The Constitution is About Limits…

There is no better excuse to dictate policy than crisis. Our founders knew the propensity of humans to dictate their will through group think in emotional situations. The founders feared and despised central rule by a King and were determined in the constitution to protect against both dictatorship and group or mob rule.

We are starting to hear politicians that are responsible for creating the current economic mess (chaos) talking about suspending democratic rule. First, we are not a democracy but what they are suggesting is we the people be stripped of our right to vote in or out our representatives to the federal government. These are not fringe lunatics that hold no power; they are a current congress woman and the governor of North Carolina. Their argument is that elected politicians can’t do what they want for fear of being voted out next election. My question is if they are in fear of being voted out of office by their constituents then the policies they are pursuing may be the problem. The reason our representative government does work is that representatives must face re-election every two years.

The constitution was designed with a House of Representatives to be most accountable to the people. That is why all laws are created by the House. The design of the house also allows for the protection against mob rule. There are 435 representatives that represent many districts with many competing interests. These competing interests make it less likely that a majority of these representatives will react with emotion rather than analysis. It is not a perfect system but it is the best the world has ever been able to put together under one set of rules. Those rules we call the US Constitution.

If we were to suspend elections so representatives did not have to face the voters, would this make the people complacent or angry? Forget the fact it would be an impeachable offense, is it a good idea to undermine the rule of law? The majority of the people in the United States want the federal government to reduce spending and repeal Obamacare. The anger, frustration, and ailing economy are being perpetuated by a few representatives that are not willing to listen to the people they represent.

Is the answer bypassing the people or is the answer electing people that will listen to the people and abide by the limits of the US Constitution?

Freedom of the Press VS. Subsidizing Newspapers…

The founders knew the best check on government was the ability of the people and press to speak out against the government and its representatives freely. At the time of our founding, the press (newspapers, pamphlets, letters, etc…) were the only organized vehicles to speak through at the time. Without the “press” of the time, the general public’s ability to get information about issues would have been crippled if not for the traditional means of communications was not protected.

Subsidizing the “business” of the press was not their intention. The only consideration for the founders was protecting liberty by protecting the ability of individuals and organizations like the press to speak out against an oppressive government, and by limiting the power of the government to control the speech against the same government. To suggest that the government should have any role in ensuring a media company’s success in the market place is a total distortion of original intent.

Today, we have the internet, radio, TV, all what the founders would have labeled as the press. Every one of the new medium unknown to the founders at the time, is a support for the original intent which was protecting speech and limiting the power of government. Because the traditional press has squandered their prestige by becoming political arms of party politics is the reason they are failing. They have greater competition, yes, but the real reason for their failure is their drifting from truth and facts to opinion and advocacy. Once you take a side you limit your audience. A very simple concept to understand.

So for the tax payer to subsidize a press that is no longer objective and separate from the government it is supposed to “protect” us from is in absolute contradiction to the original intent of our founders. We don’t need the traditional press, although I believe they still have an opportunity to reform themselves, we have what the founders were trying to truly protect which was the ability to speak out against our government through the expanded mediums we have today. Today’s technology has made speech safer from the perspective of holding government accountable. That is why the argument has shifted to protecting the internet from government control. Because the internet is more like the original press our founders wanted protected. A free interchange of ideas without government influence.

Let the traditional press models fail if they can’t compete, we have an outlet to speak against our government. Once the government is subsidizing the traditional press, we no longer have an independent advocate protecting our liberties. They will become an arm of the government, and that is definitely not what the founders intended when protecting the press in our constitution.

Jefferson; Thoughts on John and Sam Adams, Hamilton, and why it Matters today…

Thomas Jefferson is considered America’s greatest political Philosopher in the cause of liberty. History scholars, whether they agree with his politics or not, have to agree he was a genius in the discipline of developing government frameworks that protected liberty by harnessing human nature and the propensity of individuals to use government to acquire power. His life was spent studying, defining, determining, and protecting liberty for the America he helped found and loved.

He was a prolific writer and his library contained volumes of books that he read on subjects ranging from farming to the history of the Roman Empire. He used history to support his ideas on liberty, and always argued for limited government based on his knowledge of how government was an avenue to tyranny; always. He also wrote about the other founders and his impression and experience in their joint efforts creating our republic.

