Jan 25, 2016 | Constitution, Globalism, Healthcare, Immigration, Liberty Articles
By Harold Pease, Ph. D
Liberty Under Fire has examined the candidates for president as to their intention to give first consideration in problem solving to the Constitution. Many of the problems now facing this nation and the expensive, time-consuming lawsuits to bring the Barack Obama administration in line with it, are due to his not following the Constitution. Our current constitutional crisis is more serious than any other concern, including ISIS.
Our readers in Iowa and New Hampshire, who will be expressing themselves very soon in the first two presidential primaries, should know that defending the Constitution must be first priority in this Presidential election. Constitutional integrity will solve our problems very nicely. Another four years without such may leave the Constitution so defiled as to not be recoverable.
To our many Democrat friends, your party has provided much historical strength especially in upholding Amendments 1, 4, 5, and 8 of the Bill of Rights. In the 20th Century your greatest contribution was in extending equality to blacks. Today most blacks support your party in appreciation. But in four Democratic sponsored presidential debates not one of your candidates (Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O’Malley) even spoke of our present constitutional crisis. Not one of them gave any indication that it would be considered in problem solving. Indeed, more taxes and more government—even government by decree—was always their remedy.
Unfortunately, the Republican solution to problem solving is only mildly better. They too problem solve with high taxes and unlimited government. They too abandoned the concepts of a republic and federalism years ago. They too pay no attention to the list of appropriate areas of legislation in Article I, Section 8 and Amendments 9 and 10 that gives all power not identified in the Constitution to the states. Republican presidents too, with their executive orders, usurp the powers of Congress as the only lawmaking body. A President Trump’s executive orders would differ from a President Hillary Clinton’s only in that his would be “good ones rather than bad ones,” as Trump explained.
On Second Amendment issues all the Republicans candidates are better than any of the Democratic candidates. Remember, Amendments cannot constitutionally be changed by warping its original meaning or by any law made by Congress or by executive order. If it needs to be changed that can only happen by another amendment and that requires 3/4th of the states to approve as per Article V.
On abortion issues Carly Fiorina has the most constitutional response, it should be returned to the states. There exists no language in the Constitution giving the practice national authority and as such constitutionally falls under the 10th Amendment. Ted Cruz, however, has the most actual experience in court with respect to preserving constitutional integrity on the subject. All others say that they are pro-life but would use national power to enforce that view.
With respect to the management of our currency, constitutionally given only to Congress with no authority for them to hand it off to the banking elite who most benefit by its management, most republican candidates are critical but in favor of the Federal Reserve. Only Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio demand that the books be opened to Congress, Cruz and Rubio cosponsoring Paul’s legislation to do just this.
There exists no constitutional language whatever giving the federal government any say in health issues. As such it is a state issue as per Amendment 10. All Republican presidential candidates say that they oppose Obamacare but what they would do about it as president differs. Least likely to do anything about it is Jeb Bush. Most likely to work to have it totally repealed is Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. Trump and Rubio would repeal and replace. Replace means a Republican version of the same thing, which would be just as unconstitutional as that of Obama’s healthcare.
Candidates most likely to reverse Obama’s unconstitutional executive amnesty order are Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Candidates least likely to do so are Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Chris Christie. Only Cruz and Trump have the correct constitutional interpretation of the 14th Amendment dealing with immigration.
On the Trans- Pacific Partnership Treaty most Republican Presidential candidates are in favor with Marco Rubio referring to it as being “a pillar of his presidency.”
Trump calls it as a “disaster” and “pathetic.” Rand Paul opposes it because it was done in secret and was unavailable to the people. Only Ted Cruz talks about opposition to it on constitutional grounds.
With respect to 4th Amendment issues of privacy and NSA surveillance on Americans, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz each sponsored legislation in opposition to it or limiting of its practice. Ben Carson and Mike Huckabee think spying on our own citizens without a warrant is unconstitutional. Others support or at least do not voice opposition to the practice.
