War and Emergency Power Act Portal to Dictatorship

by Gene Schroeder

INTRODUCTION

To be able to call oneself "American" has long been a source of pride for those fortunate enough to live in this great land. The word "American" has always been synonymous with strength in the defense of our highest ideals of liberty, justice and opportunity, not only for ourselves, but for those throughout the world less fortunate than we.

America's greatest strength has always been her people, individuals laying their differences aside to work in partnership to achieve common goals. In our greatest moments, it has been our willingness to join together and work as long and as hard as it takes to get the job done, regardless of the cost, that has been the lifeblood of our great land.

From America's inception, we have been a nation of innovators unfettered by hidebound convention, a safe harbor for captains unafraid to boldly chart a new course through untried waters. This courage to dare greatly to achieve great things has made our nation strong and proud, a leader of men and of nations from the very first days of her birth. And since the days of her birth, millions of men and women whose hearts yearn for freedom and the opportunity to make a better life for themselves and their families have journeyed, often enduring, terrible hardship, to our shores to add their skills and their dreams to the great storehouse of hope known as America.

The Pilgrims, the Founding Fathers, the Pioneers ­ the brave men and women who have fought and endured to the end in wars both civil and international ­ this history of heroism and dedication in defense of ideals both personal and national has long been a treasured legacy of bravery and determination against all odds which we have handed down like family heirlooms from generation to generation.

For we are like family, we Americans, often quarrelling among ourselves but banding together in times of adversity to support one another and fight side by side against a common foe threatening our way of life. This bold and brash, brave young land has long given its best and brightest to lead our country to its lofty position in the world as a bastion of freedom and a beacon of hope for all the peoples of the Earth.

For many, the dreams they had for America were dreams they never lived to see fulfilled, but it mattered not to them, for their vision for this nation was meant to last longer and to loom larger than a mere mortal life-span. Our national vision of integrity and responsibility, of concern for one's fellow man, the flame inside that demands of us that we shall not rest until there is peace and justice for all ­ these are the fundamental stones which form the strong foundation of our national purpose and identity.

And on this foundation rests, not only the hopes of those blessed to live in this great land, but the hopes of millions throughout the world who believe in, and strive for, a better life for themselves and their children. For hundreds of years, the knowledge that America was there ­ proud, generous, steadfast, courageous ­ willing and able to enter the fray wherever human rights were threatened or denied, has given many who may never see her shores the will to endure despite the pain, to continue trying against sometimes insurmountable odds.

Yet without vigilance and constant tender care, even the strongest foundation shows the effects of stress and erosion. Even the most imposing edifice can eventually crumble and fall. So it is with nations, and with a nation's spirit.

We have seen in this second half of the twentieth century great advances in technology which have impacted every aspect of modern life. Ironically, though we are living in the "age of communication", it often seems as if we have less time now to talk or listen. For most, modern conveniences haven't gotten them off the treadmill, they have only maid the treadmill go faster.

Quietly, yet rapidly, the small town values of community and common purpose are vanishing. Instead of strength in numbers, we as a nation are increasingly being split into smaller and smaller competing factions, with the cry of "every man for himself" ringing through the land. It seems that the phrase "divide and conquer" has taken the place of "One nation under God indivisible, with truth and justice for all". Americans are retreating behind the locked doors of their individual homes, afraid to enjoy the sunset for fear of the darkness it brings.

When and where did it all begin to crumble? How and why has America which once was a nation whose strength united was so much more than the sum of its total parts, begin to break apart into bitterly opposing special interest groups? What will this frightening pattern of disintegration mean to the future of America and of those who live within her shores? Let it be remembered, and remembered well, the words of the Holy Bible: "a house divided against itself cannot stand". And let us not flinch from facing the truth that we have become a nation desperately divided.

With the long legacy of pride, determination, and strength in unity, how has it now come to this, that we are fighting ourselves? Finally, and most vitally important of all, what can we do to turn the tide before the values and opportunities which others before us fought and died to preserve are washed away in the flood to come?

