“Democracy Has Gone To Your Head”

Modern politics have morphed into an all-out assault against our country and against its Constitution. If the Con-Con movement succeeds, the Constitutional Convention will be assembled to amend the Constitution to allegedly reign in the political corruption in Washington. The political class does not follow our Constitution as is, what makes one think that they will follow it with more amendments? And what will prevent a runaway convention in which delegates might replace our Constitution with their latest version?

The left is drooling with the desire to replace our Constitution with their own version of the Constitution for the World, called The Draft International Covenant on Environment and Development (D.I.C.E.D), 5^th edition, 20 years in the making, a constitution that pays homage and gives power to the new world order, a form of planetary and borderless government as described in Klaus Schwab’s Great Reset devised by his World Economic Forum (WEF) and clearly explained in this document as a climate change emergency and the need for their development visioning. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/2443Covenant_5th_edition.pdf?msclkid=562614e7b0f611ec8505a69da1d3e0c3

The Covenant (agreement) is described by writers as a “living document.” When the world did not believe in global warming, they morphed it into a new euphemism, the climate change. And its profitable fairy dust wind and solar industry grew rapidly at the expense of the hapless American taxpayers.

The fifth edition of D.I.C.E.D. has a preamble, forewords to all five editions (the first was published in 1995), and 83 articles. The document is obviously intended to be a “world constitution for global governance,” an onerous way to control population growth, movement, redistribute wealth, force ‘social and economic equity and justice,’ economic control, consumption control, land and water use control, and re-settlement control as part of social engineering globalist plans.

The only thing “DICED” is going to be your freedom and your private property, “DICED” in perpetuity among the global elites ‘stakeholders.’ They have a strong claim and ‘stake’ in your wealth and everything you have, do, and hold dear in your daily lives now and forever.

The purpose of this constitution is to finally legalize the installation of U.N Agenda 21 now morphed into U.N. Agenda 2030 with its Sustainable Development, the lynchpin of fundamentally changing everything you do in the global visioning of a few elites, supporters, and subscribers to Klaus Schwab’s Great Reset in which you “will own nothing and be happy about it.” And when you do, you will “build back better,” Biden’s oft repeated but empty words, with nothing but misery, despair, abject fear, and want.

As I wrote a decade ago in my book, U.N. Agenda 21: Environmental Piracy on p. 29, “All signatory nations [of the 4^th edition of D.I.C.E.D], including the U.S., would become centrally planned, socialist countries in which all decisions would be made within the framework of Sustainable Development.” The ferocious left is already clamoring for socialism around the globe. It is not a coincidence.

The constant mantra coming from the mainstream media, the leftist sycophants, the corporate fascism, and technocracy has been, democracy, democracy, democracy, implying that our country is a democracy and anything the rest of America does that contradicts or disagrees with the politics of the left is an assault on this nebulous democracy.

Democracy means government rule by the people, demos, Greek for people, and kratos, power, rule. But are people powerful at all in this alleged ‘democracy’ the left constantly mentions in every venue possible? Is there even a representative democracy present in our constitutional republic when elected representatives do not represent the will and interests of their majority constituents, but only their own interests of re-election to power?

We are not a democracy, we are a Constitutional Republic, a convenient fact that the general population does not seem to know or remember anymore. Have they really learned or even studied American Civics in school and how our government should operate?

Reality is destroyed violently and reconstructed by the media’s lies and misinformation and a compliant populace, too complacent to take the time to verify the narrative, and too blinded by daily manufactured, highly convincing rhetoric. All the media does is repeat carefully scripted lies and they become facts to the obedient masses.

Are we really a democracy, a “form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation, or choose governing officials to do so?” When was the last time our elected officials, the political class in Congress, listened to ‘we the people’ and legislated in our interest rather than their own interest and power?

When was the last time the shadow government of non-government organizations (NGOs) with exceptionally large bank accounts was elected to public office and we got to vote for them? When was the last time billionaires, who influenced our health policy and are not medical doctors or scientists, but businessman, were elected to office? When were the technocrats of Google, YouTube, Facebook, and other social media platforms, elected as political advisors, influencers, and policy makers?

The Socialist Republic I lived under for twenty years guaranteed democracy, but the socialist version of democracy was just an illusion on paper. It had a constitution that was altered and rewritten many times over the years at the whims of its Marxist dictator.

When we attempted to ask valid questions about the communist party’s version of history, our history teacher told us in a very threatening way and tone of voice that “democracy has gone to our heads” and, from then on, we were not allowed to ask any more questions, we were to be silent and to write down exactly what she said. The Ministry of Propaganda had spoken from her carefully worded and never distributed syllabus provided by the Ministry of Education and that was the end of any meaningful learning of accurate historical documents and facts. Democracy indeed.

