The Federalist: American Democracy is almost gone

Friday, October 28, 2011

American Democracy is almost gone

The Parliament of Canada - Democracy in action.

Authoritarianism vs. Democracy
The USA sinks into dictatorship while Canada has a thriving democracy

Because of small election districts the people of Canada have free multi-party elections.
With super-sized, monster election districts, the USA has sunk into Corporatism where your vote has almost no meaning and candidates are openly bought and sold by Billionaire Cartels of Corporations and labor unions.

By Gary;

No matter which party "wins" elections in the United States nothing much changes. That is because American candidates do not represent the voters. They really represent their Corporate and labor union Puppetmasters who pump endless millions of dollars into their races for Congress.

For reform Americans need to look north to Canada to see what America used to be like.

CANADIAN FREEDOM

Election districts to the Canadian Parliament are small and average about 116,000 people. Running for Parliament is fairly inexpensive resulting in many political parties and real choices for voters.

Now Canadians are looking to expand the size of their Parliament and protect that election freedom.

Democracy looks much better in Canada than in the United States.

Legislation was introduced in Ottawa to expand Canada's Parliament by 30 seats to give better population and geographic representation.

The Conservative government is seeking to expand the lower chamber to 338 seats after the 2015 national election in its Fair Representation Act, UPI reported.

When the country was formed in 1867, there were 181 federal seats, which grew over the years to 308 in 2003.

The newest proposal is geared to giving better representation to areas where the population is growing fastest, Minister of State for Democratic Reform Tim Uppal told the news agency.

"It's important that we bring the faster growing provinces closer to representation by population," he said.

The legislation would give the most populous province of Ontario 15 new seats in the House of Commons. Alberta and British Columbia would each gain six seats and Quebec would have three more, the Globe and Mail said.

Congressman John Quincy Adams
of Massachusetts.
Anti-Masonic Party 1834 - 1838
Back in the days when America had free elections.

AMERICA - BECOMING A DICTATORSHIP

Today the American Congress is rapidly becoming an authoritarian oligarchy.

While Canadians are looking to add new seats to their Parliament, no seats have been added to the American House since 1912. American election districts for the Federal House now average a monster, super-sized, huge 700,000 people.

This has resulted in only millionaires or candidates who are bought and paid for by countless millions of dollars in special interest campaign money having any chance to win elections in these super-sized seats. What the People want has no real meaning. It is government by and for the Special Interests.

The "People's House" no longer represents the People. Instead the House represents assorted special interest groups who have purchased their own personal House members who vote to rape the Treasury, line the pockets of their Masters with tax money and cut endless insider deals.

Congressman James Weaver of Iowa.
Union General in the Civil War.
Greenback Party. Serving 1879 - 1881
and 1885 - 1889.

That was not always the case.

Our Federalist Founding Fathers set up a true People's House. Article One; Section Two of the Constitution set the size of House seats at 30,000 people.

With small districts anyone could run for and win election to the House. The House saw everything from intellectuals like Congressman John Quincy Adams to rough frontiersmen like Congressmen Davy Crockett and rail splitter Abe Lincoln.

19th and early 20th Century America was a true multi-party Republic. The people would form and abandon political parties as the issues of the day required.

We saw parties like the Federalists, the Democrat-Republicans, the National Republicans, Anti-Masonic, Whig, Free Soil, Democrat, Republican, American, Union, Greenback, Silver Republicans, Populist, Farmer-Labor, Progressive, Socialist, Prohibition and more.

American's enjoyed free, multi-party elections. If you did not like the way things were going then you formed a new political party to represent your views. It was common to see the election of assorted third parties to Congress, Governorships and state legislatures. That is called freedom.

But free elections started to end in 1912. That was the last time more members were added to the House to reflect population growth. Since then the House of Representatives REFUSED to obey the Constitution and increase its size to accommodate population growth.

With a growing population House districts grew larger and larger until only the wealthy and well connected could win elections. This resulted is the elimination of our multi-party Republic and the establishment of an ever increasingly corrupt two party dictatorship in Congress.

Since 1950 not one single third party has been elected to the House of Representatives.

To put it another way, since 1950 there have been 13,485 elections for individual House seats. Third parties have won ZERO seats.

If this election record of excluding other parties existed in any other nation we would be screaming that the elections were fixed . . . and we would be right. American elections are fixed with hundreds of millions in special interest money that makes sure that only the candidates who are "approved" by the special interests have the funds needed to win.

REFORM: To reform the corrupt House elections requires only a simple majority of the members. Any reform should have two parts. 1) Vastly increase the number of Congressmen, and 2) Make the job part-time, a 50% pay cut and no benefits of any kind.

Make the People's Representatives return home after 4 or 5 months and work for a living for the rest of the year side by side with the People they claim to represent.

A Republic, not an oligarchy.

Real Democracy in Canada.
The 2011 Election in Canada - Because of small election districts there are five political parties in the Parliament of Canada. Unlike the United States, the voters in Canada have real choices on their ballots and their vote actually matters.

