23 Government
The Tyler Chronicle Winter, 2022 Worldwide Edition KUNSTLER Where are Clintons, these dog days of summer? The Hamptons? Salty, sunny Martha’s Vineyard? Under a rock somewhere in the Chappaqua woods? Fate is turning in more than one uncomfortable way for the once-charmed couple of Boomerdom. There is, of course, the freshly re-issued Jeffrey Epstein underage sex scandal, come ‘round again with a vengeance this time because there are fewer Clinton partisans left in the Department of Justice where the matter has festered for decades like a fistula slowly seeping its rot through the body politic. The vengeance emanates from the Clinton’s nemesis, the uppity Golden Golem of Greatness who dared to “steal” Hillary’s place in the Oval Office (and history). To put it plainly, Mr. Trump had enough of the two-year-plus persecution he endured from the Clinton-inspired Mueller investigation into the Clinton-propagated Russia Collusion flim-flam. And having patiently survived this audacious, seditious effrontery, is now out to squash the Clintons like a pair of palmetto bugs. At this fraught hour of a frightful age, one turns to a metaphysical contemplation of these two Clintons, Hill-and-Bill, and just what it is that they represented in our national life these many years. Mainly, what I wonder is just how much power and influence they exerted behind-the-scenes in Washington since their exit from the White House in 2001. For example, starting with the most recent shenanigans, the curious composition of Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel team, spiked with obvious Clinton insiders such as Andrew Weissmann, present at HRC’s aborted victory party on election night 2016, Jeannie Rhee, a lawyer for the Clinton Foundation, and several other former Obama-era DOJ staffers. How did that happen? How did Mr. Mueller get away with that? World Made by Hand: A ... James Howard Kunstler Best Price: $1.99 Buy New $10.72 (as of 09:40 EDT - Details) One obvious answer: the media titans ignored it. This leads the casual observer to ask; how did it work that revered pillars of The News, like The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC, CBS, and so many others became captives of the Clinton narrative? What is the reality there? Probably not so much that the Clinton’s actually control persons and agencies, but that they are figurehead monarchs of the bureaucratic monster called the Deep State; and that this Deep State has been doing everything possible to preserve its increasingly corrupt perquisites against the call to dismantle them — a.k.a. “draining the Swamp.” Can there be any shred of doubt left in this land that if anyone “colluded” with Russians to interfere in the 2016 election it was the Clinton Campaign’s Fusion GPS disinformation unit, which assembled The Narrative, with the assistance of CIA Director John Brennan, and peddled it to the willfully credulous FBI led by James Comey and the news media. We won’t rehash any more of this excruciatingly complex criminal project, except to note that it is now unraveling with equally painful blowback to the people responsible, including Hillary Rodham Clinton who may be liable for a heap of felony charges in the matter. All of that nasty business may redound to the various intrigues emanating from HRC’s years as Secretary of State, namely the fantastic hoovering up of hundreds of millions of dollars by the Clinton Foundation from foreign parties doing business with the State Department, including the Russian Federation. How did all that indecency slip through the cracks? Once again, the media ignored it because it would not advance their interests in gender and identity politics to investigate the avatar of the party promoting those crusades. And because the Obama Justice Department under Loretta Lynch deliberately looked the other way for similar reasons. And now there is the Epstein matter, which threatens not only former president Bill Clinton, but a cosmos of political, financial, and entertainment “stars” in countless ugly incidents that involve a kind of personal corruption that has no political context but says an awful lot about the obliteration of moral and ethical boundaries by the people who ended up running things in this fretful moment of US history. President Clinton has already kicked off this debacle by lying to the media about the number of rides he took on Mr. Epstein’s notorious airplane. The Long Emergency: Su... James Howard Kunstler Best Price: $1.12 Buy New $2.99 (as of 10:50 EDT - Details) I voted for Bill Clinton twice. When they came up from the backwater of Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1992, they