Interesting to see an article by North on this forum. The premise of this piece is also quite ironic as it reminds me of a much lengthier work if his that peaked my initial curiosity (almost 5 years ago) about the true genesis of the American Republic (see: "
Conspiracy in Philadelphia" by Gary North -
http://www.garynorth.com/philadelphia.pdf)... A very scholarly piece indeed! What drew me to this book was another article by North on Lew Rockwell (way back when) called, "
The Most Successful Fraud in American History." - (
http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north445.html). When I initially encountered the links above, I was quite supportive of the idea of constitutionalism.
In that article he also references another [extremely] dated book - "Secret Proceedings and Debates of the Constitutional Convention, 1787":
"No member of the Convention ever revealed what went on behind those closed doors. This included the opponents of the Constitution. Luther Martin of Maryland, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, opposed the Convention's plan within days of his participation. He kept notes of the debates, but his notes were not published until 1838, two years after Madison's death – the last member of the Convention to die. Martin's notes were published along with Robert Yates' notes, who also attended and opposed what had been done there:
Secret Proceedings and Debates of the Constitutional Convention, 1787. Today, this book is unread by most graduate students of the era, let alone by the general public.
I cannot find it on-line in text form – just offers to sell copies of the book. When a document of this level of historical importance is not on-line for free, the memory hole is still operating."
I found an online version a little over a year ago and sent it to him since he said he could not find it in a "free" form. I also ordered a copy of it from the University of Michigan as well as a few others for some like minded souls. I agree with North when he says that it is a very important piece of history.
Secret Proceedings and Debates of the Constitutional Convention, 1787 (1821 version) -
http://books.google.com/books?id=Hf8ZdYMBLuQC&dq=Secret%20Proceedings%20and%20Debates&pg=PA3#v=onepage&q&f=falseAt any rate… All worth reading for those who are sick of hearing the general plea by many that all Americans need to do is rally behind the “founders’
original intent, and all will be okay…” Though even most of the “Anti-Federalists” buckled later on as well, there is plenty of stuff out there that sheds light on what exactly the original intent was. These books that receive little to no attention in American history classes paint a much different picture than the smoke and mirrors American mythology that we are accustomed to. And they are the words of men who were actually there not these self-proclaimed “constitutional experts” that are a dime a dozen.
Another good book to read is Kenneth Royce’s –
Hologram of Liberty –
http://www.javelinpress.com/hologram_of_liberty.htmlOkay… probably too much (too many links) for one post.
His (North’s) references to R.J. Rushdoony also brought me back several years as it reminds me of some of [his] works that I have in my library but haven't read in quite some time (re:
This Independent Republic, The Insitututes of Biblical Law, and
By What Standard).
Although I can no longer embrace organized religion (after 14 years of serious studies), I still find it interesting to contemplate the path the brought me to where I am today (in terms of my worldview). These authors that are generally seldom mentioned seem to come up when I’d least expect it. I never would have thought I’d be reading about North and/or Rushdoony on an anarchist forum!
One thing I’d like to add to his conclusion.
He said:
“You can't beat something with nothing. This is why people don't really want to change it. It costs too much money, too much commitment, and too much time. That is why we face a crisis. That is why the Tea Party movement is probably not going to succeed in anything except being a spoiler.”
While I agree with him on his basic point, I’d have to take it one step further. The MAIN reason why groups such as Tea Parties and 9-12’ers, etc. won’t succeed is because they fail to realize that even if they were successful in their goals, all they’d have secured would be a lesser degree of bondage than they have today. They do not realize (nor do they
want to hear) that even a “constitutional restoration” still means rulers and ruled. They talk an aweful lot about liberty and freedom, but they have no genuine concept of it whatever as long as they continue to appeal to the very founding documents that established the rulers in the first place.
There is so much more to say than this but I’ll leave it at that…
