The Republican Club of Sun City

          N E W S L E T T E R

July 2016        Everett Schmidt, Editor               Sun City Texas

(Club Website: rcsctx.com)

(Subjects in this newsletter: Declaration of Independence, Provisions in the Declaration, Court System and the Founders)

STATE SEN. BIRDWELL, SURVIVOR OF 9/11 ATTACK, TO ADDRESS  CLUB

State Sen. Brian Birdwell, representing Senate District 22 and a resident of Grandbury, will address the club during its dinner meeting scheduled for Thursday, July 14 in the ballroom of the Social Center in Sun City.

His address will be about the insights he has gained from his experiences in the military and the September 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon. Those experiences –of enormous effect –have relevance for citizens of today’s America inasmuch as they include the conflict –still ongoing –in the middle east, the terrorist attacks –still ongoing –in America, his miraculous recovery from burns he sustained as a result of the 9/11 attack, and the role of faith in that recovery. Following is a brief description of some of those experiences:

• In 1990, he participated in some of the First Gulf War battles enabling him to be awarded the Bronze Star.

• On September 11, 2001, when terrorists crashed an American Airlines flight just yards away from his second floor Pentagon office, he was thrown out of the building to ground. He sustained serious burns, many to the third degree, over 60% of his body. Today, following 39 operations, months of hospitalization and numerous skin grafts, he has made a miraculous recovery. He testifies not only to his physical healing, but to the ultimate miracle of grace through Christ.

     In addition, he has had some related experience: He and his wife, Mel, founded a non-profit organization, Face the Fire Ministries, that supports critical burn survivors and wounded military personnel.

BEGINNING TIMES: Social Hour –6:00 PM; Dinner–6:30 PM; Program–7:00 PM (approx.)

     MENU: Spring mix salad with homemade dressing selection, assorted dinner rolls, meatballs in mushroom cream sauce, grilled chicken breast with apricot white wine glaze & raspberry chipotle sauce on the side, red skinned mashed potatoes with cream gravy, corn soufflé’ casserole. Drinks: wine, sodas, iced tea, raspberry lemonade, water, coffee (regular and decaf).

     COST: Cost is $16 per person. Checks made out to “The Republican Club of Sun City” should be mailed to: The Republican Club of Sun City, 1530 Sun City Blvd., Suite 120, Box 227, Georgetown, TX 78633, or left in a special drop box located on the front porch of the home of club treasurer Bill Harron at 125 Stetson Trail. For information, contact Bill at 512-864-0965 or Bharron@aol.comThe deadline for payment or reservations is Friday, July 8.

VISITORS ARE WELCOME! (Non-members may attend a maximum of two meetings per year –as attendees for the dinner or observers for the program –without having to pay membership fees.)

CLUB MAKESDONATION TO PURCHASE “WILLIE”

The Republican Club of Sun City, along with the Georgetown Area Republican Women (GARW), donated “Willie,” pictured above, to the county party as its mascot for display on floats during parades, in booths during civic events, and other occasions when it can be useful in promoting the message of the Republican Party. The total cost of “Willie” was $971 which was shared equally by those two Republican organizations. (Photo courtesy Anne Marshall)

FOUNDER/PRESIDENT OF “MOBILE LOAVES & FISHES” CHARITY

TO ADDRESS CLUB IN AUGUST

     Ted Kennedy, VP for programs, reports that Alan Graham, founder and president of “Mobile Loaves and Fishes” Charity, will address the club during its dinner meeting scheduled for Thursday, August 11in the ballroom of the Social Center. This charity provides food, clothing and housing for the homeless. Details of that meeting will be provided in the August newsletter.

OTHER CLUB NEWS

     Bylaws/Membership Updates to be Distributed. Vice president (for membership) Cathy Cody announces that Bylaws and Membership Updates, combined in one booklet, will be available for distribution at the July and subsequent meetings.

     Club members who previously obtained a copy of the original2016 membership directory (has a red text on the cover) should now pick up the Bylaws/Membership Update booklet.

Club members who have not obtained a copy of the original directory should pick up that item plus the Bylaws/Membership Updates booklet.

     Statistics. Vice president Cody reports that current 2016 membership is now 357. Club treasurer Bill Harron reports that there were 127 attendees at the May dinner meeting plus an unknown number of observers, and that were approximately 120 attendees at the June 2ndmeeting held in the Cowan Creek Amenity Center.

