What Has Government Done To Us?
Our government goes back to the American Revolution and subsequent Constitution. The Declaration of Independence, says that "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it." Have we approached, and even passed the point at which something radical must be done? I am going to examine what government has done to us over the past 232 years. Not all at once has it harmed its citizenry, but gradually, and currently, at an even greater pace. I am going to skip the first 75 or so years, eliminating the War of 1812, and going to the Lincoln war, which in reality was the War of Northern Aggression, or to be kind, "The War Between The States," commonly called, "The Civil War.".
The so called "Civil War," never should have happened. The South warned Lincoln not to try to re-supply Fort Sumter, as it was in South Carolina’s harbor, and South Carolina had seceded with Lincoln’s election. They knew what Lincoln, the first Republican wanted, and that was the consolidation of state power, into a super strong central government, to be obtained by a fake call to eliminate slavery. Importing slaves had been illegal since 1808, and the industrial revolution was just around the corner in a few years. His opinion of blacks was uttered many times before he became President. He said in a speech, "Free them, and make them politically and socially, our equals? My own feelings will not admit to this….We cannot then, make them equals." In Lincoln’s inaugural address, he stated that he would not, "Interfere with the institution of slavery where it exists in the states." "The "Shot heard ’round the world," started that hideous war which claimed 620,000 American lives. More killed than in WW II or WW I. Slaves, at the onset of that war, cost $1500 in gold, and few if any, could afford to buy them. In 1861, Lincoln sent 75,000 troops to invade the South, without the consent of Congress. He called it "A rebellion," not a war. In other words, it was an unconstitutional war. Lincoln’s "Emancipation Proclamation" was an absurdity, because the South, where the slaves were remaining, had already seceded. Slaves were imported in the North, and Northerners had slaves too at first. Slaves had been very gradually freed before Lincoln started the war. That war, divided the nation in half, and it has never really come back together. Did that war begin with a vote of the Congress, as the Constitution requires? No. Lincoln’s calling his war "A rebellion," meant that Congress didn’t have to approve. That war cost 620,000 deaths, in a nation that had but a population of 30 million. Government did it to its citizens, without their permission or even a Congressional approval.
I become enraged when Republicans have their "Lincoln Day Dinners," and virtually worship that man. Abraham Lincoln, after he started the war, became an absolute dictator. No one in the South wanted to be invaded, and most of the North was not in favor of Lincoln’s war. Lincoln blockaded Southern ports, suspended the writ of habeas corpus for the duration of his administration, and imprisoned without trial, thousands of Northern citizens and newspaper publishers who expressed a distaste and outrage at Lincoln’s war. Dean Sprague wrote a 340 page book about Lincoln’s suppression of Constitutional liberty, titled "Freedom Under Lincoln." A quote from his book, only begins to sum up his examination of the situation. "During most of 1861, Wall Street bankers, priests, merchants, policemen, and anyone else who expressed disloyal sentiments, was subject to arrest." Lincoln placed the entire states of Kansas and Kentucky under martial law! More than 13,000 political prisoners were held in Fort Lafayette in New York harbor. In May, 1861, the Journal of Commerce, published a list of more than a hundred Northern Newspapers that had editorialized against going to war. Lincoln ordered the Postmaster to deny these newspapers mail delivery, which put every one out of circulation. On February 2, 1862, the Federal Government began censoring all telegraph communications. Editors of any newspaper, large or small, who did not support Lincoln’s war, were arrested and imprisoned. Lincoln, having a lot of trouble enlisting soldiers to fight his unconstitutional war, instituted the draft, in violation of the right of men to be free. As a result of his forcing men to fight for his war, the 13th Amendment was passed in 1865, prohibiting "Slavery or Involuntary Servitude." Lincoln, the first Republican, is no role model for any party, and Republicans should examine history before they exalt and worship that man with dinners bearing his name.
What did government do to its citizens 150 years ago? It violated the Constitution a hundred times, committed thousands of outrages against innocents, and caused the deaths of 620,000 Americans. Northern troops and generals, did not just defeat the Confederates, but burned and destroyed everything in their path. "Gone With The Wind’s" fiery destruction of Atlanta, is a vivid portrayal of hundreds of Northern acts in the South. The North spent so much defeating the South, that they printed ’greenbacks’ by the millions to pay expenses. The South, trying to protect itself, printed millions of confederate dollars, and both the North’s and South’s paper money became absolutely worthless. Government destroyed the savings and liquidity of innocent civilians in both the North and South. After the South lost the war, General Sherman did his famous "March to the Sea" through the beaten South. He committed indescribable rape, murder, arson, and pillage, wherever he went. Government did that to its citizens too.
World War One, was none of our business, and was practically over when America got involved in it. President Wilson appeared before Congress, and asked for a declaration of war against Germany. It was foolishly granted on April 6th, 1917. A couple of years later, there were 262,700 dead, missing, and wounded Americans. A few years before we got into the ’great war,’ the Federal Reserve was established, and the 16th Amendment was passed, which is the income tax. The Federal Reserve didn’t need to have it passed by the Congress, because it is a private bank, with a misleading name of "Federal Reserve." It is not federal, and has no reserves. Everyone reading my columns should read "The Creature From Jekyll Island," which explains the Federal Reserve from it’s beginning, and shows how it has literally bankrupted America. The16th Amendment was not legally ratified. Kentucky recalled its vote, leaving the Amendment one vote shy of Constitutional ratification.. A two volume set of books titled, "The Law That Never Was," amply proves the point. Legal or not, for a hundred years, Americans have labored to pay the taxes for an Amendment which was never legally authorized. Government did that to its citizens.
Next week, the ’great depression,’ and World War Two, both of which government did to its citizens.