CIVIL DISCOURSE
CRITICAL THINKING
GOOD CITIZENSHIP
The Declaration of Independence was drafted by Thomas Jefferson. As a student of history and law, Jefferson drew on 3000 years of Western tradition when declaring our independence from a tyrannical king. His knowledge of Judeo-Christian values, ancient Greek democracy, the Roman Republic, and English Magna Carta, etc., provided the foundation for the Declaration of Independence, which has inspired oppressed people around the world to strive for freedom.
Thomas Jefferson was the principal dreamer of the Founding Fathers. A pragmatic and practical visionary, Jefferson was one of the most creative men who ever lived. He penned the thirty-five most revolutionary words in the history of the English language: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Some say the United States were founded on racism. But the framers of the Constitution understood the contradiction of slavery, so the Preamble of the Constitution states “We the People…in order to create a more perfect Union…” The framers knew the Union would not be perfect so they set forth principles that have inspired the world. These same moral principles led to the right of women and former slaves to vote as full citizens.
The principles codified in our founding documents are timeless, their relevance is not diminished by technology, corrupt leadership or globalization. They’re based on self-evident truths, beginning with the recognition that unalienable rights emanate from a Creator, not men or governments instituted by men.
Governments are instituted to secure those rights and abolished when they fail to secure those rights. Self-evident means the argument is over, the truth is self-evident. But America’s bipartisan tyrants still seek to deny the truth, and this is the root of America’s problems today. Freedom isn’t free, and the price of freedom is eternal vigilance, so stand up for your rights!
Alexander Hamilton was the first U.S. Treasury Secretary. He favored a strong central government and private central bank that could issue currency and lend it to governments at interest. Thomas Jefferson opposed the Federalists and wanted a less centralized government that delegated power to states and individuals.
Jefferson also questioned whether a private central bank was constitutional and said banks are “more dangerous than standing armies”. Jefferson’s contempt for banks was founded in his knowledge of the tyrannical monetary system enslaving Europe. Today’s extreme consolidation of power in the Federal Reserve, Federal government and Wall Street, is Alexander Hamilton’s aristocratic vision for America in full bloom.
The Constitution does not prescribe voting as a means to check government power, it prescribes three separate but equal branches of government as a check on power. This includes the Judicial Branch. But the Justice Department abdicates its duty to prosecute high crimes and misdemeanors committed by elected officials, meanwhile politicians and media act as if voting is the only means to check government power.
The two party system is used to protect criminal politicians that subvert Constitutional checks and balances. It’s a citizen’s duty to vote, but until we restore the rule of law, government will not fulfill its obligation to secure our unalienable rights.
The founders set up a government based on equality before the law, not equality of income or outcome. Equality before the law means everybody plays by the same rules. This is necessary for a political process and market economy based on merit, not privilege.
In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson listed the multitude of crimes committed by King George III against the colonies. This list of grievances were the moral and legal grounds for the American Revolution. U.S. citizens must do the same thing today, we must present our list of grievances to local attorneys, public prosecutors, Sheriff’s, State Attorneys General, and U.S. Attorneys. Feel free to use evidence compiled in this website as the basis for your list of grievances.
The purpose of our founding documents was to create a nation of laws, not a nation of men and women whose tyrannical aspirations deprive citizens of their unalienable rights. Thomas Paine said, if there were to be a king, it would have to be the rule of law, and if a day of celebration were to be set aside, then homage should be paid to the law, a crown set upon it to remind those gathered that “the law is king.” Restoring the rule of law is job one if we are going to return to limited government.
The Jefferson Hour Forum was a website allegedly dedicated to promoting Jeffersonian principles. It was a spin off of The Thomas Jefferson Hour radio show hosted by David Swenson and Jefferson scholar, Clay Jenkinson. I wrote posts at the JH Forum under the username “epluribusunum”. The Latin phrase E Pluribus Unum means “out of many one”, and symbolizes the coming together of many different peoples to form the United States of America.
This website (Citizens United) was started as a means to counter propaganda coming from the entire media spectrum. Left, right and center media each contain fragments of truth but never connect the dots, this is a propaganda technique called compartmentalization. Unfortunately, this technique is practiced on the The Thomas Jefferson Hour radio show, so I used the JH Forum to expose the propaganda and connect the dots.
June 11, 2012, I was banned from the Jefferson Hour Forum for presenting information contained in this website, and exposing The Jefferson Hour’s use of public airwaves to spread misinformation. Imagine that, a site allegedly dedicated to promoting Jeffersonian principles, banned free speech. The JH Forum no longer exists, and I suspect the site’s hypocritical tone was a contributing factor.
The pictures of Thomas Jefferson at the beginning of this post and the second paragraph were copied from The Thomas Jefferson Hour website. I thank them for their contribution.
Using propaganda on the American people used to be illegal, but thanks to President Obama, the newest version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes an amendment that would legalize the use of propaganda on the American public.
This is the definition of propaganda from Websters New Students Dictionary: “the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring a cause…”. In this case, the cause being injured is the right of citizens to give their informed consent to government policies.
By law, broadcasters must use public airwaves to serve the public interest and their licenses can be revoked for spreading misinformation. Citizens must pressure broadcasters and the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to use public airwaves in a way that serves the public interest.
When Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, many colonists thought taking on the British Empire was a futile effort that could only end in disaster. Today, many U.S. citizens look at the tyrannical state of our nation and feel there’s nothing we can do to change things. But this kind of fatalistic thinking only empowers the tyrants and leads to horrific outcomes like Nazi Germany.
Securing freedom and defeating tyranny requires commitment. For example, U.S. troops put everything on the line in defense of our liberty. We send our military all around the world to fight for freedom, so the least we can do is stand up for liberty here at home. Doing anything less makes a mockery of the sacrifice made by our troops.
Thomas Jefferson understood the degree of commitment necessary to defeat tyranny, so he ended the Declaration of Independence with these words:
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
For more info click on the pdf file Knowledge is Power.
Congrats ~ Found your blog on Google while searching for a related topic, your site came up, it looks good, keep them coming !
You were banned from the Jefferson Hour Forum for poor manners, your argumentative nature and your unwillingness to consider the viewpoints of others. I, for one, will miss your posts.
David is the moderator of the JH Forum. I approved the posting of his comment because it’s consistent with my belief in free speech. David made the decision to ban me from the JH Forum and yet he says, “I, for one, will miss your posts.” This seems a bit disingenuous.
Is it bad manners to point out how our public airwaves are used to misinform and divide citizens? I don’t think so, if fact, I consider it my duty as a citizen to refute and discredit media sources that threaten our Constitutionally guaranteed rights. Power to the People!
David has already started deleting some of my posts at the JH Forum, but I encourage readers to go to http://jeffersonhour.com/TJHphpbb and check out some of the lively discourse between myself and other participants. For info on browsing my posts at the JH Forum, go to my post “President Thomas Jefferson” in this website.
I will miss your posts. You had a unique viewpoint that led to spirited exchanges on the Thomas Jefferson Hour Forum. You just (at times) have very poor manners.
I deleted my final warning post to you and your very mean spirited reply as I thought they served no purpose or fairness knowing your posts would not be continued. I will delete no others. I also invite others to read your posts and judge for themselves if the complaints received were warranted. Perhaps another of your readers will care to join the discussion.
As to this nonsense about The Jefferson Hour and “public airwaves are used to misinform and divide citizens” – Good grief! Your initial issue was based on a 5 minute opening segment where Jefferson speaks about contemporary events. The event discussed was a 2 billion dollar wall street loss that had been in the news for days. You were angry because we didn’t reference a C Span clip from 2009 that had nothing to do with the segment’s comments on current events. In your mind it did, and you publicly called me a liar and a member of the facist 1% and now a criminal. That post is and will remain on the Jefferson Hour forever.
I bid you farewell Mark, and best of luck. If you chose to continue this argument, you win. I’ve got work to do.
If you felt banning me was justified, why delete your final warning and my reply? If my reply was “mean spirited” as you say, why not let the posts stand and speak for themselves? Maybe it’s because your final warning included a suggestion that I create other topics, but then you banned me without giving me a chance to do so. Regarding manners, many brutal dictators have hidden behind a facade of “good manners”.
And when I checked the site yesterday, two other posts were deleted under the topic “David Barton and The Jefferson Lies”. One was a response to Clay’s review on The Jefferson Lies, the other was a response to Jeremy Weiland’s statement that propaganda is “only legal when the government does it.” So once again, you’re caught in a lie.
My “intitial issue” was laid out in my very first post under the topic “Jenkinson is Co-opting Jefferson”, not the topic “Show 974, Lying by Omission” as you suggest. More misinformation from David….Oops!
The “issue” you refer to was my response to the June 2nd radio show (#974) about David Barton’s book “The Jefferson Lies”. You and Clay spent most of that show and all of the next show explaining how Mr. Barton takes facts out of context and “lies by omission”. My point was that you lie by omission when bringing up the subject Too Big To Fail (TBTF) banks, without mentioning the Congressional Budget Office report stating TBTF will cost taxpayers “8.6 TRILLION”. Instead, you bring up J.P.Morgan’s recent 2 billion dollar loss that will not be paid by taxpayers. You misinform listeners by taking facts out of context.
Readers can view the above referenced post in the forum “This Weeks Show”. It’s the first post under the topic “Show 974, Lying by Omission”. This is the website: http://jeffersonhour.com/TJHphpbb
And you say the the c-span clip referencing the 8.6 TRILLION was from 2009, but every clip includes the date and it was from August 2011. More lies from David. And this is the guy who hosts the Jefferson Hour radio show and moderates the Forum. Here’s the c-span clip where Sen. Brown cites the CBO report and 8.6 TRILLION to prop up banks:
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/appearance/600374515
Regarding angry posts, it was you who were posting angry comments like “this forum lives and dies by my own hand” and making arbitrary threats to exercise your dictatorial power. I would point out blatant contradictions in the arguments of other forum members and this made you angry. These were the last lines of my “mean spirited” post:
“You and Clay have no problem using Jefferson’s “detestations of the clergy” to make your arguments. But when a forum member’s weak argument withers in the light of Jefferson’s self-evident truths, the inky black gloom of the cuddlefish comes to the rescue.”
P.S. The cuddlefish reference was from a Jefferson quote used by Clay. Jefferson openly detested some members of the clergy and described them as “cuddlefish who spread their inky black gloom through the very medium in which they move” and “promote their own narrow interests.” David holds Jefferson up as model of civil discourse so I thought it couldn’t be uncivil to apply the cuddlefish analogy to his use of public airwaves. But when I point out that David lies by omission to promote his own narrow interests, I get banned. Like Thomas Jefferson, I wouldn’t let the threats of a petty dictator dissuade me from using free speech to denounce tyranny.
Last but not least, this is not about something as petty as winning an argument. This is about using our public airwaves as the law requires, i.e., to serve the public interest, not the narrow self interests of the lying, criminal, fascist 1%, who spread their inky black gloom through the very medium in which they move. Stand up for your rights!
It certainly will matter to my children, grandchildren, etc., who will be subject to the oppression of tyrants if we don’t fulfill our duty as citizens.