Day: March 1, 2012

The Monied Few

College of Political Knowledge

I detest it when politician and others use the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence as a spring board or as some sort of prop for their campaign…..if they actually knew these documents or the history behind the it would be different but they do not…..they take every opportunity to use them as an attention getter at rallies, townhalls, etc…..

Recently Santorum while talking to a crowd said….”all those brave men and women who wrote these words….’we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor’…..history will tell you that is just wrong……women were not allowed to participate in the writing of that or any other founding document….second, Santorum does not hold to those ideas….just look at his campaign and his words……

How many of you have actually read the Federalist Papers?  All this debate about this issue or that issue is unconstitutional or not……try reading the Papers and you might see what the Founders had in mind when they put together the new American Constitution……for instance, he persuasive power of money in Washington….we all have bitched about it and moaned about it and did you know that it was covered in the Federalist Papers?

Number 62 written by James Madison and he wrote….

To trace the mischievous effects of a mutable government, would fill a volume. I will hint a few only, each of which will be perceived to be a source of innumerable others…

The internal effects of a mutable policy are still more calamitous. It poisons the blessings of liberty itself. It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood: if they be repealed or revised before they are promulg[at]ed, or undergo such incessant changes, that no man who knows what the law is to-day, can guess what it will be to-morrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known and less fixed.

Another effect of public instability, is the unreasonable advantage it gives to the sagacious, the enterprising, and the monied few, over the industrious and uninformed mass of the people. Every new regulation concerning commerce or revenue, or in any manner affecting the value of the different species of property, presents a new harvest to those who watch the change, and can trace its consequences; a harvest, reared not by themselves, but by the toils and cares of the great body of their fellow citizens. This is a state of things in which it may be said, with some truth, that laws are made for the few, not for the many.

Basically Madison observes that every piece of government legislation opens up opportunities for profit by a “sagacious and monied few” to take advantage of their less well-informed fellow citizens.

Does that sound like what you were thinking about the Congress and our illustrious politicians?

While Syria Burns

I am spending a lot of time on the Middle East right now……as a younger man I worked as an analyst/researcher for a Spanish newspaper and spent most of that time in the Middle East…..a lot of time in Jordan, West bank and Syria…..my time in Syria was in and around the town of Halab (city known as Aleppo in the west)….it is located in the northern part of the country…..the Syrian people are warm, inquisitive and friendly….so this war thing going on is a bit personal for me and have decided to write on the situation more than I normally would…..

The West is dancing a careful ballet of diplomacy for if they play this wrong it could lead to a more widespread disasters…..but there is more going on in the country than the 30 second stories reported here in the US and other western countries…….but beyond that there a a couple of stories that show some promise….

A report by Juan Cole……

The Muslim Fundamentalist Palestinian party-militia Hamas, based largely in the Gaza Strip has abruptly broken with its long-time patron, Syria.

The startling development could signal a further evolution of the organization away from violent tactics, and toward a firmer alliance with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar, under the impact of the Arab Spring. In turn that move implies cooler relations with Syria and Iran.

This could be a good sign if you are an optimist…..this could be good for the Israel/Palestine and will limit the amount of support that Assad will get from the group…..

Another interesting turn of events is that al Qeada has issued a statement……this is from an article I located on a site entitled Assyrian International News Agency………

The head of Al Qaeda is calling on Muslims across the Arab world and beyond to support rebels in Syria who are seeking to overthrow President Bashar Assad, and says they cannot depend on the West for help.

A senior Iraqi intelligence official says Al Qaeda-linked fighters already are flowing from Iraq to Syria.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he’s not authorized to brief the media.

Okay, AQ has become almost a toothless viper and is attempting to become relevant again….but keep in mind the the US armed and funded AQ during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan……will the US make the mistake again?

There has been a loud call for jihadists to go to Syria and fight….a similar call went out during the 80’s for Afghanistan…….but they may not be welcomed as they were in Afghanistan…..

Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat- Reports coming in from Syria indicate that the Free Syrian Army has refused utilizing Arab jihadists, some of whom have actually arrived in Syria, in spite of this army’s modest capabilities when compared with the army of the ruling regime.

The opposition “national council” hopes that more military personnel will defect from the regular army to help the free army confront the forces of Al-Assad and end the dictatorial rule in the country with Syrian hands.

We here in the West hear about the Syrian rebels…..but who are the Syrian rebels?

To be honest……NO one is sure who they are…..for the most part they are deserters from the Syrian army, beyond that few know for sure….personally, I do not think that if Assad is overthrown that much will change….you will still have the army in control and we know from past actions…..the army does not like to give up power.

Thoughts?