Political Pistachio

Founders Despised Foreign Influence and International Polities

By Douglas V. Gibbs

The fledgling United States existed in a world of empires. Trade with the former English Colonies was highly sought, but the empires of Europe believed control over trade with the former English Colonies would be better. While recognized as a sovereign and independent country after the Treaty of Paris in 1783, it was a common belief that the new system of government that lacked a wise and powerful aristocracy would never survive. Britain was certain the wayward colonials would regret their separation from the empire, and waited patiently for the petulant Americans to beg for readmittance to British protection. Other European powers sought building their own imperial influence in the New World, and convincing some of the States, if not all of them, in the fledgling union to join their ranks resided among their possible scenarios. The attitude seemed to be, “if you can’t beat them, they won’t last long on their own anyway and when they begin to waver, control them through agreements, alliances, or an iron fist.”

George Nicholas, the first statesman of the Kentucky region, during his growth as a political figure, came to appreciate and defend the sovereignty of the western regions. Influenced by the debates of the Virginia Ratifying Convention, where they argued against foreign influence, and treaties that might give European powers an excuse to tamper with American Sovereignty, the concept of localism and the opportunity for communities to grow and thrive with as little outside influence as possible became one of the major themes of his writings and political speeches.

During the Constitutional Convention in 1787 the importance of isolating the fledgling republic’s interests from the deep-pocketed old alliances in Europe served as a primary consideration. While Alexander Hamilton argued that intertwining America’s system with the Europeans was a necessary action if the United States was to survive on the worldwide stage, others recognized the importance of remaining separated from Europe as much as possible, dealing with Europe only when necessary through situations like trade, or dealing with foreign influences and colonies residing in other parts of the western hemisphere.

The Tories, during the Revolutionary War, and after the end of hostilities with Britain, served as a constant reminder of the dangers of foreign influence, and the reality of such a danger’s existence. The Tories, or Loyalists, remained loyal to the British Crown, and while a majority of them fled to Canada, the Caribbean, or back to Britain upon the end of the war, some remained and were poised to do what they could to sabotage the young country’s internal political functions. It was the Tories who encouraged the delegates at the Philadelphia Federal Convention to engage in heated conversations, calls for safeguards against foreign influence, to seek compromises, and determination that the President of the new country must be a Natural Born Citizen and a minimum fourteen year resident within the United States prior to election.

Anti-Federalists, a group that emerged who were wary of the Constitution and its creation of a larger central government than the one that existed under the Articles of Confederation, were extremely concerned about the corrupting forces that stalked outside the United States, and how they would endeavor to infiltrate the new federal government. During the Virginia Ratifying Convention the Anti-Federalists argued that through treaties, due to the way Article VI. was written, the treaty process could be used to interfere with America’s sovereignty by foreign nations, or alliances and alliance organizations (polities) if allowed to be agreed to without checks installed to ensure that America’s sovereignty remained intact. The Anti-Federalists even called for disallowing foreign buyers to own American real estate. James Madison, at the Virginia Ratifying Convention, argued that State Sovereignty, and oversight by the States through many republican mechanisms, including appointing the U.S. Senators, would serve as adequate protection of the union against foreign influence. The States appointing U.S. Senators allowed the States to maintain oversight over the federal government and highlighted the importance of establishing that the President could only negotiate and sign treaties with other countries, but it was necessary for the Senate to ratify treaties as spelled out in Article II, Section 2 (section that came to be known as the “Advice and Consent Clause”). As long as Senatorial ratification of treaties remained intact, and the Senators remained appointed by the State legislatures, treaties would never pose as a significant threat to America’s sovereignty. If ever the Senate was altered, and the Senators were voted in democratically rather than appointed by the States, then treaties may serve to be a dangerous weapon against the United States (a progressive goal that was reached and enacted with the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913).

Madison also argued about the fact that the United States Constitution serves as the Supreme Law of the Land. If ever there was a treaty that placed America’s sovereignty at risk, a constitutional crisis would emerge; allowing other countries or international polities to control America’s interests or actions would not be tolerated since the independence of the United States was protected by the Constitution, the sovereign states would protest, and since the Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land its provisions supersede any international provisions or desires by players on the world stage.

The Framers of the Constitution understood the threat that foreign influence posed, having just broken free from a European empire as it was. Allowing another empire to step in and grab the reins of America’s political structure, or even influence officeholders with gifts and gold, was a serious fear, and they worked constantly to ensure foreign influence was guarded against.

Many of the Founding Fathers were very familiar with European politics. As diplomats, statesmen like Robert Livingston, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson watched first-hand the backroom deals, dramatic plot lines, gift-giving, bestowing titles of nobility on political friends, intermarriage to build alliances, and deceptive mercantilism to control the market. If the United States was to stand apart, and not be sucked into the games of cross-line influence, they needed to make sure it was codified in a document that would protect the country against the corrupting influences of foreign money, foreign power, and foreign ideas like the utopian schemes of leveling, and the collectivistic ideology of the General Will.

The President, therefore, is not a king. The Founding Fathers, fearful of the rise of an authoritarian figure that could rule over the country carefully crafted the role of the President of the United States so that the President is not only not a king, but provided checks against foreign influence. The Presidency was intentionally not designed to carry the same kinds of powers as would a king, and his eligibility was intentionally established to protect against him having divided loyalties. Dual loyalty would open the door for foreign influence to ravage America from the inside if allowed to infest a single person that resides at the top of the governmental hierarchy. The Natural Born Citizen requirement meant that two citizen parents reared the individual who would be President, which would likely mean that the President was raised being taught American ideals, rather than the political ideologies of foreign powers. The “Resident Clause” requires the President to have “been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States,” further souring the likelihood of foreign influence. The emoluments clause in Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution disallows any federal or State officeholder from receiving gifts, monies, favors, or titles of nobility from any foreign power. Impeachment, the ultimate check against a President operating under the influence of foreign interests, could be used as well; but, the Framers also made impeachment difficult so that foreign influence could not easily unseat a President, as well.