seemed like the fresh, bright antidote to twelve years of fusty Reaganism with the GHW Bush moldy cherry-on-top. Governor Bill, so glib and charming. Tall and catnip to the ladies, too! And almost immediately he was in deep shit over that part of his act, but he wiggled through it all with the aid of his perky, stalwart wife and partner, who defended him sedulously on nationwide TV. (America had never even heard about her misadventures on the Watergate Committee, where, age 27, she gained a reputation for being less than honest.) And that was followed by the first instance of Hillary moneygrubbing when she turned a few thousand bucks into a six-figure bonanza almost overnight in a wired commodities trade. After all that bother they mostly minded their manners in the White House until Bill got all sexed up by Miss Lewinsky, and they managed to slip through that fiasco without penalty. It was really in the years following — after they left the White House copping some historic GI furnishings, and got caught doing it — that they put together their fabulous empire of grift known as the Clinton Foundation, with its do-good cover act called the Clinton Global Initiative. Curiously now, we learn that Bill was pretending to be on various world-saving missions during many of those trips he took on the Epstein Travel Service plane. We’ll see how that pans out going forward. When all is said and done, the official business of going forward with these various scandals and their unwindings may prove to be the most nauseating and destabilizing period in our nation’s history. Nemesis is rising. Reprinted with permission from Kunstler.com. The Best of James Howard Kunstler ___________________________________More Politics: a Page Worth Reading! COMMUNISM IN AMERICA BY BOBBY D. MOORE IN 1848, KARL MARX WROTE THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO, DESCRIBING IN SOME DETAIL THE AIMS AND BASIC TENETS OF COMMUNISM. WITHIN THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO MARX DESCRIBES THE TEN STEPS NECESSARY TO DESTROY A FREE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM AND REPLACE IT WITH AN ALL POWERFUL COMMUNIST, SOCIALIST DICTATORSHIP. THESE TEN STEPS ARE KNOWN AS THE "TEN PLANKS" OF THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO. AND SAD TO SAY, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM IS CURRENTLY IN PLACE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. LOOKING BACK, IT SEEMS INCREDIBLE THAT SUCH A THING COULD HAVE HAPPENED. BUT IT HAS. I DON'T REMEMBER EVER BEING TAUGHT THE TEN PLANKS OF THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO EITHER IN HIGH SCHOOL OR COLLEGE. I SHOULD HAVE BEEN. IF I HAD BEEN AWARE OF THEM AS I AM NOW, YOU CAN BE SURE THAT I WOULD HAVE BEEN USING THAT INFORMATION TO FIGHT COMMUNISM. IGNORANCE MAY BE BLISS, BUT IT CAN ALSO BE FATAL. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO FIGHT AN INVISIBLE ENEMY; AN ENEMY MADE INVISIBLE BY OUR IGNORANCE. NOW PROVIDENCE HAS PLACED ME HERE TO REVEAL THIS INFORMATION TO YOU. IF YOU FAIL TO ACT UPON IT THE BURDEN OF GUILT FALLS UPON YOUR SHOULDERS. IN THE MINUTES AHEAD, I AM GOING TO GIVE YOU THESE TEN PLANKS OF COMMUNISM DIRECTLY FROM THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO ITSELF. IN ADDITION, I WILL GIVE YOU THE WAYS IN WHICH THEY HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTED (GRAFTED) INTO OUR GOVERNMENT. WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ WILL DISTURB, AMAZE AND SICKEN YOU. WHAT SHOULD ALARM YOU MOST IS THAT YOU HAVE BEEN CONDITIONED TO ACCEPT THEM AS A NORMAL ASPECT OF LIFE IN THE GOOD OL' USA! COMMUNIST MANIFESTO; PLANK NUMBER ONE ABOLITION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY AND THE APPLICATION OF ALL RENTS OF LAND TO PUBLIC PURPOSES. AND HOW IS THIS BEING ACCOMPLISHED IN AMERICA? HOW ABOUT PROPERTY TAXES? DON'T PAY THEM FOR A WHILE AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS... YOU WILL BE EVICTED FROM THE PROPERTY YOU THOUGHT YOU OWNED. YOU ARE, IN REALITY, PAYING RENT TO THE GOVERNMENT FOR THE USE OF THE PROPERTY YOU THOUGHT WAS YOURS! ZONING IS THE FIRST STEP. TAXING DISTRICTS SET UP TO COLLECT PROPERTY TAXES, SCHOOL TAXES, AND THE GOOD OLE' BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT ARE ALL THERE TO HELP IMPLIMENT COMMUNIST MANIFESTO PLANK NUMBER ONE. AND THEN THERE'S THE 14TH AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION. READ IT SOME TIME, IF YOU CAN TEAR YOURSELF AWAY FROM "DANCING WITH THE STARS" LONG ENOUGH TO DO IT.COMMUNIST MANIFESTO; PLANK NUMBER TWO. A HEAVY, PROGRESSIVE INCOME TAX. THIS CAME ABOUT IN AMERICA IN 1913 AS A MISAPPLICATION OF THE 16TH AMENDMENT AND LATER THE JOINT HOUSE RESOLUTION 192 OF 1933. THEN THERE WAS THE SOCIAL "SECURITY" ACT OF 1936 AND NUMEROUS STATE "INCOME" TAXES.
