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P.O. Box 25155 Colorado Springs, Colorado 80936 Board of Directors Lana Fore-Warkocz, Publisher lana@theconstitutionalisttoday.com Julie Ayers, Editor in Chief julie@theconstitutionalisttoday.com William T. Gillin, Founding Editor bill@theconstitutionalisttoday.com Teddy M. Otero IV, Online Editor web@theconstitutionalisttoday.com Joan Eich, Board Secretary joan@theconstitutionalisttoday.com Editorial Advisory Board
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Resolve to Support Principles over Power Julie Ayers, Editor in Chief I have never been one to believe in New Year’s resolutions. They just add undue stress to my life and when my resolve fails, I berate myself for not having the stamina to carry through with my resolution. Let’s be honest. How long do our resolutions last? A few weeks? A few months? Isn’t the purpose of a New Year’s resolution that it should continue through the entire year? How can I endure a resolution to eat healthier for 12 months, or to read only educational books for 365 days? What about those moments of weakness when I lapse into a junk food frenzy, or want to curl up with a juicy novel (God forbid!)? That is too much to expect of a mortal being, too much pressure. Well, after witnessing some enlightening events this past year, I have decided
to buck my tradition of a “No resolution New Year” in 2011. More than ever, I am resolved and determined not to let my party officials think for me, or tell me how to vote, or for whom to vote. Yes, I’m a Republican, but first and foremost I’m a conservative. I am proud to be part of the liberty movement. I will not be bullied or intimidated into voting for someone or something I don’t believe in. I am not impressed by titles, money and power. I am impressed by actions. I am impressed by people who work hard to earn my vote, who have strong convictions, who stand firm on their principles and whose loyalty is not for sale. One such individual is our GOP El Paso County Chair Andy Merritt. I am proud that Andy represents our county and proud of how he stood his ground against the GOP elitists this past year. Thank you
for your strong resolve, Andy. If all our GOP officials were as loyal and committed to party unity as you are, we wouldn’t have this ugly division of “establishment” and grassroots that is tearing us apart. My suggested New Year’s resolution for Republicans: Elect and support principled people to GOP offices whose focus will be strengthening our party through unity, not destroying it with power struggles. That is a resolution I can get behind. Julie Ayers has worked in the journalism field for 13 years. As a former Army wife and great niece of five WWII vets, she is an avid supporter of our troops. She is the proud mother of two sons and strives to give them a better future.
9/12: Beyond the Politics Dwan Rager, Featured Writer It has been a busy year for the 9/12 Pikes Peak Patriots. They waved signs all over the city to share their viewpoint about issues that concerned them. They attended their caucus, state, and county assemblies in an effort to put men and women into office who would support and defend their values of less government and more freedom. They e-mailed, faxed and called their representatives to remind them that they work for us, the people, and to vote accordingly. It’s been a year of engaging in the political process in order to affect the change that they believe in and it’s been a year of several mountain top experiences and some pretty low valleys as well. However, it hasn’t been all politics. Though they worked hard to affect change
for the better in their local, state and federal government, Pikes Peak Patriots also participated in things that would have a positive influence and make a difference in their community and beyond. Over the past year, they adopted an Air Force unit in Afghanistan and sent them items from home, just to remind them they are not forgotten and are very much appreciated. A few weeks ago, at their second annual Christmas party, they collected toys for boys and girls of all ages and later distributed them to a local outlet of Toys for Tots here in Colorado Springs. That initiative wasn’t done out of a sense of obligation; 9/12ers are generous people with big hearts, and reaching out to help someone in need comes quite naturally. While 2011 promises to hold as many political challenges as this past year, de-
spite some of the victories won, the 9/12 Pikes Peak Patriots are up for whatever awaits them. No matter what happens in the political arena, however, they won’t lose sight of the fact that there are people all over our community and serving us overseas for whom signs, e-mails and political phone calls won’t matter as much as an encouraging word, a gift of appreciation or a little token of compassion and caring. Dwan Rager is an RN but is currently working to promote the values and principles so important to her and others as a local leader with the 9/12 Project. She is excited about the impact that the 9/12 Pikes Peak Patriots in Colorado Springs and so many others are having on the local, state and national levels.
About Our Content: The Constitutionalist Today provides a voice for freedom-loving Americans and urges them to action. Our aim is to educate citizens about our nation’s founding documents and to analyze current events based on their principles. At the present, we do not offer investigative, in-depth hard news reporting. While lovers of liberty share many common values, our opinions sometimes differ. This paper’s staff and writers possess a range of worldviews from religious to secular and from conservative to libertarian. A diverse group, our Founding Fathers also had their differences. However, those who established the greatest free nation on earth were united in their love of liberty and resistance to tyranny. Today, we are likewise united in our love for those founding ideals. That said, the opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the staff of The Constitutionalist Today.
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The Constitution Made Easy
Necessary and Proper Mike Holler, Featured Writer
A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned— this is the sum of good government. -Thomas Jefferson
Of the three loopholes Congress has used over the years to expand its powers, and strip us of the freedom to “regulate our own pursuits,” perhaps the silliest and most transparent has been the use of the words, “necessary and proper” from Article 1, Section 8, Clause 18, to imply that they could enact any laws they felt were necessary or proper. The first 17 clauses grant Congress a clear list of powers under the headings of “common defense” and “general welfare.” The eighteenth clause does not grant any new power to Congress; let alone the “sweeping powers” they have often assumed under it. It is not an “elastic clause” as some are taught in law school, but merely an “enablement, or implementation, clause.” From the Constitutional Convention forward, these words meant exactly what any high school English teacher would construe them to mean. Congress was given the power to write laws that were necessary and proper in order to implement the powers just granted in clauses one through 17. There was no new power being granted, except the power to write laws that turn the enumerated powers into action.
As the original intent of the founders to create a limited federal government fades into the past, and the intent of the current government to replace it with an unlimited one looms in the present, it is worth noting the deliberateness and clarity with which the founders spoke. James Wilson from Pennsylvania is the man who proposed this clause at the Constitutional
Beginning with the 13th Amendment in 1865, Congress began to routinely do what Hamilton suggested might be done. They attached a law-making clause to nearly every amendment (except those that affected only government operations such as presidential terms and succession). These amendments usually say, [The] Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
For almost a century, Congress as a whole has done as much as they could get away with, and viewed the Constitution as an obstacle. Convention. Even Madison and Hamilton may take a back seat for a moment, because no one would be more capable of interpreting his own words than the man himself. At the Pennsylvania State Convention, Wilson explained that the words he placed into the Constitution are, …limited and defined by the following, “ for carrying into execution the foregoing powers.” It is saying no more than the powers we have already particularly given, shall be effectually carried into execution.
In The Federalist No. 33, Alexander Hamilton confirms this understanding. About these very words he stated that, …it may be affirmed with perfect confidence that the constitutional operation of the intended government would be precisely the same, if these clauses were entirely obliterated, as if they were repeated in every article. … The declaration itself, though it may be chargeable with tautology or redundancy, is at least perfectly harmless.
These implementation clauses did nothing to increase the power of Congress associated with each amendment. Interestingly, to the best of my knowledge, no one ever has ever even tried to make that argument. If these “implementation” clauses do not expand or enhance the powers with which they are associated in the case of amendments; how would one reason that the “precedent” language in 1.8.18 does? But is not about reasoning, and certainly not about honoring, the intent of the founders. Our founders knew that governments tended to grow beyond any boundaries that liberty could abide. They wrote the Constitution to hinder that tendency. But for most of the history of our nation, most members of Congress, most presidents, and most Supreme Court Justices have wanted to make “progress,” as they defined it, and have actively exerted themselves against the boundaries they were sworn to honor, and therefore against their respective oaths. A series of efforts by Congress to expand their powers on the basis of the
words “necessary and proper” were at first rejected by the Supreme Court, then “progressively” permitted. Modern court decisions allow Congress to enact laws that are “plainly adapted” for carrying into execution their enumerated powers or are consistent with “the spirit of the Constitution.” These vague boundaries are pretty far from original intent and getting farther every year. It is time for a paradigm shift. For almost a century, Congress as a whole has done as much as they could get away with, and viewed the Constitution as an obstacle. They have acted as though progress could only be brought about by big government programs and not by the ideas and energies of a free people. If the new Congress can exercise the self-discipline of narrowing the use of these terms to something closer to the understanding of the founders, there would be an immediate reduction in the number of federal laws passed and the amount of federal intrusion into state, local and personal matters. The liberties of American citizens, and the sovereignty of the member states, will never be jeopardized by a much smaller federal budget, fewer federal laws, or too high of a regard for direct constitutional authority. Mike Holler writes and speaks about freedom and the United States Constitution, is a frequent guest on talk radio, and travels with the Tea Party Express. Contact Mike or view his recent book at: TheConstitutionMadeEasy.com.
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We the People | Grassroots Perspective
Get Involved in a Local Liberty Group Now! Compiled by Joan Eich
Can I make a difference? How can I get involved? Which organization fits me best? These are the questions we hear most often from our readers, so we want to make sure it’s clearly answered online and in every issue. What follows is an alphabetical list of libertyloving groups and organizations in our area. Also visit www.libertyevents.org for a calendar of upcoming events. Sign up, step up, speak up! 9-12 Pikes Peak Patriots www.freeandunited.com • donrodgers@hotmail.com • dwan.rager@yahoo.com An organization for like-minded Americans who believe in 9 principles and 12 values as they apply to our government and in our own lives. We provide members with the platform and resources to pursue any project or cause of their choosing: from education and discussion to community activities or action. The American Café theamericancafe.blogspot.com • homeinspections@pcisys.net • 719.573.2193 This group gathers each week for Constitutional studies, political action and prayer. Please contact us for information on how to get involved. American Majority www.americanmajority.org • facebook.com/AmericanMajority • 719.573.2193 Attending a rally is no longer enough; from organizational structure to advanced new media, our Activist Training prepares you to make substantial changes in your community. Americans for Prosperity, Colorado Chapter www.americansforprosperity.org • infoco@afphq.org • 719.494.0797 Americans for Prosperity, Teller County Chapter AFPTeller@gmail.com • 719.684.2180 An organization of grassroots leaders committed to educating, engaging and mobilizing citizens in the name of limited government and free markets on the local state and federal levels. Arkansas Valley Tea Party Patriots (serving Otero, Bent and Crowley Counties) AV_teaparty@yahoo.com • betty.blanco1@yahoo.com • 719.384.2473 We are a local non-partisan movement aimed to educate and promote the causes of our Founding Fathers. Our core values include limited and fiscally-responsible government and a free market economy. We encourage U.S. citizens to take individual responsibility and to uphold and defend the Constitution. Clear the Bench Colorado www.clearthebenchcolorado.org • info@clearthebenchcolorado.org A grassroots movement to hold Colorado’s Supreme Court justices accountable to the Colorado Constitution and to the people of Colorado. Coalition for a Conservative Majority www.ccm-cos.com • info@ccm-cos.com • 719.351.6075 We unapologetically espouse the nation-shaping values embodied in the Constitution and detailed by the philosophies of our Founding Fathers. Colorado Springs Republican Women amymit@quixnet.net • 719.260.0283 This group wants to educate and inform all Americans about the principles and values which make the Republican Party what it is. El Paso County Tea Party www.epcteaparty.com • amy.mitchell@epcteaparty.com A local movement of American Patriots from all walks of life dedicated to uphold and defend the United States and Colorado Constitutions. Our goal is to give voice to the people and hold government officials accountable for their oaths to uphold those constitutions. El Paso Republican Headquarters www.gopelpaso.com • info@gopelpaso.com • 719.578.0022 The party of the open door; the party of liberty; the party of equality of opportunity for all and favoritism for none; the more socially conservative and economically libertarian of the two major parties, generally supporting lower taxes, limited government and more economic freedom. Elbert County Tea Party/9-12 Group www.elbertteaparty.com • 303.601.7608 We work to restore constitutional government, control government spending, and to vet candidates to insure their goals and values match. Equal Justice Foundation ejfi.org • facebook.com/ejfi.org • ccorry@ejfi.org • 719.520.1089 We are a non-profit 501(c) 3) public charity supported entirely by members and contributions. Our areas of interest and activism are the courts, civil liberties, prohibition, and open, fair and honest elections. For What Is Right www.forwhatisright.org • dlewis@forwhatisright.org • dkelly@forwhatisright.org An online community whose purpose is to educate the American citizen in matters of civic and political knowledge. Our intention is to have a well informed electorate who will keep and preserve the rights guaranteed us by the U.S. Constitution and by our Creator. Get Out Of Our House (GOOOH) www.goooh.com • goooh.co.05@gmail.com • 719.321.5123 A bottom-up organization without a platform; NOT a political party. A system allowing you and your neighbors to choose a true citizen representative, an independent candidate to represent their district. Green Dragon Tavern http://RonPaul.meetup.com/310 • admin@GreenDragonTavern.com • 719.330.1358 Our Founding Fathers met at the Green Dragon Tavern in Boston, MA to plan the Boston Tea Party. We work to re-establish the Founders’ vision of political and economic principles inherent in nature’s right by fostering understanding and respect for the Declaration of Independence and state and Federal Constitutions.