Madison’s notes, the Father of the Constitution’s written record of the proceedings during the Constitutional Convention, states that Gouverneur Morris, the man who led the committee that crafted the Preamble to the Constitution, didn’t originally see the necessity of impeachment until he considered the specter of foreign corruption.

“[The Executive] may be bribed by a greater interest to betray his trust; and no one would say that we ought to expose ourselves to the danger of seeing the first Magistrate in foreign pay without being able to guard against by displacing him,” said Morris. “One would think the King of England well secured against bribery. Yet Charles II was bribed by Louis XIV.”

Bribery and the exchange of money and gifts among monarchs in the Old World was rampant, but with a President who could not have taken office unless a Natural Born Citizen (two citizen parents at the time of birth), a resident of the United States for at least fourteen years, the emoluments clause, and congressional impeachment powers in the Constitution, the Founding Fathers believed they had created a strong enough attack against foreign influence. That said, it was understood that corruption is an incredibly powerful beast, and even the most well-crafted safeguards might not be enough.

Edmund Jennings Randolph was confident in the guards provided, verbalizing his praise at the Virginia Ratifying Convention in 1788. He said, “It is impossible to guard better against corruption.”

George Washington during his 1796 farewell address issued a stern warning, recognizing that despite the safeguards against the rise of the toxic influence of foreign governments on the affairs of the young country, said, “Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence… the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government.”

Washington was bombarded with enticing calls of foreign influence during his presidency but resisted the temptation. However, the reality was, as the Framers of the Constitution recognized, the possibility of a corruptible American president was a reality.

The Founding Fathers understood the dangers of Human Nature, recognizing the biblical maxim that all fall short of the Glory of God. We possess a sinful and lustful nature. Therefore, they understood the reality that people’s private ambitions and thirst for more power or money were powerful motivators, and often foreign influence offered to feed those personal ambitions. Human Nature demands strict structures to guard against the unfortunate existence of corruption in politics.

This does not mean that we are not to work with the world at all. We are, after all, in the world. The existence of the world, and our place in it, is a reality regarding our existence. But, as I like to tell my Christian friends, family, and colleagues, while we are in the world, we are not to be of the world.

As a country, sometimes we enter into international treaties for very good reasons. It is necessary to work with allies, and stand against those who stand against liberty, even if it means to be a part of an alliance to accomplish the task. Sometimes, however, we either outlive the purpose of those agreements, the terms are no longer in our best interest (or were not in the first place when the agreement was crafted), or the other players do not honor it as well as we do.

During the presidency of Donald Trump he recognized the necessity of recognizing that international treaties are not to be taken lightly, whipping up questions regarding the validity of international treaty organizations like NATO, and our membership in the United Nations. Trump channeled the voices of the Founding Fathers in a manner that could not be ignored, claiming that policies, agreements and treaties need to take an “America First” position, a timeless principle that dates all the way back to George Washington. In Washington’s famous Farewell Address of 1796 the inaugural President under the Constitution shared his sentiment against foreign entanglements.

“Interweaving our destiny” with others, Washington explained, would “entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice.” While America should pursue economic integration with the world, the United States must maintain strict neutrality in its feuds.

John Quincy Adams repeated Washington’s principles on July 4, 1821, reminding Congress that America “goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.”

In modern history, shortly after the end of World War II, President Harry Truman made a proposal accepted by the public and Congress that it was imperative “to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.”

As the country that launched liberty, and as a country the Founding Fathers believed would be a shining beacon on a hill to be emulated by the world, America took on the responsibility to stand in defense of that liberty throughout the Free World — alone, if necessary. We are in the world, but we are not to be of the world, and when segments of the world is evil we are not to allow that foreign influence to dictate to us, or our allies, we are to ensure that liberty reigns, instead.

The Truman Doctrine established a leviathan of global military assistance on a scale never before seen, leading us into more foreign wars than any other country of the world. America maintains large permanent bases throughout Europe and Asia.

Is that what the Founding Fathers intended when they established guards against foreign influence? Is not the United States seeking foreign entanglements when we endeavor to be the policemen of the world? While Truman’s policies may have seemed necessary in a dangerous world, are those policies still necessary today? The conditions, one must admit, that gave rise to those doctrines no longer exist. Europe and Asia has emerged beyond the chaos and destruction of World War II. Territorial invasions on a continental scale as we saw during the first half of the twentieth century have largely vanished. New conflicts have arisen, but the United States is no longer the sole prosperous country in a world bankrupted by war.

Washington’s advice feels relevant again. Foreign entanglements may not be in our best interest. While I support the idea of peace through strength, war has changed its face and putting boots on the ground may not be in the best interest of American interests.

Rather than a global conflict on battlefields across the oceans, we are faced with invaders at our borders, and Chinese communists marching down the halls of our technology infrastructure. While we feed money into international polities like NATO and the United Nations, our citizens are being displaced in the workforce by globalization and illegal aliens. A worldwide love of communism has risen out of the ashes of the Cold War, and a large segment of our politicians have bought into the enemy’s plot. Yet, we continue to fuel international polities that no longer have purpose, but are populated by countries who are no longer our allies, and openly proclaim hostility against American ideals. The Cold War has passed, and a new world war has emerged.

The Free World has fallen, and we have become the last bastion of liberty on the planet. International polities and foreign influence, as it was nearly two hundred and fifty years ago, has become a primary danger, once again. We live in a world of empires, but not European empires as was the case during the time that America was forged into existence, but technology empires and globalist schemes by people who continue to chase the communist dreams of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and Joseph Stalin (even though they won’t admit it). A Soviet Winter is on the rise, assisted by Islam and a new version of Sodom and Gomorrah. If we are to survive, a return to the original foundational principles, as they were established, is necessary. Otherwise, the American Experiment ends, and the bold thinking of the Founding Fathers will be lost.

— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

Same Old Judicial Schemes

By Douglas V. Gibbs

Political Parties in America were a new occurrence during the 1790s. Alexander Hamilton believed the Constitution did not create a powerful enough federal government and set out through his political party, The Federalist Party, to expand the reach of the new general government. True federalists disagreed with Hamilton’s schemes, making the only thing “federalist” about his new political party was the fact that the word “Federalist” was in its name. Considering what Hamilton was really seeking was a large National Government, if named honestly it would have been the Nationalist Party.

In response to Hamilton’s political party creation, Thomas Jefferson launched his own party, the Republican Party. The Jeffersonian Republicans (not the GOP of today) were determined to keep the federal government within the provisions of the United States Constitution as much as possible. Ironically, the Jeffersonian Republican Party would eventually be transformed into the Democratic-Republicans, and ultimately into the Democratic Party who, today, has more in common with Hamilton’s Federalist Party than Jefferson’s Republican Party.

The Federalist Party only achieved one presidency, the John Adams Administration, the second presidency during the history of the United States after the Constitution went into effect, and the first presidency that only lasted one term. After Thomas Jefferson took the presidency in 1801, after a very contentious 1800 Presidential Election, he fired the Federalist Party members of the bureaucracy, reduced America’s National Debt, and led the country into a new span of years that would come to be known as the Era of Good Feelings. By the 1820s, the Federalist Party had fizzled into the annals of history, and the big government Hamiltonian schemes of the past were set aside…for a while.

When the presidency finally electorally landed in the Jefferson camp, President John Adams (a great revolutionary, but a lousy President with Hamilton whispering in his ear) and his obedient Congress under a Federalist Party majority for the last time in history, took advantage of the very long lame-duck session that lasted until Jefferson’s inauguration in March in order to solidify the big government ideology in the judiciary since they were losing both Houses of Congress, and the presidency. The number of justices on the Supreme Court was reduced by one so that if one of the Supreme Court Justices were to die or resign during Jefferson’s presidency the new President would not be able to appoint a new judge. Then, using a scheme now known as the “Midnight Judges,” Adams and his compliant Congress drastically expanded the entire court system. Under the new Judiciary Act of 1801, passed in February of 1801, the number of Circuit Court and District Court seats was doubled, over forty new justices of the peace for the District of Columbia were created, power in the courts was shifted to strengthen the Circuit Courts, and effective only under Adams the President was given more control over appointing Judges. The Jeffersonian Republicans, however, had pulled off a massive trifecta, and the Congress under a Republican majority repealed the act and abolished all of the new judgeships, once Jefferson was in the President’s House (later dubbed The White House). However, the damage had been done with the appointment of John Marshall as Chief Justice, who would use three and a half decades to establish judicial review, the ability of the courts to broadly interpret the Constitution and the laws of the United States, and expand the concept of Federal Supremacy way beyond what the Constitution originally intended. The whole affair led Jefferson to write, “The principal [leaders of the political opposition] have retreated into the judiciary as a stronghold, the tenure of which renders it difficult to dislodge them.”

During the Antebellum Period attempts to strengthen national control over the lower courts failed, but the tide turned during the War Between the States. Using the unconstitutional scheme of Emergency War Powers, and the excuse of the war to increase federal authority during Reconstruction, the new Republican Party, which at the time sought to expand the power of the federal government, rather than reduce it as seems to be the goal of many members of the GOP today, increased national control over the regional courts. The Congress of the time battled over the idea of weakening the courts to better achieve their legislative desires without judicial interference, while attempting to grant more power to favorable justices in the hopes of strengthening federal power over the States.

During the dawn of 1861 legislation was used to increase the power of the attorney general over the federal courts, providing to the attorney general the power to supervise lower court officers and finances. Immediate resistance was applied by opponents, so in 1862 Congress strengthened the Court of Claims, making the judgments in cases of claims against the government reviewable by the Supreme Court and eliminating the right to appeal to Congress. The move sought to divorce the federal court system’s subservience to Congress, constitutionally established by the Exceptions Clause. In the name of population equality, circuit court lines were also shifted, strengthening the politics of the population centers in each of the federal judicial regions which would ultimately lead to reducing the number of circuit courts in the South. By 1871 the Office of the Attorney General had been reorganized and the Department of Justice was recreated, and circuit court lines were once again moved around to break any southern hold on the Supreme Court.

During Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Presidency he had to deal with the Great Depression and a federal court system that often responded in opposition to his New Deal ideas. Prior to the New Deal almost all public social welfare spending, or what contemporaries called “relief,” was provided by local governments, and Roosevelt sought to nationalize those efforts, and to increase federal authority across the board in the name of providing relief and the common good. After Roosevelt’s electoral win in 1936 he proposed a bill to reorganize the federal judiciary. The bill would add a new Supreme Court justice each time a current justice turned 70 and failed to retire. This plan became known as “court packing” and shocked the country when it was introduced in February 1937. Roosevelt’s enthusiasm behind the scheme never seemed to convince Congress to go for it, but in the end Roosevelt conveniently outlasted his judicial opposition with seven of the nine Supreme Court justices conveniently dying or resigning shortly after.

Over the last few decades Republican Presidents have enjoyed the luxury of appointing new federal judges than have the Democrats. Despite the GOP’s run, the judiciary is about 70% in line with the progressive left. The Supreme Court, however, largely thanks to appointments by President Donald Trump, and the longevity of Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, leans the other way. Facing the possibility of a win by Trump in the Election of 2024, despite all of their efforts to eliminate him through lawfare, and other means, the Democratic Party has come to the conclusion that if they are to survive another revival of conservative politics they need to get control of the United States Supreme Court.

History is clear: the ideologies that seek expanding the powers of government, when they believe their power is threatened or they seek to justify their tyrannical positions, go after the judiciary; especially when the judges are not exactly agreeing with them as they would hope.

The monarchs of Europe used the courts, and the state religion, to solidify and justify their power. The Founding Fathers pursued the concept of a Separation of Powers, and enshrined the establishment clause in the First Amendment, for exactly that reason. An independent judiciary with justices not influenced by election or political pressure from the other parts of government, or the public, were more likely to remain in tune with the rule of law than what had been going on in Old World Europe.