On Sam Adams he believed that there was no greater patriot in the cause of freedom and respected Sam Adam’s opinions on many of the difficult issues of the time. Sam Adams was a devout Christian and was driven to freedom mostly due to his belief and defense of religious freedom. Jefferson was very private in his own religion, but respected men like Sam Adams because he knew a free society could only be maintained by a moral society.

On John Adams he respected his ability to argue but knew J Adams had no understanding of human nature and its impact on forming a government. They were often at odds and were seen as rivals but had a mutual respect for the differences of opinion and shared a lifelong relationship that Jefferson treasured and wrote about throughout his life. Their common cause was liberty and forming a “rational republic” form of government.

On Alexander Hamilton he believed and rightfully so, that he would have been content with the British form of government in America, and his true goal of independence was that he should be one of the elite class, not the Englishman sitting thousands of miles away. Hamilton did not believe that government was best ruled by the “common” citizen, and often disagreed with Jefferson on this point. They were rivals in the administration of George Washington, and Jefferson vehemently disagreed with the creation of a central bank not overseen by congress. Jefferson believed Hamilton was content on “force and corruption” in his management of government.

Jefferson never swayed from his belief in self rule and the people’s ability to get most issues right when given the proper information. He knew religion was key for a moral society but a society could not be lead by a religious doctrine. Jefferson knew that a representative republic was the best way to harness tyranny and befriended the leaders that held that belief even though they had limited understanding of the power of human nature. And finally, Jefferson knew that Hamilton was the embodiment of the forces that would need to be harnessed if liberty were to survive. Hamilton’s financial prowess and genius was a skill needed in the first years of the republic due to the accumulated debt of the revolution. But Jefferson often challenged Hamilton’s propensity toward an elite structure of government.

The lessons of Jefferson today are too numerous to state here, but his simple ability to determine the importance of many diverse opinions and skill sets, and direct them for the common good are sorely missing today. Leadership in government is a balance of determining the proper role of government, the emotional nature of the citizens it serves, and never compromising the foundation that makes it all worth the effort; Liberty. We can learn all we need to know about turning our country and its economy around by understanding our history. We can turn our future around by understanding Jefferson and his devotion to liberty…

Celebrate Our Constitution; It’s Not Just About Our Past, It’s the Key To Our Future…

Today is the day we celebrate the signing of the most influential political document ever created by man. It was a miracle that a document like this was even created based on world history, and the barbaric nature of governments at the time. But the framers were not regular men, they were inspired. It was divine providence that this document ever made it to the signing ceremony. It was a blessing of freedom and opportunity for the entire world to see and envy.

We face significant challenges today as a nation with deficits running in the trillions of dollars, companies and states going bankrupt, and individual freedoms being forfeited for promises of security from an out of control federal government. These problems have been created because of one simple fact; we have ignored our founding principle of limited government clearly spelled out in the U.S. Constitution.

For too many years our politicians have taken an oath to defend this historic document but have immediately set off to undermine the same principles they promised to obey under the guise of compassion, security, morality, or some other unjustifiable justification they could fathom. Since the presidency of Abraham Lincoln who boldly stampeded the constitution, to FDR, and beyond to the current president, the constitution has been ignored as the document holding the solutions to our problems. President Reagan briefly renewed the spirit of the constitution but unfortunately many leaders since have forgotten his lessons.

President Reagan and the founders knew that any government allowed to grow would do so, and in effect would trample the liberty and opportunity of all of the citizens that it governed. That is the miracle of the constitution; it concisely and deliberately limits the government’s ability to grow. It clearly states that it is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, not the other way around. It does so with the balance of powers defined within the document which purposely made the process of government cumbersome and divided, to insure that it was the greatest weapon against tyranny. The founders knew human nature and history, and understood the instinct of humans to control others had to be checked or the United States would end up like all other free civilizations throughout history; extinct.

Over the years many cases concerning constitutionality of state and local laws have been reviewed by the federal Supreme Court. Many were seen as an abandonment of the constitution to appease popular sentiment, but ultimately ended up undermining the intent of the constitution’s limit on government power and control. These laws have become what lawyers refer to as “precedence.” One of the most abused precedents has been the “interstate commerce clause.” It has allowed the federal government to involve itself and grow to the point the federal government is telling us how fast we can drive our cars, a power that cannot be found in the constitution. There are too many examples to state here but we must take a fresh look at the constitution and apply it today without reference to the abuse of past Supreme Courts. All law should be reviewed in the context of the concepts so clearly defined in the constitution.

