“WHO DO WE HAVE LEFT?”
by Dr. Thomas E. Davis, Col., USA (Ret.), ©2016
(May 2, 2016) —[Editor’s Note: The first part of Dr. Davis’s editorial is here; Part 2 follows.]
The problem that has persisted since 1828 is the criminality of the political party system. Here is a small capsule of the only viable political parties since the inauguration of Andrew Jackson.
From Boundless.com:
A political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic Party. In particular, the Whigs supported the supremacy of Congress over the presidency and favored a program of modernization and economic protectionism.
One of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party.
Members of the U.S. Democrat Party who reside in the American South. In the 19th century, they were the definitive pro-slavery wing of the party, opposed to both the anti-slavery Republicans (GOP) and the more liberal Northern Democrats.
The American Whigs formed in opposition to Andrew Jackson, who they perceived as intent on destroying American commerce and industry. Most of the founders of the Whig Party were the heirs of Jeffersonian democracy and the Democratic-Republican Party. Led by Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams, the Whigs drew on a Jeffersonian tradition of compromise and balance in government, national unity, territorial expansion, and support for a national transportation network and domestic manufacturing.
The Democratic Party
The Democratic Party was formed as an offshoot of the Jefferson-Madison Faction within the federal government formed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in opposition to the Federalist Government put in place by the Constitution and championed by Alexander Hamilton, Washington’s Secretary of the Treasury and primary author of the Federalist Papers. The Federalist Papers were the leading arguments in favor of ratification of the Constitution. Conversely, the Anti-Federalist writings were anti-ratification and in many instances for good cause.
Andrew Jackson was the prototypical Democrat, i.e., Jackson was a person who professes to believe in the political or social equality of all people. Democrats strongly favored American expansion to new farmlands and the acquisition of new territories. To that end, Jackson who had a visible hatred for Native Americans, very undemocratic-like, ordered that ALL Native Americans, Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole be forcibly removed from their ancestral lands in Eastern America to federally-owned lands in what is now the State of Oklahoma; so-called Indian Territory.
By the end of the Jackson administration in 1837, his tyrannical majesty had force over 40,000 Native Americans to leave their ancestral homes. Most members of the five Southeastern nations had been relocated west, with over 4,000 dying or murdered along the way and opening 25 million acres of land to white settlement and to slavery.
This first Democrat set the tenor for the following years of the Democratic Party’s brutality, spoils, patronage, and untold murders, questionable deaths and unjustifiable waste of American lives.
Politicians, Party Politics and Governance are measured by a far lower standard than are those used by We the People. We expect those we elect to handle our nation’s affairs, (BAD WORD CHOICE) business to be possessed of good character, as an absolute minimum, have a record of honest dealings, of being truthful and a trustworthy citizen. Those are fair prerequisites for the Congress, but for our Chief Executive, we expect one with common sense, the ability to speak without lying and without a teleprompter, likeability, even a bit of charisma, a person unashamedly in harmony with God and married with children. Most of all we DEMAND a President who believes in and will honor the Presidential Oath of Office to the Letter.
We most assuredly do NOT want a foreigner unaccustomed to the American way and exceptionalism. Nor do we want an atheist, a Socialist, a Communist, a homosexual, a Marxist, a Muslim, a pathological liar, a philanderer, a sociopath or a psychopath. Why must I be so specific? Here’s why!
We have had in the past and have as of this moment an elected Chief Executive who fits into one or more of the aforementioned categories. Woodrow Wilson was a philanderer, a Socialist, an egotistical fool, a liar and a most unlikable pseudo-human. Warren Harding was a pedophile, a liar who tolerated criminality in his administration and compromised the Constitution. Calvin Coolidge was lazy and incompetent. His most accomplished activity was his “inactivity.”
Then came a refreshingly remarkable individual, Herbert Hoover, as our 31st President. Hoover was a genuinely fine man but had the misfortune to be in office when the stock market crashed in 1929. His predecessor, Coolidge, had failed to take steps that may have prevented the crash. This did not prevent the egotistical Franklin Delano Roosevelt from riding the falsehood the the crash was the fault of Hoover’s policies.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born with a silver spoon in his mouth; he never knew ‘want;’ conversely, he was the rich kid on the block. There is no doubt that FDR was intelligent; he was, among other things, a philatelist (stamp collector) and was known for his ability to draw the outline of any nation on earth when he was discussing war plans with military leaders. He was also an egotistical philanderer. FDR was quite successful in getting needed legislation through a Democrat Congress, though much of it was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Following a landslide re-election in 1936, FDR declared his intention to add one additional Associate Justice to the “overworked” Supreme Court for every Associate Justice over the age of 70. The only problem was, FDR was a flat-out liar; the SCOTUS was NOT overworked; they were up-to-date, and in addition there was unexpected opposition to his “court-packing” scheme. A Democrat senator from Montana, Burton K. Wheeler, walked into FDR’s office and told FDR, “I will NOT support that new law you are proposing, formally known as ‘The Judicial Procedures Reform Bill,’ but better-known as FDR’s “court-packing” scheme. Roosevelt purportedly told the senator to “Get the hell out of my office.”
It was very hot in Washington in July 1937; there was no air conditioning in the senate chambers where Arkansas Senator Joe Robinson, the majority leader, held sway. Senator Robinson suffered a heart attack and died, which was the end of the court-packing scheme. FDR’s indiscriminate use of his authority as commander-in-chief saw him sent American destroyers into harm’s way with the loss of the Destroyer Reuben James to a Nazi U-Boat on October 31, 1941, an act for which Roosevelt could have been impeached. So, who do we have left? Too many for today, so another continuation is needed. It actually gets worse!
Dr. Thomas E. Davis, Colonel, USA (Ret)
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