Heads Up

A Weekly edition of News from around our country

February 14, 1997 #22

by: Doug Fiedor fiedor19@eos.net

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Previous Editions at: http://mmc.cns.net/headsup.html

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PROPERTY RIGHTS

The third of our most basic unalienable

rights, property, is under discussion again in Congress.

(see Unalienable Rights in "Heads Up" #11) This time it

is an attempt to protect "some" of our property against

the heavy hand of government regulators.

This "protection" comes in the form of

H.R. 95, a bill "To ensure that Federal agencies

establish the appropriate procedures for assessing

whether or not Federal regulations might result in the

taking of private property, and to direct the Secretary

of Agriculture to report to the Congress with respect to

such takings under programs of the Department of

Agriculture."

The bill states that: "The Congress finds

that there are certain Federal laws, regulations, and

actions, which adversely affect the value of private

property." . . . And that, "The purpose of this Act is

to reduce the risk of undue or inadvertent burdens on

the public resulting from certain lawful Federal

Government actions."

In this bill, "the term 'private property'

includes all property protected by the fifth amendment

to the Constitution, including real and personal property

and tangible and intangible property; the term 'taking of

private property' means an activity wherein private

property is taken such that compensation to the owner of

that property is required by the fifth amendment to the

Constitution; and the term 'agency' means a Federal

agency in the executive branch which engages in activity

with the potential for taking private property, including

any department, government corporation, government-

controlled corporation, or other establishment in the

executive branch of the United States Government."

The Fifth Amendment is rather clear in

restricting the federal government: "No person

shall . . . be deprived of life, liberty, or property,

without due process of law; nor shall private property

be taken for public use without just compensation."

To decrease the value of private property

through regulation is, of course, to deprive the owner

of the free use of the property. To "take" a citizens

property through forfeiture is little more than stealing

it under color of law.

The author of the bill, Rep. Gerald

Solomon (R-NY), obviously intended this bill to apply

primarily to the problems experienced by farmers. And,

herein lies the shame of Congress. Because, when the

heavy hand of government attempts to regulate -- or, in

the case of forfeiture, to steal by force -- private

property, the bureaucratic hand should not be slapped but

cut off up at the elbow! Today, all property of all

citizens needs protection from the central government.

And severe penalties are needed to back these protections.

But this bill does not even "slap."

There are no penalties included for an agent of

government violating a citizen's property rights. Not

even a hint of a penalty is included. No enforcement

whatsoever!

Regardless of its title, the bill is little

more than a joke. It is, in effect, a lame attempt to

pacify rural constituents by a representative who has

been in Congress way too long. Proof of that comes down

in Section 5 of the bill:

"No regulation issued by an agency after

the date of enactment of this section shall become

effective until the issuing agency is certified by the

Attorney General to be in compliance with Executive Order

12630 or similar procedures to assess the potential for

the taking of private property in the course of Federal

regulatory activity, with the goal of minimizing such

takings where possible. The Attorney General shall make

a certification under this paragraph no later than 90

days after the date of the issuance of the regulation."

What a joke! Even if this only applied

to farmers, what's some guy with 40 acres out in Idaho

supposed to do when he gets hassled by any of one-hundred

federal agencies? Yeah, go make an appointment with

Janet Reno for clarification! Sure.

One specific ideal professed by all of

the Founding Fathers is that private property is

"private." That is, it does not belong to the

government. Therefore, the function of government then

becomes simple: to protect the rights of the citizen

over property. Government was instituted to protect

property rights, not to violate those rights. There is

no authority in the Constitution allowing government to

tell you what to do with your money, car, farm, home, or

anything else. The federal government should not even

speak on the subject.

The Founders were very adamant about

this. In fact, they even went to war to enforce their

unalienable right to property.

Someday . . . maybe . . . we will pay

close enough attention and select legislators who

understand. Yeah. Maybe someday.

SOCIALIST LEADERSHIP

The Democratic leadership in the House

gave Vermont Rep. Bernie Sanders the top minority

position on the Government Reform Subcommittee. But,

Sanders is not a Democrat.

Bernie Sanders aligns himself with the

leadership of the Democratic Party in the House because

they all think alike. But Sanders is not a member of the

Democratic Party.

Yet, who better to have a top spot on

the Government Reform Subcommittee than Sanders -- the

only avowed socialist in the House. You see, they list

him as an Independent. But he is not. He is a real

socialist. Oh sure, many others in the House "act" like

socialists. Sanders, however, really is one.

Government Reform by a socialist. . . .

TERM LIMITS

It is very interesting to watch members

of the House debate term limits. They talk it up a lot,

but every one of them knows that less than 25% in

Congress really wants it to pass.

The Republicans leadership is for term

limits. Or, so it seems publicly, anyway. The Democrats

with safe seats are, of course, speaking against term

limits. Wonder why?

What we've got here, folks, is a bunch

of so called professional politicians protecting their

incomes. Most of them have never had a job outside of

government. Nor do they ever intend to have one.

It doesn't matter that they cannot handle

their present position very well (look at the laws they

pass, and the state of the country). They like their

position, and most intend to stay. Term limits stands

about as much chance of passing as Slick Willie does of

getting his face up on Mt. Rushmore.

Like the man said last year, "Cut their

salaries, cut their time, and send them home." Yeah,

then cut their perks and pensions to zero and watch how

many stick around! But, that may not work, either. Then

we'll still need term limits to get rid of the

millionaires -- there are over 50 in the House alone.

This is depressing.

Probably the only thing we can do is to

actively work against anyone who has been in Congress for

over ten years. Otherwise, they are where they want to

be: Controlling and collecting. And they have us right

where they want us to be: Obeying and paying.

ASIDES

Last week we mentioned a little of the

"Third Way" type of government -- the blend between

communism and capitalism we find ourselves living under

in these United States. Actually, we just kind of

sneaked the old "Third Way" term into a piece about Slick

Willie, with only a brief explanation, to see if anyone

would notice. Many readers did.

Judging by mail received, there seems

to be quite a lot of interest in that subject. So,

starting this week, Bill Kasper will lend his wit and

wisdom to these pages with a series on the "Third Way"

style of government and how it can ultimately be expected

to affect our lives.

Bill's writing is always a delight to

read. It might stand out here like Shakespeare at a

Bevis and Butthead festival. But, most of us will find

it both interesting and insightful. The material related

will also be very important to all of us.

On another matter: Last week "Heads

Up" received (indirectly) its first piece of hate mail.

A well educated person of some notoriety (who shall

remain unnamed herein) told others that, although they

agree with 99% of what they read here, "Heads Up"

nevertheless spreads "poison" and "propaganda." That's

an interesting opinion. However, no examples of either

"poison" or "propaganda" were cited to back it up --

which makes the charges rather inconvenient to answer.

So, we looked on the brighter side of what

we read: We think it quite an honor to please any single

reader 99% of the time. Oh sure, we wonder about the

"poison" part a little, too. Our eyes, however, much

preferred to rest on the 99% approval rating stated in

the letter.

And, the "propaganda" part? Well, our

dictionary defines propaganda as: "1. The systematic

propagation of a given doctrine. 2. Ideas, information,

or other material disseminated to win people over to a

given doctrine." So OK. What's the problem with that?

CLASSIST THEOLOGY

An introduction to "Third Way" thought basics

by Bill Kasper

The fundamental differences between

Communism and Capitalism are not limited to their

economic structures. While it is true that the economic

structures of Communism, as taught in schools all across

America, are different from the capitalist system, there

is an extremely dark, fundamentally necessary component

of Communism without which the economic frosting on its

power cake could not exist. This component is not taught

in school. It is too disturbing and too abstract. It is

a philosophy. Or rather, an unstated, dark

sub-philosophy only hinted at by Communism's explicit

statement of the necessity of a "temporary" government to

rule until the proletariat actually run everything in the

worker's paradise.

This sub-philosophy is not, as Marxists

and Socialists would have us believe, the philosophy of

"fair" and equal distribution of wealth, embodied in the

phrase "From each according to his ability, to each

according to his need." It is a far more subtle, and far

more insidious belief.

It is the unquestioned assumption that

somewhere, someone is deciding how much to take from

those with ability, and in what forms and amounts it will

be given to those in "need." There is the further

unstated belief that without this omnipotent forced

guidance, the "people" would act to their own detriment,

eventually causing the greatest evil conceivable: Chaos

and Anarchy.

This hidden socio-theology assumes the

existence of two distinct sub-species of Homo-sapien:

Working Man (Homo-ergos), and Administrative Man

(Homo-bureaucratis).

According to the religious tenets of this

belief, Homo-ergos has the burden of production squarely

on his shoulders, and is mercifully free of the burden of

actual ownership and direction of the results of his

labors, both personally and societally. His rights

extend only as far as members of Homo-bureaucratis say

they do (sometimes, Homo-ergos even gets to vote for

which Homo-bureaucratis he wants to rule him).

