rule of law has overtaken Jefferson’s gradation of authorities.
Ben Franklin quipped that the Constitutional Convention gave us a republic, if we
could keep it. Well, we haven’t exactly kept it.
The separation of powers among three branches of government, a cornerstone to
our republicanism, is meant to constrain tyranny. The trouble is that the separation
of powers in practice has come to be used by the three branches as a means to
protect the respective branches themselves, but not to protect freedom of the
people. Witness claims of executive privilege over the past four decades to hide
evasions of the law, or the abuse of the Speech and Debate Clause by former House
Speaker Dennis Hastert to block investigations into suspected criminal conduct of
Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson.
Did anyone see the irony that Congress used the Speech and Debate Clause so
Congressman Jefferson was protected when he stashed cash in a public office
freezer, while at the same time it has given federal agencies (or acceded to them)
broad powers to search individuals and private businesses without the Fourth
Amendment’s requirements of probable cause, warrant, and oath and affirmation?
When was the last time the separation of powers doctrine was employed to protect
the freedom of the governed? How often do government officials or judges say a
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violation of this doctrine has trampled on individual liberty or violated any one of
the Bill of Rights?
Fortunately, the Constitution employs more than the mere separation of powers.
Under our federal system, the states are not merely recognized, but are reserved
certain powers that the federal government may not claim.
For a number of reasons, though, federalism is also no longer an effective restraint
on federal power, nor are states a reliable source of protecting against tyranny,
having their own issues with abiding by the laws that govern them. States may be
laboratories of government, but often the ‘scientists’ are a bit mad. States are also
willing to sell out your rights for federal highway, education and stimulus money.
The relatively recent emphasis on the Tenth Amendment’s reservation of powers to
the states (and the people) is a beginning of reclamation of power from the federal
government. State lawsuits against Obamacare are a positive sign that federalism is
not yet dead.
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The rightful skepticism of the
Anti-Federalists
The Federalist Founders thought the breakdown of a
law-abiding government was to be constrained by the
separation of powers combined with a system of
federalism. The Anti-Federalists who opposed adoption
of the Constitution were more skeptical. Patrick Henry
declared, “There will be no checks, no real balances, in
this government. What can avail your specious,
imaginary balance, your rope-dancing, chain-rattling,
ridiculous ideal checks and contrivances?”
In retrospect, both the Federalists and Anti-Federalists
were correct. For substantiation of the Anti-Federalists’
position, simply read the list of the King’s Oppressions
in the Declaration of Independence. We find these among the most intriguing
because they are relevant to what is happening now:
[The King] has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither
swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance; and
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to
our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent
to their Acts of pretended legislation [for a longer list of abuses].
Using a modernized comparison of those Oppressions to our current federal
government and compensating for the fact that there wasn’t (and isn’t) a written
British constitution, the Anti-Federalists were right. The Constitution has been
abridged. Its text has not constrained government.
The Federalists were also correct, however, because by having a written
constitution we have a system that anticipates authority will be (not might be)
unlawfully wrested, or “usurped” as the Founders would say.
The Declaration of Independence recognized “that mankind are more disposed to
suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms
to which they are accustomed.” In a large sense, our situation is not as bad as what
oppressed the colonists of the 18th Century. On the other hand, we do have a
written Constitution to which we can point and that may be enforced against
government, yet we still suffer from a scofflaw government anyway.
The Law That Governs Government
Patrick Henry
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Why now the movement for the
law that governs government?
Why, then, do we appear to be in what veteran newspaperman
Seth Lipsky calls our “constitutional moment?”
It’s not just President Obama’s ideology or his spending
that frightens people. It is the realization that the Constitution has been treated as a
meaningless barrier to government by the leaders of both the Democratic and
Republican Parties.
Mr. Obama’s progressive regulatory state, though, is a faster move away from
constitutionally governed government than what occurred under establishment
Republicans or even Democrats such as Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.
It is no coincidence that the Constitution is being studied and addressed by more
people than at any time in our lives. Where people may have once gathered for
living room Bible studies, they now also gather to study and discuss the founding
documents. People seem to understand that our national malaise, our
unprecedented government debt, and many other problems once not considered
related to the Constitution are inherently linked to America’s deviation from a
government ruled by the Constitution.
Now more than ever, conservative Americans, especially new activists in the Tea
Party, know the proverbial pot we’re in is no longer on simmer. It’s on full boil,
and we’re about to be cooked really fast.
This is why we are seeing a new type of candidate emerge. It is the candidate who,
on the campaign trail, speaks not only of lower taxes and more prosperity, but of
the Constitution itself. We are seeing the resurrection of the Tenth Amendment,
considered by the Washington political establishment and even many courts to be
dead letter, i.e., no longer binding as law.
The result is that we have more elected officials who make the Constitution a
foundation of their actions in office. This is leadership that is rewarded with
popular approval.
Witness Senators Jim DeMint, Rand Paul and Mike Lee, Congresswoman Michele
Bachmann, Congressmen Ron Paul and Steve King, and Virginia Attorney General
Ken Cuccinelli, who have achieved national star status beyond their relative
positions because they “get it.”
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Constitutional conservatives have begun to force the conversation progressives,
many politicians and the political establishment would prefer to avoid. We now
have some (not enough) GOP presidential candidates who emphasize the
Constitution, and don’t merely pay lip service to who’s more Reaganesque.
That being said, elected officials who swear to uphold and defend the Constitution
(and actually mean it) may have legitimate disagreements about what is and what is
not constitutional. We even have in our constitutional moment unconstitutional
legislation, such as federal tort reform (torts are state matters), being considered.
The fundamental difference is that legitimate disagreements are not the same as
outright ignoring, and intentionally and maliciously violating, the Constitution.
The constitutional conservative movement has begun to sharpen and refine the
focus of policy debates to what is lawful under the Constitution. Elected officials
may not always hit the mark, but the bull’s-eye is becoming more prominent.
With the rise in popularity of the Constitution as the law that governs government,
we will also see constitutional poseurs. That’s inevitable. Yet that is better than
having elected officials who treat the Constitution with arrogance and contempt, as
if violations of it were on the level of jaywalking or less.
If we are to reclaim the Constitution, we must begin first by changing attitudes
about it on an even wider-scale basis. The commitment to government ruled by the
Constitution must become a serious measure of a candidate’s worthiness for office.
We need candidates who articulate why a constitutionally governed government
brings us the greatest — and fairest — level of prosperity. Perhaps we can begin by
demanding that those seeking elected office address how they will curb outlaw
government, as opposed to who will bring the most pork to the voters.
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A remedy obtained from the people
Madison saw the tiered,
divided system of government that
ultimately derives its power from the
consent of the people — in a word,
republicanism — as the most effective
way to prevent or at least limit the
abuse of power by government.
Republicanism, however, has been
overrun and diminished by
lawbreaking government, and it no
longer secures the freedoms that
enable America’s exceptionalism.
What freedoms that remain are now at the mercy of the contemptuous political
establishment that runs our lawmaking and law enforcement systems. Its members
mock the notion that they must cease and desist from their lawbreaking.
Their arrogant attitude about claims of injuries to our rights tends to be on the level
of, “So sue us.” Even if suing Leviathan were an option, judge-made doctrines not
found in the Constitution such as standing and sovereign immunity curtail citizens’
ability to succeed. “They” have rigged the rules to increase and protect their power
at the expense of our freedoms, you see.
