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…The Founders left no doubt as to how this should be read. When Jefferson became President he said:
“The Constitution on which our union rests shall be administered by me according to the safe and honest meaning contemplated by the plain understanding of the people of the United States at the time of it’s adoption – a meaning to be found in the explanations of those who advocated, not those who apposed it…
These explanations are preserved in the publications of the time”.
Later he emphasized the same views:
“On every question of construction, [let us] carry ourselves back to the time when the constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit that was manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning maybe squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.”
Jefferson felt the constitution should be interpreted strictly. He wrote: “ When an instrument admits two constructions, the one safe, the other dangerous, the one precise, the other indefinite, I prefer that which is safe and precise. I had rather ask an enlargement of power from the nation, where it is found necessary, than to assume it by a construction which would make our powers boundless. Our peculiar security is in the possession of a written constitution. Let us not make it a blank paper by construction.”
Taken from the book "The Making Of America" www.nccs.net
Question: What is the problem of giving political and legal power to political parties, unions, and other combinations of people?
"...all combinations and associations... with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive... and of fatal tendency."
"They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force, to put in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community... [and] to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common councils and modified by mutual interests."
"However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely... to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government...."
"Let me now... warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party.... This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists... in all governments... but in those of the popular form it is seen in its greatest rankness and is truly their worst enemy."
"The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension... is itself a frightening despotism."
"But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result [from wars between parties] gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty."
Taken from a portion of a news letter written at www.nccs.net the direct link to this news letter to read all of it is here
Update on Tuesday, April 19, 2011 at 4:13PM by
Phil Grimm
Another question for George Washington to answer for us through the passage of time.
Question: What actually will happen to our government if run by competing parties?
"...the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it."
"It [party spirit] serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration."
"It [party spirit] agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection."
"It [party spirit] opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another."
"There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true.... But... it is a spirit not to be encouraged... there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it."
The American Founding Fathers originally intended a monetary system quite different from the one we have now. In fact, they had hoped to prevent many of the fiscal and economic problems with which our present monetary system is afflicted. Their system relied on four major principles.
1. The people's representatives in congress must develop and carefully control the money system and make sure the amount of money remains stable. That's why the Constitution gives this power exclusively to Congress in Article I, Section 8.
2. To be honest, a medium of exchange must have "intrinsic" value or in other words it must have value in and of itself. The Founders knew only money based on gold and silver would provide this value.
3. There must be no fractional reserve banking. As Jefferson said: "No one has a natural right to the trade of a money lender but he who has the money to lend."
4. In order to prevent undue pressure on the demand for money and to make sure federal officials did not have so much power they could be "bought off", the Founders clearly said that money from the federal treasury can be spent only for the 20 powers listed in Article I, Section 8, and then only if such expenditures were for the "general welfare" or in other words if such expenditures benefited the whole nation and not specific groups, locations, or businesses.
Let's look at what happened to each of these founding principles.
The Big Bankers Take Control of United States Monetary System
With the adoption of the Constitution, Jefferson hoped the nation would go back to pre-revolution days with government issuing its money based on a precious metal standard. The treasury could then set up branches for loaning money and all payments of interest would go to the general funds of the nation, thereby greatly reducing the required taxes.
The first of Jefferson's hopes was realized when the gold and silver standard was explicitly written into the Constitution. However, his second hope was shattered when Alexander Hamilton was appointed Secretary of the Treasury and came up with a plan to monetize the nation's mammoth war debt by issuing bonds and selling them to private banks. He also urged the President and Congress to allow these bankers to temporarily (for twenty years) establish a private bank in the name of the United States and be responsible for issuing money , controlling the amount, fixing its value, and financing the United States government. It was this last factor which appealed to President Washington.
There was, of course, no Constitutional authority to have the federal government set up such a bank, but Hamilton persuasively argued a theory of "implied powers" which has seriously damaged the whole concept of "limited" government ever since. Although the argument was sufficiently strong to impress Congress, Washington was uncomfortable with it. In fact, he was actually contemplating a veto of the banking act when Hamilton drew him aside and filled his mind with such glowing promises of stability and prosperity under this "temporary" expediency, that Washington finally overrode his professional instinct as one of America's most successful farmers and signed the bill. Jefferson later accused Hamilton of complicating the whole scheme with such elaborate trappings that it had confused the President. It turned out that Washington's original instinctive anxieties concerning the dangers of the bill were fully justified.
Over the decades since then and through a series of man-made boom and bust cycles, the powerful banking lobby, with the behind-the-scenes pressure from Wall Street, has persuaded Congress to give them permanent authority over our money and credit in violation of the Constitution and the express will of the people. This power was permanently consolidated in 1913 into the misnamed Federal Reserve System, which is neither "federal" nor "reserve." Time and time again the big bankers who privately control the Federal Reserve have shown elected officials in Washington that indeed they are the ones that have the real power in our land.