In these instances, and many more, the presidential candidate presently defending the Constitution, and most likely to use the Constitution in problem solving as president, is clearly Ted Cruz, with Rand Paul a close second. Least likely include Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, John Kasich and Marco Rubio.
Nov 10, 2015 | Constitution, Healthcare, Liberty Articles
By Harold Pease, Ph. D
On October 26, 2015, the Pacific Legal Foundation filed a new challenge with the Supreme Court contending that ObamaCare violates the Constitution that requires all tax-raising bills to originate in the House of Representatives. They argue that it was raised by the Senate who took an unrelated House bill to aid veterans, gutted it, and replaced it with their own ObamaCare language; a charge that has not been denied.
At issue is Article I, Section 7 of the U. S. Constitution, known as the Origination Clause, that reads: “all bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.” This means that any law, which extracts money from the American people, can only come from the House. The problem is The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, originated in the U.S. Senate not in the House as constitutionally required and is now one of the largest tax bills in U.S. History.
So why does this matter, a tax is a tax? For thousands of years governments taxed their citizens with no limits. Rulers lived lavishly off the wealth extracted from their poor subjects with little or no mercy toward them—lavish physical structures and frivolous wars of conquest were too often the norm. The Founders wisely took this power from the rich and gave it to the poor themselves by requiring that the poor, then the majority, had to consent to any taxation over them. The power to tax is the only constitutional power exclusively given to the masses. The House of Representatives was the only branch of government designed to actually represent them as it is based upon population. The Senate was to represent the states, the people only indirectly.
As far as I know the United States is the first, possibly the only, country in world history that puts its tax base with the masses who pay the taxes. It is a priceless freedom. If we are over-taxed in the United States we have chosen to be and one body alone is responsible—the House of Representatives. No tax can constitutionally originate with the President or the Supreme Court, (even if Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. says that it is okay), not even the Senate, although it can modify as on other bills once originated by the House. The House is also in charge of spending. We must not let this freedom dwindle or allow the line between the two legislative branches to be blurred into oblivion.
In the Supreme Court’s decision of June 2012, it took great pains to establish that Obamacare is not a law passed under the Commerce Clause; this is a tax they ruled. Whether a fine, as the Administration argued throughout the case, or a tax as Roberts insisted, it is an extraction of money from the masses and therefore a tax and therefore must originate from the House, not the Senate. The philosophical switch created by Roberts made the constitutional error far more glaring. By letting origin slide the House looses its clear distinction on the origin of taxes and the people their right of first approval of taxation for generations yet unborn and probably forever.
What is worse it smacks of a sloppy cover-up by then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Now that the Supreme Court made healthcare constitutional by deeming it a tax, it mandated a House of Representative origin rather than the Senate. A House version HR 3200 was available but Reid did not like it favoring his own HR 3962, The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Choices Act. Prior to the Supreme Courts tax ruling the tax was called a fine, not a tax, so he reasoned that it did not make any difference which legislative body originated the fine. The ruling necessitated resurrecting a bill that had passed the House first but had not been acted upon in the Senate, the Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act of 2009 HR 3590, deleting its contents and pasting in the contents of the Senate’s bill HR 3962.
The Home Ownership Tax Act was a tax providing a first time home buyer’s credit to members of the Armed Services, never mind that it had nothing to do with healthcare and now, after being deleted leaving only the empty shell, had nothing to do with the Armed Services or home buying either. The only thing that Reid kept was the original date, September 17, 2009, which now deceptively confirmed that it preceded Senate action. Accomplices to Reid were the original authors of the deleted bill: Congressman Charlie Rangel of NY, and Senator Clare McCaskill of MO. “This is the kind of morphing that reeks of illegitimacy and fraudulency,” declared The Washington Times, April 8, 2013. And it does. The level of corruption in the Democratic Party to get this thing through is almost incomprehensible.
What is worse, if Reid had indeed simply pasted in his own bill into the dead Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act, as believed and not denied, this tax bill HR 3962, the one that became Obamacare, has never actually been before the House of Representatives, the only body actually authorized to originate a tax. Obamacare may be the only revenue-raising bill in American history originated, processed, and implemented by the Senate and President alone.