In the United States, however, with the absence of an established church, the tyrants have found it to be incredibly difficult to control the churches of America (though they have convinced some denominations to be allies), so like Adams, the Reconstructionists, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, today’s purveyors of expanded government power are convinced that the courts must be completely in their favor. If there are judges who do not comply, then the members of the political faction seeking power will devise ways to either reduce the authority of their opposition, outnumber them, or remove them completely.

The Democratic Party through President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, in the name of preserving democracy, are seeking to impose term limits and a code of conduct on the Supreme Court while also drafting limits on presidential immunity. Their desire for Supreme Court reform is reminiscent of past attempts by President John Adams and the Federalist Party, the Reconstruction Republican Congress, and FDR as he pursued his New Deal agenda. As Mark Twain once remarked, “History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.”

Biden recently wrote that the court daring to rule in a manner that opposes Democratic Party positions, “…undermines the public’s confidence in the court’s decisions, including those impacting personal freedoms. We now stand in a breach.”

According to White House officials, President Biden will call on Congress to impose term limits and a code of conduct on the Supreme Court while also drafting limits on presidential immunity.

The problem for them, despite their reluctance to admit it, is that the Constitution has something to say about their plans.

In terms of immunity, the United States Supreme Court came to a largely constitutionally accurate ruling, establishing that the President is immune from criminal prosecution after his presidency ends regarding alleged crimes committed while in office. According to the final paragraph of Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution, the only way to indict, and punish, a President for in-office crimes after the President’s term has ended would be if that same President had been impeached and convicted by the Senate for the same offense before leaving office. Otherwise, once the President is no longer in office, the President shall enjoy the privilege of immunity.

When it comes to a “code of conduct,” there is no power granted by the Constitution that allows Congress, or the Executive Branch, to impose a code of conduct on the judiciary. If judges have committed crimes, violated the ethical nature of their office, or otherwise maladministered the duties of their position, then impeachment is available to remove the judge from his or her position.

As for term limits, when it comes to the Supreme Court, Biden wants to impose a term limit of 18 years for justices. Once fully adopted, it would allow presidents to appoint new justices at a cadence of once every two years. With faith that their election fraud will keep a Democrat in office indefinitely, or that Republican Presidents will only achieve the presidency on occasion and with only one term, that would eventually weed out the conservative justices and give the Democrats the super-majority on the Supreme Court they have been enjoying in the inferior court system. Such a change, however, would require an amendment to the Constitution since in Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution judges are afforded the opportunity to “hold their Offices during time of good Behaviour;” an amendment I doubt three-quarters of the States would ratify. As it stands now, as long as judges are not impeached for bad behavior, they may hold their office as long as they desire until death or resignation. Term limits and the election of justices were not provided for the Judicial Branch specifically so that ideologies could not influence judicial decisions by pressuring the bench through political schemes, the reality that their term may be nearly at an end, or for fear of not being reelected.

In short, the Democrats seek to act against the guardrails provided by the Constitution to preserve our federal republic in the name of strengthening their perception of the guardrails of a fair government under their control in order to preserve democracy. They argue that faith in the Supreme Court has waned because the high court has sided with the Constitution, rather than their authoritarian schemes. While I don’t believe that their current attack on the courts will go anywhere with the current Congress, if after November the Democrats achieve the presidency and a majority in both Houses of Congress they will without a doubt fundamentally change America’s judicial branch to fit their own authoritarian will.

— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

Constitutional and Christian Worldview

by Douglas V. Gibbs

Political partisanship is at an all-time high, or at least that is what it seems to be to the casual observer. History reveals that the eternal battle between good and evil has emerged many times before, and on the American front in a similar manner as we are seeing today.

In other words, “this is nothing new.”

During a number of presidencies, including the John Adams presidency only a decade after the Constitution had gone into effect, under the guise of the Alien and Sedition Act, the courts have been weaponized, the opposition has been demonized, and the government has even gone as far as arresting and jailing those who dared to oppose the administration. Assassinations have rocked the country time and time again, and fears that we are losing our moral compass have raised their heads repeatedly. In 1662 the Christian establishment even went so far as to adopt a policy called the “Halfway Covenant,” watering down the biblical message in the hopes of attracting more people to attend church. The move was a disaster, and it wasn’t until Jonathan Edwards in 1734 began preaching about the truth of sin, and our just and angry God, that the moral compass began to point in a more moral direction; launching what ultimately became known as The Great Awakening.

The lessons of history are clear; biblical truth must be integrated into American culture if we are to remain a virtuous society, and being a virtuous society is necessary for constitutional principles to remain in place and for America’s foundation of liberty and economic free market to thrive and succeed. In short, politics must be applied through the lens of the Constitution, and the principles of the Constitution must be recognized as existing hand in hand with the principles of Christianity and a caring God who provided to all of us our Natural Rights.

Our Natural Rights were given to us by our Creator, and as stated in the Declaration of Independence they are tied to the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God. Our Natural Rights, in other words, operate as a part of the natural order of things. God created nature, and our rights, and together they work in harmony; they are self-evident because they are the truth. When we set aside the rule of man, and we embrace the rule of law, we know what is right and wrong, what our responsibilities are as a member of a free society, and which way the moral compass is supposed to point. If we abandon those things, we begin to wander into darkness.

Even though the Constitution is rooted in a Christian moral framework, our rebellious nature which is intertwined with our human nature, if unchecked, is willing to unwind the truth and fill it with rebellion not only against God, but against liberty. The natural order of things becomes rejected, and become replaced by false science and false truths. In an effort to kill God those who embrace the rule of man wind up killing liberty, and ultimately civilization.

The fact that the success of the American Experiment is rooted in the principles of the United States Constitution, and that the Constitution is rooted in the moral principles of Christianity, reveals the reality that regardless of the faith of those who participate in the American System, adherence to a moral foundation based on godly principles is necessary to maintain the success of America’s society — which means that if we are going to, as President Donald Trump puts it, “Make America Great Again,” we need to get our biblical house in order. How can we get our political house in order if we are not right with God? Political stability is dependent upon having a moral culture and a society that follows a specific moral and biblically virtuous standard.

The preservation of a moral foundation and virtuous society against a potential tyranny that chases the rule of man, rather than the rule of law, is exactly why the Founding Fathers saw it fit to include in the United States Constitution the enumerated rights of the First Amendment. To continue to succeed as a system based on liberty we require religious freedom. In order to maintain religious freedom we must enjoy and preserve our God-given freedoms of speech and of the press which were specifically written into the Constitution to secure the freedom of political and religious speech; the very kinds of speech the hard left collectivist progressives are trying to silence. And, if our religious freedoms as well as our freedoms of speech and of the press are to be preserved, then our ability to assemble freely and to freely associate with those who agree with our political and religious beliefs must follow. And, when we are able to practice our religion freely, speak freely, report freely, and assemble freely, then it gives us the opportunity to petition the government for a redress of grievances and change or sharpen our governmental institutions as are needed to continue to secure those rights enumerated in the First Amendment. It all ties together. They are dependent upon each other. If we lose access to just one of those rights, it puts the entire gamut at risk.

What if, however, our government becomes so tyrannical that those freedoms begin to become compromised, unraveling like a ball of twine, as we are seeing in today’s political environment? What do we do, then?

The obvious answer that reveals itself is the Second Amendment. That does not mean, however, that if we don’t get what we want we begin to shoot the place up. The Founding Fathers did not go into the revolutionary era with the expectation of an armed conflict. They worked through the system, strategically applying their knowledge of their Natural Rights and English Law. Being armed was not to be viewed as an open threat, but as insurance to keep the tyrants honest (or at least less tyrannical than they’d like to be). It became an armed revolution not because the Founding Fathers desired it to be, but because the British pushed the discussion beyond its peaceful foundation and into an armed conflict. At that point the insurance policy of the right to keep and bear arms became active, or I suppose you could say the policy matured and was cashed in. The need to be armed became as clear as it could be. Without the right to keep and bear arms the journey towards independence would not have been possible.

In short, while we must never be the ones who begins any violent confrontations, but if the enemies of liberty push the envelope too far and engage in their own violent campaign, those working to preserve liberty would be obligated to respond in kind.

Our motivations and belief system must be in line with what it was in the beginning. The Christian influences upon the creation of the Constitution, and the foundational principles of biblical and Natural Rights that led to the writing of the Declaration of Independence, must be the foundation of our own movements in today’s topsey-turvey world. God’s plan and the principles of liberty and a free market must be absorbed into everything we do; and we need to be on the same page with this. Movements don’t flow if the pieces are not flowing in the same direction and working together to piece together the strategies and tactics. We must be true to the old maxim, “United We Stand.”

The reality is that the enemy lies, they deceive, and as we saw with the assassination attempt of Donald Trump, they are even willing to kill to achieve their goals. They believe that the ends justify the means, and we must be aware of that. They will play deceptive word games, doing what they can to kill the truths of history, providing misrepresentations of history, and even killing proper representations of history as they did with Keven Costner’s “Horizon” movie (which flopped not because it was not a good movie, I saw it and was stunned by its brutal honesty, but because the media killed it before it got out the gate with poor reviews and claims it must be a flop because they were appalled by the truthful telling of our complex history and contentious journey westward into and across the American Frontier).

They have done all they can to discredit history and the truth, and attack Christian-influence on all political and social issues. They attack things like they attacked ivermectin during the scamdemic. Ivermectin was not attacked and disallowed to be prescribed because there was something wrong with it. It was attacked simply because Trump spoke favorably about it. They do everything they can to oppose who they consider their enemy, and since God has been perceived as being among their greatest enemies in the current battle for the soul of America, they must attack anything and everything that would support God’s hand on humanity. Therefore, the family, the natural order of things, sexuality, and even how one is identified must be attacked. God must be, from their point of view, destroyed and the only way to destroy God is to oppose everything that is associated with God, or His Creation. Therefore, they attack truth, and claim that man’s truth that they invent as they go is the absolute truth; and that God’s truth is a lie. They teach that boys can be girls and girls can be boys; men may lie with men and women may lie with women; men can become pregnant; parents have no rights over their children, especially when it comes to their education or personal feelings; babies in the womb are not people and can be slaughtered in the womb in the name of reproductive rights; and a minor gas called carbon dioxide is warming the planet despite science that says otherwise, but natural phenomena associated with the Sun and other natural events have nothing to do with the changing temperatures we experience on Earth. If you want to save the planet, all you must do is succumb to communism.

If we are going to stop the downward slide towards tyranny, and destruction, it is critical that we become actively involved in civics, and that begins with learning and applying constitutional principles, and that begins with education. Understand that our duties here are not simply because they are required in order to preserve liberty. From a biblical standpoint, considering that we are fully aware that evil is on the march, it is our religious duty to fight the good fight. To be apathetic or complacent when confronted by evil as we are today would be, to put it frankly, the committance of the sin of omission. Knowing what we know, it is our duty to step up and stand tall as a patriot and godly warrior, ensuring that our country remains on the right track with an alignment with Christian principles and American ideals.

We must, as Americans who understand and believe in the original principles of the Constitution, and a godly worldview, align our actions with biblical and constitutional principles. We must, as I like to say, put legs on our prayers, and walk the walk. The enemy is not only at the gate, they are taking aim at killing us and those who we recognize as our political leaders. While I am not calling for retaliation or some kind of vicious response to the evil we are confronted with, I am calling for a strong and united front based on who we are, what we believe, and where we know this country needs to be.

Donald Trump, after being shot at, and surviving by mere millimeters, did not cower and hide, but came up with his fist raised and his voice loud and clear. “Fight, Fight, Fight.”

Liberty requires it.

— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

Strange Days & Violent Revolutionaries

By Douglas V. Gibbs

Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host

Last year Tucker Carlson predicted there would be an assassination attempt against Donald J. Trump, and he was mocked because the Democrats claim they are not the violent ones.

“If you begin with criticism, then you go to protest, then you go to impeachment, now you go to indictment and none of them work. What’s next? Graph it out, man. We’re speeding towards assassination, obviously. … They have decided — permanent Washington, both parties have decided — that there’s something about Trump that’s so threatening to them, they just can’t have him,” Carlson said in an interview.

