|
corysub -> RE: Republic or Democracy? (3/2/2009 9:17:00 AM)
|
I guess it' a truism that we get the government we deserve. As a group of people we have been so engrossed in the struggles in our own lives and generally gave a nod to whomever won the next election, pouted if our guy lost..but not really much more than if the Yankees beat the Mets as I did in NYC. Young people are not asked to serve the country in any way since the draft law ended in 1973 which, I believe, was a terrible mistake since so many of us came of age in those years of military service and came out the better for it.
Now, however, times are much different. We are seeing a collapse of the financial system globablly that has not been seen since the 1930's...home values in most of the country are down, albeit not as bad in the go go states of California, Nevada and Florida, as well as Detroit suffering from the collapse of the auto industry.
We are ALL focusing on our government and what the pols are doing to turn business around and prevent a deepening recession from turning into a depression. What we are waking up to is the fact that in those years of our acceptance of the "status quo" we are finding ourselves with a dysfunctional Congress fighting with the same bitterness if not the AK47's of the Sunni v Shite in Iraq, and led by a charismatic man that few really know, untested and with no experience. When Woodrow Wilson instituted the draft during WW1 some people of the day wrote that we had just gone from a constitutional republic to an "unconstitutional empire".
"There is no provision in the United States Constitution for drafting men to serve in foreign wars. Wilson "
ignored this fact, and so did Congress. So did the Supreme Court.
If there is a single piece of legislation that marks the final transition of the United States from a Constitutional republic to an unconstitutional empire, the imposition of the draft in 1917 was that event, in the opinion of some in that day. Lincoln had imposed the draft, but he defended this decision on the basis of putting down a domestic insurrection. The Confederacy had imposed the draft, but it defended this decision on the basis of defending against foreign invasion. Each decision was consistent with its respective view regarding the legality of secession. Each decision had a Constitutional justification. The draft of World War I did not."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north235.html
I have no clarity as to where we are heading today...only fears.
|
|
|
|