Nothing could be more unconstitutional!! If left unchallenged Obamacare severely damages Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution. Hopefully the Supreme Court will protect the Constitution as first priority rather than a piece of legislation fraudulently framed and blatantly unconstitutional in numerous parts. Unfortunately the Supreme Court moves very slowly and this challenge is not likely to be resolved until 2017.
Oct 19, 2015 | Constitution, Healthcare, Liberty Articles
By Harold Pease, Ph. D
The fact that my congressman, Kevin McCarthy, could not secure 218 Republican House votes to replace Speaker John A. Boehner, after virtually being nominated by him, did not surprise me—he earned it. He is an extremely likeable fellow and certainly a leader but he has two flaws that came to hurt him. McCarthy is first for himself, an opportunist (as his inordinately fast rise to power indicates), and second, he is for the Republican Party at all costs. Normally this is how most politicians of both political parties look at things and it has worked well for them and him, until now.
Unfortunately the Constitution is not of first consideration in problem solving and legislation, his path is strewn with compromises that weaken or damage it. In vote after vote, as with Boehner, there exist no fight in his belly to defend it as first priority, even if what they propose cannot survive the Senate or a Presidential veto. Even if programs that are not easily constitutionally defended like, Obamacare, executive amnesty, or more recently, Planned Parenthood, are left without funding. He is too easily persuaded with “we do not have the votes,” giving an automatic win without a serious fight to those who have little or no respect for the Constitution.
There are two problems with “no constitutional fight in the belly” members of Congress, first the significant weakening of the Constitution from decade to decade in its ability to protect us from ever-bigger government until the Constitution becomes irrelevant. My heavens!! The President, who has no Constitutional law making power, through executive order, makes about half of the rules by which this nation is governed, while the Legislative Branch sits on its butt whining, “We cannot push this because the President will veto it.” My point!! We have compromised freedom away to the point where soon we will have nothing left to give up.
Second, as the country, as represented by the increase of Tea Party House members elected every two years beginning in 2010, is catching on to our loss of liberty and begging the Boehner’s and McCarthy’s to stand with them, they are not. Thus the divide in the Republican Party and, whomever replaces Boehner as Speaker will inherit the same contempt if he refuses to represent, as first priority, the Constitution in future lawmaking and issue resolvement.
Ironically both received warnings of the new political awakening and things could have been much different for Boehner and McCarthy had they listened. Both attended the first Bakersfield Tea Party rally in early 2009 where between three and five thousand angry voters gathered at the Liberty Bell to protest the policies of George W. Bush and his successor Barack Obama, which appeared to be too similar and both in opposition to limited government, the Constitution and the free market. Instead of viewing the proceedings with their constituents, they separated themselves to a third story window room in a government building next to Liberty Bell. I watched them from below as I joined other prominent community spokespersons in defense of the Constitution, limited government and the free market. It was a mistake.
In his August Congressional break that followed, Congressman McCarthy addressed several hundred people at California State University, Bakersfield kindly answering every question submitted from his, mostly Tea Party constituents. When the meeting time ended he graciously stayed on the floor until everyone had an opportunity to ask his or her question. He said all the right things with respect to his total opposition to Obamacare. He would go back to Washington and kill it. Long after the meeting had ended I was able to express my fear to him that he opposed a Democratic National Health Care Plan but did not oppose a Republican National Health Care Plan. “Since the word heath, or anything like it, is not in Article I, Section 8,” I asked, “and authority not thereafter added by way of an amendment to the Constitution,” he should return to Washington D.C. and oppose either party initiating, without authority, any federal policies on health. He was noticeably disturbed and said, “He would do what is necessary.” I knew than that adherence to the Constitution was not his first concern.
