Thread: THE SHEARING IS NEARING

THE SHEARING IS NEARING
PART 1 of 2

http://www.newswithviews.com/Vieira/edwin51.htm

Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr., Ph.D., J.D.
February 14, 2007
NewsWithViews.com

One reason why patriotic Americans are accomplishing precious little in reasserting control over their country, while the Establishment steadily advances its agenda on almost all fronts, is that patriots are not taking advantage of their overwhelming numerical superiority in the places where they can best bring it to bear. Instead of joining together for effective—indeed, potentially unstoppable—political, and particularly legislative, action in favorable venues at the State and Local levels, all too many of them are sitting out the contest as mere spectators.

This is because most Americans are not rabid political animals with ravenous appetites to dominate, oppress, and exploit others, but instead are basically decent people who want only to be left alone to lead their own lives, as they see fit, in peace and quiet. They may be aware of some of the schemes the Establishment’s political Pinocchios are hatching in the Disgrace of Columbia and various State capitals. Yet they hope that the worst of these complots will not come to fruition during their lifetimes, or that in any event they personally can avoid trouble, remain well employed, and continue to enjoy reasonably good incomes, live in respectable homes, and eventually enjoy comfortable retirement. But why do they hope and imagine that such a scenario is possible?

The notion that a placid and prosperous life for most Americans can continue indefinitely is unrealistic. There will be trouble. Big trouble. And sooner rather than later.

An article entitled “Is the United States Bankrupt?,” in the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review of July/August 2006 (page 235), provides rather disturbing evidence supporting this prediction. The author shows that the difference between the General Government’s future expenditures and its future receipts over a economically realistic period—the so-called “fiscal gap”—is some $65.9 trillion (page 239). Yes, TRILLION. Estimates of this astronomical magnitude can be confirmed elsewhere. See, e.g., the data collected by John Williams, Shadow Government Statistics, [Read]. And even the Comptroller General of the United States (in a letter attached to the 2006 Financial Report of the United States) has calculated that the government’s negative net worth as of 2006—which he acknowledges to be about $53 trillion—amounts to an hypothecated burden of debt of some $170,000 on every single American. This is no “conspiracy theory,” but a set of undeniable financial facts. It is also no smokey prognostication about an uncertain future, but a fully documented description of harsh reality right here and now.

This situation raises two questions that every adult American must answer: (i) Is he ready to assume for himself that huge share of the General Government’s negative net worth, and multiples of it for his family? (ii) If so, how could he possibly pay it?

Why, though, should average Americans accept and assume responsibility for the gargantuan profligacy represented by the predicted $65.9 trillion shortfall in the fiscal gap? After all, much—perhaps even most—of this amount has been and will be incurred for unconstitutional programs and expenditures. Therefore, no matter its source in supposed statutes of Congress, implemented by the President and approved by the Judiciary, and no matter how large it may be, that unconstitutional increment is not a legitimate obligation of the United States at all, and cannot legally be imposed by the General Government, or its supposed creditors, on We the People. As the Constitution states, “[n]o Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.” Article I, Section 9, Clause 7. And no “Appropriations” can be “made by Law” if the statutes supposedly authorizing them violate the Constitution. Article VI, Clause 2. So, the parties liable in justice to make good on these unconstitutional obligations are: first, the thieves—that is, the politicians, bureaucrats, and judges who originally arranged for or permitted the funds to be stolen; and, second, the receivers of the stolen goods—that is, the special-interest groups that have gorged on these payoffs in the recent past and will continue to do so in the near future.

The politicians, bureaucrats, and judges are in an especially difficult position, because the Constitution—which provides the sole basis for their authority—also supplies the primary and conclusive evidence against them. Simply laying the terms of the various programs and expenditures against the text of the Constitution will prove who is at fault.