The 18th Century English legal giant Sir William Blackstone heavily influenced the
Founders’ views of the law. In his Commentaries on the Law of England, he
addressed legal wrongs (injuries) and their remedies: “The one natural remedy for
every species of wrong is the being put in possession of that right, whereof the
party injured is deprived.” In the words of today, we are legally justified in
reclaiming and restoring our rights stolen by government lawbreaking. That is the
long-accepted remedy.
The issue now becomes how Americans reclaim possession of the rights usurped by
government lawbreaking. Government controls the corridors of power over our
legal remedies against violations of our rights. Given its proclivities, government
has and would continue to block our remedies of restoring those rights.
Madison identified the ultimate solution to the abuse of power by government using
the legal term, “remedy.” The great question of our day is whether Madison was
The Law That Governs Government
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too optimistic by claiming in Federalist No. 44, “in the last resort a remedy must be
obtained from the people who can, by the election of more faithful representatives,
annul the acts of the usurpers”?
In other words, is it too late to save America? We don’t dare suggest we have the
answer to this great question. Based on some decades of activism, marketing,
strategic planning — and fighting against government lawbreaking — we will
nonetheless share some thoughts.
It isn’t merely elected officials with contempt for the Constitution who are the
problem. We have an entrenched bureaucracy of lawbreaking government officials
and agencies in numbers and with powers that may exceed Madison’s most
pessimistic vision. We have stare decisis and other doctrines used by statist judges
to protect deviations from the Constitution and enshrine them in our legal system
for years to come.
There would be a whole lot of annulling to do. Statist fiefdoms will oppose,
disregard, obstruct and do their best to sabotage reforms. Witness the recent
organized thuggery in the smaller model of Wisconsin following infinitely lesser
reforms to public unions.
The Democratic Party is now hostage to the progressive movement. It is of course
important to defeat progressive Democrats where we can. However, Democrats are
not the central problem. Replacing progressive Democrats with statist Republicans
will not bring us our constitutional remedy. And, splitting the Republican Party by
forming a constitutional conservative third party will only help Democrats, and will
cement progressivism.
Our solution as conservatives is, in part, to defeat in primaries GOP incumbents
who have contributed to the violations of our paramount law. In 1992, James
Carville regularly repeated a phrase to drive home a point to Democrats: “It’s the
economy, stupid.” The phrase we urge constitutional conservatives to repeat is,
“It’s the primaries, stupid.”
The Soviet Union’s Brezhnev Doctrine was, in effect, what we have conquered and
taken is ours, and we will negotiate the rest. Progressives, including their allies in
the mainstream media, follow that approach to what they have usurped. They claim
and act as though their constitutional violations and theft of liberty are not on the
table for discussion. And, they try to label any attempt to undo unconstitutional
programs as “radical” and “extreme.”
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We are, however, beyond the point of settling for Republicans merely willing to say
“no” to more growth of government by Democrats only so the political
establishment may keep the status quo, or worse yet, grow government the
Republican establishment way. We need leaders with a constitutional conservative
vision. We need leaders willing to ‘rock the boat’ who will reclaim lost
constitutional ground.
If we are to “annul the acts of the usurpers,” we must first review and audit federal
agencies such as the Departments of Commerce (do American businesses really
need government help?), Housing and Urban Development (shouldn’t people
decide whether and how to buy their own homes?) and Education (wouldn’t we be
better off returning education to the local level where it belongs?).
The list of government agencies and programs needing audits and review is long,
but should also include quasi-public entities such as the Federal Reserve System,
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Return rightful authority to the states. Let the states differentiate and compete, and
give people the choice of which states best fit their needs instead of the federal onesize-
fits-all. For example, citizens who want government-mandated health care,
nanny state regulation and high taxes may live in Massachusetts. Those who want
jobs and more freedom may live in Texas.
Just as people are aware generally of the societal costs of lawbreaking, we also need
leaders who can articulate the costs to society of government lawbreaking. The
message must be delivered by those who fully believe it and who can articulate it.
Like the Biblical Jews who had to wander for 40 years in the desert until that
generation of failed, flawed leaders passed from the scene, constitutional
conservatives need new leaders if we are to get to the political promised land. We
must reward constitutionalists with our support, and defeat those who disregard the
Constitution, who hold it in contempt, or who are wishy-washy about it.
At federal and state levels, we must elect only those who surround themselves with
constitutionalist staffers, aides and advisors, not establishment statists. We’ve
learned the hard way that personnel is policy.
Statists are the minority, but they are professionals. We must therefore train in electoral
politics, get-out-the-vote activities and poll watching so elections aren’t stolen.
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Support and encourage young people to attend The Leadership Institute and the
Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI). Support and train at American Majority and
Smart Girl Politics. We even have our own online seminars at vmionline.com (the
Viguerie Marketing Institute) about public relations, grassroots fundraising, and
laws affecting fundraising.
Constitutional conservatives need to get involved with political parties, attend party
meetings and conventions, learn the ropes, and then run for party positions so we
may influence the nomination processes and party platforms.
We must teach the younger generations the old truths, but using the language of
their time. We cannot rely on the progressives and statists who have taken over our
lower and higher education systems, and who seek to inculcate and poison our next
generations. Like good teachers, we must learn and understand the subject matter
better than our students are expected to learn it.
We must continue to read. We must continue to study.
In wars for freedom, our ancestors beat ploughshares into swords. We can do
something less drastic. Read more of The American Spectator. Order the ISI and
Liberty Fund Books catalogue; buy and read great books about liberty. Become learned
in the principles of the Founders, and understand the lessons of history they understood.
Don’t be intimidated by legal principles; embrace them as a soldier does a weapon.
While reclaiming liberty is a marathon, we must begin by sprinting. The starting
point, though, is not whether candidates will pay lip service to our founding ideals
or who’s more like Ronald Reagan, but whether candidates articulate the best view
of government constrained by our paramount law, and then practice that in office.
Great president that Reagan was, he could not sufficiently scale back the size of
government to reclaim it from the scofflaws. However, we now have more
resources available than Reagan had.
Candidates for federal and state offices who fail to mention the Constitution in their
campaign speeches or regularly in other public forums should not even be
considered as worthy of our vote.
If we are to reclaim the law that governs government, we must ‘cross-examine’
candidates, and make their replies part of the ‘public record.’ In Appendix I, we
provide a list of 30 questions to ask candidates to test their knowledge of, and
fidelity to, the Constitution.
The Law That Governs Government
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Citizens through their local Tea Party or other groups should send these and other
written questions to candidates, stating the candidates’ answers will be posted on
the Internet. Attend town hall meetings and candidate forums with video cameras,
ask some of these questions of the candidates, and post the exchanges on the
Internet. We encourage you to post your videos at our website,
ReclaimtheConstitution.com.
Professional politicians will tell you anything to get elected. Press them. One
foolproof way of weeding out the poseurs is to ask them questions about what
conservative activities they’ve attended, what organizations they belong to and
support financially, and what publications and books they read. They may talk the
talk. Find out whether they walked with us before they became candidates.
Candidates will come to understand they can no longer skirt the Constitution
without being exposed.
For some time Americans have felt abused, betrayed and fed up with our leaders.
There is a growing feeling of distrust of our national leaders at many levels.
Maybe it’s time we looked in the mirror. Perhaps we, as much as our elected
officials, have failed. Perhaps we’ve spent too much time on recreation or idle
matters rather than on the business of protecting our freedom. Maybe we’ve
become so complacent about what we have that we have let it slip away.
Some people in the political establishment have tried to place blame for the recent
downgrade of our national credit rating on the Tea Party. Such arrogance and
intellectual dishonesty will only bolster the constitutional conservative movement.
