The Necessity of Loyalty to the Chief Executive......

John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon together wrote under the Pen Name of "Cato" in the London Journal back around ~1720. Their thoughts appeared under the heading of "Cato's Letters". Their writings greatly influenced the thoughts of many of our Founding Fathers. They had the following to say about "loyalty":

#36     8 July 1721   "Of Loyalty"

...To bear stupidly the wild or deliberate ill acts of a tyrant, overtuning all law, and to assist him in it, has been impiously called loyalty; though it was all the while on the other side: As it is the very office and genius of loyalty to defend law, virtue, and property; and to pull down, as traitors and disloyalists, all who assault them.

Whoever is lawless, is disloyal; and to boast of loyalty to disloyalty, is strange nonsense; a paradox first invented by solemn and pernicious pedants, whose trade it is to pervert the use of words and the meaning of things, to abuse and confound the human understanding, and to mislead the world into misery and darkness.

To obey a prince, who does himself obey the laws, is confessed on all hands to be loyalty: Now, from hence, one would naturally think, that, by every rule of reason, it might be inferred, that to obey one who obeys no law, is a departure from all loyalty, and an outrage committed upon it; and that both he who commands, and he who obeys, are outlaws and disloyalists: And yet these same ungodly pedants shall maintain it to your face, that though loyalty consist in obeying a good prince, it also consists in the very contrary, and in obeying a wicked prince; who, though he be an enemy to God, is the viceregent of God; and though he commit all wickedness, yet does it by divine right; and though it be a sin to obey him, yet it is a damnable sine to resist him: In short, that all the instrument and partners of his crying crimes are loyalist; and all who defend law, virtue, and mankind, against such mosters, are rebels, and assuredly demned, for preventing or resisting actions which deserve damnation: And thus men become rebels, by acting virtuously against the worst of all rebels, who are restrained by no consideration, human or divine. ...

... Disloyalty is indeed rarely the crime of subjects and private men; and they who charge it most upon others, are they who practice it most themselves. ... No man ought to be exempt from the ties of laws; and the higher any man is, the more ties he ought to be under. All power ought to be balanced with equal restraints, else it will certainly grow mischievous: He who knows no law, but his own lust, seldom observes any other.

... a king is only the chief servant of the state. The law ought to be the measure of his power and actions, as much as of any private man's.

...So  corrupt and wicked was the government, and so tame and acquiescing were the people! Indeed the people in every country deserve the best usage, and in almost all meet with the worst: Their lot is very hard and unequal: They often pay millions, not only in their own wrong, but frequently to strengthen the hands of their oppressors: And this they generally do, without so much as a tumult; ...

To whom or what should a Congressman be loyal?

     Usually, unless a Congressman has an informed and active constintuency, he will hold himself accountable and give his loyalty only to his "party leadership" and other brokers of power and money in our nation's capital. The "party leadership" has influence on who receives what campaign and other funding come election time. Also, the "party leadership" has virtually absolute control over committee assignments, committee or subcommittee chairmanships, and isn't afraid to use this control to reward or punish individual congressmen as they see fit.

   Also, if the party happens to have control of the presidency, considerable pressure will be applied to the individual congressmen in the party to "wrap themselves in the flag" and "support the President". This is made readily apparent by the Republican House supporting programs and positions from George Bush which they would have vehemently opposed had it come from a Bill Clinton or John Kerry.

    Looking back on our Federal Constitution, as it was originally written, "The People" voted directly only for their Congressman. The Senators were elected by their State Legislatures (a "check and balance" on the power of the Federal Government and providing the States with some protection against usurpation by the National Government). The President was elected indirectly through the Electoral College, again providing "checks and balances" and providing some protection to the less populous states and areas. As such, it was intended by the Framers of the Constitution that the House of Representatives have the highest level of accountability (and loyalty) directly to "The People" of any of the branches. This is further emphasized by the House having to stand for election every two years, whereas the President has a four year term and the Senators enjoy a lengthy six year term. The necessity of running for election every two years should keep accountability to his constintuency constently on the mind of every Congressman. Sadly, the voters are rarely informed of what the congressman does and require no accountability.

The Constitution requires all spending bills to originate with the House of Representatives. Our National Government currently has a ~$8.5 TRILLION dollar debt and runs a deficit of several hundred billion a year. It is due to spending money in areas in which the Constitution doesn't allow the Federal or National Government to spend money. It will eventually ruin your future and your childrens' & grandchildrens' future. The policticians spend the money because of the pressures applied to them, including from their constintuency as well as their party leadership and various lobbies. The best way to counteract this is to educate his "constintuency" so that they will then apply pressure to bring spending back into line. The best way to accomplish this is through "Tax Reform IMmediately". You may purchase TRIM Bulletins from them at ~$12 per hundred and distribute them throughout your neighborhood and to your friends and relatives. Start with a hundred. The TRIM Bulletins provide information on how your congressman voted on key votes along with other information on government spending. They may be viewed at:

http://www.trimonline.org/

Encourage the recipients of the Bulletins to contact their Congressman and compliment them when they vote responsibly, and to correct them when they vote for unconstitutional spending.

Also, The New American magazine has a periodic feature entitles "The Conservative Index". It would actually be better named "The Constitutional Index" as "Conservative" doesn't really mean much anymore. In any event, it is a report card on the voting in both the Senate and the House. In addition to being in the print magazine, the various indexes are available off the internet as .pdf files:

http://www.thenewamerican.com/focus/ci/index.htm

Again, use it yourself and encourage your friends to use it to give feedback to and apply pressure to your Congressman and Senators about the voting habits.

Letters to the Editor of the local newspaper, whether print or internet, is also an effective way to apply pressure to the elected offical to vote in a particular fashion. If you've written a letter to the editor, make sure your congressman gets a copy of it.

Most people don't know that Davey Crockett spent a few years as a Congressman. Here is a link to a report on how Crockett was influenced by one of his constituents who was informed, respected, and active:

http://www.trimonline.org/congress/articles/crockett.htm

Get informed and get active. Put informed pressure on your Congressman to bring our federal government back to within its Constitutional bounds.

http://www.jbs.org/

Most groups ask you to send them money so that they may lobby on your behalf. I recommend the John Birch Society, because they provide you with the education and tools to get involved yourself in an effective manner!

Loyalty to Political Parties?

Thomas Jefferson: 13 March 1789 "...I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all."

Cato's Letters: #96, 29 Sep 1722 "...One party, by railing with great justice at another, gets into its place; and loses it as justly, by doing the very things against which it railed. ..."