To be sure, elected officials will claim that they are innocent of any wrongdoing, because the voters have authorized or ratified their actions by electing and re-electing them. The flaw in this “we were just following orders” argument, however, is that the voters cannot authorize, ratify, or in any other way approve the least violation of the Constitution. Even if, during an election-campaign, politicians ran explicitly on the platform that once in office they would engage in specifically delineated unconstitutional actions, and were elected on that very basis, their subsequent behavior in fulfillment of such pledges would nevertheless be legally void. For, as soon as they took office, they would be required to take an “Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution.” Article VI, Clause 3. Their “Oath or Affirmation” would not be to fulfill thieves’ bargains they may have negotiated with voters (or, more realistically, with the special-interest groups that deceive and manipulate the voters), but to follow “this Constitution,” no matter what contrary promises they might have made to anyone. As the Constitution recites, public officials “shall be bound by [their] Oath or Affirmation.” They are not “bound” by their campaign promises, let alone absolved from their “Oath or Affirmation” by those promises. Quite obviously as well, “bound” means that public officials can be held legally responsible and accountable, in their own persons, for violating their “Oath or Affirmation.” And where that violation involves illegal expenditures of undoubted public moneys and the illegal amassment of supposed “public debt,” the perpetrators of those illegalities—not their victims and dupes among the general public—are liable, and should be made to pay damages to the fullest extent of their estates and abilities.

Every American can be sure, however, that these miscreants will never willingly accept responsibility for their fiscal wrongdoing, let alone bear its financial burden when the bill comes due. Even though they know perfectly well who is at fault, and why, they will bend their best efforts to impose all of the costs of their criminal careers on YOU.

The article “Is the United States Bankrupt?” suggests that, in an attempt to wash away the red ink with which they have filled the General Government’s books, the politicos in the Disgrace of Columbia will perpetrate the further mega-crime of hyperinflation: the Federal Reserve System’s massive “monetization” of new debts emitted by the General Government (see pages 241-242). Obviously, the author of that article was not indulging in a “conspiracy theory,” but was making an informed prediction of how the Money Power, operating through the Federal Reserve System and the Department of the Treasury, will endeavor to save itself, its political marionettes, and its special-interest clients at every other American’s actual expense.

And actual expense it will be! All debts are always paid—if not by the debtors, then by the creditors, or by some third parties. Hyperinflation will fill the fiscal gap through a vast redistribution of wealth from society as a whole. And not simply a redistribution of wealth, but also a confiscation of wealth, because the transfer will be imposed under color and especially by force of law (the “legal-tender law,” 31 U.S.C. § 5103, coming foremost to mind). And not simply a confiscation of wealth, but a surreptitious confiscation, because most Americans will have no idea what is going on, and who is benefiting from it—any more than sheep at the shearers, or the slaughterhouse, have any idea of who benefits from the marketing of their wool or their meat.

True, the politicos will benefit from hyperinflation, because tens of millions of minnows in the General Government’s sea of creditors will lose the real value of their claims by being forced to receive worthless currency in payment. But, precisely because it is so promiscuously destructive, hyperinflation will not serve the interests of the sharks: the General Government’s most politically influential domestic creditors, and especially its foreign creditors who can make trouble in international arenas. Anyone compelled to accept a rapidly rotting currency in payment of a debt can expect some, and probably a significant, real financial loss on the transaction. So a “conspiracy theorist” (that is, a monetary and political realist) must anticipate that the big-money boys, both here and overseas, will design a financial escape hatch through which they and their cronies can wriggle when the ship of state sinks in an hyperinflationary tsunami. After all, who can imagine that the porcine special-interest groups that pull the politicians’ strings would ever permit their marionettes to force them to settle their claims against the General Government for hyperinflated currency the purchasing power of which is many orders of magnitude less than its nominal value?!

Besides, even if the General Government arranges to pay off the $65.9 trillion fiscal gap through the Federal Reserve System’s “monetization” of that amount of new “public debt,” the Treasury’s books will then show a $65.9 trillion liability to the banks and other holders of the new Treasury paper. How will that mountain of principal (and the interest owed on it) be paid when they come due? Through the Treasury’s direct issuance of $65.9 trillion of “greenback” irredeemable, legal-tender fiat currency, in another round of hyperinflation that wipes out the banking system and the powerful special interests that control it? Will the bankers and their allies sit still for that?

No, whatever the sequence of events in the coming financial meltdown, the small but powerful set of knowledgeable, skillful, and above all ruthless parasites that fatten off the General Government will demand—and through their political Pinocchios will attempt somehow to arrange to receive—REAL wealth, measured and delivered in REAL things, the value of which cannot be hyperinflated away by politicians’, bankers,’ and governmental bean-counters’ accounting tricks and printing presses. And that necessarily will entail taking—by main force, if necessary, where deception fails—real things from the real people who now have them.

