Washington’s Self-Anointed Deities
A few weeks ago, California Congressman Pete Stark made a revealing comment at a town hall meeting. One of his constituents inquired about using the Constitution’s commerce clause to justify health care legislation that — for the first time in American history — requires citizens to purchase a product. When asked by that constituent what the federal government can’t do, Stark replied: “The federal government, yes, can do most anything in this country.”
Really?
In late August, Kentucky Congressman John Yarmuth had a similarly rare moment of truthfulness when asked the same question about the limits of the commerce clause. He answered:
It really doesn’t prohibit the government from doing virtually anything — the federal government. So I don’t know the answer to your question, because I am not sure there is anything under current interpretation of the commerce clause that the government couldn’t do.
With comments like these, it seems that just as many in Congress who don’t read the bills also haven’t read the Constitution.
According to America’s founding documents, the power of public officials is limited. Stark and Yarmuth represent the worst of our representatives — those who disregard the Constitution as the supreme law to elevate themselves onto a pedestal of infinite power. They aren’t public servants — they’re gods. Although this attitude is nothing new, it’s shocking to see that we now live in an environment where politicians feel comfortable saying it out loud.
When a reporter asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a question similar to those posed to Stark and Yarmuth, she refused to even answer it. Instead she acted as if the question — and the reporter — were beneath her. She replied with: “Are you serious? Are you serious?” Yes, we’re serious.
But Pelosi thinks she is above accountability. After all, she’s the “most powerful woman in American history.” She’s so much better than American citizens that we don’t even deserve to know what’s in her legislation before it’s passed.
Congress’ deity syndrome didn’t happen overnight, and the media has certainly played a part in bolstering Washington’s narcissism. Newsweek editor Evan Thomas even said Obama is “sort of God.” But many American citizens have also contributed to the creation of the Washington god complex, by asking government for too much.
When this country was founded, citizens largely looked to God, their families, or themselves for help or comfort. Now, many Americans have stopped looking towards the traditional resources, and instead look more and more to government. Thereby, in a mutually dysfunctional relationship, government becomes their god.
When they are without money, they cry out to the government to take care of them. If there is a problem in areas like the public school system or health care, they look to the government for the answer. They expect the government to fix all areas of life that pose some discomfort. No matter what ails them, government is the cure.
When citizens endlessly extend their hands to the government to bestow blessings and riches upon them, a government god complex is inevitable. If citizens continually look to our representatives for salvation, representatives start believing they are our saviors.
Sorry to be pedantic, but don’t you mean “deities”?
Surely you mean ‘Deities’, not (sic) ‘Dieties’.
A big, bloated, Federal bureaucracy to take care of all of our needs and redistribute all wealth so that everyone gets a fair share of the pie? Isn’t that the same thing as Socialism? That is NOT what the Founding Fathers had in mind for this nation, and people like Obama, Pelosi, and Reid damn well know it. They are so driven by their far-left liberal agenda, that they really believe they can use the Constitution to justify all of their madness.
Well, think again. Obamacare and its mandate will probably be declared unconstitutional. If the Supreme Court decides that the Federal Government can actually force you to buy a product and if the States have absolutely no say in the matter, then Federalism as we know it is indeed dead. And if Federalism is dead, then so is our nation, because then the Constitution becomes a meaningless scrap of paper. And if that happens, I really fear for the future of this nation.
Well said sir.
The headline contains a spelling error. The correct spelling is “deities.”
Aside from the spelling error, Ms. Durand is right on point. The question is whether we can turn around a ship whose passengers now number over 50% of the voting public and probably many more non-voters. Their very existence is based on what they get from the government. And Stark, Pelosi and the other Dems and some GOPers know this and love it.
We also need to redefine the “general welfare” clause of the Constitution. It has been abused over the years and has given life to SS, welfare, food stamps, unemployment, SSI, Medicare/Medicaid and other entitlements.
At some point those dependent upon the government will not be paid for their obeisance because there is no more money then what? When the takers take more than the producers make then what happens? When the ignorant and dependent who vote dem are more than what we can sustain what happens to America? Do we divide America? Is there secession?
