Home > Prof. Jonathan Turley: “Stop Being a Country of Chumps!”

Prof. Jonathan Turley: “Stop Being a Country of Chumps!”

by Open-Publishing - Wednesday 20 September 2006
4 comments

Democracy Governments USA

“Wherever the real power in a government lies, there is the danger of oppression.” - James Madison (1)

Baltimore, MD - On September 18, 2006, the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) held a very informative program to honor the 219th anniversary of the birth of the U.S. Constitution. One of the featured speakers at the splendid event, entitled “Constitution Day at MICA,” was Professor Jonathan Turley of the George Washington U.’s School of Law, in the District of Columbia. He’s a nationally recognized expert on Constitutional law, national security and terrorism-related legal issues.

Professor Turley began his lecture by recalling the struggle to create the Constitution. He called it “a novel experience” and praised its prime architect, James Madison of Virginia, for his genius and tenacity in writing it. (1) “The Constitution,” he continued, “is a common article of faith that binds us, no matter how hateful the debate, because we have a common legacy found in that document. That is why, it drives me crazy when the President (George W. Bush) says: ‘This is our defining moment.’ We had that defining moment in the 1700s, when we agreed to a Constitution that bound us all and it required a leap of faith.

“I happened to believe we are living through a crisis of faith,” Professor Turley emphasized. “There are people in our government, who for some reason, have lost faith in their heritage...There is only one rule, in the Madisonian system, that can never be broken. And, that rule is: you cannot go outside the rules...Madison built a system that is idiot proof. God knows we have tested that. We have had morons for president and we are still here. It is a system designed to survive...You have to take the leap of faith. President George Bush is a relativist...He’s a legal relativist. He believes the law is a technicality...He always has. It doesn’t make him evil. It just makes him a man of zeal.”

Background on the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), the site of the conference: It predates the American Civil War. It was founded in 1826, just nine years after Madison finished his second term as president. It is the oldest college of arts in the country and is located on Mount Royal Avenue in the “Monumental City,” near the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and the Bolton Hill neighborhood. During WWII, MICA helped to facilitate the training of students to work in jobs, requiring expert drafting and drawing skills, in the important aircraft and maritime sectors, related to the war effort. The organizer for the “Constitution Day” program was MICA’s Robert Merrill, a Professor of Literature and Humanities, who also gave an inspiring keynote address at the affair.

After 9/11, Professor Turley said the Bush-Cheney Gang spoke of the Constitution “as if it were the threat! Why,” he wondered, “after 200 years, this loss of faith in our system? I suggest it is because this administration intentionally set a course before 9/11 to reinvent the presidency...to have an uber presidency...After 9/11, they could have asked to hang Americans on meat hooks and Congress would have granted it. They were getting everything they wanted—immediately...Why wouldn’t the Bush administration go to the Congress and ask for the authority of a military tribunal?”

Professor Turley further asks: “Why would the President assert the authority to create a legal system, that he alone designed—a prison system, that he alone ran—a court system that he created by his own rule and through this, people could be held indefinitely—even put to death—at his discretion? Why would you do that? I think it is all about reinventing the office of the presidency...The checks and balances in the Constitution...designed by Madison...keep ambitions in check-and it [the Constitution}is stable...What has occurred in the last few years is the greatest threat to the separation of powers in the history of this government...Meanwhile, Congress has completely failed to exercise oversight...We’re afraid and when you’re afraid, the Constitution becomes an abstraction...It is treated as a piece of paper...Our worst injuries [as a country] in history have all been self-inflicted...Sending Japanese-Americans [during WWII] into camps, the Palmer Raids and arrests [during WWI]..We always hear about how bad they are [the terrorists], but we never hear about: ‘Who we are!..’ Now, we are even having a debate [in the U.S. Congress] about embracing torture, like waterboarding.”

Professor Turley also lamented: “We have a two-party system, which isn’t enough. They have a monopoly on power. We have one party running on: ‘We’re the lesser of two evils.’ No other ideas beyond that. And, the Republicans are running on: ‘Vote for me, or die!’ And, it isn’t just the Republicans...The Democrats have the same flaws. Hillary Clinton [U.S. Senator, NY-Democrat], voted for the Patriot Act and for most of this [anti-civil libertarian] stuff. She has only rediscovered civil liberties when it became popular to do so, as did the rest of them.”

