An American Libertarian argument for founding a new Country
By Will Otey
There sometimes comes a point in a relationship when the bonds that have sustained and held that relationship together have become so strained by willful force, so damaged by betrayal, so corroded by acts of brazen dishonesty and malfeasance that the bonds of that relationship have become (for all intents and purposes) like shackles.
Many of us who have been devoted to individual Freedom, Liberty, the Constitution, and to our Country, now find ourselves in the unenviable position where laws and Rights have eroded and deteriorated to the point where they no longer insure the protection of the individual, restrain the State from unjustly imposing it’s will upon citizens and guard against the tyranny of the masses.
It is at this point when reasonable and freedom loving persons must face the undeniable fact that all the wrongs, all the damage and all the misdeeds cannot be reversed or undone; that bonds which have grown out of loyalty and love of Nation are no longer viable because of the continuous treachery of those in power and by an electorate that either cannot or will not stop the degradation. Many of us have reached that point and recognize that only the complete dissolution of those bonds will free us from the tyranny of our misguided Countrymen and allow us to return to a place of sanity where individual Freedom and Liberty are held up as unassailable Rights and guarded with uncompromising allegiance.
The United States government no longer even remotely operates within the bounds of the U.S Constitution which was supposed to be the Birth Right of all American citizens. The acts of circumvention, defiance and out right rejection of clearly written Constitutional law by Federal politicians and judges are almost too numerous to record with any reasonable economy. These acts of treason on the part of government officials are so blatant in their defiance of the innumerate Rights of American citizens and so injurious to clearly delineated Constitutional legality that they call into question the actual legitimacy of the current standing government itself.
For the sake of brevity we have listed bellow some of the more egregious criminal acts perpetrated by top Federal officials compiled here so that the reader can verify and so that any suspicion of false or grandiose claims can be fully investigated.
1) THE ALIEN AND SEDITION ACT OF 1798: John Adams signs into law The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 ; The Adams administration sought to suppress dissent at home by passing the Alien and Sedition Acts. Passed in 1798 the acts flew in the face of the Bill of Rights, flagrantly ignoring the first amendment.
2) UN-CONSTITUTIONAL SUSPENSION OF HABEAS CORPUS IN 1861: Abraham Lincoln suspends habeas corpus in defiance of (U.S. Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 1). (U.S. Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 9). In the words of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase who served during the Lincoln administration, habeas corpus is "the most important human right in the Constitution ... the best and only sufficient defense of personal freedom,"
3) SEPARATE BUT EQUAL RULING, 1886: The Supreme Courts deplorable and un-Constitutional Plessy versus Ferguson ruling in a 7-1 decision allowing legal segregation of American citizens. This decision stood for nearly 60 years. The only dissenting Justice of that Court said this; “The present decision...will not only stimulate aggressions, more or less brutal and irritating, upon the admitted rights of colored citizens, but will encourage the belief that it is possible, by means of state enactments, to defeat the beneficent purposes which the people of the United States had in view when they adopted the recent [the 13th and 14th] amendments of the Constitution.”—Justice Harlin
4) THE SEDITION ACT OF 1918: Woodrow Wilson signs into law The Sedition Act of 1918 in clear defiance of the First Amendment. The passing of this act forbade Americans to use "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the United States government, flag, or armed forces during war. The act also allowed the Postmaster General to deny mail delivery to dissenters of government policy during wartime.
5) CIRCUMVENTION THE U.S CONSTITUTION, 1937: To achieve the social welfare state Franklin Roosevelt threatens to stack the Supreme Court. The Court was striking down many legislative acts including social security because they are un-Constitutional. After the threats and unceasing pressure, one Justice retires and another capitulates and changes his position. This action, along with many others by Roosevelt, helped to firmly establish and perpetuate the gargantuan, illegal expansion of the Federal government, the enormous shift of power and money into the hands of politicians and bureaucrats as well as special interest lobbyists in Washington D.C. See especially Acts (48 Stat.11s17)-yr.1933 through (53 Stat.1362)-yr.1939
Many of us who have been devoted to individual Freedom, Liberty, the Constitution, and to our Country, now find ourselves in the unenviable position where laws and Rights have eroded and deteriorated to the point where they no longer insure the protection of the individual, restrain the State from unjustly imposing it’s will upon citizens and guard against the tyranny of the masses.
It is at this point when reasonable and freedom loving persons must face the undeniable fact that all the wrongs, all the damage and all the misdeeds cannot be reversed or undone; that bonds which have grown out of loyalty and love of Nation are no longer viable because of the continuous treachery of those in power and by an electorate that either cannot or will not stop the degradation. Many of us have reached that point and recognize that only the complete dissolution of those bonds will free us from the tyranny of our misguided Countrymen and allow us to return to a place of sanity where individual Freedom and Liberty are held up as unassailable Rights and guarded with uncompromising allegiance.
