Y’all know, from sad experience, that I am a wordy bugger. I have several email lists that I am part of where there are discussions ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. One of my lists includes a Republican State Committeewoman from a southern state, whose husband is also amongst the party “Bonzen”. We have been having a discussion on the list for quite some time about the Republican primaries, and the Institutionals attempts to force Romney as the candidate. Those discussions were the part of the impetus for the last posting I imposed on you. And the discussions have generated more than a little heat.
Monday morning, another list member posted an article discussing the Republicans’ role in the indefinite detention powers under the NDAA signed New Years Eve, and the Stop Online Piracy Act powers for the government to shut down parts of the internet that they object to. Things had quieted down Sunday night, in part because life distracted me. But it was back on after the article arrived. I found myself responding to the whole span of failures of the Institutional Republican party since the 2010 elections.
Here is what I said, with names redacted in the name of privacy.
I was going to do a Q & A thing with [name redacted] to delineate the reasons for our differences yesterday, but got sidetracked by working outside shoveling snow and field-stripping a Christmas tree down to firewood status. This brings it back up again. Here is part of what I was thinking about.
[name redacted]:
I have been mentioning the NDAA thing repeatedly over the last week, and SOPA. These are markers for the Republican party. These are not just a few rogue RINO’s; this is being done as a considered decision by the “leadership” of the Institutionals and the Congressional Republican caucuses.
These are “Enabling Acts” akin to the German equivalents in 1933. Indefinite imprisonment and detention of citizens with no trial or recourse, at the whim of the Executive Branch. The ability to shut down any political speech without notice or recourse. These REPUBLICAN acts are direct attacks on the Constitution. You know, that piece of parchment that a whole lot of people swore an Oath to “preserve, protect, and defend against all enemies, foreign or domestic”. I have sworn that Oath verbally in public, and in writing a bunch of times.
That mandates an explanation of why the Republicans did these things. Not just “that the Democrats are worse”; but why in the name of the same Oath that supposedly has been also been sworn by the Republicans in government that they would do such things?
It leaves open some questions.
1) Is the Institutional Republican Party any more loyal to country and Constitution than Democrats, or is there any difference at all?
2) Either this country and the Constitution is existentially threatened by Buraq Hussein Obama and his ilk …. and any measure no matter how distasteful [such as voting for a “moderate progressive” Romney] is justified in this emergency to get him out OR Buraq Hussein Obama and his party, his supporters, his illegal and unconstitutional “Czars”, his people who are calling for canceling elections and sponsoring #Occupy rioters; are loyal supporters of this country and the Constitution and can be trusted with such tyrannical power. There is no middle ground. It is one or the other. And if the latter proposition is the judgment of the Institutional Republican Party it means that a) either their reality testing is faulty beyond trust, or b) they they do not care about the Constitution and Liberty under Law but are only after getting their own share of looting the country. There is the basic contradiction that must be resolved.Which do they believe, and why do their actions; objective, measurable actions, not match their words?
Add to that the absolute silence, other than throwaway press releases that nobody read, to Obama basically asserting the right to make any appointment at all at any time, whether approved by Congress or not. He unilaterally voided a major part of the checks and balances system the Founders designed to restrain tyranny. Silence DOES equal consent.
These are the culmination of a series of other actions that gut the Constitution. The entire fight over budgets, continuing resolutions, debt ceilings, etc. has been marked by what appears to be cupidity, incompetence, and purely pro forma opposition to the Executive Branch and Obama seizing the power of taxing and spending away from the Legislative in violation of the Constitution.
Obama now has the right of force majeure over citizens in violation of the Bill of Rights. He has rendered congressional budgeting moot, and raises money with the printing press for his spending without restriction. [ q.v. Charles I of England] He appoints and pays officials without authority of law or the Constitution, and those officials have plenary power over citizens.
What is left, and where are they going to fight back? Or is there in fact any point where the Institutional Republican Party will fight back to defend the Constitution?
I cannot say that it is a majority of our poor country that stands with the Constitution. But, there are a hell of a lot of us who swore that Oath, and meant it. There is a reason that firearms sales have skyrocketed over the last three years. It is not because there has been a sudden interest in target shooting. It is because there are a whole lot of people who believe it is possible that the fate of our Constitutional Republic is going to be in the hands of the God of Battles. I frequent and write at blogs ranging from rude, crude, and socially unacceptable to those that are international and scholarly. And even at the most sober and restrained blogs; the belief is that elections are not guaranteed anymore.
So the Institutional Republican Party has a choice of which side that they are on, if they have not made that choice already. So please, look at the above, and explain which side they are on, and if appropriate why we should believe their words and not their actions.
And if any of the others on the list think that I am talking out the wrong orifice, jump right in and point out how, please.
In El Paso County [Colorado Springs], by the way, the TEA Party got the County Commission to pass a resolution declaring opposition to the indefinite detention without trial for American citizens provisions of the NDAA. Tuesday morning, I will be going with our local TEA Party to try to get the same from our County Commission.
Tuesday follow up.
Our County Commission is very interested. The El Paso County Commission noted in their resolution that a) the County Sheriff is by our state constitution the supreme law enforcement official in the county with authority over all law enforcement in the county, and b) the County Sheriff has the absolute duty to protect the rights of the citizens of the county under the Federal and Colorado Constitutions.
I commend the effort to other local TEA Parties. It prepares the political battlefield for the future.
I sent the questions above Monday. The committeewoman they were addressed to communicates all day with us on her iPhone. It is now noon on Tuesday. While she has responded to other threads, suddenly she is gone from that one. I suspect that I may have been sent to Coventry for heresy. But, if the lack of response is deliberate; the silence still speaks volumes. She has been vocal about the need for Patriots to stay and work within the party. Yet she has not responded to the questions. This reinforces the necessity for Patriots to leave the Institutional Republicans on November 7; and form a party where Liberty under Law will not be subordinated to the need to keep big rice bowls intact.
LC Subotai Bahadur, Lord Pao An