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After years of trying to “protect democracy” and “fortify democracy”, Democrats finally succeeded in Oregon where they banned Republicans from running for office.
That’s what the Democrat flavor of democracy looks like.
When the Tennessee House of Representatives temporarily expelled two Democrats who had taken part in an insurrection on its grounds, the media quickly turned it into a national story.
The move by the Republican majority was an “attack on democracy”.
But when the Democrat majority in Oregon banned half the Republican Senate delegation from running for reelection, that has been treated as a local story. And not an “attack on democracy”.
While much of Oregon is actually conservative, some urban and suburban populations tilt the state sharply leftward. Oregon’s conservatives, who have been otherwise shut out of the legislative process, have taken to protesting extreme bills by staging walkouts.
Using walkouts to break legislative quorums is not an unusual tactic. Democrats have done it in Texas, Indiana and Wisconsin. But when Democrats practice it, as they do in Texas, it’s cheered by the media. In 2021, for example, Texas Democrats staged a 38 day walkout to block election reform. Democrats welcomed them to D.C. and the media portrayed them as heroes.
“These folks are going to be remembered on the right side of history,” Senator Chuck Schumer had pontificated. “The governor and the Republican legislators will be remembered on the dark and wrong side of history.”
What’s the “right side of history” in Oregon where the Democrat majority is trying to ban Oregon State Senate Republicans from running for reelection because they broke Democrat quorums?
One of the reasons Republicans walked out was to stop a Democrat proposal to allow 14-year-old girls to get abortions without notifying their parents.
Oregon Senate Republicans had walked out for 43 days, as opposed to the Texas Democrat 38 day walkout. But when Democrats are in the minority, as in Texas or Tennessee, walkouts are heroic and democratic, but once they take the majority then they suppress democracy.
Oregon Dems, Bloomberg’s Everytown anti-gun group, Planned Parenthood, along with unions misrepresenting teachers, nurses and government employees, spent $2.53 million
pushing Measure 113 that would penalize Republicans for “unexcused absences”. Since the Democrat permanent majority’s leadership is responsible for deciding what is an “excused” or “unexcused” absence, Measure 113 was a partisan proposition financed by leftist billionaires and aimed at suppressing the political opposition of the rest of the state.
While the proposal to ban Republicans from running for office had $2.5 million behind it, the opposition had none. A fifth of the votes in favor came out of Multnomah County: the home of Portland. Put in charge of determining what Measure 113 actually meant were Democratic officials appointed by Democrat governors who were serving as Secretary of State and State Attorney General: who of course decided that it meant what their party wanted it to mean.
The proposed purge of much of the Republican State Senate delegation is a demonstration of what democracy looks like when it’s uncoupled from constitutional protections, free and fair elections, multiparty representation and even handed laws. And that’s why America was a republic, not a democracy. Majoritarian democracy was tried and rejected early on because it allowed a majority, like the one in Rhode Island that blocked the adoption of the Constitution in the state, to suspend basic rights, including trial by jury, as long as they have enough votes.
What’s happening in Oregon, much as in California and other states where Democrats have rigged the system for their benefit, is the nightmare of majoritarian democracy that the Founding Fathers warned against.
“When a majority is included in a faction, the form of popular government, on the other hand, enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens. To secure the public good and private rights against the danger of such a faction, and at the same time to preserve the spirit and the form of popular government, is then the great object to which our inquiries are directed,” James Madison argued in Federalist No. 10.
The Constitution was meant to keep “the majority” from being “unable to concert and carry into effect schemes of oppression.” In a “pure democracy”, there would be “nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party or an obnoxious individual”, that is why Madison and the Founders opted for a Republic to protect the minority against the tyranny of the majority.
James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, launched an “attack on democracy”. Oregon shows why he was right to do so. Given enough leverage, democracy will mean eliminating the political opposition. Whether it’s Oregon’s Measure 113 or Biden’s open borders, democracy turns rights into a numbers game. If one political party finds enough voters and money, the end result is a dictatorship even if it is accompanied by the annual rituals of electioneering.
Any resistance is suppressed with escalating ruthlessness as the majority, freed from any of the restraints of competitive elections, grows more extreme and abusive with every session.
Oregon Senate Republicans are battling the Democrat majority in court. At the heart of their court battle is the question of whether a majority can simply eliminate political dissent.
America is not a democracy: it’s a republic. Democracies are tribal: Republics are transcendent. Oregon shows what a democracy looks like: a dozen wolves voting to eat half a dozen sheep. That was not what the Founding Fathers wanted and democratic tyrannies with drop boxes are as Madison warned, “incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”
When Biden and fellow Democrats warn about “attacks on democracy”, what they really mean are limitations on their unchecked power. Their idea of democracy isn’t choice but, as in Oregon, eliminating choice by criminalizing the political opposition. The best hope for the future of America is the defeat of majoritarian democracy and the return of the Republic.
Truly disgusting – but hey, what else are DEMOcrats?? They’re nothing but domestic terrorits!
Sophistry, agenda driven lies and the false usurpation of the moral high ground are hallmarks of the left.
Wonder if they are part of the 2 million terrorists that we are told are in the country. Krueschev told us!
the founding father’s solution, from the Declaration of Independence: “it is necessary from time to time to water the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants.”
That is is where we are today. I see not other way out because elections are rigged and so many laws are being broken by the left that there really is no longer a choice to prevent devolving into a dictatorship
Unfortunately, they have the feds who would love to put down another insurrection.
seems like an ez solution to me. new maga reps with no history of govt should run with a D after their name & propose their bs. get into office and vote maga – you know like the dems have been doing for yrs. running as Rs – vote into office and vote D in congfress/senate
As has been needed from the outset, just to try to circumvent all the terrible lies and grant and corruption we have been learning about….FOR DECADES! And by now, I fear it may be too late to accomplish a better way than all-out static civil war.
At this point in time, we have found ourselves in a terrible position. Either we submit to their fear-mongering and corrupt ways, or we lose any and all freedoms and rights.
It is already a war we are in. Donald Trump and his family, (and legions of faithful “MAGA” followers), are being made out as the ones to fear by the Democrats’ use of their controlled monopoly of media, i.e.; television news, most all of the magazines now-a-days, the Hollywood moguls who decide who gets acting and writing parts in the entertainment industries, etc., etc., etc.
This is World War III. And we here, in the U.S. are the ones at the “front”, and need to be ACTIVELY involved in making the changes to all this, by ensuring the vote and ensuring each and every one of us gets out to vote, and elect the people we are sure we can trust to do the RIGHT THING!
Otherwise, all is lost.
Go out and talk to folks. Help them to see the truth. Help them to understand these truths. Be ACTIVELY INVOLVED! Stay on topo of all the real news you can find. Do not just hope and pray. But, DO
HOPE AND PRAY!
We also need to find a way to be sure all votes are legitimate and not ballot box frauds and write-in false votes. Otherwise the other side can just create more fraudulent votes to counteract the good ones we generate. And they have had good practice doing just that.
America and US citizens are in deep trouble.
Liberty and Freedom will soon be completely defined and controlled by depraved and psychopathic democrats.
civilwar would be better than bowing on your knees to commie democrats.
Guess who’s trying to push us into a civil war? The same ones trying to get rid of gun rights. Anyone advocating for civil war is, I’m sure, going on a list….
And not a list to the right.
simple to me – the demonrats have done it for decades. put a D after your name and run as dem and bam once u win – vote how you want. look at congress and senate in DC. does anyone think romney, graham, etc and most of congress are republicans? look again
Communist Socialistic ideology…..shame on Oregon and it’s Governor…
Measure 113 was voted on and passed by a majority of the Oregon voters.
The Republican politicians were aware of the consequences of not showing up for their jobs.
But rather than be part of the quorum, they decided to walk out and not be part of what the Oregon tax payers pay them for.
TO LEGISLATE!!
If you didn’t show up for your job for 43 unexcused absences, do you expect to still have a job?
OF COURSE NOT!!
Interesting how Republicans attempt to pass the blame on to Democrats for the Republicans own behavior.
CHILDISH??
Is the Republican party responsible for their own actions??
Certainly doesn’t look like it.
Maybe if Republicans actually had a backbone and a brain to THINK FOR THEM SELVES!!
Instead of kneeling in trembling fear to their
AUTOCRATIC FACIST
with 91 indictments against him.
OH YEA
The latest defense with the big Cheeto is he is saying that he didn’t swear to the constitution on inauguration day.
Why don’t conservatives realize this guy is a disaster for our country??
Kick his ass to the curb (or in prison) and build some respect back in to the Republican party.
It certainly isn’t going to happen under
TRUMP.
When Democrats have the majority of votes, it’s MOB RULE! No matter how the Minority tries to fight back, even using Reason, the Democrats laugh since they know the Republicans are Nerds and wimp out on any real action.
Sandinista Daniel Ortega arrests all opponents “as a threat to our Democracy.” Sound familiar? Democrats helped install Ortega in 1979 and let’s not forget No Contra Aid while at the same time, they aided and funded the Communist FMLN rebels in pro-US El Salvador. (I spoke with Alfredo Cristiani to inform him of American peace groups and Democrats in Congress who were aiding CISPES. Days later h put a travel ban of all Americans entering the rebel Zones of Control. CISPES leader Farid Handel, “Ron Dellums (D-CA) are our offices.”)
Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, Castro’s, arrest too. Trump always mention “Third World Dictators” concerning FJB’s use of the justice system against him.
DEMOCRATS DREAM IS ONE-PARTY RULE and when, not if, FJB grants full amnesty very soon, the Democrat machine will register millions to vote giving them the numbers to win every race, forever! This means our Country’s leaders and its direction will be decided by people who will always their flag WHILE BURNING OURS!
FJB can’t grant amnesty to the masses of illegals crossing our borders, that is the congress’ job and if the old coot Biden tries to circumvent them again, they must rise up and say “NO, NOT THIS TIME!” If they don’t then we have to by putting someone in their seats who will. Get out and vote Republican.
Biden has pardon and clemency authority. There’s no reason he couldn’t use it for undocumented immigrants, just as Carter used it with draft dodgers.
The new demographics will be impossible to overcome.
America will probably be totally undone within 10 years.
People need to focus on taking care of themselves, family, friends, and kindred spirits.
The devil take the hindmost.
Within TEN years? How about, more realistically, NEXT year, or within the next two years, at most.
We are now replaying A.D. 476, the Final Sacking of Rome by the barbarians when the Salian Gate to the City was opened to them in the middle of the night.
Except that, now, they’re already within our walls.
In Lebanon it only took about 20 years to change the country from being a Christian nation into a Muslim nation after the Lebanese started allowing Muslims to immigrate into their country around 1970. Once the Muslims were the majority of the population, all Christian churches were burned down and non-muslims were used for target practice. The muslims outpopulated the Lebanese quickly because each muslim man has 4 or more wives producing as many children as possible.
Actually, the shocking thing is just how open Biden and the Dems are about the swamping of our border. To think that pos publicly invited them in even before he took the Oval Office. It’s just too much to stand anymore.
America’s only hope is for Trump to become President again because he is the only politician that has said he will deport Biden’s illegals ASAP. Truman and Eisenhower both deported illegals from America in what they called “operation wetback”.
Let’s face it …
Mexico is the enemy of America and US citizens.
Deport all illegal aliens and end the anchor baby racket.
Mexico murders more than 100,000 US citizens every year with Mexican manufactured drugs pushed by Mexica drug dealers into the USA..
Mexican president Obrador is a mass murderer of US citizens, mostly young people.
Mexico encourages and facilitates the invasion of America by millions of illegal aliens.
And the Biden administration does nothing to stop the illegal alien invasion of America.
Eye was in Chiapas in March 2022 and during a newscast, they showed a large parking log full of white unmarked buses with lines in front of every one. Protesters: “No Human is Illegal”.
The HOST said that the buses were going in a caravan to the border, “ESCORTED BY THE MEXICAN ARMY!” This was in Tapachula on the West Coast and only ten miles to the Guatemalan border.
WHAT PEOPLE DON’T KNOW, is there is a BUFFER ZONE between the two countries. You can take a taxi, who they’ll tell you pesos first, then stop next to a cliff around the corner, and now want DOLLARS. You can’t say anything. MY POINT…. we’ve all seen the people walking in mass, kids in tow. THEY’RE NOT WALKING HUNDREDS/THOUSANDS OF MILES, they’re walking in the buffer zone, ABOUT TWO MILES. They take a bus to the border, walk, then buses, trains, anything to make it to the U.S. border.
While talking to an elderly man at the plaza in Tuxtla Gutierrez, who was the former director of Palenque, the Mayan ruins, he said that he was glad to get rid of the Mexicans…. THE BASURA….. TRASH!
“Why is the United States the World’s TRASHCAN?”
May I add BANKER to your trashcan
I have to wonder if Joey would do anything if the Mexican cartels murdered little boy Hunter.
An important and significant historic principle may soon be displayed by the SCOTUS in their requested, hurried review and decision on historic Prez immunity.
To be or to be not, soon we will know.
Democracy dies with DemocRATS.
Indeed… and, “Reporting dies in Journalism.”
Good political analysis, thanks Daniel!
I think it was Aristotle, who already pointed out the Democracy leads to demagogues taking over, hence tyranny.
Socialism can be traced back to the Greeks. Over centuries it goes by different names, but the definition is the same.
If nothing else does the trick, let’s restore the institution of dueling.
If we fail to restore some sense of social decency among the lapsed, at least we get to dissembowel some of them.
Consider it a morale booster.
AS WE all NOW KNOW WHAT BEN SAID;
Franklin was walking out of Independence Hall after the Constitutional Convention in 1787, when someone shouted out, Mr Franklin what have we got? “ A republic or a monarchy?”
To which Franklin responded, : “A republic, if you can keep it.”
Are the federalist papers in any school library in America?
I would doubt it. We have not kept our republic. The rot began under Wilson with the 17th, and has continued on to the point where a literal non-citizen sits in the VP chair.
…the 17th Amendment is a low point in American History…
…US Senators are elected by mostly blue cities instead of the mostly red States they are located in…
Reading a 1972 National Geographic magazine and an article about how they cleaned up a polluted River. Now these homeless encampments are polluting this same river in the now socialist shit hole of Oregon.
Printed out about three articles like this to stuff in my old NG magazine:
Willamette Riverkeeper organizes emergency cleanup of island campsite
https://www.kezi.com/news/willamette-riverkeeper-organizes-emergency-cleanup-of-island-campsite/article_ce60f9be-db34-11ed-b44d-5346ed7e85e3.html
That’s why I avoid drinking tap water from the local river.
Like in the front cover of Time Magazine its time for the Elephant to Squish the Donkey again
This is what the Dems mean by “our democracy.”
Excellent analysis, Mr. Greenfield. Wish we had a lot more real journalists like you. What happened in Oregon is what ObamaBiden is attempting to do to President Trump now, and to all Republicans every election cycle. But I have a feeling that this time the demoncrats have gone too far, and in 2024 Republicans, and President Trump, will come back with a vengeance.
California has banned republicans from statewide offices for many years now. Elections are a total farce
Thanks Chief!!!
that’s why gov. Newsom (little Fidel) required all elections to use mail in ballots – to keep California a commie state forever.
What an illuminating article, showing that it’s a very short walk from abused democratic principles to perverted justice, greased with a load of money and its Siamese twin, corruption.
All humans are flawed.
We need a commandment to tell us not to murder? Yes.
We need commandments to tell us not to steal, not to lie? Yes. And yes.
Because we are flawed.
If we refuse to acknowledge our flaws, we choose our egos over our souls.
Of course, to choose ego over soul, there has to be an awareness of soul.
To paraphrase: Ask not what your soul can do for you, but what you can do for your soul.
All things Democrats do whether in Congress, under Biden, Democrat judges, Democrat run states is to ensure 1 party rule and impose a form of communism.
Even with all the corruption of Democrats rigging elections and silencing embarrassing or corrupt details of a Democrat- they still need to commit voter fraud to win. I do not believe America is willingly voting for communism.
Bleak outlook. The bottom line is a vast majority (as in democracy) of ignorant, intellectually lazy, compliant electorate glued to the vapid entertainment on their digital devices
the founding fathers: “our republic will not survive without an informed, intelligent population.”
Thus, we see why the commie dems dummy down our schools and open the borders to floods of illiterates – to destroy the country from within.
“When will you let go of human intellect and understanding, and Look to Me alone?”
“Beloved, be quick to repent of your pride and relinquish the need to be in control.
Why make Me wait and delay My Divine Deliverance and wonder-working Power to perform Miracles in the midst of you, because you have chosen to rather explore and exhaust all other man-made ideas and quick fix solutions?”
Wake me when the shooting starts
Seems this behavior would end up in the Supreme Court.
democracy is 2 wolves and 1 lamb voting on what’s for dinner
We can bellyache all we want about crooked politicians but WE elect them. WE vote for everything through our representatives, and we keep electing them. I can hardly blame politicians for playing politics. The fault is not in our stars but in ourselves.
I posit that a majority of us do NOT vote for them. It has been proven that they cheat. Dominion, ballot harvesting, dead people voting MULTIPLE times, etc.
Not necessarily true anymore. We don’t necessarily know the full extent of the election stealing through voter fraud, etc.
we must BAN the democrat party before they connive so that Mexico elects all future presidents and then comes the time when no one even remembers where the border actually was.
there is no greater threat to america than joe biden!
Actually… the problem is the tiny, wealthy, “group” behind Biden secretly “acting” as President!
Typo that changes the meaning of the purpose of the constitution.
“ The Constitution was meant to keep “the majority” from being “unable to concert and carry into effect schemes of oppression.”
Should remove the words “from being “ It creates a double negative.
Great article though.
The OR and US Constitutions guarantee a republican form of government. Majority rule in Oregon is wreaking havoc. Time to sue on that basis. Standard parliamentary tactics cannot be used to deny citizens the right to choose their reps.
Now they know they can steal elections, thanks to the media and the corrupt judiciary, there isnothing to restrain them from persecuting and excluding the opposition.
They actually can get a way with this? The courts can’t arrest this bold usurpation of power by these crooks?
The reckoning, I fear, will be bloody….
LOL. Hilarious.. The GOP deserve this and much worse.. The GOP and so called “patriots” refuse to fight.. They do little to nothing as our nation is taken from within. Americans who refuse to fight deserve concentration camps and whatever the Left have in store for them. Maybe go complain on the internet, or vote harder huh…
Goodbye America
Well, what can you do, 68% of the voters wanted this. It’s not like it was just the Dem legislators doing this. In 2020, only 55% of the voters choose Biden so the GOP is alienating a segment of the voters. I didn’t like the Democrats absconding either, the GOP maybe should have implemented a similar onerous policy. It’s one way to implement term limits for your opponents. I hope the courts strike Measure 113 down, it’s extremely draconian. If this is how the Democrats are going to go after Republicans, via vicious lawfare, then Republicans need to up the ante instead of being passive slugs. Really turn the screws on Democrats in red states.
According to the US Constitution, Congress has the power to repel and stop an invasion of America.
US Constitution …
Article I, Section VIII, Paragraph 15
“The Congress shall have Power . . . To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union,
suppress Insurrections, and repel Invasions;”
Texas and Arizona and California, and many other US States are now being invaded from Mexico.
The political leaders and politicians and the courts refuse to enforce the US law and the Constitution.
=====
Also, according to the US Constitution, any US state can itself take action on its own to stop an invasion
if the Federal Government will not, does not, or can not stop the invasion.
US Constitution …
Article I, Section X, Paragraph 3
“No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace,
enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War,
unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.”
Texas and Arizona and California, and many other US States are now being invaded from Mexico.