If we constitutional conservatives are to be blamed, though, it may be for the reason
that we didn’t act soon enough.
Above all, though, let us proceed using the approach described by Thomas
Jefferson: “In questions of power then, let no more be heard of confidence in man
but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.”
~ End ~
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Appendix I:
Reclaiming the law that governs government
through ‘cross-examining’ candidates for office
These 30 questions may be used to test candidates’ knowledge of, and fidelity to,
the Constitution and small-government, constitutional conservative principles. This
is not an exhaustive list, and is more geared for federal candidates. We believe this
is a good list with which to start, and we encourage you to develop even more
questions of your own.
Don’t forget to video record candidates being asked and answering your questions.
You can submit your videos to ReclaimtheConstitution.com. Click Videos.
1. Do you believe that the Constitution is our fundamental and paramount law, and if
so, do you believe the federal government often operates in violation of that law?
2. How would you best describe the Constitution given these five choices: (1) a
compact, (2) a social contract, (3) a blueprint to protect liberty, (4) the law that
governs government, (5) other (and explain what you mean by “other”)?
3. Do you believe in America’s exceptionalism, and if so, what is it and what
creates or enables it?
4. Do you believe there is a link between violations of the Constitution and the
level of our national debt? If so, explain the link. If not, why not?
5. Excluding Obamacare, name three laws enacted in the past 10 years you believe
are unconstitutional, and explain why.
6. Name three Supreme Court decisions since 1970 you believe are constitutionally
wrong, and explain why.
7. Is America in a constitutional crisis? Explain why or why not.
8. Who decides what the Constitution means?
9. In constitutional litigation, courts operate using a presumption that federal
statutes are constitutional. Shouldn’t the federal government, not challengers,
have the burden to prove that federal statutes are constitutional? Please give
your reason(s).
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10. What do you believe the Framers meant in the Preamble to the Constitution
where they wrote that they established the Constitution to “secure the Blessings
of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity?”
11. Explain your understanding of the Constitution’s Necessary and Proper Clause.
12. What did the Framers mean by claiming the Constitution was established to
“promote the general Welfare?”
13. Are you a member or financial supporter of any organizations that are
dedicated to constitutional conservatism? If so, name them.
14. Who on your staff have been involved in constitutional conservative
organizations, and what are the organizations?
15. What is your understanding of the connection between the Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution?
16. The Declaration of Independence refers to “certain unalienable rights,” and
expressly identifies three rights that governments are instituted to secure. What
are those three rights?
17. Do you believe our federal government operates with the consent of the
governed? If so, why? If not, why not?
18. Do you believe government is society’s biggest lawbreaker? If not, who or
what entity is society’s biggest lawbreaker?
19. Do you believe the Constitution needs to be amended, and if so, what
amendments do you believe are needed?
20. Provide some examples of officials in federal agencies that have failed to abide by
the Constitution as to the statutes and regulations the agencies enforce or even write.
21. If elected to office, what would you do if you believed the President or a
federal agency were operating in violation of the Constitution?
22. Do you believe that government officials who violate the law should be
dismissed from government? If so, what would you do to ensure that
lawbreaking government officials are dismissed?
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23. What is your understanding of what it means to have a republican form
of government?
24. Does a presidential executive order have the force of law, and if yes, under
what provision of the Constitution?
25. What is your understanding of the separation of powers?
26. What is your understanding of the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?
27. Name three elected officials currently in office who you believe are
constitutional conservatives.
28. Name the past or current Supreme Court justice who you believe provides the
best model for judicial appointments. Explain why you identify that justice.
29. What is your favorite book about the Constitution?
30. How does America return to a government governed by the Constitution?
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Appendix II:
Examples of government lawbreaking
If you didn’t think that government is society’s biggest lawbreaker, you’re in good
company, but there are reasons why most people only see the tip of the iceberg
when it comes to scofflaw government. It is virtually impossible to document all
the types, never mind examples, of government lawbreaking.
First of all, most government lawbreaking occurs secretly outside the eye of the
general public, despite the fact that government matters are supposed to be public
and open to transparency. In Congress, it may occur in the back rooms. In
bureaucracies, it may occur by deleting small bits of information to sway
administrative outcomes.
Secondly, government has learned that a good way to keep its violations of law in
the dark when people have reason to suspect lawbreaking is to evade government
transparency laws, such as freedom of information acts. FOIA laws are now
regularly violated, or through devious and creative evasions and delays,
government makes the costs of producing information so expensive that most
citizen investigators give up trying.
A third reason is that government lawbreaking commonly occurs when it is
engaging in enforcement actions against individuals or private entities. Individuals
typically lack the resources to fight government lawbreaking, do not have a level of
access to public news sources to publicize government lawbreaking, or may not
even know that their rights are being violated in the first place. Private commercial
entities don’t want to hurt their market reputations by acknowledging publicly that
they are the subject of government law enforcement actions, and government
lawbreakers rely on that. And, the subjects of government enforcement actions and
whistleblowers are often intimidated or bribed by government officials. They fear
that going public to expose government lawbreaking will only make their
circumstances worse.
Another reason is that government bullies the subjects of its enforcement actions
into private settlements, and generally the public never is informed of the
government lawbreaking that took place in those enforcement actions.
The journalist “profession” also fails to do its job as watchdog. Since the media
often side with big government, they don’t want to bite the hands that feed them,
and will often cover for what government lawbreaking they know about — that is,
The Law That Governs Government
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unless the government lawbreaking is done by center-right officials. Compare the
media’s outrage against President George W. Bush and his attorneys general, especially
Alberto Gonzales, to the deafening silence displayed towards President Obama and
Attorney General Eric Holder.
Send us more examples of government lawbreaking. Go to
ReclaimtheConstitution.com, and click Government Lawbreaking.
Presidential Lawbreaking
Bush ignores the laws he signs
http://www.inthesetimes.com/ittlist/entry/8885/gao_report_shows_bush_administration_ignores_laws_it_doesnt_like/
President Obama ignores court order overturning oil drilling moratorium
http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-spokane/obama-administration-found-contempt-of-court-over-drilling-moratorium
Obama doubles down, defies clear court order, issues SECOND oil drilling moratorium
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38029
Obama defies court orders restricting Obamacare implementation.
http://www.kiowacountysignal.com/opinions/x566173364/Obama-defies-court-in-continuing-with-Obamacareimplementation
After hammering the Bush Administration for using “state secrets” privilege, Obama makes a habit of doing the
exact same thing.