What you are about to see is the result of years of painstaking and meticulous research on the part of dedicated Americans gravely concerned for this nation's future. Please listen closely and give your undivided attention to this presentation, for our future as individuals and free citizens of this mighty land depends upon it.

We are not here to showcase personalities; ­ the speakers could be any one of you here today. We are, first and last, concerned Americans much like yourselves, taking our stand in defense of the nation we love. Much effort has been expanded, and great hardships endured, by the American Agricultural Movement and many other organizations and individuals to bring this information to the public forum.

There is a wealth of information about many of the problems we face as a nation today, written from a variety of viewpoints. But as with a deadly illness, there is usually a point of origin, from which the threat first was given life. So it is with the thread we as Americans face today ­ an illness which could prove fatal if we do not act quickly and in concert to cure the body politic before it ties from the disease within.

Almost all the problems we are facing today can be traced back to a single point of origin, in a time of national trouble and despair. It was at this point, when our nation struggled for its survival, that the Constitution of the United States of America was effectively cancelled. We are in a State of Emergency!

REPORT

We are going to begin with a series of documents which are representative of the documents contained in this Report. We will be quoting from in many cases, reports, Senate and Congressional reports, hearings before National Emergency Committees, Presidential Papers, Statutes at Large, and the United States Code.

This quote is taken from a book written by Swisher called Constitutional Development. Let's read the first paragraph. It says:

"We may well wonder in view of the precedents now established," said Charles E. Hughes, (Supreme Court Justice) in 1920, "whether constitutional government as heretofore maintained in this Republic could survive another great war even victoriously waged."

How could that happen? Surely, if we go out and fight a war and win it, we'd have to end up stronger than the day we started, wouldn't we? Justice Hughes goes on to say,

"The conflict known as the World War has ended as far as military hostilities were concerned, but was not yet officially terminated. Most of the war statutes were still in effect, many of the emergency organizations were still in operation."

What is this man talking about when he speaks of "war statutes in effect and emergency organizations still in operation"?

In 1933, Congressman Beck, speaking from the Congressional Record, states,

"I think of all the damnable heresies that have ever been suggested in connection with the Constitution, the doctrine of emergency is the worst. It means that when Congress declares an emergency, there is no Constitution. This means its death. It is the very doctrine that the German chancellor is invoking today in the dying hours of the parliamentary body of the German republic, namely, that because of an emergency, it should grant to the German chancellor absolute power to pass any law, even though the law contradicts the Constitution of the German republic. Chancellor Hitler is at least frank about it. We pay the Constitution lip-service, but the result is the same."

Congressman Beck is saying that, of all the damnable heresies that ever existed, this doctrine of emergency has got to be the worst, because once Congress declares an emergency, there is no Constitution. He goes on to say,

"But the Constitution of the United States, as a restraining influence in keeping the federal government within the carefully prescribed channels of power, is moribund, if not dead. We are witnessing its death-agonies, for when this bill becomes a law, if unhappily it becomes a law, there is no longer any workable Constitution to keep the Congress within the limits of its Constitutional powers."

What bill is Congressman Beck talking about? In 1933, "the House passed the Farm Bill by a vote of more than three to one." Again, we see the doctrine of emergency. Once an Emergency is declared, there is no Constitution.

The cause and effect of the doctrine of emergency is the subject of this Report.

In 1973, in Senate Report 93-549, the first sentence reads.

"Since March the 9th, 1933, the United States has been in a state of declared national emergency."

Let's go back to Exhibit 9 just before this. What did that say? It says that if a national emergency is declared, there is no Constitution. Since March the 9th of 1933, the United States has been, in fact, in a state of declared national emergency.

Referring to the middle of this exhibit:

"This vast range of powers, taken together, confer enough authority to rule the country without reference to normal constitutional processes. Under the powers delegated by these statutes, the President may: seize property; organize and control the means of production; seize commodities, assign military forces abroad; institute martial law; seize and control all transportation and communication; regulate the operation of private enterprise; restrict travel; and, in a plethora of particular ways, control the lives of all American citizens."

. . . and this situation has continued uninterrupted since March the 9th of 1933.

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