The Wolf and the Lamb
A wolf, meeting with a Lamb astray from the fold, resolved not to lay violent hands on him, but to find some plea to justify to the Lamb the Wolf’s right to eat him. He thus addressed him: “Sirrah, last year you grossly insulted me.” “Indeed,” bleated the Lamb in a mournful tone of voice, “I was not then born.” Then said the Wolf, “You feed in my pasture.” “No, good sir,” replied the Lamb, “I have not yet tasted grass.” Again said the Wolf, “You drink of my well.” “No,” exclaimed the Lamb, “I never yet drank water, for as yet my mother’s milk is both food and drink to me.”
Upon which the Wolf seized him and ate him up, saying, “Well! I won’t remain supperless, even though you refute every one of my imputations.”
The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.
Although this is an Aesop’s fable, our situation in America today is much worse. The pretext for tyranny is not justified only by the politicians in Washington: they are justified by people who are trying to find meaning in this week’s Supreme Court decision validating health care as a tax instead of its Constitutionality. We may never know the real reasons behind John Roberts’ decision but we must overlook the endless analyses of the case and focus on our future. In particular, we must focus on our Liberty. Let’s start at the beginning.
The first question, accordingly, to be considered is — What is that constitution or law of our nature, without which government would not exist, and with which its existence is necessary?
John C Calhoun. A Disquisition on Government
Our Constitution is based in part on Natural Law:
Cicero described Natural Law as True Law:
“True Law is right reason in agreement with nature (God, the Supreme Being); it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting; it summons to duty by its commands and averts from wrongdoing by its prohibitions.
…
It is a sin to try to alter this law, nor is it allowable to repeal any part of it …”
Further explaining his concept, Cicero added that Natural Law comes from God to man through man’s ability to reason,
“(Man) is the only one among so many different kinds and verities of living beings who has a share in reason and thought (given by God) …. And reason, when it is full grown and perfected, is rightly called wisdom … the first common possession of man and God is reason.”
What are our natural laws?
Mankind are endowed by God with certain unalienable rights.
“Those rights, then, which God and nature have established, and are therefore called natural rights, such as are life and liberty, need not the aid of human laws to be more effectually invested in every man than they are; neither do they receive any additional strength when declared by the municipal [or state] laws to be inviolable. On the contrary, no human legislation has power to abridge or destroy them, unless the owner [of the right] shall himself commit some act that amounts to forfeiture.” – William Blackstone
Our founding fathers built the foundation of our Liberty (a natural right under God) first with the Declaration of Independence and then the Constitution. Consider a variation of Occam’s Razor:
“The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct.“
But this method would presuppose that we should try to analyze the decision without having any input from its sources: five Supreme Court justices who have violated their oath of office and cannot justify their decision under the Constitution.
So let’s examine the function of the Supreme Court as one of three branches of government:
The Court and Constitutional Interpretation (from the Supreme Court’s website):
“EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW”-These words, written above the main entrance to the Supreme Court Building, express the ultimate responsibility of the Supreme Court of theUnited States. The Court is the highest tribunal in the Nation for all cases and controversies arising under the Constitution or the laws of the United States. As the final arbiter of the law, the Court is charged with ensuring the American people the promise of equal justice under law and, thereby, also functions as guardian and interpreter of the Constitution.
Contrast this with John Roberts’ “interpretation” of the Supreme Court:
“Members of this Court are vested with the authority to interpret the law; we possess neither the expertise nor the prerogative to make policy judgments. Those decisions are entrusted to our Nation’s elected leaders, who can be thrown out of office if the people disagree with them. It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.”
The point is simple (from KrisAnne Hall):
These Supreme Court rulings are absolutely unconstitutional. There is NO victory within in them. The Constitution and Liberty may have been dealt a nearly fatal blow this week, but Liberty is not dead. This God-given gift burns within our very souls and we must revive it. To whom much is given, much is required. WE must right this ship. WE must rebuild on a firm foundation. WE must take the steps necessary to overcome the consequences of our own negligence…even if it is to the point where we have to exert that ultimate Right of the people, to alter or to abolish a government destructive to those ends, and to institute new one. Independence is our right and our heritage!
