I would definitely shoot first and forget about the questions altogether On Oct 9, 3:06 pm, "M.A. Johnson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Be Patriotic: Don’t Voteby Thomas J. DiLorenzo > Murray Rothbard once wrote that even the most brutal dictator ultimately > bases his power on the opinions that are held by a majority of the population > that is under his rule. After all, even dictators with large armies tend to > be vastly outnumbered by the populations they rule over, and revolution is > always on the dictator’s mind. That’s probably how he gained power himself in > the first place – the previous dictator was, well, too dictatorial and > created the conditions for his own overthrow. > Democratic regimes also base their legitimacy on their ability to claim that > their rule is "the will of the people." They believe in democracy with all > their will, they tell us, so much so that generations of American politicians > have believed that it was legitimate to wage war on other nations and to kill > thousands of their citizens to impose "democracy" on them. Lincoln’s armies > killed some 300,000 fellow citizens and maimed for life an even greater > number, supposedly so that "government of the people, by the people, for the > people," i.e., democracy, shall not perish from the earth. > This of course was pure B.S.: Had the South seceded peacefully, democracy > would have still existed in the U.S., the Confederate States of America, > Canada, England, France, etc., etc. Nevertheless, that was an official > purpose of the war, and of numerous other American wars. Woodrow Wilson > brought America into World War I to supposedly "make the world safe for > democracy." We are now supposedly bringing democracy to Iraq at bayonet point > with numerous other Middle East countries in our sights. > But America was not founded as a democracy. It was a constitutional republic. > The whole purpose of the Constitution, James Madison wrote in Federalist #10, > was to control "the violence of faction," by which he meant democracy. That’s > why, until the Lincolnian "Civil War Amendments" were added to it, every part > of the Constitution was aprohibitionof some kind of governmental power or > activity. Democracy was made into a "civil religion" by Lincoln and > subsequent generations of Lincolnites who have successfully overthrown the > constitutional republic of the founding fathers. > These constitutional prohibitions or limitations are all but ignored today, > of course. The Constitution does not provide for the central government to > get involved in education, let alone sending a man – and untold millions or > billions of dollars – to Mars. There are no longeranyconstitutional > limitations on the central government. Washington politicians laugh and sneer > at libertarian think tank employees who occasionally appear before their > committees to oppose this or that government program on constitutional > grounds. They laugh and say to them, "we’ve got the power to do it, and we’re > going to do it." I’ve seen it with my own eyes on C-SPAN. > President Clinton’s Surgeon General, Joycelyn Elders, went so far as to > assert that the constitution allowed for a federal masturbation education > program. Even Bill Clinton thought that went a little too far and fired the > good doctor. > The Republican Party today stands for an explosive growth of the welfare > state and is spending money on such programs as fast as Lyndon Johnson ever > did. The Democrats are as bad or worse. > On foreign policy the Republican Party is dominated by crazed Wilsonians who > want to involve the U.S. military in perpetual global warfare "to spread > democracy." As with all such imperialistic ventures, this would eventually > bankrupt the country and create countless enemies who would like nothing > better than to destroy us by the millions with nuclear weapons or poison. The > Democrats are as bad or worse. > Both political parties are competing to grant amnesty to all illegal aliens, > as the first step along the way to allowing completely open borders. > Combining open borders with an explosively growing welfare state will invite > all the deadbeats of the world to come to America, with all their extended > family members in tow, to "celebrate democracy" by voting themselves more and > more of the hard-earned dollars of those of us who work for a living in this > country. This would cause the welfare state to eventually eat up a huge > portion of national income, probably half or more. American taxpayers would > be nothing but docile slaves to the Washington, D.C. plantation. > The government schools long ago gave up teaching anything significant about > the founding fathers, the Constitution, and the philosophy of limited > government – other than to trash and demean them. In a democracy it is not in > the state’s best interest to educate its own citizens about the virtues of > limited government, and ours doesn’t. And it certainly will never make any > attempt to do so with the hordes of new immigrants it hopes to attract (and > register to vote). Belief in the Constitution is essentially a lost cause. > That’s why it is unpatriotic to vote. Being patriotic in America means being > devoted to the Constitution, if not the natural rights philosophy that > motivated much of it. Since neither of the major political parties has any > interest whatsoever in enforcing the constitutional limitations on the state, > they are all traitors to the Constitution (with one lone exception, > Congressman Ron Paul). > Anyone who supports them is also behaving in a traitorous manner. That is, > anyone who votes foranyof them. Voting only allows these traitors to the > Constitution to proclaim that "the people have spoken" and "I am your > president," or congressman, senator, governor, or whatever. Their legitimacy > rests solely on their ability to make this claim. > Imagine what a patriotic thrill you would receive if, in the next > presidential election, a mere 10 percent of the electorate, instead of the > usual 50 percent or so, voted. The unconstitutional regime in Washington > would be de-legitimized. The upside is that it might just be possible that > some politicians in Washington would get the message and start behaving more > like a George Washington or Thomas Jefferson than a Tony Soprano or Vito > Corleone (with apologies to all the distinguished Italian-Americans out > there). The downside is that they will keep on behaving as they do now – with > complete contempt for the Constitution and the population it is supposed to > benefit. So be patriotic: Don’t > vote.http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo59.html --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
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