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2009/11/01/state_secrets
Congress strips ACORN of federal funding; Obama gives it back
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/06/30/obama-gives-new-grant-to-acorn
Obama ignores ban on czars, claiming his “prerogative” to ignore the Constitution…in order to protect the Constitution
http://biggovernment.com/tfitton/2011/04/25/obama-to-ignore-ban-on-czars/
Obama shrugs off Constitution, makes Hillary Clinton Secretary of State
http://miseryindex2008.blogspot.com/2008/12/obama-ignores-constitutional-law.html
Obama without legal authority forces BP to create an escrow fund for Gulf oil spill
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/06/is_obamas_bp_shakedown_an_impe.html
1st Amendment
Unconstitutional consent decree strips students and staff members’ 1st amendment rights
http://www.lc.org/index.cfm?PID=14100&PRID=1084
District court ignores blatant religious discrimination in employment termination
http://www.lc.org/index.cfm?PID=14100&PRID=1013
School throws the Constitution to the wind, violates boy’s right to fly flag on his bicycle for VETERANS DAY.
http://www.lc.org/index.cfm?PID=14100&PRID=1002
School board stomps on Constitution, strips religious group of equal access, 1st amendment rights
http://www.lc.org/index.cfm?PID=14100&PRID=996
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Maine strips group of 1st amendment rights for exposing Muslim indoctrination in public schools
http://www.lc.org/index.cfm?PID=14100&PRID=859
Free speech, normal human interaction banned by North Carolina state parks
http://www.lc.org/index.cfm?PID=14100&PRID=765
Government muzzles 1st Amendment rights during Wikileak scandal
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign-Policy/2010/1207/US-to-federal-workers-If-you-read-WikiLeaksyou-
re-breaking-the-law
Arkansas town council plays God, strips entire town of 1st Amendment rights
http://nation.foxnews.com/first-amendment/2011/07/17/arkansas-town-threatens-citizens-constitutional-rights
Judge laughs at freedom of the press, orders St. Louis Business Journal to stop presses
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Judge+ignores+law,+stops+SBJ+from+printing+public+news.-a016989192
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6666/is_n174_v24/ai_n28655552/
Reporter dares to ask questions of a judge, judge throws him in jail
http://www.libertariannews.org/2011/07/06/judge-has-reporter-arrested-for-asking-him-questions-on-his-way-to-court/
Man faces LIFE in jail for recording police—despite it being utterly legal! http://www.infowars.com/manfaces-
life-in-jail-for-recording-police/
Protesters illegally arrested, detained, questioned
http://www.justiceonline.org/commentary/pcjf-wins-settlement-in-illegal-arrest-case-in-dc.html
2nd Amendment
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms pressures Montana and 7 additional states after they pass
the Firearms Freedom Act, which restricts federal regulation of firearms made and sold within the states’ borders.
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_0b9cc232-467d-11df-9cbf-001cc4c002e0.html
Lancaster City ignores state preemption law, issues stricter gun law
http://www.nraila.org/news/read/inthenews.aspx?ID=12573
Harrisburg City Council ignores state preemption law, issues stricter gun law
http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/InTheNews.aspx?ID=12435
Mission, TX ignores state law, bans handguns in certain buildings
http://www.texaschlforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=187
Omaha ignores state law deregulating city handgun registration
https://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=181478915632&topic=13854
Kansas AG ignores plain gun law language, institutes new regime
http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-249303.html
Ignoring state law, Illinois state police arbitrarily limit gun licensing.
http://armedandsafe.blogspot.com/2007/10/illinois-state-police-department-breaks.html
With eyes wide open, Florida cities and counties continue to break state gun carry laws
http://www.allnineyards.com/?p=158
Hero has gun taken as evidence, is denied the right to register new handgun, is forced into hiding to protect
himself from gang reprisal
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/omaha-walgreens-hero-still-being-denied-right-to-self-defense-92991329.html
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4th Amendment
Obama and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano applaud the
Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) warrantless groping of men, women, children, the elderly,
and the infirm during airport screenings that reek of police state tactics.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1331454/Obama-defends-TSA-pat-downs-President-gets-skip-them.html
Robert Dean stands up to, sues the Transportation Security Administration for violation of 4th Amendment
rights to freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/23/robert-dean-sues-tsa-over_n_787777.html
Department of Homeland Security raid on religious program blatantly tramples 4th Amendment rights
http://www.lc.org/index.cfm?PID=14100&PRID=922
Georgia state government steals personal property through civil seizures, ignores accountability/reporting laws
http://biggovernment.com/bewing/2011/03/30/breaking-lawsuit-atlanta-citizens-fight-back-against-forfeiture-abuse/
http://www.ij.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3114&Itemid=165
Judge ignores law, orders sale of man’s seized house
http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2008/04/judge-ignores-law-in-real-time.html
Ignoring the Supreme Court, Iowa school strips-searches teen girls
http://www.askthejudge.info/iowa-school-ignores-supreme-court-ruling-on-strip-searches/3184/
State regulator investigations of 9/11 charities—illegal because they don’t require probable cause
http://www.charityregulatorwatch.com/
Executive orders as a means to bypass Congress
“Stroke of the Pen.
Law of the Land.
Kinda Cool.”
— Clinton Presidential Advisor, Paul Begala
1998 House Report on abuse of Executive Orders
http://www.uhuh.com/nobypass/eo13083/hitlerarmey.htm
Obama attempts to silence political opponents, issues executive order requiring those bidding on
government work to disclose campaign contributions
http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-pressopinion/
2011/08/president_obama_is_attempting_to_silence_his_political_opponents_op-ed.html
To date, U.S. courts have overturned only two executive orders: one Truman order, and a 1996 order issued
by President Clinton that attempted to prevent the U.S. government from contracting with organizations that
had strike-breakers on the payroll.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_order
Obama uses executive powers to enact DREAM act amnesty policies, bypassing Congress and the rule of law.
http://www.therightscoop.com/krauthammer-this-is-outright-lawlessness-from-obama-admin/
Obama issued an executive order granting de facto amnesty for illegal aliens
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/08/19/backdoor-amnesty-abusing-the-constitution-and-presidential-authority/
The Law That Governs Government
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Clinton rewrites Constitution, violates 10th Amendment, with executive order
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=14513
Bypassing Congress, Clinton waged war on Yugoslavia through executive orders and presidential directives
http://www.usasurvival.org/kosovowar.html
Federal regulation as a means to bypass Congress
In an end-run around Congress, Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency declares carbon to be a toxic
pollutant subject to regulation after his Cap and Trade carbon-taxing scheme failed in Congress
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/17711
Environmental Protection Agency illegally regulates greenhouse gases in Texas, Texas warns them to stop
http://farmfutures.com/blogs.aspx/texas-takes-stand-against-epa-1571
Environmental Protection Agency institutes illegal regulations, is taken to court by the Pacific Legal Foundation
http://www.cdtoa.org/news/1048-july-2011/1582-dctoa-joins-groups-taking-epa-to-court-for-violating-federal-law
Department of Health and Human Services adopted regulations not required by Obamacare and in defiance
of an Obama 2010 executive order, requiring health plans to cover contraception in violation of conscience
protection laws
http://chicagonow.com/publius-forum/2011/08/hhs-sec-sebelius-adopts-guidelines-violating-obamas-executive-order
Department of Health and Human Services mandate forces insurance providers to cover abortion services
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2011/08/HHSs-New-Health-Guidelines-Trample-on-Conscience
Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano usurps Congress’s policy-setting authority, pushes back REAL ID
deadline 20 months. Sen. Grassley and Rep. Lamar Smith push back.