Now Congressman McCarthy, you know why you could not get the needed 218 votes to become the next Speaker of the House of Representatives. You did not listen to your constituency or the wave of Americans wanting to get back to America’s basics. But I still have hope in you. If you can get beyond yourself, get beyond your party (that gave us the Environmental Protection Agency and No Child Left Behind and so many other programs not constitutionally based) and get competent constitutional advisers, some of us would like to be led by you. We need your incredible leadership skills and your friendly countenance on the side of liberty protected by the Constitution. Show us that you can be trusted to adhere to the Constitution, limited government and the free market. The movement for these things is not going away.
If you listen this time you could, in the future, become the most influential Speaker of the House in our history and one of our greatest patriots. Show some constitutional fight in your belly. This time listen to your people, honor your oath to protect and defend the Constitution, and help take back our country and Constitution before it is too late.
Aug 25, 2015 | Constitution, Healthcare, Liberty Articles, Take Action
By Harold Pease, Ph. D
When the Supreme Court no longer rules by the Constitution what must states do to force them to do so? It is called nullification and previously has been used to do just that in the 1800’s and more subtly in the last two decades.
Recent Supreme Court rulings with respect to the Affordable Care Act and marriage clearly demonstrate that the Supreme Court no longer honors Article I (requiring that only the Congress make all the law, their rulings can not have the effect of making new law), Article 1, Section 8 (the list identifying federal functions), and the 10th Amendment (reserving to the states all other powers not listed or added to the list by a specific amendment). Neither health nor marriage, or anything remotely like unto them, can be found in the Constitution as federal powers and thus, as per Amendment 10, remain state functions only.
Two years ago 28 states sued the federal government for constitutional over-reach by forcing citizens to buy something that they did not wish to buy called a mandate. The John Robert’s Court, rather than rule this requirement constitutional or unconstitutional, redefined the mandate a tax, (an argument consistently denied by proponents of the law) and thus the Supreme Court effectively made law, a function constitutionally left only to Congress in Article I. In a show of defiance to the Affordable Care Act, this decision prompted 34 states (all but 16) to refuse to establish state exchanges when given a choice by the Court; essentially “If you want it you create it.” They did!! The recent Supreme Court ruling then made resisting states provide the Medicare subsidy given the few states that had set up exchanges. No constitutional authority was cited. Again judicial legislation!! The reason cited by Justice John Roberts was essentially, “Congress created it so we will save it.”
At this point the only power left to the states is the 10th Amendment to the Constitution which reads, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” The 28 states initially suing the Federal Government for violating this part of the Constitution and the 34 states resisting the judicial edict to conform must use the Doctrine of Nullification to save the amendment and the Constitution. The issue is that serious! They have no other real choice for a court that no longer uses the Constitution as its sole base for ruling. Federalism, a key part of our republic, is dead otherwise.
The constitutional argument is the same for the Supreme Courts recent ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states. Again, the Court disregarded Article I, Section 8, and Amendments 1 and 10 and utterly discarded the philosophy of federalism and the will of the people expressed in every election concerning the matter. Everything in the Constitution prior to 1868 was discarded, even betrayed, in favor of four words in Amendment 14 adopted 78 years later and intended only to extend the Bill of Rights to former slaves. The phases “due process” and “equal protection,” not defined, became fertile soil for federal government’s natural tendency to grow many times beyond original intent—each expansion becoming the rational for even more expansion. Today the Justices have used it to apply to an issue that would be entirely foreign to the framers of the 14 Amendment and to the Founding Fathers a lifetime before.
So again, the states have but one recourse to save the Constitution, federalism and the popular will of the people—nullification. But they must stand together and with one voice say, “not in our state.” States accepting same sex marriage can continue to do so constitutionally but the federal government, without an amendment to the Constitution transferring marriage authority from the states to the federal government, may not do so constitutionally no matter what a combination of five rogues justices say.
Founding Fathers Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton were especially expressive with respect to the use of nullification but what is clear in their writings is that states do have the authority to “Just Say No!” under the 10th Amendment. Such was used in 1798 in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolves, in 1832 in the Nullification Crisis in South Carolina, and more successfully with the northern states, especially Wisconsin, in 1854 over the highly unconstitutional Fugitive Slave Act.
