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115 lines
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Plaintext
115 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
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CARTER'S TRUE LEGACY SHOCKING
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By Mike Blair
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Exclusive to The SPOTLIGHT
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Washington, DC -- While many frown when they think of the high interest
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rates, U.S. hostages held abroad and foreign policy giveaways associated
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with the Carter administration, former President Jimmy Carter's true legacy
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may be even more shocking than imagined.
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Carter seemingly ran an end run around a law passed in the wake of
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Watergate and signed before Carter took office, which limited White House
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powers, when he formed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
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FEMA was based on Richard Nixon's Executive Order (EO) 11490.
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The legislation contained nearly 200,000 words on 32 pages. It
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pertained to every executive order ever issued unless specifically revoked.
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When Carter took office, EO 11490 was incorporated into a new order
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allowing a president to assume dictatorial powers during any self-
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proclaimed "emergency" situation; these powers will remain with a president
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until specifically revoked by Congress.
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Some senators thought they had successfully squashed the chief
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executive's "national emergency" powers more than 10 years ago, after a
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bipartisan congressional committee pushed the National Emergencies Act into
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law.
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Until September 14, 1976, the nation's chief executive officer was
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empowered by more than 470 special statues to "seize property, organize and
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control the means of production, seize commodities, institute martial law,
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seize and control all transportation and communication, regulate the
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operation of private enterprise, restrict travel and, in a host of other
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ways, control the lives of Americans," then-Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho)
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said in the _Congressional Record_.
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The National Emergencies Act, which took effect in 1978, was supposed
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to prevent the nation from turning into a potential dictatorship.
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Presidents had used their "emergency" powers at least four times in the
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previous 45 years.
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The president held this little-known sway over citizens through
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executive orders, which he could write into law in a moment's notice. No
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group, neither elected officials, business leaders, nor private citizens,
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had the power to void these laws.
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Franklin Roosevelt invoked a national emergency in 1933 to deal with
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the banking crisis, and Harry Truman responded to the Korean War with an
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emergency act in 1950.
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Richard Nixon declared a pair of crises. In March 1970 he declared a
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national emergency to deal with the post office strike. The Nixon White
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House was at it again 16 months later when it implemented currency
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restriction in August of 1971 in order to control foreign trade.
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Then, in 1976, after two years of public hearings and committee
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meetings, a bipartisan special congressional Committee on Emergency Powers
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pushed legislation to wrestle power from the White House.
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The National Emergencies Act became law on September 14, 1978,.
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Senators used the second anniversary of their law to pat each other on the
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back -- through the _Congressional Record_ -- and to attempt to establish
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Congress's role in national security.
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"The Congress must never again trade away its responsibilities in the
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name of national emergency," Church said. "Let that be one of the lessons
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learned from the investigation completed, the passage of the National
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Emergencies Act and the termination today of emergency powers."
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Church's warning fell on deaf ears. Less than one year later,
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President Jimmy Carter ordered into being an entire apparatus --
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unprecedented in American history -- designed to seize and exercise all
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political, economic and military power in the United States.
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Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush or any future president could
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establish himself as total dictator.
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Carter did this with an executive order -- EO 12148.
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An executive order has never been defined by Congress. The validity
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of such directives has been questioned many times, but there has never been
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a decision made by the courts or Congress on how far-reaching executive
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orders may be.
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Through existing executive orders it is possible for one person to
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ignore the Constitution, Congress and the will of the American people. A
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complete dictatorship can be imposed under the veil of law.
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A declaration by the president of the existence of a "national
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emergency" has always stopped short of martial law, although the president
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has that prerogative. Undoubtedly it would be exercised in the event of an
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attack on the United States.
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An attempt was made to incorporate all the "national emergency" powers
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into one law under Nixon. However, in the wake of the Watergate scandal,
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he was unable to pull off the presidential coup.
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Carter, a Trilateralist, did.
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-----------------
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Reproduced with permission from a special supplement to _The Spotlight_,
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May 25, 1992. This text may be freely reproduced provided acknowledgement
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to The Spotlight appears, including this address:
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The SPOTLIGHT
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300 Independence Avenue, SE
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Washington, DC 20003
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