By Guy Page
Have you wondered why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House members, including VT Rep. Peter Welch, have specifically charged former President Donald Trump with inciting insurrection? Maybe at least part of the reason is that the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution forbids anyone convicted of insurrection against the United States from holding office.
The 14th Amendment’s relevance to the ongoing impeachment trial, and other hot-button issues, will be discussed this Sunday noon, February 14, the Vermont Liberty Network and other supporters of the U.S. Constitution will gather at the Vermont State House lawn for the third in a series of rallies to celebrate the Bill of Rights. Ratified in 1868, the fourteenth amendment secured liberties to newly-emancipated slaves, guaranteeing all citizens “equal protection under the law.”
The 14th amendment was one of three constitutional amendments resulting from the Civil War designed to fully eradicate slavery. The core language, crafted to protect former black slaves and ensure their full recognition as citizens, developed into a range of rights that are guaranteed under modern Constitutional law.
Guy Page
Vermont, of course, was “all in” the war fought to free the slaves. More Vermont soldiers died per capita than any other Union state. When the Senate approved the 14th Amendment 33-11 in 1866, both Vermont senators, George Edmunds and Luke Poland, supported the 14th Amendment. Poland said that because of the 14th Amendment “[The South] will be opened and expanded by the influence of free labor and free institutions . . . All causes of discord between North and South being over, we shall become a homogenous nation of freemen, dwelling together in peace and unity.”
Unlike some other states, motivated almost solely by a desire to preserve the union, Vermont was highly abolitionist.
Lawmakers and once-and-future visitors to the State House are reminded of Vermont’s abolitionist past by the portrait of one-armed Gov. Urban Woodbury, which hangs in the Governor’s ‘ceremonial office.’ Woodbury was a student at the UVM Medical School, an abolitionist hotbed, when war was declared. He immediately enlisted as a private soldier. At the First Battle of Bull Run he became Vermont’s first ‘sleeveless’ arm amputee when a when a Confederate cannonball killed a soldier in front of him and took off his right arm. Running as a Republican with a one-armed lieutenant governor on the slogan of “Two Good Arms Working for You,” he was elected governor in 1894 with 74% of the vote.
* * * * *
The 14th Amendment has five sections. The first three, at least, are relevant and thought-provoking for today, as America again struggles with issues of race, citizen status, and insurrection.
Section 1.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Non-citizen voting: this week, Winooski’s two representatives in the Vermont House introduced a proposed city charter change, for which legislative approval needed, to allow non-citizen residents of the Onion City to vote in local elections. The Vermont Senate last year failed to approve a similar charter change for Montpelier. Yet senators expressed a willingness to consider the question at a future date. Will 2021 be the year? Probably not if the Legislature adheres to its promise to stay focused on pandemic recovery.
Does extending the right to vote in city elections weaken or ‘abridge’ the citizen’s privilege of voting?
The US Supreme Court has not directly ruled on that question – although in December it declined to hear an appeal by the State of Kansas of a lower-court ruling striking down the state law requiring voters to show drivers’ license ID. San Francisco, Chicago and several Maryland towns permit non-citizen voting in local elections.
According to Ballotpedia, “four arguments against allowing noncitizens to vote are that people should accept the duties of citizenship before being allowed to vote, that prohibiting noncitizens from voting is not discriminatory, that allowing noncitizens to vote would discourage them from seeking citizenship, and that allowing them to vote would not benefit society as a whole.”
Due Process – Do Gov. Scott’s pandemic-related executive orders restricting travel, lodging, and business operations “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law“? He would argue that state law and constitutional precedent give the governor these emergency powers. On the other hand, in the November, 2020 Supreme Court decision Roman Catholic Diocese v. Cuomo, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch warns governors everywhere that “even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten.” To summarize, Gorsuch says the Constitution doesn’t give emergency-empowered governors carte blanche powers of restriction.
Section 2.
Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the inhabitants of such state, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such citizens shall bear to the whole number of citizens in such state.
At present there’s a debate on the national level: should illegal immigrants and other non-citizens be included in the census? The Trump administration argued in 2020 that the “in” of “in each state” refers to legal residents and inhabitants. Illegal immigration supporters argue no it means “physically present in.” If the latter group – virtually all of whom voted for Joe Biden – get their way by regulation or law or Supreme Court decision, the next census and the next election could look very different.
Section 3.
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 3 may explain why the Democrats in Congress are so eager to impeach former President Donald Trump. It says that “no person shall….hold any office…..who….shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion.” The January 13 US House impeachment articles charge Trump with “Incitement to Insurrection.” If convicted, he cannot hold office again. If anyone is looking for a reason why D.C. Democrats are pursuing this so strongly – beyond their general loathing of Trump – look no further. If convicted of these articles, he cannot run for office again. Not for US Senate in 2022 (Sen. Marco Rubio will be up for re-election) and not for president in 2024.
“Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law.” – U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan, dissenting in Plessey v Ferguson, 1896.
Read more of Guy Page’s reports. Vermont Daily is sponsored by True North Media.
These people are vile and discussing maggots!
!!!!! THIS !!!!!!
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/02/democrats-didnt-want-trumps-legal-team-call-pelosi-testify-sham-impeachment-trial/
AND
!!!!!! THIS !!!!!!
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/02/watch-michigan-senate-majority-leader-says-capitol-takeover-staged-hoax-secretly-recorded-convo/
There is an old hymn that goes, “Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide”.
The Republican party is now facing such a moment and how it decides will be of great import for both the GOP and our country. Will it become a party based around a cult of personality that encourages a mobocracy and disregard for the rule of law, or will it return to its hallowed and honored roots?
Former Republican South Carolina Governor and U.S. Representative to the U.N. under the Trump administration Nikki Haley appears to be attempting to move the party toward a more positive course. Why a past defender of President Trump she acknowledges that since the election and especially since January 6, Trump has tarnished his accomplishments with false claims, encouragement of violence and his disgraceful treatment of his Vice-President Mike Pence after Pence refused to violate his oath to the Constitution.
Besides the old hymn “Once to Every Man” the Robert Frost poem “Two Roads Diverged in the Woods” comes to mind. And how the Republican Party decides about its future course “will make all the difference” .
Haley is changing her tune because she thinks the direction of the wind has changed. It shows she is a traitor to the American people. This has nothing to do with Trump. Washington D.C. is corrupt, if you can’t see the corruption, if you can’t see the oppression, if you can’t see the censorship, then you are part of the problem.
If President Trump were to leave this planet today, the people would only become more vocal and more active. Corruption is not a way to run our country. When the going gets really tough that’s when you find out who your true allies are.
As we can plainly see there are very, very few allies to the American People, our Constitution and God left within our capital. NWO pimps are everywhere, filling their pockets.
Mr. Johnson, I realize this is an emotional issue for many, but calling a prominent conservative Republican “a traitors to the American people” because her views differ from yours is precisely the kind of overheated rhetoric that leads people to want to “Hang Mike Pence”.
Is this really the road the Republican Party want to go down? If so, I fear the number of followers will be limited.
It appears that no one else has picked up on your continued pathological misgivings, Mr. Freitag. Either that or they’ve chosen (unwisely, I think) to let it slide.
While I in no way condone Neil Johnson’s characterization, your hypocrisy in criticizing it cannot be exaggerated. You and your commentary continue to be exemplary of why conservatives, like Mr. Johnson, are lashing out with similar ‘overheated rhetoric’. Your self-righteous indignation is, admittedly, more and more difficult to swallow.
First of all, nowhere in this article, did anyone but you reference the remark “Hang Mike Pence”. In fact, you have no idea who actually uttered those words, as they were recorded during the January 6th riots.
Secondly, while you criticize Mr. Johnson’s characterization of Ms. Haley as a ‘traitor to the American people’ (a marginally offensive statement compared to your reference of someone else’s remark made weeks ago), you conveniently choose to ignore Mr. Cassady’s quip below that ‘Trump…acknowledges no remorse for his murderous actions… to hell with Impeachment, he should be tried and convicted as a murderer.”
I suggest that all of you get professional help…. on the now off chance there is any to be had at this point in our near complete societal dysfunction.
If the election had indeed been stolen, then our perspective on the “insurrection” would be completely different. The assertion that the election was legitimate was the basis of the impeachment trial: Trump incited a riot because he continued to lie about the election.
Too many questions remain about the election and these questions have been ignored. The solution to the question of the trustworthiness of the voting machines, for example– concerns over trustworthiness that had been raised by Senators Warren and Klobuchar and others prior to 2020– would be a red team audit: an audit by experts who are looking for any and all vulnerabilities, no holds bared. Such an audit simply hasn’t happened except in Antrim country, Michigan, and the answer then was that the machines were highly flawed. Why have there been no other serious audits?
