GOP “Pledge” Promises More UnGodly, UnConstitutional Government
 

By John Lofton, Editor, TheAmericanView.com

The Republican Party has no solutions to any of the real problems afflicting our country. And this is never more obvious than when GOP “leaders” tell us their solutions to what they think are the real problems afflicting our country. A case in point: “A Pledge To America,” a 45-page docuмent recently released by House Republicans. Here’s some of what this docuмent says, with comments:

PLEDGE: America is an idea - an idea that free people can govern themselves, that government’s powers are derived from the consent of the governed…

COMMENT: Wrong! God’s Word tells us that civil government has been created/ordained by God and its purpose and limits are established by God. And our Lord told Pilate that he had no power against Him except what was given him (Pilate) from above (John 19:10, 11). Thus, legitimate, duly authorized power, comes from God.

PLEDGE: America is the belief that any man or woman can - given economic, political, and religious liberty - advance themselves, their families, and the common good.

COMMENT: Terrible writing! “America is the belief?” Ugh! “Founded on the belief…”? OK. But, “is the belief…?” No! And America as originally founded (early 1600s) was founded on God’s Word, the Bible, and not on generalized abstractions such as the above phraseology. Also, abstract, Godless talk about power coming from the people, the common good, the general will, all are some kind of Rousseau/communist talk — radically anti-Christian, anti-Bible. And this “Pledge” is soaked in such French Revolution-style language proving that in their political philosophies Republicans, like Democrats, are communistic, humanistic.

PLEDGE: In a self-governing society, the only bulwark against the power of the state is the consent of the governed, and regarding the policies of the current government, the governed do not consent.

COMMENT: This is an astoundingly ignorant and dangerous statement as opposed to the beliefs of the original founders of our country (early 1600s) as can be imagined! The notion that “the only bulwark against the power of the state”, the only bulwark, are people who consent to be governed is “democracy” which our Founders feared and hated. This view says, in effect, that neither God’s Word nor any constitution can limit the State. This idea overthrows the whole belief in “the rule of law,” any law, because, supposedly, “the people” rule!

This statement also means, unwittingly — it must mean — that what’s wrong with Obama’s policies is that the “governed” have not “consented.” So, if the “governed” had “consented,” the Obama policies would be OK — which is absurd and foolish reasoning.

This statement reveals, with a vengeance, that those who wrote, signed and/or agree with this “Pledge” are utterly clueless regarding the true view of American law and government.

PLEDGE: Speaks of the present “crushing debt” and other things (Democrat-caused, of course) that are “blurring our sense of national purpose.”

COMMENT: The only “national purpose” for Demicans and Republicrats is to get re-elected! And after the debt run up during the Bush-Cheney/GOP-Congress years you’d think the Republicans could never again say, with a straight face, the word “debt.”

PLEDGE: Invoking, again, “the will of the people,” it is said: “The American people are speaking out, demanding that we realign our country’s compass with its founding principles and apply those principles to solve our common problems for the common good.”

COMMENT: Having been dumbed-down and lied to in our government-run schools, most Americans have no idea what the true “founding principles” of our country were; and when they are told what these founding principles were (God, the Bible), many “Americans” vehemently oppose these principles!

PLEDGE: The need for urgent action to repair our economy and reclaim our government for the people cannot be overstated.

COMMENT: No, please, no “urgent action” on anything! — unless you “urgently act” to undo all the unGodly, unConstitutional acts you and the Democrats have engaged in over the decades.

PLEDGE: We pledge to honor the Constitution as constructed by its framers and honor the original intent of those precepts that have been consistently ignored - particularly the Tenth Amendment, which grants that all powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

COMMENT: Fine, as far as this goes. But, what about Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution which strictly limits what you guys in Congress can spend money on? Why not pledge to begin to phase out every Federal program not authorized by Article I, Secion 8?

PLEDGE: Refers to “the core of our American values.”

COMMENT: The “values” you have are not the “values” of the original Americans (early 1600s). What you “value” today are things “valued” by communists/national socialists — “the people,” “the general will,” “common good,” blah, blah, blah.