The political leaders and politicians and the courts refuse to enforce the US law and the Constitution.
One must begin to wonder if dems are deliberately provoking an open civil war as the continue to DESTROY DEMOCRACY
Drip, drip, drip …
… the decline and fall of the Amerikkkan Empire …
These are times that truly try the souls of men and women of honest and rational beliefs and character. The founding principle of our Republic is that all citizens live not under the consent of Tyrants, but the LAW.
The sole and dedicated purpose of our Constitution is to LIMIT the POWER of GOVERNMENT. The founders knew full well the depravity of men and that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Many citizens have through ignorance or perhaps rebellion lost their way and now, with some astonishment, have traded political power for freedom and liberty.
Tyrants cannot survive without advocates and supporters. May Almighty God deliver us from ourselves before the lamp of liberty is extinguished, and we all become slaves.
Don’t tell me commieKKKrats are not power hungry evil tyrants. Throughout human history all tyrants ended up destroying themselves and their society. With the speed commiKKKrats are moving.. I’m afraid The USA may not make the 22nd century.
With how Republican vote and their stand on issues, it’s hard to tell the difference between a Democrat and a Republican, so I don’t see an issue here. Republicans want to hold office, so you think that there’s an opposing party, but you’d be wrong.
Trying everything they can to hold on to power. 2024 will not be kind to democrats
Fight 4 decentralized governance & consent of the governed with city/county/ or state #govtbysmartphone where no elections, every resident is a voting legislator in their local online govt, free to propose, debate, & vote on every law & expenditure, free from centralized totalitarianism of fed govt or other community viewpoints. Then, ideologies can compete on the battlefield of reality. & every local majority gets what they want & no corruption.
Yes there is. In fact, many restraints. Action simply must be taken.
“While much of Oregon is actually conservative, some urban and suburban populations tilt the state sharply leftward.”
A distinction needs to be made. In Oregon there are Republicans ( aka RINOs) and then there are conservatives: these are not the same thing. I have lived here all of my 55 years and most Republicans in Oregon are very sympathetic of democrat ideologies; real true conservatives are a rare thing here.
Had same thing in MT few years back. Indian legislator flees to reservation where he can’t be got by state troopers & Dems bang on desks to protest voting bill. Shannon Augare. If we try to pass any bills to improve reservations we get called racists. Meanwhile it gets worse and worse.
1. Protect Property. Without government the concept of property doesn’t exist, only power! Those with property (assets) need to pay government for establishing and protecting them. Transferring the burden onto those without property is a crime the current system does big time. Taxes, no matter who they’re levied on, end up on the backs of the poor. To expose this, the sum of all taxes paid in providing products or services, needs to be separated from the price.
2. Provide a stable Currency. An unstable currency makes commerce difficult and inflation robs people of their savings.
3. Promote General Welfare. The key word here is PROMOTE not provide, and the way to do it is by giving private entities credit for what they do to help society.
By making Taxes on assets proportional to their cost, load and risk to society, a myriad of problems caused by the current system could be alleviated. Systemic poverty gone in one generation. Corporations self regulating to prevent the formation of monopolies, Research dollars being democratically allocated instead of funneled into things increasing the power of the Elite.
YES! Our government is broken in so many ways it would take a lifetime to list them. An individual’s rights are their property and government’s purpose is to protect them along with the assets they posses, NOT force individual’s to do what the Elite, the collective or anyone else thinks is good for them or society. Currently, Republicans don’t recognize individuals have a domain (their body), and Democrats don’t even recognize that individuals have a right to life, much less any other rights.
Several decades ago, government imprisoned millions for smoking pot. Now it’s using pot as a source of revenue. Government used to jail people for gambling. Now it’s selling lottery tickets to the poor. Then there are the wars that killed millions and accomplished nothing, based on lies no one’s ever been held accountable for.
“The Constitution was meant to keep “the majority” from being “unable to concert and carry into effect schemes of oppression.” It was to keep the majority from being ABLE to concert and carry into effect schemes of oppression.
Try proofreading your articles.