"The Awakening"

It's been some time since I last wrote this blog, and for good reason. I could have simply continued to oppose the elevation and election of President Obama, but thought it wise to sit quietly and observe the first hundred days of his administration. Now that we are in the second hundred days of this administration it is time to take the gloves off, and give you my ten cents because my two cents ain't worth one.

My thoughts about this are both wide and deep. My emotions are held at bay by sound reasoning, thus I shall not attack, but defend with a good offensive. My arguments are not soely my own, but rather a compilation of ideas that have been presented before me, by much wiser and learned men and women. Shall this blog become a thought provoking media for enlightenment, or simply a forum to share ideals and ideas? This is for you to decide. Either way, it is important to re-examine our understanding of the principles that the United States of America was founded. http://www.foundingfathers.info/

Here's a question for you to ask yourself, one which I required myself to answer. What is the constitution of the United States of America? First it must be defined. In general, a constitution is a system for government often codified as a written document that establishes the rules and principles of an autonomous political entity. In the case of countries, this term refers specifically to a national constitution defining the fundamental political principles, and establishing the structure, procedures, powers and duties, of a government. Most national constitutions also guarantee certain rights to the people. Further defining the Constitution of the United States of America, necessarily requires understanding of the terms Republic and Democracy.

A REPUBLIC is a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them. Any body of persons viewed as a commonwealth. A state in which the head of government is not a monarch or other hereditary head of state.

A DEMOCRACY is government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them. Theoretically, a democracy requires full participation of the masses of people in the legislative or decision making processes of the government. This has never worked because the people become so occupied with their daily tasks that they will not study the issues, nor will they take the time to participate in extensive hearing before the vote is taken. The Greeks tried to use democratic mass-participation in government of their city-states, and each time it ended in tyranny.(Skousen, The Five Thousand Year Leap, pgs. 153-154.)

James Madison contrasted these two systems when he wrote:
Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention;
have ever been found incompatible with personal security
or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives
as they have been violent in their deaths....
A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme
of representation takes place, opens a different prospect and
promises to cure for which we are seeking.(Federalist Papers,
No. 10, pg.81.) http://www.foundingfathers.info/federalistpapers/fedindex.htm

Madison later pointed out that:
In a democracy the people meet and exercise the government in
person; in a republic they assemble and administer it by their
representatives and agents. A democracy, consequently, must be
confined to a small spot. A republic may be extended over a large
region. (Federalist Papers, No. 14, pg. 100.)
Further Madison offered a concise defition of a republic as follows:
we may define a republic to be, or at least may bestow that name on,
a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from
the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding
their offices during pleasure, for a limited period, or during good
behavior. It is ESSENTIAL to such a government that it be derived from
the great body of the society, not from an inconsiderable proportion,
or a favored class of it; otherwise a handful of tyrannical nobles,
exercising their oppressions by a delegation of their powers, might
aspire to the rank of republicans, and claim for their government the
honorable title of republic.(Federalist Papers, No. 39, pg. 241.)

We are therefore, as described in the Pledge of Allegiance, a republic. The 1892 version of the Pledge of Allegiance reads as follows: “I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands: one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.”