by Br’er Rabbit
While I was out watering the yard this morning the granddaughter of the couple who live next to me, (who is a royal pain in the ass sometimes), asked me if I had a good 4th of July. That has been eating away at me all day; what exactly constitutes a ‘good’ 4th of July? Does it mean I got good and liquored up and set off a bunch of fireworks? I think for many, that is all Independence Day is to them; for it sounded like a war zone outside my house from around 8 pm all the way until the wee hours of the morning.
In answer to the young girl’s question, I would have to say no, I did not have a good 4th of July. The day itself wasn’t so terrible; I spent it with my wife and we barbecued up some ribs and chicken; but that is not what the 4th of July represents to me. July 4th, properly known as Independence Day, is the day we are supposed to celebrate our country’s decision to sever the political bands that had tied it to the political authority of Great Britain.
While we are no longer under British rule, we are no less tyrannized by our own government than our ancestors were under the government of King George III; in fact, we are worse off now than we were back then.
What people fail to realize, probably because they have not given it much thought, is that we are under the dominion of the same class of people our ancestors were when they declared their independence. Let me explain what I mean by that.
England, back when we were British Colonies, may have been led by a monarch, but it was the wealthy and the elite, led by the Bank of England, that actually ran that country. Up until the 14th, or 15th Century England was mostly agrarian; depending upon agriculture to fuel its economy. During the 15th Century that began to change, as it began to move to wards mercantilism. That really kicked into high gear during the industrial revolution.
It does not take money to grow crops, but it takes money to build factories and hire laborers. That money has to come from somewhere; so the power wielded by the Bank of England over economic policy began to be felt more often in the laws passed by Parliament. Prior to that the only influence the Bank had was in regards to campaigns of conquest; in other words, funding wars. That certainly has not changed much with the passage of time.
Yet, it was not only the bank that asserted influence in the policies of the British government, it was the entire class of people that made up the British economy. Look back at the laws passed by Parliament prior to the Revolution and you will see that many of them were passed to benefit English industrialists and merchants. The Act that led to the Colonists dumping all that tea into Boston Harbor was enacted to benefit the East India Company. Britain had also enacted laws saying the Colonies could not trade with French Colonies. Protective tariffs were also enacted by Britain to protect her interests.
When you combine all that with the fact that it was at the behest of the Bank of England that the Colonies not be allowed to print their own money, and were taxed without any representation in the political body levying those taxes upon them, you can see that the Colonists must have felt like they were in an economic stranglehold. I believe that it was that, more than the fact than they were subjects under a foreign potentate, that led them to revolt. The history of the Revolution proves that they would have been content to remain British subjects had the King not become so oppressive; and the King only became oppressive to benefit English business and banking interests. So July 4th was as much about freeing ourselves from the dominion of the economic interests of another country as it was freeing ourselves from the political authority of another country.
Had we not won the Revolution, we would not have any reason to celebrate our Independence; so it is important that we realize what we are celebrating. Now here is the kicker; are we truly independent? Sure, we are no longer British citizens, but we are still under the control and dominion of the same class of people we were back in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was written.
That is true because of the Constitution; the document so many hold in such high esteem as outlining the greatest system of government the world has ever seen. Sorry to burst your bubbles, but that is propaganda designed to prevent you taking a closer look at how the Constitution was written; who it was written by; and what purpose it was written for.
The Constitution was not written by the common man; it was written by bankers, lawyers, merchants, and speculators. In other words, it was written by the upper class of society; the fat cats who, were they alive today, would be making their livings on Wall Street and in the banking houses of Chase and Citibank. We (you and I, the common laborers) had no say in drafting the Constitution; so it certainly was not written by ‘We the People.’
Remove the Preamble (it is all political fluff designed to deceive) and the Bill of Rights, then read the Constitution. Tell me, after you have read it, how it benefits you; how it secures to you your rights and liberty; which if you will read the Declaration of Independence, is the function all governments should serve.
The Constitution does 3 things. First, it gives government the unlimited power to levy taxes; for whatever purpose it deems necessary. The only constraint upon government’s taxing authority is how willing the people are to bear those taxes! If you knew your history, the first test of the new government’s authority came when the people resisted paying an excise tax upon distilled liquor; The Whiskey Rebellion.
The second thing the Constitution does is that it gives government the authority to borrow money on the credit of the United States; meaning they can levy taxes to pay back the money they borrowed on your behalf. Now who benefits when money is loaned from one party to another; the borrower, or the lender? The lender of course; for they collect interest on the money that they loan out. So, the more money a country borrows, the more the banks that loan that money to them gain control over that government.
That is why people should think long and hard about something Mayer Rothschild once said, “Give me control over a nations currency and I care not who writes its laws.” Rothschild knew that, if he controlled the money supply, he controlled the government. What government is going to bite the hand that feeds it; and if money is government’s lifeblood, then they will always bow down to the will of those who control the money…ALWAYS.