The United States government no longer even remotely operates within the bounds of the U.S Constitution which was supposed to be the Birth Right of all American citizens. The acts of circumvention, defiance and out right rejection of clearly written Constitutional law by Federal politicians and judges are almost too numerous to record with any reasonable economy. These acts of treason on the part of government officials are so blatant in their defiance of the innumerate Rights of American citizens and so injurious to clearly delineated Constitutional legality that they call into question the actual legitimacy of the current standing government itself.
For the sake of brevity we have listed bellow some of the more egregious criminal acts perpetrated by top Federal officials compiled here so that the reader can verify and so that any suspicion of false or grandiose claims can be fully investigated.
1) THE ALIEN AND SEDITION ACT OF 1798: John Adams signs into law The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 ; The Adams administration sought to suppress dissent at home by passing the Alien and Sedition Acts. Passed in 1798 the acts flew in the face of the Bill of Rights, flagrantly ignoring the first amendment.
2) UN-CONSTITUTIONAL SUSPENSION OF HABEAS CORPUS IN 1861: Abraham Lincoln suspends habeas corpus in defiance of (U.S. Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 1). (U.S. Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 9). In the words of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase who served during the Lincoln administration, habeas corpus is "the most important human right in the Constitution ... the best and only sufficient defense of personal freedom,"
3) SEPARATE BUT EQUAL RULING, 1886: The Supreme Courts deplorable and un-Constitutional Plessy versus Ferguson ruling in a 7-1 decision allowing legal segregation of American citizens. This decision stood for nearly 60 years. The only dissenting Justice of that Court said this; “The present decision...will not only stimulate aggressions, more or less brutal and irritating, upon the admitted rights of colored citizens, but will encourage the belief that it is possible, by means of state enactments, to defeat the beneficent purposes which the people of the United States had in view when they adopted the recent [the 13th and 14th] amendments of the Constitution.”—Justice Harlin
4) THE SEDITION ACT OF 1918: Woodrow Wilson signs into law The Sedition Act of 1918 in clear defiance of the First Amendment. The passing of this act forbade Americans to use "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the United States government, flag, or armed forces during war. The act also allowed the Postmaster General to deny mail delivery to dissenters of government policy during wartime.
5) CIRCUMVENTION THE U.S CONSTITUTION, 1937: To achieve the social welfare state Franklin Roosevelt threatens to stack the Supreme Court. The Court was striking down many legislative acts including social security because they are un-Constitutional. After the threats and unceasing pressure, one Justice retires and another capitulates and changes his position. This action, along with many others by Roosevelt, helped to firmly establish and perpetuate the gargantuan, illegal expansion of the Federal government, the enormous shift of power and money into the hands of politicians and bureaucrats as well as special interest lobbyists in Washington D.C. See especially Acts (48 Stat.11s17)-yr.1933 through (53 Stat.1362)-yr.1939
6) UN-CONSTITUTIONAL SUSPENSION OF HABEAS CORPUS, 1942: Franklin Roosevelt suspends habeas corpus and sends over 100,000 legal American citizens to internment camps with no due process. No vote in the U.S congress was taken. Forced to carry on their lives under harsh conditions and unfamiliar surroundings, the exiles took up residence in the internment camps. Leaving behind their homes and businesses, they were scattered all over the interior West in isolated desert areas. Most were demoralized and humiliated. Many were financially ruined. It was as if their Rights never existed.
7) CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION ABRIDGES FREEDOM OF SPEECH 1949-1987: The “Fairness Doctrine” brought about by the U.S government to force radio and television station owners into presenting opposing views on controversial subjects or editorial positions. A ‘chilling effects” on free speech was the decades long result. The Supreme Court upheld this legislation and has never reversed itself. The FCC rescinded the law in 1987.
8) VIETNAM WAR STARTS WITH FABRICATIONS, 1964: Lyndon Johnson starts a long, costly and bloody war in Viet Nam with a lie based on the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. 58,000 Americans die.
9) CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION ASSAULTS FIRST AMENDMENT, 2002: McCain-Feingold, The so-called campaign finance reform legislation passed by congress, signed into law by George Bush and later ruled Constitutional by the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision. This legislation is a blatant abridgment of the First Amendment. It grants government the power to restrict the most important speech of all-- political speech. The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights states clearly “Congress shall make no law--abridging the freedom of speech” Now, apparently, Congress shall make “some laws abridging the freedom of speech.”
10) SUPREME COURT ALLOWS UN-CONSTITUTIONAL SEIZURE OF PRIVATE PROPERTY, 2005: Eminent Domain ruling by the Supreme Court (5-4) in Kelo v. City of New London now allows government to seize private property for commercial monetary gain. This ruling is a radical reconfiguration of U.S citizens property Rights and a tragic perversion of the Fifth Amendment.
11) ILLEGAL U.S GOVERNMENT ACTIONS BRING ABOUT ECONOMIC CHAOS, 2008: The American government creates an economic crisis and then un-Constitutionally seizes property and uses tax payer money to try and undo what they are responsible for bringing about.