Earlier this year, Alex Jones also voiced a prediction that an assassination attempt against Trump was inevitable.

Two weeks ago on my KMET Constitution Radio Program I predicted that the Democrats have no option other than to eliminate Trump, after I also blogged the possibility (“jailing, or worse“).

The Democrats and their allies have reacted like they did over the sudden exposure of the lack of mental acuity of Joe Biden. On the surface everyone knew that a public attempt on Trump’s life was on the horizon except the Democrats, who are now running around as if they are shocked that one of their own could act in such a violent manner. The truth is, just like they knew all along that Biden’s mental health is compromised, they knew that their minions are capable (and encouraged) of committing violence. Theirs is a revolution, after all, fueled by a desire to win at all costs. They desire deep down that Trump is killed before he can expose them for the authoritarian tyrants that they are. They lie and they deceive. Nothing they say or do can be trusted. Everything is a production. Deception is the primary offensive weapon they wield. After all, they have a narrative to protect; one that has been carefully crafted and designed to convince you that the true violent, gun-toting, authoritarian enemy of America is Trump and anyone who remotely supports him; which includes the GOP, Christianity, and any other group or individual who dares to oppose their lust for fundamentally transforming the United States into a socialist aristocracy run by them and their power-thirsty accomplices.

One wonders if the enemy has infiltrated Trump’s camp, since the shooter was pointed out by a rally-attendee and yet was overlooked until the shots rang out. In defiance, after a bullet grazed his ear, Trump raised his fist and shouted, “Fight, Fight, Fight.” Afterwards, Trump thanked those who were around him when the attempt happened. What saved his life is that he turned his head to the right when the bullet was sent his way.

Questions have been raised about Trump’s security, and their failures during what happened. How is it that all buildings on the perimeter around President Trump were thoroughly secured? Was there a lack of resources? Did they somehow miss the building the shooter was on? Why were there gaps in the security preparation?

A little over two hours prior to the attempt on Donald Trump’s life by a shooter I think was likely hired by the deep state, ~~and a member of Antifa (a fact, should you look “Mark Violets Antifa” up on Google, is already being deceptively claimed as being a conspiracy theory by “rightwing extremists”~~) (*editor’s note: While Mark Violets was originally identified as the shooter in some corners of the internet, later it was provided by law enforcement that the shooter was 20 year old Thomas Matthew Crooks) in an unrelated event I began my radio program only to be kicked off of SKYPE (of which I was using to connect with the radio station) and not allowed to sign back in. Then, my phone went to “emergency calls only” mode.

A little over a week ago a BBC Host said, “Hey, Biden, hurry up and have former President Trump murdered.”

The Democrats, and the Bidens, have made it clear, they’d rather burn the White House than be forced to abandon their seat of power.

We have leftists trying to blow up electrical substations, are killing their own families, Democrat controlled executive departments targeting conservatives, are opening Americans up to violence by illegal invaders, and have been committing voter fraud (one case where Utah ballots were sent out of State). They have been working to create fear among Trump supporters, and have falsely labeled Trump and his supporters as being fascists, White Supremacists, and violent insurrectionists. Then, they weaponized the courts and attacked Trump with over 90 indictments. As a result, Trump has become more popular, and the defeat of the Democrats, even if they try to cheat to win, is becoming inevitable.

They have no where else to turn, and this will not be the final attempt on Trump’s life.

And then, when they don’t succeed in killing Trump, they will turn on Americans. Violence against Trump’s supporters is next. Be careful out there, the enemy is in revolution mode.

— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

Patriots of Independence Day

By Douglas V. Gibbs
Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host

A Harvard Study determined that Independence Day makes more Republicans. It was as if they were disappointed. Do they actually had our patriotic holiday that commemorates the birth of our country through the Declaration of Independence? It is true, people feel a little more American on Independence Day. And, I suppose, during that moment of clarity they begin to realize where their politicians lie on the patriotism scale, and that perhaps the ideals America stands for are worth celebrating and supporting.

Patriotism angers Democrats. Some lefties go so far as to endorse a “F**k the Fourth” line of thinking when it comes to our country’s Independence Day birthday. Liberty so angers Democrats and their Marxist allies that they’ve come to the conclusion that the American Flag is a racist, hateful, and oppressive symbol of extremism.

The term “American Exceptionalism” also angers Democrats. They consider it as being something that possesses a bit of arrogance. God angers Democrats. Morality angers Democrats. Even the simplest rules of biology gets them all bent out of shape. Marxism has indoctrinated them to chase after the most idiotic stuff so much that pretty much everything American angers the Democrat Progressive Lefty Communist crazies out there — which makes me think that Independence Day must render them damn-near catatonic.

Happy Independence Day, God Bless America, and let’s rally behind either getting Donald Trump elected to the presidency in 2024, or stopping the downward spiral into communism (the first might be necessary to achieve the second, I think).

I can hear the lefty libtard heads exploding from here.

You can be a fan of Trump and his boisterous version of Republican Party antics, or don’t like him, I don’t care. In the end you have to admit it is funny watching the lefty Democrats get all bent out of shape over a single person. It amazes me how much rage they launch into over a man who, before 2016, they were likely a fan of.

Always remember: Our Rights Come from God, and the natural order of things is what our natural rights are based upon. The truths of natural law are obvious, apparent, and self-evident. We know that boys are boys and girls are girls, fossil fuels are what powered us to greatness in the first place and to abandon oil would collapse our entire system, the climate changes naturally (not due to the less than one percent of carbon dioxide we throw into the system), a country without secure borders and strict immigration laws which are executed is not a country, physical currency keeps total control of our economy by tyrants at bay, abortion is another word for murdering babies, voting is a privilege of citizenship and requiring ID to stop fraud is not racist, the current inflation and supply chain problems are a direct result of Democrat Party policies, the high gas prices are due to bad policies that limit domestic production and transportation of oil/fuel, homelessness is out of control because leftist policies encourage it, the best way to preserve life is to make sure every American of a reasonable age is armed without restrictions (keep and bear arms means to own and conceal carry…it’s a God given right that protects us from the type of government that has emerged), the pandemic was a lie designed to make Big Pharma lots of money as well as centralize more power into the hands of government, it is idiotic to think that reparations must be paid by people who never owned slaves to people who were never slaves, systemic racism is a lie perpetuated by a bunch of Marxists who believe they will only get their communist utopia through class conflict, prayer changes things and is not only just fine in the public square — it must be encouraged, support for Israel is a must, and Donald Trump is one of the best Presidents this country has had.

