Obituary for a Republic

At the close of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on September 18, 1787, as Benjamin Franklin emerged from the convention, Mrs. Powell asked him: "Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" "A republic if you can keep it" responded Franklin. We didn't.

It was not taken from us by a foreign power, nor by a sudden, unexpected coup. No, it was lost bit by bit, law by law, by a steady usurpation of power by our elected 'leaders', while we sat and watched and did nothing. The implementation of the 'Wall Street bailout' was the final nail in a free republic's coffin. Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC) was correct when she said Friday, October 3, 2008 was the "...day America died."

During the Cold War, Nikita Khrushchev predicted that the United States would be taken without firing a shot. He was prescient. Here we are, a mere 50 or so years later, and most of the planks of the Communist Manifesto have been at least partially adopted by our American government.

The Ten Planks of the Communist Manifesto

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. Partially achieved: Eminent Domain laws, environmental laws, zoning laws.

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. Fully implemented.

3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance. Partially achieved: Confiscatory estate taxes.

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. Coming soon?

5. Centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly. As of Friday, October 3, 2008, with the passage of H.R. 1424 in the House of Representatives and the signature of President Bush, this is fully implemented.

6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state. Partially achieved: FCC laws, Department of Transportation, government-owned AMTRAK and Conrail.

7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. Partially achieved: Department of Labor, Department of Commerce, Department of Agriculture, Department of Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Mines...

8. Equal obligation of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. Partially achieved: Department of Labor, Social Security Administration.

9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country. Partially achieved: Agribusiness, zoning laws.

10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc. Fully implemented. 'Public schools' have become good-little-comrade indoctrination centers. Department of Education.

The government controls your food, beverages and drugs (Food and Drug Administration) and your weapons, alcohol and tobacco (Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms), too. We have the Centers for Disease Control. The Department of Energy, the Small Business Administration. Health and Human Services..... a nearly limitless array of government agencies, bureaus, administrations, programs and departments all tasked with the same goal - control the lives of every man, woman and child in America. At least one of the current Presidential candidates is happily proposing even more intervention and control.

Marx also said:

"Political power, properly so called, is merely the organized power of one class for oppressing another."

Every member of Congress who voted for the so-called Wall Street bailout violated their oath of office. The President violated his when he signed it. Those who voted 'no', for whatever reason, deserve our praise and thanks. The rest deserve to be unemployed. On November 4th, we have the opportunity to fire them and begin the process of restoring our country to her Constitutional roots.

Thomas Jefferson wrote the following in the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it...

It is our right. It is our duty.