-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: March 27, 2007 1:38:03 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Fwd: Democracy Dreaming
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
article17414.htm*Democracy Dreaming* By Joel S. Hirschhorn
03/26/07 "ICH " -- What is this thing called democracy? So easy
to talk about, so difficult to make real. Pure democracy is not
what our Founders gave us. Who would want a simple majority to
control the minority? Instead, America was given a representative
democracy within a constitutional republic where laws that protect
all people trump majority rule. Standing between majority-won
elections and government power are elected representatives:
writing, overseeing and implementing laws. But when you can no
longer trust the elected representatives what happens to American
democracy? It becomes an oxymoron. We have arrived at a delusional
democracy. Delusional because Americans overwhelmingly cannot
admit the painful truth that their limited democracy no longer
works for the good of most citizens. Instead, through corruption
and dishonesty, our representative democracy has morphed into a
plutocracy that serves the wealthy, power elites and corporate
masters that control the political system and through that the
economic system. The Framers of the Constitution had deep concerns
about the long-term viability of the government structure they
created. Some think that the checks and balances among the three
branches of the federal government preserve its integrity.
Really? The money that controls the legislative branch also
controls the executive branch, and both of those control the
judicial branch. Even worse, it has become clearer to increasing
numbers of Americans that many parts of the Constitution -- the
supreme law of the land -- have been directly or more deviously
disobeyed or distorted. Constitutional rule is a myth. We have a
Congress that gives its constitutional power to declare war to the
President and refuses to impeach him for his many violations of
laws. We have a President that openly signs laws but says he will
not honor them. We have a Supreme Court that decides who becomes
President rather than the voters and often amends the Constitution
unconstitutionally. We have elections that are not to be
trusted. We have a government using free trade globalization
hogwash to sell out the middle class. We have rising economic
inequality that is creating a two-class society: the wealthy Upper
Class and the Lower Class for everyone else. Overlaid on this
delusional system is the myth that having just two major political
parties somehow is right and necessary for our representative
democracy. In reality, partisan differences are just another layer
of corruption, dishonesty and deceit. Artificial political
competition distracts. Big money from the wealthy and corporate
and other special interests controls both parties, producing
mutually assured corruption. They are two faces of the same coin,
two heads of the same monster, two puppets controlled by the same
masters. Of course the two-party system provides stability. It
has stabilized a criminally corrupt government. Delusional
political competition supports a delusional democracy based on a
set of delusional checks and balances. The whole system that once
worked has become a sham.Did the Framers anticipate that their
system could become such a travesty? They did. So, in addition to
the better known parts of the Constitution, they imbedded what
might be called a legal loophole -- a kind of escape clause, just
in case things went terribly wrong. They have. The public is
largely ignorant of Article V’s option for a convention, when
asked for by two-thirds of states, to propose amendments to the
Constitution. Worse, nearly all people with political power have
opposed using it. Even worse, despite Article V explicitly saying
that Congress "shall" call such a convention when a sufficient
number of states have asked for one -- and that is the ONLY
specified constitutional requirement -- for over 200 years Congress
has willfully disobeyed the constitution and NOT granted a
convention. In fact, Congress never had the integrity and
constitutional respect to even set up a system of any kind to
collect state requests for an Article V convention. Still, we know
from the hard work of many that there have been well over 500 such
state requests. People with power in the present corrupt political
system fear an Article V convention. Operating independently of
Congress and the White House, it might reduce their power and
ignite widespread public interest in deep reforms. One trick of
the power elites has been to fool people that an Article V
convention would inevitably become "runaway" and threaten all that
Americans hold dear -- especially their freedom. Nonsense. A
convention can only propose amendments that, just like proposals
made by Congress, must be ratified by three-quarters of the
states. Most absurd are the anti-convention right-wingers who
profess total allegiance to the Constitution, except for Article
V. John T. Noonan, Jr., observed in 1985: "RESPECT, indeed
reverence, for the Constitution is a proper attitude for
conservatives to cultivate. Is it respectful to the Constitution
to maintain that of the two methods of amendment specified by
Article V one is too dangerous to be put to use?" Exactly why did
the Framers give us the option of an Article V convention? Listen
to the wise words of one of the nation’s foremost legal scholars.
Professor Paul Bator wrote this in 1980: I think the Article V
convention represents a profound political protection for us, as a
people, against the tyranny of central government. And whatever we
say about Article V, I think it is very, very wrong, just because
we may disagree with the content of any particular constitutional
amendment that is now being proposed, to interpret Article V in
such a way as to clip its wings as a protection for the liberties
of the people. That is why I think it is profoundly important,
particularly for constitutional scholars, to be hospitable toward
the concern that Article V represents, which is that there be a way
out for the states and the people if a willful and intransigent
central authority governs us in a way we find unacceptable. We
definitely need a way out. Two of our best presidents explicitly
supported using the Article V convention option -- Abraham Lincoln
and Dwight Eisenhower. Have any recent presidential candidates
expressed support for an Article V convention, even mavericks like
Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul, Mike Gravel, and Pat Buchanan? They
have not. Have any third parties demanded an Article V
convention? They have not. Have any mainstream media exposed
Congress’ failure to obey the Constitution's Article V? They have
not. Has the Supreme Court or any elected official that swore to
obey the Constitution faulted Congress for disobeying the
Constitution? They have not. If you are not a rich and powerful
American, ask yourself: Has your government become so
untrustworthy, dysfunctional and unacceptable that you should
demand what our Constitution gives you a right to -- an Article V
convention? Thomas Jefferson said "a little rebellion, now and
then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as
storms are in the physical." Have many Americans concluded that
rebellion has become necessary? They have not. But some of us want
to pursue political rebellion, not by using violence and not hoping
against reality that necessary reforms will come from within the
two-party controlled political system. No, we want to use what the
Constitution grants us. We have created Friends of the Article V
Convention to inform the public about this constitutional option
and also to prod the states to demand a convention and the
Congress to finally obey the Constitution and give us one. Check
the group out at www.foavc.org to learn much more, and seriously
consider becoming a member. What do they say about insanity?
Repeating what has not worked in the past? As in the past, no
Democrats, no Republicans and no elections will give us what we
truly need. Whatever risks an Article V convention pose, they are
worth taking. Every rebellion is waged because the benefits sought
outweigh the risks taken. Jefferson and the other Founders knew
that. Not fixing the government they gave us dishonors them and
all the Americans that have died and sacrificed for their country.
And it makes our lives miserable and penalizes future
generations. Has time run out for restoring American democracy?
It has not. ~~~ [The author’s new book is "Delusional Democracy
-- Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government":
www.delusionaldemocracy.com.] ---- Msg sent via CWNet - http://
www.cwnet.com/
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