The very basis which gives money its value is destroyed
Anything of value requires the input of labor. If it requires little or no labor, the item becomes worthless. Historically, gold and silver have always been in demand and have always required labor to accumulate, therefore giving sustainable value. Because of its universal demand it is a perfect medium of exchange.
As do-good politicians desired to expend large sums of money for programs not authorized in the Constitution, they ran up against a major problem. If a program would cost, say $100 million of new money, then that much gold and silver would have to be deposited to back up the new money. This requirement provided a real restraint and roadblock to huge give-away programs, such as FDR's New Deal. So what did he do? In 1933, he signed an executive order taking the backing of gold from our dollars! LBJ did the same thing to fund his Great Society in 1964 and took the redeemability of silver off of our dollars. Now, not having to put up the gold and silver, the politicians could merely crank up the printing presses and distribute money at will. This, of course, came with the reminder to the welfare recipients to remember these politicians at the next election.
The Origin of Fractional Reserve Banking or Making Money out of Nothing
Dr. W. Cleon Skousen explains how banks came to "make money out of nothing" and how they hooked the United States Government into the deal:
"We call this magic formula 'fractional banking' or 'reserve banking.' Here is how it all began and how it works.
"Several hundred years ago the goldsmiths of Europe were under the necessity of building substantial vaults for their precious metals. As one might have expected, it wasn't long before many others asked to leave their gold in these vaults for safekeeping. The goldsmiths consented and gave each depositor a certificate which could be used to reclaim the precious metal at any time. These certificates were therefore considered 'as good as gold' and soon circulated in business channels as though they were gold.
"In fact, they were so much more convenient to handle than gold that very few depositors ever went back to the goldsmiths except to make more deposits.
"In very short order it became entirely apparent to the goldsmiths that since only a small percentage of the depositors came back for their gold, the goldsmiths only had to keep enough on hand as a 'reserve' to satisfy those who did come back. Realizing this, the goldsmiths decided they could safely issue considerably more gold certificates than the amount of gold 'on deposit.' By this set of fortuitous circumstances they had discovered how a shrewd goldsmith could issue certificates on gold he didn't have and thus become super rich by 'making money out of nothing.' Furthermore, these spurious certificates could be used to buy up all kinds of tangible property or they could be loaned out on interest. Here indeed was the royal road to wealth.
"Of course, it was important to keep a good "reserve" for those who did want to cash in their certificates, but this ordinarily involved only a fraction of the certificates in circulation. Thus 'fractional banking' was born.
Fractional Bankers Do Something Ordinary People Cannot Do
"It will be immediately realized that 'making money out of nothing' is selling something the money managers don't really have.
"We know it is considered criminal fraud if a person sells a house he doesn't own. The same thing is true if he sells something which doesn't exist and never will exist. Then how do the bankers get away with it? The answer is rather amazing.
"Apparently the bankers saw the danger of their position and decided to protect themselves by getting the government in on the deal. They reasoned that the government certainly wouldn't prosecute the bankers if the government itself were getting a significant benefit from the operation. So this is what the bankers set out to achieve, first in Europe and more recently in the United States.
"The trick was to create a privately owned bank for the whole country. By cutting the government in on the benefits, it became feasible to call the bank by a name which implied that it was an official branch of the government. This is precisely what William Paterson did when he set up the Bank of England. Similar banks soon appeared in every nation in Europe.
"Each of these central banks became the most powerful influence in its particular country, both economically and politically. It became the manager of money and credit for the nation. It handled major investments in agriculture, industry, homes, and factories. Best of all, it loaned money to the government, especially in times of an emergency such as a war.
"The governors of these banks soon found themselves in the position of managing the affairs of government as well as the economy.
Central Banks Suffer from Two Temptations
"The record shows that when the managers of a central bank in any particular country are looking around for ways and means to accumulate more wealth, they are often tempted by two things which are inherently evil and totally destructive to the foundation of civilized countries. One is to encourage an involvement in war so the nation will be forced to borrow heavily. Bonds (which are really government IOUs paying substantial interest to the lenders) are considered to be a most valuable form of collateral assets in a central bank.
"The other temptation is to promote a cycle of 'boom and bust' economics. This simply consists of starting a boom with generous loans at low interest and easy credit and after a few years suddenly raising the interest rates, calling in loans, and bankrupting homeowners, industries, farmers, and millions of people who had trusted the bank to continue its policies.
"Some economists, including Karl Marx, have tried to maintain that these boom-and-bust cycles are an inescapable characteristic of a free-market economy. The truth of the matter is that these so-called boom-and-bust cycles are primarily a phenomenon of manipulated economics, engineered by men who find themselves in an extremely powerful position to control money and credit but seem to lack the moral integrity to resist the opportunity of fleecing the common people who have genuinely trusted them."