Why do you think it was part of Alexander Hamilton’s economic program to create a Bank of the United States? Hamilton was a banker himself; he knew the same thing Rothschild did. It is for that reason that Hamilton wanted a central bank in America; to open the door so that bankers could exert their influence over the policies enacted by the government. We live under a system that is controlled by a central bank, The FED.
It is said that, later in years, after he had signed into law the Federal Reserve Act, that Woodrow Wilson stated, “I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world. No longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.”
So, instead of being under the thumb of the Bank of England, we are under the thumb of the FED. Same beast, different name!
Finally, and this is where people often refuse to see the truth, the Constitution gave government the authority to enact any damned law it pleases. Sure, there is Article 1, Section 8, where the ‘supposed’ limited powers of government are to be found; but if they are truly limited, then how has government gotten away with passing all the laws that overstep those limits?
The answer to that is simple; the drafters of the Constitution craftily inserted numerous loopholes into the Constitution; loopholes big enough to float a fleet of ships through. There is the much-lauded General Welfare Clause. What is the general welfare; it certainly is not defined in the Constitution; therefore it can and has proven to be anything the government deems it to be. The only thing that prevents government from doing absolutely anything it wants is the amount of resistance it gets from the people; and even then that is not always enough to prevent government from doing it anyway.
Then there is the Necessary and Proper Clause. What is necessary; what is proper; and who gets to decide? Certainly not us. This clause was put to the test under the administration of George Washington; when Hamilton presented his case for the establishment of a central bank. Thomas Jefferson took the word necessary literally; meaning that if government were not given the authority to do a thing, it could not carry out any of its delegated powers. Hamilton took necessary to mean, anything that made it easier for government to accomplish its delegated authority.
I need to make it abundantly clear how important that is. Let’s say I’m Thomas Jefferson and I hire you to build a house for me and my family. To do so, it is necessary that you purchase concrete for the foundation; lumber for the walls, wiring for the outlets and lights; and plumbing supplies for the water. Now, if Hamilton were to hire you; he would say that you could buy the land where the trees are grown; where the cement is mined, as well as giving you the authority to buy a fleet of trucks to transport the materials to the job site; as well as buying you a new set of tools to construct the house.
Do you see the difference between Jeffersons interpretation of ‘necessary’ and that held by Hamilton? Of course, Washington sided with Hamilton; probably because his political savvy was so low that Hamilton was probably running things anyway; but that’s a discussion for another day. The point is, the Necessary and Proper Clause gives government nearly unlimited power. After all, who is going to stop them from doing what they believe is necessary and proper; certainly not you and I.
Finally, the Constitution did one more thing; something that was one of the arguments that led to the holding of a convention in the first place; it gave government the power to regulate commerce. Part of the problem is that people do not give much thought to what is meant by ‘regulate commerce.’ To regulate means to make regular; in other words, allow goods to freely flow from those who produce them, to those who purchase them…nothing more. Yet, thanks the John Marshall, and the Supreme Court, the Commerce Clause has been expanded to include just about anything dealing with the production, transport, and sale of goods.
In 1824, Chief Justice Marshall held, “This power, like all others vested in Congress, is complete in itself, may be exercised to its utmost extent, and acknowledges no limitations, other than are prescribed in the constitution.” (Gibbons v Ogden) If you have read the Constitution you will see that there are no limits imposed upon the exercise of the Commerce Clause; it exists alone as a grant of power without restriction; a loophole that has been exploited to its fullest.
Laws that say how a good must be packaged were enacted under the authority given government by the Commerce Clause. Laws prohibiting you from buying certain goods have been enacted under the authority given government by the Commerce Clause. Labor laws, minimum wage laws, safety standards, all fall under the authority given government by the Commerce Clause. I could go for days listing all the laws that have been enacted under the Commerce Clause, but I hope you get the picture as to how big that loophole is.
The point is, none of those loopholes exist to serve the function government is supposed to serve; as outlined in the Declaration of Independence. Those loopholes exist to serve those who own and control the business, banking, and industrial sector of society; the elite. It was by them, and for them, that the Constitution was written; and it places us squarely under the thumbs of the people we fought a Revolution to free ourselves from.
So, if you ask me how my 4th of July was, I will ask you, ‘What the hell are we supposed to be celebrating?’ This government serves the same function regardless of which political party is in control of it; the only difference is which sector of the plebes (voters) gets the table scraps thrown to them by their masters. Government is government, and it does what it was designed to do. Take off your blinders, look at the history of what government has done; how it has stripped away your freedom for the ‘false’ promise of comfort and security.
That is why I no longer celebrate Independence Day; for what is there to celebrate?