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  • Posted by mshupe 5 years, 7 months ago
    What's amazing to me is how well these political philosopher geniuses understood human nature. They anticipated the creeps who talk about a living Constitution, warned us about them, and did everything they could to insulate us from their schemes.
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    • Posted by term2 5 years, 7 months ago
      I will note that the Constitution as written was an imperfect document, most particularly that it doesnt protect private property explicitly, leading to a LOT of government takeovers.
      But, that said, I am getting very tired of the leftists who just want to usurp powers and MY money to do their bidding. I dont listen to their arguments anymore, I just watch what they want to DO. Saves a lot of time.
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  • Posted by freedomforall 5 years, 7 months ago
    Excellent points and numerous examples showing just how invasive the bureaucratic monster is.

    "abandoning the constitutional division of war powers and allowing the president to initiate military operations has led to more than two decades of endless warfare."
    Here the author has understated the issue by more than 4 decades. We have been in undeclared wars since the 1950's. Eisenhower warned of this in his farewell address in January 1961. It has been completely ignored as well.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyBNm...
    It is not clear if Eisenhower was aware of how far the federal government had already exceeded the intent of constitutional limits. He does speak of "balance" between the public (government) and private economies so it appears he was at least aware that a problem already existed, and his comments and warning about the military industrial complex indicate his fears that government was already out of control.
    The 57 years since the address provide ample evidence that his fears were well founded.
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 5 years, 7 months ago
    He gives the president a stern look from his portrait in the Oval Office.

    “[Liberty] is, indeed, little else than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property.”
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    • Posted by $ 5 years, 7 months ago
      We have drifted pretty far from original intent. We are much worse off and things are much more dire on every level than they needed to be because of usurpation at every level of government and public ignorance about their true inheritance.
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      • Posted by CircuitGuy 5 years, 7 months ago
        "things are much more dire on every level than they needed to be"
        Things are worse than they need to be. But I try to remind myself that things are pretty good. Many people, maybe most people, clearly think their lives should be theirs. Not long ago we had reasons why the majority of the population shouldn't follow their dreams just on account of their race or sex. That idea is gone. Many people around the world look to the US as a model of freedom and opportunity that they want for their lives. Things are worse than they need to be but way better than they could be.
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        • Posted by $ 5 years, 7 months ago
          I'm glad you can see a silver lining CG. What I see is the slow and deliberate weaving of the noose around the necks of Americans that will result in a nation not remotely like what knew only 40 years ago, and even that was far removed from what the framers intended.

          What you are seeing a glimmers of hope are the ever diminishing flickers of a once raging bon fire beaten down, almost to submission, by the Storm.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 5 years, 7 months ago
    This further affirms Washington's greatness as a man and as a president.. Over 200 years ago this great man spoke as if he had a telescope that could view the future and hit on many of the very problems we struggle with today. Washington has become such an icon "The father of his country" etc. that we tend to disregard him as strictly a symbol. He was a once-in-a-generation type of man. A soldier, a leader, as intelligent and as insightful as any founder and perhaps more so..Lincoln and others rank highly, but no one can touch the heights of integrity and leadership of George Washington our first and greatest president.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 5 years, 7 months ago
    I wish that every President were like George Washington:

    Flawed, but humble enough to recognize that they are flawed.
    Non-partisan. Enough said.
    Honest. Not perfect, but honest.
    Patriotic. Washington gave his life - and much property - in defense of liberty and freedom.
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 5 years, 7 months ago
    Any politician who preaches "a living breathing Constitution" is hell bent on leading a prancing parade of giddy Lemmings down the path to socialism where awaits a steep plunge into things Venezuelan.
    BTW, such parade leaders seek to eventually run things as glorified more than equal elites as does Kim Jong-un, the only fat North Korean me dino has ever seen photographed.
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  • Posted by EgoPriest 5 years, 7 months ago
    Rule by whim is the essence of statism (which is why "anarcho-anything" is its most irrational form). When people reject reason, they embrace (or are embraced by) force instead. Murder begins where thought and morality end.
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    • Posted by EgoPriest 5 years, 7 months ago
      (That last is my restatement of Rand's "Thinking is man's only basic virtue,...[and] morality ends where a gun begins." -Atlas Shrugged, p. 1017/23).

      [GS-58/81]
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