http://grassley.senate.gov/news/Article.cfm?customel_dataPageID_1502=33369
http://judiciary.house.gov/news/2011/march/REAL%20ID%20Letter.html
Cap and Tax defeated, Environmental Protection Agency does end-run around Congress
http://multiculturallife.org/?p=3603
Oklahoma sues Environmental Protection Agency for overregulation, keeping the state from complying with
state mandate
http://www.oklahomaconstitution.com/ns.php?nid=312
Environmental Protection Agency ignores the Constitution, statutes in proposal rule regulating greenhouse gases
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/186369/epa-ignores-statutes-constitution/iain-murray#
Environmental Protection Agency ignores court mandates to revoke unlawfully issues laws
http://www.foley.com/files/tbl_s31Publications/FileUpload137/636/pub_epa_stoll.pdf
Department of Energy ignores federal law, closes nuclear waste plant in NV
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFN0121361920110601
Obama administration ignores federal law, regulates the Internet
http://biggovernment.com/smotley/2011/04/13/obama-administration-ignores-federal-law-to-regulate-internet/
U.S. Immigrations and Custom Enforcement czar ignores the law, misrepresents it, sidesteps due process,
and confiscates domain names
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110228/11122813301/ice-boss-its-okay-to-ignore-constitution-if-its-toprotect-
companies.shtml
Environmental Protection Agency violates law by failing to get public comment in Superfund Cleanup
http://www.gascape.org/index_02/EPA%20MISCONDUCT%20IN%20BLOOMINGTON
The Law That Governs Government
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Environmental Protection Agency’s unilaterally-issued permit regulations hurt American industry
Http://geoffdavis.house.gov/REINS/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=249484
Environmental Protection Agency unilaterally designates private property a wetlands area to seize control
Http://www.pacificlegal.org/VA-farm-family-battles-EPA-attempt-to-seize-control-of-their-land
Department of Homeland Security halts deportation of illegal aliens — despite the fact that the DREAM Act isn’t law
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/08/19/backdoor-amnesty-abusing-the-constitution-and-presidential-authority
U.S. Minerals Management Service ignored law, permits, in granting drilling rights offshore
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/us/14agency.html
The Environmental Protection Agency’s endangerment rule gives it unconstitutional authority—that it wields heavily
http://www.aim.org/guest-column/the-epa-versus-the-usa/
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms throws taxpayer-funded party to celebrate blatant overregulation
http://armsandthelaw.com/archives/2011/08/atf_hq_celebrat.php
Department of Homeland Security dismissing deportation cases against CRIMINALS, despite lacking
statutory authority to waive these cases
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/U-S-senators-call-for-probe-into-immigration-1717473.php
Freedom of Information Act
Obama illegally ignores Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for White House visitor logs
http://usbacklash.org/obamas-least-transparent-admin-in-history-cant-continue-ignoring-foia-requests/
http://www.judicialwatch.org/foiablog/2009/jun/foia-white-house
Department of Homeland Security illegally ignores Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from
House committee chairman Issa
http://www.newsmax.com/US/obama-issa-FOIA-homelandsecurity/2011/02/02/id/384790
http://www.maggiesnotebook.com/2011/02/big-sis-sics-mob-on-darrell-issa-issa-subpoenaes-dhs-officials/
Department of Homeland Security illegally rejects 90% of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests
http://www.fiercegovernmentit.com/story/dhs-grants-1-10-foia-requests-full/2011-01-20
Department of Labor illegally ignores Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests
http://www.thewhitehousewatch.com/obamas-labor-department-ignores-freedom-of-information-act/
National Labor Relations Board illegally ignores Issa’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?202739-NLRB-Ignores-Congressional-Subpeonaand-
is-sued-for-suing-Boeing
Bonneville Power Administration illegally ignores Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, is
overruled by the US Department of Energy Office of Hearings and Appeals
http://www.bpawatch.com/newsletters/BPANewsletter4-11-05-08.pdf
Illinois school fined for illegally ignoring Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests
http://news.ptfs.com/foia-and-declassification/2011/08/illinois-school-pays-for-ignoring-foia-requests
ATF illegally ignores Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) on “Fast and Furious,” Chairman Issa threatens
contempt proceedings
http://dailycaller.com/2011/04/20/obama-snubs-issa-on-subpoena-for-atf-documents/
The Law That Governs Government
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement does mass domain seizures of questionable legality, and then
ignores Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests
http://thirdpipe.com/?p=9532
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110614/00280814679/ice-stalling-more-foia-requests-concerningdomain-
name-seizures.shtml
More background on domain seizures:
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110718/10533315148/why-hasnt-ice-been-talking-about-its-latestdomain-
seizures.shtml
Taxpayer-funded Fannie and Freddie not subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)?
http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/01/chaffetz-calls-foia-apply-fannie-freddie
Judicial Watch submits Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for all Transportation Security
Administration (TSA) complaints — TSA tells Judicial Watch to define “complaint,” instead of complying
as legally required.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/02/tsa-tells-foia-requestor-define-complaint
Justice Department politicizes responses to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/bombshell-justice-department-only-selectively-complies-with-freedom-ofinformation-
act-pjm-exclusive/
Environmental Protection Agency illegally ignores/evades Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests
http://www.sludgevictims.com/Preface.html
Obama’s energy czar defies court order, destroys computer files in face of direct order to preserve them
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/12/12/crooked-carol-browner-obamas-ethically-challenged-energy-czar/
NASA ignores Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, then releases material proving corruption
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/climategate-2-0-%E2%80%94-the-nasa-files-u-s-climate-science-as-corruptas-
cru-pjm-exclusive-%E2%80%94-part-one/
Court slams Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for ignoring Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
http://biggovernment.com/tfitton/2011/01/05/court-slams-fdic-for-failing-to-abide-by-foia-law-in-judicialwatch-
bailout-lawsuit/
Justice Department ignores Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) just for fun
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/bombshell-justice-department-only-selectively-complies-with-freedom-ofinformation-
act-pjm-exclusive/?singlepage=true
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) sued Boeing to prevent it from opening a production plant in South
Carolina, ignores House Government Oversight and Reform Committee subpoena to produce document,
ignores statutory deadline to respond to Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request
http://sacbee.com/2011/08/16/3841750/judicial-watch-sues-national-labor.html
Judge ignores Freedom of Information Act, refuses penalty on Westmoreland County
http://blog.vivianpaige.com/2011/03/16/judge-ignores-law/
Despite court ruling, Stonington, CT decides to ignore Freedom of Information Act
http://www.theday.com/article/20110503/NWS01/305039929/1069/rss
War Powers Act
Obama violated the War Powers Act in Libya http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/15/kucinich-obamawar-
powers-act-libya_n_877396.html
The Law That Governs Government
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Obama violates the War Powers Act through military intervention in Libya and failing to get subsequent
congressional authorization
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/ten-congressmen-sue-president-obama-over-libya-mission-war-powers-act/
Obama breaks War Powers Resolution; Congress is complicit
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/05/29/1684652/congress-abets-obamas-law-breaking.html
Clinton ignores War Powers Act, invades Kosovo
http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a032499clintonwprkosovo#a032499clintonwprkosovo
Judges/Courts
Michigan judicial panel mandates racial preference in college scholarships/admission
http://committeeforjustice.blogspot.com/2011/07/racial-preferences-decision-is.html
Judges throw out constitutional amendment on technicality
http://www.newswithviews.com/Bill/sizemore10.htm
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Oregon_Supreme_Court
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Oregon_Ballot_Measure_7_(2000)
Judge ignores settled law, strips school choice
http://azstarnet.com/news/opinion/article_8de95cab-9f5f-5de2-93d7-28f5b7d0f847.html
