Safeguarding the Republic

The coronavirus panic this spring has take its toll on the physical mental and spiritual faculties of a great many people throughout the country. As each state governor has declared a state of emergency they have suspended the very laws which guarantee our liberties, the Bill of Rights and the State and Federal Constitutions.

For liberty minded citizens this raised concerns from the very beginning. Many of those concerns were quickly proven legitimate by authoritarian governors and mayors clamping down in a tyrannical fashion across the country. Examples were quickly seen where prohibitions against citizens leaving their homes, planting gardens and walking on the beach quickly gained attention. These were followed by arrests of people for entering their own businesses, playing catch in the park and driving their own car on the public roads.

“Social distancing” became the norm where nobody shakes hands or gives a hug to their friends or even family. Tragically, this has left many of our aged family and friends bereft of comfort in their twilight years and totally alone when their final hour has arrived. This reminds one of communist China where the lives of Chinese citizens are micromanaged and neighbors spy on neighbors.

What is typical about these measures is that they are commonly instituted practices used by totalitarians implementing or bringing to fruition all powerful government and communist policies. Well-known Austrian economist Friedrich von Hayek wrote:

“Emergencies have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded.” — Friedrich Hayek

Former White House Chief of Staff under Barack Hussein Obama and mayor of Chicago for eight years, Rahm Emanuel, said:

“Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things you couldn’t do before.” — Rahm Emanuel

In a recent Democrat congressional meeting about the coronavirus, South Carolina Congressman and Democrat Majority Whip James Clyburn was reported in The Hill magazine as saying:

“This is a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision. — Congressman James Clyburn

Founding father Ben Franklin said many things in early America. He made note of those who sought safety versus Liberty.

“Those who would give up liberty for the sake of safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” — Benjamin Franklin

A History Lesson

Almost 100 years ago NAZI Chancellor Adolf Hitler used chaos and fear on his rise to power, with the help of his minister of communications Joseph Goebbels. The job of Goebbels was to create “new realities”, in today’s jargon—a “new normal“.

Goebbels said that, “Propaganda should not be decent–it should be effective.” He also said, “We fight with Marxist methods, but we shall do things better than the Marxists.”

Following WWI, Germany was in a shambles with massive war debt laid on the defeated Axis country by the Allies. The German economy was in ruins with inflation rampant where it took a man’s life savings to buy a loaf of bread.

Massive Debt

The National debt of the United States is unprecedented and unpayable and is currently at a staggering $25,000,000,000,000! That’s $25 trillion dollars! The United States has a total debt level of over $77 trillion dollars at this writing! That’s over $750,000 dollars for every man, woman and child in America that is supposed to be paid by U.S. citizens! Most people cannot fathom how large a trillion of anything is, click this link to to get an idea of what a trillion looks like.

Inflation occurs when fiat currency is printed and infused into the economy. The current administration has just dumped trillions more dollars into the economy thus creating even higher and more staggering inflation.

The first major crisis in Hitler’s rise to power was the world-wide economic crisis created by the great depression of 1929. This left 7 millions of people unemployed, adding to the already destitute war scarred population of both professional and middle class German citizens.

In today’s world we’ve had forced work stoppage for nearly two months. That’s almost 60 days of little to no income for many, if not most, people. During that period of time we’ve seen no paychecks, business closings, employee furloughs, stimulus plans, interest rate changes, plummeting gas prices, oil industry implosion, etc. These factors will have a devastating effect on business and industry for many years.

The extreme economic blow in Germany led to hostility and loggerheads in the German Reichstag. Yet by 1932 there was cooperation between Hitler’s followers and Communist political factions. They staged transportation strikes to undermine stability of the Wiemar Republic as social services were cut, taxes increased dramatically, and the citizens were becoming more desperate on a daily basis.

“The ultimate goal was to convince enough people that Hitler was the only one who represented their economic interests, and that the only way order could be restored was if a strong Nazi party took power.”

Hitler was made chancellor in January 1933, and called for new elections to cement his legitimate power. A week before elections were held the Reichstag building was set fire. The Nazis blamed a known and hated enemy—the communist terrorists—for setting it ablaze.

This is what led to the rise of Adolf Hitler. Hitler came to power legitimately, not in a coup d’etat, the people were begging for him to lead because of their desperate situation.