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Thomas Pinckney, Federalist

Commissioned as captain in the 1st South Carolina Regiment of the Continental Army. After seeing much action, he became an aide-de-camp to General Horatio Gates. He was captured by the British at the disastrous Battle of Camden in 1780. After recovering from his wounds, he was released in a prisoner exchange. In 1781 he fought under Lafayette in Virginia. Appointed by President George Washington to be the U.S. minister to Great Britain served as Envoy Extraordinary to Spain. The Federalist Party made him a candidate in the 1796 presidential election as the intended running-mate of John Adams. Served as Congressman and Governor of South Carolina. Served as a major general in the Army during the War of 1812.

Henry Lee III, Federalist

Major General "Light-Horse Harry" Lee fought at the battles of Paulus Hook, Guilford Court House, Eutaw Springs, Yorktown and the Whiskey Rebellion. Federalist Congressman from Virginia, Governor of Virginia. Father of Robert E. Lee. In 1812 Lee was attacked by a Jeffersonian mob of Democratic-Republicans while defending a Federalist newspaper from attack. Lee and the other Federalists were beaten and tortured by the mob over the next three hours. Lee was left partially blinded after hot wax was poured into his eyes. The men were left for dead. All were severely injured, and one Federalist, General James Lingan, died.

Frederick Frelinghuysen, Federalist

In the War of Independence he served in the New Jersey militia as an artillery captain, seeing action at Trenton and Monmouth. Attained the rank of colonel. Member of the Continental Congress. Served in the New Jersey General Assembly. Member of the New Jersey convention that ratified the United States Constitution in 1787. President George Washington appointed him as brigadier general in the United States Army for the 1790 campaign against the western Indians. Commissioned major general in the New Jersey militia in 1794, during the Whiskey Rebellion. Elected to the United States Senate.

Stephen Van Rensselaer, Federalist

Van Rensselaer served in the New York Assembly and Senate. He served as the Federalist Lt. Governor under John Jay. In 1786, Van Rensselaer was made a major of the militia. As a Major General in the War of 1812 he led an army in an invasion of Canada and fought at the Battle of Queenston Heights. In 1813 Van Rensselaer was the Federalist candidate for Governor of New York earning 48% of the vote. A shift of only 1,800 votes would have made him Governor. In 1822 he was elected to Congress as a Federalist serving until 1829.

WILLIAM PATERSON, Federalist

James Hillhouse, Federalist

Hillhouse served as captain in Governor's Foot Guards in the Revolutionary War. He was a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, Congressman from Connecticut at-large, 1791–96, and a Federalist Party U. S. Senator from Connecticut, 1796–1810. He was the anti-slavery leader of the Congress in the early days of the Republic. After the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, Hillhouse fought to bar the importation of slaves into the Louisiana Territory. "I consider slavery as a serious evil," he proclaimed, "and wish to check it wherever I have authority." Two of Hillhouse's amendments restricting slavery passed the Congress and were signed into law.

Oliver Ellsworth, Federalist

In 1777 he was chosen as one of Connecticut's representatives in the Continental Congress. Served at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia as a delegate from Connecticut. On June 20, 1787 he proposed the use of the name the United States to identify the nation under the authority of the Constitution. United States Senator from Connecticut. Ellsworth was the principal exponent in the Senate of Alexander Hamilton's economic program. In 1796 Ellsworth was appointed by President George Washington to be Chief Justice of the United States. Served as United States Envoy Extraordinary to the Court of France. Ellsworth was a candidate in the 1796 United States Presidential election, receiving eleven votes in the electoral college.

Robert Goodloe Harper, Federalist

At the age of fifteen, Harper joined a volunteer corps of Cavalry and served in the American Revolutionary Army. Harper was elected as a Federalist Congressman from South Carolina (1795 - 1801). In 1798 at a dinner in Philadelphia honoring John Marshall, a group of U.S. Congressmen were discussing a recent demand made by the government of France. French vessels had been plundering US ships in a piratical manner. French foreign minister Talleyrand said the attacks would be stopped if the US paid him $250,000 and gave France 50,000 pounds sterling and a $100 million loan. As toasts were made, Harper sent his own defiant reply to the French with this toast: “Millions for defense but not one cent for tribute.” Harper served in the War of 1812, attaining the rank of major general. He moved to Maryland and was elected as a Federalist to the US Senate. He was an unsuccessful Federalist candidate for Vice President in the 1816 election. He also received one electoral vote for Vice President in the 1820 election.

Jacob Read, Federalist

Alexander Contee Hanson, Federalist

Member of the Maryland House of Delegates. Editor of the "Federal Republican", a Federalist Party newspaper in Baltimore. Four days after the beginning of the War of 1812 a mob of pro-war Democrat-Republicans destroyed his newspaper office. The paper moved to another building where Hanson was joined by a group of armed allies. When that building was besieged by another mob, Hanson and his group fired, killing two. Hanson and his group surrendered to the militia and were escorted to jail. That evening yet another mob stormed the jail. Hanson was beaten and left for dead. Hanson was elected as a Federalist to Congress in 1812 and 1814. In 1816 he was elected as a Federalist to represent Maryland in the U.S. Senate until his death in 1819 at the age of 33.

