Lost

Liberty

 

The Demise of American Liberty
by Mark Pitrone 02Jul03

It seems every day there is a news story about some new assault on the liberties of Americans. The news media very seldom report it as such, but the assault is real, just the same.

The founders of this experiment in self-government set up an outstanding system by which individual liberty and the rights of both the people and the states would be well protected and preserved both by and from the general government. Our Constitution did an excellent job of doing just that for the first 85-100 years of America's existance, but since the Civil War that general government has become more and more like the government from which we rebelled, Lo, those 227 years ago.

When the legislature was decimated by the secession of the Southern states, there was no way for the Congress to enact any legislation. The federal government did not recognize the secession and, since only 1/2 of Congress' members were in attendance, it could not get together a majority vote - they couldn't even muster a lawful quorum (the Democrats in the Texas legislature just pulled the same trick and succeeded in keeping some jerrymandering legislation from passing). And so President Lincoln issued the first, of what has now become over 13,000, executive orders. With the lack of a constitutional quorum in Congress it was a matter of expediency, in my opinion, for Lincoln to do so. But it was not Constitutional, and therefore unlawful, the first instance to my knowledge of a president breaking his oath of office. The South was actually counting on this unconstitutionality, this inability to enact legislation, and expecting some concessions (as were the Texas Democrats) to their way of thinking and an invitation back to do the business of the legislature. War was the farthest thing from their minds. When Lincoln began to rule by decree, getting a rubber stamp from the group left on the Hill, the South knew that there was no true regard for the constitution in those hallowed halls. The dictatorial precedent had been set. Lincoln had usurped the power of a king from the hands of the people to himself and the people barely whimpered in protest. Imagine that!

This attitude has not changed to this day. Witness the unconstitutional anti-2nd amendment gun control laws, the general ignorance and disregard for the restraints placed on the general government by the 9th and 10th amendments to the constitution, the almost total disregard for the 4th amendment protections against illegal search and siezure, the refusal to allow the 6th amendment guarantee of public petit jury trial and counsel of choice in the courts of our land, the recent federal court decision that people may be COMPELLED to testify against themselves in direct abrogation of the 5th and 8th Amendments, not to mention the grievous encroachment on the freedoms to speak politically offensive thoughts, assemble peacably, and freely practice religion without government intrusion - all guaranteed by the 1st amendment.

I didn't mention the freedom of the press, because there hasn't been any in the major media for so long that I can't remember when it was last allowed (and I'm almost 50 years old). Almost everything you read in a newspaper or hear on a broadcast is fed to the press by government sources, who allow the dissemination of only what information they allow (witness the TWA 800 shootdown by Arab terrorists and the subsequent cover-up). Investigative reporting is all but dead in America. If a reporter starts to dig for a story he is demonized, ostracized, prosecuted, persecuted and marginalized until he either backs off, is proclaimed a K.O.O.K. by Rush or is ignored (witness the TWA 800 shootdown), even by the sheep who are reading this article. There are very few exceptions, like Nat Hentoff and Christopher Ruddy, and they write for underground, internet or alternative news sources. The major media will have nothing to do with them for fear of losing their hand-fed, already written articles from those "unnamed' or 'anonymous' government sources. If you don't believe me, read any story that comes from a major news organ, then read it in another major news organ. You'll be amazed at the similarity of all the information in the article, not just the facts - the who, what, where, when and why.

Our federal courts, as implied above, are not the protection the founders envisioned them to be. The federal courts were expected to interpret laws as they related to the Constitution. Instead, the courts interpret the Constitution as it relates to the momentary whims of the culture. They say the Constitution is a living document that needs to be seen in the light of the predominant culture. The actual fact is that the Constitution IS a living document, and it DOES change over time, but it can only change by Amendment, not cultural whim. The founders covered every eventuality they could foresee. Some things they did not foresee have since been dealt with by amendments, like the presidential succession and term limit. The wisdom of these amendments is the subject of another article. Suffice it to say, that the founders made provision for the document to grow and change, but the process was supposed to be arduous and difficult. As was the passing of a law.