From there Hitler arrested all opposition to his policies. This allowed for easy passage of any new laws and provided the new NAZI government absolute power.

“The workers, they want nothing but bread and games.” — Adolf Hitler

Opposition parties were banished, trade unions destroyed, opposition press was abolished, all government and civil service workers were replaced with Nazi party members. Opposition party members were arrested and sent to concentration camps, while Hitler stripped citizens of civil rights, property, and the ability to hold certain professions.

This was the formula for war creation: a desperate people, economic depression, low or no production, hyperinflation, decimation of their assets, staggering national and personal debt, needed services cut, Communism trying to get control, and more.

 

Fast Forward

Today, many are asking legitimate questions about whether or not the draconian measures being put in place are necessary, and not only that, but are they lawful. In proof of that many are currently preparing to file personal and class action lawsuits.

Many Governors and media outlets are proclaiming a “new normal” and that “we are never going back” to the “old normal”. This is a problem. Governments rarely give up power voluntarily once they have stolen it from the people. That is what created Hitler, the NAZI’s and WWII.

In the United States of America all elected and appointed federal, state, county and municipal officers are required by law to voluntarily take an oath to support and defend the founding documents of law which guarantees our Republican form of government. Those documents would include the State and U.S. Constitutions.

That oath gives assurances that anyone who is elected is either going to support the Constitution in good faith or take the proper steps to amend the founding document. If officers do not obey the Constitutions, sidesteps or goes around the provisions of law that guarantee our liberties, then that officer may be guilty of treason, convicted of a crime against the country and hung by the neck until dead.

After having been ordered to stay home, folk are ready to get back to work and to their businesses. These safeguards should help us all to breathe easier, while we watch and see how this plays out. Unfortunately, that is what the German people did while watching their republic disintegrate and transform into a dictatorship.

Thus, now is the time to keenly watch what and how political figures act. Friend or foe matters not, the  liberties of every man, woman and child are potentially at stake in this country.

Communist leaders at the United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are calling for steps to be taken to initiate the “new normal”.

 

Oath Required Prior to Taking Office

ARTICLE VI, SECTION 5. of the South Carolina State Constitution states, concerning officers, that

Members of the General Assembly, and all officers, before they enter upon the duties of their respective offices, and all members of the bar, before they enter upon the practice of their profession, shall take and subscribe the following oath:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I am duly qualified, according to the Constitution of this State, to exercise the duties of the office to which I have been elected, (or appointed), and that I will, to the best of my ability, discharge the duties thereof, and preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of this State and of the United States. So help me God.” (1972 (57) 3181; 1973 (58) 83.)

Below is the oath at 5 U.S. Code § 3331.Oath of office (Pub. L. 89–554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 424.)

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

 

A Federal law regulating the oath of office by government officials can be found at 18 U.S.C. 1918, and provides penalties for violation of an oath of office described in 5 U.S.C. 7311 which include:

(1) removal from office and;
(2) confinement or a fine. 5 U.S.C. 7311, makes it a federal criminal offense (and a violation of oath of office) for anyone employed in the United States Government (including members of Congress) to “advocate the overthrow of our constitutional form of government”.

 

The definition of “advocate” is further specified in Executive Order 10450 which for the purposes of enforcement supplements 5 U.S.C. 7311. One provision of Executive Order 10450 specifies it is a violation of 5 U.S.C. 7311 for any person taking the oath of office to advocate “the alteration … of the form of the government of the United States by unconstitutional means.” Our form of government is defined by the Constitution of the United States. It can only be “altered” by constitutional amendment.

Thus, according to Executive Order 10450 (and therefore 5 U.S. 7311) any act taken by government officials who have taken the oath of office prescribed by 5 U.S.C. 3331 which alters the form of government other than by amendment, is a criminal violation of the 5 U.S.C. 7311.

The Federal system we have in the United States guarantees our liberties, but German citizens thought their liberties were safe from totalitarianism too. A Federal system is only the framework for protecting our liberties. We the people have a responsibility—a duty—to keep a close eye on those who are elected or appointed to serve in public offices so that we don’t wind up in the same condition of the innocent German citizens that were funneled into NAZISM long ago. The public declaration, and oath to uphold and obey the Constitution as written unless properly amended is a safeguard for our liberties—it’s up to the citizens to hold officers accountable to it!

 

 

Michael Reed is Editor of The Standard.

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