6 | The Constitutionalist Today, January 2011
Guffey Tea Party guffeyteaparty@gmail.com • http://sites.google.com/site/guffeygroupteaparty We are a local movement of non-partisan American Patriots who uphold and defend the Constitution of The United States of America. Our core values include limited government, fiscal responsibility, and free market economy. Liberty on the Rocks, Colorado Springs Chapter www.libertyontherocks.org • david@libertyontherocks.org • 719.237.4598 A grassroots organization whose goal is to provide a social environment to unite libertyminded individuals with one another and with freedom-based organizations in their local communities. Tavern-style politics in the tradition of our Founding Fathers! Limited Government Forum www.limitedgovforum.org • sean@limitedgovforum.org • 719.576.9055 Works closely with UCCS Center for the Study of Government and the Individual and Cheyenne Mountain Civic Solutions to promote the ideas of individual responsibility and freedom. Local Liberty Online www.locallibertyonline.org • sean@LocalLibertyOnline.org • 719.576.9055 An online community that focuses on local issues to expand freedom, opportunity and prosperity close to home. Our goal is to educate rather than indoctrinate, while conducting ourselves in the spirit of civility and good humor. Pikes Peak Economics Club www.pikespeakeconomicsclub.com We promote economic and civic literacy. It is our contention that you cannot have a controlled economy and maintain a free society. Pikes Peak Firearms Coalition www.ppfc.org • info@ppfc.org • 719.596.3921 A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed. —Amendment II, U.S. Constitution Pikes Peak Young Professional Republicans Eli.bremer@gmail.com • 719.213.3428 Network with other young professionals, ages 20-40, who share the same goals and aspirations. Please come and join us! Politics on the Rocks www.politicsontherocks.com • nina@pinnaclepros.com • 719.533.0571 We link like-minded professionals together in a monthly power networking mixer where they can network, socialize and hear directly from prominent politicians and successful business leaders on matters of social, economic and public importance. Royal Gorge Republican Women (Fremont County) www.RoyalGorgeRepublicanWomen.org The purpose of our organization is to increase the effectiveness of women in the cause of good government through political involvement; to encourage women to run for political office; to promote an informed membership and electorate through political education and activity; and to work together for the election of Republican candidates. Southern Colorado Tea Party www.socoteaparty.com Committed to restoring our state and our federal Constitutions to our Founders’ original intent. Diligent in our restoration and preservation of freedom. We hold our elected officials accountable to their oath of office. Sons of Liberty Riders www.sonsoflibertyriders.com • 646.236.1173 We are a nationwide patriot rider movement whose purpose is to educate the motorcycle community and activate in support of other Tea Party groups. Please go to our website to more about the Colorado state chapter’s activities. Sunrise Republican Women www.coloradosrw.com • lindarshannon@gmail.com • 719.598.1305 We promote an informed public through political education and activity, and increase the effectiveness of women for the causes of good government. All ages are welcome! Teller Tea Party www.tellerteaparty.com • tellerteaparty@gmail.com A local movement of non-partisan American patriots who uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. We are dedicated to protecting freedom for all, promoting truth, limiting taxes and government, and preserving our inalienable rights UCCS College Republicans • 719.251.7765 Vote Trackers (Fremont County) www.votetrackers.com • penknife101@yahoo.com A nationwide group, providing free 1-page charts for each of the 50 states, showing how that state’s U.S. senators and representatives voted on the Banker Bailout Bill, The Stimulus Bill, Cash for Clunkers, Cap and Trade, and the Health Care Bill. No fluff. Just facts. These charts can be printed out and taken into the voting booth, lest we forget. We Are Change Colorado Springs wearechangecoloradosprings.org • chris@wearechangecoloradosprings.org • 719.209.3118 A grassroots organization, neither left or right, dedicated to informing the public on matters of government corruption, malfeasance, misfeasance and nonfeasance.
We the People | Grassroots Perspective
A New Year’s Resolution Worth Considering Pat Francomano, Contributing Writer The recent discussion about extending the Bush tax cuts is quite revealing. It brings to mind the concept of ownership of private property and the almost total disregard for it on the part of politicians, especially liberal politicians. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a socialist, accused multimillionaires of being greedy because they would not see their taxes increased under the proposed tax rate agreement. “This reckless uncontrollable greed is like a disease,” he said. He questioned how anyone could be proud to call themselves a multimillionaire. Don’t they know that “there is virtue in sharing?” So Sanders wants to take more of their money to give to others more deserving? But it is their money to do with as they choose. On the debate about reinstating the inheritance tax, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) caustically expressed his view in an interview on Fox News during which he stated that the deceased do not pay a tax because they are dead. It apparently doesn’t matter to Weiner that the deceased person earned and accumulated the wealth in his estate. It is his estate and he owns the right to give it to whomever he chooses as his inheritors. President Obama stated last April, “I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money.” But it isn’t any president’s job to decree when someone has “made enough money.” Recall that even
before he was elected, Obama indicated that he favored “spreading the wealth around”—a euphemism for redistribution of wealth. The problem with these views is that they violate the rights to private ownership of property and to keep the fruits of one’s own labor, as embodied in the Declaration of Independence. The problem with these views is that they are socialistic: from each according to his ability, to each according to his need. If we would learn from history, we would acknowledge that socialism doesn’t work. The Pilgrims figured that out in 1623, and then in 1624 they had a bountiful harvest. Besides, stealing is wrong. Despite government’s good intentions, taking from Peter to pay Paul is stealing from Peter. Which leads us to another lesson we should learn from history. In 1850, Frederic Bastiat, a French statesman and writer, had a lot to say about this kind of stealing in his book The Law. He called it legal plunder and describes it as follows: Sometimes the law defends plunder and participates in it. Thus the beneficiaries are spared the shame, danger, and scruple which their acts would otherwise involve. Sometimes the law places the whole apparatus of judges, police, prisons, and gendarmes at the service of the
plunderers, and treats the victim—when he defends himself—as a criminal. In short, there is a legal plunder.
But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Bastiat points out that when we attempt to fight legal plunder, we will meet resistance from the plunderers: The person who profits from this law will complain bitterly, defending his acquired rights. He will claim that the state is obligated to protect and encourage his particular industry. … Do not listen to this sophistry by vested interests. The acceptance of these arguments will build legal plunder into a whole system. In fact, this has already occurred. The present-day delusion is an attempt to enrich everyone at the expense of everyone else; to make plunder universal under the pretense of organizing it.
He also informs us of various forms of legal plunder: Now, legal plunder can be committed in an infinite number of ways. Thus we have
an infinite number of plans for organizing it: tariffs, protection, benefits, subsidies, encouragements, progressive taxation, public schools, guaranteed jobs, guaranteed profits, minimum wages, a right to relief, a right to the tools of labor, free credit, and so on, and so on. All these plans as a whole —with their common aim of legal plunder —constitute socialism.
Does any of this sound familiar? Finally, Bastiat wrote: And now that the legislators and dogooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty; for liberty is an acknowledgement of faith in God and His works.
Oh, yes, the New Year’s resolution. In keeping with the tradition of vowing to kick bad habits, let’s take Bastiat’s suggestion and firmly resolve to reject the current trend away from individual liberty. Happy New Year. Pat Francomano is a freelance writer in Colorado Springs. His focus is on political and social issues as they relate to individual liberty.
The Invasive Hand Won’t Stop with TSA Michelle Morin, Featured Writer Led by the Obama administration, the United States government, via the Transportation Security Administration, legally molests, pornifies, and radiates travelers in America, all in the name of safety. Is this just a foretaste of increased personal intrusions and Constitutional violations from the ever-expanding reach of government’s hand?
The Invasive Hand was Born In the wake of the calamity that was 9/11, the nation’s leadership was in an understandable crisis mode. In a short-sighted and crisis-driven attempt to prevent the immediate threat of terrorist hijackers from striking again, the 107th Congress and President George W. Bush hastily signed into law the TSA. Thus, was born the hand that would become the literal and physical intrusion Americans now face at airports as commercial airline travelers are randomly chosen for “enhanced” security screenings and given the choice of full-body pat-down or x-ray. The TSA is the epitome of government bureaucracy and its typical anti-freedom fallout. Agencies such as the TSA become administrative lawmakers whose regulatory effect essentially becomes law that supersedes and erodes Constitutional law. As bureaucracies always go, the TSA is an entrenched and unaccountable agency that may pass regulations at will to achieve its stated mission.
Who Needs Terrorists when TSA Scanner will Suffice? In April 2010, four University of San Francisco faculty members wrote a let-
ter expressing serious concerns about the rapid implementation of x-ray airport scanners. Signing the letter were Drs. John Sedat, David Agard, Marc Shuman, and Robert Stroud, an experienced mix of imaging and cancer experts, x-ray crystallographers, and professors. (Read the letter in its entirety at my blog www. Mom4Freedom.com). The UCSF letter states the scanner implementation is an “urgent situation” with multiple “red flags,” including potential risks to: older travelers over age 65, a portion of women who are especially vulnerable to breast cancer, HIV and cancer patients, white blood cells near the
senior U.S. officials have been declared exempt from the screenings. As the list of screening exemptions grows, one wonders if the best interests of America and her citizens really are the top priority here.
Is it Constitutional? Article I of the U.S. Constitution clearly states that all law-making powers shall be vested in Congress, which is electable and accountable to the voters. By contrast, TSA employees and agents are unelected and unaccountable regulatory lawmakers that can grant themselves power to reach as far as they deem appropriate in their mission to “protect the nation’s transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce.” Read the 4th Amendment of the Constitution and determine for yourself if the government has legitimate probable cause to randomly invade our persons with these unreasonable searches:
Just as TSA adversely affects freedom for travelers, imagine how the ObamaCare bureaucracy will allot health care to Americans. skin, and testicular tissue /sperm mutation, just to name a few. Further, they write that risks to children, adolescents, pregnant women, the cornea and the thymus have not been determined, concluding with, “there is good reason to believe that these scanners will increase the risk of cancer to children and other vulnerable populations.”
Who is Really Being Protected Here? In December 2010, an Indian ambassador to the United States was outraged when she was “frisked” during a Mississippi airport screening, stating “this is unacceptable to India.” The Obama administration is falling over itself to apologize and “prevent it from happening in the future.” U.S. cabinet secretaries, top congressional leaders and an exclusive group of
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Contrast the 4th Amendment with the TSA’s website, which states: Since 2001, we have been mandated by law to appropriately screen air travelers to ensure that certain items and persons
prohibited from flying don’t board commercial airliners.
The contradiction to this writer is here: Congress wrote the bill that created the TSA. The TSA creates administrative law with expansive effects, which is cannibalistically destroying Constitutional law itself. We can see which law is prevailing as the 4th Amendment is, in action, being deemed null.
How Far Will the Hand Go? 50,000 TSA agents have the law on their side. If the current talk of unionizing them actualizes, it will further cement their place and power over traveling Americans. However, for most Americans, airline travel is still an optional method of transportation, and screenings could be avoided by using other transportation modes. Now consider the even larger bureaucracy that will become ObamaCare, and that health care services are generally not something we consider “optional.” It is still unknown how many agents will comprise that monster. Just as TSA adversely affects freedom for travelers, imagine how the ObamaCare bureaucracy will allot health care to Americans. Now imagine this potential nightmare scenario: if thousands of Americans become afflicted with cancer that was triggered by the TSA scanners, will the ObamaCare agents approve our related health care treatment? Michelle Morin is Mom4Freedom, a conservative blogger, speaker, and patriot for freedom and America’s founding principles. Join her for freedom updates at www.Mom4Freedom.com.
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Denver • Colorado Springs • Castle Rock 8 | The Constitutionalist Today, January 2011
Just Ask Randall & Rego Resolutions
Cindy Lyons, Senior Staff Writer TCT: What would you suggest for resolutions for our newly elected state and U.S. House members? Randall: I would start with the state House. Ideally they would only be elected to office really knowing who their constituents are, their concerns, their priorities, values, and what’s important to them. To actually sit down with a piece of paper and say, “These are my constituents. This is what is important to them; their priorities, their values and they are sending me to Denver to do this or that. Then I would draw a line that says they really don’t care about this or that because these are political agendas of the left or the right. I don’t want to get bogged down in those things. I have been sent here to serve the public and I can only do that by knowing the public; what is important to them and making my priorities, their priorities.” Rego: Have an Arizona style piece of legislation when it comes to illegal immigration. Have a bill having to do with energy exploration and ease of access for oil fields, natural gas, and coal, etc. and the state making it less onerous from a regulatory and fee standpoint to explore for forms of energy here in this state. Randall: I would echo the sentiments in terms of an Arizona type bill that Senator-elect Kent Lambert and Sen. Dave Schultheis have in the form of a bill introduction. Do I think it will end up being law? No, I do not. I would go with what Tom Tancredo advocated: a ballot initiative that goes straight to the people. What is much more of a priority than immigration is jobs. I’m not a fan of Hickenlooper, but I think he is savvy enough to understand, that regardless of his politics, if he creates jobs and turns around the economy in Colorado he will be like Roy Romer, he will be reelected. If he does not do that, it doesn’t matter what special interests he caters to, he can’t rely on another third person race in the next election. That was a perfect storm for him where he was able to capitalize on. It’s going to be a two-person race next go around. If he has not created jobs, I don’t care what else he has done, he’s gone. Rego: To add to what I was saying about energy, that dovetails into jobs, too. I mean the more energy exploration you can have, the more people that we are going to have working that kind of hands-on work.
Randall: They need to stay in touch with their constituents. One of the ways they lose track in Denver is that when they get up there and they get so wrapped up with all the lobbyists and the day-to-day activities, they forget about us. It’s fun being a legislator. Everybody loves you. You get to be in the newspaper and on TV. You get a certain amount of respect, fame, influence, and power. They lose sight in all those things but we didn’t send them there for all that. We get it that comes with the territory. If I were a legislator I would write down a list of priorities that I was sent to Denver with and it would be on my desk or on my wall. People pay a lot more attention now and if they don’t do what the Public wants they are not going to get elected the next time around. TCT: Do you have any suggestions for the liberty movement? Randall: I would say keep after them. We recently elected a lot of conservatives in Colorado but the worst thing that could happen is people become complacent and we go back to what got us here in the first place: we trusted the politicians. They are like a teenager. We need to keep an eye on them all the time. There is a responsibility for citizens to hold the politicians accountable. Rego: I would say stay involved because the liberty movement is at the forefront that espouses what is best about this country. We have the better ideas. The only time we lose is when we fight each other or when we are not smart politically or when we get too focused on negative things or things that really don’t matter. Randall: The Democrats love “divide and conquer.” If we remain in factions and infighting, we are going to have problems moving our agenda forward. Rego: Decide what is important. Is it ideological purity? Is it a particular candidate who has to check off A, B, or C? Or is there a desire to see conservatives elected? Or just sit there on election night after losing and asking, “Well how did this happen?” The Richard Randall Show airs weekdays in Colorado Springs from 8:30am to 10am and on Saturdays from 6am to 8am on KVOR radio, 740 AM. The Jarred Rego Show airs weeknights from 10pm to 11pm on KVOR radio, 740 AM.
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Liberty Lady Carolyn Fairchild Cindy Lyons, Senior Staff Writer TCT: When and why did you get involved with the liberty movement?
Fairchild: I guess I see my role just like everyone else, by asking myself what I can do to wake other people up and bring them on board. I think education is a real key to that.