The Founders' Answer to the Wall Street Mess
First of all, the people must recognize the current "crisis" is man-made and the market is trying to adjust to unnatural tampering of it by scheming financiers and politicians.
Secondly, it will do no good to put more band-aids on the boiler in the form of more debt brought about by the issuance of worthless money and credit created out of nothing. Eventually this inflated monetary bubble is going to burst unless it is gradually deflated by making basic changes to our system to restore sanity and honesty.
Thirdly, Americans must be aware that this is another attempt to further consolidate economic power. Politicians say that the credit markets are drying up, and yet the largest banks like Bank of America and J P Morgan Chase seem to have the money necessary to buyout the failing companies and banks. We seem to be fast approaching the predicted time when no one will be able to buy or sell without obeying the demands of those who have consolidated enormous economic power over us.
Fourthly, by their own admission, most politicians in Washington do not have answers to this current situation. It is definitely time, with an election coming soon, to make wholesale changes in public officials who really know the Founders proven, workable solutions and have the courage to implement them.
It is interesting that CNN, in a recent attempt to find answers, turned to a congressman who does know the answers to the current crisis. Here is what Congressman Ron Paul told CNN when asked his opinion about the proposed $700 billion bailout:
"Well, I think that's a mistake because we don't have the money. But that doesn't mean you have to do nothing. I mean, we could reform the system. We could return to sound money. We could balance our budget. We could change our foreign policy. We could take care of our people at home. We could lower taxes. There are a lot of things that we can do. But the worst thing that we can do is perpetuate the bad policies that gave us this trouble in the first place, and that is that we no longer, over the last quite a few decades, believed in free-market capitalism. Capital is supposed to come from savings. We're supposed to work hard and save.
"As a matter of fact, the Chinese work hard, right now, and they save, and they're buying up the world. But we borrow and spend and consume, and now it's caught up to us and it's undermining our whole system. ... So this $700 billion is not going to do it.
"... this plan does not help Main Street. This is Wall Street in big trouble and sucking in Main Street, now, and dumping all the bills on Main Street. ... And you can't solve the problem of inflation, which is the creation of money and credit out of thin air, by more money and credit out of thin air, and not changing policy. We have to change basic policy....
"Yes, it would be painful, but it wouldn't last so long. What they're doing now, they're propping up a failed system so the agony lasts longer. They're doing exactly what we did in the Depression.... So, yes, there are going to be losses, but everybody lived beyond their means when the prices of houses were going up. Nobody cared about it. They kept borrowing against it. Oh, yes, that was fine and dandy. Everybody was making money, and homeowners kept borrowing and living beyond their means. Now they have to live beneath their means....
"What the government is doing now -- and this new program is trying to prop up prices. You want the price structure to adjust. You want the price of houses to go down. You don't want to fix the price of housing. You can't price-fix. We've had too much of that. We need a market economy. We need to believe in ourselves. We need to believe and understand how the economy got us -- how the government got us into this mess. And believe me, it wouldn't be that tough. It would be a bad year. But, this way, it's going to be a bad decade."
Thomas Jefferson wrote much on education. These few quotes do not scratch the surface of his idea's, but are merely here in the hopes to generate an interest in our constitution, the men that constructed it, and the freedoms we fail to live, with in our modern day, through a long train of abuses.
Abuses of power and education.
"Education is the true correctiveof abuses of constitutional power."
Education, essential to preservation of Liberty. -
"Say... whether peace is best preserved by giving energy to the government, or information to the people. This last is the most certain and the most legitimate engine of government.. educate and inform the whole mass of the people. Enable them to see that it is their interest to preserve peace and order, and they will preserve them. And it requires no very high degree of education to convince them of this. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty". - To James Madison 1786.
"I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of Constitutional power."
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
Education, managed best by the private sector. -
"It should not be proposed to take the ordinary branches of education out of the hands of private enterprise, which manages so much better all the concerns to which it is equal". - sixth annual message to congress.
“If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions.”
“Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms (of government) those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny”
"Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one."
*These quotes and others by Thomas Jefferson can be found easily on the internet, as well books written on the subject of Thomas Jefferson's personal and political life. One book I found helpful is "The Real Thomas Jefferson" (The True Story Of America's Philosopher Of Freedom). This book can be found at a wonderful educational site about our Declaration Of Independence and U.S. Constitution at www.nccs.net
In this Blog we have provided a reference to "How Stuff Works" description of Initiative and Referendum. This is just a description of the mechanics and not an expose' on how well this process works. Be mindful of getting what the electorate wishes for.
Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 3:48PM ;)