Oh…and…masculinity was exactly what we needed to win the Revolutionary War, and every war since; it makes for a better America. Thank God men were men, and women were women.

Our Anti-American Biden Administration stands against Independence Day, and all it represents. They are doing what they can to erase American greatness from our sight with censorship and the toppling of statues, but in the end they can’t change our hearts.

The Marxist progressive leftist Democrats have revealed they are enemies of the United States. Their belief system is fundamentally opposed to everything America represents.

They reject the fixed principles laid down by the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. They believe that either the Constitution can be twisted as they wish with their interpretation, or that it is an old document that needs replacing. They wish to change America into something the Founding Fathers, and patriots like you and I, never intended.

And today I don’t care what they think. I will celebrate Independence Day as it should be, with pride in America and a longing for a return to the republic created by the Framers of the U.S. Constitution. And, I will cherish the words from the Declaration of Independence, which explains that all men are created equal, and are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights.

In other words, freedom, and opportunity. Liberty and Prayer. Prosperity through a free market, and a system in place that keeps government out of my life as much as possible.

Happy Independence Day.

— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

Trump Train vs. Biden Derailment

By Douglas V. Gibbs

Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host

An amazing thing has happened. History is once again repeating itself. Maybe not in the exact fashion as before, but essentially it is. Now, at this moment in time, on this journey through history, we are at a crossroads; a fork in the road faced many times in history. The choice is ours. Do we step on the path of renewal, or do we trek down the road to tyranny and ruin?

Over two hundred years ago the national-government-minded Federalist Party, which abandoned true federalism the day they became a political party, realized that the limited-government Jeffersonian Republicans were a problem and if Jefferson won during the Election of 1800 he could undo all of their attempts to secure power under one umbrella; theirs. The public was disappointed in the centralized bank, federal intrusion into local issues, and the false claim by the Adams Administration that it was taking care of foreign intrusion when in reality their Alien and Sedition Act was a tool being used to silence their opposition, and even jail and fine anyone who spoke out against the Federalist Party agenda. As public opinion turned against the chaos being caused by the leftists in society, the Federalist Party turned to the courts, weaponizing the judicial branch to go after their enemies and ultimately they used a court-packing scheme that gave them dominance throughout the federal court system. Then, when the election of 1800 arrived, they did everything they could to keep Thomas Jefferson from winning the presidency, and while their guys didn’t win a majority of electoral votes, neither did Jefferson.

In the end the decision landed in the lap of the House of Representatives. Ultimately, thanks to a couple of States who, after nearly three dozen votes that left the Office of the President empty, had members like Congressman Lyons of Vermont who, after feeling the political wrath of the Hamiltonian Federalist Party, voted for Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence became President of the United States.

What followed was the dismantling of the Federalist Party and the power-hungry deep-state. Jefferson fired the Federalist Party allies of the bureaucracy, his Congress worked with him to reverse all of the Hamiltonian laws that were unconstitutional and wreaked of tyrannical policies, and Jefferson worked to reduce the National Debt every year of his presidency except one; the year he needed funding to target the Islamic threat of the Barbary Pirates.

The Presidency of Jefferson led to the demise of the Federalist Party, and ushered in a period known as the Era of Good Feelings. From there, America grew, and liberty proved to be something valuable, successful, and something the world also desired.

Had things gone the other way, with the leftists already showing that they were willing to fine and jail their opposition, the potential was something nobody wanted to think about, and it would have not only been a disaster for the United States, but ultimately for the entire planet.

Today, we are amazed by the inflation caused by Democratic Party policies and monetary system influence by the central bank (Federal Reserve). We have been alarmed by federal intrusion into local issues and the lives of Americans. Foreign illegal immigration is at an all-time high with a foreign invasion that includes persons from countries who are vocal enemies of the United States. The President claims to have policies in place to resolve the issue, but in truth it is being used to target his opposition, largely by making sure that chaos ensues, the rule of law is against the wall, and his administration is playing games that will enable people not eligible to vote to impact the upcoming election. Schemes have been used to silence their opposition, and they’ve even gone as far as to fine and jail their political opponents. As public opinion has turned against them they have turned to the courts, but the United States Supreme Court has not been playing their game as they would hope, so they have begun to attack the high court as well, threatening to pack the court so that they can dominate the court system and use it to maintain their semblance of power. They are doing everything they can to stop Donald Trump from winning the presidency, but it is beginning to look like their efforts are all for naught.

We are at a crossroads; a fork in the road faced many times in history. Do we step on the path of renewal, or do we trek down the road to tyranny and ruin?

Then, the recent CNN debate happened. An old man barely able to keep his eyes open looked so horrible that even the Democrats were alerted to his incompetency. The walls closed in on him during the debate as he stammered, grasping for straws, and then he lied; over and over again.

When Trump brought up Biden’s disaster in Afghanistan, Joe blamed Trump for the debacle, and falsely claimed there were no lives lost. In fact, Biden falsely claims that no lives have been lost during his entire watch as President.

Trump brought up immigration, the issue that led to his successful election in 2016, and Biden claimed the onrush of illegal aliens into the country is Trump’s false, and then falsely claimed his policies were common sense ways of keeping families together. As Biden claims that the illegal aliens are good for the country, the reality is that the criminal element has been killing Americans, and many will be illegally voting in the upcoming election. In the end, Biden’s policies encourages the illegal alien entry into the United States. His policies do not curb the activity no matter how much he claimed that to be the case during the debate.

