The Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787. Our Constitution is both the oldest written Constitution in the world and the shortest. Our first national “Thanksgiving Day,” was created by President Washington and occurred on November 26, 1789. It was not about pilgrims; it was about “giving thanks” for the Constitution. Over 11,000 amendments have been introduced in Congress, but only 33 have gone to the states to be ratified, and 27 have received the necessary approval from the states to actually become amendments to the Constitution. http://constitutioncenter.org/
Much of the original U.S. Constitution is dedicated to Article I and Article I details what Congress does. Our Congress MAKES the laws. Our President EXECUTES the laws. Since the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Marbury v. Madison 5 U.S. 137 (1803), Our Judiciary INTERPRETS the laws.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=5&invol=137
"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few."
Article I also gives Congress the power (and duty) of oversight, which was used so efficiently by then Senator Truman during WWII to locate and stop war-profiteering. Truman called war-profiteering "treason" and exposed it-- and President Roosevelt THANKED HIM FOR IT.
President Roosevelt said: "I don't want to see a single war millionaire created in the United States as a result of this world disaster."
Today, we have a President and most Republican members of Congress avidly AGAINST oversight over any significant war-profiteering investigations.
Nonetheless, when the Democrats took control of Congress, they began such hearings. http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2007_hr/warprofit.html
But, with very little cooperation from our Executive branch.
Our President does not believe in Article I, apparently and has thrown it out the window with the help of many rubber-stamping GOP Senators http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/kimberlyk/gGX7XJ
and many GOP Congressional Representatives. In fact, EVERY GOP member of Congress WALKED OUT rather than stand up for Congress' RIGHT to subpoena members of the White House staff to conduct oversight inquiries. Most of the GOP seems to think our Constitution is "partisan" and leans Democratic. This is NOT so. It was NOT so long ago that many conservatives believed Article I was critical to protecting our liberties, and yet, although conservatives like George Will may grumble about our current Imperial Presidency, they do not stand up in outrage. Why? Apparently, an Imperial Presidency can be tolerated by them so long as it is a GOP Presidency. I vehemently disagree -- Our Constitution APPLIES EQUALLY TO BOTH PARTIES.
Some Republicans have not surrendered entirely to this Imperial Presidency. Here are the thoughts of one such Republican (who worked for President Reagan).
http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/2008/072408Roberts.shtml
I could write endlessly about the necessity of Congressional oversight and the lack of such oversight by most of the GOP while they had control of Congress.
Again, here is a list of GOP Senators who have contributed to this lock-step, rubber-stamping nonsense which has created an Imperial Presidency against our Constitution. One of Congress' most important Constitutional duties is the duty of oversight -- and these Republican Senators did not perform that duty; indeed, they generally refused to do so as part of the "permanent campaign." http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/kimberlyk/gGX7XJ
AND EVERY GOP Congressional Representative walked out in protest instead of STANDING UP for the House's right to subpoena people in the White House and demand testimony as part of their necessary oversight role. Again, this was a refusal to perform oversight in order to gain partisan political points.
http://us.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/14/house.contempt/index.html
If a President gets to determine (as White House spokeswoman Dana Perino and the GOP Congressional Reps. argued) when oversight is "partisan" and direct the Attorney General to ignore Congress' requests CONGRESS HAS NO POWER OF OVERSIGHT-- or at the very least Congress' power of oversight is limited by the whims of whoever the President might be. This is one dangerous precedent—and not one likely to please any in the GOP should a Democrat choose to exercise such an Imperial Presidency.
Here is another way to look at this -- you receive a subpoena, which you don't like, so you refuse to appear and claim that prosecutor is acting unfairly toward you (for whatever reason). If people could do that in response to duly served subpoenas, we would have NO law in this Country.
This alone is cause to send ALL of the GOP Congressional Representatives HOME! Our Congress is a co-equal branch of government as our Constitution is written; our Congress is NOT the lackey, or rubber-stamp of the President under our Constitution, yet many members of the GOP Congressional delegation behaved as though they were nothing more than rubber-stamps for a President who behaved like there are no Constitutional limits on his power -- there is even a theory for this abuse of power, it is called the "unitary theory of the executive."
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20060109_bergen.html
and
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/addington_unitary_government_w.php
Our President does not obey even laws that he signs, either. This has happened so many times now, I cannot list them all. Here are two examples. Congress passed and our President signed a law requiring that ALL costs be included in the budget. After that law was passed, our President sent a budget to Congress without the costs of the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq. Congress passed and our President signed a law banning torture, including waterboarding. After that law was passed, our President made clear that he believed waterboarding was still perfectly appropriate.
The President does NOT get to make laws—the Congress does. The President also does NOT get to interpret laws; that is the task of the Judiciary. Presidential signing statements, followed by our President refusing to enforce the law are unconstitutional, unless you believe that our President IS the law….. and if you believe that, we have neither a system of checks and balances, nor any protection from the tyrannical whims of whoever is in the Presidency.
This is the same GOP that complained for years that judges were “activists” and writing laws. This President has set himself up as legislator, executor and interpreter—is there anything more activist, or dangerous, than one man rule? Our ancestors certainly thought so; this danger is one of the reasons our Constitution was carefully crafted to control the power of the Presidency and one of the reasons we revolted against the King.
I have seen polls that show many Americans do not know that we have three branches of government, or what our Constitution requires. If these polls are accurate, our lack of knowledge about how our freedoms are protected helps create an environment for this kind of Presidential power grab. Please help me to ensure that Americans know how our Constitution protects us from the tyrannical whims of one man, or one woman rule.
Our form of government may not be the fastest to respond. Transferring executive power every 4 or 8 years may be chaotic and create instability. Nonetheless, there is no better form of government to protect the rights, freedoms and liberties of humanity.
In the words of Winston Churchill-- It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried. For me, this is absolutely true.
Our forefathers and foremothers sacrificed and even died to let liberty reign in this Country. Please let’s save what they have given to us by preserving and protecting our Constitution AND ensuring we elect as our next President, a man who will obey his oath to uphold and protect our Constitution, Senator Barack Obama.
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