COMMUNIST MANIFESTO; PLANK NUMBER THREE. ABOLUTION OF ALL RIGHTS OF INHERITANCE THIS IS BEING BROUGHT ABOUT BY REFORMED PROBATE LAWS AND LIMITED INHERITANCE TAX LAWS. THE FEDERAL AND STATE ESTATE TAX LAW OF 1916. COMMUNIST MANIFESTO; PLANK NUMBER FOUR. CONFISCATION OF THE PROPERTY OF ALL EMIGRANTS AND REBELS SEIZURES", TAX LIENS, OR PUBLIC "LAW" 99-570 (19860). OR HOW ABOUT EXECUTIVE ORDER NUMBER 11490, SECTIONS 1205, AND 2002 WHICH GIVES THAT PRIVATE LAND YOU THOUGHT YOU OWNED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT. THEN THERE'S THE 1997 CRIME/TERRORIST BILL WHICH ALLOWS IMPRISONMENT OF THOSE WHO SPEAK OUT OR WRITE AGAINST THE "GOVERNMENT". AND REMEMBER THE IRS CONFISCATION OF PROPERTY WITHOUT DUE PROCESS, AND THE ASSET FORFEITURE LAWS EMPLOYED BY ATF, DEA, ETC., ETC.COMMUNIST MANIFESTO; PLANK NUMBER FIVE. CENTRALIZATION OF CREDIT IN THE HANDS OF THE STATE, BY MEANS OF A NATIONAL BANK WITH STATE CAPITAL AND AN EXCLUSIVE MONOPOLY. YOU KNOW THIS HANDY LITTLE COMMUNIST TOOL CREATED IN 1913 AS THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK (WHICH IS NOT A FEDERAL BANK, BY THE WAY). INTERESTINGLY, THE FED IS SUPPOSEDLY REGULATED BY THE FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION, THE (FDIC) WHICH IS NOT FEDERAL AT ALL. IT IS ALSO A PRIVATELY OWNED CORPORATION.COMMUNIST MANIFESTO; PLANK NUMBER SIX. CENTRALIZATION OF THE MEANS OF COMMUNICATION AND TRANSPORTATION IN THE HANDS OF THE STATE. YOU CAN SEE THIS PLANK IMPLIMENTED IN MANY WAYS, SUCH AS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (DOT) REGULATIONS, AND DRIVERS LICENSES AS REQUIRED BY THE STATE... AND EXECUTIVE ORDERS 11490, 10999. THE ICC ACT OF 1887, THE COMMISSIONS ACT OF 1934; THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION ESTABLISHED IN 1938, THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION, AND THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION.COMMUNIST MANIFESTO; PLANK NUMBER SEVEN. EXTENSION OF FACTORIES AND INSTRUMENTS OF PRODUCTION OWNED (CONTROLLED OR SUBSIDIZED)BY THE STATE, BRINGING INTO CULTIVATION OF WASTE LANDS AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE SOIL GENERALLY IN ACCORDANCE WITH A COMMON PLAN. IN OTHER WORDS, BIG TIME FEDERAL CONTROL OF AGRICULTURE. IS IT HERE? YOU BET YOUR BOOTS IT IS! CHECK OUT THE DESERT ENTRY ACT, THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR, THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, THE ENVIRONMENTAL "PROTECTION" AGENCY, THE BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION, THE BUREAU OF MINES, AND IRS REGULATIONS WITH WHICH THEY CONTROL BUSINESS. COMMUNIST MANIFESTO; PLANK NUMBER EIGHT. EQUAL LIABILITY OF ALL TO LABOR. ESTABLISHMENT OF INDUSTRIAL ARMIES, ESPECIALLY FOR AGRICULTURE. HERE WE GO AGAIN! WE SEE IT IN THE FORM OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION AND THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR. THE NATIONAL DEBT AND INFLATION CREATED THROUGH THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK HAS MADE IT NECESSARY FOR BOTH THE HUSBAND AND WIFE TO WORK TO SUPPORT THE FAMILY. WOMEN HAVE BEEN IN THE WORKPLACE SINCE THE 1920'S! ADD TO THE LIST; THE 19TH AMENDMENT, THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964, EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000, THE FEDERAL PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAM, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, AND NUMEROUS SOCIALIST LABOR UNIONS. COMMUNIST MANIFESTO; PLANK NUMBER NINE. COMBINATION OF AGRICULTURE WITH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES, GRADUAL ABOLITION OF THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN TOWN AND COUNTRY, BY A MORE EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION OVER THE COUNTRY. YOU MAY KNOW IT AS VARIOUS ZONING ACTS (TITLE 17 1910-1990), THOSE GOOD OLD EXECUTIVE ORDERS AGAIN (NUMBERS 11647 AND 11731) WHICH DIVIDE THE NATION INTO TEN COMMUNIST INSPIRED "REGIONS". YOU MAY KNOW IT AS THE PLANNING REORGANIZATION ACT OF 1949 AND AS PUBLIC LAW 89-136. FORCED RELOCATION? FORCED STERILIZATION? IT'S RIGHT HERE ON YOUR DOORSTEP! COMMUNIST MANIFESTO; PLANK NUMBER TEN. FREE EDUCATION FOR ALL CHILDREN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. ABOLITION OF CHILDREN'S FACTORY LABOR IN ITS PRESENT FORM. COMBINATION OF EDUCATION WITH INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION. OH BOY! FREE EDUCATION! SOUNDS GREAT, DOESN'T IT? BUT LIKE SO MANY OTHER PROMISES OF COMMUNISM, A CLOSER LOOK REVEALS IT TO BE SOMETHING OTHER THAN WHAT IT APPEARS TO