C. “Chuck” Williams Michaels of Baltimore, an attorney, was the other panelist, with Professor Turley, in the segment of the conference which dealt with “Executive Power and the Separation of Powers” doctrine. He’s the author of the very popular book, “No Greater Threat,” which is now in its second printing. It deals with the passage by the U.S. Congress and baleful effects of the draconian USA Patriot Act. Elaine Cassel, a professor at MICA, and an author of the “War on Civil Liberties,” served as the moderator. A second panel considered the topic, “International Law and the U.S. Constitutional Democracy.” Participating in that segment were: author and attorney Ann Fagan Ginger, who edited “Landmark Cases Left Out of Your Casebooks;” Green Party activist Asa Gordon; and ACLU and Human Rights’ attorney, Jamil Dakwar. Herbert Foerstel, author of “Refuge of a Scoundrel,” served as the moderator for that part of the program.

Finally, Professor Turley summed up his insightful and compelling presentation by saying: “The Republic has within it the seeds of its own destruction...If [the people] look the other way, do nothing, then we will be redefined. We will no longer be the people we were...One of my biggest fears is that my generation will give away the legacy that we got from the generation that came before us. And that we will untether our civil liberties from the system that was created in the brilliance of the 18th century...We have to stop being a country of chumps...We need another political party. We’re certainly choosing between the lesser of two evils, and as the saying goes—’You are guaranteed evil!’” (2)

Notes:

1. “James Madison, a Biography” by Ralph Ketcham. An indefatigable public servant, all 5’4’’ of him, and a lover of the Classics, Madison also spearheaded the adoption, after another very difficult legislative and political battle, of the Bill of Rights. See for details of that herculean effort, “James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights,” by Richard Labunski.
2. You can view some of Professor Turley’s remarks, at the MICA-sponsored conference, here:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=liamh2
or here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6744105461240781186&q=william+hughes

© William Hughes 2006.

William Hughes is the author of “Saying ‘No’ to the War Party” (IUniverse, Inc.). He can be reached at liamhughes@comcast.net.

Forum posts

  • I’m a fan of yours, Professor Turley please keep up the good work.

    Regarding this article, a great deal of what was said hits the target right in the center. However, there are many other issues tucked underneath that would explain what is happening in more detail and offer more sense to why things have happened they way they have. At least this would help explain why we have all this insanity spewing out of our Federal Government.

    “We have to stop being a country of chumps...”
    This has been one of our problems but maybe we would be better trying to understand WHY we’ve become a “Country of Chumps”? This will take more time and unfortunately we’ll have to wait and see what else happens in the news. Sorry, I’m not at liberty to discuss what I know either.

    If you look back at how we’ve progressed, not long ago many of us were crying about Bush’s lies. This went on and on and it seemed as though the Internet and News was filled with people crying about his lies. What really seemed to bother people was the amount of lies, and that he was getting away with lying so much.

    Tell me, would you accept your children lying to you as much as Bush lies to us?

    And not only is Bush lying, “Congress” and “The House” lies too. But it hasn’t stopped there either. The Committees selected to oversee questionable acts also are lying. The News purposely lies, Corporations are lying, and I could go on and on with whom else is lying. The real question that needs to be asked is, Who Tells the Truth? But we haven’t reached this point yet in spite of the ballooning Investigations everywhere you look. The Public still is dealing with lies and trying to accept that EVERYONE is lying. It’s seems to be a “denial thing” and we really need to get beyond this quickly.

    I just had to make a point of the lies, because it’s been a stumbling point for most of the Public to get over. In doing so, it’s stopped most of us from progressing to the next step with getting to the bottom of WHY there are lies, faster then we should. Maybe it’s the “Oh My God” overwhelming thing, that hits us right between our eyes and then we can’t seem to get past realizing and accepting that it’s real. Call it living in denial because we feel it’s beyond our control, or stuck in a dream hoping that the problem might pass, we as the Public have a problem with this and need help with getting past it.

    There are some of us though who have a thirst to learn what this is all about. Even still, when we try to learn, we find our efforts blocked or our computers burned up because we are asking sensitive questions that someone else doesn’t want us to be asking. Some of us, like my self, find our lives overrun by criminals who break into our homes, cars, financial privacy, and other things, so they may set us up for future trouble. Don’t laugh, there’s a great deal of evidence to prove this and I’m not the only one! Having just said this, try asking yourself why there’s all the high criminal fuss with looking around in the news to learn what’s going on? It’s no longer a simple secret issue when there are people going to extreme lengths to keep you from learning! Remember, I have lots of proof!