This will take courage, this will take resolve, but we are guaranteed by history and experience that if we stand for this noble cause, we will win. Do not falter. Do not retreat. We will not wake up one day and apologize to our children for not doing everything we could humanly and superhumanly do to avoid their chains and slavery. Look these young people in the eye TODAY and Stand. Stand strong. Stand with courage and resolve. Stand together for the holy cause of Liberty for the sake of our posterity. In the immortal words of Daniel Webster, “Hold onto the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands…for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world.”
George Washington understood this principle on taxation without representation: it is a form of abject slavery.
I observe, that Government is pursuing a regular Plan at the expense of Law & justice, to overthrow our Constitutional Rights & liberties, how can I expect any redress from a Measure which hath been ineffectually tried already–For Sir what is it we are contending against? Is it against paying the duty of 3d. pr lb. on Tea because burthensome? No, it is the Right only, we have all along disputed, & to this end we have already Petitioned his Majesty in as humble, & dutiful a manner as Subjects could do; nay more, we applied to the House of Lords, & House of Commons in their different Legislative Capacities setting forth that, as Englishmen, we could not be deprived of this essential, & valuable part of our Constitution; If then (as the Fact really is) it is against the Right of Taxation we now do, & (as I before said) all along have contended, why should they suppose an exertion of this power would be less obnoxious now, than formerly? and what reasons have we to believe that, they would make a Second attempt whilst the same Sentiments filled the Breast of every American, if they did not intend to enforce it if possible? The conduct of the Boston People could not justify the rigor of their Measures, unless their had been a requisition of payment & refusal of it; nor did that measure require an Act to deprive the Government of Massachusetts Bay of their Charter; or to exempt Offenders from trial in the place, where Offences were Committed, as there was not, nor could not be, a single Instance produced to manifest the necessity of it–Are not all these things self evident proofs of a fixed & uniform Plan to Tax us? If we want further proofs, does not all the Debates in the House of Commons serve to confirm this? and hath not Genl Gage’s Conduct since his arrival (in Stopping the Address of his Council, & Publishing a Proclamation more becoming a Turkish Bashaw than an English Govr & declaring it Treason to associate in any manner by which the Commerce of Great Britain is to be affected) exhibited unexampled Testimony of the most despotick System of Tyranny that ever was practiced in a free Government. In short what further proofs are wanting to satisfy one of the design’s of the Ministry than their own Acts; which are uniform, & plainly tending to the same point–nay, if I mistake not, avowedly to fix the Right of Taxation–what hope then from Petitioning, when they tell us that now, or never, is the time to fix the matter–shall we after this whine & cry for relief, when we have already tried it in vain?, or shall we supinely sit, and see one Provence after another fall a Sacrifice to Despotism? If I was in any doubt as to the Right which the Parliament of Great Britain had to Tax us without our Consents, I should most heartily coincide with you in opinion, that to Petition, & petition only, is the proper method to apply for relief; because we should then be asking a favour, & not claiming a Right which by the Law of Nature & our Constitution we are, in my opinion, indubitably entitled to; I should even think it criminal to go further than this, under such an Idea; but none such I have, I think the Parliament of Great Britain hath no more Right to put their hands into my Pocket, without my consent, than I have to put my hands into yours, for money; and this being already urged to them in a firm, but decent manner by all the Colonies, what reason is there to expect any thing from their justice?
As to the Resolution for addressing the Throne, I own to you Sir I think the whole might as well have been expunged; I expect nothing from the measure; nor should my voice have accompanied it, if the non-Importation Scheme was intended to be Retarded by it; for I am convinced, as much as I am of my Existence, that there is no relief for us but in their distress; & I think, at least I hope, that there is publick Virtue enough left among us to deny ourselves every thing but the bare necessaries of Life to accomplish this end–this we have a Right to do, & no power upon Earth can compel us to do otherwise, till they have first reduced us to the most abject state of Slavery that ever was designed for Mankind.
This decision to tax us without any recourse is a seizure of the fruits of our labor (property). Any loss of freedom is slavery and the loss of Liberty endowed on us by our Creator. If we valued the founding principles of our country, we would never have let these vain and aspiring men possess the highest seats in government. We would understand that this Supreme Court decision is a violation of the Constitution, an affront to Liberty and a means to further enslave us. What patriot would try to justify these actions?
David DeGerolamo
