A Remarkable Document

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Column by Paul Hein.

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From time to time, we hear our rulers refer to the Constitution, in such solemn tones and with such serious demeanor that we might think they took it seriously. For example, some of them have expressed outrage that the NSA should violate the people’s right to privacy. Good for them; it IS an outrage.

Some of the rulers are indignant that the administration and its cronies would ban the ownership of guns, terming that action unconstitutional, which it certainly is. Others are upset that Obamacare violates the right of some Americans of the free practice of their religion, which is does.

What impresses me about these pious references to the Constitution is that they are so selective.

For example: The Constitution forbids the states from making anything but gold and silver coins a legal tender. Have any of the rulers expressed outrage about the fact that this provision has been flouted for decades? Yet the violations against which some of our rulers inveigh pale in comparison with this one. The Missouri Constitution, to which the local rulers dutifully swear allegiance, makes nothing but the silver coins of the United States a legal tender in this state, but those selfsame rulers pay not the slightest heed of it. Indeed, one of them assured me that, although the Missouri Constitution does describe only the silver coins of the United States as a legal tender in Missouri, it doesn’t say that other things could not be a legal tender, also. I assume therefore, that a speed limit of 70 doesn’t exclude other speed limits as well, or that the legal drinking age of 21 isn’t the ONLY legal drinking age in Missouri.

The Thirteenth Amendment to the federal Constitution declares that involuntary servitude shall not exist in the United States. This provision seems so flagrantly and continually violated that you might hope that our esteemed rulers might take note of it, and do something about it. The fact that they do not has led me to the inescapable conclusion that involuntary servitude must not exist in the United States, because if it did, it would be unconstitutional, and surely, those who have sworn allegiance to the Constitution would not permit that!

Another example: Hundreds of thousands of Americans provide service to the federal government in conforming the workplace according to Federal “guidelines,” as well as computing, collecting, and forwarding, with the appropriate forms, millions of dollars taken from workers, to Washington. In fact, many of the people providing this service do nothing else. And there are punishments that can be imposed upon those who decline this opportunity to serve. The mistake I’ve made has been to consider that this servitude is involuntary, when, of course, it could not be so. Actually, these workers have volunteered to serve the rulers. The proof of this is that, if they were serving involuntarily, it would be a violation of the law which, of course, simply cannot be! The rulers would never allow the Constitution to be set aside by workers serving them involuntarily. Unthinkable! The punishment dealt out to recalcitrant servers is simple justice: They volunteered, and then failed to perform.

This explains so many things. We’re told that the average American toils until some time in April just to earn the money he sends to D.C. Of course, to the unaware, this would seem to constitute involuntary servitude. The fact that it is not is borne out by the impossibility of our rulers ordering us to do anything in violation of their Constitutional oath. And, in fact, the IRS has consistently referred to “voluntary compliance” as the basis of our tax system. Of course! How could it be otherwise? Would our rulers violate their oath? Isn’t the alternative to voluntary compliance slavery? Not in America!

We are a nation of volunteers. Recognizing that our rulers have our best interests at heart, we volunteer into their programs gladly, for our good, and the common good--whatever that is. Of course, it may take a bit of sophistication to discern that the military draft, for instance, constitutes a volunteering into servitude. But it must be realized that by being born within the boundaries of the United States, one automatically becomes a volunteer, and subjects himself to the will of the rulers. You don’t even need to think about it. In fact, it is far better NOT to think about it.

In truth, our rulers, with their smart bombs and drones, are trying valiantly to awaken the entire world to the fact that EVERYONE has volunteered! Shame on those who fail to acknowledge this! Not to volunteer, besides being unpatriotic, is terrorism.

Relatives of individuals killed by drones in remote places should stop whining and admit it. Their beloved (abruptly) departed voluntarily associated themselves with presumed suspected terrorists, or people who might have associated with suspected terrorists, or people who might have known them, and so deserved their fate.

Rejoice in your voluntary submission to the rulers. It’s the American way!

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Paul Hein's picture
Columns on STR: 150

Comments

Paul's picture

"What impresses me about these pious references to the Constitution is that they are so selective."

Yes, that is amusing. It seems everyone, including "restorationists", use the Constitution dishonestly.

Remember years ago when "conservatives" thundered that privacy is not in the Constitution? And "liberals" supposedly supported privacy?

There seems to be two theories about what to do with the Constitution: either restore it (we really mean it this time) or get rid of it. The latter is what appeals to me, since it is nothing but a gigantic fig leaf hiding what the rulers really end up doing. Hell even the Founders pissed on it.

But this is like my opinion about rights. It all boils down to obfuscation and distraction and euphemism. Lies. Government cannot exist without lies, and (it seems) people aren't happy without some pleasant lies to believe in.

Glock27's picture

The only problem to this, I think, is that those in power don't give a poop what we think. Harry Reid, Nancy Pelose, as examples. The other problem is that American's don't seem to really give a crap either. Yes, some get upset about what the government does, but they refuse to make any collaborative effort to demonstrate that the people have the power and not the government.

I can't disagree with what you present here, I just feel it is an endless black hole.

Jim Davies's picture

The large value of the Constitution is that it provides a great stick with which to beat Pols, and you, Paul Hein, administered here a splendid whacking. This is what they say they follow; hold them to their own standards, and demonstrate how miserably they fail.
 
You might even give your MO Pol an extra caning, because although that State's charter may not forbid other forms of currency (Liberty Dollars, maybe?) the US Constitution does clearly say that "no state shall... make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts" (Art 1 Sn 10) and so, provided he acknowledges that the Federal one trumps the State Constitution, his reported response is proven to be flat false.
 
To prove that government ignores its own charter is a useful first step; the next one is to reason that in its nature, no government can ever be subject to any external constraint. Then it's a short one to point out who, alone, does have the right to run a person's life.

Log from Blammo's picture

The Constitution may be just a fig leaf, but in that same metaphor, there are many people currently covered by it whom I would not enjoy seeing politically naked.

I believe that government is a thing that when given an inch, will take a mile. The Constitution itself does not provide a penalty for very minor, almost forgivable infringements upon its boundaries. So people encroach, inch by inch, upon the forbidden, until the last inch in the mile remains. And then what is left but to take just one more inch?

I offer no solution. Fixing government is not a problem I wish to attempt. It is clear to me that inventing solutions by a state to address the problems caused by states is a black hole from which there is no escape.

It is high time for people to realize that perfecting government is impossible, because it is inherently flawed. The use of coercive force can never be legitimized, only rationalized.

Jim Davies's picture

Log, you're  accurate in saying that government is inherently flawed and therefore susceptible to no perfection. That's very well stated. I'm sorry, though, to read that you see no possible fix.
 
I think there is. Educate everyone to understand what you just wrote about its vast inherent flaw, then encourage them never to work for it. When nobody will work for it, it will cease to exist.
 
Start here.
 
 

Thunderbolt's picture

Alexander Haig once famously said that the people could protest all they want, as long as they pay their taxes. As one component of striking the root I would include bitcoin or another crypto-currency-- perhaps Darkcoin or Anoncoin-- as a necessary, but not sufficient, element. Cody Wilson of 3-D maker-bot gun fame, is working feverishly toward making it simple for users to cloak their identity when trading bitcoins. To prove that a moron with an I.Q of about 70 can actually come up with a solid truth, I give you Jr.'s "The constitution is nothing but a goddamn piece of paper."