Fairchild: I credit Obama for waking me up. It wasn’t until after he was elected, after his run for the presidency, and I startTCT: What is your goal for volunteering ed hearing his rhetoric. Prior to that, I did your time? What do you hope to achieve? my civic duty and I voted. But frankly, a lot of the time, I was a pretty uninformed Fairchild: To do whatever I can do in my voter. I voted and I thought I had done corner of Teller County and in Colorado my job. I knew I had not liked John Mcto bring the Republican Party back to its Cain, either. But I voted for McCain as roots. It’s not going to change unless peothe lesser of two evils. I voted against ple get in and become active and demand Obama, let’s put it that way. I decided I that change to bring the party back to its was tired of holding my nose and tired of traditional conservative roots and force voting for the Progressive candidate that our leaders to stay there, if that is what was put before me. it takes. We’ll have to get people out who I got very involved watching Fox News can’t abide by conservative roots and get and reading. I read the 5,000 Year Leap people in there who will. Being active and started watching Glenn Beck. Then in this movement has to be grounded I got on board in something. with the Teller It’s like that old Tea Party shortsaying, “If you ly after it was stand up for founded. I served nothing, you’ll on the steerfall for anying committee thing.” there for quite We have an edsome time. And ucation problem then a friend, in our country. I Carol Clark, don’t remember and I opened up being grounded the Liberty Bell in the ConstituHeadquarters up tion. I was given in Teller County. in school the We had that for right and wrong nine months. We answer garbage, were a constituas opposed to tionally-centered answering what meeting house. the founding We held a weekly principles of our meeting there country were. I called the Thursthink that there day Think Tank. are too many We used the people out there 5,000 Year Leap who do not know as a spring board what the foundCarolyn Fairchild because it outing principles are lines the 28 principles that are outlined and aren’t well grounded in them so they by our Founding Fathers. fall for anything. Our educational system We discovered through the National has created apathetic people who cannot Center of Constitutional Studies (www. think for themselves. nccs.net) that they had a DVD series that went with it. We used that for our ThursTCT: What is your perspective of the libday Think Tank. We had other sponsored erty movement? How do you think we events as well. I eventually left the Teller can have an affect on our state, local and Tea Party Steering Committee in order to federal government? come on board a grassroots group that I co-founded in Teller County called PrinFairchild: I see the Tea Party moveciples Matter. Our purpose of existence ment as the movement that can save this was to interject and promote grassroots country. But people have to stay with it. candidates for the November elections. This movement has had a huge effect in Previous to the primary we worked very the past election. But we have focused hard getting the word out, making phone so much at the federal level so we need calls and doing whatever else we could do to get back to where government should to get Dan Maes and Ken Buck noticed. be and that is at the local and state levWe closed the Liberty Bell in Novemels. The more local government can be, ber after the election…for a short time. the more voice you have. The states need We are looking to open it up again someto take their power back from the federal time next year. I am now a candidate for government. vice chair for the Teller County Republican Central Committee because you have While Cindy Lyons would rather be writto change it from the inside. I want to ing novels or short stories, she despises bevote, in March, against Wadhams. ing lied to by the sharply expanding federal government; as such, she has become a citiTCT: What is your role in the liberty movezen blogger, self-trained out of deep concern ment? How and where do you volunteer? for her nation and in passionate opposition to the current progressive onslaught.
A Tale of Three States
Comparing Judicial Retention Elections in Iowa, Kansas and Colorado in 2010 and Beyond Matt Arnold, Featured Writer In Colorado this last year, the elections with the greatest and most longlasting implications for the future of the state were not the votes for legislative or executive office. It was the once-in-a-decade opportunity to hold an increasingly powerful and expansive judicial branch accountable to the public and to their sworn duty to uphold the Colorado Constitution and the rule of law. Unfortunately, the effort to educate Colorado voters as to what was at stake fell short (despite achieving the greatest percentage of “no” votes for incumbent state supreme court justices in Colorado history). This was due to insufficient resources to reach all of the states’ voters and overcome the inertia and habit (helped along by the taxpayer-funded incumbent support in the “Blue Book”) of automatically voting to keep incumbents in place. However, the tide may have started to turn… This year’s judicial retention elections were not just a hot topic in Colorado, but also in several other states across the country. Judicial incumbents faced opposition to their continued retention in office in states following the “merit selection and retention” model of “yes/no” (uncontested) votes on judicial officeholders. The states ranged from Alaska (where an anti-retention movement against one of the incumbent state supreme court justices got off to a late start, and fell short of success) to Illinois (where the state’s chief justice came under fire by business groups fed up with his consistently antibusiness rulings) to Florida (where two state supreme court justices voting to disallow a ballot initiative allowing the state to opt out of Obamacare—similar to Colorado’s Amendment 63—were on the ballot). Perhaps the most interesting comparisons are among neighboring states Iowa (which succeeded, thanks to a well-funded, resourced, and politically supported effort, in ousting three incumbent state supreme court justices), Kansas (which failed to oust four incumbent state supreme court justices) and Colorado (which succeeded in encouraging the reigning chief justice to resign, but fell short in removing the remaining three incumbent state supreme court justices on the November ballot). An article entitled “A Judicial Tidalwave?” related the results of the Iowa ouster of three incumbent state Supreme Court justices to similar judicial-accountability movements in these neighboring states. After covering the results of the Iowa vote (removing the three incumbents at the supreme court level while retaining some lower-court judges with similar voting records), the article addressed efforts in Kansas and Colorado, attributing the difference in results to a lack of support from existing organizations and groups (including the state party hierarchy, ‘business’ groups, and other ideologically-allied associations):
But despite their efforts, the Republican Party in particular, and even conservatives in general, failed to make this an election issue.
and to a lack of resources, particularly funding: [in Colorado] all three justices were retained, though with only about 60% of the vote rather than the usual 70% plus. Unlike the effort in Iowa, Clear the Bench was hampered in its ability to conduct radio and television advertising by only raising $45,000 for its efforts.
The article concludes by noting: In the end, though a good year for conservatives, the 2010 tsunami was powerless to sweep the judicial retention elections as it did other races. Time will only tell whether the successful anti-retention campaign against Iowa’s Supreme Court justices was an anomaly, or whether it can be duplicated here and elsewhere in the future.
The successful defense of constitutional, limited government may very well depend on “whether the successful anti-retention campaign” in Iowa can be carried forward in other states—whether the awareness of the need for judicial accountability and reform raised in Colorado this year by the grassroots (and woefully underfunded) Clear The Bench Colorado (CTBC) can be expanded upon and built into organizations with the infrastructure and resources to overcome the increasing judicial usurpation of the powers of accountable, elected officials and the rights of citizens. Even now, CTBC is continuing the fight, pursuing sanctions against the “Know Your Judge” consortium of incumbent-supporting special-interests for violations of Colorado campaign finance law. In the upcoming legislative session, CTBC will work with legislators and others interested in reforming the systemic shortcomings of Colorado’s “merit selection and retention” system to increase transparency and accountability to the public. Over the next two years, CTBC will continue to track judicial performance and provide a substantive, well-referenced alternative to the empty “reviews” put forth in the “Blue Book” for 2012. All of these endeavors, however, will come to naught without the continued support of citizens committed to upholding and defending our Constitution. Freedom isn’t free, nor is it always easy to be a citizen, not a subject. Ultimately, though, it’s worth the effort.
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Centennial State | El Paso County
A Tale of Two Conservatives Josh Westerlund, Contributing Writer With the city elections high school civics projects, in order to adcoming up in April we vance the unity of the city. He is actively have the opportunity to involved in the Chamber of Commerce, elect new representatives works with the National Drug Court, and for city council and a is passionate about veterans’ affairs. He new mayor. has political experience both locally and The role of mayor has changed since nationally, though never he has never the passage of Issue 300 in November, been in an elected position. Buddy said he including a very large pay raise for the is glad Issue 300 passed because it makes position. I met with Brian Bahr and Greg the mayor’s office less ceremonial and “Buddy” Gilmore, two of the conservative more of an executive leadership position. candidates vying for our vote to become Brian Bahr moved to Colorado Springs the next mayor of Colorado Springs. The immediately following his graduation good news about these two candidates is from BYU in 1995. He worked in the they were in the race a long time before real estate field in various positions unthey knew they’d be getting a decent paytil 2000 when he founded Challenger check so they are not moHomes. Under his leadertivated by the money. Both ship Challenger Homes men entered the race for became one of the top five similar reasons. home builders in Colorado Buddy Gilmore is a 20Springs. A passionate free year Air Force veteran who market advocate, Brian deco-founded and is the CEO cided to enter the race out of the defense contracting of frustration over fiscal ircorporation ShapeTech. A responsibility and, similar Springs resident since 1987, to Buddy, the lack of leadhe was frustrated by many ership he perceived in the things in our city governcity government. He has ment and what he viewed served as both a country as a lack of leadership by and a state delegate in past Greg “Buddy” Gilmore the mayor. During the elections, and on budget 2008 Winter Olympics, he was shocked advisory boards for both district 11 and a and disappointed at the complete lack of district 20 charter school. What he lacks excitement, pride or even acknowledgin political experience however, he makes ment in the fact that Colorado Springs is up for in passion for the city and business the center of the U.S. Olympic program. experience. When asked about question Gilmore sees a separation in the com300 Brian expressed that while he is glad munity and a lack of city pride, which is for the ability of the mayor to be a strong something he wants to fix. He has several leader, he is wary of the possibility that plans ranging from golf tournaments to due to the new mayoral salary ($6,000
more per year than the policy was something he governor of Colorado), the very much wants to pursue office will attract people by all legal means availfor the wrong reasons. able. A candidate that is Both of these men have knowledgeable on our 2nd great ideas on how to fix amendment rights, how the financial mess that the they are being infringed, city’s current leadership and ways to stop that inhas led us into. Both want fringement earns my perto reduce the waste and cut sonal support very quickly. spending through reducThese two men are tion in redundant bureauboth good leaders in busicratic offices, training faness, and both would be cilities, and excessive city excellent mayors. I enBrian Bahr staffing. Both have busicourage you to visit their ness experience in start-ups and managwebsites to learn more about them in ing those companies when they got largthe lead up to the election. Bahr’s site er. Both Bahr and Gilmore have strong is Springsmayor.com and Gilmore’s is convictions on the Constitution and its GilmoreforColoradoSprings.org importance as the governing document In addition to Bahr and Gilmore, six of our nation all the way down to our city. other candidates have entered the race. The one and only thing that tips the As of Dec. 15 the candidates are: Stescale for me at this point was a question ven Bach, Kenneth Duncan, Tim Leigh, regarding concealed carry laws in ColoPhil McDonald, Dave Munger and Kelrado. I asked Gilmore whether he would ley Pero-Luckhurst. Party affiliations support removing the requirement for are not required to file as a candidate for law abiding citizens to carry a concealed mayor. The deadline to enter the race is weapon as several other states have. February 9, but there is a lot of prep work Gilmore replied that he is an unwaverthat goes into running for mayor. Go to ing supporter of the 2nd amendment, but springsgov.com for full details on how to admitted he hadn’t heard of other states enter the mayoral race. taking such action and would speak with the sheriff’s department and police Josh Westerlund has been a resident of department about the possibility of supColorado Springs for 17 years. A marporting such a thing. ried father of three, he works for a naBahr spoke out on the subject before I tional telecommunications company and had a chance to ask him about it. He feels is a Constitutional activist during his free that it is ridiculous that a law-abiding time. He is a die-hard advocate of Natucitizen is forced to register in order to use ral Law, a firearms enthusiast, and a redtheir rights and advancing a no-permit blooded American Patriot.
Southern Delivery System or Scandalous Developer Subsidy? Ed Bircham, Guest Writer The Southern Delivery System (SDS) is the biggest public works rip off in state history. Think about that. The previous pork prize went to the TRANS road debt in 1999. It had a fixed repayment cost capped at $2.3 billion. We are still repaying that state debt, including about $500 million in interest. Here are the top 12 reasons SDS is bad for our city:
5. SDS does not benefit rate payers who live here now. It bails out one bankrupt California developer owing $242 million and wanting subsidized water to inflate the value of its grassland. Contradictory city policies spend taxes to buy and “save” open space, taking it off property tax rolls, but also subsidize growth to turn open space into subdivisions and strip malls to increase that same tax base.
1. Current cost estimates ($3.3 billion) are $1 billion more than TRANS. They will be paid by 135,000 city water accounts, or less than three percent of the five million state residents liable for TRANS debt. The final SDS cost to each average water account is over $24,000. It is $53 million per mile, or $10,000 per foot of pipe! Read that again.
6. The 1988 city council foolishly annexed this 24,310 acres, one-third of our city area and now the largest in the state. Sprawl requires more city services, while citizens already notice slower response times and lower quality. The council opted to bail out a glib, fly-bynight developer caught in the savings and loan scandal.
2. Unlike TRANS, SDS cost estimates are not capped, and will surely increase. They already have.
7. The 1988 growth projections said we would have 20,000 houses built by 2010. There are now only 200. Their estimates were off 99-fold. Does that give you any confidence about their lowball construction cost estimates for this boondoggle?
3. Unlike TRANS, voters did not approve this massive SDS debt, which will cost us and our children hundreds of millions in interest and buy nothing. 4. Unlike TRANS, SDS repayment is not from current revenue sources. Water rates are doubling to pay for SDS. The 12% yearly rate increases mean your water bill will double in six years. Then watch it double again.
8. Proponents think saying the word “water” excuses stupid spending. Developers should pay the full cost of piping water to their distant locations. User fees are more fair than making existing residents subsidize this Marxist redistribution of the wealth. Market
12 | The Constitutionalist Today, January 2011
prices tell us the obvious—remote subdivisions can’t be profitably developed. If developers lack the money to build homes without a sprawl subsidy, that’s too bad. No cash, no splash. 9. The real estate market crashed because of extreme artificial stimulus to buyers and builders. It will be a decade before excess supply is absorbed. Why subsidize unneeded new houses? Growth should pay its own way. Lower utility bills and less competition from sprawl will also raise your home’s resale value. 10. Our water supply now serves 430,000 people. With reasonable conservation, it can support 750,000 people, 75% more. Do we want greater growth than that? Do we want to be the Los Angeles of the Rockies? I don’t. Beware of shady schemes for public subsidy of personal products. Unlike roads, which have general value, commodity pricing should be based on individual consumption and benefits. 11. The SDS is yet another developer subsidy. Grassland sold in 1993 for $750 an acre is being repackaged into building lots priced at $75,000 an acre. Why should city residents in this bad economy, or any economy, provide obscene insider profits? 12. Banning-Lewis Ranch was a con job by drop-in developer Frank Aries.
