Dan Smoot - 1966 - Republic - Not a Democracy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eGzM4PwNg8
Aaron Russo - Republic v. Democracy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bqsIjnpZGA
"Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it"
Usurpation is the exercise of powers by an agent which have not been delegated to him by the principal. In a constitutional republiclike the United States of America, acts by officials are legitimate only if they are consistent with and based on a constitution, a body of laws which are superior to all subsequent statutes and other acts of officials, which embodies all delegations of power, and which may recognize certain rights to further define the limits on the powers delegated. It is a fundamental principle that all acts of officials not derived from the delegated powers of the constitution are null and void from inception, not just from the point at which a court may find them unconstitutional. Every person who has an encounter with the acts of officials has the duty not only to obey legitimate official acts, but to help enforce them, but, when there is a conflict among acts of officials, to enforce the superior one, which, when an act of an official is in conflict with the constitution, means enforcing the constitution and not the act in conflict with it. Judges and other citizens do not decide constitutionality, but discover it, and every person who is involved with any act by an official has a nondelegatable duty to make a determination of the constitutionality of that act. This determination is called constitutional review, and, when exercised by a judge in a case, judicial review.
Since the ratification of the Constitution for the United States and each of its properly ratified amendments, there have been numerous acts by officials, including statutes, regulations, executive orders, court rulings, and ordinary decisions and actions taken while on duty and under color of law, which have been unconstitutional, and in many cases, in violation of civil rights of persons and of constitutional laws. We will try to identify some of the worst of such violations of the Constitution, and discuss how compliance with the Constitution can be restored.
Political corruption begins with every voter who votes his pocketbook instead of for what's good for the country. There is little difference between the selling of his vote by an elected official and the selling of his vote by a voter, to whatever candidate promises him some benefit.
— Jon Roland, speech during his campaign for Congress, 1974
In politics nothing gets done until you first create a channel of corruption.
— Jesse Cuellar, cynical observer of the political scene, San Antonio, Texas, 1982
Abuse in general
Besides usurpations, there is a larger class of abuses which include corruption and violations of constitutional statutes. It becomes a matter of special concern to citizens when officials conspire with one another to not enforce the law against such corruption, and use the resources of government and the powers of their offices to cover up such crimes or otherwise protect the perpetrators, whether such crimes are committed by officials themselves or by powerful persons who are allowed to become a privileged class that is above the law. When officials fail to enforce the law, citizens must step in and take action to see that the laws are enforced, and replace those officials with others who will do their constitutional duty.
Congressional Record: January 8, 1934:
Congressman McFadden: "The Congress of the United States must immediately throw the searchlight of investigation into this dark corner,