 

DICED is UN's Environmental Constitution for the World and Our Own Constittution Will Be Diced

I am sure there are many Americans who have no idea nor care what “The Draft International Covenant on Environment and Development” (DICED) is. They should. The Draft Covenant is the “Environmental Constitution of Global Governance.” https://portals.iucn.org/library/efiles/documents/EPLP-031-rev3.pdf

 The first version of the Covenant was presented to the United Nations in 1995 on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary. It was hoped that it would become a negotiating document for a global treaty on environmental conservation and sustainable development.

The fourth version of the Covenant, issued on September 22, 2010, was written to control all development tied to the environment, “the highest form of law for all human activity.’

The Covenant’s 79 articles, described in great detail in 242 pages, take Sustainable Development principles described in Agenda 21 and transform them into global law, which supersedes all constitutions including the U.S. Constitution.

All signatory nations, including the U.S., would become centrally planned, socialist countries in which all decisions would be made within the framework of Sustainable Development.
 
In collaboration with Earth Charter and Elizabeth Haub Foundation for Environmental Policy and Law from Canada, the Covenant was issued by the International Council on Environmental Law (ICEL) in Bonn, Germany, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) with offices in Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.

Federal agencies that are members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) include U.S. Department of State, Commerce, Agriculture (Forest Service), Interior (Fish and Wildlife, National Park Service), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The same agencies are members of the White House Rural Council and the newly established White House Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities (Executive Order, March 15, 2012).

The Draft Covenant is a blueprint “to create an agreed single set of fundamental principles like a ‘code of conduct’ used in many civil law, socialist, and theocratic traditions, which may guide States, intergovernmental organizations, and individuals.”

The writers describe the Covenant as a “living document,” a blueprint that will be adopted by all members of the United Nations. They say that global partnership is necessary in order to achieve Sustainable Development, by focusing on “social and economic pillars.” The writers are very careful to avoid the phrase, “one world government.” Proper governance is necessary on all levels, “from the local to the global.” (p.36)

The Covenant underwent four writings, in 1995, 2000, 2004, and 2010, influenced by the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, by ideas of development control and social engineering by the United Nations, “leveling the playing field for international trade, and having a common basis of future lawmaking.”

Article 2 describes in detail "respect for all life forms."

Article 3 proposes that the entire globe should be under “the protection of international law.”

Article 5 refers to "equity and justice," code words for socialism/communism.

Article 16 requires that all member nations must adopt environmental conservation into all national decisions.

 

Article 19 deals with "Stratospheric Ozone." Rex Communis is the customary international law regime applicable to areas beyond national jurisdiction: in particular to the high seas and outer space." (p. 72)

Article 20 requires that all nations must “mitigate the adverse effects of climate change.” If we endorse this document, we must fight a non-existent man-made climate change.

Article 31, "Action to Eradicate Poverty," requires the eradication of poverty by spreading the wealth from developed nations to developing countries.

Article 32 requires recycling, "consumption and production patterns."

Article 33, "Demographic policies," demands that countries calculate “the size of the human population their environment is capable of supporting and to implement measures that prevent the population from exceeding that level.” In Malthusian model, humans were supposed to run out of food and starve to death. In a similar prediction, this document claims that the out-of control multiplication of humans can endanger the environment.

Article 34 demands the maintenance of an open and non-discriminatory international trading system in which “prices of commodities and raw materials reflect the full direct and indirect social and environmental costs of their extraction, production, transport, marketing, and where appropriate, ultimate disposal.”The capitalist model of supply and demand pricing does not matter.

Article 37 discusses "Transboundary Environmental Effects and article 39 directs how "Transboundary Natural Resources" will be conserved, "quantitatively and qualitatively." According to the document, "conserve means managing human-induced processes and activities which may be damaging to natural systems in such a way that the essential functions of these systems are maintained."

Article 41 requires integrated planning systems, irrespective of administrative boundaries within a country, and is based on Paragraph 10.5 of Agenda 21, which seeks to “facilitate allocation of land to the uses that provide the greatest sustainable benefits and to promote the transition to a sustainable and integrated management of land resources.” The impact assessment procedure is developed by the World Bank.

 “Aquifers, drainage basins, coastal, marine areas, and any areas called ecological units must be taken into account when allocating land for municipal, agricultural, grazing, forestry, and other uses.” Agricultural subsidies are discouraged, as well as subsidizing private enterprises.

“Physical planning must follow an integrated approach to land use – infrastructure, highways, railways, waterways, dams, and harbors. Town and country planning must include land use plans elaborated at all levels of government.”

 "Sharing Benefits of Biotechnology" is a similar requirement to the Law of the Sea Treaty which demands that final products of research and development be used freely, no matter who develops an idea or how much it costs to bring that idea to the market.

Article 51 reveals that we will have to pay for these repressive new requirements while Article 52 shows that we must pay 0.7 percent of GDP for Official Development Assistance. This reaffirms the political commitment made in Paragraph 33.13 of Agenda 21 in 1992.

