THE EXPONENTIAL CURVE OF FASCIST UNCONSTITUTIONALITY
Roscoe Filburn
[This Monday’s Archive was originally published on April 8, 2010. It is a must-read for all conservatives today so they understand how critically important it is to support President Trump’s efforts to break this curve. There is, however, an additional reason for choosing this 2010 article as an Archive today. It is that the events of the last few days have horrifically shown that the Democrats and the Left are on an Exponential Curve of Fascist Immorality. It is for very good reason that Elon Musk refers to the Dems as “the Party of Murder.” Their celebration of Charlie Kirk’s murder is beyond depravity. Let us know your thoughts on this in the TTP Forum.]
TTP April 8, 2010
Let me tell you about a farmer outside of Dayton, Ohio, named Roscoe Filburn. He planted 23 acres of wheat, and harvested 462 bushels – which exceeded his allotment under the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 by 239 bushels.
For this violation of a Federal Act, he was fined $117.11, which he refused to pay. He grew the wheat for his own private consumption – primarily to feed his chickens. Since the constitutional justification for the Agricultural Adjustment Act was Congress’ power to regulate interstate commerce, and since the wheat was grown for private consumption and thus not involved in commerce at all much less interstate commerce, farmer Filburn argued he was exempt from the law.
The Federal District Court in Ohio agreed. The government appealed and took the case to the Supreme Court. After less than a month of deliberation, the Justices reached their decision. By a vote of 9 to 0, they unanimously found Filburn guilty. Their reason:
“That the production of wheat for consumption on the farm may be trivial in the particular case is not enough to remove the grower from the scope of federal regulation where his contribution, taken with that of many others similarly situated, is far from trivial.”
This is the landmark decision of Wickard v. Filburn, in which the Supreme Court declared there were no limits whatever to the Federal Government’s constitutional authority to regulate any activity of Americans whatever via the “Interstate Commerce Clause.”
This decision was in 1942. Now, after 67 years, Roscoe Filburn’s unconstitutional chickens have come home to roost, and to destroy America.
Reading the morning’s news now can be impossibly depressing. Every single day brings yet another assault on our freedom or threat to our security from the Federal Government. Not only that, the pace of these assaults is accelerating. They are accumulating ever more quickly. We are losing our freedom at an exponential rate.
You may have heard the ancient tale of the Sultan and the Chessboard. The most skilled artisan in the sultanate presented the Sultan with a fabulously beautiful chessboard, intricately made with carved ivory, rare woods, and precious stones. It was so exquisite the Sultan offered the Artisan whatever price he named.
The Artisan asked for one grain of rice. The Sultan was shocked. The Artisan continued – one grain of rice for the first square on the chessboard; one day later, two grains for the second square; two days later, four grains for the third, and the same simple doubling for the remainder of the 64 squares on the chessboard.
Laughing, the Sultan agreed. “So I am to pay you a few grains of rice for all your wondrous work?” he asked. “It is sufficient for me, Your Majesty,” was the Artisan’s reply.
The Sultan directed his Treasurer to award the Artisan one grain of rice that day, a second grain tomorrow, and additional grains daily according to the Artisan’s wish. The Artisan received his single grain gratefully, departed, and the Sultan forgot about him as he enjoyed playing against his courtiers (who always lost) with his chessboard.
Dutifully, the Artisan showed up at the Treasurer’s office every day to receive his meager award of rice. On the 12th day, he received about two handfuls – 2,048 to be exact – and ignored the Treasurer’s sneer.
The sneer was still there on the 16th day, when he received little more than a single pound of rice[1]. By the 21st day, the sneer was gone, replaced with a curious frown, for the Treasurer had to give the Artisan 35 pounds of rice – over a million grains. By the 24th day, the frown was replaced by worry – for the Artisan received 280 pounds of rice.
Two days later – the 26th – the look was fear and panic, for the Artisan had come for over one thousand pounds of rice. The Treasurer had, days ago, switched from counting in grains to pounds – and now realized that soon the Artisan would be owed all the rice in the entire sultanate.
“This cannot go on,” he told the Artisan. “Tomorrow it will be 2,000 pounds.” “2,200,” the Artisan corrected him. The Treasurer continued. “That means four days from now, the 30th day, it will be almost 18,000 pounds. This must stop.”
“But by the 30th day,” the Artisan objected, “we haven’t even reached the second half of the chessboard.” Then he smiled. “That’s when it gets really interesting.”
“What do you mean?” asked the now-sweating Treasurer.
“Have you ever seen a bird flying low to the ground and getting a little bit higher and a little bit higher as he flies, then suddenly he starts to fly straight up? Well, my little rice bird has been flying low, and starting to get higher and higher so you’ll owe me 2,200 pounds tomorrow, 17,600 pounds in four days, and over 70,000 when we reach half the chessboard in six days – which will be over two billion grains of rice, by the way.
“But, Mr. Treasurer, we’re just getting started. Two billion? That’s nothing. By the 41st day – 15 days from now – you’ll owe me 365,000 more pounds of rice than the 1,000 you owe me today, or over one trillion grains of rice.
“By then, my little rice bird has only begun to fly straight up. By the 51st day – just 25 days from now – you and the Sultan will owe me 379 million pounds of rice, just for that day! That’s over one quadrillion grains of rice.
