Today, I awoke and drove to work to hear Rachel Maddow agree with me. And it was sincere agreement. Okay – well she didn’t say she agreed with me – because well – I am just some rocket scientist who dabbles in history, economics, religion and media. And she is, well, her. And she has no idea who I am.
But imagine my surprise when I hear her say the following comments live on the air in a national news interview.
I mean, if you look at our current president — as a constitutional law professor, and as somebody who was, I think, reacting to the ‘imperial presidency’-style excesses of the George W. Bush administration, I mean, President Obama opined beautifully on the radical expansion of executive power and how he did not think that was right for the country and it was ahistorical and all these other things, but I defy you to find any part of executive power that President Obama has yielded since he has been there.”
And I think that’s why the Founding Fathers didn’t put the specific power of waging war in the hands of the president — because they knew that the temptation would be too great, that human nature what it is, with good presidents and bad, you would end up with more wars than you needed as a country if one man could essentially make the decision about whether we waged the wars. And so knowing that Congress was going to be much more unwieldy in making that decision, they with steady care put that decision in the hands of Congress.”
I swear, I almost drove off the road I was so amazed. In spite of the many inidivual moral disagreements that Maddow and I would have, I actually believe she is not the enemy. She was reasonable and had perfectly sane arguments. When my president (I say my because I voted for him twice), George Bush, betrayed my vote, I called him out. I joined the tea party groups because I believed the GOP had sold us out.
And here is Maddow, basically calling out her president. She has recognized the problem. Her solutions and mine will differ, but properly identifying the problem is half the solution. So – where are the Rachel Maddows of the left and Ron Pauls of the right. We are the ones who need to take back our country from the military-welfare-industrial complex and restore liberty.
This could very well be a very good year. When people actually read history, they will understand that our founding father’s were pacifists. They sought to create a country that defended peace not provoked war. Any party who promises liberty, but takes your wealth is not worthy of the name American. Any party who promises security but leads you to perpetual war is not worthy either.
Read/hear her whole NPR interview here.
