THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIV, Issue # 5, January 7, 2012
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
BARACK MACHIAVELLI
By Alan Caruba
THE U.S. FEDERAL ELECTIONS OF 2012: U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA RUNNING FOR REELECTION AGAINST THE FOUNDING & OPERATING
PRINCIPLES OF THE AMERICAN NATION & ITS CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRATIC FEDERAL REPUBLIC -- OBAMA SEEKING A SECOND TERM AS PRESIDENT,
HOPING THIS WILL PROVIDE HIM WITH AMPLE OPPORTUNITY TO UNDERMINE & DESTROY AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONALISM, LIMITED GOVERNMENT,
REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT, SEPARATION OF LEGISLATIVE, EXECUTIVE & JUDICIAL POWERS, THE SYSTEM OF CHECKS & BALANCES, THE FREE MARKET
ECONOMY, PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS, & THE RIGHT OF AMERICAN CITIZENS TO BE FREE OF AN OVERLY INTRUSIVE, HIGHLY CENTRALIZED GOVERNMENT.
FULL STORY:
The Founding Fathers, authors of the Constitution of the United States of America, were obsessed with any form of government that could become too powerful, too
willing to use force to oppress citizens. They had cause. They had fought a long war against the greatest major world power of their age, the British Empire, which
was ruled by a king with nearly absolute power. America's Founders fashioned an instrument of government which was designed to ensure that the U.S. President
could not rule by edict and which defused power among the three branches of the U.S. national government -- legislative, executive, and judicial -- and between the
national government and the semi-autonomous member-states of the American federal union, the United States of America.
We have a U.S. President currently running for reelection against Congress, Wall Street, Republicans, and the right of citizens to be free of an overly intrusive
government.
Article I, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution says: "All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in the Congress of the United States, which shall consist of
a Senate and House of Representatives."
All appointments of the President must be approved by the U.S. Senate while it is in session, and the Senate, even over the Christmas and New Year’s vacation,
has remained in session, if only in a pro forma, technical manner. Every three days it has been convened to assert its powers.
Even so, President Barack Hussein Obama has announced several “recess” appointments, all clearly a challenge to the Senate and all clearly a tyrannical power grab.
He appointed Richard Cordray as the first Director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a new function that puts government between the lender and
the citizen. In theory, all loans in the future will be subject to government approval. This is Communism, not Capitalism.
In addition, he appointed three members to the National Labor Relations Board, intended to arbitrate disputes between unions and corporations. None of them have
appeared before a Senate committee for vetting. It was this Board that demanded Boeing shut down its new factory in South Carolina, one of many “right to work”
states that empower workers with the right to determine whether they want to join a union or not.
Neither Obama, nor any president who preceded him can make appointments without the “advice and consent” of the Senate. (Article II, Section 2, U.S.
Constitution). As recently as the first week of the year, referring to the Senate, Obama asserted that “I have an obligation as President to do what I can without
them.” He has no such obligation. Those are the words of an incipient tyrant.
These actions put me in mind of Niccolo Machiavelli, famed as the author of The Prince, a book of advice to Lorenzo de Medici, who was the ruler of the
former republic of Florence, one of many city states in Italy. Born in 1469 and died in 1527, Machiavelli living during the early years of the Renaissance, a period
that saw the flowering of literature, science, art, religion, and politics. Historians consider it a bridge between the Middle Ages and the Modern Era.
The Renaissance was a period of social and political upheaval, one in which the various princes ruled so long as they could protect their principalities against wars
by others seeking to expand their powers. The Prince is largely seen as advice on how a prince may have to resort to the methodical use of brute force and
deceit to hold onto power, but it was more than that. It was a guide to ruling people with a minimum of oppression.
“It should be borne in mind,” Machiavelli wrote, “that there is nothing more difficult to handle, more doubtful of success, and more dangerous to carry through than
initiating changes in a state’s constitution.” Obama is engaged in an attack on the U.S. Constitution.
Of princely power, Machiavelli wrote, “The people are everywhere anxious not be dominated or oppressed by the nobles, and the nobles are out to dominate and
oppress the people. These opposed ambitions bring about one of three results; a principality, a free city, or anarchy.” The U.S. Constitution ensures a free nation
-- a federated nation-state with a central government of limited powers -- and is a guard against decentralized anarchy, as well as against centralized tyranny.
Evidence of Obama’s narcissism and drive for complete power is ample. He is on record as saying the U.S. Constitution is composed of “negative” limits on power.
Others regard the Constitution as the ultimate protection against the unlawful use of power. This is particularly evident in the Bill of Rights which was appended as
as ten amendments to the Constitution because several of the first thirteen American states would not ratify the Constitution without adoption of the amendments.
In his advice to Lorenzo de Medici, Machiavelli raised the question of “whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the reverse. Within the context of the time, he
said, “it is far better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.” In the run up to Christmas, Americans bought guns in record numbers, which suggests there is
considerable fear of Obama and the results of his policies over the past three years.
We have witnessed and been victimized by a Democratic Party-controlled Congress that forced Obamacare on an unwilling public. We have seen the rise of Islamic
fanaticism, as the result of President Obama's failed policies toward Iran and the Arab Middle East. We have had record breaking debt imposed on us by his failed
“stimulus” policies. We have seen continued efforts to reduce our military power and to thwart access to our ample energy resources of oil, natural gas, and coal.
It is a long list of usurpations of power that endanger the American nation domestically and internationally. Whether it was done out of stupidity or a deliberate
effort to harm our nation can be debated, but the most outstanding attribute of Obama has been his continual lying and Machiavelli notes that “the deceiver will
always find someone ready to be deceived.”
In this effort, Obama has been greatly aided by the mainstream media, with a few notable exceptions. The trust that once reposed in the nation’s print and broadcast
media has been eroded and will be hard to regain. The trust given Obama is long gone by all but a few ignorant and lazy citizens content to have their lives ruled by
an over-reaching executive branch of the U.S. national government.
The 2012 election process will rid us of Obama and quite likely many of those Liberal Democrats in the U.S. Congress, Leftist legislators who have supported
Obama's policies. The U.S. House of Representatives is controlled by the Republicans, and the U.S. Senate is likely to have a Republican majority following the
elections of 2012.
Meanwhile, we must guard against the present occupant of the U.S. White House. Americans waged a war against oppression in the past, and will, if necessary, do
so again.
© Alan Caruba, 2012
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Politics, Political Competition, & the Control of
Public Policy: Elections, Political Parties, Political Factions,
Ideologies, & Special Interest Groups
American Government & the U.S. Presidency:
Presidential Politics & National Leadership
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
The American Political & Cultural Left:
Liberals, Statists, Socialists, Marxists, & Other Leftists:
The Democratic Party, Academia, & the Mainstream Media
Liberalism Versus Conservatism in American Politics
-------------------------
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY & POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES:
COMPETING SYSTEMS OF POLITICAL THOUGHT
Conservatism
Traditional Conservatism: Questions & Answers
Conservatism: Attitudes, Types, & Present Status
Constitutional Conservatism: American & British
Liberalism
Classical Liberalism: Intellectual Foundations
Classical Liberalism: Conservative Liberalism
Manchester Liberalism & Social Darwinism
Modern Social "Liberalism": Statist "Liberalism"
Radical & Totalitarian Ideologies
Radicalism, Utopianism, & Totalitarianism
Alan Caruba's commentaries are posted daily at Warning Signs, his popular blog -- and thereafter on dozens of other
websites and blogs. His monthly report on new books is posted at Bookviews.
A business and science writer, Caruba is the Founder of The National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information
about "scare campaigns" designed to influence public opinion and policy.
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume XIV, 2011
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity