Impeachment: The Ultimate Stimulus Package
by Bill Huff
by Bill Huff
DIGG THIS
Printing money
does not recessions reverse. Can the President print enough paper
money to make us all Trillionaires? It’s possible – at
least on paper. Then we could all run around like a bunch of
Lottery Winners – or Congressmen.
When government
prints more money it devalues the rest of the paper in circulation.
More paper money means the money in your pocket is worth less and
less. More electronic money means the money in your electronic bank
account is worth less and less. This is not a mystery. All fiat
currencies eventually go up in smoke because too many people get
the idea that they can be one of the insiders riding on the backs
of the unwashed masses.
Self-preservation
and self-development are common aspirations among all people.
And if everyone enjoyed the unrestricted use of his faculties
and the free disposition of the fruits of his labor, social progress
would be ceaseless, uninterrupted, and unfailing.
But there
is also another tendency that is common among people. When they
can, they wish to live and prosper at the expense of others. This
is no rash accusation. Nor does it come from a gloomy and uncharitable
spirit. The annals of history bear witness to the truth of it:
the incessant wars, mass migrations, religious persecutions, universal
slavery, dishonesty in commerce, and monopolies. This fatal desire
has its origin in the very nature of man – in that primitive,
universal, and insuppressible instinct that impels him to satisfy
his desires with the least possible pain. – Frédéric
Bastiat
It remains
to be seen whether George W. Bush is a cynical insider or completely
unaware of the fundamentals of economics. Since his behavior patterns
appear narcissistic I would tend to think he sees himself as a powerful
insider. So I would give just a slight edge to narcissism over incompetence.
It is a tough call. He seems possessed of both.
I can almost
hear him saying, "How can the government run out of money when
we can always print more – or enter new balances into our computer
systems?" Isn’t that what he wants you to believe? When
the big giveaway day comes he will probably appear on the Telescreen
and try to make us all feel as though he is taking it out of his
own pocket. Perhaps he will suggest we buy some cake with our windfall.
The dollar
doesn’t fall all by itself – it has to be pushed.
Increasing
the money supply is a de facto tax against all the other
money in the world that is held in FRNs [Federal Reserve Notes –
Commonly but Erroneously called Dollars]. Paper Money is
unconstitutional for the United States according to Madison’s Notes
on the Constitutional Convention and numerous other authorities.
A Constitutionally-minded
president would be right behind Representative Ron Paul advocating
for the Abolition of The Federal Reserve Banking System and the
return to Lawful Money of Gold and Silver. He might also ask the
Congress to replace the IRS with something that might be dubbed:
"External Revenue Service."
The so-called
dollar is sliding fast since it is losing its grip as the reserve
currency for world oil markets. Gold and Silver "backing"
of the currency is only a vague memory. The foreign policy of "Take
our paper for your oil or we will bomb you back into the Stone Age,"
is losing its charm. The world is wising up to monetary science
and some of them seem to be getting a bit weary of being shaken
down. Mises is leaving his mark.
What a tremendous
opportunity this represents for all of us! Now is the time to Reinstate
the lawful monetary and foreign policy principles of the Founders
and Framers that are being promoted by only one presidential candidate:
The Honorable United States Representative Ron Paul of Texas. I
am so thankful that the smirks of John McCain cannot distract Dr.
Paul for one instant. He just keeps talking Liberty, Law and Constitution.
Go Ron Paul!
How can we
help speed up the renewal process? What actions can best effect
a restoration of American prestige and credibility on the world
stage? If those we have elected are not obeying the law and the
Constitution they must be removed and replaced – and the sooner
the better. This goes for every government servant from top to bottom.
Would having
Impeachment proceedings on the docket curb the abuses or hubris
of the current Administration? There is but one way to find out:
Start the Impeachment Proceedings. Google the term "Impeach"
to see what’s already in the Ether. People all over the Web are
contemplating the absolute necessity of Impeachment. This includes
our allies and our enemies as well as those nations who are wisely
unaligned.
The Congress
can probably Impeach based on indigestion if it so chooses.