More recently the 10th Amendment and resulting Doctrine of Nullification is beginning to be used by some states to prevent the federal government’s overreach of constitutional powers. Federal medical marijuana laws are openly defied by many states notably: Alaska, Oregon, Washington, and Colorado. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia currently have laws legalizing marijuana in some form. States’ refusal to implement the Real ID Act, passed years ago, is a form of nullification. When enough states say no, the feds back away. In 2013, nine State Sheriffs’ Associations put the Executive and Legislative Branches on notice that they support the traditional interpretation of the 2nd Amendment of the Bill of Rights and 336 elected county sheriffs inferred that they would protect their people on this issue—even against federal agents coming into their counties. Barack Obama and the Justice Department backed away.
States you must use the Constitution to save the Constitution. In unison you must say, “We refuse to honor these clearly unconstitutional rulings in our state.”
Jun 23, 2014 | Constitution, Healthcare, Liberty Articles
The Constitution could still remove Obamacare
By Harold Pease, Ph. D
By now there exist few defenders of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, nicknamed Obamacare, which has shown itself to be neither affordable or capable of protecting the patient—especially from government managed plans. The “list of horribles” was mind boggling from day one, October 1, 2013, beginning with glitches for the first three months, then implementation extensions until December 15, then March 31, 2014, to keep afloat what clearly most Americans did not want. President Barack Obama extended exemptions to unions and to congressional staffs to limit opposition.
The oft-repeated promises that one could keep his doctor and insurance plan came to be seen as Obama lies as 5.5 million, previously satisfied Americans, received notices of insurance cancellations because the private plans they had did not fit the new mandates. An avalanche of horror stories followed. One business manager of a distinguished medical group complained of the problem of just having a phone conversation with a government healthcare representative, “If you get through at all it’s 30 to 60 minutes, and then you have to get to the right person because rules change daily and too many times you aren’t given good information.”
Many of the government plans had no maximum out-of-pocket costs on out-of-network providers resulting in surprising infinite costs. Even if you thought that all assisting your surgery were paid under your plan one or more might not be and you might get some unanticipated shocking bills. If, in some cases, costs seemed to be held down it was because providers had agreed to lower fees in exchange for a higher volume of patients, which meant less service and physician time for you.
By now most reasonable people are looking for a way out. The answer remains as always the Constitution and there exist several options. Of course, the people could wise up and throw out of office every one who voted for it. Since only Democrats did so, this would change the composition of the U.S. Senate. Those remaining could rescind Obamacare. Obama would veto it but a veto override would be easy. This is not likely as the party is not willing yet to call Obamacare a mistake, naively believing that somehow it will get better.
The states too could end the federal government’s takeover of a sixth of the economy by implementing the doctrine of nullification used in our history three times before. Actually, it was successfully used recently in the Sheriffs’ Rebellion of 2013 when 336 elected county sheriffs signed pledges that they would not enforce any unconstitutional gun control laws or executive orders. Also nine states refused to comply. The federal government backed down. Nullifying Obamacare has several sympathetic states including: Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.
The Supreme Court also will get chances to rule the defective law unconstitutional. Yes, in a 5 to 4 majority it ruled Obamacare a tax, which, as such, is now very problematic and guarantees a return of the issue to them. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act did not originate in the House of Representatives as required in Article I, Section 7, Clause 1, “All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.’’ It originated in the Senate. After the Supreme Court ruling, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reed gutted the language in a previously House bill, but with an earlier date, and deceptively replaced it with the language of the Senate bill to look like it had originated in the House, but it did not.
The Court ruling on Hobby Lobby, argued in mid March, is due any time. The question directly before the justices is whether for-profit corporations must provide insurance coverage for contraception, mandated by Obamacare. Hobby Lobby, a chain of crafts stores, challenged the requirement, saying it conflicts with the company’s religious principles. If the contraception challenge succeeds, it strikes down only a small part of Obamacare but several little challenges over time could weaken the law to oblivion. A strict interpretation of the Constitution would give an easy victory for Hobby Lobby as there exists no role for the federal government in Article I, Section 8 for contraception, insurance, or health legislation, nor in any amendment processed thereafter. Moreover, tax revenues were designed to be spent only for constitutional purposes—not for any purposes.
A potential constitutional challenge is found in the list of limitations on the Congress with respect to making law found in Article I, Section 9, “No Capitation, or other direct Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.” Only the federal income tax (Amendment 16) is exempted from the proportional enumeration requirement. If the federal mandate is a tax, and not a fee, as stated by the Supreme Court, it is unconstitutional because Congress did not apportion that tax among the states according to population.
Yes, National Healthcare has shown itself to be an albatross around our necks but the Constitution can still protect us from our own ignorance if we will elect only those who will be guided by it and that would exclude many presently holding office.
Mar 24, 2014 | Healthcare, Liberty Articles, Taxes
By Dr. Harold Pease
Vladimir Putin’s “forced” annexation of the Crimea invites memories of Adolph Hitler’s annexation of Austria. Both absorbed their weaker neighbor with over 96% of their vote.
With unemployment and interest rates at 25% in 1938, Austria was in deep depression and “people were going from house to house begging for food.” Kitty Werthmann, whose story I summarize, remembers her mother cooking a big kettle of soup and baking bread to feed her staving neighbors, about “30 daily.” The Communist Party and the National Socialist Party, two conflicting varieties of socialism, were fighting each other. The Germans, under Adolf Hitler, promised an environment of no crime, full employment, a high standard of living, and happiness. Austrians “became desperate and petitioned the government to let them decide what kind of government they wanted.” The Austrian government could not deliver these conditions, so 98% of the population, believing the lies, “voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler.” When this happened, the people danced for joy in the streets for three days.
Almost immediately law and order returned and “everyone was employed” in government created jobs, but what followed under fascist socialism was pure hell. In return for believing the empty promises, education was nationalized and freedom of religion in public education ended. Crosses in the predominantly Catholic schools were “replaced with Hitler’s picture hanging next to a Nazi flag” and prayer, replaced with singing praises of Germany. “Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance.” If their children were not present, parents were threatened first with “a stiff letter of warning,” then with a $300.00 fine, and then with jail. The day consisted of two hours of political indoctrination followed by sports and fun. The children loved it but “lived without religion.” Having no moral compass, illegitimacy flourished. “Unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler.”
Men and women had equal rights under Hitler. They found out what that meant when workloads were equal, making no distinction on the basis of sex. When the war came in 1939, the draft was compulsory for both sexes and women served on the front lines as well. Many became “emotional cripples because they just were not equipped to handle the horrors of combat.” Kitty Werthmann continues, “When the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government immediately established child care centers. You could take your children ages 4 weeks to school age and leave them there around-the-clock, 7 days a week, under the total care of the government. The state raised a whole generation of children. There were no motherly women to take care of the children, just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had.”
Under Hitler’s socialism everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing. Healthcare was socialized as well, free to everyone. “Doctors were salaried by the government. The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the doctors for everything. When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were full. If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other countries.” Of course, to pay for this benefit for the less productive, “the tax rate had to be raised to 80% of our income.”
When the war started, a food bank was established. “All food was rationed and could only be purchased using food stamps. At the same time, a full-employment law was passed which meant if you didn’t work, you didn’t get a ration card, and if you didn’t have a card, you starved to death.” Socialism now controlled life and death by controlling who ate.
Small businesses were intentionally over-regulated out of business leaving the government owned large businesses the only ones existing. “We had consumer protection. We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished.” Moreover, “farmers were told what to produce, and how to produce it.” To prevent the population from revolting, guns had long since been registered, then outlawed, and freedom of speech ended as well. “Anyone who said something against the government was taken away.”
Hopefully, the Crimean’s who recently “voted” for Russian annexation will fair much better than the Austrians did in 1938, as Hitler was a tyrant. Unfortunately some say Putin is as well.
