CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED

by James Craig Green

Fifteen years before the Bill of Rights was added to the U.S. Constitution in 1791, the foundation of the American Republic was built on the most radical idea in human history – that government exists to serve people - not the other way around. This idea was brilliantly stated in the Declaration of Independence on July 4^th, 1776:

Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed

CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED are the four most important words in American History. Although other governments have paid lip service to the people, none has been formed from scratch, without the remnants of monarchy or other old tyrannies, based on this principle. Unfortunately, the principle of consent has been so widely confused and corrupted that today, it is no longer believed to be required by many Americans. This lack of explicit consent by citizens is one reason why government today is so large and invasive, regulating virtually every aspect of human behavior, as an abusive parent dominates his children.

America’s Forgotten Courage

On July 4^th, 1776, a handful of brave men openly committed high treason to pledge - in their words ...our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor to the cause of liberty. The Declaration of Independence was the most important and unique political document in human history. It did not form a new government, but simply rejected an existing one. 56 Americans signed the Declaration of Independence. It is rumored that John Hancock, first to sign, used a large, sweeping script so King George III could read it …without his spectacles.

According to the Founders Almanac (Heritage Foundation, 2002), seventeen of the signers served in the military, five were captured by the British during the war, some were killed, several had to move their families repeatedly, many donated large sums of money never repaid and eleven had homes and property destroyed. THESE, my friends, were patriots - unlike the Red and Blue demagogues who pimp for your votes today.

Remnants of Liberty’s Past

American governments today promise to give their most favored citizens - and others - almost anything, for “free.” Of course, government largesse is not really free. Someone else has to pay for every dollar you receive from government – after it skims half for itself. Gullible voters continue to participate in the charade of political elections, in which candidates selected by powerful elites compete to see how much of other people's money (forced by threat of imprisonment) they can promise to their constituents, which now don't even have to be citizens. The most honest word for this is plunder.

Political elections pretend to demonstrate control of government by the people, but one vote in 60 million or so every few years is trivial compared to the daily influence that lobbyists and other power brokers have on legislators and other government officials. Government by the people today is actually government by special interests, whose private wants are sold to a gullible public as needs. All you have to do is say your private want is in the public interest, and politicians of every stripe will stampede to sponsor a bill in your behalf. The trouble is, this also works for every petty tyrant who wants to control every aspect of your life, or force you to pay for his failures. After an income tax was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1894, the Constitution was amended in 1913 to allow it (16th Amendment). 

 

The Big “D”

 

The word democracy comes from the Greek demos, meaning people, and kratien, meaning rule. Literally, democracy means people rule. Today, however, democracy is a smokescreen to perpetuate the false idea that citizens control government. To the chagrin of thinking and productive people everywhere, the most democratic governments in the world today are controlled by self-absorbed special interests, who successfully manipulate public servants into believing their selfish agendas are somehow in the public interest. As a card-carrying member of the American Communist Party told me in 1985, communists believe the PUBLIC should own the means of production. No clearer statement of the reality of modern politics in so-called democratic states was ever made. It is not citizens who control today’s governments, but lobbyists, who seduce your favorite politicians and their minions for the 364 days in the year you are NOT voting. The idea that pulling a lever in a voting booth once every two, four, or six years by one out of five people to elect a public servant is citizen control of government is preposterous. BUT, it is widely believed and promoted by those educated in government schools to conform, not think. 

 

It’s not democracy that creates prosperity, but freedom's productive commerce.

 

The false promises of democratic government today are prosperity without effort, freedom without responsibility and security without risk. America, the cradle of liberty, has become the most shining current example of lynch-mob collectives, led by dictatorial demagogues from the Roosevelts, to Nixon, to Obama. It was Republican President Nixon (my Commander-in-Chief) who unconstitutionally - without serious challenge - removed the last bit of gold backing from the dollar in 1971.

 

 

Galt's Gulch?

John Galt, the heroic figure in Ayn Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged,” figured the producers, workers and thinkers of the world could bring governments, tyrants and agencies to a halt by simply withholding their services. As America continues its destructive path of seemingly endless consumption while inhibiting production, this may soon be more realistic than you ever imagined.

Until Americans and other hard-working, independent and productive people of the world can legally say “NO!” to the funding of government, they will not be free, independent or “democratic.” In case you were educated in government schools like most of us, you may not realize that America's founding was not based on democracy, except for the House of Representatives. The Constitutional Republic founded in 1787, modified by its Bill of Rights in 1791, was a Republic, not a Democracy. This means government limited to certain listed powers granted to it by the sovereign people, who retain all rights not granted to government by the U.S. Constitution. This concept was lost long before your grandparents were born, though it is still right there, unchanged, in the Bill or Rights... especially Amendments IX (nine) and X (ten). Not one word of the Bill of Rights (first ten Amendments) has ever been changed.

Today, it is the height of arrogance, duplicity and insanity that the President and every member of Congress, plus all other federal and state officials, take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, while they implement unconstitutional programs faster than ever before. It would be funny, if it were not so ironic - and tragic.

As the unfunded liabilities of the federal government continue to bankrupt it, the Founding Fathers' vision of the American Republic has been almost completely lost. About 40% of every dollar spent by the federal government today is borrowed. America transformed itself from the world's largest creditor, to the world's largest debtor, in a few decades.

Only by returning to government with limited powers focused on protecting its citizens instead of plundering them, will the productive spirit of the American Revolution return to its rightful place in history... and posterity. Until then, the worst among us will continue to abuse the U.S. Constitution, produce more and more unconstitutional laws, ignore the rule of law and continue America's century-long march down the road to fascism, toward its cousin socialism.

In 1850, one of my favorite freedom thinkers in history - Frenchman Frederic Bastiat, published a little book called THE LAW. I have said many times, and continue to believe - that American government today is hopelessly corrupt, violent and oppressive, because it has lost the original vision of its Founders.

I hope you will read THE LAW to better understand the point at which a government - like the one begun in America more than two centuries ago - goes beyond its legitimate purpose (to protect people and property), to turn precious liberty into tyranny, as it has today. This happens once the government and a minority of its citizens discover that it is cheaper and easier to petition government for special favors (Always at the expense of others by force), instead of promoting policies that either benefit all, or are left to the private sector which produces ALL wealth.

 

“Make government what it ought to be, and it will support itself.”

-Thomas Paine