Despite the fact that New York did not recognize same-sex marriage at the time, NY judge allows gay divorce
http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=4347231&page=1
Judge ignores law, throws out case against late-term abortionist George Tiller
http://www.illinoisrighttolife.org/NewslineArchive1206.htm
Federal judge ignores Constitution, military leaders on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
http://www.frc.org/pressrelease/federal-judge-ignores-the-constitution-military-leaders-on-dont-ask-dont-tell
Washington Supreme Court ignores state and federal election law
http://www.soundpolitics.com/archives/003289.html
Indiana court ignores “Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act”
http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Federal/Read.aspx?id=3276
Supreme Court ignores state amendment, rewrites consumer fraud law
http://www.masstortdefense.com/2011/02/articles/state-supreme-court-ignores-amendment-to-find-standingin-
consumer-fraud-claim/
Court ignores explicit content of legally binding contract
http://turnerlawapc.com/news/2011/04/14/construction-contracts-court-ignores-explicit-specialty-licenserequirement-
in-contract/
Court ignores law, refuses to reduce sentence
http://www.johnlocke.org/lockerroom/lockerroom.html?id=25745
Judge ignores precedent, evidence in California Proposition 8 case (Ed Meese)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/16/AR2010081604254.html
Federal judges break law, suspend lawyer’s license with no hearing, notice of charges, or findings of misconduct
http://www.judgewatch.org/judicial-discipline/federal-6-11-98/54-where-do-you-go.pdf
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Family Sanctity/ Parental Rights
Social workers illegally threaten to seize children from parents if parents do not allow an impromptu home inspection
http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/az/200710220.asp
Child Protection Services social workers required to stand before jury due to actions
http://fightcps.com/2010/04/04/arizona-cps-social-workers-attorney-and-law-enforcement-agents-must-facea-
jury-over-coerced-forced-entry/
Colorado state social worker ignores federal law
http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/co/200711280.asp
Home School Legal Defense Association top stories archive
http://www.hslda.org/topstoriesarchive.asp
Despite a state order, state social worker refuses to reveal allegations to accused family
http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/ca/201011050.asp
Child Protective Services promises to continue breaking the lawbreaking
http://www.nccprblog.org/2009/04/texas-cps-promises-to-break-law.html
Department of Social Services ignores state and federal law, threatening to endanger special needs child
http://stopcorruptdss.wordpress.com/2009/04/29/state-agency-breaks-laws-robbing-foster-child-of-stable-home/
Department of Family and Child services violates regulations freely
http://www.theclaytontribune.com/articles/2006/06/08/news/news03.txt
Mississippi judge illegally orders information disclosure, is overruled
http://www.hslda.org/docs/media/2011/201104260.asp
School superintendent makes up law, demands non-required forms
http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/oh/201006070.asp
Judge ignores state home schooling law on multiple counts, orders penal charges against mother
http://whyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2007/03/homeschoolers-in-news.html
Against parents’ religious objections, court orders vaccination of baby
http://www.tetrahedron.org/articles/vaccine_awareness/judge_ignores_law.html
School strips parental authority, bans homemade lunches, forces parents to purchase school lunches for “health reasons”
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-04-11/news/ct-met-school-lunch-restrictions-041120110410_1_lunchfood-
provider-public-school
Dereliction of Duty
If the victims are white, the Justice Department won’t prosecute hate crimes
http://civicsnews.blogspot.com/2009/07/holder-no-equality-under-hate-crimes.html
Attorney General Eric Holder refused to prosecute the New Black Panther Party when members brandished
clubs, made ethnic slurs, and threatened white voters attempting to enter the polls.
http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=173117
Obama refuses to secure the southern border while Americans die on American soil at the hands of criminal
illegal aliens.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/21/kyl-obama-wont-secure-border-lawmakers-immigration-package/
The Law That Governs Government
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US deaths at the hands of illegal immigrants
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Lb3oFzCj_0; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95UQXvqfXnE
Obama ignores Constitution Article IV, Section 4 by not sealing the border
http://studygrowknowblog.com/2010/08/17/president-obama-ignores-article-iv-section-4-of-the-u-s-constitution/
Government fails to protect government whistleblowers
http://jonathanturley.org/2011/03/06/promises-promises-is-the-obama-doj-going-after-whistleblowers
Red Light Cameras
Judge ignores previous ruling, throws out due process, for robo-ticketing red light cameras
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/32/3251.asp
http://www.banthecams.org/Court-Decisions/judge-ignores-legal-protections-on-innocent-until-provenguilty-
to-protect-accident-causing-scameras.html
Town ignores state law, issues robotickets
http://www.columbiacitypaper.com/2011/02/10/town-of-ridgeland-ignores-state-law-in-i95-photo-ticketscam/
comment-page-1/
Washington, LA decides to ignore state law, keep over $200,000 in speed trap fines
http://www.kalb.com/story/14753477/town-ignores-law-targeting-speed-traps
To make a profit, St. Louis ignores law by not posting required warning signs
http://camerafraud.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/st-louis-ignores-law-for-profits/
Multiple Michigan cities ignore state law on speed traps
http://blog.motorists.org/michigan-cities-break-law-more-speeding-tickets/
City law enforcement ignores state law, uses speed trap cameras for other uses
http://bancams.com/lynnwood-breaks-state-law-and-improperly-uses-camera-footage/
Town ignores state mandate, institutes photo speed trap
http://www.banthecams.org/Speed-Camera-News/sc-town-breaks-state-law-outlawing-photo-enforcementputs-
speed-cameras-on-i-95.html
Police Lawbreaking
Police break traffic laws, kill two people
http://hotspot.courier-journal.com/2006/07/when-police-break-law.html
Authorized criminality: police breaking the law to enforce it
http://legalworkshop.org/2010/02/24/breaking-the-law-to-enforce-it-undercover-police-participation-in-crime
Civilian reports police officer for ignoring parking laws, is then stalked by the officer he reported
http://www.examiner.com/civil-liberties-in-national/police-officer-stalks-man-who-caught-him-breaking-the-law
Police use badges to break law, are arrested by FBI for extortion, conspiracy to distribute cocaine
http://www.examiner.com/civil-liberties-in-national/police-officer-stalks-man-who-caught-him-breaking-the-law
New Orleans police use Katrina as excuse to illegally seize weapons, threaten to do it again if another
disaster strikes, despite losing lawsuit to the NRA
http://www.realpolice.net/forums/police-officer-headlines-76/53143-new-nola-police-chief-urges-officers-break-law.html
Judge fines police officer for parking in no-parking zone
http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/07/a_judge_today_found_a.html
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Police caught in widespread steroid use when their dealer/doctor died
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/12/hundreds_of_nj_police_firefigh.html
Intriguing way to punish lawbreaking policemen
http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2007-08-06-hello-kitty-cops_N.htm
NYC police ignore law, maintain unconstitutional database of cleared suspects
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/nyregion/20frisk.html
Denver police ignore pot possession law change, continue to make arrests
http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2005-12-09/317550/
DC Police ignore gun laws, threaten to arrest and prosecute anyone transporting a gun through DC
http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=8&f=29&t=263750
Police ignore state laws, police policies, Constitution, take cameras from citizens filming police, falsely tell
the public they have no right to record a conversation with an officer
http://www.pixiq.com/article/portland-cops-rewrite-laws-and-policy-while-shattering-constitution
Massachusetts police, state, ignore voided-ticket law created to curb corruption
www.thecrimereport.org/share-post/many-mass-police-units-ignore-voided-ticket-law
Chicago PD ignore laws, grills kids without juvenile officers/parent present
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/watchdog/chi-0112180243dec18,0,3280024.story
Most Oklahoma law enforcement agencies ignore Open Records legislation
http://newsok.com/law-officers-often-ignore-right-to-know/article/541219
During spurious search which netted no criminal activity, officers shot non-attacking family pet, are forced
to pay family $330,000
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/chicago-police-must-pay-330k-killing-dog-home-200148841.html
Connecticut Justice official: “If I don’t like the law, I’ll just tell police to ignore it.”
