Republican Study Group Attacks Notion of Democracy -

Elevates the Concept of the Republic and the Rule of Law

A modest turnout of voters sat in the semi-darkened
auditorium of the Lee Lockwood Library and Museum in Waco,
the local home of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry.

The Master of Ceremonies, a trim middle-aged woman named
Cecily Tooley, asked for a show of hands.

"How many here want to have a restoration of democracy?"

The response was near-unanimous. Almost everyone raised a
hand.

"How many here believe we have the right to keep and bear
arms?"

Again, nearly everyone in the auditorium indicated their
belief in the Second Amendment by raising their hands.

Her co-chairman, Scott Barber, arose and leaned over the
lectern to say, "It's not possible to restore democracy in
our nation. We don't have a democracy."

He said we live in a republic that is subject to the rule of
law.

"Human rights are inherent. They are God-given." Those
human rights can't be taken away, he declared. "What can be
taken away are the consequences of taking away your rights."

The Constitution is there, he said, "...to limit the powers
of these guys."

He indicated seven candidates sitting behind him in a
semicircle of chairs on the stage, men who are vying for the
Republican nomination to run against eleven-term U.S.
Representative Chet Edwards, a Democrat who serves in a 10-
county district populated by better than 63 percent
Republican voters.

There followed an erudite exposition of the "rule of law"
and the relationship of the basic law of the land, the U.S.
Constitution, to the rights of the citizens of the U.S.

"Any time someone can take away the guarantees on a piece of
paper by passing another piece of paper, that's not
democracy. That's a republic," he concluded.

It's all part of an educational program sponsored by
Educators of Liberty, a right wing study group that follows
the teachings of such pundits as G. Edward Griffin, a long-
time radio personality and a former writer for the campaign
of Strategic Air Comman General Curtis LeMay when he was the
running mate of third party Independent candidate Governor
George Wallace in the 1968 Presidential contest between
Repubican challenger Richard M. Nixon and Vice President
Hubert Humphrey, a Democratic party stalwart and former
ultra-liberal Senator from Minnesota.

Mr. Griffin and other educators adhere to a program that
emphasizes their trepidations about the creation of money by
the Federal Reserve Board, which promulgates a national
money supply that is chained to the level of debt comsumers
owe to their constituent member banks. The Educators of
Liberty group sees this system of currency underwritten as
Federal Reserve Notes as a form of insanity that will
positively lead to a worldwide economic breakdown, thence to
global socialistic and totalitarian conditions.

In other areas, much attention is devoted to such United
Nations agendas as the "Biodiversity Treaty," something
known as "Agenda 21," which, if ratified by the U.S., they
declare would outlaw agricultural irrigation, the use of
herbicides and pesticides, a ban on all but what is termed
as "sustainable development," and most fossil energy
exploitation.

They fear a total erosion of property rights as a result.

After his extended lecture, Mr. Barber again asked for a
show of hands of people who would like to see a restoration
of democracy.

This time, only a few raised their hands.

"I guess I didn't do such a good job, after all," he said in
a disappointed tone of voice.

There was a ripple of nervous laughter, a titter that swept
the crowd like a sudden sun shower on a tropical lagoon. It
passed quickly, giving way to a silence that matched the
leaden skies and freezing temperatures outside on West Waco
Drive.

Clearly, this was not a group of happy campers.

Not surprisingly, though his picture was included on the
program, Democrat Chet Edwards did not make an appearance.

A brochure announced that the sponsors may be found at
www.EducatorsofLiberty.com

Each of the seven Republican candidates were given one
minute to introduce themselves.

They are:

Rob Curnock, who said he has "twenty years experience trying
to get rid of Chet." Mr. Curnock is a former sports anchor
for KWTX TV and operator of a videotaping company in Waco.
He garnered 45.5 percent of the vote in the last general
election, though the Edwards campaign outspent him 23 to 1.

