jujuman13
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2006
- Messages
- 4,075
- Reaction score
- 579
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Independent
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Is U.S. Now On Slippery Slope To Tyranny? - IBD - Investors.com
Quote(When Adolf Hitler was building up the Nazi movement in the 1920s, leading up to his taking power in the 1930s, he deliberately sought to activate people who did not normally pay much attention to politics.
Such people were a valuable addition to his political base, since they were particularly susceptible to Hitler's rhetoric and had far less basis for questioning his assumptions or his conclusions.
"Useful idiots" was the term supposedly coined by V.I. Lenin to describe similarly unthinking supporters of his dictatorship in the Soviet Union.
Put differently, a democracy needs informed citizens if it is to thrive, or ultimately even survive.
In our times, American democracy is being dismantled, piece by piece, before our very eyes by the current administration in Washington, and few people seem to be concerned about it.)
The more control Government grant themselves over our lives, the less choice we have.
Quote(Just where in the Constitution of the United States does it say that a president has the authority to extract vast sums of money from a private enterprise and distribute it as he sees fit to whomever he deems worthy of compensation? Nowhere.
And yet that is precisely what is happening with a $20 billion fund to be provided by BP to compensate people harmed by their oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Many among the public and in the media may think that the issue is simply whether BP's oil spill has damaged many people, who ought to be compensated.
But our government is supposed to be "a government of laws and not of men."
If our laws and our institutions determine that BP ought to pay $20 billion — or $50 billion or $100 billion — then so be it.)
I believe that this is the Point that Joe Barton was trying to put across, albeit in some other garbled manner.
Is Government allowed to extort money from Corporations without having gone through the process of law?
Quote(But the Constitution says that private property is not to be confiscated by the government without "due process of law."
Was due process carried out in this instance? I somehow doubt it was.
Quote(Technically, it has not been confiscated by Barack Obama, but that is a distinction without a difference
With vastly expanded powers of government available at the discretion of politicians and bureaucrats, private individuals and organizations can be forced into accepting the imposition of powers that were never granted to the government by the Constitution.
If you believe that the end justifies the means, then you don't believe in constitutional government.)
Please for the purpose of this discussion leave out the fact that BP fully deserves to pay this amount and more in cleaning and compensation and recovery costs, this is readily accepted by everyone including BP.
Can we stick with the argument that the President and Government have in this instance not kept to the Constitution?
Is U.S. Now On Slippery Slope To Tyranny? - IBD - Investors.com
Quote(When Adolf Hitler was building up the Nazi movement in the 1920s, leading up to his taking power in the 1930s, he deliberately sought to activate people who did not normally pay much attention to politics.
Such people were a valuable addition to his political base, since they were particularly susceptible to Hitler's rhetoric and had far less basis for questioning his assumptions or his conclusions.
"Useful idiots" was the term supposedly coined by V.I. Lenin to describe similarly unthinking supporters of his dictatorship in the Soviet Union.
Put differently, a democracy needs informed citizens if it is to thrive, or ultimately even survive.
In our times, American democracy is being dismantled, piece by piece, before our very eyes by the current administration in Washington, and few people seem to be concerned about it.)
The more control Government grant themselves over our lives, the less choice we have.
Quote(Just where in the Constitution of the United States does it say that a president has the authority to extract vast sums of money from a private enterprise and distribute it as he sees fit to whomever he deems worthy of compensation? Nowhere.
And yet that is precisely what is happening with a $20 billion fund to be provided by BP to compensate people harmed by their oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Many among the public and in the media may think that the issue is simply whether BP's oil spill has damaged many people, who ought to be compensated.
But our government is supposed to be "a government of laws and not of men."
If our laws and our institutions determine that BP ought to pay $20 billion — or $50 billion or $100 billion — then so be it.)
I believe that this is the Point that Joe Barton was trying to put across, albeit in some other garbled manner.
Is Government allowed to extort money from Corporations without having gone through the process of law?
Quote(But the Constitution says that private property is not to be confiscated by the government without "due process of law."
Was due process carried out in this instance? I somehow doubt it was.
Quote(Technically, it has not been confiscated by Barack Obama, but that is a distinction without a difference
With vastly expanded powers of government available at the discretion of politicians and bureaucrats, private individuals and organizations can be forced into accepting the imposition of powers that were never granted to the government by the Constitution.
If you believe that the end justifies the means, then you don't believe in constitutional government.)
Please for the purpose of this discussion leave out the fact that BP fully deserves to pay this amount and more in cleaning and compensation and recovery costs, this is readily accepted by everyone including BP.
Can we stick with the argument that the President and Government have in this instance not kept to the Constitution?