Kind of a mash-up diary....
- Some comments on teacherken's reccomended diary this morning, and some of his past diaries.
- Some words about Thomas Jefferson.
- A link about the 112th Congress reading parts of the Constitution.
- A TalkShoe podcast this Sunday evening, 5:30 PM EST
First, a comment about teacherken's diary this morning: http://www.dailykos.com/...
teacherken and I met and talked back at Yearly Kos in Austin. He was already aware I was advocating for the Article V Convention, and we discussed it. Since then, I occasionally drop a comment into his diaries, and he takes it that my comments about the reason and logic of a federal convention are somehow trolling.
If you read the whole diary, like most if not all of his diaries, they shout out for the need of a convention, a non-binding deliberative assembly of We The People, in order to propose amendments corporate forces would go bug-eyed over.
He finished this morning's diary with this:
...that we still must attempt to find common ground with the vast majority of the American people, those willing to still hope, to believe that something better is possible for them and for all Americans....
This is what a convention on the authority of the Constitution is, the way Americans are meant to build consensus and find that common ground.
Consider this diary of his about the Military/Industrial Complex: http://www.dailykos.com/...
In 1961, Dwight Eisenhower famously identified the military-industrial complex, warning that the growing fusion between corporations and the armed forces posed a threat to democracy. Judged 50 years later, Ike’s frightening prophecy actually understates the scope of our modern system—and the dangers of the perpetual march to war it has put us on.
He might want to consider that President Eisenhower also said to a graduating class in Defiance, Ohio in the 1960s:
"Through their state legislatures and without regard to the federal government, the people can demand a convention to propose amendments that can and will reverse any trends they see as fatal to true representative government."
Then there was this diary: http://www.dailykos.com/...
If a just society is defined by the relationship between the well off and the very poor, we have big trouble. US Census data for 2010 show the widest rich-poor income gap on record. In 1968, the top 20 percent of Americans had about 7 times the income of those living below the poverty line. By 2008, that disparity had grown to about 13. By 2010, it had grown even further, to more than 14. The poverty level in 2010 was put at $21,954 for a family of four. In 2010, the percentage of Americans living below half of the poverty line (or about $11,000) had grown from 5.7 percent in 2008 to 6.3 percent. That the rich get richer while the poor get poorer can seem a timeless cliché, yet something is steadily corroding America. The mythic land of equality has the largest income disparity of any Western nation. How can that be?
Yet, he doesn't seem to get how a convention can propose amendments stopping members of Congress (and the President) from legislating and signing into law things which allow 1% of the nation to get away with all they have since the Reagan Revolution of deregulation.
Then there was this one: http://www.dailykos.com/...
THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but "to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER," and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.
The entire diary points to the Article V Convention, and I made a comment saying so, and he said it had nothing to do with his diary.
Look, I understand we've all processed the information we have individually, and I can understand how someone of his generation may have been conditioned to fear a convention, but with all that's occurred in American history over the past two or more decades, how can anyone dismiss the idea of a convention? I don't know, maybe it will dawn on him and others sometime soon.
Thomas Jefferson
I'm just now reading the book American Sphinx by Joseph Ellis (1998), and it's fascinating, and I'll likely compose a diary about it when I'm finished, but for now--this: In the lead-up to the Revolutionary War, Jefferson wrote something titled A Summary View of the Rights of British America, and in it he’s the first to stop blaming the British parliament, and aim sights right at King George III. This was when the leading colonists where still trying to get the British parliament to start being fair with the colonists (much in the same way Democrats and Republicans today are trying to get Congress to be fair with We The People). Here's a quote from Jefferson’s tract:
"Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of the day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, and pursued unalterably thro' every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate, systematical plan of reducing us to slavery...."
These words for our time, read: Acts of tyranny by one session of Congress after the next may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of the day; but a series of oppressions, begun during the Reagan Revolution of deregulation, and pursued unaltered through each and every session of Congress since, plainly prove a deliberate, systematical plan of reducing We The People to corporate slavery.
Aside: Did you know Thomas Jefferson sang to himself almost incessantly? From American Sphinx: "He sang whenever he was walking or riding, sometimes when he was reading. His former slave Issac reported that one could "hardly see him anywhere outdoors, but that he was a-singin’...." (Page 30). I found that and other things so far, fascinating--really a great book, encourage anyone to find a copy and read it. Just happened to be going through a used-book store two weeks ago--99 cents.
About the 112th Congress reading the Constitution? Check this diary I put up recently: http://www.dailykos.com/...
Lastly, I’ve found out about this website TalkShoe where you can create your own Internet broadcast/podcast. I had found out about it a couple years ago, but it didn’t dawn on me then. Recently Glenn Neal (an Attorney at Law and former prosecuting attorney, who taught Criminal Law, Business Law and Constitutional Law to undergraduates at West Virginia University-Parkersburg) found one of my blog posts somewhere, and he e-mailed, and we got to talking. He did a podcast for someone else on TalkShoe, for his new book, and I suggested we create a show ourselves. He wants me to host, with him co-host. It’s called Article V Alive, and our first broadcast is this Sunday evening, 8:30 PM EST: http://www.talkshoe.com/...
Our first guest is Bill Walker, a constitutional scholar and judicial activist, and we’re going to examine the legal aspects of the Article V Convention. I encourage you to tune in.