Many of the legal and Constitutional precedents that have been established as a result of transgressions listed above and are now deeply entrenched within the legal system and the social fabric of society (see #5 above, the social welfare state, as an example). The possibility that these precedents might be rolled back would require a leap of faith that many of us can no longer rationally undertake. Patterns of unethical behavior in all branches of the American government have become deeply rooted as the result of a succession of unlawful misdeeds and Constitutional annexations that have grown worse and more frequent over time. Furthermore, the motivations for what has taken place are as various and peculiar as the people who have committed the violations. But what has become abundantly clear is that many of us can no longer tolerate the endless abridgments of our Rights, the vast, unceasing concentration of money and power into the hands of politicians at the central government level and what that portends for our future.
Thomas Jefferson wrote in The Declaration of Independence, “When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
What we submit here is that the possibility to “throw off such Government” in the United States of America is no longer a realistic possibility for reasons outlined within this paper. We therefore propose that the only possible course of action for those of us who wish to secure and perpetuate our Rights and Liberty’s is to form a new and completely separate and sovereign Nation.
People flocked to North America for centuries because they sought to escape tyranny and repression of all sorts and also to find freedom. Unfortunately, history has a way of repeating itself and the same sorts of abuses and deplorable behavior that caused people to flee their original homelands have now become manifest in a land that once held such great promise for the independent and free-minded persons of the World.
What we propose is not just the formation of a new Nation for disenfranchised citizens of the United States, but the formation of a new Country where freedom loving people from around the world can make a new beginning for them selves while escaping the despotism that invariably creeps into being from the shadowy depths of the very worst aspects of human nature; namely the tendency and course need of some to dominate others and to fall into the grip of corruption.
It may well be inherently true (and history seems to bear this out) that man-made institutions have always tended toward ruin. It is because of this unfortunate inclination that we also submit that there is an imperative necessity to provide “new Guards” for the future of a self governing people who wish to remain unencumbered by the rank failings of corruptible persons who all too often rise in various societies.
To this end, we offer here a short list of what we believe to be strong and decisive measures that might be considered for a new Constitution (to perhaps be modeled after the best aspects of the U.S Constitution) and to be implemented for the purpose preventing another sad and tragic degeneration of government.
Term limits: on all federal office holders. The framers of the U.S Constitution debated this issue rigorously and with a great deal of soul searching but did not install this safeguard within that document. Career politicians have become an enormous liability wherever they have come to power.
The specter of being put on trial: for any judge at any level within the judiciary including the Supreme Court if that Jurist has ruled in ways that are clearly in conflict with written law. One possible sentence if convicted would be expulsion of that judge from the home Country for life.
Constitutional precedent: this area of law has been extremely problematic in the U.S and has been an impediment to Courts that need to consider overturning past rulings that are clearly un-Constitutional. One example of this is the second ruling by the U.S Supreme allowing un-Constitutional welfare legislation during the term of Franklin Roosevelt. This second and illegal ruling occurred after Roosevelt threatened to stack the Supreme Court.
Strict and clear language: in the new Constitution that will absolutely state the limits of what a President, Congress and judges can and cannot do. These office holders should more easily be brought to trial if they overstep in any serious and deliberate way the boundaries that have been precisely stated and written into law. Conviction for overstepping those boundaries in any way could be punished by expulsion from the home Country for life.
Committees of oversight: to be elected on a regular basis by the people from the general population to oversee each branch of government. These committees would have no political power other than to scrutinize the three branches and report to the people on a regular basis. All government records and actions would be available by law to these committees. All oversight committee activities would be made public by Constitutional requirement on a regular basis.
The number of Supreme Court justices: to be set in the Constitution and could not be changed by the president or congress. The number would be odd so that no tie ruling could clog the docket.
No Executive Order: many abuses of this presidential power have occurred (see Roosevelt #6 above as one example) in the United States. If such a power is deemed necessary by the Framers of a new Constitution, clear language should spell out the limits of that power. Congress should be compelled by law to immediately review the actions of the president so that they can, if necessary, rescind the Executive Order if it does not meet clearly stated limits of that authority.
Note: these and other guards should be seriously debated by representatives of a new government long before the writing of a Constitution.
In order to build a new Nation, land would have to be purchased and treaties would have to be signed to insure the sovereignty of the new Country. Many will say that this task is impossible or that there is no more land on which to build such a Nation. But new Countries have been formed continuously throughout history and there is land within the borders of existing Nations that goes relatively untouched. Many governments are deeply in debt and the proposition of obtaining new land is far from settled. The question of where and how to obtain that land is one that we believe should be taken up as our organizations grows. We have created this organization with the goal of reaching as many like-minded individuals as possible from around the world and to call upon those individuals to join us and to help us in this cause. We are, at this stage, simply seeking to take the first step in a long journey by bringing people together who share a common hope for the future. Many stages of development would have to be accomplished in order for success to be fully realized. It has been said that America was the last great hope for humanity. But many of us no longer consider this to be true. We believe that the world needs a new beacon. Please contact us and help us to achieve the vision of building a new Nation that is founded upon and dedicated to individual Freedom, Liberty and the unassailable Rights of its citizens. Written by William Otey E-mail him at willotey@cox.net
Please visit The New Nation Foundation at newnationfoundation.org
