Category: Anti Republic

Johnny Reb and Gus Yank Somewhere: Usurpation Day 2022

4/9/2022

Johnny Reb and Gus Yank Somewhere: Usurpation Day 2022

Part VIII of XIII

“… It’s Usurpation Day Johnny.”
“It is Gus.”
“Two hundred and thirty years ago …”
“Keep going.”
“George vetoed a bill.”
“The young nation’s first.”
“Because Congress used the thirty Thousand in Article 1 but dropped the remainder, the fraction.”
“The Constitution says ‘shall not exceed.’”
“And Washington said they did.”
“True.”
“Congress couldn’t override George’s veto?”
“Correct.”
“So then what Johnny?”
“On 9 April 1792, Elbridge Gerry and others voted a new representation bill, one that used thirty-three thousand instead of thirty.”
“A number not in Article 1.”
“Nor one ratified by the states.”
“Making today, 9 April, the usurpation’s date of birth.”
“An end date is needed.”
“Amen Johnny.”
“To the bridge Gus.”
“To the bridge …”

Next Up: 12 April and part IX of the series Johnny Reb and Gus Yank Somewhere: Bridge.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

Johnny Reb and Gus Yank Berryvillin’: A Coalition of the Constitutionally Willing

6/21/2021

Johnny Reb and Gus Yank Berryvillin': Constitutionally

Part VII of XIII

“… Something is happening Gus.”
“Tell me more Reb.”
“There doesn’t appear to be any resistance.”
“No one will defend the 435.”
“Correct.”
“Have the usurpers surrendered to the Constitution?”
“No.”
“I remember that feeling.”
“What do you remember?”
“Well, as Gus Kotka, I didn’t know about the thirty Thousand.”
“Right.”
“But as Gus Yank, well lots of Yanks knew, just like Jefferson Davis knew.”
“I hear ya.”
“Since we didn’t surrender to the Constitution until later …”
“… It makes sense they are feeling what we felt.”
“What would George say?”
“Political theory: George would ask Madison.”
“James would say?”

Johnny Reb and Gus Yank Berryvillin': Willing

“Build a coalition of the constitutionally willing.”
“Sounds like us Reb.”
“Madison said there is a peculiarity in the Constitution.”
“What peculiarity?”
“With the Senate designed to represent states, and the House population, the peculiarity is that the largest populated states will align against the smallest concerning representation.”
“California vs. Delaware you’re saying Reb.”
“Texas vs. Rhode Island.”
“I understand.”
“That’s what’s happening Yank.”
“The formation of a coalition of the constitutionally willing.”
“In support of constitutional representation and the Seventh Amendment.”
“America’s been doing We the People wrong for 230 years.”
“Time to do We the People right.”
“Let’s visit a Reb.”
“Over here Yank, and up close …”

Next Up: 21 July and part VIII of the series Johnny Reb and Gus Yank Berryvillin’: Greenland Gap.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

Usurpation Day 2020: Jesus, George and Tyranny

4/9/2020

Grace is an attribute of Jesus.

The I Ching describes grace as: inside, the strength of simplicity and self-knowledge, outside, the beauty of acceptance and gentleness.

On 9 April 1792, the US House of Representatives couldn’t override President Washington’s veto, so they usurped a right of We the People.

On 9 April 2020, the usurped right to representation according to numbers effects all We the People.

If one uses sex, females are the most underrepresented in the House, composing 51 percent of We the People and only 23 percent representation.

If one uses economics, the middle and lower classes are the most underrepresented.

If one uses constitutionalism, representatives of We the People supporting President Washington and the thirty Thousand are the most underrepresented.

We are no longer a republic: this is tyranny.

End the representation usurpation to become a republic again.

*Next Up: Constitution Day 2020 with Johnny Reb and Gus Yank Berryvillin’.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

2020: We the People and the Actual (Cat) Enumeration, not Census or Questioning

5/9/2019

Cat Enumeration

There is one cat in the picture.

That is the actual (cat) enumeration.

Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of the US Constitution details the purpose for taking the “actual Enumeration,” the formal count of the people of the several states, and it doesn’t mention a census or the logic for asking the people questions. It simply states:

“The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every …”

Congress does the count, the enumeration, by law.

Then Congress is to divide by thirty Thousand, by law and as Washington taught in the first veto, for a state’s federal representation.

That aggregate creates the House of Representatives for We the People.

No questions asked.

We the People represented according to numbers is constitutional fact, just like there’s one cat in the picture.

One people.

One constitution.

One cat.

2020.

*Next Up: 9 June and a 2020 update focusing on Hannah Arendt, American Greatness and Constitutio Libertatis.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

We the People and Usurpation Day 2019

4/9/2019

George Washington's Textbook

Today is Usurpation Day, which first happened on 9 April 1792, when the US House of Representatives broke their word and usurped a power not granted by law.

What created that usurpation moment was President Washington’s first veto, which was also the first veto ever under our Constitution.

President Washington, being a surveyor and Freemason, knew numbers; he also knew the Constitution, which he helped write, and which clearly states: “shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand” (Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3).

What shall not exceed thirty Thousand? That would be the number of Representatives due a state for its enumeration.

In the first attempt to use the enumeration, Congress sent President Washington a bill that dropped the fraction; if a state had thirty Thousand and one, they were due, according to the phrase “shall not exceed,” another Representative. Instead, Congress dropped the fraction and did not give certain states another Representative.

Washington vetoed the bill.

The House of Representatives, unable to override President Washington’s veto, passed a new bill for representation on 9 April 1792, the first usurpation law, and used a divisor of “thirty-three” Thousand for representation instead.

