Last updated on June 28th, 2012 at 01:01 pm
Throughout this country’s existence, disparate groups have attempted to define the Founding Fathers intent in devising a form of government that has persevered for over two-hundred years. Since the election of Barack Obama as President and the rise of the malignant minority known as the tea party, so-called patriots cite the Founders original intent as motivation to abandon the Constitution as it exists today, and revert to post-Revolutionary America. In his farewell address, George Washington warned that the Republic could not be sustained if a minority attempted to “obstruct execution of the Laws with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the Constituted authorities,” and that it was “destructive of this fundamental principle of Your Union,” and that “a Government for the whole is indispensable.”
George Washington was not a prophet, but his warning in 1796 takes on a significance in 2012 because a small “enterprising minority of the community are likely to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the Power of the People, and to usurp for themselves the reins of Government.” The “Father of our country” did not know about the Koch brothers or Dominionists, but he did understand that a subversive minority could, and would, be the undoing of the Republic if they were allowed to control and direct the “constituted authorities.” The assault on the Republic began thirty years ago when Ronald Reagan began demonizing the government and turning over the wealth of the nation to the wealthy under the guise of a failed economic theory, and it culminated in the Supreme Court’s decision to sell elections to the highest bidder with their catastrophic Citizens United decision in 2010. The result was a right-wing extremist takeover of the House of Representatives and several Republican-controlled states that are subverting the Constitution and attempting to negate legally passed laws.
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As Americans await the Supreme Court’s decision on whether the Affordable Care Act will be struck down or upheld, whether in part or in total, it is evident that the Constitution’s prescription for making laws is, for all intents and purposes, in jeopardy of being negated by a wealthy minority intent on transforming America into a plutocracy. Despite Republican claims that the AFA was “shoved down our throats” because they object to every American having access to affordable health care, the law was debated, amended, passed by both houses of Congress, and signed into law by the President according to the Constitution. However, because the Republican minority, funded by wealthy industrialists and supported by religious extremists, cannot accept that they do not control the government, they are fulfilling the role that George Washington warned would destroy the Republic.
The battle over the AFA’s constitutionality is not about protecting the healthcare industry, even though that is a desirable consequence for the wealthy, but about a specific group seizing power regardless the will of the people. In the AFA’s case, the will of the people elected a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress and the White House, and they passed healthcare reform to provide a means for 30-40 million Americans to procure health insurance. After the Koch brothers’ Supreme Court gave corporations the freedom to donate unrestricted amounts of money to elect their instruments of destruction as legislators and governors, they proceeded to challenge a Democratic passed law and, in effect, the Constitution itself. It is important to remember that teabagger outrage and opposition to healthcare reform was funded and organized by the Koch brothers and the Heritage Foundation that incidentally, originated and promoted a mandated healthcare provision in 1989 and 1993 years before Barack Obama was elected as President. This issue is not about healthcare reform or an individual mandate, it is about the Koch brothers and their tiny group of billionaire friends seizing power of the government, and to ensure their Republican power grab is “constitutional,” they enlisted two Supreme Court Justices to ensure an outcome favorable to the wealthy.
The wealthy’s power grab is not limited to Republicans in Congress who are turning over the wealth of the nation to the 1% as they decimate social safety nets and legislate by religious edict, it is wreaking havoc in Republican controlled states as well. Empowered by their legislative arm, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Republicans are decimating the last vestiges of democracy in several states with voter suppression laws, and disbanding unions and elected officials like Michigan’s emergency manager laws. Every last one of the assaults on democracy are funded by corporations contributing unrestricted funds to Republican governors and legislators and it is precisely what George Washington warned future Americans would happen if they did not stay united in supporting the principles of the Constitution, and it appears that after two Supreme Court justices held court at Koch Industries secret policy meetings, even the procedures for making laws in the United States is in jeopardy.
Washington was right that a small group of men would obstruct execution of the laws with the real design to direct, control, counteract the constituted authorities, and besides the billionaires cabal, there is the religious right’s attempt to impose biblical statutes in place of the constitution under the guise of religious freedom. The unrelenting assault on gays and women has as its basis the Christian bible and it is a long-term effort of Dominionists to control every aspect of American society with their powerful allies in the Republican Party. Although Willard Romney is not a Christian by any stretch of the imagination, he has signed on to the National Organization of Marriage’s (NOM) pledge to appoint Christian judges to the Supreme Court and establish a presidential commission to punish supporters of same-sex marriage if he is elected president, as well as defend the unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Willard supports a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, and has the financial support of the Koch brothers to ensure he gets to the White House to begin the Mormon theocratic crusade to control the world.
It is doubtful that America, as a republic, will ever withstand this assault by a minority of wealthy and religious maniacs intent on subverting democracy. With corporations and religious extremists controlling the media, state governments, Republicans in Congress, presidential candidates, and the Supreme Court, it appears that George Washington’s fears for America were prophetic, and now that corporate controlled Republicans have challenged the Constitution’s process for making laws, the republic is finished. The prescient point is that two minority groups are obstructing execution of the Laws with the real design to control the government and it is a travesty that the Father of our country had the forethought to warn future generations and no-one listened because they were too focused on opposing the first African American president to see Republicans usher in a theocratic plutocracy.
Audio engineer and instructor for SAE. Writes op/ed commentary supporting Secular Humanist causes, and exposing suppression of women, the poor, and minorities. An advocate for freedom of religion and particularly, freedom of NO religion.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn’t look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
