Sunday, February 06, 2011

Egyptian Events Should Give US Governing Elite Great Pause

Just one if the three TV‘s above the bar was showing the Egyptian protests in Cairo. About half of the customers were casually watching. One person finally asked the obvious question.Could this happen in the US?

The answer certainly depends on where you are when you ask the question. The immediate consensus at that time was that our Constitution will act to prevent it. But let’s look a little deeper.

The First Amendment gives “the right of the people to peaceful assembly and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” This happens all the time in the US. No problem! But there are more complex questions to be answered.
What happens when the assembly isn’t peaceful?
What happens when the Government won’t address the grievances?
 There is general agreement that those who disturb the peace are subject to all the local and national laws they break. But it is difficult to arrest thousands of people out of millions of protestors. A non- peaceful assembly must be avoided.

A Government that will not address a just grievance is a special and very dangerous case. If non-peaceful assembly becomes a practice in the US, this will be the reason. When the suffering is by the many and the benefits are reserved for the few we are outside the intent of the Constitution. The preamble to the Constitution bears repeating:

We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the blessing of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America
The events in the Mid-East should give the ruling elite spending millions to fight common sense reform in the US government great pause. It is much better to reform early before the protestors are in the streets. This warning is especially appropriate for those active in the financial sector. You definitely fall in the category of “few”. And the “many “are not inclined to defend you. You should be honestly helping us to establish an efficient and reliable system that will return fair profits to the entire productive environment. If we have another financial induced failure you will not skate as easily as you did the first time. By overreaching you are setting both us and your system up for another disaster.

We must show that we can reform now through peaceful constitutional procedures. We don’t want to see citizens forced into the non-peaceful assembly route.

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