BE. CURRENTLY YOU ARE BEING FORCED (IE TAXED) TO SUPPORT THE SO-CALLED 'PUBLIC' SCHOOL SYSTEM. YOU DON'T HAVE A CHOICE. YOU EITHER PAY, OR YOU SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES. WHETHER OR NOT YOU HAVE ANY CHILDREN IN SCHOOL IS IRRELEVANT. TODAY'S 'PUBLIC' SCHOOLS IN AMERICA ARE NOT EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. THEY ARE, RATHER, TRAINING CENTERS WHICH SERVE TO INCULCATE THEIR STUDENTS WITH A STEADY DIET OF GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA. THEY ARE INDOCTRINATION CENTERS. THEY ARE TRAINED TO WORK FOR THE 'COMMUNAL DEBT SYSTEM' UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, THE NEA, AND OUTCOME BASED 'EDUCATION'. SO, THERE YOU HAVE IT. THE TEN PLANKS OF THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO. AND MAY I REMIND YOU... I DIDN'T WRITE THE DAMNED THING. KARL MARX WROTE IT. AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE PLANKS IS IN PLACE IN OUR GOVERNMENT TODAY, IN THE FORM OF "LAWS" AND EXECUTIVE ORDERS ISSUED BY YOUR ELECTED PRESIDENTS AND BY YOUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES, BOTH DEMOCRAT AND REPUBLICAN! IF YOU GIVE A TINKER'S DAMN ABOUT THIS ONCE GREAT NATION; IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE LIGHT OF FREEDOM RESTORED TO OUR PEOPLE; YOU MUST LEARN THE TRUTH. IGNORANCE AND APATHY ARE WHAT HAVE PUT US IN THE MESS WE'RE IN! AND AS I ALWAYS TELL YOU; DON'T BELIEVE WHAT I TELL YOU WITHOUT VERIFICATION. CHECK IT OUT FOR YOURSELF. I HAVE GIVEN YOU THE TEN PLANKS OF THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM THE BOOK ITSELF. IN ADDITION, I HAVE REFERRED YOU TO THE LEGISLATION AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES WHICH HAVE BEEN, AND ARE BEING USED TO IMPLIMENT THEM. READ FOR YOURSELF. RESEARCH FOR YOURSELF. LEARN THE TRUTH. AND IF KARL MARX WERE ALIVE TODAY, HE WOULD CHEERFULLY ADMIT, THAT BY HIS OWN STANDARDS AS REPRESENTED BY THE TEN PLANKS, AMERICA IS ALREADY A COMMUNIST STATE. REMEMBER, A DUCK, BY ANY OTHER NAME IS STILL A DUCK. ___________________________________
The Political Doctrine of Statism by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. The Patriot Act that was rammed through after the September 2001 attacks was one of the more egregious blows against liberty in our lifetimes. It shredded core rights and liberties that had been taken for granted for centuries. Liberties are never lost all at once, but the Patriot Act, as disgusting in its details as in its name and the rhetoric that surrounded it, was for the United States the turning point, the law that best exemplifies a full-scale embrace of statism as a national ideology. It is a law so severe, so outlandish, as to cause people to forget what it means to be free. This is why I believe Ron Paul’s book Liberty Defined to be one of the most important statements of our time. He defines liberty clearly and cleanly as freedom from coercive interference from the state. That is how the liberal tradition from Aquinas to Jefferson to Rothbard understood it, too, for there is no greater threat to liberty than the state. Its powers must be crushed if we are to revisit what liberty means.. Ron goes further to apply the principle of liberty in many of the most controversial areas of modern life. The purpose here is not to detail some governing blueprint. What Ron seeks to do is much more important. He seeks to fire up the human imagination in ways that permit people to think outside the prevailing statist norms.. In 1945, Ludwig von Mises wrote a similar book called Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War. It is probably the most blistering and thorough attack on National Socialism ever written. He details the peculiar characteristics of Nazi-style statism (its nationalism rooted in the worship of bloodlines). Just as importantly – and very unusually for this genre of writing – Mises sought to explain how Nazism is only a symptom of a larger problem, which is statism itself. He regarded statism as a special doctrine that people come to embrace often without entirely understanding its teaching and claims. It emerges within a context of economic or security emergency.. There is always some great excuse for the trashing of the human freedom that built civilization as we know it. If the state cannot find one, it is glad to invent one. A population that is ideologically gullible or afraid for its security can permit government to run roughshod over people’s rights and liberties, and a government that gains such power never gives it back on its own. Rights and liberties must be reclaimed by the people themselves, and the spark that makes this happen is reversing the