He bought it with 100% bank financing (none of his own money so no personal liability to repay). He had it annexed to the city during an earlier economic downturn, then skipped town, defaulting on $235 million in debt (later paid by taxpayers in the largest land default in the nation). Now this city council wants us to pay again for the city’s colossal mistakes and gross ignorance of basic economics. Remember the recent storm water “fee” scam? It was devised to protect council’s developer-donor pals from paying the full drainage infrastructure costs caused by their overbuilding. Apparently, this council can’t learn from history. Can we? I’ve lived here 40 years. I am tired of gullible city councils making me pay for their sweetheart deals with developers. Liberal California transplants lured here by this subsidized tract housing also spoil our conservative political climate with their big spending views. Stop SDS now. In April, vote only for city candidates who make an ironclad written pledge to end this fiscal insanity, which will otherwise ruin the city we love. Ed Bircham has been a Colorado Springs local business owner for 31 years.
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Strong Mayoral Candidates Apply Now Chuck Graybill, Featured Writer I know many of you are sick and tired of politics after the past several months of chicanery, dirty tricks, back room deals, special interests buying elections and character assassinations overwhelming the issues of our U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races. But, it’s time to focus all our attention on the upcoming Colorado Springs mayoral election in April. In 2003, 80,000 plus voters, a little over half of those registered, cast their ballots to elect our mayor. In 2007, the number of concerned citizen voters dropped to just over 60,000, or less than half of registered voters. Next year, we have an opportunity to change the status quo, but we will need a much better voter turnout if we have any hope of electing a “real person” committed to be a real reform candidate of the people, by the people and for the people. A number of mayoral hopefuls have already declared their candidacy—with more to come—without any knowledge of their job description, role, responsibilities or accountabilities, since the charter has yet to be amended. Are the proposed charter revisions subject to a charter
ognition and best connections should not be the key determining factors. To break the endless cycle of special interest controlled elected officials, we must mobilize registered but disenfranchised voters. We must convince unregistered, eligible voters to put aside their complacency, or belief that their vote is meaningless and won’t make a difference. We need to register and cast ballots in numbers that will dwarf voter turnouts of prior elections. We must rise up and let our voices be heard so that only a small, but active, core of citizens do not control our futures. With all the issues facing this next group of citizen “leaders,” we must rally all our neighbors to do their duty and learn the issues, vet and challenge the candidates to determine which ponies we want to back in this year’s race for mayor and council. We must look locally for our solutions and not expect them to come from outsiders with their own agendas, or from imported companies that will only desert the community the second their incentives lapse or they get a better offer elsewhere. Think local first, second, third, and last to solve our local problems with local solutions. We already have the resources here we just need to look past traditional answers and time honored, but failed, reactions to issues and problems that call for proactive planning, real forethought. We have to elect people to represent us that recognize and believe there are no easy answers to the problems confronting our city, but there are obvious, simple ones, albeit highly unpopular among those they will affect. We must unite and help ourselves and our neighbors.... and local businesses, not chains and big box stores that send our hard earned dollars to their headquarter cities. We must elect representatives that realize local business owners, small business owners and their staffs are the backbone of this, and every, community! Those big box stores and chains will cut and run when the going gets tough or returns-on-investments decline. Local Colorado Springs based, home grown small businesses will hunker down and fight and sacrifice to survive. They are committed to Colorado Springs. Now we need to vote for candidates committed to them and the citizens of Colorado Springs.
Think “local” first, second, third and last to solve our local problems with local solutions. review commission and then to voters for approval, or can a committee of city workers amend the charter on their own? What do you think your vote authorized? Unless we elect the “right person” for mayor, the structure will not matter. The debacle in Washington, D.C. is ample proof the structure is not the reason our governments are failing at all levels. Accountability be damned, the person makes the office, not the other way around. Add up the number of council seats for election and we have a veritable recipe for disaster unless we do our jobs because, as usual, the city’s real estate developers are lining up behind (or, maybe pushing?) their favorite pony. Which one will dig deepest and try to buy an election? For far too many years in this country, the best fundraisers, or most agreeable candidates with the lowest asking prices have won the electoral races. Accordingly, those successful candidates have historically had the highest debts to repay at taxpayer expense. We must put a halt to the endless cycle of the candidate with the most campaign money wins, regardless of his or her qualifications, ability to recognize the most important issues and their plausible solutions and willingness to do the bidding of the citizens. The most name rec-
Chuck Graybill is the owner of Maggie Maes Restaurant, a former financial executive with BP, and author of Cannibals of Capitalism.
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Free Markets | Economics of Capitalism
Russia, China and the Dollar Jacek Popiel, Contributing Writer “China, Russia abandon dollar,” announced the late November headline on the Drudge Report. Many meanings can be read into this, from a renewal of the old Chinese-Russian communist alliance to a minor commercial agreement. Let’s examine what the actual impact is, or could be. This will fall in three areas: first, what the agreement means in practice; second, how it impacts the dollar; third, whether it could foreshadow an anti-American understanding between the two powers. China has attempted to forge similar agreements with other trade partners, but all suffer from the same shortcoming: while the Russian ruble and U.S. dollar are freely convertible into other currencies, the Chinese yuan is not. Its exchange value is set arbitrarily by the Chinese government, using the dollar as a yardstick, so as to provide Chinese exporters with a decisive price advantage. The dollar or rubles can be used to buy anything anywhere. Chinese yuans pay only for goods purchased from China. For this agreement to work, the market value of the merchandise exchanged must first be determined in some reference currency, such as the euro or dollar. It must be translated into a yuan price, providing Russia with credit to buy Chinese goods. The deal is a glorified barter agreement, a primitive form of trade used in the absence of a generally acceptable currency. Does it present a threat to the dollar? It could be a minor one. But the overwhelming issue for the U.S. currency lies in the
enormous trade and budget deficits we allow ourselves, together with the arbitrary creation of money by the Federal Reserve. These currently flood the world with trillions of extra dollars annually, raising the risk of dollar depreciation, and eventually that of a dollar crash. This leads other countries to take preventive measures. Russian exports are mainly commodities, such as oil, gas and metals, which the Chinese economy consumes in large amounts. Concluding a dollar deal with China presents for Russia the risk of being one day paid in depreciated dollars. For the Chinese there is a parallel risk of being charged a wheelbarrow-full of dollars for one barrel of oil. The barter deal, however clumsy, negates these dangers. As long as trade between the two countries is in relative balance it provides both with insurance against American fiscal and trade deficits. In other words it is, in the economic realm, a defensive rather than offensive agreement. An agreement it is, nevertheless, binding two former U.S. adversaries in a small but significant way. It thus presents our policy makers with a challenge: will we ignore it because it is a minor issue, or do we need to take a longer view? Here it is critical to observe the changes that occurred since 1991, when the Cold War officially ended. Russia has liquidated the communist state and installed in its place a modicum of democracy with relatively free markets. It has withdrawn its military forces from Eastern Europe and Central Asia, signed arms limitation treaties with the U.S. and cooperated with us in space ventures. It has provided
assistance in both Iraq and Afghanistan and, in critical situations, has often supported U.S. policy. China, on the other hand, has engineered a trade policy which cost the U.S. millions of jobs. It has vastly expanded its armed forces and is rapidly building a Pacific high seas fleet. It retains an authoritarian government with a hard police state core, and has been ruthless in its treatment of ethnic minorities. It supports rogue regimes such as Venezuela, Iran and North Korea, and has long been active in the underground export of nuclear weapons technology. Using dollars gained from its massive trade surplus with the U.S. it scours the world for energy and mineral resources. This includes the vast riches of Russian Siberia and of the former Soviet Union, providing a great source of anxiety for Moscow.
Russia may have once been our enemy, but China is an emerging rival, both in the present and the foreseeable future. It behooves us to carefully consider our national interests in this matter, and to realign our policies accordingly. A better understanding with Russia would go a long way toward a more favorable strategic balance, and would do much to reduce China’s ability to threaten our interests. Jacek Popiel is the author of Viable Energy Now, www.viableenergynow.com. His former careers include the military, international business development and advanced automotive technology working with the U.S. Department of Energy with which he organized an international symposium on fuel in 2004.
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Folly of Deficit Reduction Plan Richard Eleuterio, Contributing Writer The long awaited Deficit Reduction Report prepared by The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform has arrived. Largely because it reflects the diverse opinions of the committee members, it is imprecise and vague in its recommendations. The primary goals: 1. Reducing the tax and spending gap now 15% and 24% of GDP, respectively. 2. Reducing federal debt now 62% of GDP. The underlying premise of the report, with which I concur, is that these trends cannot continue indefinitely and will ultimately result in the collapse of America’s economic system.
likely that government unions would be challenged by the political class. 5. Reducing federal travel, printing and vehicle budgets. This measure would certainly help but it has never been shown that there is a will to do more than trifle with these important perks. Who in government is going to slow down the purchase of “green” vehicles? 6. Selling excess federal real property. The question here is what is considered “excess.” The committee has proposed limiting its spending cuts to 2008 levels. These overly modest spending reductions ignore decades of commitment to unrestrained so-called investments by all branches of government. Therefore, the report’s recommendations merely nibble at the edges. The folly of this report involves the failure to deal with the magnitude of the fiscal abyss we have tumbled into and the fundamental reasons for our descent. All the above recommendations, though previously advanced, have never before been ardently attempted. The political class needs a profound change of mind-set for even these minimal reforms to be installed. Short of that sea change in mind-set these meritorious measures will never see the light of day. For too long both Congress and the executive branch have treated the tax payers’ money as if it were their own. The courts have been consistent enablers in this addictive pattern. How can the pattern be broken? Consider our Constitution. We have arrived at this point of crisis because the original meaning of the Constitution has been ignored by virtually all in the inner circle of the federal government. A purposeful way to combat unconstitutional federal outlays is for the House of Representatives to defund all the constitutionally unauthorized legislating and regulatory agencies. Agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Reserve Board and the many as yet unnamed boards and commissions authorized by recent legislation including the Healthcare bill, the Stimulus bill and the Financial Reform Act need not receive future appropriations. That quaint antique document that all federal officials swear to support and defend, the U. S. Constitution, needs to
be reinstated as the final arbiter on all spending, legislative and regulatory matters. It is the Constitution, unadorned by case law or judicial interpretations, that still speaks clearly about the limited authorized domain granted to the federal government by the people in furtherance of their liberties. What must be realized is that a current account deficit of deficit of $13 trillion and the total unfunded liability of more than $100 trillion cannot be paid by higher taxes and spending cuts within the current bloated government infrastructure. The only path of return to fiscal viability is a fundamental restructuring of the federal government down to its Constitutional foundation.
Today, America’s economically advanced society must again embrace the great principles of free markets and political liberty that our founders bequeath to us through our Constitution. We must reject the folly of ineffectual half measures that won’t relieve our economic malaise nor give us a rebirth of the real freedom this great country’s people richly deserve. As a child of Portuguese immigrants, Richard inherited from them an abiding love of this country and its opportunities. He has been interested in politics and economics for many years, finding the current state of affairs cause for concern.
For too long both Congress and the executive branch have treated the taxpayer’s money as if it were their own. There is a specific estimated deficit reduction of $4 trillion, a goal it might very well accomplish. This would be a significant bite out of the total $13 trillion current short-fall. Of course, this report was designed to provide cover for the president and other political elites. The obvious intention of the report was to create a Potemkin Village illusion that there was, or is, a real interest in deficit reduction. Let’s look at some of the proposed measures by which these goals could conceivably be achieved: 1. Flattening and simplifying of both personal and corporate income tax codes. This should provide the biggest bang for the buck as both contemporaneous and historic empirical evidence would suggest. 2. Removing duplicative federal programs. This is certainly an obvious step but despite specific recommendations of the Grace Spending Reduction Commission almost 30 years ago has never been seriously tackled by political leaders. 3. Cutting agricultural subsidies. Again a reform often proposed but never seriously attempted. 4. Reducing the size of the federal workforce. This would be useful but it is un-
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Free Markets | Energy & Environment
Obama’s Creed Father Knew Best Chuck Graybill, Featured Writer
As I have mentioned previously, I worked in the oil industry after graduating college. My experiences gave me a basic understanding of the world’s energy markets, how they function, how they are priced and the politics, not just surrounding, but encompassing them. So, even though I left the energy industry about 20 years ago, I continue to be fascinated by its lack of progress at the hands of controlling governments, and tolerance, almost willingness, to be stifled and hamstrung by politicians. I watched in amazement and amusement this past summer’s debacle in the Gulf of Mexico, caused and perpetuated by political intrusion and media misinformation and misdirection. As usual our government intruded, impaired and impeded all aspects of the Gulf clean-up and implementation of best practices during the oil spill. I just couldn’t understand
their motivation and obvious reluctance to reach a solution, and desire to perpetuate the problem. Stupidly, I was trying to use logic and reason, backed by my experience with oil spills involving the exact same company, to understand the responses and reactions, not pro-actions and aggressive countermeasures. Then it occured to me that I needed to understand the motivation of the man holding all the cards, the dealer or puppet-master with his hands on all the control chords, purse strings and lines of communication. I had to try to understand Barack Obama. Then, someone far wiser than me told me to understand the man, study the father – to know the man, know the father. As I looked into the background and belief system of the elder Obama, it became abundantly clear why Obama hates the rich, why he has no problem alienating
our allies and idolizing our “enemies,” is out to destroy American business and sees no problem taxing the wealth away from all who have achieved success in this country, especially if they inherited their wealth or opportunity. He is indeed completing his father’s life work. I couldn’t understand why General Motors seemed to drop production plans for their hydrogen car shortly after Obama took them over. I couldn’t understand why the Department of Energy was created in the late 70s to end our dependence on foreign oil and never has because of government intervention. A hydrogen car could have made huge inroads towards that objective, but we went after electric cars instead. Obama does not want to end our dependence on foreign anything. He wants to increase it to award reparations to any foreign sovereign he thinks we exploited on the way to becoming
the world’s wealthiest nation and “most disproportionate user and abuser of our planet’s resources.” If I am wrong, why would Obama abandon a hydrogen car in favor of lithium battery cars, since all we do is trade our current dependence on foreign oil for dependence on foreign lithium? The highest grade sources of lithium are in South America. Why are we financing drilling offshore Cuba and Brazil but not here? Why are the world’s largest oil reservoirs still untapped right here in North America, and about to be forever off limits if the land above them is declared national monuments under the Antiquities Act by Obama? Why? Chuck Graybill is the owner of Maggie Maes Restaurant, a former financial executive with BP, and author of Cannibals of Capitalism.