Of course, the special interests will not loot themselves, their families, their friends, their political cronies and clients, and their other partisans. No, indeed. What sense would robbing Peter to pay Peter make? Rather, they will arrange to loot YOU, demanding that the General Government confiscate YOUR valuable things in order to pay the part of the $65.9 trillion shortfall that you, as a member of “the public,” supposedly owe to them. And steeped in the confidence that derives from having successfully corralled the sheeple in the pens of political apathy, sloth, and impotence these many years, they will throw all moderation to the winds, and attempt to shear common Americans to their very skins.

So, as larger and larger installments of the $65.9 trillion bill come due, in addition to hyperinflation Americans might well expect public officials in the General Government to initiate programs of “taxation in kind” through direct physical confiscation: that is, seizures of real and personal property—such as common Americans’ businesses, houses, land, securities, gold and silver, or such “luxuries” as one’s second automobile—that will simply be taken outright and then turned over to the government’s favored domestic and foreign creditors to pony up the $170,000 or more that each American allegedly owes as his share of the General Government’s negative net worth. Or, invoking “eminent domain,” officials might well “condemn” common Americans’ property, and then transfer it directly to favored creditors, with the original owners being paid off in currency hyperinflating at such a rate that, just weeks or days later, they ended up with paper notes or bank balances of so little of real value that for all intents and purposes they had been “taxed in kind,” too.

In the face of these possibilities—which the fiscal gap of $65.9 trillion makes strong likelihoods—what do YOU intend to do? Will you persist in imagining that fiscal push will never come to financial shove? Will you insist on assuming that the crisis—about which even the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review warns this country—will never impact you, personally? Will you desist from making any defensive preparations, in the belief that, should all Hell break loose, it will nonetheless be more prudent to be taken for a sheep than a goat, and quietly to endure your and your family’s shearing? Or will you resist, in every constitutionally permissible manner?

Rest assured that what you decide today you will be required to live with tomorrow. For the fiscal gap is a national trap that is inexorably closing. Once the financial swallows come home to the Disgrace of Columbia, there will be no going back—only “forward,” into the New World Disorder of economic dislocation and deprivation enforced by a thoroughgoing police state.

So, what can and should be done? That question Part Two addresses. For part 2 click below.




THE SHEARING IS NEARING
PART 2 of 2

Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr., Ph.D., J.D.
February 14, 2007
NewsWithViews.com

This Commentary is not the first place wherein I have proposed two basic steps by which We the People can begin to reassert self-government over their country before it is too late. Now that even mainstream economists foretell how the impending crisis of the fiscal gap could easily lead to hyperinflation, these recommendations have become all the more credible and urgent.

I emphasize a bipartite approach to the problem, not simply because I cannot think of anything better at the present moment, but also because I cannot foresee anything worse than what is coming. After all, hyperinflation will lead to economic chaos; economic chaos will lead to a police state—and a police state means the end of America, both as a nation and as a realizable ideal. That you can take to the bank with as much confidence as trepidation.

In my estimation, any plan that could possibly prove sufficient must: (i) mitigate the worst effects of the monetary crisis America’s “public servants” have apparently made unavoidable as a consequence of the fiscal gap they have created; and (ii) fend off the centralized paramilitary police state with which those “public servants” intend to clamp down on America when the crisis hits. For if hyperinflation does devastate this country’s economy before a police state is set up, all too many Americans will welcome some variety of “strong-man regime” that inevitably degenerates into a police state anyway. Whereas, if this country’s present clutch of “public servants” completes the construction of a police state first, they will surely understand how to use it to force Americans to swallow the worst consequences of hyperinflation—thereby making certain the hyperinflation that they imagine will save their and (more importantly) their controllers’ bacon. That is, not only will hyperinflation lead to economic chaos, and economic chaos lead to a police state, but also a police state will lead to hyperinflation and economic chaos. Which means that, if nothing good is done, Americans will have to endure everything bad, by suffering all three of these calamities. Therefore, the steps I recommend are necessary. Whether they will turn out to be sufficient solutions depends more upon you than upon me. That you can take or leave at your own peril.

To forefend an hyperinflationary monetary explosion, or (perhaps more realistically) to dilute its worst consequences when it does goes off, average Americans must return the States, or some of the States, or even just one State (as an exemplar for others) to silver and gold currency, the only politically honest, market-based media of exchange. The particular model I have designed is “the State electronic gold currency bill,” which can be found, along with various explanatory materials, at [www.goldmoneybill.org].This bill was drafted specifically for New Hampshire; but with a little creative editing it can be modified to work in any State. Someone else may be able to craft a better bill, or come up with a better model altogether. In any event, something of this kind needs to be enacted into law somewhere. And soon. But only unrelenting grass-roots pressure can make that happen. And only zealous grass-roots organization can generate that pressure.