Article 69 deals with settlement of disputes by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the International Court of Justice, and/or the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

Article 71 describes the amendment process, which is submitted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. UN Secretary-General would review the implementation of this document every five years.

Writers of the Draft Covenant are approximately 19 U.S. professors of Law, Biology, Natural Resources, Urban Planning, Theology, Environmental Ethics, two General Counsel Representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, chair of the IUCN Ethics Working Group, two attorneys in private practice in the U.S., a judge from the International Court of Justice, a U.S. High Seas Policy advisor of the IUCN Global Marine Programme, foreign dignitaries, ambassadors, and 13 members of the UN Secretariat, including the Chairman, Dr. Wolfgang E. Burhenne. (2006-onwards)

Since this Draft Covenant has a Preamble and 79 articles, it is obviously intended to be a "world constitution for global governance," an onerous way to control population growth, re-distribute wealth, force social and “economic equity and justice,” economic control, consumption control, land and water use control, and re-settlement control as a form of social engineering.

Article 20 is of particular interest because it forces the signatories to DICED “to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change.” When President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord, “climatologists” from Hollywood and millennials brainwashed by their professors that CO2 is going to destroy the planet and kills us all, took to microphones and podiums to express their displeasure with such a “criminal” decision.

It did not matter that the President explained in a very logical manner that this accord was nothing else than an economic scheme to steal and redistribute wealth from the United States to the third world while real heavy polluters like China and India were allowed to continue to pollute until 2030 when, at that time, they could be bribed to reduce their pollution and perhaps China would install smokestack scrubbers.

President Trump explained how many millions of American jobs would be lost and how our energy generation is getting cleaner while we are exploring other forms of energy.  Once President Obama declared that the science has been settled, the science provided and the IPCC modeling had been adjusted to fit the globalist man made global warming agenda, so called anthropogenic.

Since none of Al Gore’s predictions of islands under water due to the melting of ice cap have turned out true, we have more ice than ever this year, the globalists changed the title of their global warming hoax to climate change. Who would object to that term? Everybody knows that climate change but it is not because of humans spewing CO2 in the atmosphere. I don’t see any liberals who have stopped breathing and passing gas. But we do see Hollywood jet set everywhere or sail in their expensive yachts, build mansions on the most beautiful beach side properties in the world, right after they chew humanity out for destroying the planet with our very existence and civilization.

How did man become the main perpetrator of climate change? How did we become so powerful that we can change climate with our very existence but, if we pay carbon taxes to the third world, we correct our guilt of existing, of breathing, and we turn climate into a favorable proposition for all – no hurricanes, no tornadoes, no droughts, no hail, no torrential rains, no earthquakes, no tsunamis, nothing but serene climate year after year.

The Club of Rome, the premier environmental think-tank, consultant to the United Nations and the alleged writer of U.N. Agenda 21’s 40 chapters, explained, “The common enemy of humanity is man. In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill. All these dangers are caused by human intervention, and it is only through changed attitudes and behavior that they can be overcome. The real enemy is the humanity itself.”

Environmentalists tell us that the science is “settled” yet 31,000 scientists have signed a petition against the theory that humans are causing climate change. There is certainly a need to reduce pollution of our oceans, rivers, soil, and air but humans are not causing climate change. Temperatures and CO2 concentrations were much higher when there was no industrial activity or even humans.

The Vostock ice core samples taken by a team of Russian and French scientists proved beyond any doubt that CO2 concentrations in deep ice were six times higher than they are today. There are more serious variables that affect the climate, including solar flares, volcanic activity on earth and in oceans, and oceanic currents. Then there is the deliberate government weather tampering by seeding clouds from flying airplanes with various chemicals in order to “mitigate the effects of global warming.”

Dr. David Frame, climate modeler at Oxford University said, “The models are convenient fictions that provide something very useful.” Prof. Chris Folland from the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research explained, “The data doesn’t matter. We’re not basing our recommendations on the data. We’re basing them on the climate models.”

Christine Stewart, former Canadian Minister of the Environment, also said, “No matter if the science of global warming is all phony… climate change provides the greatest opportunity to bring about social justice and equality in the world.”

Timothy Wirth, President of the U.N. Foundation, said, “We’ve got to ride this global warming issue. Even if the theory of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right thing in terms of economic and environmental policy.”

The sad thing is that many mayors around the country have decided to disobey President Trump’s decision on the Paris Climate Accord and reported publicly that they will continue their membership even though such a move is illegal under our Constitution. Art. VI, paragraph 2, states, …”and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby; any Thing in the Constitution or Law of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”

According to the Tennesseestar.com, the mayor of Nashville, Megan Barry, said that “The Constitution does not apply here in Nashville: ‘I am committed to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement . . . Even if the President is not.’”