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Common Defense | Military Appreciation
Hometown Hero Jim Osburn, WWII POW in Germany William T. Gillin, Founding Editor At a POW camp near and he went to artillery training in Fort Hammelburg, Germany, Sill, Oklaahoma. In December 1942, his 2nd Lieutenant Jim OsChristmas leave was cancelled and he was burn watched an Amerisent to Officer Candidate School. He was can force break through later assigned to the 333rd Field Artillery to liberate the prisoners. Task Force Battalion, which was a segregated unit of Baum, under orders from General George all black soldiers with white officers. Patton, was sent to rescue as many of the In June 1944, three weeks after D-Day, 850 American officers as possible. his unit landed at Omaha Beach in NorTaking heavy fire, the mandy, France. They took Army unit arrived on part in the liberation of St. March 27, 1945. Having Lo, then moved on to Brest lost several vehicles, they in western France. Osburn could not transport all the says that 17,000 Germans men. Those who were able were taken prisoner there. to walk were told to head In September 1944, Oswest 50 miles to the Ameriburn recalls driving a truck can lines. Osburn and anthrough Paris and getting other POW, Frank Shea, lost. But he followed the walked until they came flashes from artillery in to a river. After searching the distance and ended up for a bridge that was still in Holland. His truck and standing, Shea went across another were loaded with first. All was quiet. Osburn troops, but with no maps Jim Osburn speaks at found Shea with a German and poorly marked roads, soldier holding a bayonet veterans luncheon at the Peak Grill they came to a complex to Shea’s throat. They were among the of German bunkers. The bunkers were 95% of Americans who were recaptured well stocked and the cots neatly made. and taken back to the camp. Machine guns were in place and loaded, The task force came under intense fire but no Germans were found. Osburn and and soon surrendered. Of the 300 men his men spent the night in the bunkers, in the unit, 32 were killed and most were and the next morning drove back to the captured. Osburn says he has a soft spot Allied lines in Belgium where he met up in his heart for the men who died trying with his unit. to liberate him and his fellow prisoners. It Osburn’s unit was in the Ardennes restill hurts to think about it, he said. gion when the Battle of the Bulge broke Osburn had joined the Arkansas Naout on December 16, 1944. They were tional Guard in May 1940 when he was stationed directly behind the 106th Inonly 17 and a junior in high school. In fantry Division which took heavy losses. January 1941 his unit was mobilized The 333rd was ordered to pull back, and
Osburn led a convoy of 14 vehicles. He After the failed raid on the POW was riding in the lead M4 tractor through camp the American prisoners were a village already occupied by German force marched towards Munich. As they troops. They came under fire, his driver neared the city, they spotted waves of Alwas hit, but kept driving until their traclied bombers attacking Munich. The pristor rammed a German tank, forcing the oners and their guards tried to hide in the tank gun upward. woods nearby. The last wave of bombers Seeing his driver was already dead, came over them, and apparently mistakOsburn jumped out and ran to a nearby ing the prisoners for German troops, unfarmhouse. When he ran behind the leashed their deadly loads. Osburn says house, he discovered 28 American solthat of the 244 POWs, 98 walked out, diers from the with 11 of the 36 106th. The house German guards. was still occupied The prisoners by its owners and walked for almost a the Americans hid month, eating what in the basement. food the guards However, Germans could scavenge surrounded them from farm houses. and under threat Their normal raof being blown up tion was one boiled by grenades, the potato a day, plus Lt. Osburn with drivers of the 333rd Belgium, October 1944 Americans surrenanything else they dered. could find. Osburn dropped from 165 to The American POWs were marched 122 pounds by the time he was liberated through a village when Allied artillery in Graz, Austria. He often thought of the began to bombard the area. The German German POWs he had seen in Oklahoma, guards hit the ditches and the Americans healthy and well-fed. escaped their captors. They came to anAfter seeing many of his fellow Ameriother village and stayed with a family in cans die in the war, Osburn considers himtheir house. But another German unit self fortunate to have survived. He stayed surrounded them and they surrendered a in the Army and retired as a major. second time. On December 19, they and other POWs William T. Gillin is a graduate of the US Air were loaded onto trains, 80 men to a boxForce Academy and is a commercial pilot. car, and stayed in the cars with no food or water until January 1, 1945. MiracuWWII and Korean War veterans are honlously, they all survived and disembarked ored at a monthly luncheon at the Peak near Nuremburg. Two weeks later, OsGrille, 4423 Centennial Blvd., Colorado burn was put on train for a five day ride Springs. Other veterans and guests are to the camp at Hammelburg. also welcome. The luncheon is the second Tuesday of every month at 11 a.m.
www.facebook.com/TheConstitutionalistToday | 17
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BAMBINO’S ITALIAN EATERY & CATERING CO. Family owned and operated for 32 years. Italian buffet offered daily for lunch and Wednesday & Sunday evenings. Kids eat free on Monday & Tuesday. Homemade pizza, pasta & sandwiches. Sports bar, banquet room. Military appreciation Monday. SE Corner of Platte & Circle, 630-8121. BILLY’S PIZZA Billy’s takes pride in the fact that everything is handmade, on site, from scratch in order to provide you with the freshest dining experience possible. Located at 308 S. 8th St. Dine-in or carryout. Catering available. Hours: Tuesday–Saturday 11:00 am–10:00 pm, closed Sunday and Monday, 719-630-3400.
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MAGGIE MAE’S RESTAURANT AND PUB Homemade from scratch! Biscuits and gravy, mouth-watering soups, handcut steaks and prime rib, hand-formed burgers, hot beef sandwiches, awesome French dips, and the best green chili this side of heaven. 2405 Pikes Peak Ave., Call for hours: 475-1623 THE MASON JAR American comfort food served in a casual Colorado lodge atmosphere with full service bar. Two locations: 2925 West Colorado Ave, 632-4820; 5905 Corporate Dr. and I-25 (Exit 148). Call for hours, 260-6555. MCCABE’S TAVERN Traditional Irish pub with some of the best Irish fare in town. We broadcast soccer games from the MLS to the English Premier League on our big screen TVs, 520 South Tejon. Call for hours, 633-3300.
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NEMO’S COFFEE The best little secret coffee and sandwich shop, just east of downtown! Amazing coffee, espresso drinks, smoothies and frappes. Fresh homemade pastries, sandwiches, soup, salads, breakfast burritos, bagels, and croissant breakfast sandwiches! 600 sq ft conference room with projector and sound system!
COFFEE AND TEA ZONE The best in coffee, bubble tea, zone berry frozen yogurt, smoothies, ice cream, free wi-fi. Internet Café with 4-hi tech computers. Four locations: Rockrimmon/ Delmonico (599-8841), Voyager Pkwy (488-8893), downtown on Tejon (6323887), and our new location at off Powers near the IMAX Theater (550-1243).
NOCON’S GELATORIA Italian Gelato is a healthy treat! Our fruit flavors are gluten and lactose free and our cream based flavors are gluten free. Located at 8816 N. Union Blvd, 2823135. Open Monday–Saturday, 12:00 pm–8:00 pm.
COPPER CREEK COFFEE Your conservative coffee shop with free Wi-Fi! Home of the “Palin Mocha” and the “Butter Rumsfeld.” We serve baked muffins, smoothies, pastries, and breakfast “Breggos.” 3315 W. Carefree Cir. Hours: Monday–Friday 7:00 am–6:00 pm, Saturday 7:00 am–2:00 pm, 597-4189
NORTH END DINER Colorado Spring’s Old-Fashioned American Diner Since 1958. Dine-In, Takeout, Local Delivery, Catering, Call Ahead. Hours: Monday 6:00 am–4:00 pm, Tuesday–Saturday 6:00 am–10:00 pm, Sunday 7:00 am–4:00 pm. Located at 3005 N Hancock. 719-442-1833.
DAT’S ITALIAN! Family recipe cuisine that’s been passed down four generations. You’ll enjoy delicious affordable meals with a warm and friendly atmosphere. Located at 2514 West Colorado Avenue, Old Colorado City. Call for hours, 632-3287. ERIC’S MONUMENT GRILLE Our casual American menu offers flavorful food cooked to order in a timely manner at a reasonable price. Enjoy murals of Colorado while you eat. We offer an extensive kids’ menu. 1455 Cipriani Loop, Monument, 594-4300
OLIVER’S DELICATESSEN This cozy neighborhood deli located in the Rockrimmon area is the place to be anytime Monday through Saturday for breakfast and lunch. 6602-A Delmonico Dr., Hours: Monday–Friday 6:00 am–4:00 pm, Saturday 8:00 am–2:00 pm, 599-9411
EXTREME PIZZA Handmade the way it should be: fresh cut vegetables—not canned, dough made in our store—not frozen. We deliver honestly good tasting pizza loaded with toppings. Delivery, pickup, or dine in. 7340 N. Academy Blvd. For more info: www.extremepizza.com, 522-1515
PATSY’S CANDIES We believe the best confections start with the best ingredients: real butter, pure chocolate, real cream, no additives, or preservatives. Most candied popcorn is made with burnt sugar. Patsy’s is made with pure butterscotch. 1540 S 21st Street, 633-7215
FAIRWAY GRILL & PUB Menu includes burgers and guilt-free fries, stacks, wraps, soups, salads, pizza and more! Our food is always fresh, never fried. Open 7 days a week. Sand Creek Golf Course, 6865 Galley Road. Call for hours: 597-5489.
ROCCO’S ITALIAN RESTAURANT Italian restaurant with fresh pastas, home-made lasagna, mouth-watering charbroiled steaks and seafood. Full bar and banquet room. Located at 3878 Maizeland. Call for hours: 574-1426.
FIX-A-FEAST We prepare quality “Take & Bake” Meals. Just call ahead and we will have them ready for you. all natural meats, fish & poultry, amazing deli and catering for all your office/private party needs. 5901 Delmonico Drive, 531-5170.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN DOGS ‘N FAT BOYS Vienna Beef Chicago style dogs and huge Fat Boy sandwiches. Located at Nevada and Fillmore, 2907 N. Nevada. Open 7 days a week, 11:00 am–4:00 pm. Come hungry and come today! 719-473-2502
FLYING W WESTERN STEAKHOUSE Chuckwagon Suppers and an Original Western Music Show. Open Friday and Staurday nights at 5pm and 8pm. Reservations Necessary at 719-598-4000. www.flyingw.com
SCHNITZEL FRITZ Serving the largest traditional variety of Schnitzel’s, Bratwurst in Colorado Springs. Check out our daily specials. Homemade German potato salad, sauerkraut, red cabbage, authentic cakes. “Bringing the BEST of Germany to Colorado”. Located at 4037 Tutt Boulevard. 719-573-2000.
FRANKIE’S SPORTS BAR & GRILL This casual neighborhood sports tavern and grill offers delicious food, good service, big screens & pool tables. Two locations: Powers & Galley in Colorado Springs, 574-4881; Woodman & Meridian in Falcon 495-8707, www.FrankiesBarGrill.com
South Jersey Subs
SOUTH JERSEY SUBS Want a real sub with only the finest deli meats, cheeses and toppings? Our subs are loaded with goodness in every bite. Your mouth will be watering and you’ll come back for more! Located at 1726 Brookwood. Call for hours, 531-5100.
FRONT RANGE BBQ Southern-style slow smoked BBQ & home cooked meals from scratch. Two locations: 2330 W. Colorado, 632-2596; 4935 Templeton Gap Rd., 5988895. Visit our website for menus, catering, live music & events schedule: www.frbbq.com
SOPA’S RESTAURANT Soups, salads, sandwiches, pastas and roasted chicken. Smoothies and milk shakes made with real fruit. Open daily from 7:00 am–8:00 pm. Breakfast served until 11:00 am. Located in the Cheyenne Mountain Shopping Center at South Academy and Hwy 115. 719-538-7672.
JAKE AND TELLY’S We offer an array of traditional and family recipes such as lamb dishes, casseroles and mezzedakias (appetizers) and world-class wines. Located in Old Colorado City, in 26th block of Colorado Ave. Hours: 11:00 am to 10:00 pm, 7 days a week.
THUNDER AND BUTTONS Gourmet pub fare featuring elk chili, buffalo burgers, and more. Serving Colorado beers on tap. Entertainment nightly, karaoke, live bands, comedy and more! 2415 W. Colorado Ave. For hours and entertainment info: 447-9888, www.thunderandbuttons.com
JOEY’S PIZZA From pizza by the slice, specialty pizzas, calzones, stromboli, subs, salads and more, there will be a taste of New York in every bite. 1829 Briargate Blvd (across from Chapel Hills Mall), 265-6922
VIETNAMESE GARDEN We serve authentic Vietnamese cuisine made from scratch, no MSG, gluten free meals and take out available. Military discount. 3043 W. Pikes Peak Avenue. Hours are 11am–8pm Tuesday–Sunday, closed Mondays. 520-9299, www. vietnamesegarden.net
Common Defense | International Relations
WikiLeaks America’s Inability to Keep a Secret Jimmie H. Butler, Contributing Writer Liberals/socialists/Marxists don’t share in the commitment all Americans should feel toward protecting our national security secrets. That should trouble the rest of us. The WikiLeaks dumps are only the latest case of individual Americans releasing classified information. Leftist media outlets are usually happy to join in if the information makes America look bad. Although this administration isn’t the first to be weak on national security, it may set a record for being the worst. When did America change? Prior to the July 1943 invasion of Sicily in World War II, war correspondents received classified briefings about the upcoming assault. Did any of these newsmen leak deadly information? No, and I doubt any of those journalists of the 1940s were even tempted. Would that work with today’s leftist mainstream media? Not likely. The first instances I recall of Americans undercutting our military forces was during the Korean War, shortly after Marxist radical Saul Alinsky published his Reveille for Radicals in 1946. He’d raised his goals from being a Chicagoarea labor organizer/agitator to spreading his Marxist agenda across America. In his Conflict Tactics chapter, he declared, “A People’s Organization is dedicated to an eternal war…and in the war against social evils there are no rules of fair play.” Certainly there were spies before Alinsky started undermining America. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of passing nuclear secrets to Russia in 1951 and executed for their crimes in 1953. In a world of “no rules of fair play,” leftists and their sympathizers feel unrestrained by oaths and regulations meant to protect America’s national security secrets. Perhaps that’s why many public officials today willingly ignore their oaths to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. In 1971, the New York Times published excerpts from “The Pentagon Papers,” based on a Top Secret study of America’s involvement in Vietnam. A federal judge halted the publication, but the Times won a Supreme Court decision that overturned the halt because the government hadn’t made its case for “prior restraint.” During that halt, Democratic Senator Mike Gravel, an anti-war campaigner, maneuvered to post 4,100 pages of the classified documents into the unclassified Congressional Record. Article 1, Section 6 of the Constitution protected him from any consequences as he committed that breach in his official duties as a U.S. senator.