To prepare preemptively to deal with the economic chaos accompanying hyperinflation, and especially to deter the politicos in the Disgrace of Columbia from using economic chaos as an excuse to fasten a centralized police state on this country, average Americans must revitalize “the Militia of the several States”—again, even if in only one State to begin with. Although revitalizing the constitutional Militia in any State will entail much more work than enacting an electronic gold currency bill (or equivalent monetary reform), it ought to be accomplished first, if at all possible. For, unfortunately, the spread of monetary reform, of any variety, will likely be slow, because most people understand next to nothing about the problem, let alone its possible solution. Hyperinflation, on the other hand, can devastate this country in a very short period of time. And a police state can be sold to desperate, dumbed-down Americans as a “quick fix” for economic chaos. So, if the Militia are not revitalized before hyperinflation hits and a police state is set up, or before a police state is set up as the prelude to hyperinflation, the opportunity to revitalize the Militia may be lost forever. Whereas, if the Militia are revitalized first, they can serve as focal points for educating, organizing, and exhorting people on behalf of monetary reform, as a key component of “homeland security.” Therefore, as I am wont to emphasize, the Militia should be revitalized immediately, if not sooner. But, once again, only unrelenting grass-roots pressure can make that happen. And only zealous grass-roots organization can generate that pressure.

In aid of that, my first book-length treatment of the subject—Constitutional “Homeland Security,” Volume 1, The Nation in Arms—is now projected to be ready for distribution in late February of this year. It analyzes the problems of “homeland security” facing America, discusses the constitutional basis and authority of the Militia as the key components of true “homeland security” (as the Second Amendment puts it, “the security of a free State”), and proposes a method for grass-roots organizing to revitalize them.

Those who wish to order Constitutional “Homeland Security” should send a check or money order for $19.95 (with 5% sales tax or a total of $20.95 for orders delivered in Virginia), payable to “Edwin Vieira, Jr.,” to 13877 Napa Drive, Manassas, Virginia 20112. Books will be shipped postpaid by U.S. Postal Service Media Mail.

Of these two steps, revitalization of “the Militia of the several States” should especially appeal to patriots for three very practical reasons:

First, as distinguished from monetary issues—discussions of which often bog down in the minutiae and obscurities of economic theory—the history, constitutional status, purpose, and especially present necessity of the Militia are easily understandable (as Constitutional “Homeland Security” will convince just about anyone). Intellectually, the Militia are for everyone.

Second, in some manner every able-bodied citizen not only should, but also can, actually participate in the Militia—and will have to if a national financial crisis breaks out. Institutionally, the Militia are for everyone.

Third, the Militia can educate, mobilize, and organize citizens on the vital issues of contemporary “homeland security,” but outside and independent of the platforms, structures, procedures, intrigues, manipulations, and most importantly control of the “two” major political parties. So, politically, too, the Militia are for everyone—or at least for every American of good will who wants to see this country preserved in consonance with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

The last point will be of great consequence to the ever-increasing number of Americans who recognize that: (i) the “two” parties are really one party, with two faces; (ii) elections are no more than endless repetitions of the “good cop, bad cop” routine, with the “two” parties switching roles whenever the Establishment wants to delude the voters into believing that casting ballots can bring about meaningful “reform;” and (iii) the one straight line in this farce is that Americans can “choose” only from among essentially fungible candidates. To be sure, there are several minor parties. But even if some of them are not simply deceptive accessories of the “two”- party racket, used to draw alienated activists into dark alleys and hopelessly Quixotic ideological crusades; and leaving aside that honest minor parties lend credibility and legitimacy to the corrupt political-party system that itself is this country’s major political problem; none of the minor parties is at all likely to obtain major-party status in time to divert this country’s course from disaster.

The Militia, distinguishably, are independent of and superior to all political parties, factions, and special-interest groups—because the Constitution explicitly recognizes their unique position and authority (which no political party enjoys), because they encompass every able-bodied adult citizen (which no political party can claim), and because every one of their members must fulfill a personal constitutional duty to preserve “the security of a free State” (which all too many members of today’s political parties are working to subvert). And, because of all this, the Militia can become major political forces in every State as soon as they are revitalized for their proper role in “homeland security”—as the Constitution requires them to be right now, and as can be done in any State by enacting a single piece of legislation.

That the Militia ought to become major political forces is self-evident. After all, We the People’s political self-defense demands no less. “Homeland security” requires, not only that foreign “terrorists” be thwarted, but also (perhaps especially) that every domestic faction be prevented from “clog[ging] the administration,” “convuls[ing] the society,” and “execut[ing] and mask[ing] its violence under the forms of the Constitution,” as James Madison warned that all factions would always attempt to do. The Federalist No. 10. So why should common Americans suffer the “two” parties—in reality, the special interests that control them both—to manipulate election after election without any real and significant competition? How can Americans ever change the course of today’s human events by participating in the very political machines—the “two” super-factions—the Establishment operates to generate mass political stupefaction and thereby prevent any change that might work to common Americans’ own interest?

The great virtue of the Militia in a political role is that the Militia can never operate as factions or parties, serving narrow and often anti-social special interests through the perversion of governmental powers. This is because: (i) Every member of the Militia has a constitutional duty to preserve “the security of a free State.” (ii) “[T]he security of a free State” demands enforcement of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. And (iii) the Constitution requires the General Government to “provide for the common defence” and “promote the general Welfare,” while the Declaration asserts that, even in service of these ends, the government may exercise “just powers” only. Whereas “common,” “general,” and “just” are adjectives that find no place in the lexicons of factions typically or of the “two” major political parties in particular.

Nonetheless, some people will complain that the plan I propose for revitalizing “the Militia of the several States” is too difficult for average Americans to undertake. They have neither the time, nor the knowledge, nor the skills, nor the experience that may be necessary, or so they say. Well, then, find the time—develop the knowledge and skills—and gain the experience. Now, while you still have the opportunity. What is the alternative? How easy or pleasant will it be to live in penury under a police state?

You are already searching the Internet and other alternative media on a regular basis. A good start! That alone, however, is not enough. True, it is self-education. But, by itself, it is merely passive political entertainment. Worse, it can degenerate into a merely vicarious, painless, sweatless electronic confrontation with the Establishment. It can allow one to imagine that he is doing something in the struggle, when he is merely observing what others are doing. Perusing the web sites that explain this and expose that, one may wrongly assume that, because he now knows the score, he need do nothing else. Knowledge by itself, though, is not power. Power comes from putting knowledge into practice. The most knowledgeable individual will always be impotent if he remains personally inactive, isolated, and without influence on others.

The simplest way to start turning knowledge into power is to form a local study group. Such a group should be neither too large nor too small: say, five to ten people who meet in private homes on a regular, convivial basis. People who know and have confidence in each other: relatives, friends, co-workers, neighbors, members of a church or of a veterans’ or fraternal organization, home-schooling parents. The group’s goals should be investigation, education, preparation, and finally—especially—patriotic political action. The members should pool their knowledge to discover the best sources of reliable information; to uncover and thoroughly understand what is wrong in their Locality, State, and Nation; and to determine what should be done to rectify the situation, what they themselves realistically can accomplish, and how they should go about doing it. In particular, the group should find and cultivate patriotic State legislators.

How often have we heard the adage, “it is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness?” True enough. But it does require someone’s striking a match. So start small, bite off only what you can chew, but in any event get SOMETHING accomplished soon, if it is merely identifying and putting into mutual contact as many patriots in your community as possible. Knowing who you all are is the first step in organization.

Anyone who is not a hermit can begin this modest program within a few days, in the comfort of his own home, and at very little cost. The participants will benefit themselves—but, even more importantly, with only a little effort they will be able to influence many more people through “networking.” For example, assume that each member of an initial group of five himself starts another group of five (so that each member of the initial group becomes a member of two groups); then the other four members of each of the second groups each starts another group of five—so that five become twenty five, twenty five become one hundred twenty five, and so on. Through this process, an extensive, but decentralized organization could develop and natural leaders emerge. And, eventually, groups of this type could evolve into the more specifically focused Citizens Homeland Security Associations that I propose as the basis for revitalizing “the Militia of the several States,” or into organizations aiming at monetary reform or promoting other kinds of urgently needed constitutional political activism.

Of greatest consequence, such a movement could have at least a chance of success, because its initiation and evolution would be entirely a “grass-roots” phenomenon that We the People controlled, not a “top-down” operation run by their enemies.

Of course, this is simply a suggestion emanating from my particular ivory tower. You may have a better idea. IN ANY EVENT, GET STARTED ON SOMETHING NOW, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. I hate saying “I told you so.” But I have told you so.

Thank you for this post Kate.......