Mayor Barry, who is joined by the mayors of Knoxville, Madeline Rogero, the mayor of Chattanooga, Andy Berke, and “187 U.S. mayors, mostly Democrats, representing 52 million Americans,” have decided to ignore Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution which prohibits states governments, including towns in those states, from “entering into any treaty, alliance, and confederation.”

http://tennesseestar.com/2017/06/05/nashville-mayor-megan-barry-i-am-committed-to-meeting-the-goals-of-the-paris-agreement-even-if-the-president-is-not/

 These dissenting mayors have not pledged their allegiance to the U.S. Constitution but to the Global Covenant of Mayors, one of the arms of implementation around the globe of U.N. Agenda 21, now morphed into Agenda 2030. Using grants from our own government, the Compact of Mayors and the European Union’s Covenant of Mayors have influenced initiatives at the local, city, and state governments, forcing their globalist agenda called “visioning” on the hapless population who are now forced to accept decisions made by mayors and boards of supervisors that are robbing them of freedom of movement, of their property rights, of the use of their cars, of farming, in the name of “transitioning to a low emission and climate resilient economy,” a pie in the sky goal. The real goal is to transform and redistribute the wealth of developed countries and to arrest their development by eventually curbing completely the use of fossil fuels and turning them into a more primitive society dependent on unreliable solar and wind power. Such a global society would have no borders, no sovereignty, no suburbia, no private property, no cars, and would be controlled by the United Nations umbrella of octopus NGOs.

There is no surprise that there is such a drive from the left to have a Convention of States (COS) in order to replace our U.S. Constitution with their own environmental constitution of the world, which is called The Draft International Covenant on Environment and Development (DICED).

James Delingpole wrote in a recent article at breitbart.com that “Global warming is a myth – so say 80 graphs from 58 peer-reviewed scientific papers published in 2017.” http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/06/06/delingpole-global-warming-is-myth-58-scientific-papers-2017/

The scientific “consensus” about the global warming lie, cited by the left without hesitation, is not science and President Trump was right in pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Climate agreement, an agreement based on the pretense that the massive lie of global warming is true. http://notrickszone.com/2017/05/29/80-graphs-from-58-new-2017-papers-invalidate-claims-of-unprecedented-global-scale-modern-warming/#stash.ktFOtSb7.rFipkQZb.dpbs

India alone needs $2.5 trillion between now and 2030 to comply with the requirements of the Paris Climate agreement, a sum which would come from the largest developed countries, mainly the U.S. And there are many other third world nations that would demand such redistribution of wealth from us in order to “decarbonize” and reduce pollution. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/06/07/delingpole-paris-trump-just-dodged-a-2-5-trillion-bullet/

Delingpole cites in the above article the quote given in an interview to Dr. Charles Battig on November 13, 2010. Dr. Ottmar Endenhofer, International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Co-Chair of Working Group 3, stated, “We [UN-IPCC] redistribute de facto the world’s wealth by climate policy… One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. This has almost nothing to do with environmental policy anymore…” http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/06/07/delingpole-paris-trump-just-dodged-a-2-5-trillion-bullet/

Dr. Charles Battig amply documents the advancement of Agenda 21 in the United States via ICLEI and gives successful examples of municipalities who were able to extricate themselves from the global warming hoax pushed at the local level by the International Council on Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), an arm of U.N.’s many octopus Agenda 21 non-governmental organizations  (NGOs) who use federal grants, mayors, and local boards of supervisors to insinuate their own plans called “visioning” onto the local community who, most of the time, has no voting rights nor input into the plans. http://www.slideserve.com/zilya/by-charles-battig-md-piedmont-chapter-va-scientists-and-engineers-for-energy-and-environment

Patrick Wood wrote in LinkedIn, Exposing: AGENDA 21, “It’s time to go tell your city leaders to kill climate change initiatives. #StopTechnocracy.” It is time that American mayors follow the U.S. Constitution and not the U.N.’s environmental Constitution called D.I.C.E.D.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gunston Hall, the Significance of George Mason, and Independence Day

Gunston Hall front entrance (Photo: Ileana 2015)

“I had many occasional and strenuous coadjutors in debate, and one most steadfast, able, and zealous. . . . This was George Mason, a man of first order of wisdom among those who acted on the theatre of the revolution, of expansive mind, profound judgment, cogent in argument, learned in the lore of our former constitution, and earnest for the republican change on democratic principles.”  - Thomas Jefferson, 1821

As a naturalized American by choice, Independence Day for me is not “Happy July 4,” as young and old alike greet each other with all day, or an opportunity to grill, BBQ, be with your family and friends, hang out the flag with pride, or ignore it because it’s a misperceived symbol of racism, or burn it just because you can, or attend fireworks shows for the sake of traditional entertainment.

Independence Day has a deep significance that only people like me who fled evil communism or other dictatorships can understand and few can explain cogently. For me, it is the story of the valiant fight for freedom and independence from an oppressive and out-of-control government.

On this hot and humid 239^th Independence Day anniversary, I decided to take a trip down history lane, about four miles east off the beaten path to Gunston Hall. The road wound through lovely pastures, a hidden golf course, a state park, a couple of churches, and thick-forested areas that seemed a world away from the busy highways and interstates of northern Virginia.

On the site of the first Pohick Church (1730-1774), one of the earliest religious sites in Fairfax County, there is a lovely Methodist Church nestled among green trees and pastures, the Lewis Chapel/Cranford Memorial, built in 1857, surrounded by graves dating back to 1780. A simple engraved granite block memorializes “all soldiers who served in the Civil War, 1861-1865, and were buried here.” A few American flags are visible, vases with artificial flowers, but not one Confederate flag is displayed.

When Daniel French, the original contractor that was hired to build the new Pohick Church died during its construction in 1771, George Mason, an executor and vestryman, finished the job.

Documents reveal that in the period prior to the Revolutionary War, Anglican churches, which were supported by taxes, fulfilled the function of welfare agencies, taking care of the poor, the widowed, and of the orphans.  

A historical sign described how on June 16, 1700, unknown Indians, possibly “Wittowees or Piscataways,” attacked with “arrowes and wooden Tommahawkes” and killed eight people in Thomas Barton’s house. Historians speculated that the attack occurred because the Indians were upset by colonial encroachment on their lands and were “encouraged” by the French.

Gunston Hall, located about four miles to the east, was George Mason’s home, the Revolutionary leader and author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the first Constitution of Virginia. The fourth George Mason built his mansion in 1755-1758, but the land had been “acquired” in 1696 by the second George Mason. He bought the land which was patented in 1651 by Richard Turney. Turney was hanged for taking part in the Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676.

Gunston Hall front entrance (Photo: Ileana 2015)

The winding entrance to Gunston Hall is flanked by thick woods until it suddenly opens wide into grassy fields. The majestic road is lined by old magnolias. The original cherry trees from George Mason’s time had been replaced long ago with stately magnolias.

To the left of Gunston Hall, about three-fourths of a mile, the Potomac River adds a marine blue hue to the lush green landscape. A road leads to the port where boats docked and delivered visitors and cargo to the mansion. A beautiful garden path in the back of the house is lined with the original bushes, leading to a bluff overlooking a forested valley.

18th c. well used by the Mason family
(Photo: Ileana 2015)

The original 18^th century well used by George Mason’s family is still on the left hand side of the property. In a shed behind, inhabited by a black snake which startled me when I reached too deeply inside to take a photograph, there is an 18^th century millstone found near the site of Holt’s Mill (operational from 1700-1740 on Mason lands) one mile southwest of Gunston Hall on Mill Creek. Thirty other buildings and barns surrounded the mansion at the time. It was a lively village bustling with activity.

As it was the case with most wealthy land owners in the 18^th century Virginia, George Mason planned and supervised the construction of his own home, designing its exterior and layout with the help of an English-trained carpenter and joiner, William Buckland, whom he hired in 1755.

A wealthy Virginian’s mansion was literally his castle for dinners, teas, balls, barbecues, fish frys, games, hunts, and musical entertainment. Ever so hospitable, neighbors, relatives, and friends and “visitors of distinction” were frequent guests and always welcome. Entertaining all the time was a way of life.

John Mason, the eldest child, recalled that the main meal was served at 2 p.m. and nobody sat down until his father arrived. Grace was always part of the meal, “God bless us, and what we are going to receive.”

A devoted husband and father, George Mason was married to Ann Eilbeck for twenty-three years. When she died at thirty-nine, he described his beloved wife as “a prudent & a tender mother.”

As a Justice of Peace, George Mason signed marriage licenses. He mused in a letter, “This cold weather has set all the young Folks to providing Bedfellows. I have signed two or three Licenses every Day since I have been at Home. I wish I knew where to get a good one myself; for I find cold Sheets extremely disagreeable.” He remained a widower for seven years before marrying a second time to Sarah Brent of Woodstock in Stafford County. There are many Brents today in Dumfries, the oldest town in Virginia.

George Mason was only a delegate to the Virginia Assembly, a Justice of Peace for Fairfax County, a vestryman at Pohick Church, and a trustee for the towns of Alexandria and Dumfries, but he had a profound influence on our nation’s government.

George Mason had 12 children by Ann Eilbeck. The nine (five boys and four girls) who survived were educated by a private tutor in a one-room school built for them on the property. Tutors included a Mr. McPherson of Maryland and a Mr. Davidson and a Mr. Constable of Scotland. In 1832, Gen. John Mason described how the last two tutors had been specially selected by George Mason himself to come to America in order to teach his large brood while they lived in his house. The entire second floor of the mansion was dedicated to bedrooms for the children with beautiful views of the lands, including a spectacular view of the Potomac River and of the gardens.