Anti-war activist Daniel Ellsberg admitted giving the classified documents to the press. His trial on charges of stealing classified documents ended in a mistrial. The result: thousands of pages of classified documents were released and publicized with no consequences to anyone involved in those breaches of national security. In the 1980s, Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy was caught more than once leaking classified information gained while serving on the Senate Intelligence Committee. He finally stepped down from the committee just before being publically exposed by an official investigation. Instead of being exiled to private life due to outrage of his colleagues and American voters, he remains in the political elite as a U.S. senator. In 2003, President Bill Clinton’s former national security advisor, Sandy Berger, stuffed classified documents in his socks to steal them from the National Archives. This seemed to be an effort to cover up terrorism-related facts that might have embarrassed the Clinton Administration in the upcoming 9/11 Commission hearing. No jail time for that Democratic operative. I served nearly 24 years on active duty and handled many documents up through special Top Secret classifications. I—and hundreds of thousands of other dedicated military personnel— protected such documents knowing that even an accidental compromise of a single page could end a military career even after years of selfless dedication. Yet those who are politically connected on the left can steal or release classified documents with relative impunity. The WikiLeaks debacle hasn’t drawn as much mainstream media criticism as it would have if Bush were still president. That’s likely because the leaked documents show the Obama administration has misled the American people about such things as global warming negotiations and major Arab leaders being more concerned about Iran’s nuclear program than about the Israeli-Palestinian impasse Obama has tried to move in favor of the Palestinians. National security for us and our children will continue to be undermined as long as we have political leaders who don’t vigorously enforce our laws against the unauthorized release of classified information. That needs to be fixed, America! Jimmie H. Butler is a retired USAF veteran who flew 240 combat missions in Cessnas, mostly over the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos. He is the author of A Certain Brotherhood and two technothrillers.
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The Republic as it Stands | National Issues
Pansification Nation Brian Beck, Contributing Writer We have a problem in our country. It is not that we face a people who are bent on terrorizing us. It is not impending financial doom. It is not global warming or a hopelessly corrupt government. It is a shortage of men that know how to be men. Not the proud, macho, caveman type of man; the type of man who provides for his family, stands up and defends the weak, fills the gap and becomes a point man for our way of life here in America. We can thumb through the pages of history and get a sense of what true masculinity is. This generation has grown up
in the shadow of a time where the genders were not convoluted and the role of a man was obvious and common. We are all aware of the Hollywood stereotype of the rugged hero who saves the day and rides off into the sunset, the end. Unfortunately, this scene is all but gone and we are left with a scant few individuals who preserve masculinity in its true form. While the role of a man fades from our culture, these individuals possess the trait that should define all men. That trait is responsibility. Our culture is largely failing because men refuse to accept their position in society, in the home and in relationship to their Creator.
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It isn’t difficult to find men these days more focused on their appearance than are the girls at the local salon. Wait a second. Perhaps we are jumping in way too deep here. Let’s back up a few decades and take a look at where the phenomenon came from. If you are a victim of the Baby Boomer generation, you might know where it came from. When it was decided that men were too masculine and they should be more like women, the plague began. Yes, that forced unnatural equality, a trait of any communistic belief system, has severely crippled the modern man in our culture. Thanks to radical feminism, the lines of the sexes have been blurred and the role of men has become ambiguous and subdued. What has all of this liberal ideology produced? Well, it has given us a broken country, a fragmented family and home, a derelict sense of duty, rebellious and delinquent children and, oh yeah, a portrayal of men in the media as pitiful oafs. Even the beer commercials portray men as pansies. This has not taken place overnight, mind you. This has been strategic, methodical and calculated attack on men. It used to be “Father Knows Best,” now it’s “Father is a Dork.” Once you break the cycle of the functional family unit, it is easy to destroy a nation. Children, who no longer have a father or mother to instruct, then carry on the cycle of societal decay and the role of men slowly begins to fade.
How can we correct this? No offense to women, but your sons do not need to spend more time with women. They need to spend more time with their fathers. It is the only way to leave that indelible impression upon our children. They must be near masculinity to become masculine. This, of course, is more difficult in our
These days it isn’t difficult to find men more focused on their appearance than the girls at the local salon. modern day when sons are not allowed to spend a great deal of time with their fathers as they did generations ago. The passing of the agrarian society put a lot of strain on the father-son relationship as children often worked alongside their fathers and could learn a great deal through every day life. A lot has changed since then and change we must. It is imperative that fathers devote their spare time to spend with their children and instill in them a sense of duty and sacrifice to carry on to their children. Our problems in this country are deep and wide, however, most of them stem from a fundamental core issue. That issue is that men are failing to be men. Men need to own up to who they were meant to be and help lead this country in a better direction. Our survival depends on it. Brian Beck is a local small businessman and Air force veteran concerned about intrusive government.
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(719) 275-9160 20 | The Constitutionalist Today, January 2011
Cre ate
d & De sig n e
d by Le a h H ot chkis
s
The Constitution of the United States is our country’s most important document. The Preamble (the beginning part) of the Constitution tells us why the American people formed the government they did after they won the Revolutionary War. Once the war was won, Americans had to choose what kind of government they wanted. Since Americans didn’t want to be ruled by a King, they had to think of a brand new kind of government. At that time most countries had a King. The job of creating a brand new kind of government was a big one. It took awhile to get it done, but when it was finished, America had created the very first Constitutional Republic.
“We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, 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.” John Hancock
“We the people of the United States have created and agreed to this Constitution for the United States of America. We have done this in order to make our Union stronger, set standards for justice, keep the peace at home, provide for our common defense, promote our general well-being, and make sure that the blessings of liberty continue for ourselves and our descendents.”*
The Preamble tells us why the people wrote the Constitution the way they did, but what comes next is amazing. Our government is what is called a Constitutional Republic, and the Constitution gives us the rules for how it all works. The main body of the Constitution is divided into 7 Articles. Each Article is divided into sections that give the specific rules that make our government work. *Modern language Preamble taken from The Constitution Made Easy by Mike Holler. See ad on next page.
Puzzle Solution
It is really important that all Americans understand what the Preamble means. So here is an easier version of the Preamble:
www.TheConstitutionalistToday.com | 21
Second Amendment | The Right to Bear Arms
True Grit Don Alejo Garza Tamez Bob Adelmann, Featured Writer Previously published in The American Magazine online, Nov. 30, 2010. The Rooster Cogburn character in True Grit was one of the actor John Wayne’s finest roles. Cogburn is an irascible drunk who reluctantly agrees to help the film’s heroine, Mattie, track down the man who murdered her father. The phrase “true grit” defines one who knows right from wrong and then does something about it. When a Mexican drug cartel delivered an ultimatum to Don Alejo to give up his ranch or suffer the consequences, it was expected that within 24 hours the ranch would be vacant; just another asset captured by the cartel. But they didn’t know they were dealing with someone with true grit. On November 13, 2010 a group of toughs arrived at Alejo’s ranch about 10 miles outside of Ciudad Victoria, the capital city of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Victoria is about 100 miles due south of Laredo, Texas, and about 80 miles southwest of Brownsville. The ranch sits on a pretty lake where Alejo had lived most of his life. When he was informed that he had 24 hours to vacate the premises, he simply said he would be waiting. The first thing Alejo did was to allow his ranch hands to take the next day off and leave the premises. Next, he secured his home, preparing for the coming assault. He placed weapons and ammunition at every door and window, devised a defense plan, and went to bed.
At 4 a.m. the next morning, several motor vehicles pulled up in front of Alejo’s home. The thugs announced their arrival by firing rounds from their weapons into the air. What happened next, though, caught them totally by surprise. Instead, of fleeing the property screaming for mercy, Alejo began picking off one after another of the attackers. When they discovered that their return fire was proving ineffective, the thugs began throwing grenades into the house. The firefight, it is estimated, lasted no more than about five minutes. In the end, four attackers lay dead, two more mortally wounded, and Alejo himself was dead in a pool of blood. As the Mexican marines pieced together, Alejo, age 77, decided that he wasn’t going to be run off his property by outlaws. He had made many hard decisions in his life, especially after taking over his father’s sawmill. His final decision, however, was an easy one. He owned the property, he knew he should defend it with his life if necessary, and he had the means. As a hunter, Alejo was intimately familiar with all varieties of firearms. He
had collected guns from his childhood, and had developed a keen eye and a steady finger. He hunted regularly with his friends. He co-founded the Dr. Maria Manuel Silva Hunting, Shooting and Fishing Club in Allende, Nuevo Leon. When the marines arrived at the scene shortly after the firefight, the smell of gun smoke was still in the air. Weapons, spent ammunition and empty magazines littered the house. Walls were peppered with bullet holes, and grenades had blown gaping holes in the front of the building. Borderla ndbeat. com reported: In the last hunt of his life, Don Alejo surprised the group of assassins who wanted to impose the same law on his ranch that they had [elsewhere] in the State: the law of the jungle. The marines who were present will never forget the scene: a 77-year old man, who before death, took out four gunmen, fighting them as the best of soldiers: with dignity, courage, and honor. Alejo fought the same fight that men of honor throughout the ages have fought: freedom from aggression, defense against tyranny, light versus darkness.
On the surface, the freedom fight in America seems heavily to favor the armed citizen. At last count, more than 90 million Americans are armed with several hundred million weapons. They have lived in a land of freedom unknown in history, and are enjoying the fruits gained by those who have fought against totalitarianism since the founding of the republic. But there are some who believe the American “sheeple” are too soft and too ignorant of their own freedom and history to realize what it cost others. There are some who doubt that many would stand, if necessary, to defend their own lives, liberties and property. In this time of increasing uncertainty, chaos and confusion, how many Alejos are there, really? There just might be a time, not too far off, when that question will be answered. As James Russell Lowell wrote: Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side; Some great cause, some great decision, offering each the bloom or blight, And the choice goes by forever, ’twixt that darkness and that light.
Bob Adelmann writes regularly for The New American magazine and thenewamerican.com. He and his wife live in Colorado Springs.
Circumventing the Constitution? Josh Westerlund, Contributing Writer There has been a lot of buzz on the internet the past few months about a treaty that will infringe on our 2nd Amendment rights. Messages were flying wall to wall on Facebook, inboxes were innundated and Twitter was abuzz with rumors that Barack and Hillary are going to sign a UN treaty that will take away our gun rights! I’ll be the first to admit that I was among the crowd of people going into full blown fits about this, but it requires further inspection. The treaty that has caused this uproar is the UN Small Arms Treaty. It is clothed like so many others, with the robes of good intentions and world peace. The main concept behind it is to limit illicit firearm and ammunition sales, imports and exports. Sounds good, right? I mean who wants illegal guns being brought into their country? This could stop terrorists from getting guns, and drug cartels too. But what would it really do? This treaty is an all-out nightmare for 2nd amendment advocates. It adds tough licensing to every firearm purchase making it ever more difficult for law abiding citizens to acquire a means to defend themselves. It would require that all unauthorized (as defined by whom?) firearms be confiscated and destroyed. It bans the private ownership, sale, or trade of all semi-automatic firearms. It does one final thing, and while the things I have listed already sound bad enough, this one takes the cake. The treaty would create an international gun regis-
tration database. Boy, it sure will be easy to hunt down those criminals and terrorists when they all march themselves into the nearest police station to register their guns won’t it? Every tyrannical regime has advanced gun registration in the name of safety as a prelude to gun confiscation. It is the death knell of freedom. This treaty has been around since the Bush administration, but George told the U.N. that he wasn’t interested. So the globalists waited patiently and on January 20, 2009 a man they could work with was sworn in as president of the United States. Hillary Clinton has stated that the treaty has the support of the administration and that they wish to pursue it. Can this come to fruition? Is it possible for this treaty to become law? The good news is that unless the Obama administration finds some way to completely bypass the Constitution without massive political and social fall out, this treaty has no chance of becoming law in the United States. There are many things that work in our favor against this treaty. First, all treaties are subject the Constitution, not above it. The Constitution states, “He [The President] shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur.” Two-thirds of the Senate must vote in support of the treaty. This is very unlikely to happen barring major corrup-
22 | The Constitutionalist Today, January 2011
tion on behalf of the sitting Republicans. However, even if it does, we have another safeguard. Article VI paragraph 2 states, “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.” So what does “…which shall be made in pursuance thereof” mean? Every law and every treaty is subject to the chains of the
The treaty that has caused this uproar is the UN Small Arms Treaty. It is clothed, like so many others, with the robes of good intentions and world peace. Constitution. It cannot be superseded. The Constitution has the final word, and this treaty cannot stand under it. We must be wary, however, of the ways in which the population’s resistance to concepts that are contrary to the Constitution is slowly eroded. As I have mentioned in my last article, our children are our weak point. They are berated day and night by the concept that only bad guys and police have guns. They are being taught through our corrupted and
decaying public schools that guns are bad and people shouldn’t have them. Enter the International Baccalaureate program (IB) a program in our public schools established by the UN under Agenda 21. IB falls under the umbrella of ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives). IB is a force growing in our school system with the aim of turning our kids into “global citizens” as opposed to American citizens. The threats are real, even if they are not imminent. This treaty may die off, but make no mistake, the progressive globalists are intent on destroying this nation. If they cannot take the blatant upfront approach, they will be patient and erode our sovereignty away slowly through our children. Be vigilant dear, countrymen! Educate yourselves and your children, be sure they know the legacy they will soon be entrusted with. Josh Westerlund has been a resident of Colorado Springs for 17 years. A married father of three, he works for a national telecommunications company and is a Constitutional activist during his free time. He is a die-hard advocate of Natural Law, a firearms enthusiast, and a redblooded American Patriot.
Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence. —George Washington
First Amendment | Freedom of Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly Eternal Vigilance | The Fight Against Tyranny
Keeping First Things First Dave Skiver, Contributing Writer As the New Year dawns, freedom-loving Americans still face many battles in the war for our nation. However, there is one battle so critical that everything else could very well stand or fall on the outcome—the battle for our First Amendment rights. If constitutional conservatives lose on this front, it could be just a matter of time before we lose the America we know and love. The key is keeping first things first. Our first priority must be to thwart any attack on the First Amendment, which says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances.” America’s founders got it right when they put these liberties first. Without the First Amendment, the rest of our freedoms could vanish like vapor in a desert windstorm. It was no accident that the first of the “First” is the protection of religious liberty. The founders understood the importance of faith and religion to Americans’ freedom. As Thomas Jefferson wisely observed, “God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God?” True liberty prevails when free men and women recognize that God, not government, is the source our unalienable rights. It was also no accident that the founders linked religious liberty with the freedoms of speech, the press, and the right to assemble and petition peacefully. Under God, Americans have the moral authority and duty to speak out against government excess and abuse. However, when government usurps the role of God in a society, the ruling class becomes increasingly intolerant of dissent and ever more willing to suppress it. A case in point is the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) influence on news content and political viewpoints in traditional radio and television broadcasting. For decades the FCC has controlled the allocation of the broadcast spectrum to radio and television stations by claiming that it is a scarce natural resource that must be used properly. The power to issue and revoke broadcasting licenses has given the federal government undue influence on broadcasting content. Take last century’s Fairness Doctrine for example. In the name of “fairness,”
broadcasters had to give equal airtime to opposing viewpoints. Roughly speaking, this meant that for every hour of profitable content (aka conservative viewpoints), stations also had to air an hour of unprofitable content (aka progressive viewpoints). This ultimately stifled the conservative voice and gave the progressive media the upper hand in shaping Americans’ views and opinions. With the demise of the Fairness Doctrine in the late 1980s, conservative talk radio flourished as an alternative to the progressive media, which is why the ruling class still craves control over traditional broadcasting. As recently as December 6, 2010, The Hill reported that Democrat FCC Commissioner Michael Copps wants “new regulations to promote diversity in news programming… [T]he test would make a broadcaster’s license renewal contingent upon proof that they meet a prospective set of federal criteria.” However, with the rise of alternative media—cable, satellite, the Internet, etc.—control of traditional broadcasting won’t suffice. So beware of future attempts to control the alternative media’s content, like net neutrality (a form of Fairness Doctrine for the Internet). These are just a few examples of attacks on the First Amendment. Campaign finance reform has also stifled political speech. Hate-crime laws could have a chilling effect on biblical teaching against immorality. On and on, the assault on liberty continues. As the war for America rages, keep in mind how important communication is to effective command and control (C2) of forces in battle. Smaller forces with good C2 have often defeated much larger forces without it. This explains why a small minority of progressives in America has been so successful, and why they will stop at nothing to shut down the conservative majority’s ability to speak out for God and country. Americans won a huge battle in 2010, but the war for our nation is far from over. As we enter the New Year, let’s keep first things first and stand fervently against any attempt to disrupt our communications. Though the war’s outcome is uncertain, there is hope for victory as long as we can proclaim liberty’s truth clearly and effectively for all to hear. Dave Skiver, a retired AF officer, is also an ordained pastor, professor of communications for a major Christian university, and freelance writer/editor.
Roll Back Alinsky-ite Agenda Eleventh in a Series on Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals An American Patriot, Contributing Writer Even with their shellacking in the November elections, liberal Alinsky-ites continue to push forward as if the electoral losses didn’t happen. Attribute some of this to Alinsky’s Rule 8: Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purpose. Perhaps the president continues because he knows nothing about governing other than Chicago-style politics and being an Alinsky-style community organizer/agitator. In his press conference touting his tax-rate extension agreement with senate Republicans, he attacked his oppo-
ing, perhaps more aptly called the Make Al Gore Richer hoax. We can’t go back to sleep here, either. Much of the emphasis on subsidies for green technologies—and on limiting our abilities to use our own energy resources—is a leftist effort to reduce America’s strength. We don’t have money to waste subsidizing potential energy technologies that are decades away from maturity—and to reward Friends of Obama who have positioned themselves to receive such subsidies. Gore has now admitted that pouring billions into massive subsidies for cornbased ethanol ($7.7 billion in 2009) was bad policy. He’s acknowledged that his push for the subsidies was an effort to gain farmers’ votes in his 2000 presidential bid. Unfortunately, the December clashes over extending the Bush tax cuts have shown senators in both parties didn’t comprehend the voters’ stop-the-wastefulspending message. They pushed to add on an extension of the 45-cents-per gallon subsidies for blending corn into ethanol. According to a December 1 article by James Cartledge, the proposed extension could be part of five more years of subsidies needed for the use of 69 billion gallons of corn ethanol which the Federal Renewable Fuels Standard already requires. Where are the class-action lawsuits against Al Gore? He’s gained millions in personal wealth and received a couple of prestigious awards by pushing a radical environmentalist agenda that’s wasted billions of taxpayer dollars. I’d like to see Gore testify under oath about all the global warming claims he made and with which he indoctrinated our children. Keep an eye on the tax money used to implement burdensome elements of Obamacare. Remember the gimmick Obama, Pelosi, and Reid used to get the necessary scoring by the Congressional Budget Office to forecast a budget surplus from the fraudulent program? They could only project that Obamacare would reduce government spending by collecting taxes for 10 years to pay for six years of benefits. Seems like those tax collections start in January 2011 for benefits mainly starting around 2014. Where do you suppose Obama will keep all that tax money while Americans wait for the supposed benefits? Maybe with Social Security payments in one of those Washington lock boxes. Don’t count on those tax receipts being around when it’s time to pay for our promised health care benefits. We must keep pushing to repeal Obamacare to prevent corrupt Washington politicians from spending that new source of tax money. Stay awake, America, be alert and oppose future Alinsky-ite attempts to continue raiding our bankrupt treasury.
Where are the class-action lawsuits against Al Gore? sition by calling Republicans hostage takers and accusing his radical liberal base of being sanctimonious for not supporting his deal. He lacks basic political/personal skills to successfully govern America. The Alinsky-ites have had decades of success in attacking and undercutting American values, so they consider the November losses a temporary setback. They are counting on an awakened American public settling back to sleep. We must not let that happen. We must remain ever vigilant and roll back many bad policies based on an Alinsky-ite agenda of weakening the economy, punishing enemies, and rewarding friends.
Watch out for excesses in income-redistribution attempts between now and 2013. Congress recently settled class-action lawsuits to pay $4.6 billion to black farmers and American Indians. Interestingly, one of the original suits covered the 17,000 black farmers who might have been discriminated against. Now more than 80,000 are lining up to get a cut. Obama called the settlement amount “important progress” but added that “much work remains to be done.” He characterized it as our government beginning to make amends for grave past injustices. Beginning to make some amends? Expect other schemes to redistribute your wealth according to his Alinsky-ite/Marxist sense of social justice. Think, too, about how much of that $4.6 billion—and future billions he has in mind—gets redistributed to the solid Democratic lobby of the Trial Lawyers Association. Leaked e-mails in 2010 exposed the leftist hoax of man-made global warm-
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Kitchen Table Politics
New Year’s Resolution: Hold Government Accountable Leah Hotchkiss, Senior Staff Writer Since it is January, most people are looking at the last couple of years and assessing where they are in their personal goals. Many are standing on the bathroom scale and thinking, “I could stand to lose a few pounds. I have to start cutting back somewhere and get to the gym!” Government, unfortunately, has no such bathroom scale, and even if they did they would be thinking “I really could use a few more inches around the waist to go with my enormous thighs!” Since the government will not be assessing themselves anytime soon, let’s do it for them. Every day there are news articles about the new and creative ways the federal government has been adding “inches” to their power-hungry waist and placing the people under more pressure from their freedom-crushing weight. It’s getting hard to keep track of the daily glut of freedom-destroying laws, but it is time to take stock of what they have done and decide if freedom is at stake, or if it is truly gone. In December of 2009, President Obama signed an executive order that amended Executive Order 12425 penned by President Reagan. The order by Reagan recognized INTERPOL as an international agency and allowed the agency to work in the United States. They were held accountable by the Freedom of Information Act, the United States court system, the FBI, and remained bound by the Constitution. Without explanation, President Obama decided to strip away all of these safeguards for INTERPOL. They have, for the last year, been operating as an agency above the law. No one seems to care, but it is important. INTERPOL is the enforcement arm of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The United States has never signed on to participate in the ICC because of its potential abuse by foreign interests. One major concern that has never been answered by the administration is that the ICC could potentially use INTERPOL to prosecute American soldiers as war criminals. If they decided to do so, the United States would have no authority, and our soldiers would be tried in the ICC, with no legal recourse. At best, this is a naive move that puts our constitutional laws under the power of an international quorum rife with corruption. At worst, it is a deliberate move to supply our own government a tool with which they can use to intimidate and terrorize the people. During 2009 and 2010 President Obama appointed 39 “czars” to his administration. These are people who are not officially accountable to Congress, as regular cabinet members are. Czars are only accountable to the president, and we call them czars because it is a good scary name for a position that can hold a “czar-load” of unaccountable power.
Their positions range from the ludicrous, “Asian Carp Czar” and “Ethics Czar,” to the extremely scary, “Health IT Czar” and “Compensation Czar.” These folks have never been vetted by the Congress and are not accountable to voters through the election process, yet they hold power in shaping the course of the economy, the nation, and our daily lives. Over the past two years, government has racked up huge, enormous, unimaginable debt. A complete list of this debt would be too large to print (unlike 600 billion new dollars, apparently). Our government spent roughly 11 billion dollars just to perform a census, which makes it pretty clear that bureaucrats aren’t going to stop the spending any time soon. The American taxpayer, their children, and grandchildren will now be working a majority of their adulthood to pay off their part of the national debt. Someone once said, “If you owe a man money you are his slave.” Well, contrary to Newsweek
We fight not for glory, nor for wealth, nor honour, but only and alone we fight for freedom, which no good man surrenders but with his life. and its February 2009 cover, we are not “all socialists.” We are all slaves. As if economic slavery were not bad enough, we can now worry about having our internet sites seized with no due process under the law. The Department of Homeland Security recently seized 75+ internet domains. Normally, no one would care if the feds go after a bunch of internet music/movie pirates. The problem with this is that there were no letters of inquiry sent, no court hearings, no due process under the law, and not all the sites are criminal. In fact even if the sites were all criminal it doesn’t matter. Our government should not be conducting itself in ways which conflict with the Constitution, even if they are pursuing criminals. Also, how does pirating music/movies come under the Department of Homeland Security’s purview? Since Homeland Security has been abusing this power, and its power at our airports through TSA, who will stop them? No one seems to have an answer. We could go on, but this is depressing enough. Looking back on the last years it is easy to see that our government has expanded to an out of control size that will continue to invade the people’s very homes and daily lives. So what is your News Years resolution going to be? Leah is a native of Colorado, wife, mother of 3, and loves individual liberty and freedom. Her feelings on the current political atmosphere are summed up in the quote, “Why stand we here idle? What is it that we patriots wish? What would they give us? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!”
I place…public debt as the greatest of dangers to be feared. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. —Thomas Jefferson, 1802 24 | The Constitutionalist Today, January 2011
What’s in a Name?
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David L. Kelly, Featured Writer Kit Carson Mountain is one of Colorado’s 54 fourteeners (14,000 feet high) which lies in the Sangre de Cristo Range quite near Crestone Peak and Crestone Needle. The small San Luis Valley community of Crestone is anchored below these majestic peaks and is ground zero in a name change petition controversy. Residents of Crestone have petitioned the federal government to officially change the name of 14,165-foot Kit Carson Mountain to Mount Crestone. The petition has brought about a debate on Kit Carson and divided the community which has become known for attracting more liberal-minded politically correct
Sangre de Cristo Range (Blood of Christ) to something completely different and bland. Possibly a name that would allow this majestic range to be released from the implied honor that Spaniards gave the range in reference to Christ. My knowledge of western history has taught me that many acts of brutality have been associated with both the Spaniards and the Christian faith. Is that sufficient reason to change the name of a mountain range? Absolutely not! In not too distant Archuleta County, you’ll find Jackson Mountain (named after photographer, W. H. Jackson) in the Holy Cross Wilderness. A mountain that is no where near as impressive as Kit Carson Mountain, climbing to a mere 8,862 feet, but whose name could easily be confused with President Jackson by the politically correct. Add that to the potential tie to the Christian association of the mountain’s named wilderness area and we can have another petition for a name change. While they’re at it, they should include Jackson County, Colorado to the name change list. At least it would be removing the name of another brutal American hero in the eyes of those want to rewrite our nation’s history. Should the residents of the communities who see Pikes Peak from their front porch petition to change the name of Zebulon Pike’s mountain to reflect a more modern tone? Maybe we should change Pikes Peak to America’s Peak? Or Garden of the Gods could be renamed the Valley of Sandstone Sculptures. I’m sure by now you’re becoming painfully aware of how political correctness and the rewriting of history can destroy the living color of our past and turn everything to blasé, black and white. The renaming of Kit Carson Mountain is just another step to rid our world of western culture. Therefore, I side with the oldtimers and ask that the feds refuse to grant the request to rename the peak.
Maybe we should change Pikes Peak to “America’s Peak,” or Garden of the Gods to “Valley of Sandstone Sculptures?” people and followers of eastern religion. It seems that these recent residents want to remove Carson’s name because of the Union government’s 1863-64 campaign against the Navajo people which Carson led resulting in the “Long Walk” or the Navajo’s version of President Jackson’s “Trail of Tears.” On the other side of this debate you’ll find mountain climbers, the U.S. Forest Service, local old timers and historians who contest changing the name of this mountain peak which has held Carson’s name since 1873. The opponents to the name change petition cite various reasons for allowing Kit Carson’s name to remain. They express their concerns, such as: the potential confusion to fire fighters and hikers as well as changing and reprinting maps; and paying respect to a historical figure who explored and helped open the West prompted by President Polk’s continuation of Monroe’s policy of Manifest Destiny. This petition debate is much more than a simple argument over a name. I liken this controversy to just another step in the culture war being waged in this nation. Some of you may think it should be handled at the local level and let the community name their peak whatever they want, but I see things on a larger scale that will lead to a domino effect reeking of political correctness. Let’s suppose that after Kit Carson Mountain’s name gets renamed to Mount Crestone (which would make three Crestone peak names quite near each other), the folks behind the petition drive decide that we need to change the name of the
David L. Kelly advocates for liberty, freedom, limited government and free markets. He leads the Liberty on the Rocks Colorado Springs Chapter, delivering “Tavern Style Politics in the Tradition of our Founding Fathers.” (www.liberty ontherocks.org) Kelly is also the co-founder of For What is Right, bringing Constitutional educational opportunities to young and old. (www.forwhatisright.org)
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Ed. Note: This article was printed incorrectly in our December issue. We apologize to Mr. Louth. Fiery sermons issued from pulpits throughout the colonies during the American War for Independence proclaimed the actions of Britain as violations of God-given rights. Known as the Black Robe Regiment and credited with an elemental role in the War for Independence, many of these members of the clergy served in various capacities of government as the fledgling nation came together. In those times there was no call for separation of church and state. Rather, Continental Congress procured funding for Christian ministers to serve as chaplains in each Regiment, as indicated in General George Washington’s General Orders dated July 9, 1776. In these same orders, he later requires troops to gather for the reading of the Declaration of Independence. The same delegates drafting the separation document also felt compelled to place Christian ministers as guardians responsible for maintaining a continued vigil of study and worship for the “Divine Providence” upon whom they placed “firm reliance.” Washington urged all in the army to “attend carefully upon religious exercises.” He further gave reason for such an order, and instruction for proper conduct, stating, “The blessing and protection of Heaven are at all times necessary but especially so in times of public distress and danger – The General hopes and trusts, that every officer, and man, will endeavour so to live, and act, as becomes a Christian Soldier defending the dearest Rights and Liberties of his country.” It was this same com ma nder-i nchief who, after several bitter defeats and facing an army ravaged by desertion, is known to have gone to prayer for direction (a common practice for him). Afterward, with clear purpose, he led the army in the now famous crossing of the Delaware River on Christmas night, December 25, 1776, in total disregard for conventional wisdom in the conduct of war. It was the night which brought life to the Revolution and hope that would ultimately lead to the triumph over the enemy years later. Is it mere coincidence that this effort began on the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus? On that day 2,000 years ago, the birth of the Savior brought hope that would ultimately lead to triumph over sin and death. Perhaps it is coincidence, but I would like to believe otherwise. Today our nation faces crises that threaten our God-given liberties. Our
faith and freedoms guaranteed in the Amendments to the United States Constitution are consistently undermined in the name of “enlightenment.” Judges legislate from the bench with prejudice to adjust the precepts that govern society away from their original intent. Prayer and Bible reading have been removed from public education, and displays of Christian symbols are under attack in unrestrained litigation. In the midst of this, where are the champions of Christianity to take the lead as their predecessors did so many years ago? Where is the Black Robe Regiment of our day? Who will work to proclaim the truth in reclamation of the foundational principles of religious freedom granted to Americans in the formation of this nation? I recently attended the Freedom Congress held at the World Arena in Colorado Springs. At the conclusion a call was issued for all pastors in attendance to come down front for a brief meeting on what one could do to engage in restoring religious liberty. Just one military chaplain and one pastor came forward. Unfortunately, many of today’s clergy have come to accept the notion of separation of church and state. Both the U. S. Senate and the House of Representatives issued statements in 1853 and 1854, respectively, which proclaimed the United States as a Christian nation. The Senate Judiciary Committee said, “We are Christians, not because the law demands it, not to gain exclusive benefits or to avoid legal disabilities, but from choice and education; and in a land thus universally Christian, what is to be expected, what desired, but that we shall pay a due regard to Christianity?” The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee report stated, “Had the people, during the Revolution, had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle.” It is time for those who have a heart for our nation and a Christian faith to step forward and be counted. You do not need to be a member of the clergy to be counted in today’s Black Robe Regiment. You merely need to be willing to speak out for your God-given freedom. Rex Louth is the pastor of Peakview Church of God in Colorado Springs and is active in the conservative movement to restore America to its original Constitutional roots. He has presented the intricate place of Christianity in the founding of the United States for many years, and is presently involved in the formation of a new book publishing group related to the topic.
Mr. Smith and the Making of a Bad Apple Sid Huston, Contributing Writer Movie maker Frank Capra is famous for his classic film “It’s A Wonderful Life,” starring Jimmy Stewart. In 1939, Capra made a not-so-wonderful movie that showed how a good man can be ruined when he goes to Washington. In “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington,” Jimmy Stewart played a good man with allAmerican values. After he is appointed to complete a Senator’s term he heads off to the Capitol where his reputation and his life are nearly ruined by political corruption. In the movie Stewart portrays a bumpkin and a naïve political novice who is easily manipulated. Both of Capra’s classic movies ultimately inspire the viewers with the hope of what a truly good man or woman can do.
phrase to say that a bad apple spoils the whole bunch, it is the truth. Therefore, we need to constantly check in on our newly elected officials and make sure they are not being gassed. We also need to encourage our officials to read good literature. We need to insist on intellectual integrity. In nature, insects such as fruit flies and worms like to work over an apple. As soon as a worm bores into the outer skin it is not long before bacteria and fungi burrow in and turn a beautiful apple into mush. Many of us have had the unpleasant experience of sinking our teeth into an apple that has been spoiled, and find ourselves spitting out the bad part and pronouncing expletives. It has been said that you can’t keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from making a nest in your hair. In the same way we need accountability and must require that our representatives keep their minds pure. There are two other influences that cause good apples to rot prematurely, and they both have to do with light. If an apple is placed in a closed space with no sunlight it will begin to quickly rot. In the same way, if our officials go to Washington and hide in a closet, this isolation will ruin them. If an apple is overly exposed to light it will soon lose its crispness and beautiful shine as it dries up. We have all seen how intoxicating the television cameras and stage lights can be. If our elected officials begin appearing on TV too much, we need to be concerned that they are basking in the limelight-the beginning of the corruption and the rotting process. The spiritual truth is clear: we are all bad apples, but the good news is that God by His grace can make bad people into good people. I hope we have elected good people. Now we all have a responsibility to help them remain good. As Jude said, God is the one “who is able to keep you from falling.” Let’s pray for strength for our leaders not to fall prey to corruption.
Now is no time to take a nap…we all would hate to see our newly elected conservative Mr. and Ms. Smiths become bad apples. Last month we elected some good people to represent us. We are sending some new Mr. and Mrs. Smiths to Washington, and we are happy to have good people who share our values of fiscal responsibility, limited government, free markets, strong borders and national defense going to bat for us. Now is no time to take a nap, because now is the time Potomac Fever, ethylene gas, and the bright lights of the big stage can do their corrupting work. We all would hate to see our newly elected conservative Mr. and Ms. Smiths become bad apples. In 2008, we failed to dig deep and understand the company Barack Obama was keeping. His associations with Bill Ayers and the Weather Underground, ACORN, and the Reverend Wright should have warned us that one bad apple can corrupt the whole barrel. The Good Book tells us not to be deceived, because bad company corrupts good morals (I Corinthians 15:33). A rotten apple emits ethylene gas and those apples placed around it are soon made rotten by its influence. We need to realize that in nature influence is never neutral; the same is true in politics, and even friendship. It is not just a cute
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Pursuit of Happiness | Book Reviews
Broke The Plan to Restore our Trust, Truth and Treasure, by Glenn Beck Reviewed by Bob Adelmann, Featured Writer I had no more than opened Glenn Beck’s Broke when he said something that honked me off. And on the very next page, so help me, he said something that made me stand up and cheer! It’s that kind of book. If you’re looking for entertainment, this isn’t for you. If you’re looking for a polemic about Democrats and Republicans, you’ll have to look elsewhere. If you’re seeking rules of engagement, programs for effective action in the freedom fight, you’ll be disappointed. Part I is a grand sweep through the last 10 generations of the American Republic. It’s like taking a hot-air balloon ride. First, the driver will take you straight up to 5,000 feet to take a look at the vast scenery: the moments of glory, of ignominy (this is not a sugar-coated review of American history), of crisis, of desolation, of victories unearned and defeats narrowly (providentially) avoided. And then the driver will take you down to six inches off the surface of a rushing river, skimming along and looking carefully, intimately, at specific events that represented critical turning points in our history. Part II is entitled, intriguingly, “The Crime of the Century.” Just when you think you know what Beck is going to say, and you’re tempted to turn the page and move on, he stops you dead with something you didn’t know, and need to know, before you can take on Part III. For instance, I was certain he was going to tell
us all about the history of the Federal Reserve, the great papier-mache machine of the last hundred years. No. Instead, he takes on lobbyists and their vested interests in growing the government. He gives us chart after chart and graph after graph: Social Security, Medicare, government spending versus our ability to pay for it…on and on. What they have left behind is a mountain of debt, and that’s the crime of the century. His case is awfully persuasive. Finally, we get to Part III. Don’t get here before he does, or you will (as I almost did) likely miss it. He goes back to basics: where do rights come from? Who says? Where does faith fit into the equation? Is freedom more important than prosperity? Just how painful is the future likely to be? He makes some silly recommendations, such as term limits (I thought we already had term limits built into the Constitution) and a balanced budget amendment (don’t get caught in the trap of balancing the budget at a higher level of spending). But he reminds us that limits on the general or federal government are already spelled out in the Constitution. He touches nullification and states rights and the 10th Amendment. He castigates gerrymandering and the unions. He wants to shutter the Department of Education (an agency which, amazingly, gets more and more money for doing an increasingly awful job). The same goes for the other departments: En-
ergy, EPA, FCC, and so on. He even takes on (horror of horrors) the military! These are all good and worthy objectives. But he still leaves us hanging about methods, models, strategies, action plans. The best he can do is this:
is staggering, and its 50 pages illustrate just how much effort Beck and his five
But we have to act. If you are waiting for a hero, then you are waiting for our demise. You are the hero. Our story is being written as we speak— find your place in it and remember that you don’t’ have to be the lead character to make a difference.
But we have to act. If you are waiting for a hero, then you are waiting for our demise. You are the hero. Our story is being written as we speak—find your place in it and remember that you don’t have to be the lead character to make a difference.
Aside from the lack of shoe-leather strategies (perhaps his next book?) to take back our country, the book is also missing an index. But the bibliography
co-authors and researchers put into this two-year project. The battle for freedom will continue, and this work by Beck is an important part of our armory. It is not, however, sufficient unto itself. Bob Adelmann writes for The New American magazine and lives with his wife in Colorado Springs.
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28 | The Constitutionalist Today, January 2011
Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt Reviewed by Al Maurer, Assistant Editor This classic is one of the most important books you will read in 2011. Hazlitt (1894-1993) was an economic writer and journalist for, among many publications, the Wall Street Journal. Economics in One Lesson is perhaps his most influential book. It was written in 1946 and is, therefore, contemporaneous with F.A. Hayek’s Road to Serfdom, which we reviewed in the May issue. Hazlitt’s thesis is as simple as it is devastatingly accurate: economic policy should be based on
don’t work when elevated to the lofty heights of a nation or the global economy. There, macro-economics and professional economists rule with theories the rest of us mere mortals can’t understand. Hazlitt fairly blows that away; H. L. Mencken observed that Hazlitt was “one of the few economists in human history who could really write.” Instead of a common-sense approach to economics, we have been subjected to economics based on fallacies. The irony is that we hear these same arguments today repeated by politicians who are either ignorant of past failures or, one suspects, touting the policies to support other agendas. An example is government spending to stimulate the economy, especially in public works. The Obama administration’s $800 billion stimulus was supposed to create or save jobs; instead, unemployment has risen to hover around 10%. The myth of job creation through government spending is exploded in Chapter 4. On the flip side, Hazlitt explains that full employment is not the goal either, but rather full production. Government make-work jobs can create full employment but not full production. That’s Chapter 10. Wages are addressed in Chapter 19. Raising the minimum wage above market rates hurts rather than helps low-wage workers. If the minimum wage is raised,
The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy. tracing the consequences of that policy not only on the targeted group, but on all groups in society. He explains the thesis in only five pages in Chapter 1: this is the economics in one lesson. The remainder of the book describes 23 common economic fallacies. These chapters are short and self-contained. You could read the book cover-to-cover, but you certainly don’t have to. I jumped around looking for interesting or timely topics. In high school and college, I took several economics classes in which I was taught that free market economics is micro-economics and that somehow the common sense laws that apply to your household budget and local marketplace
then only people whose labor is worth that increased rate will be hired. The result is fewer jobs at the higher rate. You’ve heard the argument before, but the media and politicians dismiss it out of hand and raise minimums anyway. He then discusses unemployment compensation—the evil of which lies in the fact that now the only incentive to work is not the wage, but rather the difference between the unemployment check and the wage. Was there any recognition of this in the recent debate on extending unemployment benefits? No. Instead, Democrats actually say that unemployment creates jobs and they are supported by Media Matters and Keynesian economists. Hazlitt is firmly in the Austrian school of economics and lists his debt to the works of three writers. The first, and greatest he says, is Frederic Bastiat, who wrote The Law which I reviewed in the March issue. The second is to Phil-
ip Wicksteed; the third to Ludwig von Mises. In turn, Hazlitt influenced Milton Friedman. Major economists he opposed include Karl Marx, Thorstein Veblen, and John Maynard Keynes. In 1978, after more than 30 years, a second edition of Economics in One Lesson was printed, and this is the one reviewed here. Statistics and examples were brought up to date and a chapter on rent control was added. There is also a final chapter on the lesson 30 years later. In it, Hazlitt mourns the fact that politicians have learned nothing in the meantime. After all these years, Economics in One Lesson is as relevant today as it was in 1946 or 1978. As with fashion, what’s old is new again. Al Maurer is a former military officer and political science professor called once again to serve the cause of liberty. Read his blog at reclaimtheblue.us.
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