conditions that permitted the rise of statism. The people must lose their gullibility through ideological enlightenment, and they must lose their sense of fear that the world will fall apart if the tyrant is not in control. . Part of this process of enlightenment requires an understanding of what was lost when we gave up liberty, and what can be gained by reclaiming it. Mises’s book did not overlook this task, with a pithy description of the traditional classical liberal vision:. In order to grasp the meaning of this liberal program we need to imagine a world order in which liberalism is supreme. Either all the states in it are liberal, or enough are so that when united they are able to repulse an attack of militarist aggressors. In this liberal world, or liberal part of the world, there is private property in the means of production. The working of the market is not hampered by government interference. There are no trade barriers; men can live and work where they want. Frontiers are drawn on the maps but they do not hinder the migrations of men and shipping of commodities. Natives do not enjoy rights that are denied to aliens. Governments and their servants restrict their activities to the protection of life, health, and property against fraudulent or violent aggression. They do not discriminate against foreigners. The courts are independent and effectively protect everybody against the encroachments of officialdom. Everyone is permitted to say, to write, and to print what he likes. Education is not subject to government interference. Governments are like night-watchmen whom the citizens have entrusted with the task of handling the police power. The men in office are regarded as mortal men, not as superhuman beings or as paternal authorities who have the right and duty to hold the people in tutelage. Governments do not have the power to dictate to the citizens what language they must use in their daily speech or in what language they must bring up and educate their children. Administrative organs and tribunals are bound to use each man's language in dealing with him, provided this language is spoken in the district by a reasonable number of residents.. We could add to this beautiful list of traits of a liberal society. There is no welfare state (and there was not before Bismarck and FDR).There are no passports (and there were not before World War I). There are no government identification cards (there were not before World War II). People can use any currency they want to use (people could do so before the Civil War). They can accumulate wealth and pass it on to their children with the full knowledge and expectation that their children’s children will benefit too (so it was before World War I). They can innovate in the commercial marketplace without fear of courts, lawsuits, regulators, taxmen, and the customs house. They can negotiate all contracts, associate or disassociate, and hire and fire as they see fit. They do not hear government propaganda piped into stores and other public places. They do not even have to care about politics because the state is so limited and nearly powerless that not even the worst of people can change its essential functioning.. This is not a far-flung dream. Mises’s explanation here is a composite of how liberty has worked in various times and various places over the last several hundred years. And he wrote this as a reminder of what people have lost in surrendering their lives and the functioning of society over to government power.. The point that Mises was making with his book was that it is not enough to hate a particular regime; we must oppose the ideological underpinnings of that regime and see what it has in common with the universal experience of tyranny. Nor is it enough merely to oppose government. We must also come to love liberty, to see and understand how it works even though we live in times when liberty is ever less seen, and ever less understood. This was the burden of his great book: to highlight Nazism as a particular application of the broader menace of statism itself.. This is also the point of Ron Paul’s Liberty Defined. Yes, he opposes government as we know it. Much more importantly and much more profoundly, he understands the liberty that we do not know, and he strives to help us to love it, dream of it, and work for its achievement.. It doesn’t surprise me that Ron’s own son Rand Paul turns out to be the only member of the U.S. Senate to dare to stand up to the Patriot Act and call it what it is. He has staked his political career on his action to stop its reauthorization. It is truly the case that if we can’t see what is wrong with the Patriot Act, we can’t see what is wrong with any despotism in the past or the present. If we can see what is wrong with it, we have a good start on beginning to see what is right about human liberty.. May 26, 2011. Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. [send him mail], former editorial assistant to Ludwig von Mises and congressional chief of staff to Ron Paul, is founder and chairman of the Mises Institute, executor for the estate of Murray N. Rothbard, and editor of LewRockwell.com. See his books.. Copyright © 2011 by LewRockwell.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given. ___________________________________Are We Following the Path of Ancient Rome? by Bobby D. Moore I first published the following comments in the spring of 1981. In the three decades since, nothing has happened to change my predictions or opinions. In fact, the probabilities have become near certainties. “In the second century of the Christian era, the Empire of Rome comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilized portion of mankind.” (Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire) The first seven centuries of the Roman Empire's existence were filled with a rapid succession of triumphs. It seemed that the ambitious design of subduing the whole earth was within reach. Then came the inexorable decay and decline resulting ultimately in the total collapse of this once great and haughty nation. Historians have carefully recorded conditions which were present before and during the collapse of Rome. And as Americans we could benefit greatly from a study of this period. Someone once said that “He who refuses to learn from the mistakes of the past is sure to repeat them”. There are those who would have us believe that our nation is following the same road to ruin as ancient Rome. There is little doubt in my mind that this is true. The Roman Empire lasted for about a thousand years. The United States has survived for only two hundred. Whether it will make it through the next fifty or one hundred is questionable. The attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan should sound a warning to us all. We are living in dangerous and uncertain times. During the last days of Rome, becoming emperor was equivalent to a death sentence. In ancient Rome, the nobler the man, the surer and quicker was his destruction. Things had become perverse. The majority of those in power were corrupt. So whenever an honest individual rose to a position of power, he was immediately viewed as a threat by those dishonest and corrupt individuals around him. And he was quickly destroyed. The noble and ignoble alike knew the same fate. In my opinion, Ronald Reagan is the closest thing to an honest man to occupy the white house in a long time. The odds are against him. He is trying to do too many things right. In a society that is largely corrupt, honesty will not be tolerated. The honest man is a threat to too many who have built their entire lives around dishonesty and the government dole. The parallels between our condition and that of ancient Rome are striking. Consider, for example, the “law”. In Rome, Gibbon writes, “The execution of the laws was venal and arbitrary. A wealthy criminal might obtain, not only the reversal of the sentence by which he was justly condemned; but might likewise inflict whatever punishment he pleased on the accuser, the witnesses, and the judge.” In other words, one got as much “justice” as he could afford. Distinction of any kind became criminal. Internal strife, civil wars. Gibbons notes the great causes of the downfall of Rome. In today's America, thousands are simply “stepping out of line”. These are the wise ones. They realize that equity does not exist in our system, and are “turned off” by the relentless and essentially meaningless pressures of our society. The man with the goat, a garden, chickens and pigs who punches no timeclock and answers to no master is philosopher and king. He seeks an opportunity, even amid decay to find satisfaction and independence ___________________________________