The first floor had a large entrance atrium with a beautiful grand wooden staircase, the deep-green master bedroom to the left and a dining room in green, white, and gold, with George Mason’s portrait and the portrait of his first wife Ann as a sixteen year-old, a Chinese-motif room, painted in yellow and decorated with pagoda-like freezes and wooden moldings as envisioned at the time.  Closets, hallways, another staircase, helix-shaped and tiny, a game room, and reading room completed the floor.

View from the back porch of the Potomac River

(Photo: Ileana Johnson 2015)

Slaves lived away from the main house, as Mason wrote, “Out of sight, was a little village called Log-Town – so called because most of the houses were built of hewn pine logs. . . . lived here several Families of the slaves, serving about the Mansion house – among them were my Father’s body Servant James, a Mulattoe Man & his Family, and those of several Negroe carpenters.” Some outbuildings near the main house were places where slaves worked, ate, and sometimes slept.

Slaves quarters where work was done

(Photo: Ileana Johnson 2015)

Slaves grew tobacco and wheat for export, some were blacksmiths, carpenters, coopers, shoemakers, spinners, weavers, others were domestics in the Mason household, cooking, raising children or were personal butlers. In 1783, according to archives, “more than half of Virginia’s population was black.” It is fair to say that “slavery was the dominant form of labor in Virginia” of the 18^th century.

According to the archives, even though George Mason described slavery as a “slow poison,” he did not free his 90 slaves.  When he died in 1792, he willed his slaves to his nine children. Some Chesapeake slave owners did emancipate their slaves. Few runaways made it to freedom; George Mason issued a reward of ten pounds for the return of his slaves, offering detailed descriptions of the men and the possessions they carried with them.

Grist mill stone (18th century)

(Photo: Ileana Johnson 2015)

The last private owners of Gunston Hall, Louis and Eleanor Hertle, donated the mansion in 1949 to the Commonwealth of Virginia, administered by a Board of Regents from the National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in Mrs. Hertle’s memory. Louis Hertle, retired from her job at Marshall Field’s in Chicago, hired architect Glenn Brown to restore the mansion beginning in 1912.

According to the museum archives, aside from the few volumes with George Mason’s signature, acquired from his uncle and guardian, John Mercer, a lawyer with a vast collection of 1,700 books, little is known about Mason’s library. He was quite wealthy and we know that he gave each of his children a substantial gift of money and property.

A 1775 ledger with Jenifer and Hooe, a merchant firm of Alexandria, revealed that George Mason was growing a lot of wheat on his property after 1770. Prior, tobacco was the primary crop. In a September 1788 letter, George Mason wrote: “A violent Storm of Wind and Rain . . . with almost Continual Rain for many Days afterwards, has done great damage to the Tobacco . . . our wheat has also suffered some Damage, & our Hay a great deal . . .” Tobacco was grown in 1775 on his Hallowing, Occoquan, and Dogue plantations.

Virginia planters, including Mason, grew tobacco, wheat, and corn for sale, barley, cotton, corn, and flax for private use. An orchard provided fruits and nuts and a 1780 letter to Thomas Jefferson shows that “Mason took great interest in his fruit stock.” Every plantation had an extensive garden to feed everyone. Tallow, leather, and wool came from animals they raised. Fishing and hunting provided both food and recreation.

George Mason, the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, influenced many other authors and documents:

-          Thomas Jefferson when he wrote the Declaration of Independence

-          James Madison when drafting the U.S. Bill of Rights

-          Benjamin Franklin when drafting the Pennsylvania constitution

-          John Adams when drafting the Massachusetts constitution

-          An adaptation of Mason’s first Article, “That all Men are by Nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent Rights, of which, when they enter into a State of Society, they cannot, by any Compact, deprive or divest their Posterity; namely, the Enjoyment of Life and Liberty, with the Means of acquiring and possessing Property, and pursuing and obtaining Happiness and Safety,” appears in Wisconsin, South Dakota, and Montana constitutions

-          The French Declaration of the Rights of Man

-          The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

George Mason, Elbridge Gerry, and Edmund Randolph were the Constitution non-signers among the fifty-five delegates, each calling for a national bill of rights. Mason wrote prophetically at the conclusion of the 1787 federal convention in Philadelphia (mid-May through mid-September): “There is no Declaration of Rights, and the law of the general Government being paramount to the Laws & Constitutions of the several States, the Declaration of Rights in separate States are no Security. Nor are the people secured even in the Enjoyment of the Benefits of the common Laws.”

As one of the primary architects of the Constitution, having delivered more than 125 speeches during the convention, but “fearing that the proposed government would diminish the power vested in the citizenry,” George Mason refused to sign. His prophetic decision was made in the Philadelphia State House, known as Independence Hall, where the Federal Convention met.

Thanks to George Mason’s 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights, the English Bill of Rights of 1689, and the Magna Carta (1215), we now have The U.S. Bill of Rights which includes freedoms not enumerated in the Constitution such as freedom of religion, of speech, freedom of the press, of assembly, the right to keep and bear arms, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, security in personal effects, freedom from warrants issued without probable cause, and reserves all powers not specifically granted to the federal government to the people or the States. The question remains, are we going to be able to keep them?

How Many Millions of Illegal Aliens Will Qualify for Discretionary Amnesty?

As President Obama is getting ready to make his announcement on immigration on Thursday, November 20, 2014, the Congressional Research Service is advising Congress through legislative attorneys, Kate M. Manuel and Michael John Garcia “on the scope of the Executive’s discretionary authority over immigration matters, including with respect to the enforcement of immigration-related sanctions and the granting of immigration benefits or privileges.” (”Executive Discretion as to Immigration:  Legal Overview,” November 10, 2014, R43782)

The precedent has already been set in 2012 following the “executive initiative” known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) when children brought unlawfully to the United States by their parents were granted “deferred action” and work permit. These young people perhaps voted in the 2012 election.

Critics viewed this executive order as an “abdication of the Executive’s duty to enforce the laws” and violated specific requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

Proponents of DACA saw the executive order as lawful discretionary authority conferred on the President by the Constitution and the federal statute.

The authors mention President Obama’s June 2014 announcement that he would strive “to fix as much of our immigration system as I can on my own.” Here are some of the elements of discretionary authority the President has as described by Manuel and Garcia:

-          The President has “broad discretion” to give relief benefits such as work permits and temporary protected status to foreign nationals

-          INA allows the waiver of application requirements so that a foreign national can be eligible for benefits

-          INA gives the President “parole authority,” allowing aliens to physically enter or remain in the country “without their entry or presence being considered ‘admission’ for immigration purposes”

-          The Executive has a “degree of independent authority” to decide whether to prosecute “apparent violations of federal law”

-          The Executive has “Discretion in interpreting and applying immigration law”

Congress was granted the power to legislate under Article I of the Constitution.  Congress exercised this power in regard to immigration by enacting the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).  INA provides rules about:

-          Admission of foreign nationals into the U.S.

-          Conditions of continued presence in the U.S.

-          Eligibility of foreign nationals to obtain employment and public benefits

-          Adjust immigration status

-          Become U.S. citizen

-          Mechanisms to enforce the above rules

-          Removal of aliens found in the U.S. illegally or in violation of the authorized admission

-          Criminal penalties for immigration violations

According to the authors, INA expresses or implies some discretionary authority on the executive branch in regards to immigration enforcement such as:

-          Granting of “certain types of benefits or relief to qualifying aliens who lack lawful immigration status”

-          Immigration officials waiver of certain statutory restrictions, allowing ineligible aliens to receive immigration benefits (via asylum, temporary protected status, or cancellation of removal)

-          The Executive can use its independent discretion in enforcing the law

Article II of the Constitution requires the Executive to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” The authors believe that the “executive branch has historically been seen as having some discretion (commonly known as prosecutorial or enforcement discretion) in determining when, against whom, how, and even whether to prosecute apparent violations of the law.” (p. 3)

The CRS report discusses three types of discretion that the Executive has in regards to immigration:

1.       Express delegations of discretionary authority (granting of benefits and relief to aliens)

-          Temporary protected status to those who “cannot be safely returned to their home countries”  due to armed conflict, earthquake, flood, drought, epidemic, environmental disaster, have been “continuously physically present” in the U.S., and pay a “registration fee required by the executive branch”

-          Work authorization to legally work in the U.S.  (Who will create jobs to fill the need for the already unemployed Americans and the need of millions of illegals with work authorization?)

-          Statutory waivers of restrictions on benefits or relief

-          Waivers of grounds of inadmissibility (aliens who have committed serious crimes,  fraud, misrepresentation, and those previously deported)

-          Parole (waving certain grounds of inadmissibility; parolees can still be granted work authorization) (p. 11)

2.       Discretion in enforcement (prosecutorial or enforcement discretion) – the Executive can decide: “Whether to commence removal proceedings and the nature of the particular charges to lodge against an alien”

“Whether to cancel a Notice to Appear or other charging document before jurisdiction vests with an immigration judge”

“Whether to appeal an immigration judge’s decision or order”

3.       Discretion in interpreting and applying statutes

If the intent of Congress is interpreted as “silent or ambiguous,” according to the authors,” the executive branch must fill in any ‘gaps’ implicitly or explicitly left by Congress in the course of administering congressional programs.”

An example of such gaps is ‘derivatives,’ “noncitizen spouses or children of alien beneficiaries, who can immigrate with the so-called principal whom they accompany.” (p. 21)

The most important question which remains to be answered is how many millions of illegal aliens will qualify for executive discretionary amnesty and will be allowed to remain permanently in the United States, receive work permits, benefits, and eventual citizenship, competing with the already huge block of unemployed, low and high skilled Americans? Additionally, how would such millions be absorbed seamlessly into the fabric of our society without permanently altering the character of who we are and the respect for the rule of law? Will they accept our culture and our language? There was obviously no respect for our borders since they were here illegally. Will this discretionary amnesty encourage an unstoppable chain migration?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. David J. Bobb spoke to the Republican Women of Clifton

“No oppressed people will fight, and endure, as our fathers did, without the promise of something better, than a mere change of masters.”  

-  Abraham Lincoln, January 1861, Fragment on the Constitution and the Union

 

Dr. David J. Bobb
Photo: Ileana Johnson

The Republican Women of Clifton hosted at their October 15, 2014 meeting Dr. David J. Bobb, President of the Bill of Rights Institute. Founded in 1999 as a 501(c) non-profit, the organization is “focused on providing educational resources on America’s Founding documents and principles for teachers and students of American History and Civics.”

With a vision to shape knowledgeable citizens with values and skills to exercise their God-given rights and responsibilities in order to maintain a free society, the Bill of Rights Institute educates young people about America’s Founders, the liberties guaranteed in our Founding documents, and how these principles are relevant today.

Dr. Bobb worked with Hillsdale College for 12 years and realized how malleable high school students are and how important it is to teach them what it means to be an American.

He compared the status quo of our country with the Office of Personnel Management, a dinosaur staffed by 600 people who bureaucratize all the paperwork necessary for federal employees to retire. The work is done entirely by hand, at great expense to the taxpayers, in windowless offices in a cave in Pennsylvania. People are crabby because they never see the sunlight. One employee finally quit, taking a job in handling explosives.

The American people are in that cave where the situation is so dark and dim, that taking a job as an explosives handler seems like a happier alternative. We are a nation “mired in debt,” and our economy is choked by a myriad of regulations under the control of progressives who are sclerotizing economic activity, in a schizophrenic state of affairs that dominates our political landscape.

Dr. Bobb’s organization is in touch with 35,000 teachers of the 120,000 teachers in the nation who teach “what used to be called Civics,” now called Social Studies, a substitution that treats the Declaration of Independence as an old artifact that has no bearing in your daily life, it is just a dusty museum piece.

The Constitution has become a “living document,” accountability is no longer present. Congress rubber stamps anything the administration throws their way. Congress has created a system of confusion and disorder, a lack of sense of reason, with a “mindboggling complexity made possible by a Constitutional illiteracy.”

The Constitution has become irrelevant, an obstacle to be overcome, an afterthought which prompted a college professor to write that there is no reason why we should abide by and be governed by a Constitution written by a bunch of dead white guys. “It is no taken seriously as a controlling document. You don’t take the structure that has been set up seriously.” That is the way academics treat it, Dr. Bobb said.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, when asked by Egyptian officials, recommended as a model the South African Constitution, a very complex and lengthy document, 100 pages or more, with a section on “rights” longer than our entire U.S. Constitution. The South African Constitution promises a right to education, health care, and a job, all the progressive utopia which is so appealing to our young people today.

MTV reached out to young people through Rock the Vote, using rockers and rappers to promise students that, if they vote, they can vote their way into prosperity. The reality is that young people, some of whom have yet to graduate, are saddled with $1.2 trillion in college debt, no job security, just a verbal con job. Why not “Teach the Vote” and “Reason the Vote?”

Young people can sense that something is wrong but they are not blaming the administration or the progressivism that created their economic situation. They are not seeing the real culprits because they’ve been told that the deck is stacked against them since 1980 when Howard Zinn wrote his book, The People’s History of the United States, a sort of Bible for Hollywood A-listers who shamelessly quote from it to young audiences with brains full of mush. Young people are shaped to work in activism for the left, in social justice, and schools groom and churn out students for activist causes.

Dr. Bobb does not think counter-curriculum control is the solution and the most effective way to reverse the trend. Students have to learn how to think and how to become careful evaluators of history.

Outlines of history classes are huge, sometimes 94 pages long, leaving no time for George Washington, resulting in neglect of important topics. And who decides what the important topics and standards are? Progressive standards in education neglect human nature, the fact that teaching is an art.

Dr. Bobb explained that the default setting of young people is progressivism. How can we get them to think and question the way in which they are brought up, he asked. Often they don’t even realize that they are progressives. They have no sense of history. What does it mean to be human, to be good, to be great, and to really connect with other people?

The Bill of Rights Institute advocates for a non-political curriculum developed from primary source documents with professional development programs for 21,000 teachers so far from all 50 states.

© Ileana Johnson Paugh 2014