President Washington also knew of the Bill of Rights and its Article the first, the one about moving said representation ratio to forty and then fifty Thousand. Washington either let the new representation bill become law without signing it, or signed it knowing he had made his point and believing this issue would be resolved with the passage of Article the first: this has yet to happen.

Washington was a creator of We the People and the idea of representing ourselves according to numbers. Twenty-twenty is the next enumeration. Why not now ‘Merica? Why not you? Time we did it, time to count the people, divide by thirty Thousand like George taught, and see what We the People really look like … according to numbers.

*Next Up: 9 May and a 2020 We the People update.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner
~.~
“Those who toy with life never attain mastery. Self-discipline and courageous contemplation are necessary steps to understanding. However, do not become overzealous and drill yourself into the ground.”

From Brian Browne Walker’s The I Ching or Book of Changes: A Guide to Life’s Turning Points (1992)

Johnny Reb and Gus Yank On Our Way: Mount Horeb

3/22/2019

Johnny Reb and Gus Yank OOW: Mount Horeb

Part XIII of XIII

“… How’s this?”
“Feels like home.”
“Welcome home Gus.”
“Welcome home Johnny.”
“There wasn’t a horse before.”
“No?”
“It was people conveying the man.”
“Was there a child?”
“Yes.”
“Slave?”
“Represented.”
“Slavery, it means both: slaves and slavers.”
“Yup.”
“You bring the flag Reb?”
“I thought you did.”
“Not me.”
“Well then.”
“Well then what?”
“Let’s rally ‘round it.”
“Mount Horeb style.”
“Worked before.”
“Did.”

Thanks All!

*Next Up: Usurpation Day 2019.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

Johnny Reb and Gus Yank Somewhere On Our Way: Up

1/4/2019

Johnny Reb and Gus Yank SOOW: Up

Part II of XIII

“Up is good.”
“It is Gus.”
“We’ve covered some ground here at Somewhere.”
“We have.”
“Quite a bit since Elmwood really.”
“Yup.”
“We talked of you killing me.”
“We talked of your Valkyrie.”
“Crate.”
“Is that her name?”
“Might as well be.”
“I like it Gus.”
“We talked of Kyd.”
“We talked of Special Lost Orders.”
“Orders lost to be found.”
“Planted.”
“We talked of Ambrose Burnside.”
“Fencers.”
“The Anti-Republic cabal.”
“George Thomas.”
“Bested by Grant.”
“Grant.”
“What about Captain Downs?”
“What about him?”
“What do you know Johnny?”
“Just a bit Gus, although …”

Next Up: 11 January 2019 and part III of the winter series Johnny Reb and Gus Yank Somewhere On Our Way: Touching Elbows.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

2020 Update: Representational Absence and Presence in Locke, Madison and Dahl (and Amar)

10/10/2018

Absenting creates a presence: presenting creates an absence.

This creates a political problem, meaning one of value.

John Locke, James Madison and Robert Dahl were political theorists who worked on this problem, the problem of a presence creating an absence (and vice versa).

Locke’s work presented liberalism and a way for particular groups to make absent other groups; this has worked against the likes of tribes, nation-states and monarchies.

Madison’s work presented the US Constitution and a way for a particular group (We the People) to make present and absent other groups (representation); this is done via the decennial census and the ratio of “one Representative for every thirty Thousand.” Madison’s presence is law, yet absented by the usurpation.

Dahl is simple, so to speak: he absented Madison’s presence by ignoring the “thirty Thousand” found in Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3. This makes Yale’s Professor Dahl the 20th century political theory front man for the representation usurpation; the 21st century Yale front man for the usurpation is Sterling Professor of Law Akhil Reed Amar. Amar is simple too, so to speak: he just argues / presents by absenting one of the two shalls in the aforementioned Article.

Viewed from the past, the constitutional concept “We the People” has been an absent presence; viewed from today, it looks like a presenting presence; viewed from the future, that would be a constitutional We the People and an end to the representation usurpation, or simply, 2020.

*Next Up: 14 November and a new pamphlet release, A Dissenting Opinion from Johnny Reb and Gus Yank about George Thomas.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

Constitution Day 2018: Webs and Ways and Knowing

9/17/2018

Webs and Ways and Knowing

On 17 September 1787, everyone in the room knew the meaning of Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3: “The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative.”

Alexander Hamilton knew.

Dude named Benjamin Franklin knew.

James Madison, he knew.

George Washington knew, as the “thirty” was a wish of his.

The founders, all 39 of them, knew what they were signing on that September day.

Three dissenters knew too, as they withheld their signatures because of what they didn’t want to sign.

The Constitution was then sent to and ratified by all 13 independent states, so they all knew.

What did they know?

They knew that “We the People” was a constitutionally created way, one recreated every ten years.

They also knew that along that way there would be webs.

Webs are things that snare.

To avoid webs, stay on the way, the We the People way.

Happy Constitution Day All!

*Next Up: A 2020 political theory update on 10 October, Locke, Madison and Dahl.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

New Pamphlet: A Dissenting Opinion from Johnny Reb and Gus Yank about Ambrose Burnside

9/1/2018

Set and setting

While waiting for the sun to move again, the spirits Johnny Reb and Gus Yank (Kotka) are sitting at the New York monument on the Antietam battlefield. The two are discussing a dissenting opinion about Union General Ambrose Burnside; Johnny and Gus say Burnside was working with (not against) Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

A Dissenting Opinion from Johnny Reb and Gus Yank about Ambrose Burnside.

Next Up: Constitution Day.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner