Constitutional Crisis…and Opportunity

The Biden Administration’s “Fourteenth Amendment Argument” for an apparently infinite debt ceiling is quite the monkey trap for Republicans who’re just as bad as Democrats in stomping all over constitutional rule of law for ever more power, money, and, of course, corruption.

Here’s the relevant sentence in Amendment 14:4: “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘥𝘦𝘣𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴, 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙡𝙖𝙬, 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘣𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥.”

Why add the phrase, “authorized by law?” Why not make the validity of the public debt unquestionable without that proviso?
Come to think of it, what did the words, “authorized by law” even mean to people who still had some respect for those who not only wrote extensively on nullification, beat the global superpower twice without a formal central government to nullify their own government, and, not coincidentally, wrote Amendment 10? What did it mean to the people who wanted to repudiate confederate debts and further chastise the South for its rebellion?

Remember: constitutions are the literal authority/authorization of government.  Laws written without authority are null and void, as repetitiously affirmed by people like Jefferson and Madison. (see my book…nullification still happens all the time…just in the wrong direction)  This is what the 10th Amendment is all about, right?

So, “authorized by law” in context as well as clear words on paper, means that not only are some “laws” illegal and unauthorized, but also that fraudulent debts are themselves illegitimate, illegal, null and void.

How many of us have been saying this throughout the past eleven score and sixteen years?  It was a big deal in 1776, and thereafter. Until Pres. Andrew Jackson used the threat of force against South Carolina, the states held some reign against federal abuse of power and trampling of authority..by nullification.

But Republicans, who’ve held all three legitimate branches of government many times for many years, have never nullified the unconstitutional powers, programs, agencies, actions and spending of government.  Never.  There’ve been precious few libertarians like Robert Taft, Ron Paul or Thomas Massie in the GOP…and fewer all the time. 

So, in FINALLY invoking the constitution for SOMETHING, Biden’s got the GOP over a barrel.  This is the definition of a constitutional crisis: do we start nullifying unconstitutional stuff at long last?  Or do the Republicans cooperate in nullifying the last shreds of the constitution?  It looks like the latter is happening right now.

We actually do need a “Great Reset,” you know.

The failure of the budget in 1995 (and every budget thereafter), along with the constitutional crises of 1903, 1912/13, the New Deal, LBJ’s nullifying the “gold cover” in 1968 and Nixon nullifying the Bretton Woods Agreement in ’71, unconstitutionally creating “the Two Party System” after WWII and partisan primary elections in the ’70’s, with unbridled, accelerating growth of government power, size, cost and corruption ever since means that:

1. Either we drive a stake into the constitutions, state and federal for a more honestly authoritarian rule, or establish constitutional rule of law at last.  (see my book)

2. Repudiate pricey promises like Social Security and Medicare and/or radically reduce the elderly population/ lower life expectancy, which would require…

3. Societal behavior hacking (like CBDCs and “social credit”) to protect the people who got us into this mess, and reduce the rest of us into a relatively sustainable form of self-enslavement and poverty.

4. Or we wake up and fix this ourselves for peace, prosperity, security, justice and freedom.  (see my book…please!)

How any of this works, and to whose advantage, is still, as ever, up to both voters, and the non-voters who let others make all the choices.