PLEDGE: Voices in and out of the government whisper that our standing as the world’s leader of democracy and economic growth is ending.

COMMENT: We are not a “democracy!” Our Founders gave us a Constitutional, representative REPUBLIC!

PLEDGE: Politicians in Washington have imposed an agenda that doesn’t reflect the priorities of the people…. a flurry of backroom deals has supplanted the will of the people….

Our plan offers a clear and clearly different approach, one in which the people have the most say….Our plan puts forth a new governing agenda that reflects the priorities of the American people.

COMMENT: “The people” are not God. “The people” are not the United States Constitution. Both God’s Word and the Constitution are supposed to limit what the Federal civil government is allowed to do — regardless of what “the people” say government should do!

PLEDGE: A plan to create jobs, end economic uncertainty, and make America more competitive must be the first and most urgent domestic priority of our government.

COMMENT: No! Government does not “create jobs.” Forget that. And as long as the Federal Government ignores God’s Law and the Constitution “economic uncertainty” and chaos will continue.

PLEDGE: By permanently stopping job-killing tax hikes, families will be able to keep more of their hard-earned money.

COMMENT: If you are concerned about taxes, why nothing in your “Pledge” about instituting a system of Biblical/Constitutional taxation which would mean abolishing the income tax and abolishing the IRS?

PLEDGE: We will rein in the red tape factory in Washington, DC by requiring congressional approval of any new federal regulation that may add to our deficit and make it harder to create jobs.

COMMENT: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….if you were serious about cutting red tape you would be recommending the abolition of scores of unGodly, unConstitutional Federal Departments and agencies — which you do not recommend.

PLEDGE: With common-sense exceptions for seniors, veterans, and our troops, we will roll back government spending to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels, saving us at least $100 billion in the first year alone and putting us on a path to balance the budget and pay down the debt.

COMMENT: De-coded/translation: Don’t worry old folks, vets, troops. All of you may keep your respective snouts thrust deep into the public trough (even though this trough is about $100 TRILLION past empty.)

PLEDGE: We will also prevent Washington from forcing responsible taxpayers to subsidize irresponsible behavior by ending bailouts permanently, canceling the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), blah, blah, blah.

COMMENT: Are you kidding?! Every time a member of Congress cashes his paycheck the taxpayer is being forced “to subsidize irresponsible behavior!!” And you Republicans supported the first “bailout,” Bush’s TARP program which cost $700-$800 BILLION or so they said, which I do not believe.

PLEDGE: We offer a plan to repeal and replace the government takeover of health care with common sense solutions…..The American people wanted one thing out of health care reform….. We have a plan…

COMMENT: No, no, Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease. You are in no way authorized by God’s Word or the Constitution to have anything to do with health care. Do nothing!

PLEDGE: We will permanently end taxpayer funding of abortion and codify the Hyde Amendment.

COMMENT: Nothing in Congress is ever done “permanently” because the next party can undo what was done. So, your promise here is a lie and you know it is a lie. “Compassionate conservative,” supposedly “pro-life” Bush signed into “law” bills that gave more than $2 BILLION to Planned Parenthood, the largest unborn baby-murderers in our country. You, if you takeover Congress again, will, like other Republicans who ran Congress/the White House, do NOTHING to save the life of one unborn baby.

PLEDGE: We recognize that these solutions are ambitious….

COMMENT: Not at all. “Ambitious” would mean a vow to give us Godly/Constitutional government, limited by God’s Law to justice only. What you propose doesn’t even rise to the level of tinkering, tweaking. Your plan is like telling a man with no head that he should take a couple of aspirin and call you in the morning. Your plan is like rearranging the deck chairs on the “Titanic” — after it sank!!!

PLEDGE: We will require that every bill contain a citation of Constitutional authority.

COMMENT: And then what? — debate whether or not the citation is truly Constitutional? Not bloody likely, I’d say. I mean, all of you already took an oath to uphold the Constitution. And for most of you that has meant nothing. So, why not pledge (though, admittedly, I would not believe such a pledge) that when a member introduces an unConstitutional bill, you will push for that member’s expulsion from Congress? An oath, a promise to God, is important, right? And breaking an oath — lying to God — is a serious matter, right? You do believe that, right? Hello….hello…where did everybody go?