http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/127191/
Philly police: “We promise to continue violating your rights”
http://www.theagitator.com/2011/05/25/philly-police-we-promise-to-continue-to-violate-your-rights/
Police repeatedly ticket, arrest free taxi providers over law that doesn’t exist
http://www.copblock.org/7390/i-was-arrested-for-a-law-that-dont-exist/
Auburn police violate state open-records laws
http://auburnpub.com/news/local/article_831d10c2-be3c-11e0-889d-001cc4c03286.html
Healthcare
Federal government tramples conscience protections with healthcare mandate
http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/201108230.asp
Obamacare found unconstitutional for forcing citizens to purchase healthcare
http://usbacklash.org/obamacare-socialized-healthcare-ruled-unconstitutional/
Obama administration forces seniors to enroll in Medicare in order to receive their Social Security payments
— despite lack of law backing this enforcement
http://healthcare-coalition.org/BlogRetrieve.aspx?PostID=178593&A=SearchResult&SearchID=258320
&ObjectID=178593&Object
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Administration ignored Judge Vinson’s decision and the “stay” requiring the Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) to stop implementing ObamaCare.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/31/health-care-reform-ruling_n_816257.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2011/0303/Judge-chides-Obama-for-ignoring-health-care-rulingurges-
fast-track-appeal
Schwarzenegger ignores state healthcare law
http://www.lexisnexis.com/community/workerscompensationlaw/blogs/newsheadlines/archive/2010/02/17/c
a_3a00_-injured-worker_1920_s-advocates-say-governor-ignores-law-to-benefit-insurance-companies-andlarge-
corporations.aspx
Recipients of federal funds
Massive Planned Parenthood cover up revealed
http://www.lc.org/index.cfm?PID=14100&PRID=1056
Planned Parenthood offers services to declared child traffickers
http://www.lc.org/index.cfm?PID=14100&PRID=1032
Posse Comitatus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act ; http://www.dojgov.net/posse_comitatus_act.htm
Violating federal law, Florida crime-stoppers hotline uses Homestead Air Force Base troops to respond to
off-base crimes in civilian territory
http://www.infowars.com/busting-posse-comitatus-military-cops-arrest-civilians-in-florida-city/
The Army Times reports that, in violation of federal law, the 3rd Infantry’s 1st Brigade Combat Team is
returning from Iraq to defend the Homeland, as ‘an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade
emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/23256.html
In spite of the Posse Comitatus Act, Bush wanted to bring home troops to train for an eventual successful
terrorist biochemical or nuclear attack.
http://www.nowpublic.com/world/posse-comitatus-violation-pentagon-plans-station-20-000-troops-us-domestic-security
20,000 troops to deploy INSIDE the US—despite federal law.
http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=72871.0;wap2
Desirable outcome hides dangerous precedent as 5-man police force overwhelmed by violent attack are
aided by local MP’s
http://capstonereport.com/2009/03/18/posse-comitatus-violation-in-alabama/1923/
NSA Wiretapping a Posse Comitatus Act violation
http://rangeragainstwar.blogspot.com/2006/03/posse-comitatus-violation-in-nsa.html
Government Bullying
Federal government may have engaged in retaliatory investigation when Standard & Poor downgrades U.S.
credit rating
http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0811/Former_GOPer_SP_investigation_appears_retaliatory_.html
When Russia calls you corrupt, there might be a problem. (S&P investigation)
http://blogs.wsj.com/emergingeurope/2011/08/24/putin-appears-to-link-sp-bosss-exit-to-u-s-ratingscut/?
mod=google_news_blog
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Obama’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) threatened to declare the entire state of Texas a “no
fly zone” if the Texas legislature criminalized TSA screening procedures.
http://www.infiniteunknown.net/2011/05/26/tsa-threatens-to-make-texas-a-no-fly-zone-hundreds-rally-at-texasstate-
capitol-building-texas-legislature-federal-government-clash-over-airport-pat-down-bill-texas-backs-down/
Armed government agents raid Gibson Guitar American facilities to enforce a foreign law
http://theintelhub.com/2011/08/25/federal-government-raids-gibson-guitars-under-indian-law-whilecontinually-
ignoring-internal-corruption/
Political Targeting/Favoritism by Government
In ordering Chrysler and GM car dealership closings as part of the 2009 bailout, unlawful as that already
was, evidence showed dealers who contributed to Republicans were targeted
http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2009/05/furor-grows-over-partisan-car-dealer-closings
Meanwhile, some congressmen such as Barney Frank were getting favors of keeping car dealerships open in
their congressional districts
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124416281882387463.html#mod=djemEditorialPage
Miscellaneous government lawbreaking
George Bush’s NSA Wiretapping, contrary to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
http://www.alternet.org/story/30350/an_abuse_of_power/
Obama sues Arizona for doing the job he refused to do — enforce immigration law
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/07/obama-administration-to-sue-arizona-migrant-laws
Obama’s Justice Dept joined a lawsuit against Indiana’s defunding of Planned Parenthood.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/obama-justice-department-sues-to-save-planned-parenthood-funding-in-indiana/
Department of Justice ignores the law in attempt to sue Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal
http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/2011/02/doj-sting-targets-bobby-jindall-and-ignores-law
Obama’s Justice Department ignores Constitution, politicizes DC voting rights
http://www.examiner.com/scotus-in-washington-dc/obama-administration-ignores-constitution-andpoliticizes-
justice-on-d-c-voting-rights-bill
Bush Administration break laws on wiretapping
http://crooksandliars.com/2006/01/28/federal-judge-urges-government-law-breaking
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122001053.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1565773/posts
Obama/Holder Department of Justice shut down Gibson Guitar facility over foreign law
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/08/obama-justice-department-shuts-down-gibson-guitar-forbreaking-
indian-law-video/
Blatant fraudulent voting runs amok in state house
http://www.dflsenate.com/texas-legislation/government-officials-voting-fraudulently-lawmakers-breakingthe-
law-texas-legislature
State charity regulators violate federal privacy, Social Security Number laws
http://www.charityregulatorwatch.com/243
Illinois takes money from taxpayer funds meant for charity
http://www.charityregulatorwatch.com/246
LA mayor waters lawn during watering ban, claims he was sleeping too soundly to notice
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Mayor-Antonio-Villaraigosa-Water-Restrictions-Violation-54896522.html
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Nanny state: two men arrested for “lack of common sense.”