I like clear examples and here is the one I tell which I heard told by Walter Williams: The constitution is the rules of the game. If in a game of poker I deal the deck and you have four aces. I decide that two twos beats four aces and I win, would you play poker with me? If you say yes I want your e-mail. The point is the constitution is the rule book. Judges can’t decide to change it because they don’t like the circumstances. That is what has been happening. So to make it fair, all cases making it to the Supreme Court should be judged against the original rule book. Not against a changed rule by the card dealer.

So when we see that our constitution has been altered by bad law what is the remedy? There are several, but one constitutional response is found in the Tenth Amendment. The Tenth Amendment simply states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the constitution, no prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” This means the states have the right, and I would argue the obligation, to nullify bad and unconstitutional law at the State level. For example, nowhere in the constitution does it allow for the creation of a Department of Education. Education is the responsibility of the individual, communities, and states to figure out. The federal government should have been stopped from creating the department. But many say so much of what has been done can never be undone. Never say never.

Our constitution is clear on the roles and responsibilities of the federal and state governments. All we have to do is to get our Governors to go back to this miraculous document, start auditing the functions of the federal government, and start nullifying them one by one. The Sixteenth Amendment allows the federal government to tax individuals and corporations directly but it is missing one key component; it doesn’t set a limit. Our Governors need to utilize the constitution and set the limit on what they will allow their citizens to be taxed. We need a constitutional challenge of the Sixteenth Amendment by having a state set a limit on the amount of money that the federal government can tax individuals and corporations. Since it is not defined, the responsibility defers to the states respectively, or the people.

The future of the United States lies in the words of this historic document. We don’t need reform; we need compliance with our current Constitutional law. We must know our history to have a productive and free future. History is the key to the future. Just like our founders of yesterday, the leaders of today must put their faith in the greatest set of laws ever created by man. Our leaders of today must know their history to create policies for the future.

The U.S. Constitution is the solution to our seemingly endless problems, mostly created by an out of control unconstitutional government, and we as a nation have ignored this fact. The solution to our problems is all found within the document we celebrate today. We must read it, and study it. God Bless our Constitution and America…

We hold these truths to be self evident…

That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness – That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

These words and the meaning behind them are becoming more and more relevant every passing day. These words taken from our Declaration of Independence are timeless and deliberate in their recommendation in restraining government for all time. Jefferson believed these words should be used for all time, ready to be resurrected, in times when they again began to ring true for the people of this nation. In other words, our founders if alive today would be considering the same words against the current Federal Government actions being thrust upon us today.

These founders knew human nature would again find a way to undermine the document they worked so hard to establish. They understood no document could withstand the desires of those men determined to take power over others; benevolent or not. They understood that circumstances of the times could be manipulated to encourage the people to give up certain rights in crisis. They understood that in order for this document to survive the people would need to maintain morality and diligence in holding their elected officials accountable. They understood there would come a time when our posterity would be threatened by the actions of their father’s inability to restrain their desires. They understood that no matter how hard they tried to restrain the evil tendencies of government there was always the possibility it could happen. They wrote these words in the declaration that would remind us why they chose the path they did.

Brilliant is the only word for the intelligence of these men in the understanding of human nature. Brilliant was the design they worked so hard to achieve for the thing that became the “American Dream”. Brilliant was their instinct to know the true inefficiencies of government and doing their best to limit the scope of the inefficiency. Brilliant for their time. Brilliant for all time.

We are watching this historic brilliance being over shadowed by today’s ignorance and a willingness to put all historical lessons aside about the outcome of intrusive government. The lessons that are so clearly documented and casually observed throughout today’s society illustrating government failure, yet we are allowing more investment in the scope of government looking for a different outcome. This is insanity.

Read the Declaration of Independence, read the US Constitution, read about the history of this glorious nation and think. Think about how far we have come and how fast we have created the greatest nation in the world. Our country is built on the simple brilliance of investing our future in individual freedom, free markets, and limited scope of government interference, not on the destructive principle of collective utopia, and hoping for a different outcome from the failure that is sure to be. We are reversing the brilliance of this nation but if you read the documents of our founders there is no other conclusion you can come to; brilliant…