PRECINCT 381 CHAIRMANSHIP VACANCY NOW EXISTS

County party chairman Bill Fairbrother reports that longtime Precinct 381 chairman Barbara Maybray did not apply for another term and that consequently there now exists a vacancy in that position.

He advises that anyone interested in applying for that position should contact Steve Armbruster, chairman of the Organization Committee, or him at organization@williamsoncountygop.org(Bill’s telephone number is 512-577-1620)

THE AMERICANS WHO RISKED EVERYTHING:

THE SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

     Foreword. The signers of the Declaration of Independence not only announced that this fledgling nation was separating itself from the crown and the reasons for doing so, they also provided in the Declaration, as former U. S. Attorney General Edwin Meese notes, “a philosophical basis for government that exercises legitimate power by ‘the consent of the governed’ [the phrase in the Declaration] and it defined the conditions of a free people, whose rights and liberty are derived from their Creator.” Those provisions (and others) found expression in the Constitution which is to be conceptualized as being combined or connected with the Declaration.

     That this combination produced the most successful nation in the world –one indication being the influx of immigrants –is generally known. But what is not generally known is the great sacrifice the signers –and often their families –experienced as the British military reacted to their act of treason. Consequently, to fill that void, the following excerpts, shown in italics, from an essay written by Rush Limbaugh’s father about the signers of the Declaration are provided. These excerpts are published periodically in newsletters near the time of the Independence Day celebration. Repetition does not seem to diminish their impact.

Currently, there is concern, if not despair, about the very survival of the nation as it was given to usby our Founders and Framers. This concern may trigger two timely and salient questions: Will the sacrifice of the Founders be soon proven to have been in vain? If the nation as we know it is to be destroyed, will the destruction come on our watch?

     The Declaration is Adopted. Congress transformed itself into a committee of the whole. The Declaration of Independence was read aloud once more, and debate resumed. A total of 86 alterations were made. Almost 500 words were eliminated, leaving 1,337. At last, after three days of wrangling, the document was put to a vote. Here in the hall Patrick Henry had once thundered: “I am no longer a Virginian, Sir, but an American.” But today the loud, sometimes bitter argument stilled, and without fanfare the vote was taken from north to south by colonies, as was the custom. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

     The Signers. What kind of men were the 56 signers who adopted the Declaration of Independence and who, by their signing, committed an act of treason against the Crown? To each of you the names of Franklin, Adams, Hancock, and Jefferson are almost familiar as household words. Most of us, however, know nothing of the other signers. Who were they? What happened to them?

I imagine that many of you are somewhat surprised at the names not there: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry. All were elsewhere.

Ben Franklin was the only really old man. Eighteen were under 40; three were in their 20s. Of the 56, almost half –24 –were judges and lawyers. Eleven were merchants, 9 were landowners and farmers, and the remaining 12 were doctors, ministers, and politicians.

     With only a few exceptions, such as Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, these were men of substantial property. All but two had families. The vast majority were men of education and standing in their communities. They had economic security as few men had in the 18thcentury. Each had more to lose from revolution than he had to gain by it.

These men knew what they risked. The penalty for treason was death by hanging. And remember: a great British fleet was already at anchor in New York harbor.

Even before the list [of signers] was published, the British marked down every member of Congress suspected of having put his name to treason. All of them became the objects of vicious manhunts. Some were taken. Some, like Jefferson, had narrow escapes. All who had property or families near British strongholds suffered.

Francis Lewis, New York delegate, saw his home plundered and his estates, in what is now Harlem, completely destroyed by British soldiers. Mrs. Lewis was captured and treated with great brutality. Though she was later exchanged for two British prisoners . . . she died from the effects of her abuse.

William Floyd, another New York delegate, was able to escape with his wife and children across Long Island Sound to Connecticut, where they lived as refugees without income for seven years. When they came home, they found a devastated ruin.

Phillip Livingston had all his great holdings in New York confiscated and his family driven out of their home. Livingston died in 1778 still working in Congress for the cause.

Louis Morris, the fourth New York delegate, saw all his timber, crops, and livestock taken. For seven years, he was barred from his home and family.

John Hart of Trenton, New Jersey, risked his life to return home to see his dying wife. Hessian soldiers rode after him, and he escaped in the woods. While his wife lay on her deathbed, the soldiers ruined his farm and wrecked his homestead. Hart, 65, slept in caves and woods as he was hunted across the countryside. When at long last, emaciated by hardship, he was able to sneak home, he found his wife had already been buried, and his 13 children taken away. He never saw them again. He died a broken man in 1779, without ever finding his family.

Thomas Lynch, Jr., South Carolina delegate, had his family broken from privation and exposures while serving as a company commander in the military. His doctors ordered him to seek cure in the West Indies and on the voyage he and his young bride wife were drowned at sea.

Thomas Nelson, signer of Virginia, was at the front in command of the Virginia military forces. With British General Charles Cornwallis in Yorktown, fire from 70 heavy American guns began to destroy Yorktown piece by piece. Lord Cornwallis and his staff moved their headquarters into Nelson’s palatial home. While American cannonballs were making shambles of the town, the house of Governor Nelson remained untouched. Nelson turned in rage to the American gunners and asked, “Why do you spare my home?” They replied, “Sir, out of respect to you.” Nelson cried, “Give me the cannon” and fired on his magnificent home himself, smashing it to bits. But Nelson’s sacrifice was not quite over. He had raised $2 million for the Revolutionary cause by pledging his own estates. When the loans came due, a newer peacetime Congress refused to honor them, and Nelson’s property was forfeited. He was never reimbursed. He died, impoverished, a few years later at the age of 50.

And, finally, there is the New Jersey signer, Abraham Clark. He gave his two sons to the officer corps in the Revolutionary Army. They were captured and sent to the infamous British prison hulk afloat in New York harbor known as the hell ship “Jersey” where 11,000 Americans were to die. The younger Clarks were treated with a special brutality because of their father. One was put in solitary and given no food. With the end almost in sight, with the war almost won, no one could have blamed Abraham Clark for acceding to the British request when offered him his son’s lives if he would recant and come out for the King and parliament. The utter despair in this man’s heart, the anguish in his very soul, must reach out to each of us down through 200 years with his answer: “No!”

Of those 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence, nine died of wounds or hardships during the war. Five were captured and imprisoned, in each case with brutal treatment. Several lost wives, sons or entire families. One lost 13 children. Two wives were brutally treated. All were at one time or another the victims of manhunts and driven from their homes. Twelve signers had their homes completely burned. Seventeen lost everything they owned. Yet not one defected or went back on his pledged word. Their honor, and the nation they sacrificed so much to create, is still intact.

     The 56 signers of the Declaration proved by their every deed that they made no idle boast when they composed the most magnificent curtain line in history: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”

SOME IMPORTANT PROVISIONS OF THE DECLARATION

     Foreword. By now, there is a general understanding that the curricula of public schools and public universities will not provide students an adequate understanding of how America came to be founded or of the main tenets of its founding documents. For example, a news article in the June 30, 2016 issue of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Students at the University of Texas at Austin . . . can partly fulfill their U. S. history requirement by signing up for ‘Jews in American Entertainment. ‘”This would be consistent with some of the bizarre practices taking place at universities one can hear about.

Because there appears to have been limited opportunity for a person to gain adequate understanding about the founding of this nation, what next follows is a brief discussion of some of the provisions in the Declaration.

     What is Natural Law? The Declaration, in its first paragraph, uses terminology which came to be referred to as “Natural Law.” Note the following statement from the Declaration:

“When …it becomes necessary for one people . . .to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them . . . (emphasis added)

     Natural Law was a controlling influence on the founders and framers, and found expression in the Declaration through use of such terms as “Laws of Nature” and “Nature’s God.” Natural Law, wherein one has an intrinsic, built-in knowledge of what is right and wrong, was given authoritative definition by English jurist William Blackstone, whose Commentarieswas the second most referenced document (following the Bible) used by the framers. Wrote Blackstone:

     As man depends absolutely upon his Maker for everything, it is necessary that he should in all points conform to his Maker’s will. This will of his Maker is called the law of nature . . .This law of nature, being coeval [coexistent] with mankind and dictated by God Himself is, of course, superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times; no human laws are of any validity if contrary to this . . .Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws; that is to say, no human laws should be suffered [permitted] to contradict these.

     Natural Law is not merely a relic of the past. As many readers can recall, in the absence of any applicable written law, it was the charge “crimes against humanity,” a charge based on Natural Law, which was used to convict and execute Nazi leaders after World War II.

Author Mark Alexander contends, “To better understand what is meant by ‘the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,’ recall that our Declaration’s signers were not of one mind on matters of theology and doctrine. They were Christians, Deists and Agnostics, but they did, however, uniformly declare that the Rights of all people were, are and forever will be innate and unalienable, as established by ‘the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.”