They have the uncontrollable Constitutional authority. The
Smokescreen involving 400 or so "historians and scholars"
who claimed Clinton could Not be Impeached over the Monica Lewinski
Affair were engaging in sophomoric sophistry and proving their own
lack of professionalism and ethics. Perhaps those same historians
and scholars would advocate a Constitutional Amendment protecting
illicit sex in the Oval Office? How could the Framers have been
so shortsighted – so unscholarly?
Could Monica
have been a Red Herring? Is there a test for that?
Are there better
reasons to Impeach and Remove?
Clinton got
plenty of people killed under suspicious circumstances – and especially
at times when he was under political pressure at home. Only days
after several cruise missile barrages the Arab Street was calling
them the "Monica Missiles." The Clinton Impeachment should
have been based on answering for the unlawful deaths of our service
personnel and innocent civilians – and it may have risen to the
level of Felony Murder. He should have been in the witness stand
saying, "That depends on what the definition of ‘Murder’ is."
Then Bubba could have perjured himself real good!
The important
thing is to Impeach early and often – and for all the best Constitutional
reasons. Our Impeachment skills are rusty because we haven’t exercised
them as we should. Getting service personnel killed and maimed under
false pretenses is serious business. Could it be a High Crime? It
is certainly No Misdemeanor.
It is curious
to me that these reasons did not seem to disgust us more than the
Commander in Chief having his way with Monica in the Oval Office.
Someone apparently knew what would titillate the National Enquirer
readership just long enough.
Let’s consider
the Constitutional Clauses on Impeachment:
The House
of Representatives shall … have the sole Power of Impeachment.
– Article I, Section 2, Clause 5
The Senate
shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting
for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the
President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall
preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence
of two thirds of the Members present. – Article I Section 3, Clause
6
The Chief Justice
presides but does not decide. The Senate decides by not less
than the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.
Judgment
in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal
from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office
of Honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party
convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment,
Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law. – Article I,
Section 3, Clause 7.
The Presidential
Pardoning power cannot trump the Impeachment powers of the Congress:
The President
shall … have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences
against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment. – Article
II, Section 2, Clause 1
The President,
Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall
be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of,
Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. – Article
II, Section 4, Clause 1
Members of
the House and Senate cannot be removed by Impeachment and Conviction
– because the Legislature, being answerable to the People and the
States, is lawfully Above the Executive and Judicial Branches in
these matters – and We The People are Above them all.
There is No
Jury for Impeachment – which also affirms the absolute nature of
the Congressional prerogative:
The Trial
of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury.
– Article III, Section 2, Clause 3
So, the House
and the Senate together hold an uncontrollable monopoly on Impeachment
powers under the Constitution. This means, that, if they use these
powers unjustly, our ultimate recourse would be to vote them out
– but only after the fact. There are no provisions for punishing
the Congress for bad Impeachments – just as there are no provisions
for punishing Juries for their verdicts when they rule according
to their consciences and in the teeth of the law.
The Jury has
a Negative on bad laws – and the Congress has a Negative on defective
Presidents, Judges, and other Civil Officers of the United States.
Now if Washington
DC were not under a Dark Cloud of Collusion this would mean the
House and Senate would quickly rein in a Warmonger President or
a pack of Constitution-Hating Supreme Court Justices. It would be
unthinkable for the Congress to abrogate its authority to Declare
War. In fact, the Congress cannot lawfully delegate any of
its authorities to another Branch.
If the House
will not oil and tune its Impeachment Machine and the Senate will
not stand at the ready to Convict and Remove, we are stuck with
a clogged toilet that will not flush. Criminals in all three branches
of government will continue to have their way with our liberties.
This main check on power has not been in working order for most
of our history as a nation, e.g. Abraham
Lincoln was a bloody tyrant who should have been Impeached and
Removed long before he was assassinated.
Neither can
we afford to ignore the complementary problem of Congressional Recidivism.
Once elected the main goal becomes getting reelected. We have wandered
a long way from the original vision of citizen/statesmen who would
serve for a brief period with only modest compensation and then
return to the ruling class: We The People.
This is still
an Enforcement problem – and it is Never a good idea to make more
laws when you can’t enforce the primary law that would have solved
or prevented the problem. Enforcement problems occur when the People
have lost their knowledge of political affairs and their political
will.