    One problem the Public does have is we really don’t know enough about this to make any good decisions. It also hasn’t become personal to enough of us yet, but with what I know, that’s right around the corner! When it’s someone else, it’s OK, but when it happens to involve us personally, that’s another story. If we try to learn, we’re stopped or the news we trust to give us the truth, isn’t giving us the truth! Gee, why is that? Most people don’t know, but I was in a family for more than 26 years who is part of the problem. Believe me, this is much bigger than anyone would ever believe and something needs to be done about it or else WE WILL LOOSE EVERYTHING!

    Professor Turley is correct. We need to STOP acting like Chumps and START learning more about what is happening in our Government. That way we can decide for ourselves, but we need to start learning. To start learning, connect with Blogs and start reading every day. Get involved with posting how you feel about some of the subjects too. This is one way to learn. Beware though, there’s another group that will want to confuse you by sending mixed messages your way. The way to overcome this is to get up to speed with what is happening and then you’ll know really how you feel. This means you need to learn. Then you will want to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Get ACTIVE towards preserving our future and our children’s future NOW.

    Sorry, but I don’t share with Professor Turley that we need another Party. I vote that we THOROUGHLY CLEAN UP ONE of the PARTIES WE ALREADY HAVE!

    I changed Parties not long ago, even though I knew that a percentage of Democrats are involved in this wide scale problem. My reason was that in order to do an effective job in cleaning up our Federal/Local Systems, we need a well-established Party to be quickly accepted and voted into power. The sooner the better! The only problem is, this party must be CLEANED UP before this happens. This appears to be happening at this moment but it must be followed through with a plan to make sure it happens. The Public has lost their Trust in our Government and for good reason too I might add! The only way they will Trust an OLD established Party is if they feel an on going effort within the Party, much like a, internal Grassroots effort, is being made to clean it up, make sure it’s clean, and to keep it clean!

    If you look at the news, you may notice that nearly every day there is something new that involves Political Scandal. This movement, as it appears on the positive side, is cleansing the system and it needs to continue all the way to the end. Hence, anyone with information needs to connect with the FBI so even more are immediately investigated then ousted. If you know something, immediately take an active roll and do something right with helping change our system for the better. Let someone know that you saw something that needs to be looked into.

    Before the cleansing of our Political System started, I knew about the corruption problem. I knew that 7 out of every 10 were Republican’s and 3 out of every 10 were Democrats. Please note that the Democrats are the minority in this problem. Thus if the Democrats take an AGGRESSIVE and ACTIVE POSITION to clean themselves up and show us their plan, they would make a GREAT Party to vote for! But I must be convinced! Otherwise like Professor Turley, I would want another Party because the Democrats would have shown me that they can’t cut it!

    My goal is to somehow be of service to help them make this happen. Thus far, I haven’t seen anyone in the Democrats to stand up and move forward to clean out their own Party! If no one will, then I will! It’s time to start Kicking Ass and Clean Up themselves! Wouldn’t you want to be part of a Party that takes on the responsibility of cleaning up themselves rather than relying on others?

    Marty Didier
    Northbrook,IL

  • Talking about gubmint gatekeepers, Turley’s certainly one. But even among their criminal ilk, they have got to be worried that the Bushees have gone too far.

  • Mr. Turley, like many before him, worship the founders and Madison for their "brilliance" and foresight. How can any document that provided in its text and on its face support for terrorism against African slaves be revered? Worshiped? Why celebrate the creation of a document that is fundamentally flawed; a document that was imposed upon each and every African slave and their descendants? Unpaid labor, torture, murder, kidnapping, rape, assault, battery and emotional trauma was endorsed by the Constitution. Slavery could not be banned for 21 years after the Constitution came into force (Art. V), thanks to Madison & Associates. Slaves who further risked their lives to escape from the terror of daily existence to a free state were required to be returned to their "owners" if caught, (Art. IV, section 2), courtesty of Madison & Co. Not until 1865, 78 years later, was slavery abolished and African slaves and their descendants were literally pushed out into the roadways of American society. African descendants have been trying to catch up to the significant state supported terrorism and head start provided by slavery and the Constitution ever since. To celebrate the American Constitution is to celebrate exclusion, oppression, torture, terrorism ... and that doesn’t even consider the Native American perspective. After all, this land is their land.

    • The Oath of every HONEST AMERICAN to support and defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights, will be the true test of Patriotism when those of the System of The Beast more fully reveal their desire to monitor every thing that moves on the earth 24/7 cradle to grave.Many will not accept "the mark" of the Beast System which will be required to "buy or sell" and at that time all TRUE Patriots, Christians, and People of Other Faiths, will be required to take a stand for their honest desire for TRUE freedom and Peace.