The assumption that the election was legitimate is simply an assumption with no proof, just as the assumption that the election was illegitimate has no solid proof. But this is because no one wants to look, not that no proof has been found. Why not? Why wouldn’t we want all Americans to be 100% assured that the election was legitimate and that the voting machines are 100% trustworthy?
Donald Trump had nothing to gain by having a bunch of idiots go to the capitol break in, start a disturbance and get anyone hurt or killed. The Commiecrats did. The Republicans had enough Senators and House members to challenge the election. Ted Cruz was trying to convince enough Senators for a 10 day period to bring up the inconstancies of the election. Maybe he could, maybe he couldn’t. The Commiecrats could not take that chance and had to have that challenge stopped. So their Brown Shirt’s initiate the riot and a bunch of Trump supporters are stupid enough to join in the merriment. The Republicans do what Republicans do, panic and the certification is rushed thru. Then to further their agenda they rush thru another unconstitutional impeachment and put the blame Trump before all the facts come out. Why? They knew the election was a fraud and at the very least unconstitutional because at least four states violated their own voting laws. Can you say Reichstag Fire?
Spot on, James. Why was there such a light police presence at the Capitol on a day when the whole of downtown Washington was boarded up and streets were closed? So that events could transpire as you described.
And apparently the interview of voting corruption on voting fraud in NH was taken down by You Tube…..
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/02/youtube-censors-gateway-pundit-locks-account-posting-interview-new-hampshire-official-stolen-votes-voting-machines/
Freedom of the press? We know this well in Vermont, complete censorship, it’s a wonderful thing to have a format to speak freely among our fellow citizens. Thank you True North.
We can find it on Rumble……
https://rumble.com/vdrbav-exclusive-new-hampshire-dominion-owned-machines-removed-6-of-votes-from-eac.html
I love our neighbors…..they are figuring it all out. Keep it going guys…..
Guess what according to this article we have the same machines!!!!!
HELLO!!!
LMAO!! I just now paused the video at the very point where the point you make is stated. I now have only questions, primarily how the hell do we prevent recurrance of this obscenity?
You folks need to get over it! Someone posting an unsubstantiated charge of voter fraud in NH is you guys just still nibbling around the edges of a true and legal election! Was there voter fraud, maybe, but in such a tiny percentage as to not even make a blip in the results! But you keep thumping that drum as if somehow, it will change the results and 52 states have certified that it will not!
So stop it!
On Impeachment…
If you have read any of my posts or comments you might understand what I believe MY Republicans need to do to quickly to find someone that can beat Biden in 4 years and the characteristics that person needs to do so and the platform his/her party needs to proffer to the American people.
I have never, in any of my posts, lauded the Democrats for their actions – I personally think both parties have gone down a huge rabbit hole that is a disgrace to all Americans and our future country.
My one last parting statement is that Trump fanned and fueled the flames, created and led an entitled cult that somehow believed it was OK and perversely patriotic to, follow Trump’s orders to March down Pennsylvania Avenue, storm our Capitol, kill a policeman just doing his job who woke up that morning never believing what he saw and had to try to stop and that one of those insurrectors would kill him.
Honestly, my anger at Trump, who is not contrite and acknowledges no remorse for his murderous actions and the Republicans who STILL support him and supported the insurrectors, is unbounded. And I believe sincerely to hell with Impeachment, he should be tried and convicted as a murderer.
It’s clear you’re not missing the point to the voter fraud issue – you’re simply not interested in it.
In case your curiosity comes to its senses, consider that it matters not whether someone can be found to ‘beat Biden in 4 years’. For one thing, Biden likely won’t run again. But more importantly, regardless of who runs, be it against Biden or his Democrat successor, if the election system isn’t investigated, no one will know whether or not election fraud exists.
That you can be convinced of Trump’s ‘orders to March down PA Avenue’ based on the hearsay, rumor and innuendo presented in the impeachment, you should be more than convinced by the 1000+ sworn affidavits by election officials who claim to have witnessed specific breaches in the election process.
And its not that the election results should be overturned. We get it. We simply want to be sure the next election is beyond question. Without an investigation of the claims of breached election law submitted to date, no future election can be trusted.