~~in response to blotto’s excellent comment:
–”When the ignorant and dependent who vote dem are more than what we can sustain what happens to America? Do we divide America? Is there secession?”
Dare we hope? .. it’s becoming increasingly obvious that a fresh start.. from the git’go … is the only viable alternative…
No, what will happen then is that the government will own everything, and they will pay workers a pittance, and everybody will live the same miserly lives, except of course, the dear leaders.
I know what I’m talking about, I lived in a socialist country that was perpetually on its was towards building the just society of communism.
The Leftisit in control are systematically destroying our country–this article encourages us to fight back. And yet three of the four comments are about a misspelled word. Symbolic of why we are in this mess.
listingstarboard: I also list far to the right; I applaud your insightful comment:
“The Leftists in control are systematically destroying our country – this article encourages us to fight back. And yet three of the four comments are about a misspelled word. Symbolic of why we are in this mess.”
God love’em, for the most part, the posts we read here are from honest, articulate, patriotic people; their opinions are vitally important! I never fail to be impressed by the passion of our Right of Center Patriots. If, in their impatience to express their hopes and fears, they are guilty of a typo.. big deal! However, you are correct in stating that, in Texas Jargon, ‘We must guard against picking the fly-specks out of the pepper’.
The solution to these “Deities” is to vote them out and replace them with people that respect the Constitution. Yarmuth’s KY-3 seat was thought to be safe but a recent poll indicated the race with his challenger was a dead heat. Yarmuth votes with Pelosi 99% of the time. If he loses there is a good chance that Pelosi will no longer be Speaker. Think how foolish she will look after being ousted, considering that that she carried that ridiculous giant hammer and giggled like a school girl when the health care bill was passed. She knew it was unpopular then and was thumbing her nose at us. After all they’re Deities and we’re nobody.
The real problem lies in the fact that the very worst offenders, Pelosi, Rangle et. al. live in districts that will re-elect them regardless. (Remember Marion Barry?)
And regardless of how small the minority party they are part of, they will be waiting in the wings to become leadership in the Democrat Party and enforce their god complex once again when elevated to leadership status.
So, while Republicans will purge their party of the worst offenders, the Dems will entrench their worst offenders.
Not a Good Situation.
The left cares not a whit for the Constitution. That document is an impediment to accomplishing their big government agenda. That is why they appoint “progressive” judges to the federal bench, so that they can circumvent that document. It is subversion by the very people who took an oath to “protect and defend” the Constitution.
Our biggest challenge in turning around big government will be that which is presented by those activist federal judges. The confirmation of justices Sotomayer and Kagen to SCOTUS is going cause us great grief in regards to Constitutional issues and our rights, at some point in time.
Ms. Durand,
Don’t forget the 70 + million people who’d pulled the lever for a Junior underperforming, undeserved, unfetted, unqualified Senator to be CiC. I believe greater concern should be directed more so to the 20 + % of the population than the 635 aristocrats in the swamp.
A majority of the 20 + %’ers are the very same people who wish Government tucks them away in their bureaucratic arms and provide everything the motivated, educated masses have stolen from them in the name of ‘fairness’ and ‘equality’.
I think that the only solution to this problem is to amend the Constitution; something like:
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are preserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
I’m sure this would solve everything.
Geez Oh Wilikers, That’s already in the constitution. Say did you did you steal that or something.
Good point.
You caught me – it was rampant plagiarism. I’d get away with this if that darned Madison wasn’t so well known …..
Perhaps that phrase merely needs to be printed in bright red as a heading on each page of a Constitution that is passed out to each member of Congress immediately after he or she is elected. Or perhaps an iridescent sticky label placed on its first page and all of those following.
I suspect even a special branding iron, applied to each congressperson’s forehead upon election, would be an insufficient reminder. As we found with the conservatives elected in ’94, power corrupts. Don’t even ask about absolute power.
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution”
There’s the problem right there. According to the SCOTUS interpretation of the General Welfare clause and the Commerce clause, all powers are delegated to the United States by the Constitution.
