What’s left to hate?

(HT: LewRockwell.com blog)

“But at least we’re good party soldiers…”

“Why is that every time it seems we’re going to get a hold of the ring of power Golem comes out of nowhere and snatches it out of our hands?  Maybe it’s because we’re not supposed to operate this way.  We’re supposed to cast that ring into the fires of Mordor, not seek it for ourselves. ”

The Home of the Free: Switzerland

I couldn’t come up for a better title to this post than that of the article I take this opportunity to link to by John Zmirak.  Published at FrontPageMag back in 2002, “The Home of the Free: Switzerland” is a must-read still today.  (I found this article linked in a recent Zmirak article at Taki’s Magazine.

As Zmirak explains, America’s Founders looked to the Swiss — and specifically “the Helvetic Republic” — as the best example in setting up our own republic.  But it was the Swiss, and not the Americans, who have since best followed the precepts of the U.S. Constitution, and self-consciously so.  We’d do well here in America to now follow the Swiss model — and our own Constitution.

Property Taxes: The Road to American Serfdom

A post by James Ostrowski over at the LewRockwell.com blog concerning one of his student’s papers on property rights and property taxes (note: it is good to see such sharp students out there!) prompts me to republish an article here that I originally wrote for the American Civil Rights Union several months ago. Though my article makes reference to a news story from April 2007, the subject matter is timeless:

It is often said, and correctly so, that the hallmark of the American dream is homeownership. This was intentional at our country’s Founding. James Otis famously said, “A man’s house is his castle,” pointing to the essential link between homeownership and liberty (See “Against Writs of Assistance”, 1761). And James Madison ensured that this link would be preserved, by including protections of property rights in the Bill of Rights, under the Fifth Amendment.

One of the greatest barometers of the success of the American Experiment through our history has been the ever expanding portion of Americans that own their home, proving true that this indeed is the land of opportunity. Overall, since 2004 and according to government figures, the rate of U.S. homeownership is just over 69 percent — an all time high. Minority homeownership has eclipsed 50 percent for the first time. For many (most?) Americans, homeownership is the principle vehicle for building wealth.

So, most of us own our homes.

Or do we?

A story in yesterday’s USA Today shows that, fundamentally speaking, homeownership is an illusion — and that we are, in fact, serfs.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Who Is the Greatest Violator of the Constitution?”

My thanks to Carolyn for bringing my attention to the video I post below.  It is of Judge Andrew P. Napolitano, delivering the keynote address at a Reason Foundation conference in DC last October.  You may recognize Napolitano as the senior judicial analyst for Fox News, but he was also the youngest life-tenured Superior Court Judge in the history of the State of New Jersey, serving from 1987 to 1995.  He is also the author of three exceptional books: Constitutional Chaos: What Happens When the Government Breaks Its Own Laws, The Constitution in Exile: How the Federal Government Has Seized Power by Rewriting the Supreme Law of the Land, and A Nation of Sheep.  I’ve read most of the first and look forward to reading the others.

Napalitano’s speech is reminiscent to the one I asked him to deliver almost three years ago for a conference I put on for The Bill of Rights Institute (my former employer) and their top donors.  His powerful oratory was only outmatched by his phenomenal grasp of the U.S. Constitution and the history of civil liberties in our country.  More people need to hear what this man is saying.

So, I post this video here now.  Watch, and listen closely to learn who Napalitano argues – correctly in my opinion — is the worst President in American history when it comes to usurping our civil liberties under the Constitution:

“Great” Moments in National Security

From Politico.com:

Rudy Giuliani, Fascist

Most everyone by now is aware of Rudy Giuliani’s rabid anti-gun views.  Few people, though, are aware of just how extreme an authoritarian is this media-appointed “front-runner” for the GOP nomination for president.  But read what the former New York City mayor said in a speech he delivered in 1994:

“What we don’t see is that freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.”

No wonder the American Conservative magazine (rightly) ran the cover image they did for their latest issue.

Reese on Constitutional Responsibility

Charley Reese has long been one of my favorite journalists.  His latest article, “Responsibility,” is a home run and dovetails nicely with a number of my articles, including “The Founders on the Power to Declare War,” “Is the Iraq War Constitutional?” and “On the War on Terror, Imperialism, and American Monarchy.”  Here’s some highlights:

…The Founding Fathers, having suffered under a monarch, deliberately created a weak president. His powers, as specified by the Constitution, are limited mainly to administering the laws passed by Congress, making appointments, negotiating treaties and being the official greeter when dealing with foreign powers. His role as commander in chief is limited to just what it says – the military. The president is not our commander in chief, as the current president seems to think.

Lest anyone be beguiled by the current politicians’ determination to create an emperor and an empire, even the president’s appointments and treaties have to be confirmed by the Senate. Congress has sole authority over taxation and spending. Appropriations for the military are limited by the Constitution to two years. Furthermore, Congress is elected independently of the president and is a separate branch of government. It is under no obligation whatsoever to do anything the president asks it to do, and the president has no authority whatsoever to do anything not authorized by Congress and the Constitution.

…Self-government is tremendously more difficult and demanding than living under a dictatorship. In a dictatorship, all you have to do is obey. I fear that concept appeals to some Americans today. It’s understandable. Responsibility can be a heavy load to carry. It’s much easier to relegate all of that to the Great Leader and just do what we are told…

Read the full article here.

Neo-Conservatives Believe in a “Living Constitution,” Too

And as has been said by others, a “living constitution” is a “dead letter.”

The common rejoinder from pro-war conservatives at this point is that an actual congressional Declaration of War is anachronistic, for some reason or another.  But what they are really doing is arguing for a “living constitution.”  They just abandon textualism and original intent for guns instead of butter.

(as quoted from a recent email conversation I had with a colleague,
after making reference to key points of my article,
“Is the Iraq War Constitutional?” )

Patriot Acts

This one is so darned good I just had to post it (from Propaganda Matrix):

  (HT: LewRockwell.com)