PLEDGE: We will keep terrorist combatants in Guantanamo Bay not in our local jails and courtrooms.

COMMENT: You, of course, mean accused “terrorist combatants,” right? I don’t believe most of those in jail there have had trials.

PLEDGE: Joblessness is the single most important challenge facing America today. Jobs are the lifeblood of our economy, and for our work force, there is no substitute for the pride and dignity….

COMMENT: Well, no. No “bread-alone” issue is “the single most important challenge facing America today.” You’d think that since most of you say you are Christians you’d know that “the single most important challenge facing” any country is whether that country is or is not in covenant with God, is or is not striving to obey God’s Word, does or does not honor the Crown Rights of the Lord Jesus Christ.

PLEDGE: Instead of putting the brakes on Washington’s spending habits as they promised, President Obama and Democratic Leaders have stepped on the accelerator and demonstrated unparalleled recklessness with taxpayer dollars.

COMMENT: The question re: government spending has, primarily, nothing to do with accelerators or brakes, nothing to do with the speed, the pace of that spending. The crucial, threshold questions are: What road is the government spending car allowed to drive on? Who draws this map? These are the most important questions. The first, most important, answer is: God draws the map. The government spending car may not go where God has not said it can go (health, education, welfare, etc). Secondarily, the government spending car may not go where it is not authorized to go by the US Constitution. And, of course, the Constitution may not authorize the government spending car to go where God says government is not allowed to go.

PLEDGE: Cut Government Spending to Pre-Stimulus, Pre-Bailout Levels…we will roll back government spending to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels, saving us at least $100 billion in the first year alone….

COMMENT: Pathetic. “Cut” spending waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back to 2008 levels! That’s all that is proposed. And I saw one report that this entire GOP plan addresses only 16% of the entire budget of any year because the rest of the budget is, supposedly, on auto-pilot, “non-discretionary” spending.

PLEDGE: Cut Congress’ Budget This year, Congress increased its own budget by 5.8 percent at a time when families and small businesses across the country are cutting back. We will make Congress do more with less by significantly reducing its budget.

COMMENT: NO! I do not want Congress to do “more!!!!” I want them to do less with less! This kind of we-will-cut-Congressional-spending stunt is catnip for the clueless, means nothing.

PLEDGE: Will require a full accounting of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, setting benchmarks for these programs and reviewing them regularly…

COMMENT: Do not want “full accounting” for or “benchmarks” for or “review” of any government programs not authorized by God’s Word or the Constitution — which means Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid should be phased out.

PLEDGE: When asked to provide our troops with the resources they need, we will do so without delay.

COMMENT: “Without delay?!” Without any debate re: whether the use of “our troops” is Godly, Constitutional? — just give them the money? Truly a mindless, jingoistic, warmongering promise. Ridiculous.

PLEDGE: Foreign terrorists do not have the same rights as American citizens, nor do they have more rights than U.S. military personnel.

COMMENTS: The U.S. Constitution applies to persons and not just Americans citizens. The purpose of our government is to protect God-given rights which all people have, not just American citizens.

PLEDGE: Require Tough Enforcement of Sanctions against Iran. The Iranian regime is a state-sponsor of terrorism, has actively worked to harm our deployed troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and violates the rights and will of its own people.

COMMENT: Our troops should not be in Iraq/Afghanistan. What the regime in Iran doing to its people is, officially, none of the business of our government.

PLEDGE: Every American must ask: what has Congress done to ensure opportunity and to safeguard my liberty and the freedoms guaranteed to me in the Constitution? We stand ready to be judged by that standard.

COMMENT: But even before the Constitution, there is a higher standard by which you will be judged and that is by God and His Word which contains many commands regarding civil government and its limits (Romans, chapter 13, for example). Your entire “Pledge” docuмent, however, says nothing re: the need, the necessity, for Godly government. Thus, implicitly, you are pledging to continue Godless government.