The tree of liberty is watered by the blood of patriots and tyrants".... Thomas Jefferson... ___________________________________U.S. ConstitutionWe the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Article. I. Section. 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. Section. 2.The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature. No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen. Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons [Modified by Amendment XIV]. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three. When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies. The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. Section. 3.The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof [Modified by Amendment XVII], for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote. Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies [Modified by Amendment XVII]. No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen. The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided. The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States. 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. 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. Section. 4.The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December [Modified by Amendment XX], unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day. Section. 5.Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide. Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member. Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal. Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. Section. 6.The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place. No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office. Section. 7.All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills. Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States;[2] If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law. Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill. Section. 8.The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; To borrow Money on the credit of the United States; To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes; To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States; To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures; To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States; To establish Post Offices and post Roads; To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries; To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court; To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations; To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; To provide and maintain a Navy; To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces; To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress; To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; — And To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof. Section. 9.The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person. The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it. No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed. No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken. No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State. No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another; nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another. No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time. No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State. Section. 10.No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility. No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection Laws; and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress. No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay. Article. II. Section. 1.The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows: Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector. The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; a quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President [Modified by Amendment XII]. The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States. No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States. In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected [Modified by Amendment XXV]. The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them. Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation: — "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Section. 2.The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment. He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments. The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session. Section. 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States. Section. 4. 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. III. Section. 1. The judicial Power of the United States shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office. Section. 2.The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority; — to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls; — to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction; — to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party; — to Controversies between two or more States; — between a State and Citizens of another State [Modified by Amendment XI]; — between Citizens of different States; — between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects. In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make. The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed. Section. 