William Bingham, Federalist

As a merchant he brought full loads of munitions & guns for the war. Served as a diplomat for Congress to France. Bingham marshaled the Second Troop of Philadelphia Light Horse. He served in the Continental Congress, 1st Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, State Senator, and US Senator. Federalists agreed to hold preliminary votings at the Bingham Estate before propositions were brought before Congress publicly, thus creating unanimity among party lines. Alexander Hamilton sought Bingham as his mentor in managing taxes, tariffs, and in constructing a national bank.

Ezekiel Whitman, Federalist

Whitman practiced law in New Gloucester, Maine and in Portland, Maine (both communities a district of Massachusetts until 1820). In 1808 Whitman was elected as a Federalist Congressman from Massachusetts and served one term. In 1816 he was again elected as a Federalist to the US House serving from 1817 to 1821. In 1819 he was a delegate to the convention that prepared the constitution which led to Maine's statehood. In 1820 he was elected as a Federalist Congressman from the new state of Maine serving until 1822. Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Court from 1841 to 1848.

David Cobb, Federalist

Cobb studied medicine in Boston and practiced in Taunton, Massachusetts. He was a member of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress in 1775; lieutenant colonel of Jackson’s regiment in 1777 and 1778, serving in Rhode Island and New Jersey; was aide-de-camp on the staff of General George Washington; appointed major general of militia in 1786. Fought in the New York and New Jersey Campaign, the Battles of Springfield, Monmouth, Rhode Island and Shay's Rebellion. He served the Federalist Party as Lt. Governor of Massachusetts, President of the State Senate and Congressman.

Josiah Parker, Federalist

In 1775 Parker enlisted in the Continental Army. He was commissioned a major in the 5th Virginia Regiment in 1776 and became its colonel in 1778. His regiment served in Virginia under General Charles Lee and was transferred to George Washington. The regiment thereafter saw action at the Battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth and the Siege of Charleston. During Cornwallis's Virginia campaign in 1781, the notorious Colonel Tarleton ransacked his home. He was elected to the First US Congress from Virginia serving for twelve years.

William Stephens Smith, Federalist

Smith married Abigail "Nabby" Adams, the daughter of President John Adams, and so was a brother-in-law of President John Quincy Adams, and an uncle of Charles Francis Adams. Served in the Revolutionary Army as aide-de-camp to General John Sullivan. Fought in the Battle of Long Island, was wounded at Harlem Heights, Battle of White Plains, was promoted to lieutenant colonel at the Battle of Trenton, fought at the Battle of Monmouth and Newport. He was on the staff of General Lafayette, became an adjutant in the Corps of Light Infantry, then transferred to the staff of George Washington. Elected as a Federalist Congressman from New York.

Oliver Wolcott, Jr., Federalist

John Rutledge, Jr., Federalist

Rutledge served as Congressman from South Carolina. A passionate Federalist, he supported Aaron Burr against Jefferson, founding the Charleston Courier (predecessor of the Post and Courier) to support his causes. Joining the South Carolina Militia in 1799, Rutledge served as commander of the Twenty-eighth Regiment in the War of 1812. He subsequently commanded the Seventh Brigade from 1816 until his death. Rutledge's life was fraught with controversy. Catching his wife (mother to his nine children) in a "clandestine visit" with Dr. Horace Senter, Rutledge challenged him to a duel, fatally wounding the doctor.

John Sergeant, Federalist

Member of the Pennsylvania state house of representatives 1808-1810; elected as a Federalist to Congress and served from 1815, to 1823. Sergeant was a strong backer of Henry Clay's American System and the Second Bank of the United States, and even traveled to Europe to negotiate loans to the Bank. He was a strong opponent of slavery who voted against the Missouri Compromise. In 1826 he was an envoy to the Panama Congress. Elected to Congress as an Adams candidate 1827 to 1829. Failing re-election he became legal counsel to the Bank of the United States. Sergeant was the Vice Presidential running mate in Henry Clay's campaign on the National Republican ticket in 1832. Elected as a Whig to Congress serving from 1837 to 1841.

John Laurance, Federalist

Philip Barton Key, Federalist

Key had been a Loyalist in the American Revolution. He served in the Maryland Loyalists Battalion as a captain. Key fought with the British Army from 1777 to 1781, until he was captured by the Spanish in Pensacola, Florida with the rest of his battalion. After the war he served as Mayor of Annapolis & member of the Maryland House of Delegates. Appointed a Federal Judge by John Adams. He was a Counsel to Justice Samuel Chase during Chase's Jefferson ordered impeachment show-trial in 1805. Elected as a Federalist to Congress from Maryland (1807 - 1813). Francis Scott Key was his nephew.