There are plenty of signed affidavits of voter fraud, and there are many anomalies to vote counts that are well within the margin to have given Trump the victory in key states. All of this is being ignored by the mainstream media which pretends, like you do, that all accusations of massive fraud are baseless. Why won’t the Arizona Election Commission allow an outside audit of the voting machines in Maricopa County if there’s nothing to see? Let’s see that there’s nothing to see! How hard is that?
Regarding the impeachment, which is an utter sham, the video embedded in this article is for you. You’ll see the hypocrisy of the Democrats as they pretend that Trump told the crowd to “fight,” when in the summer key Democrats were leading on protesters as they burned and looted. The Democrats had the gall to pretend that all of that summer rioting was “peaceful.” https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/02/epic-trumps-defense-team-absolutely-ruins-democrats-5-minute-montage-fight-word-like-trump-video/
The media has spent the last four years, and more, painting a biased and highly distorted picture of Trump. The above video also touches on some of that, and it’s the same old story of altering what really happened, and what was really said, to create Trump Derangement Syndrome. All of this was deliberate.
Yeah, It’s Donald Trump ! He Won !
No Fraud ? Absolute Proof ! https://michaeljlindell.com/
Mike could have done better at presenting his info. Fact remains that the heavy China involvement makes the Russia collusion even more of a joke by comparison. Wuhan Joe will ensure that media attention of all this remains muted — including Crackpipe’s scandal that was hidden pre-election.
And the mysterious Biden vote spikes in the dark hours will remain unaddressed.
Too funny.
So in every segment of society there is fraud and theft.
In elections we are supposed to believe, there is no fraud.
Yet, “coincidentally” the machines are built, designed and operated to change elections.
Those are some mighty thick rose colored glasses sir. NH has found fraud, why are you denying it? It’s not even about Trump in this case.
How does the Republican governor get over 60% of the vote in NH but the Republican president gets beat ? Just a question.
I would say that there have been members of Antifa and BLM that have definitely been caught as taking part in the capital riots and since the Democrats support them so much and insist on calling it an insurrection… One can only assume that setting up a fund to take care of their bail or to give them cover through the media would be considered aid and comfort.
Maybe they should be impeaching themselves?
great article, very informative….way better than you see anywhere else…well done.
section 2 also gets to the question of our Lt. Governor* Molly Gray and her eligibility. Accept in our constitution it’s very easy and clear to know what they meant by reading the other clauses. There is a reason why everyone was afraid…..they are only afraid because they knew the answer was
SHE’S NOT QUALIFIED
if there was no argument, if it was clear cut people would have called for a declaratory ruling, knowing it was going to be kosher. But know everyone was terrified of taking a stand, rocking the boat, people very high in the VT GOP knew this.
But we see our Governor being quoted in Washington about Trump……..
I must have missed this one what’s the reason that Molly’s not qualified? I’ve seen you say it twice and I’m not sure why.
Thanks,
Brian
She needed to reside, to live in the state 4 years prior to holding office, this is on top of being a citizen. She did not.
How is something like that ignored?
If that’s the case then I feel and believe that I’m now a black governor of Vermont and I would like to be crowned as such and Governor Scott can go away because of his white privilege. There; easy right? Since there’s no rules and everyone can claim anything they are and then poof that’s the way it is. Bye Turncoat!
WTH?!?
Is there any truth to this? Articles, speeches, documents?
Let’s make this easy to refute.
That’s an interesting question isn’t it?
Afraid? Working to keep things status quo? It’s such a simple ask, yet nobody who is in the position to ask is willing to ask. And the press isn’t willing to investigate.
My bet is perhaps the voting machines were using percentages too. But alas there is no such thing as fraud and elections…….for some reason we understand fraud happens and is caught in every segment of society , but we’re supposed to believe it could “never” happen in elections. That the machines are set up and designed to carry out fraud is…..”just a coincidence”.
Actually, the issue was raised over and again. And Vermont’s AG and Sec. of State chose to ignore it.
The proper course of action should have been a complaint made in district court. Yes, the court would likely have ruled on a technicality in Gray’s favor, without litigating the issue, as the courst have done more than 60 times in the actions on the national election filed in the courts.
Nonetheless, it is the correct action to take. At some point it may be heard by the SCOTUS. Who knows?. But the Vermont Reublican Party should have filed suit to disqualifiy Ms. Gray. It didn’t.
Maybe next time.