News

Where have the Republicans gone?

10/7/2012

There were once Republicans like this, before the GOP establishment eradicated them:

“I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is “needed” before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents’ “interests,” I shall reply that I was informed that their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can."

-- Barry Goldwater

Thomas Jefferson: "Bind him down from mischief by the chains of the constitution"

8/4/2012

"[I]n questions of power then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution..."

-- Thomas Jefferson, Kentucky Resolutions, 1798

If it isn't enumerated it isn't legitimate

7/10/2012

James Madison: The subversion of the very foundations of limited government in America

7/6/2012

"If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare, and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the care of religion into their own hands; they may appoint teachers in every State, county and parish and pay them out of their public treasury; they may take into their own hands the education of children, establishing in like manner schools throughout the Union; they may assume the provision of the poor; they may undertake the regulation of all roads other than post-roads; in short, every thing, from the highest object of state legislation down to the most minute object of police, would be thrown under the power of Congress. Were the power of Congress to be established in the latitude contended for, it would subvert the very foundations, and transmute the very nature of the limited Government established by the people of America."

-- James Madison, Speech on the Cod Fishery Bill, Feb. 7, 1792

Thomas Jefferson: "Lace them up straightly within the enumerated powers"

6/7/2012

"It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and as they would be the sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please. Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given them. It [the Constitution] was intended to lace them up straightly within the enumerated powers and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect."

-- Thomas Jefferson, Opinion on a National Bank, 1791

Equal Protection for Posterity: The Key to America's Survival

5/24/2012

The Equal Protection for Posterity Resolution

America's Party Platform (Includes the Resolution)

America's Party Leadership Pledge (Includes the Resolution)

Tom Hoefling: I Believe (Includes the Resolution)

George Washington: The Constitution is sacredly obligatory on all

5/19/2012

"The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all."

-- George Washington, Farewell Address, September 17, 1796

U.S. Constitution: Presidential protection of life, liberty, and property

4/13/2012

"...he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed...."

--U.S.Constitution, Article II, Section 3, concerning the obligations of the President

"No person shall be...deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law...."

--U.S. Constitution, Amendment V, part of the Laws which the President is to ensure are faithfully executed

"'I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.'"

--U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 1, containing the words of the oath which the President takes upon entering office

John Adams: "Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people"

4/12/2012

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other."

-- John Adams

Alexander Hamilton: "Prevented from overpassing their constitutional limits"

4/10/2012

"This balance between the National and State governments ought to be dwelt on with peculiar attention, as it is of the utmost importance. It forms a double security to the people. If one encroaches on their rights they will find a powerful protection in the other. Indeed, they will both be prevented from overpassing their constitutional limits by a certain rivalship, which will ever subsist between them."

-- Alexander Hamilton, speech to the New York Ratifying Convention, 1788

James Madison: The remedy for annulling the acts of the usurpers

4/10/2012

"What is to be the consequence, in case the Congress shall misconstrue this part [the necessary and proper clause] of the Constitution and exercise powers not warranted by its true meaning, I answer the same as if they should misconstrue or enlarge any other power vested in them...the success of the usurpation will depend on the executive and judiciary departments, which are to expound and give effect to the legislative acts; and in a last resort a remedy must be obtained from the people, who can by the elections of more faithful representatives, annul the acts of the usurpers."

-- James Madison, Federalist No. 44

Constitution 101 - "Abraham Lincoln and the Constitution"

4/9/2012

Abraham Lincoln: "The rightful masters of the Congress and the Courts"

4/6/2012

Thomas Jefferson: Power must be restrained by law

4/3/2012

"In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution."

-- Thomas Jefferson

General Douglas MacArthur: A dangerous concept

4/2/2012

"It is a dangerous concept that men of the armed forces must owe their primary allegiance to these temporary occupants of The White House, instead of to the country and the Constitution to which they have sworn to defend."

-- General Douglas MacArthur

Americans Are Worrying About the Constitution Again

4/2/2012

The Patriot Post

Michael Barone

"Liberal commentators were shocked this past week when in three days of oral argument in the lawsuits challenging Obamacare, five Supreme Court justices -- a majority -- asked questions strongly suggesting they think the legislation is unconstitutional. ... [T]he justices are not the only federal officials who take an oath to uphold the Constitution. So do the president and vice president, Cabinet members and other appointees, and every member of Congress. ... That means that every federal official has an obligation to act in line with the Constitution as he or she understands it. And that doesn't necessarily mean obeying Supreme Court decisions. ... Clearly the two parties are divided on the constitutionality of the Obamacare mandate. Polls have shown large majorities of voters think the provision is unconstitutional, though one can wonder whether many have given the matter much thought. But they're certainly giving it more thought after this week and will likely give it more when the decision comes down. Voters can reasonably ask candidates for Congress their views on this and other constitutional issues and call on them to vote against measures they consider beyond Congress' constitutional powers."

Read this story at patriotpost.us ...

"ABO"? How about "ABTC, Anybody But a Traitor to the Constitution"?

3/23/2012

"The Republican Establishment 'ABO, Anybody But Obama' meme that is now being repeated again and again across America is disgusting, mindless and completely unprincipled. It is the signal that Barack Obama is now the plumb line for some people, not principle. Very sad.

As dangerous and damaging as another term for Obama might be, that doesn't even approach the danger and the damage that will be done to this republic by the continued abandonment of all principle by those who call themselves 'conservative.'"

-- Tom Hoefling, March 23, 2012

Our Constitutions are the instruments of the people, not of the lawyers

3/21/2012

"Every word employed in the Constitution is to be expounded in its plain, obvious, and common sense, unless the context furnishes some ground to control, qualify, or enlarge it. Constitutions are not designed for metaphysical or logical subtleties, for niceties of expression, for critical propriety, for elaborate shades of meaning, or for the exercise of philosophical acuteness or judicial research. They are instruments of a practical nature, rounded on the common business of human life, adapted to common wants, designed for common use, and fitted for common understandings. The people make them, the people adopt them, the people must be supposed to read them, with the help of common-sense, and cannot be presumed to admit in them any recondite meaning or any extraordinary gloss."

-- Joseph Story, Constitution (5th ed.) 345, SS 451.

Benjamin Franklin: Nothing is certain but death and taxes

3/21/2012

"Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

-- Benjamin Franklin, letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, 1789

Obamacare's Gross Costs Double to $1.76 Trillion, CBO Projects

3/15/2012

Provided courtesy of Say NO to Socialism!

Newsmax

By Richard Wagner and Martin Gould

The gross costs of the national healthcare law rammed through Congress by [Alleged] President Barack Obama will reach an estimated $1.76 trillion over 10 years – nearly twice the amount originally projected.

The figure, which the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) revealed on Wednesday, is bound to cause embarrassment to the administration as it comes just as debate on “Obamacare” is starting to heat up again, two weeks before the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on whether the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional.

Immediately the revelation stirred controversy among opponents of the bill.

“Both fiscally and for the sake of our health care system, Americans cannot afford the president’s healthcare law,” said Georgia Rep. Tom Price, chairman of the Republican Policy Committee.

“The longer the president’s healthcare law remains on the books, the greater the threat it poses to our nation’s healthcare and our fiscal well-being,” said Price, an orthopedic surgeon.

“The CBO’s revised cost estimate indicates that this massive government intrusion into America’s health care system will be far more costly than was originally claimed. The law’s true cost to American taxpayers is part of a series of promises [Alleged] President Obama and Democrats in Congress made that will be broken,: he said.

Healthcare expert Betsy McCaughey, the former lieutenant governor of New York State, told Newsmax that the original cost projections of the plan were “a shell game” and that the new report “inches closer to the truth” about the cost of the reforms.

Read this story at newsmax.com ...

James Madison: "Annul the acts of the usurpers"

3/13/2012

"What is to be the consequence, in case the Congress shall misconstrue this part [the necessary and proper clause] of the Constitution and exercise powers not warranted by its true meaning, I answer the same as if they should misconstrue or enlarge any other power vested in them ... the success of the usurpation will depend on the executive and judiciary departments, which are to expound and give effect to the legislative acts; and in a last resort a remedy must be obtained from the people, who can by the elections of more faithful representatives, annul the acts of the usurpers."

-- James Madison, Federalist No. 44, 1788

Joel Hilliker: The Basic Reason for America’s Constitutional Crisis

2/28/2012

The government is operating under a flawed understanding about human nature.

theTrumpet.com

February 22, 2012

by JOEL HILLIKER

Crucial question: Do you think human nature is fundamentally good—or evil?

The difference between these two opposing views forms the heart of a crisis in the United States right now.

The common liberal view of human nature is that it is fundamentally good and should be given room to flourish. The biblical and realist view is that it is fundamentally evil and must be conscientiously governed.

Thankfully, America’s Founders took the latter view. As a result, the system of government they created has stood for over two centuries and done much to guarantee the nation’s success.

They realized that government is necessary in order to check the evils of human nature in society. They also recognized—having fought and bled in order to free themselves from a tyrant—that firm limits on power are needed in order to check the evils of human nature within the government.

. . . .

In the Constitution, the American Founders established a system that successfully governs the government.

. . . .

Read this story at thetrumpet.com ...

Tom Hoefling: "Good fences make for good neighbors"

2/25/2012

"Just as 'good fences make for good neighbors,' good government is mainly about knowing where the legitimate boundaries are, and having the courage to defend those borders forcefully. This is true in terms of the defense of our territory, our security, and our national sovereignty, of course, but it also applies to the imperative duty all of those in government have to equally protect the God-given, unalienable rights of each individual person, their sacred obligation to stay well within the Enumerated Powers of our Constitution, and of the role government must play in balancing the competing rights and interests of the American people."

-- Tom Hoefling, 2012 presidential nominee of America's Party

Tom Hoefling unveils Citizen Review Board to examine constitutionality of all U.S. public policy

2/20/2012

Hoefling Names J.D. Ellis as NCCRB Chairman

"We the People Must Reestablish the Plumb Line of Principle"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Media contact:
tomhoefling@gmail.com

February 20, 2012

Des Moines, IA – This morning, America's Party presidential nominee Tom Hoefling announced the formation of a National Citizen Constitutional Review Board (nccrb.com) to examine the constitutionality of every facet of American public policy.

In a written statement, Hoefling laid out his vision for this citizen-led effort:

"It has become clear to all sensible Americans that the federal government has grown far outside the limits of the Enumerated Powers spelled out in our Constitution, and it has become equally clear that the leaders of the Democratic and Republican parties have no intention of doing anything about it. How can you trust those who created the problem to fix it?

"When discussions were taking place about the choice of my running mate, J.D. Ellis of Tennessee, I made it clear to everyone involved that one of the primary functions of my choice for Vice-President throughout the campaign will be to facilitate a thorough, organized citizen review of every current program, agency and activity of our existing federal government. And, if we are elected, to take the lead in helping enforce the judgment and the will of the American people on Washington. I'm sick and tired of politicians who pass the buck on constitutionality, and judges who think they are a law unto themselves.

"That's why I have chosen my friend J.D. Ellis to be the first NCCRB Chairman. He understands clearly that the people themselves are the only ones who can possibly reestablish our political plumb line of principle.

"As the 2012 America's Party nominees for President and Vice-President, J.D. and I are seeking one million patriotic, principled, committed Americans -- men and women who understand the critical need for an immediate return to the principles of our nation's founding -- and the absolute need to put this massive federal beast back within the boundaries of the Tenth Amendment.

"Together, let us strive to restore America’s moral, economic, and physical strength, in order to fulfill the ultimate stated purpose of our Constitution: ‘to secure the Blessings of Liberty to our Posterity.’

"We have an obligation to our children and grandchildren to take back our political system from the money and media interests, and to put the power back in the hands of We the People.

"Please sign up now at NCCRB.com (or tomhoefling.com) if you would like to participate in this critically important Citizen's Review process. You will receive regular email updates and additional information on what you can do from your own front porch to help put America back on its proper foundations and return us to principled, constitutional government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

###

'Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain.'

Tom Hoefling on Government:

"Just as 'good fences make for good neighbors,' good government is mainly about knowing where the legitimate boundaries are, and having the courage to defend those borders forcefully. This is true in terms of the defense of our territory, our security, and our national sovereignty, but it also applies to the sworn duty of all of those in government to equally protect the God-given, unalienable rights of each individual person, from their creation onward, their sacred obligation to stay well within the enumerated powers of our constitutions, and of the role legitimate government must play in balancing the competing rights and interests of the people, in order to establish justice."