James S. Barber - 12/28/95
Last week, President Clinton may have come to the realization that a crown, sceptre and ermine trimmed robes were not included in being elected President of the United States. It was indeed a dejected Clinton that during a hastily called press conference, announced that an extremist coalition of right wing freshmen republicans, had rejected a compromise put forth by the House speaker and the Senate leader Bob Dole, to reopen the government. Clinton complained that Speaker Gingrich could not "control his own members and that he did not even know who to deal with on restarting the government."
That seventy-three freshmen members of congress had the audacity, (and the Constitutional power I might add,) to stop the government dead in it's tracks, was devistating to an Arkansas governor accustomed to having his own legislative way. The myth of the imperial presidency exploded with the force of a twenty megaton detonation. This from the same president that is sending twenty thousand plus troops, to enforce a Bosnian peace agreement, despite the objections of the Congress of the United States and the American people.
When a shocked senior member of the Washington press core inquired, "Mr President, isn't there anything you can do to force the Congress" to more or less to bend to the will of the president, Clinton replied defensively, "I didn't say that, I will continue to consult with Bob Dole on the matter."
Now perhaps Mr. Clinton should consult with his pocket Constitution, Article I, Section 8, on the powers of the Congress. He may have the power of the veto, but the president in no way has the power to tell Congress how much and where, taxpayer's monies can be spent. He may recommend but cannot determine, that which is the exclusive pervue of the Congress, the power of the purse.
Liberals in both parties would be well served in reading those articles themselves. Over the last few decades, Congress has played a cruel hoaxe on Clinton and past presidents, by allowing them (presidents) to think that the power of the executive was unlimited, that their's was the final arbiter in all matters, foreign, domestic and economic. Did not Gingrich and Dole allow President Clinton to transfer untold billions of taxpayer's monies to Mexico for the repayment of Wall Street investor's boondoggles, without a vote of the Congress? Did not the Congress allow George Bush to make war on Iraq and Panama without a declaration as such? Did we not hear numerous senior members of the house and senate allow as to the Commander in Chief's unquestionable power to invade the Balkans? How then can seventy-three freshmen representatives stop the government of the United States from operating?
Over the last three decades, Americans have watched as a clubbie group democrat and republican elitest lawmakers, demurred to the executive branch while transferring more and more power to the president. Pontificating as to their unrelenting representation of the interests of the American people, they passed one piece of flawed legislation after another. Some members recently have referred to laws as "product," as if there is a production quota of legislation that must be met at all costs.
House and Senate debates would rage about the constitutionality of crime legislation, expansion of law enforcement's power over American's rights, weapons bans with the attendent rightious indignation claiming to serve the interests of the people. But in the end, legislation that further encroached upon our rights would barely pass and the president would, with much fanfare, sign away more of the people's freedoms. Lawmakers both democrat and republican would declare these new laws as triumphs for the safety and security of all. Globalist schemes like Nafta and GATT would gain bipartisan support and be hurriedly passed and signed into law at the expense of America's sovereignty, in spite of the overwhelming opposition of the American people.
The game that the globalists and the NEW WORLD ORDER members of Congress have run on the American people would have continued were it not for the election of a new breed of freshmen lawmakers elected in 1994. The collusion between the two parties is now quite evident. Many of these old line conspirators are now retiring while complaining that these new members will not embrace the spirit of compromise. That they (freshmen) lack the collegiality and civility of the members in the old days and it is now time for them to retire, (with the multi-million dollar pension deals they accumulated) and spend more time with their families. A record number of lawmakers of both parties have recently announced their retirement plans for these reasons.
This rationale is suspect if not a downright falsehood. These elitists know the game is up and that they have been exposed at playing the American people like a Giant Wurlitzer. For those too young to know what a Giant Wurlitzer is, it was the huge pipe organ that was played in movie theaters and skating rinks, many years before dolby sound came into existence.
Our esteemed lawmakers from both parties, would put on a really great show, attempting to convince us of their idealistic intent and then make backroom deals to satisfy a Globalist/Internationalist agenda that unfortunately past administrations, regardless of party, demanded. So much for the separation of powers, enumerated by our Constitution. Consider the legislative track record of the last three Congress'.
From Reagan, Bush to Clinton, the executive branch has embarked on a program of militarizing and nationalising the nation's law enforcement organizations. The 103rd Congress, which Clinton inherited almost in it's entirety from the Bush presidency, appropriated $500,000,000 as a part of the 1994 Pentagon budget, to equip and train local and state police departments, much the same as Hitler and the SS trained and equipped the Reich's "Reserve Police Batallions," in 1933. State and local police, including your own local small town police, were the recipients of much military hardware and military tactical training, courtesy of the United States Congress and of course, taxpayer's dollars. At the federal level, Congress assured that nifty little commando units were formed like the Hostage Rescue Team, trained by special forces instructors at their Quantico, Va. headquarters, with the full knowledge and complicity of our esteemed guardians of our liberties, the United States Congress.
One can only speculate as to what both republican and democratic lawmakers had in mind when they appropriated funds, and approved these expenditures for the militarization of law enforcement, but the reality was Ruby Ridge, Waco and a cast of thousands. The point being, claims of ignorance and denial by numerous members of Congress regarding these horrific events, and many other examples of abuses, is at best, dishonest.
In a further compounding of congressinal treachery, the numerous hearings convened to investigate these abuses of the American people, were feeble attempts to cover up and whitewash the foul deeds of the creature they themselves created. Is it any wonder that no one has been punished for the massive loss of life that occurred at Waco, Ruby Ridge et. al. In fact many of these same lawmakers advocate and encourage further abuses in the name of social order and the "war against crime." It was only last year that House Republicans rammed through HR 666, warrantless searches if the law enforcement agency involved, executed the search "in good Faith." The Senate pushed through S735, the Counterterrorism Bill, that further expanded the military's role in domestic law enforcement. Republican Lawmakers, during the Bush administration and at the the behest of Dick Cheney, then Secretary of Defense, formed the Special Forces, Joint Task Force Six and Operation Alliance which trained and provided the military hardware to the BATF used at Waco, as well as other opportunities to "fight crime."
Throughout the history of the Republic, times of national crisis have always been concomitant with a weak and corrupt Congress, and an imperial presidency. One of the most notable and bloody examples of this, preciptated our own civil war. This is the dilemna the nation finds itself in once again.
Were it not for the elections of 1994, and the emergence of a new class of freshmen lawmaker, holding both the Republican and Democratic leadership's feet to the fires of liberty, an out of control presidency will again plunge our nation into irrevocable crisis and the destruction of America as we have known and loved her.
This must not be allowed to happen!
James S. Barber