It’s amazing that people so absolutely certain of the evolution of life are so absolutely anti-evolutionist when it comes to the economy or public policy.
They somehow believe that a tiny group that thinks exactly as they do is better able to direct the economy and the country than 300 million people incessantly experimenting with products and services; this, in the face of millennia of evidence to the contrary. The USSR is one example of thousands.
These self-styled elitists really are profoundly anti-freedom. The concept of freedom interferes with their overwhelming conceit and, not coincidentally, with their horror that they don’t yet have absolute power and unequalled wealth.
Their fundamentally stupid demand to control every aspect of our lives, supported by their stunning ability to con the population into believing they should be doing it, is the biggest problem humanity faces, bar none.
Thomas Sowell is the one who has best described the phenomenon. The elitists have managed to bribe their way into positions of power by using OUR money and labor.
We have stood idly by far too long while this has been accelerating. If we don’t stop it now, the world is going to descend into a dark ages that will push human culture back thousands of years. Not only do they have to be stopped, we have to build firewalls a hundred times stronger to stop them in the future. They never tire of their manias.
The greatest idiocy is arrogance. Obama is the ultimate proof.
I am not too worried about the current generation letting the Socialist Gods in Washington take us over. However, if illegals are granted amnesty and our youth continue to feel entitled and our education system continues to flounder something evil could happen in the next generation.
Of course when the money runs out and it will, it always does with Marxism, all hell will break loose, it will doubtless not be very pretty and the world will once again get to see for the umpteenth time were Marxism takes a country. Humans never learn and human nature never changes even if the Gods of Washington tell us that is only a minor problem, as THEY will change us one way or the other.
Every effort should be made NOW while there are a few sane folks still around to patch up the constitution so that the Deities do not trample it into the mud.
November and 2012 may very well determine if we remain a constitutional Democracy or create a Social Democrat government and whether or not a greater revolt begins at the grass roots, think of an enhanced Tea Party movement.
Barack Obama’s “community organizer” style of governance consists of proposing new spending bills (why, there’s a new one on the horizon as we speak) and setting up commissions to study things.
For a big move, he might jam through massive social legislation using a process that he had, on many prior occasions, insisted should never be used for massive social legislation.
Then he golfs and vacations and (for work) travels to give vapid speeches.
The writers of our Constitution never imagined that members of Congress could be dumb enough to believe (or state anyway) that the commerce clause had unlimited applicability.
There is life in that the states are fighting back in the federal government’s ongoing reach to usurp and delete states’ rights.
This is nothing less than a fight for the survival of the Republic. It’s time to shelve the academic and endless verbosity and get as down and dirty as possible with those who want to “change” this country into a miserable shadow of its former self.
I agree. I have been saying for a long time that we are in a battle for the survival of the Republic, as envisioned by the Founders. Let us hope that we do not lose one of the conservative SCOTUS justices while Obama is still President. Because we are only one justice away from the end of the Republic and Constitution.
You are being too kind, these are not well meaning self appointed Deities. They are hard core revolutionaries. If they had any concern for the people of the US they would uphold, support and defend the US Constitution. Instead they hold it in contempt by their ignorance and or violations of the constitution.
Corrupting the interpretation of the commerce clause is their golden goose to power. What can you expect from people who do not honor their oath of office. Contempt for the people who put them in office is what you can expect.
Anyone who has studied much of the Old Testament has noticed that God attacks false deities, for example, the plagues leading up to Pharaoh letting the Israelites leave Egypt were all directed against Egyptian deities. The Moses warned the people against turning to other God’s and predicted that if they did they would suffer another captivity. When God got fed up with their worship of Baal and Molech, the Israelites ended up in Babylon.
We say “It’s the economy, stupid.” and then stupidly worship the economy and the economy falls apart. What a coincidence?
Our money says “In God we trust.”, but is that a lie? The quicker we make that true, the better, and less painful the correction will be.
The commerce clause was expanded by the supreme court in a line of cases during WWII. Without the war, the court probably wouldn’t have gone that far.