Meanwhile, despite their majority control of the inferior federal courts, the U.S. Supreme Court is challenging the Democratic Party’s demand for federal control of everything, among the latest being the upending of the Chevron deference. In short, the Supreme Court held up the separation of powers doctrine, explaining the executive branch cannot make their own laws.

Like the Federalist Party in 1800, the Democrats are in panic mode.

As the media lies and does what it can to stop the bleeding, even operating in an obvious manner that defies reality, the Democrats are already beginning to turn on the media claiming that any loss of popularity of the Democrats will be the media’s fault.

We know that the problem is not Biden’s policies because they are somehow solely his ideas; his policies are the policies of the Democratic Party, which means it doesn’t matter who’s in office, they all are a danger to liberty. Biden is simply the guy who is the face of the party at the moment. The Democrats, however, operate largely on perception. They are tyrants, but they yearn to be seen as moderates. The problem is, the best person to give them the look of not being the radicals they truly are is seriously not a man capable of carrying out the responsibilities of the Office of the President of the United States. His lack of mental acuity is not only bad for the Democratic Party, he poses as a threat to national security. To use a little sleight of hand the Democrats have leaned heavily on the issue of abortion, but their position is not as popular with the public as they seem to be telling themselves.

Biden revealed in the debate, and has been revealing all along, that he can only operate for short stints at a time, but despite his shortcomings he is determined to remain in office and in the race during the 2024 Election cycle. In fact, Biden has verbalized that he somehow won support with his debate performance. You can’t fill a vacancy if a vacancy doesn’t materialize, so the Democratic Party has no choice but to support Biden, well knowing that his continuance as the Democratic Party’s candidate will also negatively influence the down-ballot candidates. And, as much as they are trying to distance themselves from Kamala Harris, if Biden stays in, so does Harris. The thing is, the Democrats knew that all of the problems the public now sees clearly existed all along, which is exactly why they’ve been hiding the Hur Report, despite the GOP’s calls for the tapes to be released.

They can’t help themselves. Their arrogance and allegiance to tyranny dooms them to follow the same path of all of the tyrants of history. The Democrats are using the same playbook as all tyrannies in the past. They have shown who they are, and in an effort to secure power they have painted themselves into a corner. They are stuck with Biden, and they have revealed their tyrannical nature and schemes. All there is left for them now is to lose (again) to Trump and regroup, or go full tyranny and expose themselves further as the true tyrants of modern times that they are.

The Democrats and their leftist allies are not roaming the halls of government to defend the constitution, bring down your grocery prices, or make sure the free market works for all Americans. They are in it for one reason, and one reason only. They infest America’s political system because they want total power in their hands.

Despite claiming they have the country’s best interests in mind, they are no different than the Pharaohs of Egypt, the tyrants of Ancient Greece, the Caesars of Rome, the monarchs of the Old World, the Napoleons of France, the Kaisers and NAZIs of Germany, the communists of the Soviet Union and Communist China (and every other communist country) or the tyrants of Islam. They have no interest in honestly debating issues because they can’t win in the arena of ideas. They have gone too far to care about debate. They sit on highways preventing people from getting to an airport or important personal engagements because of their pet causes, they cancel you if you dare say anything that disagrees with their sensitivities, they set fire to cities like Portland and Seattle and then call it a peaceful demonstration, they don’t care if there is a ton of data proving that their Climate Change scam has been proven wrong by real science, they don’t care if there is a ton of data explaining how EV cars are overall more detrimental to the environment than they claim, and they don’t care if nature produces more CO2 than humans and that all of the end-of-the-world climate predictions have never come to be because they don’t understand that those actions are the actions of the pawns of tyrants. They feel rage when you talk because they are mindless tools of a leftist, Marxist, communist takeover of America, and they will threaten you if you dare cross them without even realizing they are clones of the Brown Shirts and Black Shirts of NAZI and communist history. They have been ideologically programmed to hate anything that stands outside the narrative they have been trained to embrace, even if that means completely disregarding truth, facts, or evidence to the contrary of what they’ve been programmed to believe.

There is only power—their power—or at least that is what they’ve been convinced to embrace.

The leftists of the Democratic Party, and their radical allies, claim they seek to preserve democracy, even though we are a republic (see my book, Repeal Democracy, to learn the difference), but the will of the people or following the true rule of law is not inside their realm of interests. Their goal is power through their version of leftism. And controlling the United States is not the end-game. Theirs is a cancer on the body politic that has spread within every Western country, despite the fact that we fought and defeated the same kind of thinking twice (NAZI Germany and the Soviet Union) during the last one hundred years. They don’t see themselves as those tyrants, however, for theirs, in their minds, is a more modern and fair tyranny that improves their poor victimhood lives, while shutting down and silencing anyone who dares to stand against them. Of course, as we know from history, when this kind of tyranny rises, only the lives of the rulers improve. Despite all of their promises and claims, they can’t improve society. Only liberty and the free market improves society as a whole. Theirs is a system of power and tyranny that feeds like a vampire on the lives of the people they claim to be there for, which in the end only improves the lives of the tyrants in charge. In the end, history shows us over and over, that the tyranny being offered by the Democrats is a derailed train that controls all of the levers of power, and destroys economies and societies. They care not what works, they care only to appease their gods of power through communist schemes, climate lies, and anything they can muster that stabs God and Liberty square in the eye.

The Trump Train, however, remains on the tracks, and it frightens them greatly. They have no political answer for him. Biden could not compete with Trump on the debate stage. Using the courts against him has backfired and Trump is more popular than ever. Their bench is shallow, and their patience is short. Their only hope, and I fully expect them to act upon their limited options, is to simply remove Trump, and then begin the process of jailing (or worse) anyone who supported him.

That’s what tyrannies do, history has shown us the truth many times.

Of course, their victory, and death to liberty, is not the only option. Like Thomas Jefferson, I believe we can find a way to stop them, lead them to their demise, and usher in a new Era of Good Feelings. A key to that path not only requires Donald Trump to win in November, but it requires that he has a Congress that allies with him along the way. Our job in that equation is simple. We must simply make it happen with a massive vote and support system that is too big to rig.

— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary