OpEdNews » Why Newt Gingrich is Dead Wrong About Our Rights, Bush, and the Constitution

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Tag(s): Bush Admin; Bush Co-Conspirators; Bush Crimes; Bush Denier-in-Chief; Bush Enemy Of Civil Liberties; Bush Enemy Of Civil Rights; Bush Enemy Of Democracy; Bush Enemy Of Human Rights; Bush Failed Policy International; Bush GW; (more...) Bush Idiot-in-Chief; Bush Jesus-in-Chief; Bush Liar-in-Chief; Rights (less...)
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April 25, 2008 at 12:21:01

Headlined on 4/25/08:
Why Newt Gingrich is Dead Wrong About Our Rights, Bush, and the Constitution

by Len Hart Page 1 of 1 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has revealed a naked would-be emperor. At Drew University in New Jersey, Gingrich defended Bush's dictatorial power grab, the Bush administration's assault on the Bill of Rights, by saying that the government has a 'right to defend society'. Not content to leave bad enough alone, Gingrich added that when threatened, "people will give up all their liberties to avoid that level of threat."

I am not surprised that Newt would get it the wrong way 'round! It's time to straighten Newt out! The responsibilities of the 'government' are clearly spelled out in the Constitution itself. The Constitution is quite specific about those instances in which Habeas Corpus may be suspended. A phony state of emergency and lies about WMD don't qualify.

Newt's 'position' is typical 'backward' thinking that makes of the state an 'end' in itself. The Constitution, however, assigns to government but one over-arching responsibility and, as Jefferson said "... Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, - That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it."

The time has come to abolish it. The government --clearly --is not the source of our rights. Rather, 'powers' exercised by government derive from us! "We, the people" are aggrieved by the arbitrary and dictatorial manner in which the Bush administration has lied about both Iraq and terrorism, by his deliberate failure to live up to his only Constitutional responsibility:

"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
--Presidential Oath of Office

Preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution of the United States was and remains Bush's only job. He has not merely failed that, he has worked overtly to subvert the Constitution. Put another way: Bush put his hand on a black book and lied --under oath! Note to Newt: that is high treason! In the 18th Century, it was sufficient cause for a hanging.

The subversion of the Constitution was effected --not by alleged 'terrorists' --but by Bush and his complicit supporters like Newt Gingrich. Of Al Qaeda and Bush, Bush is the bigger threat! He's here, on our soil, working with the likes of Alberto Gonzales and John Yoo to subvert the Constitutional principles that he claimed had been 'hated' by 'turrsts'. The world's number one terrorist is George W. Bush. The world's biggest terrorist organizations are the US Military and the CIA. Clearly --Bush cannot defend what Bush and Bush alone has destroyed.

It is not a matter of American's 'giving away' their liberties and freedoms. No one, in fact, took a poll. Bush seized upon approval ratings of some 90 percent and proceded to act as if his 'dictatorship' was a fait accompli. Democrats rolled over and played dead. Key Democrats got "Anthrax Letters" --not exactly fan mail. Flag - waving, SUV driving would-be 'brownshirts' burned Dixie Chick CDs.

While the media was distracted, Bush and Gonzales were busy re-writing the Constitution. Sadly, I haven't heard the candidates address the issue of 'restoring' the Bill of Rights though it should be the number one issue of this campaign. Until someone meets this issue forthrightly, everything else seems quite beside the point.

Newt is incorrect, perhaps even disingenuous, in his assertion that government has a 'right' to abrogate the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in order 'protect society'. We, the people are society and 'under the Constitution' WE are the sovereign. The language so cavalierly tossed aside by the Bush junta was made the basis for the Supreme Law of the Land to protect 'the people' from criminal usurpers like Bush. Read Madison's Preamble to the Constitution and Joseph Story's 'Commentaries' on it.

