Veterans Day Remarks 2019

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IS A MIRACLE, which some take for granted.  But the high ideals of the Revolution—“life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”—were made possible by those who served.

     Recently, the value of America’s word was placed in doubt.  And now the question has been raised:   How can it be restored?  But there is no mystery.  The answer was provided long ago.

     George Washington was with his troops at Valley Forge, and that made a difference.  For during the Battle of Monmouth, the Continentals were in disarray.  They had turned their backs and were running away, stepping into the moment where armies are destroyed.  But, upon arrival, Washington rode over to the field commander and dressed him down so forcefully that Lafayette thought the leaves were going to fall off the trees.  Then he rode over to the soldiers and demanded their best efforts.  They reformed their ranks and fought the finest army in the world to a standstill.

     The man who had been Commander in Chief of the Continental Forces presided over the writing of the Constitution.  Once signed, Alexander Hamilton, a former artillery officer who later became his aide de camp, pushed for its ratification.  When approved, President Washington had Secretary of War Henry Knox, a former artillery officer, send a report to Congress, foreshadowed by Hamilton in The Federalist Papers, in support of Universal National Service.  And the report made it clear that “the common defense” did not mean only the common people would be doing the defending:  “All being bound, none can complain of injustice, on being obliged to perform his equal proportion.”   (Emphasis added)

     An early draft of the Constitution said the Commander in Chief was not to assume command in

person.  Yet the offending phrase was removed.  The American Presidency was to be a position for those who are profiles in courage.  Cowards need not apply.  Thus, Washington made it possible for a future Commander in Chief to be in the field with the troops, so that the relationship he had established with them—to insure the life of the Republic—could endure throughout the ages.  Furthermore, much is required of those who aspire to leadership, as the Knox Report reminds us:  “Therefore, it ought to be a permanent rule, that those who in youth decline or refuse to subject themselves to the course of military education, established by the laws, should be considered as unworthy of public trust or public honors, and be excluded therefrom accordingly.”

     Character is the union of thought, word, and deed directed toward a noble end.  And the rebellion against the King was animated by the Spirit of ’76—the pledge of “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”  George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Henry Knox showed how America’s word was to be kept.  For credibility is not an abstraction—an intellectual proposition—when your word means your life.  And so, it is not time to play but to tell the truth:  Will the real Americans—those who know that citizenship consists of rights and duties—please stand up?

     May God bless all the members of the Armed Forces, the Intelligence Community, and the Diplomatic Corps.  And may God bless the United States of America.

(c)2019 Marvin D. Jones.  All rights reserved.

Talk Like A Patriot Day?

“Give me liberty or give me death!”  “…(T)hese united Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states….”  “I have not yet begun to fight.”   Patrick Henry spoke for the American cause.  The Declaration speaks for itself, as does the life of Nathan Hale, a spy who died with a noose around his neck, for the American cause.  John Paul Jones sailed into harm’s way and fought in British waters for the American cause.

     It is not easy being an American; it is demanding.  For we are summoned to the quest—a recurring theme throughout our history.  Thus, Thomas Paine said, “The cause of America…is the cause of mankind.”  And Alexander Hamilton referred to the young republic as “a country which, with wisdom, might make herself the admiration and envy of the world.”  (The Federalist Papers, No. 11)  Then Abraham Lincoln played a Stradivarius and hit the right notes: “We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.”  Indeed, much is required to form—and preserve—“a more perfect Union.”  “And so, my fellow Americans,” said John F. Kennedy, “ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”

     High ideals are hazardous.  When written and  proclaimed to the world, they leave a country open to charges of hypocrisy.  But falling short does not mean the end is unworthy.  What matters is that the effort continues.  For, as the French philosopher said, “Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.”*   Thus, there is awareness of shortcomings.  But a world without such tribute is hopeless, because “the unjust knoweth no shame.”  (Zephaniah 3:5, KJV)

     A well-ordered republic allows some to imagine that they have virtues they do not possess.  And the pretense can go on so long as the common defense means only the common people do the defending.  But the time is at hand, the crisis has arrived.  Lip service—mouthpiece patriotism—will not do.    

