- by Alan Adaschik

George Carlin said it first and I will repeat what he said; Americans are the most stupid and ignorant people on the planet. I believe this to be true because of all the governments that ever were, ours was the greatest and most precious. It truly was a government of the people, by the people and for the people, which meant that we were blessed with the greatest of all freedoms; the freedom to govern ourselves. No government in the world today, not even the British, can lay claim to this monumental and magnificent distinction. Why are Americans stupid? Because through ignorance and apathy we have allowed those who govern us to slowly rob us of our birthright and turn our government into one where they are in complete control and we are subjects instead of citizens. And most Americans have no clue as to what they have done to us.

When the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was passed in 1994, the Fort Lauderdale news reported the event saying something like this, “putting sovereignty issues aside, the Senate in a near unanimous vote, passed GATT”. Upon reading these words, a chill ran down my spine and my first thought was, what in God’s name is going on. Under our Constitution, Congress has no authority to put sovereignty issues aside. Their oath of office specifically requires them to preserve our sovereignty with every fiber of their beings. As of that moment, I became a citizen activist and also took it upon myself to become a Constitutional scholar.

Upon reading our Constitution, it didn’t take long to realize that the government we were supposed to have no longer exists. In its place is an illegal criminal enterprise enriching itself at our expense. Eventually, on behalf of the voting citizens of this Nation, acting as attorney Pro Se for the plaintiffs, I sued our government over GATT and our resulting membership in the World Trade organization (WTO), but unfortunately, was not successful in my effort.

My intention here is not to discuss GATT and the WTO. I only brought these matters up to demonstrate how long I have been committed to trying to wake up my fellow Americans. I have written two books in this regard, but both remain on the shelf unpublished and gathering dust. Through the years, I also have written hundreds of essays, commentaries, and online postings; all to no avail. Very few people care that we are a subjugated people who no longer govern ourselves and that our elected representatives have stolen one of our most precious and important freedoms. All I have accomplished for my efforts is to make my friends and associates think I am political nut job who is not playing with a full deck of cards. The bitter irony in this is that, while no one who reads my material can show me where I am wrong or refute what I am saying, it has no relevance for them because they are “doing just fine”.

The problem is that as nation we are not doing just fine. Our borders are dissolving, we are fighting a war of imperialism that has nothing to do with our interests or security, the global economy has robbed us of our manufacturing base, profiteering by corporations both American and foreign is rife within our borders, our balance of trade is plunging into the toilet, our national debt is exploding, and everyday, more and more Americans are being driven deeper into poverty. No, we are not doing just fine. We are doing lousy because those we trusted to lead and protect us, instead, have looked the other way while allowing corporate interests to rob us of our heritage, our wealth, our well-being and our right to live in a secure and peaceful world. Instead of living in the land of the free and home of the brave we now live the land of the subjugated and the home of the plundered.

I know what you are thinking and it is something like, “There you go again! Such posturing clearly demonstrates that you are a political nut job. Despite its faults, American is still the greatest nation in the world. Why do you always focus on what is bad instead of the good?” The reason I focus on what’s bad about America is because, while there are still many good things left to be proud of, what is bad is consuming us and slowly but surely everything we cherish and hold dear will soon be gone. Genghis Kahn did not ride across our borders and grab everything he could; instead he snuck across, bribed our politicians and with them in his pocket, is slowly draining our horn of plenty so that soon it will be a hollow empty shell. Americans, apparently, are blind to all of this and tragically, they probably will not wake up until it’s too late.

I am an American who loves his nation and its people. Therefore, my lot in life is to warn and educate. I am the guy standing on the corner with a sign around my neck reading the end is near. Toward this end and at the risk of boring you one more time, I am going to focus upon one extremely important event in our history which I believe clearly demonstrates how dysfunctional our government has become. This event, which tore to shreds government accountability, is the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton. Oh no you say, that’s ancient history. Who cares about Bill Clinton anymore? I do, because he is not ancient history! Instead, his impeachment trial is the clearest and most telling example of everything that is wrong with our government. At this point, I am sure you do not want to hear anymore from me. But no matter, I am writing in the hope that someone else who reads my words will WAKE UP!

The impeachment trial of Bill Clinton was a constitutional farce and an American tragedy. It exemplified everything that is wrong with our government and demonstrated the lengths that government will go to fool us. I will grant that some of those involved may have been unaware of what was really going on, but being elected representatives, there is no excuse for this. They are paid to be aware of what is happening and the best that can be said of these individuals is that they are incompetent. As for the rest, they truly are the lowest form of slime to crawl across the face of this planet because these are the people who take our money a serve a different master. They are traitors in every sense of the word.

Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives; a power reserved “solely” to the House by our Constitution. “Solely” meaning that only the House has the power to impeach or not. While the Constitution only mentions the power to impeach, logic dictates that having the power to impeach also entails having the power to not do so. These powers are two sides of the same coin and both of them, according to our Constitution, belong to the House alone.

Upon impeachment, it was incumbent upon the Senate to hold a trial; the purpose of which is to determine the guilt or innocence of the President as charged under the Articles of impeachment. Upon convening this trial, the first thing the Senate did was entertain a motion to dismiss the charges against the President. This was an earth shaking development. First of all, the Constitution does not give the Senate the power to dismiss the charges against the President. It only gives the Senate authority to try him. Therefore, the motion to dismiss by the Senate was really a motion to disobey the Constitution and not do their jobs. Incredibly, the Senate entertained and voted upon this motion anyway. But the situation is far worse than this. By entertaining a motion to dismiss, the Senate was in effect entertaining a motion to not impeach the President, a power granted solely to the House. In other words, not only did the Senate usurp a power not granted to it by the Constitution, they usurped a prerogative that the Constitution provides solely to the House of Representatives.

The motion and vote to dismiss the charges against the President was a stupendous blunder by the Senate because their actions, besides being unconstitutional, were an insult and a slap in the face to the House of Representatives. By any measure, this was a gross and flagrant abuse of power, but this is not the only problem evident. For the most part, Senators and Congressmen are lawyers. It is the stock and trade of lawyers to know the law and the implications of the words that comprise legal stricture. Therefore, it stands to reason that most members of the Senate knew the constitutional implications of their motion to dismiss and not one of them had the integrity and courage to abide by their oath of office and stand up and raise these issues on the Senate floor. Furthermore, this development belies the notion that the Republicans really wanted to see President Clinton removed from office for his crimes. If they did, surly they would have objected to this unconstitutional motion.

The Senate of the United States of America, with full knowledge of the House of Representatives, knowingly and deliberately violated the Constitution of the United States in direct violation of their oath of office which binds them to obey and thereby preserve our Constitution. And they did this on prime time television in front of millions of Americans who had no idea about what was going on. In light of this, is it reasonable to deny that there is collusion between the Democratic and Republican parties to fool the American people? Can we, in good conscience, believe that these are honorable men selflessly guiding our ship-of-state and looking out for our best interests? But wait, it gets better than this.

Chief Justice Rehnquist of the Supreme Court, as required by our Constitution, presided over Bill Clinton’s impeachment proceeding. In other words, Chief Justice Rehnquist was there as a constitutional expert and authority sworn to ensure that the letter of constitutional law was followed. To be sure, he is lauded throughout the land as being a strict constructionist and distinguished defender of our Constitution. Well, something went terribly wrong! While this constitutional farce was unfolding before him, Chief Justice Rehnquist forgot about being a strict constructionist, forgot about his oath of office, forgot about our Constitution, and forgot about the job he was being paid to do and sat there and did NOTHING. HE DID NOTHING, NADA, ZERO, ZILCH!

Where are we? I do not know where you are for sure, but I surmise you are on the golf course with your head buried deep beneath the sand on the nineteenth hole. Where I am is that I believe Congress, in collusion with the Supreme Court, violated their oaths of office by agreeing that an impeachment proceeding was not a sacred duty and obligation under the Constitution but instead, was something akin to a carnival side show where everyone goes away entertained, but with nothing of value having been accomplished. However, the governmental dog and pony show did not end here. It got even better!