In the minds of the framers of our general government, a bill had to go through both houses and then the President to become law. All parties were to be on the lookout for unconstitutionality. Laws are not supposed to be passed without regard to the constitution, leaving it to the courts to decide if the law is lawful. I remember Predident Kennedy vetoing a law passed by both houses due to it's unconstitutionality (I remember the incident, not the specific law. I was less than 10 years old at the time). I have read, at http://www.constitution.org/cons/crockett.htm, the story of David Crockett, yes THAT Davey Crockett, telling the Congress why it was unconstitutional to pass a particular bill. That was, and still is, the duty of every member of Congress and the President. Lawmakers don't worry about the Constitutionality of a bill anymore. "That's for the courts to decide", they say. The Supreme Court is the LAST resort, not the first, in deciding on constitutionality of a law. And it is never the place of the courts, or anyone else, to question the Constitution itself. It is the basis of our form of government, and to question the Constitution is to weaken it and place ourselves above it.

But whence comes this spirit of incredulity? When did we decide it was OUR place to question the Constitution, or the men who wrote it? Here is where the author expects the most disagreement from what he writes. This attitude comes from the same source as our spirit of incredulity as regards the Word of YHWH, who is commonly refered to as God. We tend in our human nature to not like being told there is an absolute against which we will be judged. We like being the authors of our own destinies, the arbiters or our own morality; i.e., gods. Unfortunately for us, we are not the final authority in our or anyone else's life. YHWH is.

Looking to the history of the scriptures, we see that a very similar situation as exists in America today existed in Israel around the 7th and 8th centuries before the Common Era (BCE). Around 1400 BCE Israel had been given instructions by YHVH on how to conduct every aspect of their lives. It was the most comprehensive legal system known to man, covering relations in business, family, and society in general. It covered those who believed and those who did not, and applied to them, each and all, equally within the jurisdiction of Israel - there was not one law for the Israelite and another for the stranger or sojourner. This comprehensivity (I think I just coined a term) and fairness of application was copied by our founders in the Constitution for the united States of America. They knew that a people could never govern themselves without just laws, and so they planned that we, each and all, would govern ourselves by the laws of nature's Creator. I fear that we are about to be judged by the same YHVH who judged Israel and for the same reasons.

Our founders knew that the constitution they gave us was, as John Adams put it, 'wholly inadequate' to govern an unjust and immoral people. But at the founding of our nation, the vast majority of people were just and moral, having been taught the golden rule and the 10 words of YHVH as given on Sinai. But some 40 years ago, our government came down on the wrong side of the issue of prayer in the public schools, and a year later, Bible reading in the public school. The decline of American culture, scholastic achievement, the rise of out of wedlock and teen pregnancy and general lawlessness can be shown to have begun at that time and to have risen exponentially since. 10 years later, the infamous Roe v.Wade brought the American government down on the side of infanticide, baby murder. It is doubtful that the Apostle James had that in mind when he said in James 1:27 "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction..." How much more fatherless can one be than the aborted? When Israel's government rebelled against YHVH he allowed them time to repent; when they refused, he judged them severely. He brought a military powerhouse against Israel to carry them away, or kill them. Israel has never returned. When Judah's government rebelled 100 years later YHVH gave them time to repent; when they refused, he sent a military power to defeat them and carry them away or kill them. A remnant of Judah returned as subjects of another power, but about 500 years later they rebelled against YHVH again and were carried away again. I fear this fate lies ahead for America unless we repent.

So, in the name of individual rights that had never been contemplated by our founders, and that had to be manufactured out of thin air by the twisting and misapplication of the Constitution by our scheister legal profession, we started down the slippery slope to tyranny. Now the Supreme Court has decided that the States have no interest in the morality of its people. Sodomy is OK, as long as it's between consenting partners. If that is true, so is prostitution and pedophilia and any other perversion you can name without retching. What was once in the purview of the States has now been decided by 9 politicians in priest's robes to be only in the power of the federal Leviathan. Our founders considered that they had created the best form of government a people could have, but they knew that those people would have to protect it from politicians who would usurp that government from them as soon as they saw they could have their neighbor's goods, or wife, or children without having to actually rob their neighbor themselves. That is way too messy, not to mention dangerous. The immoral and unrighteous people and the politicians they elected would let the government rob the people next door and then get it from the government. Tyranny is what that is - tyranny of the very small and very vocal minority, political correctness gone berserk. We fought a revolution over less.

