The First Amendment, 912, and the Continental Congress 2009

©2009 drkate

At least a million people walked down Pennsylvania Avenue on September 12, stopping at the face of the Newseum, upon which the  text of the First Amendment is inscribed, in moments of profound unity and understanding.

First Amendment, Newseum Bldg, 9/12/09

And here’s what the First Amendment looks like in practice (h/t Logistics Monster) :

Patriots marching 912 ©2009 drkate

If you missed it,  this CSPAN two-hour coverage of the Taxpayers March on D.C., with speakers, is something you will want to see and save for posterity.

History reports that the final ratification of the Constitution hinged critically on the passage of a “Bill of Rights” guaranteeing the rights of and retained by the people of the United States. These rights are articulated in the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

The First Amendment–the right to free speech, freedom of the press, religion, freedom of assembly, and the right of petition–was crafted from experience with the abuses of the British Monarchy and its agents. The King’s decrees forbade assembly, punished dissenting speech, and ignored the  lawful, carefully crafted petitions of the people.  The First Amendment begins with these words:

Congress shall make no law…

The Bill of Rights is strengthened by Article IV, Section 4, of the Constitution:

The United States shall guarantee to every state in the union, a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened), against domestic violence.

One could read this, and other portions of the Constitution, to mean that the Executive and legislative branches are  prohibited from creating new classes of behavior to outlaw–like dissent, or protecting the constitution, or capitalism.  But what are we actually seeing and experiencing?

Importantly, this section states that the Executive and the Congress are required to guarantee a republican form of government, yet the interpretation of this clause has varied between it being considered a ‘political question’ and untouchable by the Courts, and viewing this clause as a constraint on government and justiciable before the Courts.

Free Speech

For many years, and more intensely in this last year, an assault on the First Amendment rights of Americans has been underway.  Recently, it has been the Alinsky ‘get in your face’ assault, accompanied by charges of racism and bigotry, ridicule and stereotyping, and complete dismissal of ordinary Americans’ concerns.  The government’s Department of Homeland Security labeled Americans as ‘extreme right wing elements’, ‘domestic terrorists’, and ‘anti-government radicals’.

Speaker Pelosi, can you hear us now? ©2009 drkate

At other times, the assault on free speech and freedom of the press involved the potential infiltration of America by communist sympathizers.  In retrospect, it seems obvious now that something was going on then to cause people to become concerned about the infiltration of American society with socialist or communist ideologies in the media, universities, politics, government, and banking.

As Washington noted in his farewell address,

One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the constitution, alterations, which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown.

The First Amendment cannot be overtly overthrown, at least not yet, so the powers against it work to undermine free speech using these Alinsky techniques and the race, redneck, and right-wing radical cards.

To undermine the form of government (a Republic), our anti-American foes use the Cloward-Piven strategy, engineered crises in the economic and policy arena, and swiftly move to take over the auto, banking, healthcare, and energy industries.  In my view, this  “impairs the energy of the system”, undermining our very form of government, usurping its foundation.

Alarmingly, this assault on the Constitution has been underway for quite some time. I remember writing The Trojan Candidate in September 2008, at the same time this article from American Thinker appeared, and other writers looked closely at the socialism Obama was likely to bring to America.  No one paid attention except the alert Americans, and the media buried it.

Fully one year later, these articles and this knowledge rise again, this time via Glenn Beck.

Right to  Petition the Government for Redress of Grievances

The Founders of our country had a legal right to petition the British for redress, and did so for more than 15 years before the revolution.  These petitions were roundly ignored, obviously to the peril of the British empire.

Bob Shultz, the Executive Director of the We the People Foundation, indicated that his organization–as well as others–have petitioned the government for about that same length of time.  And as with our Founders, the government has completely ignored the WTPF petitions for redress on issues such as taxation, bailouts, prosecuting wars without Congressional declaration of war, and a host of other violations of the constitution.

As to the most recent filings by WTPF, which were dismissed by a federal judge under the lack of standing and subject matter jurisdiction (both tools have been shown to be a means whereby the judiciary can quietly dispose of issues they don’t want to rule on):

Schulz argues that the decisions by the federal Courts, in cases (Petitions) seeking Redress of direct violations of the Constitution by officials in the two other branches of the federal Government, have put Schulz (and all other individuals) in the intolerable position of having to rely exclusively on the electoral process (i.e., the majority of people voting) for a guarantee of his Rights, not the Constitution or the Courts.

During the summer of 2009, Patriots Heart Network delivered thousands of petitions to Congress and the judiciary regarding the redress of the failure of Congress to determine the  constitutionality of  Barack Obama’s presidency.  Congress, to date, has not responded, responded stupidly, or responded like they think we are stupid.

Can you hear us now? 912 March

And then came the 912 march on Washington, one of the largest, most peaceful and patriotic exercises of the First Amendment in our nation’s history.  This energy of patriotism is arising in defense of the constitution and our liberties.

And, we do know what the problems and issues are and the people involved. And we continue to take names.

Given Congress’ track record, and Gandhi’s timeless observation, “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win”, I don’t expect Congress to do much but appear to address our concerns.

I think they are on the cusp of the fighting phase…after Nancy Pelosi stops crying…which will be illustrated by continuing to behave in the same lawless manner and brazenly lying about it.  Or worse.

The most important question now is: what are our next steps, as those Americans who have and are now willing to step forward to protect our Republic?

All during the march, the rally organizers asked participants to use their cellphones and text certain numbers, in order to develop a network of contacts and to identify the priorities and concerns.  There are many efforts to join after the 912 march, including the “Operation ‘Can you hear us now‘ campaign.

Is there more?

Continental Congress 2009

It is eerie, or perhaps ‘deja vu’, but it seems we are following our Founders footsteps in the calling for a Continental Congress 2009, which will be held in November.  Why now?

THE FOUNDERS KNEW THIS DAY WOULD COME.

THEY KNEW THAT ALL THE CONSTITUTION’S GUARANTEES WERE FOR NAUGHT UNLESS THE CONSTITUTION INCLUDED AN ACCOUNTABILITY CLAUSE – AN UNALIENABLE RIGHT – A NATURAL POWER OF THE PEOPLE TO CLAIM AND EXERCISE, WHENEVER THEY HAD EVIDENCE THAT ANY ELECTED OFFICIAL WAS VIOLATING THE CONSTITUTION.

THEY KNEW THAT ANY RIGHT THAT IS NOT ENFORCEABLE IS NOT A RIGHT.

SO, THEY INCLUDED A PROVISION  — A TOOL — THAT THE PEOPLE COULD UTILIZE TO HOLD THEIR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS ACCOUNTABLE TO THE REST OF THE CONSTITUTION.

THE LAST TEN WORDS OF OUR FIRST AMENDMENT IS THE ACCOUNTABILITY CLAUSE. IT GUARANTEES THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO PETITION THE GOVERNMENT TO REDRESS VIOLATIONS OF THE CONSTITUTION.

IT IS REFERRED TO BY CONSTITUTIONAL SCHOLARS AS THE CAPSTONE RIGHT – THE RIGHT THAT CAPS ALL OTHERS.

THINK ABOUT IT. WHAT GOOD IS THE CONSTITUTION IF, WHEN THE GOVERNMENT VIOLATES IT, THE PEOPLE CAN’T HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE, EXCEPT BY RELYING ON THE WILL OF THE MAJORITY, AS IF THIS WAS A DEMOCRACY.

MAKE NO MISTAKE. AS THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND PURPOSE OF THE WORDS DEMONSTRATE, THE FOUNDERS INCLUDED THIS GUARANTEE TO HOLD THE GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABLE AS AN ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY AND CRITICAL ELEMENT IN THE OVERALL BALANCE OF POWER BETWEEN THE PEOPLE AND THEIR ELECTED GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS.  Robert Schultz, We the People Foundation

There will be elections for 3 delegates from each state on October 10, 2009. Please go here to participate. It is not about amending the Constitution; the Continental Congress is convened to uphold the Constitution.

Liberty not Tyranny

Fasten your seat belts, the Patriot express has reached critical mass.