3.Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court. The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted. Article. IV. Section. 1. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof. Section. 2.The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime. No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due [Modified by Amendment XIII]. Section. 3.New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress. The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State. Section. 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic Violence. Article. V. The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate [Possibly abrogated by Amendment XVII]. Article. VI. All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation. This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States. Article. VII. The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same. The Word, "the," being interlined between the seventh and eighth Lines of the first Page, The Word "Thirty" being partly written on an Erazure in the fifteenth Line of the first Page, The Words "is tried" being interlined between the thirty second and thirty third Lines of the first Page and the Word "the" being interlined between the forty third and forty fourth Lines of the second Page. Attest William Jackson Secretary done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names, Go. WASHINGTON — Presidt. and deputy from Virginia New Hampshire { JOHN LANGDON NICHOLAS GILMAN Massachusetts { NATHANIEL GORHAM RUFUS KING Connecticut { WM. SAML. JOHNSON ROGER SHERMAN New York . . . . ALEXANDER HAMILTON New Jersey { WIL: LIVINGSTON DAVID BREARLEY. WM. PATERSON. JONA: DAYTON Pennsylvania { B FRANKLIN THOMAS MIFFLIN ROBT MORRIS GEO. CLYMER THOS. FITZ SIMONS JARED INGERSOLL JAMES WILSON GOUV MORRIS Delaware { GEO: READ GUNNING BEDFORD jun JOHN DICKINSON RICHARD BASSETT JACO: BROOM Maryland { JAMES MCHENRY DAN OF ST THOS. JENIFER DANL CARROLL Virginia { JOHN BLAIR JAMES MADISON jr North Carolina { WM. BLOUNT RICHD. DOBBS SPAIGHT HU WILLIAMSON South Carolina { J. RUTLEDGE CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY CHARLES PINCKNEY PIERCE BUTLER Georgia { WILLIAM FEW ABR BALDWIN In Convention Monday, September 17th, 1787. Present The States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, MR. Hamilton from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Resolved, That the preceeding Constitution be laid before the United States in Congress assembled, and that it is the Opinion of this Convention, that it should afterwards be submitted to a Convention of Delegates, chosen in each State by the People thereof, under the Recommendation of its Legislature, for their Assent and Ratification; and that each Convention assenting to, and ratifying the Same, should give Notice thereof to the United States in Congress assembled. Resolved, That it is the Opinion of this Convention, that as soon as the Conventions of nine States shall have ratified this Constitution, the United States in Congress assembled should fix a Day on which Electors should be appointed by the States which have ratified the same, and a Day on which the Electors should assemble to vote for the President, and the Time and Place for commencing Proceedings under this Constitution. That after such Publication the Electors should be appointed, and the Senators and Representatives elected: That the Electors should meet on the Day fixed for the Election of the President, and should transmit their Votes certified, signed, sealed and directed, as the Constitution requires, to the Secretary of the United States in Congress assembled, that the Senators and Representatives should convene at the Time and Place assigned; that the Senators should appoint a President of the Senate, for the sole purpose of receiving, opening and counting the Votes for President; and, that after he shall be chosen, the Congress, together with the President, should, without Delay, proceed to execute this Constitution. By the Unanimous Order of the Convention Go. WASHINGTON — Presidt . W. JACKSON Secretary. Notes: 1. The title was not a part of the original document. It was added when the document was printed. 2. Our scanned images show this as a semi-colon, which can be seen in the image at the National Archives NOTE: If you have commentaries regarding government, feel free to send them by email to: editor@thetylerchronicle.com. ___________________________________ |