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The 'United States of America' is a creation of 'the people' for which the 'Constitution' is their voice. Government as envisaged by James Madison is a caretaker of no inherent rights at all. It has, rather, responsibilities to the people and only those powers necessary to enable it to fulfill those responsibilities. Of Al Qaeda and Bush, Bush is the bigger threat to the lives and rights of the people and the people's Constitution.

http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/

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5 comments

I have worked as Union Electrician in a good part of this land. And the Union Brothers taught me well about how things should work
Michael DeweyI have worked as Union Electrician in a good part of this land. And the Union Brothers taught me well about how things should work

Interesting

The govt. has no rights. Only a responsibility to the people.

by Michael Dewey (4 articles, 1 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 186 comments) on Sunday, April 27, 2008 at 9:37:25 AM

Richard Girard is an increasingly radical representative of the disabled and disenfranchised members of America's downtrodden. His fondest desire is to be the one to arrest Bush and Cheney after they leave office in 2009.
Richard GirardRichard Girard is an increasingly radical representative of the disabled and disenfranchised members of America's downtrodden. His fondest desire is to be the one to arrest Bush and Cheney after they leave office in 2009.

Not quite

The government has powers and authority, but not rights. It is supposed to have responsibilities, but in reality reacts to its most active and vocal constituents, not to all constituents equally as required by law.

Richard Girard
freegirard@juno.com

by Richard Girard (17 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 38 comments) on Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 2:12:06 PM

Len Hart is a Houston based film/video producer specializing in shorts and full-length documentaries. He is a former major market and network correspondent; credits include CBS, ABC-TV and UPI. He maintains the progressive blog: The Existentialist Cowboy
Len HartLen Hart is a Houston based film/video producer specializing in shorts and full-length documentaries. He is a former major market and network correspondent; credits include CBS, ABC-TV and UPI. He maintains the progressive blog: The Existentialist Cowboy

Literally, the 'govt' has ONLY responsibilities

Precisely, the government has no powers but those given it by the peole. See the post below. Read SCOTUS decisions citing J. Story's commentaries and the commentaries themselves. The corrollary is that if govts powers derived from the people, they can be taken away as both Thomas Jefferson (Declaration of Independence) and Che Guevara (Fundamentals of Guerrilla Warfare
) stated.

by Len Hart (131 articles, 172 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 546 comments) on Friday, May 2, 2008 at 3:09:39 AM

The Responsibilities of the government

The founders gathered at Philadelphia to create a new government. Most of the actual drafting of a Constitution fell to James Madison. The eminent Constitutional scholar Joseph Story, cited in innumerable SCOTUS decisions, stressed the importance of the preamble. It, in fact, establishes the very source of the new government's 'sovereignty' --the people themselves. The preamble reads:

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

The remainder of the document --the body of the Constitution ---simply outlines the 'responsibilities' of the government to the people, the sovereignty of which is recognized --upfront --in the preamble.

Articles I, II, III are basically job descriptions: the duties, the responsibilities of the legislative, the executive, and the judicial branches. Article IV, in four sections, deals with the relationship of the various states to one another, to the national government, admission to statehood, and specific responsibilities of the national government to the states.

Articles V, VI and VII have to do with the Amendment Process, the Legal Status of the Constitution, and Ratification.

The Constitution, moreover, is a secular document. Neither the word "God" nor any synonym for "God" or deity of any sort of any religion or sect is cited as a source of authority, inspiration, or power. Power, rather, derives from the people who created it and 'power' is, likewise, exercised ONLY as it might be exercised by the government to fulfill it's obligations, responsibilities and duties to the PEOPLE!

In short --the government works FOR us. Not the other way 'round. Any government which presumes to reverse that principle or, in any way upon any pretext be it terrorism or war, is illegitimate. In those case, Thomas Jefferson would have held that it is the RIGHT of the people to abolish such government [See: Declaration of Independence]

Later, Che Guevara would echo Jefferson, warning of governments which "break the peace". That idea was nothing new. It was in 1215, that King John was literally forced to sign the Magna Carta --from which concepts like habeas corpus [denied by Bush ] derive. As Historian Simon Schama would have put it, the King was made to understand that his responsibility was to the people; he ruled by a covenant. and if he broke that covenant, "he could be brought to book!"

That is the message that the American people should be sending to George W. Bush. He has broken the government's covenant with the people and he will be brought to book!