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2011/08/28/2-arrested-for-lack-of-common-sense-after-rafting-down-mainstreet-
in-manayunk/
Obama fires Independent Inspector General, despite law requiring 30 day notice
http://www.reporternews.com/news/2009/jun/21/congress-obama-ignore-constitution/
Tennessee government ignores state constitution, allows judges to bypass reelection
http://www.examiner.com/tennessee-statehouse-in-knoxville/state-constitution-apparetly-applies-only-tothose-
government-applies-it-to
California Legislature ignores state constitution requirement for Prop 98 suspension
http://www.edsource.org/assets/files/policy/ssc/SSC_LegIgnoresConstReqProp98.pdf
Maryland Governor using law of questionable constitutionality, shuts protection agency doors to balance budget
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2005-06-16/news/0506160090_1_prevailing-wage-ehrlich-wage-laws
Illinois legislature ignores its own Balanced Budget Amendment
http://www.statebudgetsolutions.org/blog/detail/illinois-ignores-its-own-balanced-budget-requirement
Georgia Speaker of the House ignores Constitution to avoid veto being overturned
http://lobbyistsforlifeandliberty.org/2011/02/01/theconstitution/
MA legislature ignores state Constitution, passes hundreds of bills without quorum
http://www.massresistance.org/docs/gen/08c/informal_sessions/index.html
GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT: Non-criminal property seizures more than double from 2005 to
2010; average “take” at $166,000
http://www.realnewsreporter.com/?p=7450
National Mediation Board throws out democracy, overturns 75-year-old precedent to force private workers
into unions
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/263182/pushing-back-against-decree-editors
http://gingrey.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=232512
California online transaction tax violates state constitution
http://www.redstate.com/neil_stevens/2011/06/15/the-california-amazon-tax-violates-props-25-and-26/
California online transaction tax violates Quill Corp v. North Dakota – the “physical presence” ruling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quill_Corp._v._North_Dakota
Obama’s National Labor Relations Board ignores previous ruling in identical case, tells Catholic school it
isn’t religious enough to avoid unions
http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/2011/08/now-obamas-nlrb-tells-church-school-its-not-religious-enough
Department of Justice runs guns program of questionable legality; ignores 7 letters and a subpoena from the
House oversight committee
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/more-doj-malpractice_576922.html
Atlantic City Council ignores state, seeks new hire for illegal position
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/communities/atlantic-city_pleasantville_brigantine/article_5fe59332-
a5b9-11df-ba65-001cc4c03286.html
School charges mom for trying to protect son, violating unposted law
http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/offbeat/mom-charged-for-going-on-bus-20110727
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New York ignores law to give 45 days for military absentee ballots to mail
http://electionlawcenter.com/2011/03/16/new-york-ignores-doj-on-military-voting.aspx
How many municipalities break the law? Brockton, MA Water Commission ignores Open Meeting Law, complaint
http://www.enterprisenews.com/topstories/x1059329669/Brockton-Water-Commission-ignores-Open-
Meeting-Law-complaint
University of California ignores law, institutes racial quotas
http://www.pacificresearch.org/press/ethnicity-obsessed-uc-ignores-law
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a federal institution, ignores Dodd-Frank congressional mandates
http://www.bankrate.com/financing/banking/fed-agency-ignores-bank-law/
California ignores law requiring annual review of its medical insurance policies
http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/03/state-ignores-law-requiring-annual-medi.html
Wisconsin ignores state constitution, steals future program money to cover cash shortfall
http://www.newberlinnow.com/blogs/communityblogs/114311959.html
Michelle Obama blissfully ignores election law, campaigns at polling place
http://www.newser.com/story/102944/did-chatty-michelle-break-voting-laws.html
Op-Eds/Articles
Where’s the outrage over Obama’s illegal acts – Viguerie and Fitzgibbons
http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=100765
Political Speech Laws: The Ruling Class Versus Mom, Pop — and Rape Victims
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/10/political_speech_laws_the_ruli.html
A dangerous dissent on Citizens United
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/01/a_dangerous_dissent_on_citizen.html
Black market judicial philosophy
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/07/black_market_judicial_philosop.html
Oregon attorney general’s uncharitable legislation
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/03/oregon_attorney_generals_uncha.html
Judge Andrew Napolitano: Most presidents ignore the Constitution
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122523872418278233.html
Many presidents, including Obama, ignore Constitution at will. Gives examples.
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/glenn-beck/transcript/judge-napolitano-obama-ignoring-constitution
Op-ed with examples: “The Federal government is ignoring the Constitution”
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/92245/the_federal_government_is_ignoring.html
Op-ed: “Federal Overreach and Overspend”
http://www.ocala.com/article/20110508/OPINION/110509697?tc=ar
Joseph Farah: Clinton’s unconstitutional abuse of executive orders
http://www.rense.com/general2/abuse.htm
“This Imperial President: How Obama has ignored the Constitution and undermined the rule of law”
http://alineofsight.com/policy/this-imperial-president-how-obama-has-ignored-the-constitution-andundermined-
the-rule-of-law?A=SearchResult&SearchID=616524&ObjectID=4187258&Object
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Forbes: “A President who ignores the Law”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/prospernow/2011/06/09/a-president-who-ignores-the-law/
Citizen who fights BACK
ABC news coverage of “Jimmy Justice,” a NYC citizen waging a one-man Internet war against public
officials who feel they are above the law
http://mmaturf.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/jimmy-justice-’-when-the-police-break-the-law-in-ny-’/
Jimmy Justice’ blog
http://jimmyjustice4753.blogspot.com/
Obama does whatever he wants—he’s a tyrant. (Great summary of lawbreaking)
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/07/tyrannus_obama_rex.html
Daily Caller — Obama regularly bypasses Congress
http://dailycaller.com/2011/08/30/obama-routinely-bypasses-congress-conservatives-say/
The Media Helps Government Lawbreaking
Chris Matthews: “Maybe (breaking the law is) part of the [president’s] job.”
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10836171/
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About the authors and acknowledgments
Richard A. Viguerie is Chairman of American
Target Advertising, Inc., and ConservativeHQ.com,
Inc. In 1965 he pioneered direct mail marketing to
build and fund grassroots groups ranging from
ideological and political campaigns to charitable
organizations. Viguerie’s efforts produced think
tanks, magazines, newsletters, and dozens of
organizations and successful political campaigns.
Viguerie was called “one of the creators of the
modern conservative movement,” (The Nation
magazine), and was also dubbed “the funding father
of the conservative movement.” The
communications director for the 1964 Goldwater
campaign, Lee Edwards, wrote in The Washington
Times in 1999 that Viguerie was one of 13
“conservatives of the century.” Also in 1999, the late John F. Kennedy, Jr.’s
political magazine, George, called the founding of Viguerie’s company one of the
“defining political moments of the 20th Century.”
NewsMax CEO Christopher Ruddy called him “probably the grandfather of the new
media. . . . [H]e started it, and paved the way for the whole Reagan revolution 10
years later by writing those letters exposing what Ted Kennedy was doing in
Congress, exposing what the left was doing in the media.” The Washington Post
called him “the Conservatives’ Voice of America.” The Baltimore Sun called him
the “architect of the New Right,” and The Edmonton Sun called him “the
uncrowned king of the Right”. The AFL-CIO News said that Viguerie “made it all
possible” for conservatives. In 1979 Time magazine named him one of 50 future
leaders of America, and in 1981 People magazine named him one of the 25 most
intriguing people of the year. During the 2008 coverage of the Iowa caucuses,
MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann called Viguerie “one of either the greats or the
demons, depending on your point of view of the conservative movement.”
Mr. Viguerie and his wife, Elaine, are natives of Houston, Texas, and have been
married for 49 years. They have three children and six grandchildren, and live in
the Virginia countryside on 230 acres of conservative-friendly environment. Mr.
Viguerie may be contacted at PO Box 4450, Manassas, VA 20108, and at
[email protected].
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Mark J. Fitzgibbons is President of Corporate and
Legal Affairs, American Target Advertising, Inc.
He is an op/ed contributor to The Washington
Examiner and American Thinker. His written
commentaries have appeared in The National Law
Journal, Politico, The NonProfit Times, The
Chronicle of Philanthropy, DMNews, The
Philanthropy Monthly, The Washington Times,
FoxNews.com, HumanEvents.com, and
WorldNetDaily.com. His blog is
CharityRegulatorWatch.com. In a profile about
Fitzgibbons by The NonProfit Times, state
regulators described him as “very litigious,”
“contemptuous,” and “a royal pain.” The NonProfit
Times also wrote, “When it comes . . . to the use of
the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution for charitable speech, there are two
words that make regulators recoil — Mark Fitzgibbons.” He is a member of the
District of Columbia, Maryland and
Virginia Bars.
Special thanks to American Spectator Senior Editor Quin Hillyer and George
Rasley for editorial assistance, Ryan Rogge for research assistance, and to Sherry
Stoner and Andrew Davis for design.
The Law That Governs Government