Homo-bureaucratis is the natural master

of Homo-ergos. He goes about directing the macro and

micro-steps of his Homo-ergos charges, all with the

benevolent subconscious knowledge that, were he to cease

ruling, Homo-ergos would degenerate into his natural,

brutish, self-destructive true self and society would

degenerate into C & A (Chaos and Anarchy). To this end,

there exist two sets of laws: one for the Working Man,

and one of the Administrative man.

The dichotomy between the rights and

abilities of Homo-ergos and Homo-bureaucratis are so

obvious to both sub-species that they never even need

to be stated. In fact, to question the right of

Administrative man to feed off Working Man's effort is

considered crass and obnoxious in pleasant

Homo-bureaucratis company, and will be tagged as

"anti-democratic" and even "anti-government."

This socio-theology is, unfortunately, not limited to

communism or socialism. It is, in varying forms, the

fundamental underpinning of almost all governments

throughout history. From Plato's fictional Republic to

Hitler's nightmare Germany, it is there. There is only

one notable exception: The American Republic, as defined

by the Declaration of Independence and codified in the

Constitution of the United States of America.

America under the Constitution was the

first nation on earth to declare that all men (not just

those of royal lineage, or those owning land) have

certain unalienable rights, and that the two sub-species

of humanity were not only a fiction, but a fiction to be

banned by the institution of a governmental system

through which every "peasant" could be president, and

every member of the landed gentry could find himself in

prison for abuse of the rights of the "commoners." There

was to be one law for all, regardless of position in

life. This effectively banished the false religion of

elitism and classism from the workings of America for

nearly 150 years.

(to be continued)

DRUG CHECKS

Congress is readying to check all of

it's employees for illegal drug use and abuse. And,

needless to say, there is quite a lot of complaining

going on in the halls on Capitol Hill. However, we note

that all employees of the legislative branch were given

plenty of time to "get clean" before the tests are to

begin. Therefore, anyone caught now is really stupid.

But there is a lot more to this than meets

the eye. Most of these "Hill Rats" are liberals. Yet,

they are the very same people responsible for adding the

most oppressive sections to the drug laws used to better

control us citizens out in the states. So, that presents

a quandary for us on this end. Normally, "Heads Up"

would say that drug testing is little more than a

tyrannical abuse of power -- a search of your body

without permission of a warrant. But, in this case we're

forced to sit back, snicker and say, "succumb to the

tests, Hill Rats; turnaround is fair play!" Let's see

how they like it.

Rep, Solomon pushes the issue even

further with H.R. 90, a bill "To require random drug

testing within the executive branch of the Government."

Then, he submitted H.R. 92, a bill "To require random

drug testing of Federal judicial branch officers and

employees."

On top of that, there is talk on the floor

of the House that Members of Congress should be tested,

too. Fat chance! But it's an interesting thought.

GORE MUST BE BORED

Anyone else notice that Ozone-head

never turns up for work? The vice-president's only duty

is to preside over the Senate (and wait for the president

to die). He's paid big bucks for that, but never does it

(the Senate part, that is). Instead, like a typical

socialist buttinsky, he tries to control things not

included in his job description.

That no one wants him there, acting as

President of the Senate, is self evident. The guy's a

dunce, and probably couldn't handle the job. The

administration does not want him acting as President of

the Senate, either. He would be out in public then, and

people might notice that there is a dolt next in line for

the presidency.

So they gave him a job "reinventing

government," in which he obviously did his best. Like a

good little bureaucrat, he produced a large report

printed on expensive paper. No results, of course. But

a real fancy report! You see folks, the truth is in the

numbers. And, a quick look at the federal budget shows

that the administration continued to grow by eight to ten

percent a year.

That completed, they gave him a commission

on airline traffic security. There's not much he could

hurt there, since there are between four and five-million

successful commercial aircraft flights in this country

annually -- all but a handful without a hitch. However,

being a bureaucrat, he managed to come up with something,

nevertheless: Terrorism.

Now the administration calls for 600+ FBI

agents working commercial airline security, supplemented

with 600+ "other" associated personnel. They call for

bomb (and drug?) sniffing dogs, new methods of baggage

searchers, and even whole body searches of all passengers

via new electronic scanning equipment. And, of course,

"profiles" on half of the American population will now

need to be entered into a government computer to better

sniff out all those would-be terrorists.

It's all working, too. There is not a

terrorist in sight. Yup, even before it starts, it's all

working.

Don't you feel safer already?