We do not enjoy liberty by grace of government,
but by limitations upon its powers.
-- Francis Lieber
According to Congressman Samuel Walker McCall,
in an address before the Republican Club of New York City on LincolnÕs Birthday, 1907
![[House of Cards]](cards-s.gif)
Is your children's future
a house of cards?
Remarkable Remedy
Jean Carpenter
VI Destination: Disaster
Some Fundamentals
Democracy or Republic?
Vital to responsible citizenship is the understanding of the difference between a "Democracy" and a "Republic."
The Constitution and the Pledge of Allegiance both refer to a Republic. Nowhere is Democracy mentioned. Why, then, do we speak so piously of democracy? Are the terms synonymous?
They are not. A Republic is governed by law. In a Republic the minority is protected, because legislation must conform to the supreme law of the land.
A Democracy is governed by the will of the majority. The minority is subject to that will -- which may vary from year to year. The Framers knew, and warned us, that Democracy is a suicidal form of government, because the majority always discover they can "vote themselves largesse" from the public treasury, and they never stop until the nation falls.
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Balance of Power
The balance of power in the United States of America was set up vertically as well as horizontally.
Our federal government (as also our state governments) is balanced horizontally among the three branches of government -- the legislative, the executive, and the judicial -- each having a check upon the others. According to the Constitution their powers are defined and do not overlap.
Equally important is the vertical balance among the levels of jurisdiction -- federal, state, and local. The jurisdictions are separate. They are legally defined and seldom overlap. And they should be zealously maintained.
For example, most crime, health, welfare, social legislation, education, and a host of other matters (including most of the pork) -- lie within state and local jurisdiction. The federal government was delegated no authority in these areas of concern.
In fact, direct federal government contact with the individual was to be severely limited and mostly of a serving nature, such as through the Post Office and the coining of money from the metal that we bring in -- not of a type that creates dependency.
The seriousness of crime or any other extremity should not lead to blind acceptance of un-examined solutions. According to the Constitution, the jurisdiction of the federal government over crime extends only to treason, counterfeiting, and piracies and felonies committed on the high seas.
Police power has always belonged to local governments, and was not surrendered to the federal government in the Constitution.
Except for Highway Troopers, police power does not even belong to the States. This power belongs at the county and local level. Of all law enforcement authorities, the only one elected by the people and directly responsible to them through the ballot box is the County Sheriff. (All others are appointive positions within their jurisdictions.) The Sheriff has a vital role in the system of checks and balances. His job is to protect his constituents from outlaws and criminals -- even if those outlaws wear uniforms and take their orders from bureaucrats. (See p. 75 of The Treasury.)
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The Most Important Check
The most important of all the checks and balances incorporated into our Constitution is the one absolutely essential to the continuance of this republic as a free people. It is the shield by which we were to be able to defend ourselves, our property, and our liberty from the one entity that throughout the history of the world has proved to be the most threatening to the individual: the peopleÕs own government. That greatest and last check (short of armed insurrection), the PeopleÕs check on government, is the Jury. It represents the People, the constitutional Sovereign of this nation. The jury is what Jefferson considered "the only anchor by which government can be held to its Constitution."
John Jay, our first Chief Justice, wrote in 1794 that the jury is the final determiner of law, and has the right to defy any law it finds bad and overturn or nullify it. In the words of Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, "... the jury has the power to bring a verdict in the teeth of both law and facts."
As jurors we are more powerful than the judge. In the jury room we are kings and queens. The judgeÕs instructions are in the nature of advice -- that we can heed or ignore. One lone juror is more powerful than the President, the Congress, and the Supreme Court combined. Laws passed by the Congress, signed by the President, and "okayed" by the Supreme Court cannot be enforced without the unanimous consent of twelve jurors. This is a well-founded principle, known as "jury nullification of the law."
The trial, or petit, jury is the last bastion of protection against tyranny, and the grand jury is supposed to be the front line, guarding the innocent from the devastating cost of defending against false indictment, as well as bringing the guilty to judgment.
Government, intoxicated by power, cannot be expected to restrain itself. Juries are the ultimate guardian against the necessity for armed revolt. Justice and liberty can prevail only when jurors become fully aware of their authority. (See "Essay on Trial by Jury," p. 80 in The Treasury)
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What of Our Children?
The difference between a Democracy and a Republic, balance of power, the levels of jurisdiction, to whom belongs police power, the power of the jury, the purpose of the Constitution ... are all fundamental and should be taught in school. Why are these fundamentals not taught in our schools?
About a century ago a man named Cattell made a portentous "discovery."
The consequences of Cattell's "discovery" have surely been enormous, for they include not only the stupefaction of almost the whole of American culture but even the birth and colossal growth of a lucrative industry devoted first to assuring that children won't be able to read and then to selling an endless succession of "remedies" for that inability; ...
-- English Professor Richard Mitchell, in The Graves of Academe, p. 44What was Catell's discovery? It was that words can be recognized without the letters being sounded out. He concluded that reading should be taught as if words were graphic pictures. Anyone not discovering on his own the secret of phonics was doomed to a very limited reading vocabulary. Victims of Cattell's discovery became non-readers and relaxed their vigil as "history" and "civics" changed to "social studies."
All this played right into the hands of John Dewey and others, who early in this century had fallen in love with the Soviet experiment. With the money expended to "teach Johnny to read," they became a powerful organization. Its political agenda dominates its academic agenda; and, through the Department of Education, it dictates what shall (and shall not) be taught. How did this happen?
Most schools used to be locally and adequately funded. Under the watchful and concerned eye of the parents, children were taught the three R's, as well as history, civics, and all the other subjects that the parents deemed important.
Then the government stepped in -- not with force, but with succulent bait. Having an almost infinite supply of cash from the "taxpayer" and their magic money machine -- the federal government dangled it under the noses of the States. The States grabbed the bait -- qualifying by requiring the districts to make what were, at first, "a few little changes" as they passed the money on to them. Everyone was thrilled with the windfall. They were equally thrilled that the government had at long last taken an interest in education! Something had to be done, because (as a result of Cattell's discovery) Johnny couldn't read!
Thus it was that our schools became government schools, in defiance of the Constitution; and, as parents abandoned their responsibility, control of education shifted away from parents and taxpayers to the national government.
And the results? Now, many people are unable to read. Our founding heroes have been lied about or ignored. Few people have any knowledge of the Constitution or understanding of the liberty it was intended to secure. In spite of all the money expended for all those "wonderful" programs, there is nothing but more academic failure, teenage drug use, pregnancy, violence, and suicide.
Public school is no longer even a safe place for children. (See reviews of five books in "Cradle of Unreason" p. 106 ff in The Treasury.) Our children should never have been entrusted to the government schools for teaching of the fundamentals. The fundamentals must be taught at home.
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Not Hopeless
With all that, many still cling to the familiar "government- is- supposed- to- solve- all- problems- so- vote- it- more- tax-dollars" ideology. And, having no understanding of jurisdiction, law-abiding citizens are willing to pay taxes to, and take orders from, any level of government -- resting their hope in empty promises.
Clearly, our government is out of control. The situation may look hopeless. It is not. But the remedy is up to us.
To continue: VII Remarkable Remedy: Simple Solution