All of this comes because we set ourselves above YHVH, the Almighty One who created us. His standard has changed even less than the Constitution has. It's precepts still rule in the affairs of men, whether men accept them or not. Let's look at the 10 Commandments for a minute, see where they have been shunted aside by our culture. Exodus 20:3, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Well duh! How many times have we spit in God's eye and said 'you can't tell me what to do!' What we've just done is set ourselves as gods before God. Exodus 20:4-5, 'Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image... 5Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them...' If one sets oneself up as a god before God, he has by definition made an image to serve and bow down to. Exodus 20:7, 'Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.' Now, to be completely fair, the only people who can really break this one are believers, for they have taken the name of YHVH on themselves, accepted his name as their own, like a bride accepts her husband's name. So, you heathen can disregard this one, except that the law of God applies equally to the sojourner as to the citizen, so I guess you aren't off the hook here either. Exodus 20:8, 'Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.' Everyone but the Jews of most stripes and the 7th day christians blow it here. Exodus 20:12, 'Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.' Now most of us love our parents, but that is not the meaning of the word 'honour'. Webster's 1828 dictionary has: "HON'OR, v.t on'or. [L. honoro.] 1. To revere; to respect; to treat with deference and submission, and perform relative duties to. Honor thy father and thy mother. Ex.20." We say we honour our parents, but do we really? Do we obey them, which is to treat them with 'deference and submission' Do we care for them in their age - perform relative duties to them - or put them in a home for our own convenience? We abort our children for our convenience. How much longer will it be before we kill our aged for the same reason? Exodus 20:13, 'Thou shalt not kill.' The author has said enough about abortion to get the point across here. Exodus 20:14, 'Thou shalt not commit adultery.' Where do you suppose most of those abortions are coming from - 40 million since 1973 (That is a low-ball estimate. I've heard it may actually be double that)? Exodus 20:15, 'Thou shalt not steal.' You may think you've got me here. You haven't stolen anything from anyone. EVER! Have we ever taken a 15 minute break, when entitled to 10? Have we ever had sex out of marriage? If so, we've taken that which does not belong to us. Have we had an extra-marital affair? We've stolen from our spouses that which is theirs and given it to another, and we've taken from the object of the affair that which is not ours. And once again it is for our convenience and 'pleasure'. Exodus 20:16, 'Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.' Have we ever built ourselves up at the expense of another, to gain advantage or just for spite? Exodus 20:17, 'Thou shalt not covet...' Webster's 1828 again, 'Covet -To desire inordinately; to desire that which it is unlawful to obtain or possess...Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors house, wife or servant. Exodus 20.' When have we NOT wanted something someone else has, and not just one like theirs, but THEIRS? When have we NOT desired to taste what's been forbiden by YHVH?

Covetousness is the last one listed, because it is the worst of them all. It is the covetousness in our hearts that causes all the trouble in the world, and that is the source of most, if not all, of the sins we commit against YHVH and each other. And we are about to be judged as a nation on account of it. We were truly set as a 'shining city on a hill'. Our founders thought of our nation as spiritual Israel, as indeed we were after a manner. But we've allowed ourselves to be sucked into the cesspool of sin and depravity, even as Israel was of old. It is only arrogance to assume that what YHVH did with Israel he will NOT do with us, namely carry us away or destroy our nation.

He says that his people are destroyed for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4.6). What knowledge do we not have? We put men on the moon, built the most amazing towers to almost touch the sky, overcome the force of gravity, wiped out virulent diseases. What knowledge is there that we don't have at our fingertips on the Internet or in an encyclopedia? To take the context of Hosea 4.6 the knowledge we so desparately lack is the knowledge of YHVH Tzavaoth, the LORD of Hosts. It's not that we don't have the knowledge, but that we have it at our fingertips and refuse to consider it. We thereby despise the Creator and King of the universe.

And he is not pleased. Nor is he amused.

Our necessary course of action, both as individuals and as a nation, to avoid the coming judgment is simple. REPENT, which means to turn from our own ways, and follow after YHVH and his Son, Yeshua the Messiah, commonly called Jesus Christ. He is the way of righteousness. He casts a large shadow in which we should walk, placing our feet in the very prints his made. It is simple, but it is not easy. The choice is each individual's.

What is yours?

 

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