Jefferson was
frustrated by this problem during the early days of the Republic:
Having found
from experience that impeachment is an impracticable thing, a
mere scarecrow, [the Judiciary] consider themselves secure for
life. – Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Ritchie, 1820. ME 15:297
I do not
charge the judges with wilful and ill-intentioned error; but honest
error must be arrested where its toleration leads to public ruin.
As for the safety of society, we commit honest maniacs to Bedlam;
so judges should be withdrawn from their bench whose erroneous
biases are leading us to dissolution. It may, indeed, injure them
in fame or in fortune; but it saves the republic, which is the
first and supreme law. – Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821.
ME 1:122
In his 1828
Elementary
Catechism on the Constitution of the United States, Arthur J.
Stansbury discussed the Stimulus Package for Presidential Scofflaws:
Q69:
May ever the President of the United States be thus impeached
and punished?
A69:
Yes. In this free and happy country no man is so great as to be
above the law. The laws are supreme; to them all persons, from
the President of the United States to the poorest and the meanest
beggar, must alike submit. This is our glory. Let every youthful
American exult that he has no master but the law; let him mark
the man who would change this happy state of things as an enemy
of his country; and above all let him remember that as soon as
he himself breaks the law, he becomes himself that enemy. Whoever
violates the law helps to weaken its force, and, as far as he
disobeys, does what in him lies to destroy it; but he who honors
and obeys the law strengthens the law, and thereby helps to preserve
the freedom and happiness of his country. In some governments
it is held that "the king can do no wrong;" here we know no king
but the law, no monarch but the constitution; we hold that every
man may do wrong; the higher he is in office, the more reason
there is that he be obliged to answer for his conduct; and a great
officer, if treacherous, is a great criminal, so that he ought
to be made to suffer a great and exemplary punishment.
While we may
disagree with Stansbury based on finer points of jurisdiction, which
is to say, the Laws of the United States are ultimately Under
We The People [we have no king whatsoever] and Over our Government
Servants who take an Oath to submit to such provisions as apply
to their limited, delegated authorities, we can agree with him that
the President of the United States should be an Exemplar of Obedience
to the Letter of the Law and the Constitution, and, that, if he
violates either, he becomes an Exemplary Criminal who should suffer
extreme consequences and ignominy. If ever there were a Man Without
A Country, it should be any president who violates his Oath
of office and commits premeditated Felonies in the name of the People
of the United States by using our armed services personnel as pawns
to be spent like a Fiat Stimulus Package.
Tragically,
most Americans are so ignorant of law and politics, not to mention
economics, that they may never know they are the object of such
unadulterated condescension. It may not be so much that they despise
their Birthright. They just need to know more about their inheritance
so they may be able to reclaim and hold on to it. They can and will
be educated.
Take heart!
The majority has never ruled for long. Those of us who support Ron
Paul because he supports Liberty and the Rule of Law will continue
to learn and teach – increasing the potential that more and more
Americans will be qualified to choose the appropriate Stimulus Package
for those who would waste and destroy our lives, our property, and
our liberty.
I have little
doubt that most of you reading this column are awake and alert to
the present dangers. But we all need to be encouraged and reenergized.
So I will once again quote Sam Adams, Father of the American Revolution:
It does not
take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority,
keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.
If you think
Ron Paul cannot make a difference; if you think puny little you
and me cannot make a difference, please take a little time and read
about Sam Adams, the
man for whom friends had to purchase a decent suit so he could attend
the Continental Congress.
If Sam would
not despair we certainly have no such right. He was the tenth child
of his parents – and one of only two to live past the age of three.
His parents were Pro-Life and Sam was Pro-Liberty. He was later
to be called "The Grand Incendiary." Apparently those
brushfires got out of hand.
Please note:
It has recently been determined by certain eminent scholars and
historians that Samuel Adams never had a Broadband Internet connection.
March
6, 2008
Bill
Huff [send him mail] is a
Classical Libertarian and proprietor of LEXREX.com
and JamTheCulture.com;
a former public school music teacher turned home schooling advocate;
a US Navy veteran, and host of WarIsARacket.com.
He
is available as a guest
lecturer or for interviews on talk radio.
Copyright
© 2008 Bill Huff
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