David McIntyre, a native Houstonian whose family has owned
land in Central Texas for 150 years and is a veteran of 30
years in the U.S. Army. He now heads the Homeland Security
Doctoral Program at Texas A&M. He was Dean of Instructors
at the National War College and served in the Office of the
Chief of Staff at the Pentagon during his military career.

Timothy Allen Delasandro, an R.N. who works on Bryan's
intensive care wards. He started his professional career as
a Navy Russian language expert who was attached to the
National Security Agency.

William Flores, a Reaganaut Republican from Houston with 30
years experience in the oil and gas business.

Chuck Wilson, a Waco business man and former CIA case
officer with many years of experience in African nations
experiencing brushfire wars of national liberation, places
such as Zimbabwe and The Sudan. His diligence is credited
with leading to the capture of the international terrorist,
Carlos The Jackal, in Sudan.

Dennis A. Yokie, an Independent and an over-the-road truck
driver who served a 20-year career as a Navy enlisted man.
He claims to have seen foreign national U.N. troops
supervising civilian police officers in identity checks on
North Carolina roads.

Tommy L. Smith, an Independent from Hillsboro who espouses
government by the people and for the people.

Each candidate answered the audience's written questions
after they were screened by the two masters of ceremonies.

One question was, "What is the most important issue needing
change in (Congressional) District 17?"

There was an overwhelming shout from the audience.

They cried out in unison, "Chet Edwards!"

The next most pressing problem that faces Americans, the
candidates all agreed, is what they term as a "radical
legislative agenda."

Said Chuck Wilson, CIA officer and business man, "We have
to reject this radical legislative agends so business people
can know the cost of doing business...Most people have
already figured out how many people they will have to lay
off, what part of their program they will have to cut out."

He pointed to the anticipated costs of the national effort
to reform health care. "Business is in a holding pattern."

Federal deficit spending is at crisis proportions, the
candidates all agreed.

Said candidate Dave McIntyre, "We're headed for the place
where Nazi Germany was before World War Two. We can't keep
writing checks for money we don't have." He evoked memories
of historic news photos of Germans pushing shopping baskets
laden to the top with bundles of marks, the monumental
amount of money required to buy a loaf of bread during that
time of runaway inflation of that nation's currency.

Speaking of Representative Edwards, Mr. Smith said, "Why
isn't he here today answering these questions? Because he's
afraid of facing the people, that's why." There was an
overwhelming cheer from the audience.

In a response to a question about gun rights, all of the
candidates recoiled in horror at the mention of troops and
Blackwater security contractors going house to house to
confiscate firearms in New Orleans during the height of the
flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina.

In response to a question about the Posse Comitatus Act, Mr.
McIntyre said the act applies to the Army and Air Force, but
not to the Navy and Marine Corps. The President can call out
Federal troops under the provision of the Insurrection Act
or during a natural disaster if requested to do so by the
Governor of a state.

Speaking as a man who has lived under the strictures of both
Sharia and Socialism, Chuck Wilson said of the Second
Amendment right to keep and bear arms, "You never give up
your rights."

He said he witnessed the deterioration of Zimbabwe into a
bankrupt international pariah after the takeover by Robert
Mugabe.

"It's an unsettling experience when men with
alcohol on their breath armed with AK-47 rifles come up to
your window to question you. I will say that."

About health care reform, Timothy Delassandro asked the
audience, "Where's the constitutional authority to change
health care?" They rewarded him with sustained applause.

"Someone asked Nancy Pelosi if the Constitution says you can
enact a law that changes the health care system. She
answered, 'You've got to be kidding.'"

He called for an end to her leadership role.

According to Mr. Delassandro, the Constitution gives the
Federal government only two roles to play. First, it is the
duty of the U.S. government to maintain secure borders
through military means. Secondly, it is the obligation of
the government to engage the enemies of the nation through
its war powers.

jim@downdirtyword.com