. . . and to the republic

Eric LaMont Gregory


The United States of America is a republic, a nation founded on the principle of the rule of law and which enshrines the protection of civil liberty.

It is a fact that many of the original builders of the American Republic were of significant religious intent.  One of the originals, George Washington, wrote in a letter to the United Baptists of Virginia (1789) of the need to 'establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny'.  And, stated his view that religious society would remain ' ... the firm friends to civil liberty ... and ... would be the faithful supporters of a free, yet efficient general government'.

Neither political expediency nor an internal or external threat should divert our attention from the fundamentals upon which we are to secure an American way of life. 

While the world community looks upon what seems to be an America descending into the divisions which existed in this country in 1940's and 50's, our republic is challenged at home and abroad. 

At home, we must decide whether the current 'Great Recession' will be like the recession of 1919 from which we emerged in less than two years, or will we allow the 'grab and greed' to continue and plunge us into a Depression akin to that of 1929 - from which it took decades to recover.

The president has repeatedly warned that the banks, near-banks and Wall Street gambling houses have learned nothing from their reckless behaviour, and continue derivative/credit swap trading.  In spite of  a lack of  an accountancy basis in any known investment management system other than those practiced in the casinos. 

What value is there to our economy or to safeguarding personal and institutional investment when on a daily basis millions are taken out of the stock exchange system by those betting whether the arbitrary number that is the stock exchange close is going to be higher or lower than it was the day before?

These same traders misled municipalities from coast to coast into believing they were buying stocks and bonds, when in fact they were investing in insurance polices.  Insurance policies which one giant corporation would take out to insure themselves against another giant corporation's failings.  When they all failed, of course there was not enough money in the insurance funds to pay, and so the taxpayer had to make good on many of these wagers.

'Something needed to be done' is inevitably echoed to add urgency to the recently passed Arizonian immigration legislation.  The federal government had failed to act so the state legislators of Arizona,  in the immediate aftermath of the death of a frontier zone Arizona rancher at the hands of a  just south of our border drug cartel, enacted a law.  This was not the first American victim.

First, one must share the sense of loss of the rancher's family and friends - he now resides in a place far beyond our 'ability to add or to detract'.

No explanation is sufficient to allay the grief of the bereaved.

We must find a way to achieve an orderly immigration process and to address duly 'what do we do with those who have resided here without documentation for sometime'.  There is an American approach to even the thorniest problem or situation, that is, we come together to solve the problem.  If there is a uniquely American way, that is it.

In our republic, our self-governing system permits us to blame no one for our misfortunes other than ourselves. 

The Chinese are not responsible for our economic woes; Americans are responsible for our own shortcomings.  Mexicans are not responsible for the demand for illicit drugs in the USA; Americans are responsible for our own sumptuary deportment and laws, and the way we try to incarcerate our way out of the drug problem.

In a free self-governing nation the people have no one to blame for their misfortunes other than themselves.