     Originally, the common defense was to be a common experience, a constant reminder that citizenship consists of rights and duties—an adherence to ideals even when inconvenient.  “Every State possesses, not only the right of personal service from its members, but the right to regulate the service on principles of equality for the general defense.”  As a result, Secretary of War Henry Knox wrote, in the report President Washington had him send to Congress in support of Universal National Service, “All being bound, none can complain of injustice, on being obliged to perform his equal proportion.”  (Emphasis added)  Thus, there is more to being an American than birth in the United States, or through the lineage of  one’s parents, or by naturalization.  Beyond legalities, it is a state of mind—and action.

     Before crossing the Delaware, Washington’s line was determination itself: “Victory or Death.”  And if the Commander in Chief of the Continental Forces had such an attitude on the eve of battle, we can at least make October 19, 2019 Act Like A Patriot Day.  For the ideals of the Revolution—“life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”—cannot become reality without the pledge of “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

(c)2019 Marvin D. Jones.  All rights reserved. 

* Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Remember the Kurds

Brothers, what we do in life echoes in eternity. ~ Maximus

“I AM ASHAMED….,” said one member of the Special Forces in Syria.

     The same is true for all of us who serve or are veterans of the national security establishment, whether the Armed Forces, the Intelligence Community, or the Diplomatic Corps.

     A man who abandons troops in the field will do anything.  So on the Comrade’s birthday, the Chief Traitor gave him a gift—an ally a la carte—and placed America’s word in doubt.

     Unlike the vile creature which sheds its skin, we will not forget.  For the words Alexander Hamilton wrote in support of the Constitution, to which we take an oath, echo in our ears.

     “It belongs to us to vindicate the honor of the human race, and to teach that assuming brother    moderation.”  (The Federalist Papers, No. 11)

(c)2019 Marvin D. Jones.  All rights reserved. 

https://youtu.be/1GcHaAVj1Pl    [Maximus in the opening scene of Gladiator]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/turkeys-syria-invasion-member-of-us-special-forces-says-i-am-ashamed-for-the-first-time-in-my-career/ar-AAIxyrN?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout    [“ashamed”]

October 7, 1952    [Vladimir Putin's birthday]

The Electoral College Without Blinders

Mere assertion and repetition do not equal truth.  Sound decisions are based upon knowledge. 

     America began as a backwater province of the British Empire.  But, after “a long train of abuses and usurpations,” the Colonies became “free and independent states.”  And then they struggled to make the transition from a monarchy to a republic. 

     The Articles of Confederation were inadequate in war, and there was no improvement in peace.  The Constitution was written to address those shortcomings.  But, unbeknownst to some, the transition from the Articles to the Constitution continues. 

     At the time of the Convention, there was no way to reduce “the different qualifications in the different States to one uniform rule.”  (James Madison, The Federalist Papers, No. 52)  It was an obstacle that affected options regarding a matter voted upon over thirty times.  How to choose the Executive was, said James Wilson, “the most difficult of all on which we have to decide.”  And the decision that was made created a misunderstood, misrepresented, and misused institution. 

     The Electoral College has two functions.  They are popular choice and national security.  And there can be no doubt about the first, for as Madison said at the Convention, the Executive “is now to be elected by the people” and as Alexander Hamilton later noted, “The President of the United States would be an officer elected by the people…”  (The Electoral College by Lucius Wilmerding, Jr., 3 & 19 and Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers, No. 69 respectively)  Nor is the second a mystery. 

     “Nothing was more to be desired than that every practicable obstacle should be opposed to cabal, intrigue, and corruption.  These most deadly adversaries of republican government might naturally have been expected to make their approaches from more than one quarter, but chiefly from the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils.  How could they better gratify this, than by raising a creature of their own to the Chief Magistracy of the Union?”  (Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers, No. 68) 

     “With all the infirmities incident to a popular election, corrected by the particular mode of conducting it, as directed under the present system, I think we may fairly calculate,” said James Madison in the House, “that the instances will be very rare in which an unworthy man will receive that mark of the public confidence which is required to designate the President of the United States.” 

     “The original intention” is clear, as are the dangers when it is thwarted due to a hangover. 

     “The right of equal suffrage among the States is another exceptional part of the Confederation….  Its operation contradicts that fundamental maxim of republican government, which requires that the sense of the majority should prevail….  It may happen that this majority of States is a small minority of the people of America; and two thirds of the people of America could not long be persuaded…to submit their interests to the management and disposal of one third.”  (Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers, No. 22; emphasis added) 

     In 2000 and 2016, there was a political discontinuity—a misalignment of means and ends, a condition where a minority rules the majority.  Thus, the exceptional part of the Confederation contradicted that fundamental maxim of republican government, which requires that the sense of the majority should prevail.

     The problem that could not be resolved at the Convention has been removed.  Now there is a uniform standard because of the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-sixth Amendments.  A seed led to conception and a long pregnancy to birth. 

     The much maligned Electoral College is an idea whose time has come.  Dust off the 1787 DeLorean and the National Popular Vote can jumpstart the flux capacitor.  Then the Electoral College can perform the two functions for which it was designed—popular choice and national security. 

     “One advantage of Electors is,” according to Madison, “although generally the mere mouths of their constituents, they may be intentionally left sometimes to their own judgment, guided by further information that may be acquired by them: and finally, what is of material importance, they will be able, when ascertaining, which may not be till a late hour, that the first choice of their constituents is utterly hopeless, to substitute in the electoral vote the name known to be their second choice.”  (LW, 180-181)

     The focus on popular choice must not obscure the necessity of national security.  The Electoral College is the final check on fraud, an institution that can suppress “the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils…by raising a creature of their own to the Chief Magistracy of the Union.”    

(c)2019 Marvin D. Jones.  All rights reserved.
  

http://www.nationalpopularvote.com

http://www.marvindjones.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-electoral-idea-whose-time.html

http://www.marvindjones.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-electoral-college-is-1787-delorean.html

http://www.marvindjones.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-american-appendix.html

But Because They Are Hard

“The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it—and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.”

On April 12, 1961, the Soviets sent Yuri Gagarin into orbit.  So, when Alan Shepard lifted off from Cape Canaveral on the fifth of May, his suborbital flight looked like second place—again.  And Mercury did not seem to be a long distance runner. 

     THE DATE:            May 25, 1961

     THE PLACE:          Washington, DC

     THE SETTING:      Capitol Hill

     THE OCCASION:  A joint session of Congress to hear a Special Message on Urgent National 

                                     Needs delivered by the President of the United States

     “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of

landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.  No single space project in this     period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.”  

     It was hardly a sure thing.  For fifteen minutes of spaceflight experience does not a launch pad of confidence make, as shown by an American physicist when asked what we would find on the moon. 

     “Russians.” 

     Nevertheless, the United States persevered.  

     On September 12, 1962, the President spoke at Rice University. 

     “We choose to go to the moon—we choose to go to the moon.  We choose to go to the moon in this  decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.  

     “It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the Office of the Presidency….   

     “To be sure, we are behind, and will be behind for some time in manned flight.  But we do not intend to stay behind, and in this decade we shall make up and move ahead.” 

     With Gemini came spacewalks, longer flights, and rendezvous and docking—a vital part of what was to follow.  Thus, within a decade we did make up, and now it was time to move ahead. 

     THE DATE:            July 20, 1969

     THE PLACE:          A pale disk in the sky

     THE SETTING:      The lunar module

     THE OCCASION:  Final approach 

     It was hardly a sure thing. 

     Aldrin gives the readout as Armstrong switches to manual and steers the spacecraft beyond the       boulders around West Crater. 

     “Four forward.  Four forward.  Drifting to the right a little.  Twenty feet, down a half.”

     “Thirty seconds,” says Capcom regarding the remaining fuel.

     “Drifting forward just a little bit; that’s good.”  

     The next words are garbled, and there is a pause before he speaks again.

     “Contact Light.”

     “Shutdown,” says Armstrong.

     “OK.  Engine stop,” says Aldrin.

     Then they go through the procedures.

     “ACA out of Detent.  Auto,” says Aldrin.

