Contact Information: Journalists, request review copy from rachel@event-management.com 727-443-7115 ext. 206
WASHINGTON, DC -- (MARKET WIRE) -- December 27, 2006 -- It's a hot topic these days: In its efforts
to protect "We, the People," is the government playing fast and loose with
the very document -- the U.S. Constitution -- that provides those
protections? Concerned citizens worry that in these days of the "sound
bite," simple solutions that sound obvious, such as "protecting our
freedom" mask an underlying disregard for the principles upon which our
country was founded.
"Whether it's war or economics, there are always political reasons for the
government to evade and disrespect our Constitution," says Lloyd F. Scott,
professor emeritus, University of California-Berkeley and author of the new
book "Remember BENJ: A Report on Lost American Freedom" (Cedar Hill
Publishing, $22.95). "When a democratic government loses its ties to its
own structural document, it sows the seeds for an early collapse of the
society it serves. Our system of self government depends upon an honest,
constitutional leadership; without integrity of government, the system is
not working." Professor Scott uses a case study analysis to prove that our
system isn't working now because there is blatant government disrespect of
our constitution.
Those who remember the S&L crisis of the late 1980s remember the sound bite
synopsis: the government stepped in to save the "little guy," the
individual depositor whose hard-earned savings were at risk. "That was not
actually the case," says Scott. "Those deposits were protected by
government insurance which the government could not afford to pay due to
errors in its over regulation of the industry." The government's
resolution to the problem involved dishonorably abrogating U.S. contracts
with U.S. financial institutions and then unconstitutionally seizing their
assets. "The government breached more than 300 contracts simply because it
wanted to and because it could," says Scott.
The 15-year court battle of one such S&L, Benjamin Franklin Savings & Loan,
Inc. (BENJ), resulted in a moral but not a financial victory for the
now-defunct company. It is just one example of how a lack of government
adherence to its own laws often falls beneath the radar. "It is a measure
of how far the movement of disrespect for our Constitution has gone, and
proves that the government can continue to get away with it," says Scott.
Learn more about Remember BENJ at www.rememberbenj.org.