     Our Rights: From Government or God? The Declaration states the following:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness –That to secure these right, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

     Columnist Cal Thomas provides the following explanation: “The framers of the Constitution clearly understood that in order to put certain rights out of the reach of government, whose power they wished to limit, those rights had to come from a place government could not reach. . .. The only way to preserve them for ourselves and our posterity is to acknowledge they come from a higher place.”

Communists and others, however, wish to eliminate religious influence from government. But note the following comment by columnist Jeffrey Kuhner:

Capitalism, private property, the nation-state and the traditional family –all rest upon the Judeo-Christian moral order. Marxists have understood one seminal truth: destroy a religion and you destroy the culture and civilization it spawned.

This is why modern liberals relentlessly advance the sexual revolution characterized by individual gratification, abortion on demand and birth control. Sexual permissiveness –the Godless libertine society –and not the international proletariat is the true agent of radical change.

In fact, the founder of the Bolshevik Revolution, Vladimir Lenin, deliberately promoted open marriage, abortion, birth control and militant secularism as a means of social engineering. For Lenin, religion was the enemy.

     It is significant to note that one of the causes of the deep divide in the nation is the fact that many Democrats repudiate Judeo-Christian values, much like Marx, Lenin and others did. Evidence of this repudiation is provided by recalling the incident at the 2012 Democrat National Convention when attempt was made on the floor to reinsert a reference to “God” in the platform after such reference had been deleted by the Platform Committee.

The reader may recall that the presiding officer of the convention called for a voice vote 3times with the Ayes and Nays sounding equally divided –and equally raucous –each time. The chair, being unable to determine a winning side, read from the teleprompter that the motion had passed, the decision having been made by some high-ranking Democrat. Nevertheless, a high level of repudiation was discernible at the convention.

While the conflict with Marxism continues, the conflict with Islam –which proclaims that Allah is superior to all others –has emerged.

     Should the Framers be Considered “White Racists?” Assertions that all of the nation’s founders and framers were slave holders and were advocates of slavery may simply stem from an ignorance of the nation’s history; but in other instances, they may have been motivated by the benefits which can accrue to those individuals who or a cause which, in claiming the nation’s founders were racist, can undermine the form of government the founders created, a constitutional republic. In any case, given the propensity of many politicians, the major news media, many college professors and others to support leftist causes and to promote “white guilt,” a presentation of certain factual information may help to counter the demagoguery being promulgated.

David Barton, an history scholar who specializes in examining and analyzing original documents of our founders offers insights into the conduct and beliefs of those men. He states:

While some framers did own slaves, rarely is anything said of the overwhelming majority of framers who did not own slaves and who rejected slavery. And rarely is it acknowledged that slavery was not the product of, nor was it an evil introduced by, the founders; rather, slavery had been introduced into America nearly a century-and-a-half before the founders and had been strongly enforced upon them by British law. In fact, many of the founders vigorously complained about the fact that every attempt they had made to end slavery and the slave trade in the Colonies (as Virginia had attempted in 1767 and Pennsylvania in 1774) had been vetoed by King George III.

     The Role of the Declaration in the Slavery Issue. Barton reports that, prior to the adoption of the Declaration, there had been few serious efforts to dismantle the institution of slavery, that is was the founders who collectively initiated the first changes against slavery, and that it was the language of the Declaration which not only enabled these changes to begin but also to bring about the 13th, 14th, and 15thAmendments so important in securing protection for civil rights.

It is interesting to note that one of Jefferson’s oft-quoted phrases -“Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever” -was made in the context of his deploring the institution of slavery.

DID THE FOUNDERS AND FRAMERS LEAVE THE NATION HELPLESS IN DEALING WITH A DYSFUNCTIONAL COURT SYSTEM?

     Foreword. There is presently a great deal of concern about our court system. With respect to the Supreme Court, some of the concerns are legislating from the bench (ObamaCare), exceeding authority (Obergefell), taking sides in the culture war (religious liberty), failing to recuse (same-sex marriage) and others. And now there is growing concern about aging Justices -not only in regard to physical health but also mental health. There is evidence that such situations were not dealt with in the past. Another possible problem is beginning to emerge: The election Hillary Clinton as president and her nominating judges and justices.

This report is to discuss some of the provisions the founders and framers gave to us.