     “Out of Detent.  Auto,” says Armstrong.

     “Mode Control, both Auto.  Descent Engine Command Override, Off.  Engine Arm, Off.  Four-one-three is in,” says Aldrin. 

     “We copy you down, Eagle.”

     “Engine arm is off,” Armstrong confirms before responding to Capcom.  “Houston, Tranquility Base here.  The Eagle has landed.”

     “Roger, Twan…Tranquility.  We copy you on the ground.  You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue.  We’re breathing again.  Thanks a lot.”  

     It was hardly a sure thing.  The inevitable rarely is.  After the fact, things are easy—and talk is cheap.  Yet when some had doubts, there was one who did not. 

     The President took us aboard Apollo at Rice University on September 12, 1962. 

     “…I realize that this is in some measure an act of faith and vision, for we do not now know what benefits await us.  But if I were to say, my fellow citizens, that we shall send to the moon, 240,000 miles away from the control station in Houston a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall, the length of this football field, made of new metal alloys, some of which have not yet been invented, capable of standing heat and stresses several times more than have ever been experienced, fitted together with a precision better than the finest watch, carrying all the equipment needed for propulsion, guidance, control, communications, food and survival, on an untried mission, to an unknown celestial body, and then return it safely to earth, reentering the atmosphere at speeds of over 25,000 miles per hour, causing heat about half that of the temperature of the sun, almost as hot as it is here today, and do all this, and do it right, and do it first before this decade is out, then we must be bold.” 

     In the beginning, before leaving to address Congress, President Kennedy spoke to his family and staff  in the Oval Office. 

     “I firmly expect this commitment to be kept.  And if I die before it is, all you here now just remember when it happens I will be sitting up there in heaven in a rocking chair just like this one, and I’ll have a better view of it than anybody.”  (JFK’s Last Hundred Days by Thurston Clarke, 150)

(c)2019 Marvin D. Jones.  All rights reserved.

In Memory of Lawrence E. Bromery

1928-2006

Goddard Space Flight Center 

Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961    [“and the glow from that fire”] 

https://youtu.be/IMH139TOQ8M    [Special Message on Urgent National Needs]

https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKPOF/040/JFKPOF-040-001

[Address at Rice University--text] 

https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/historic-speeches/address-at-rice-university-on-the-nations-space-effort    [film] 

https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11.landing.html    [the landing] 

Capcom – capsule communicator

Debates or Debased?

MANKIND SUPPOSEDLY EVOLVED and our opposable thumbs enabled us to make tools, which caused us to develop bigger brains.  Others say we devolved, and the reason we survived was not our intelligence but our odor.  No predators would approach because of our stench.

     The stink hypothesis seems to hold water—which was not used—because of the format and the

absence of soap.  One minute to respond to a question and thirty seconds to follow-up leads to soundbites and strutting and posing.

     The performance began, before the show, with Senator Booker’s reaction to Biden’s remarks.  It was a BREAKOUT MOMENT.  He faulted the former Vice President for talking about his interaction with Southern Senators when he belonged to that body.  Yet Biden did not praise them nor support their views.  But how dare he describe his experiences dealing with them?

     Senator Harris’s BREAKOUT MOMENT happened during the program.  And her response got an eye roll and talking back to the screen.  Seriously, lady?  You were wounded by what Biden said?  And you want to run against the insulter-in-chief?  Please.  You need to get into another line of work.

     Spare me any more BREAKOUT MOMENTS that are an attitude in search of an insult.  How about a sound platform that will, to use the constitutional phrase, “promote the general welfare”?

   

     This is not a sporting event, although the press and the candidates talk about who won and who lost as if it were a game.  Meanwhile, WE THE PEOPLE were robbed and we cannot “Wait till next year.”  So get rid of the audience.  Applause and cheering take up precious time.

     Instead of journalists playing a dominant role, those running should be the stars.  In a crowded field of twenty, five candidates over four nights would be more likely to produce an enlightened exchange.  With five minute opening and closing statements, a platform can be laid out and defended from that individual’s point of view.  Journalists’ questions would be supplemental.

     Can we leave the sandbox?  The alternative is appealing and provides evidence of evolution.