The next step in this farce was to actually hold a trial and in order to do so; the Senatorial jurors must hear the evidence. In a real trial, the jury has absolutely no say over what evidence will be presented or over its manner of presentation. Those prerogatives lie with the judge and prosecutors alone. Can you imagine how justice would be served in our criminal justice system if a judge allowed a jury to decide which evidence it would hear and which it would not during a trial. Apparently, a travesty of justice of this nature is considered acceptable by the United States Senate because this is what they did and by so doing, made a mockery of their oath of office, a mockery of their oath as jurors, and a mockery of our Constitution. And they did so while Americans watched and thought everything was just “ducky”. Apparently, Chief Justice Rehnquist thought everything was just “ducky” also because he sat there on his hands and did NOTHING. HE DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

Most Americans believe there is a significant difference between liberals and conservatives, right wingers and left wingers, and Democrats or Republicans. If you are an American who sees differences in these alleged political divisions, then you are card carrying member of the ignorant and unknowing majority, the kind of American that Republicans and Democrats love most. Being an American in good standing with the political establishment, will you please explain to me why the Republicans, who at the time, were portrayed in the press as being a lynch mob of over-zealous right wingers out to get the President at all costs, did not raise these Constitutional issues during Bill Clintons impeachment trial. Indeed, why did Chief Justice Rehnquist not do so when he, as presiding judge, had a sworn duty to do so? If anyone of these people had taken this step, the outcome of Bill Clintons trail surly would have been far different.

Being a member of the clueless majority, I am sure you have no answer to the above questions, so I will tell you the answer. Chief Justice Rehnquist, the Democrats, and the Republicans are far more educated and clever than you, so they knew exactly what they were doing. They were putting on a show for public consumption to make us think we have a functioning government leading our ship of state. The impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton was a con job that Americans, as expected, fell for hook, line, and sinker. Adding insult to injury, at the end of his trail, Bill Clinton had the gall to stand up and declare his trail a victory for Constitutional government. It was anything but. Instead, it was a victory for demagoguery, the thing most feared by our Founding Fathers and it confirmed in the minds of those who lead us that we truly are ignorant and they can have their way with us any time. But wait, it gets better than this.

A major issue according to the media in Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial was what the Constitution meant by “high Crimes and Misdemeanors”. To be sure, Time Magazine, Newsweek, US News and Word Report, etc., all did extensive articles examining what this simple phrase meant and none of them, after copious columns of meaningless words, could come up with a definitive explanation, even though one is readily available. The problem was they were not capable of determining what constituted a “high Crime”; the issue being whether or not Bill Clinton’s transgressions rose to the level of being one.

The above posturing was delusion and sophistry at its best because it is obvious that the word “high” does not refer to a hierarchy of crimes but instead, to the status of the official committing the crime. Therefore, a “high Crime” is not a crime worse than others, but a crime committed by a “high” government official. Under this interpretation, both high Crimes and high Misdemeanors are possible and the Constitution makes sense as written. The fact that the words Crimes and Misdemeanors are capitalized in the Constitution while the word “high” is not demonstrates the validity of this conclusion.

Of course, it is reasonable to assume that all those intelligent and highly educated reporters at Time, Newsweek and US News, with all the high power resources available to them, were too dumb to figure this truth out for themselves and there not doing so was just an honest mistake which just happened to confuse and confound the citizens of this Nation. If you truly believe this, then you must also believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the Great Pumpkin. What really happened is that mainstream media, bowing to the same moneyed interests as the Republicans and Democrats, deliberately conspired to ensure that the fundamental issues surrounding President Clinton’s impeachment remained muddled so that John Q. Amreican would leave “the driving to them”. But wait, it gets better than this.

Bill Clinton was impeached not because he was a sexual predator that used the power of his office to prey upon the hired help. He was impeached because he lied under oath when one of these “lowly employees” tried to bring him to justice for his transgressions. His was also impeached because he used the authority of his office as President in an attempt to cover up his crimes. The tragedy here is that Congress and our Supreme Court made themselves co-conspirators to these crimes because they lied when taking their oath as jurors and then knowingly participated in an impeachment trial that amounted to nothing more than wrongfully sweeping Bill Clinton’s crimes under the Senate floor rug. Even more incredible, not only did they conspire to let him off the hook in his impeachment trail, but by so doing they also ensured that he would never be brought to justice in our criminal justice system. What federal prosecutor would properly perform the duties of his or her office by indicting a sitting President after the Senate of the United States voted him to be not guilty?

An impeachment proceeding is not a criminal trial and is not sufficient in any way to take the place of a criminal trial. Simply stated, an impeachment trial is a constitutionally provided administrative procedure to remove from office, a sitting President or other high government official, who is thought to have committed a crime, but may or may not be guilty according to the law. This administrative procedure is necessary so the office of the offending official is not burdened or handicapped by the criminal proceedings against that official and also so he will not benefit from the authority of his office while he is being tried.

Any unbiased individual who examined the evidence against Bill Clinton would conclude that he was guilty. But guilty or not, an impeachment trial does not replace or preclude a trial in our criminal justice system, because jurors in such trials are not allowed to vote to dismiss the charges or vote upon which evidence they would like to hear. In other words, President Bill Clinton escaped justice because his impeachment trial was conducted by corrupt politicians who, in violation of their oath of office, conspired and acted to protect one of there own. No one in America should be above the law and this is especially true for the President of the United States. In Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial, Congress and the Supreme Court ignored the highest laws of our land enshrined within the Constitution and by so doing, placed our President above the law. The tragedy in all of this is that we the people were forced by Congress to endure a felonious sexual predator as our President.

In conclusion, President Bill Clinton was a sexual predator who perjured himself and used the power of his office to try to cover up his criminal acts. He was impeached, but his impeachment trail was a farce conducted solely to convince Americans that their government was functioning properly. The truth is that most of those involved knew exactly what they were doing. Therefore, Congress, our Supreme Court, and the media were part and parcel to a conspiracy to deny justice under the law and let a wayward and felonious President off the hook.

I know what you are thinking, “So what”? I’ll tell you so what! Bill Clinton established the precedent that a sitting President is above the law and could do just about anything while in office and the American people would buy into it no matter how despicable and terrible his actions were. George Bush followed Bill Clinton as President. Fortunately, George Bush is not a sexual predator. That’s the good part. Unfortunately, George Bush is an incompetent megalomaniac. Put an incompetent megalomaniac at the helm of the most powerful nation in the world where the checks and balances to the wrongful and irresponsible exercise of power no longer exist and what do you get?

You get a President who invades a defenseless smaller nation for contrived and surreptitious reasons resulting in the unnecessary and useless slaughter of thousands upon thousands of innocent people. You also get a President who defends his despicable actions by claiming that he his bringing freedom and democracy to the rest of the world, while ignoring the fact that democracy and political freedom no longer exist within the Nation he rules. That’s what you get and that is exactly where we are today; a subjugated and down trodden people facing perpetual war with the Arab world because we have an idiot for a President.

There you have it. Stupid is as stupid does and what I cannot do any more is pledge allegiance to a Republic which no longer exists, ask God to bless a nation led by corrupt scoundrels who think lying to us is their birthright, ever again vote for a Republican or a Democrat, support military action that is wrongful, illegal, ill-conceived and suicidal, and feel good about Americans who have defended this Nation and laid down there lives so we can be free when we are no longer are free. I respect and honor our heroes in uniform for the sacrifices they have made, but those sacrifices have been in vain. We no longer are a politically free people because we no longer govern ourselves and because those who govern us have abandoned us to the wolves of global commerce while lining their pockets at our expense. And if you think otherwise, then you are not just ignorant and stupid; you are brain dead as well.