     Removal of Judges. Conventional wisdom holds that federal judges are appointed “for life.” But this holding, when expressed as an absolute, conflicts with a significant qualification foundin Article III of the Constitution where Section l provides that judges “shall hold their offices during good Behavior . . . “Further, Article II states in pertinent part that “. . .civil officers . . . shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Columnist Andrew McCarthy contends the phrase “high crimes and misdemeanors” refers to political wrongs of public men such as breaches of a fiduciary duty or trust.

     Historian David Barton points out that even when aware of the above-cited constitutional provision concerning impeachment, many citizens believe that a public official may be impeached only for the commission of a criminal offense or for a violation of a statutory law. He contends that such belief is untenable in that “a judge –unless he commits an overt act –will remain securely in his office as long as he wishes regardless of how irresponsible, arbitrary, or tyrannical his rulings may be.” And with no threat of restraint to confront them, many judges, having abused their authority, affirm by their behavior Jefferson’s two-centuries old warning:

[T]he germ of dissolution of our federal government is in the [composition] of the federal judiciary…working like gravity by night and day, gaining a little today and a little more tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief over the field of jurisdiction until all shall be usurped.

The Founders, in that magnificent document, the Declaration, provide provisions for dealing with a dysfunctional court system.

     The Power of the Purse. In theory, nothing in government can happen unless the House, with its ultimate power of the purse, agrees to fund it. If a corrupt administration, for example, uses the IRS as a partisan weapon and harasses its detractors, the House can refuse to fund the IRS –or other parts of the executive branch –to quell executive or judicial overreach.

     Congress’ Ability to Control Jurisdiction. A Constitutional provision useful for curbing usurpations or excesses by courts is found in Article III, Section 2 wherein there is, first, a statement about certain matters over which the court has jurisdiction consistent with certain constitutional provisions. That statement is then followed by “In all the other cases . . .the Supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as Congress shall make.” (emphasis added)

In other words, the foregoing emphasized language authorizes Congress to stipulate certain matters for which the courts may not have jurisdiction. Former Majority Leader Tom Daschle provides an illustration as to how easily this can be done. To keep environmentalists from contesting in courts certain language he sponsored for his state concerning forestation, he simply added to that legislation the following statement: “Any action authorized by this Section shall not be subject to judicial review by any court in the United States.” It’s apparently that simple!

      The Intent of the Framers. There is solid historical support for the notion that, as reflected by the intent of the framers, the “judicial independence” of judges is not absolute, and that the Constitution authorizes a role for Congress when judicial abuse surfaces, even when it is not criminal in nature. Following are two examples of evidence:

Alexander Hamilton: “The subjects of its[impeachment’s] jurisdiction is. . .of a nature which may with peculiar propriety be denominated political.” (emphasis added)

Founding Justice Joseph Storey: “[Impeachment] is not so much designed to punish an offender as to secure the state against gross official misdemeanors. It touches neither his person nor his property, but simply divests him of his political capacity.”

NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE

(Some random observations on this crazy world in which we live)

     No Republican to Appear for Senate on California Ballot. Because of a recently-passed state law in California which prescribes that the twocandidates receiving the most votes during a primary election for a given position will appear on the November ballot regardless of party affiliation, there will be two Democrats on that ballot –no Republicans –for the U. S. Senate position now held by the retiring Barbara Boxer.

     Voters Oust Powerful Pro-LGBT Ruling Party in Mexico. Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) suffered a landslide defeat in recent elections, with the unprecedented upset coming shortly after Mexican President Enrique Nieto launched a new initiative to amend the constitution to legalize same-sex “marriage” nationwide. Public outrage over the president’s push for homosexual marriage in the predominantly Catholic nation was expressed at the ballot box.

     Fifty-Two Percent of Texans Support Building a Wall. A majority of registered Texas voters surveyed in a recent University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll said they support two of Donald Trump’s more controversial campaign proposals regarding immigration –banning Muslims who are not American citizens from entering the country and building a wall between the United States and Mexico.

A wall being constructed between nations is no longer unusual. Note some illustrations:

• Saudi Arabia is building a 600-mile wall along its northern border with Iraq to keep ISIS at bay.

• Hungary will build (or has built) a 109-mile long, 13-foot-tall, fence to stem the rising tide of illegal immigrants.

• China has constructed a barrier along its 880-mile border with North Korea.

• Tunisia now plans a 100-mile security wall along its unsettled border with Libya.

• Israel reports that suicide bombings declined rapidly after a wall separating Israel from the West Band was built.