(c)2019 Marvin D. Jones.  All rights reserved.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/her-ambition-got-it-wrong-about-joe-harris-faces-debate-backlash/ar-AADEmEn?li=BBnb7Kz

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/democrats-convulse-over-race-as-debate-exchange-reverberates/ar-AADIFCK?li=BBnb7Kz

https://youtu.be/rY3IuWZM-_c

https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/57436-democrats-this-isnt-politics-as-usual

Old Days, Old Glory

Whoa, soldier

Combat soldier

Pick up your weapon and follow me

We are the leaders of the infantry

BEFORE THE DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT and the birds began to sing, Drill Sergeant O’Neill was calling cadence—the story of one for whom Memorial Day was made—as we headed to the rifle range.

     “Jones,” my spotter called out to me, the one carrying the unit’s colors, “I’ve got tears in my eyes.”

     “So do I.”

     Some memories are indelible.

     At the twilight's last gleaming, Drill Sergeant Hart, who like O’Neill had been in battle, was calling cadence about their unit.

     I want to be an Airborne Ranger

     I want to live a life of danger

     Long ago, it all began—over and over and over—with drill and ceremony.  Then finally, for the first time, when we were marching away from--but not out of sight of—the fort, there was huffing and puffing as if the Army—land force, march, hike, run, repeat—came as a surprise.  What a change—running on the track in black standard issue combat boots—in step, clapping, echoing his words.

     Got to go

     All the way

     Ev’ry day

     Airborne

     Ranger

     Rah!

     The mess sergeant came over.

     “You have to get these guys fed.  I am about to close up.”

     From huffing and puffing to this…  After a long day, the guys did not want to stop and eat.  Such is the impact of leadership by example.

     An early draft of the Constitution said the President was Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces “and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual service of the United States” but shall not assume command in person.  Yet the offending phrase was removed.  Thus, the American Presidency was to be a position for those who are profiles in courage.  Cowards need not apply.  In other words, the office was to be, as noted by Jacob Needleman, “a mirror reflection of the character of Washington.”

     Oh, say, does that star spangled banner yet wave

     O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

(c)2019 Marvin D. Jones.  All rights reserved.

Memorial Day Remarks 2019

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA began as an idea.  And those who died so the idea may live--and become a reality--are remembered today.

     The price was high in revolutionary times.  "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."  The same is still true.  For we take an oath to support and defend the supreme law of the land--"against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

     The Declaration and the Constitution remind us of the demands of citizenship.  Yet only a few bear the burden, only a few pay the price.  But George Washington--the man who was Commander in Chief of the Continental Forces and in the field with his troops--had something else in mind.  As President, he directed Secretary of War Henry Knox, a former artillery officer, to send a report to Congress in support of Universal National Service.

     The two oaths--"our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor" and "So help me God"--are about duty.  Thus, Memorial Day is for those who gave the last full measure of devotion.  And Memorial Day is an opportunity for all Americans to remember the demands of citizenship, especially those who aspire to leadership of the Republic, as the Knox Report reminds us:  "Therefore, it ought to be a permanent rule, that those who in youth decline or refuse to subject themselves to the course of military education, established by the laws, should be considered as unworthy of public trust or public honors, and be excluded therefrom accordingly."

     May God bless all the members of the Armed Forces, the Intelligence Community, and the Diplomatic Corps.  And may God bless the United States of America.

(c)2019 Marvin D. Jones.  All rights reserved.

The Assange Model

EMMET FLOOD, the White House Counsel, sent a memorandum for the record to the Department of Justice, regarding the Mueller Report and executive privilege, in which he stated the boss's position.

     "His decision does not affect his ability...to instruct his advisors to decline to appear before congressional committees to answer questions on those same subjects."  

     The gentleman from New York spoke for himself in a press interview.

      "They've testified for many hours, all of them.  I would say, it's done.  Nobody has ever done what I've done.  I've given total transparency.  It's never happened before like this.  They shouldn't be looking anymore.  It's done."  

     William Barr invoked cluck privilege while someone was eating his lunch.

     "Cock-a-doodle-do!"

     The day breaks and the stage is set for an appointment with destiny--the shootout at the DC Corral.  But where are Wyatt Earp, his brothers, and Doc Holliday when we need them?

     Oh, wait...instead of the Cowboys, we have recalcitrant witnesses.  So, serve them humility a la mode--a large slice of deep dish humble pie and a big scoop of modesty ice cream--and send the Sergeant-at-Arms, the Capitol Police, and the Metropolitan Police and then carry them out like Old Misery in full view of the press.  And later, release body cam footage--with sound--of those who dared to resist House subpoenas, as ordinary citizens shout in the background.  

     "Lock them up!  Lock them up!  Lock them up!"  

     Thus, enough logs will build that dam, stop the reign of lawbreaking--and the imminent flood.

(c)2019 Marvin D. Jones.  All rights reserved.


https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5986025/WHSC-to-AG-4-19-19.pdf    [Emmet Flood]

https://www.spartareport.com/2019/05/trump-to-fox-news-about-potential-nadler-subpoenas-theyve-testified-for-many-hours-all-of-them-i-would-say-its-done/    [GFNY]

https://youtu.be/X1KDqdikd_g    [Old Misery]    

http://www.marvindjones.blogspot.com/2017/07/dances-with-wusses.html    [inherent contempt]

http://www.marvindjones.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-insolence-of-orifice.html

The Declarations

"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

THE LAST LINE of the country's birth certificate captures the Spirit of '76 and defines American citizenship by what it requires--sacrifice.

     The declaration of emergency undresses nationalism and shows the striptease for what it is--indulgence.

     In the old days, there was THE CRISIS--"the times that try men's souls."  Now, there is the con--that tries one's patience.

     The Declaration of Independence was written in response to "a long train of abuses and usurpations."  The declaration of emergency is an abuse and usurpation.  Thus, the issue remains the same, loyalty to an individual or the ideals of the Revolution--"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"--and the Constitution that it made possible.

     Without virtue, there can be no republic.  And virtue is stillborn without courage.  Both breathe because of character--the union of thought, word, and deed directed toward a noble end.

     The joint resolution on termination of the emergency is before the Senate.  But the vote is about the oath to uphold the supreme law of the land.  Yea or nay?  Courage or cowardice?  Anything less than a veto proof majority will be a disgrace.  

     Call the roll.

(c)2019 Marvin D. Jones.  All rights reserved.


http://www.marvindjones.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-fire-and-the-wall.html












   

The Fire and the Wall

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.  (I Corinthians 13:11, KJV)

CALL AND RESPONSE was a regular feature of the campaign.  

     "We are going to build a wall.  And who is going to pay for it?"

     "Mexico!"

     Another call, which sought appropriations for the wall, was the cause of the longest shutdown in American history.  And Steve Schmidt, a former Republican, had the appropriate response.

     "Where are the pesos?"

     Timing is everything.  On Friday, someone decided to mock the oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States"--again.  And then, Monday was Washington's Birthday.*  The long weekend was a perfect setting for a study in contrasts--honesty v. chutzpah.

     All the powers of the Presidency are to be used for the benefit of the Republic, not a fragile ego.  Thus, what the gentleman from New York has done is not a precedent, it is a postcedent--an example of what a true Chief Executive would not do.

     History cast a spotlight on emergency.  We know its shape and shadow--and will not be fooled.  For John Locke had great influence on the Framers regarding the structure and the conduct of government, even in unusual circumstances.

       …(I)n emergency, Locke argued, responsible rulers could resort to 
       exceptional power.  Legislatures were too large, unwieldy and slow 
       to cope with crisis; moreover, they were not able "to foresee, and so 
       by laws to provide for, all accidents and necessities."  Indeed, on 
       occasion "a strict and rigid observation of the laws may do harm."  
       This meant that there could be times when "the laws themselves 
       should...give way to the executive power, or rather to this funda-
       mental law of nature and government, viz., that, as much as may be, 
       all members of society are to be preserved."  (The Imperial Presidency  
       by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. 8)

     Treason is the only crime defined in the Constitution because it is a threat to the life of the Republic; and when the South began "levying war" against the United States, the President gave the words of the Preamble--"in order to form a more perfect Union"--a chance to come to pass.

       For Lincoln delayed the convocation of Congress from April 12, 1861, 
       when Fort Sumter was fired upon, until July 4 lest rigid constitutionalists 
       on the Hill try to stop him from doing what he deemed necessary to save 
       the life of the nation.  In his twelve weeks of executive grace, Lincoln 
       ignored one law and constitutional provision after another.  He assembled 
       the militia, enlarged the Army and the Navy beyond their authorized strength,

       called out volunteers for three years' service, spent public money without 
       congressional appropriation, suspended habeas corpus, arrested people 
       "represented" as involved in "disloyal" practices and instituted a naval 
       blockade of the Confederacy--measures which, he later told Congress, 
       "whether strictly legal or not, were ventured upon under what appeared 
       to be a popular demand and a public necessity; trusting then as now that 

       Congress would readily ratify them."  (Schlesinger, 58; emphasis his)

     The President was not inclined toward whimsy.

     "Lincoln's resort to the law of necessity was provoked by the most authentic and appalling of emergencies, one so recognized by Congress and the people...."  (Schlesinger, 60)

     A century later, the country faced an external threat, which raised a question:  "Was a congressional role possible in the missile crisis?"  (Schlesinger, 175)  After reviewing events, the answer was clear.

       But, even in retrospect, the missile crisis seems an emergency so acute 
       in its nature and so peculiar in its structure that it did in fact require 
       unilateral executive decision.

         Yet this very acuteness and peculiarity disabled Kennedy's action in 
       October 1962 as a precedent for future Presidents in situations less acute 
       and less peculiar....  Where the threat was less grave, the need for secrecy 
       less urgent, the time for debate less restricted--i.e., in all other cases--the 
       argument for independent and unilateral presidential action was notably 
       less compelling.  (Schlesinger, 176)

     Lincoln and Kennedy met the standard and passed Locke's test.  "...(F)or prerogative is nothing but the power of doing public good without a rule."  (Second Treatise of Government, Chapter 14, 166)

     "I could do the wall over a longer period of time," said the gentleman from New York.  "I didn't need to do this, but I'd rather do it much faster."

     "A longer period of time" would be the appropriations process.  And with neither a Civil War nor a Cuban missile crisis, there is no emergency.  For when the heads of the Intelligence Community appeared before the Senate, the southern border was not on their minds.  Thus, pretext is an excuse.

     "I didn't need to do this, but I'd rather do it much faster."

     Despite what he would like, time is not of the essence.  And under the circumstances, a constitutional provision cannot be negated:  "The exclusive privilege of originating money bills will belong to the House of Representatives."  (Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers, No. 66)  Disappointment over what was passed does not authorize circumvention.

     Finally, the courts will not provide a quantum of solace.  In Youngstown v. Sawyer, the Supreme Court said President Truman could not seize the steel mills during the Korean War.  So how likely is any court to support a temper tantrum?

     There is no Reichstag fire, and the Weimar Constitution does not apply.  Article 48--rule by decree--is tattered and in the wind, as is the Enabling Act of 1933.

     Self-styled "conservatives" love to call themselves "strict constructionists."  But where are their strenuous objections to the gentleman from New York?  Of course, there are none because they are strictly deconstructionists of the Constitution.

    For those who take seriously the oath to uphold the supreme law of the land, a joint resolution of disapproval can terminate the abuse of power pursuant to the National Emergencies Act of 1976.  A veto proof majority in the House and the Senate will make it so.

     The gentleman from New York has been in violation of the Constitution from the moment he said "So help me God," starting with the emoluments clause.  And because he was in violation of that conflict of interest provision in the supreme law of the land, he failed to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed."  And because of those failures, he is in violation of the oath that requires him to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution"--which is the first law he has to faithfully execute.  Thus, he is in contempt of the Constitution.  ALL OF THOSE ARE IMPEACHABLE OFFENSES, four charges--without considering the Russian Connection.

(c)2019 Marvin D. Jones.  All rights reserved.

*As observed by law.  But today is the date determined by his mother.