Not so much deities (did I spell that right, guys?) but perhaps royalty. Look at the Massachusetts Senate seat- ‘the Kennedy seat’- as though Massachusetts politics were all about the continued line of the House of Kennedy. Look at the Senate seat once held down briefly by b Hussein Obama, and how certain Illinois polticians have proclaimed it a ‘black’ seat now. Politicians deciding that they are the arbiters of succession instead of the ballot box.
The Congress needs all new blood. Out with everybody. Tar. Feathers. Some assembly required.
Finally, I despise all politicians with the white hot burning intensity of a thousand suns.
These folks are very much like addicts too. They never listen.
It is a long list for all; narcissism, emotional plague (Dr. Konia)many
Complexes , no anchor of Eros , power & greed.
Now what are they going to do to our elections? If ever
we could have a revolution the blding of this mosque or
Sabotaging the election thru back door immigration will be the tipping point
I still find the election of Al Frankenstein disgusting
Congressman Pete Stark, a Democrat from Fremont, California went to a constituent meeting which was attended predominantly by people who were concerned about illegal immigration. Many citizens at the meeting had Hispanic surnames and quite a few of the people who spoke asked questions in accented English, indicating that approving of legal immigration and wanting our nation’s immigration laws enforced are separate issues.
What was especially interesting was Stark’s assertion during the question and answer session that “Our borders are quite secure, Thank you.”
The video, posted on Breitbart News showed Pete Stark taunting questioners, asking at one point “Who are you going to kill today?” Stark answered one questioner, apparently from the Minutemen, by sarcastically suggesting that there be more Minutemen.
Stark then asked one citizen in a mocking way how he would seal the border. When the man suggested building a wall, Congressman Stark then made a foolish joke about “selling a lot of ladders”.
Is Stark really so unversed in the legalities and logistics of border security and illegal immigration? He is a Congressman from a border state. Even as a committed partisan on an issue, Pete Stark owes common respect and civility to his constituents. Pete Stark has served 38 years in Congress. Such conduct as was caught on video and posted online shows a remarkable lack of respect for the people of his district.
Then at the next meeting, it is painfully clear from this latest clip of California Democrat Rep. Pete Stark at last town hall meeting that he has no idea what the hell E-Verify — the federal employer citizenship verification program — is. Nor does he seem to care what it is, as he smirks at his informed constituents and asserts that denying jobs to illegal aliens could be “unconstitutional.”It you go to “You Tube” the endless Pete Stark Raving Mad video marathon goes on forever.
Perhaps the people of Fremont, California should remember Congressman Stark’s sarcasm and condescension in November when he is running for reelection. What a piece of work this guy is. So condescending and disrespectful. This idiot MUST be voted out of office. The DemocRAT party is flipping off the American people. What are we going to do about it? The California voters are some of the dumbest voters in America? They continue to vote in (for decades) the same OLD faces with the same OLD policies that have brought down this state. It is TRAGIC. That’s why we have pieces of vomit like Pete Stark in office.
So this brings up a interesting question? Probably, the two dumbest politicians off all time are Pete and Maxine Waters? OK, we all agree on that. They both represent California? Yes. Califorinia is going bankrupt? Yes. Does anyone see a pattern here? Oh, yea. Does everyone think that the Communist (I mean Liberal) press will be having a story on Pete soon? Don’t hold your breath.
Look people, the “Anointed One” makes his chess move’s and us babbling humans need to realize that the unbelieving conspiracy “heathen” understate the issues when they say that Obama is a radical. Alas, they know not the secrets we are all going to witness. The “Anointed One” is amazing, he takes the people at the highly efficient Post Office and sends them right over to the Student Loan Program. The “Anointed One” knows all. Twitter messages were machine-gunned to cell phones at mach speed. Facebook and MySpace groups spread across the Internet like digital fire. YouTube videos featuring celebrities ricocheted across the globe and into college students’ in-boxes with devastating regularity. All the while, the Obama mega-money-raising engine whirred on at high speed, until the result became inevitable: an unthinking mass of young voters marched forward to elect the “Anointed One.”
I am not surprised to hear these stinking lies about our “Anointed One,” it should be apparent to anyone that this was coming down the pike. I do have a couple questions about future process steps concerning these developments? When the “Annointed One” decides to start bar-coding everyone, will we get to decide if the mark is on our hand or forehead? Allot of people will prefer the hand, (especially women of course), unless your a porn actress or something along those lines. Also, my girlfriend was wondering if the Administration will be getting fashion advice from Hollyweird or the New York City crowd? We are both agree that the Administration “Maoies” as the “Anointed One ” so lovingly calls them,will be getting uniforms similar to the SS uniforms in Germany in WW2. With big letters abreviating “Barack’s Socialists.” So shall we start calling them the BS?
I am my college professor’s favorite pupil. He calls himself a “philosophical progressive” (whatever that means) and he tells wonderful stories about Mao Zedong and how deeply spirtual it is to become a Progressive. He told us not to pay any attention to those horrible rumors that the Conservatives preach to us about Brother Mao’s murder of 60 million. I know it’s a lie, that’s what a girl on Facebook said. After all, President Obama had a Mao ornamate hanging fron the White House Christmas tree, right on cool. After learning all of these new political ideas, I went out and got the latest Che Guevara t-shirt. It is so rad. My professor went to Harvard like Obama did so I know he loves Che too. My professor said Hollywood helped to revive another leftist martyr but my uncle (who was in the Army) said Hollywood has dutifully churned out yet another cinematic agitprop paean and that I should read to try to discern why many supposedly democratic, civil libertarian liberals still swoon over this Stalinist mass-murderer. What ever that means, later dude.
Not only is Obama a Muslim – he is under the delusion that he himself is Allah.
Not good.
As I read Sarah’s article, I thought of the following. Why do communist, socialist or facist governments seek to remove religion from the public. Because religions are in competition with the all powerful state. If the state removes the competitor, well then, only the state is left to become God.
Hmmmmm.
Sarah Durand has put into words what many of us feel. A very well-written piece that should be required reading by everyone in government at all levels.
I once asked a Muslim if Jesus was a true prophet. He replied yes. I asked him then, “How do you claim Mohammed and Allah as the way when Jesus made a mutually exclusive truth statement: I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me? I then asked him if Mohammed had been raised from the dead as Jesus was, in both instances I got a shrug and mystified look of confusion. I asked him a God who loves you enough to die for you or a God who rewards death. Which one makes sense? Once again I go the shrug of the shoulders and a mystified look of incredulity.
Unfortunately the Court isn’t helping matters much: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-1454.ZD1.html
not to mention New London.
@Roy: I liked them all but the funny two best.
Let’s move away from emotions and toward the facts, shall we? Otherwise this is nothing more than a venue for venting–something decidedly less valuable to the “marketplace of ideas” than intelligent, fact-based discussion.
Okay. Point one. Federalism has been dead since around 1820. Get over it. The Dormant Commerce Clause, as anyone who has studied the law knows, grants the federal government vast powers. The Supreme Court has affirmed the underlying jurisprudence for many, many years, regardless of whether the bench has leaned toward the liberal or conservative ends of the constitutional spectrum. In short, the officials you criticize here are, like it or not, more-or-less correct. If you don’t like it, you can either 1-amend the constitution, or 2-move to Somalia where you can apparently ignore the law and central government altogether. If you would like to actually learn about how it works, pick up a study guide to constitutional law, such as those published by “Emanuel Law Outlines” or “Gilbert’s.” The sections addressing the Commerce Clause are succinct and easy to understand.
Point two, nobody in the mainstream (which is, of course, the key to any election–whether you in your caves, bunkers or ready-for-Armageddon compounds like it or not) is going to take the Republican Party seriously in years to come if we keep spouting off with this ultra-religious craziness. Even if you believe that stuff, for the sake of all involved, just keep it to yourself. You’re scaring away the “normal” people who need to vote Republican. Think about it.