“By the time my little rice bird reaches the 64th square, she’ll be in far outer space – for you and the Sultan will owe me three quadrillion pounds of rice, or 9 quintillion grains – more rice than there has been or ever will be in the world. Not bad starting out with that one single grain you laughed at two months or so before.”
The Treasurer fainted. When he awoke, the Artisan was gone. So he went to explain things to the Sultan – who had him immediately beheaded. Then the Sultan called for the Artisan. “My heart says I should execute you as I did that stupid treasurer,” said the Sultan, “but my head says I should have someone as smart as you to take his place.”
The Artisan accepted so quickly and calmly it was as if this was what he expected all along.
Yet there is a sad ending to this tale – for America. The majority of Americans, it turns out, are like the Treasurer rather than the Artisan. For 67 years, they have ignored the steady, incremental yet exponential violation of the Constitution by the Federal Government via the Commerce Clause – and now, when that exponential curve starts shooting straight up into outer space, they are angrily surprised.
You get one guess as to what rationale Nancy Pelosi gave as to the constitutionality of ObamaCare. This is a quote from a press release she issued on Sept. 16, 2009:
“The Constitution gives Congress broad power to regulate activities that have an effect on interstate commerce. Congress has used this authority to regulate many aspects of American life, from labor relations to education to health care to agricultural production. Since virtually every aspect of the health care system has an effect on interstate commerce, the power of Congress to regulate health care is essentially unlimited.”
Unlimited. The power of the Federal Government to regulate our lives in any way it wants is “unlimited.” If this is not Fascism, pure, naked, and simple, nothing is – and the rationale for it is six words in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 in the Constitution, which specify an enumerated power of Congress to “regulate Commerce… among the several States.”
If there is any chance of restoring freedom to America, it must begin by Congress and ultimately the Supreme Court repudiating the Roosevelt Era interpretation of the Commerce Clause – that it gives unlimited power to control our lives.
We constantly hear the refrain – the mantra – of Tea Partyers and conservative talk show hosts that we have to “take our country back.” Quite frankly, this is meaningless. Far better and clearer would be to say we have to take our Constitution back.
The Washington Times, a bastion of conservatism, argues against the “power grab” of the Environmental Protection Agency, and issues a plea to “curb” its power. It never once questions whether the EPA should exist at all. There is no enumerated power in the Constitution authorizing the Federal Government to have an EPA.
There is no enumerated power in the Constitution authorizing the Federal Government to have a Department of Energy or Transportation or Education, to offer food stamps or farm subsidies, or to issue countless regulations which have the force of law even though only Congress may pass a law and not the Executive branch.
Dick Morris is predicting that “Republicans will gain more than 50 House seats and at least 10 in the Senate, enough to take control in both Houses.” That’s great – but what then?
The Exponential Curve of Fascist Unconstitutionality is accelerating straight up and cannot be slowed down – it can only be beheaded, executed albeit politically rather than as Sultans do it.
Zero, Pelosi, Reid and the gang of Democrat Fascists in Congress are not the perpetrators of America‘s problems – they are merely the accelerators. They have simply put the “pedal to the metal” in a vehicle that has been going ever faster down a fascist unconstitutional road for longer than most all of us have been alive.
Unless the Tea Partyers and Americans in general can elect a majority in Congress that is committed to getting our Constitution back, the most that will happen is the rate of acceleration of the fascist vehicle will be slowed – a bit. Which will do no good whatever – because of that exponential curve.
Teachers who wish children to understand the force of the exponential curve tell them a story about a pond with water lilies.
It’s a beautiful, peaceful pond, with grass and trees around it, ducks splashing, swans gracefully gliding amidst the prettiest water lilies floating in the water. But there’s a problem the teacher explains. The water lilies are growing so fast they are doubling in number every day – so that in just 30 days they will smother the pond, killing all the fish and frogs and every other thing that lives in the pond.
Everybody who takes care of the pond knows this, but the lilies are so pretty and they still seem, day after day, to not take up much of the pond, so the caretakers decide to wait until the lilies cover half the pond – and then they will start cutting the lilies back.
The teacher reminds the children about the doubling in extent every day and that in 30 days the pond will be completely smothered. So on what day, the teacher asks, will the pond be half-smothered and the caretakers go to work?
Hands are raised, a variety of answers given – but rarely is one of the kids as smart as the Artisan. So the kids are stunned to learn that the pond will be half-covered with lilies on the 29th day, that the next day, the 30th, the pond will be ruined – so the caretakers, by their foolishness, have only one single day to save the pond.
We’re down to that day, folks. The pond of American freedom is half-smothered and the exponential curve is racing across it. It won’t be enough to simply win back Congress in November. It won’t be enough to “Repeal ObamaCare.” We have to start repealing all the fascist unconstitutionality of the last seven decades.
To get our country back, to save the pond of American freedom, we have to get our Constitution back – and we have to start right now. Remember that where there is danger, there is opportunity. The bigger the danger, the bigger the opportunity.
The opportunity here doesn’t get bigger, the biggest of our lifetimes. We won’t get an opportunity like this again to save America. It’s all or nothing – the Exponential Curve of Fascist Unconstitutionality leaves us no choice.
[1] The 16th square on the chessboard or 15th doubling is 32,768. There are about 30,000 grains of long white rice to the pound.