Unfortunately for all of us, we are now faced with a huge crisis. The crisis is viewed differently on either side. Yet, it is a crisis all the same. On the one side, the crisis is seen as the final crusade to be able to assure that everyone in the U.S. is mandated as equal. Not equal in opportunity but equal in outcome. The key to this ideal, is the completion of a federalist agenda and the expansion of federal power to supplant most states control. The opponents to this desire have painted the promoters as wanting to create a socialist or fascist state eliminate all personal holdings and remove profit from any equation creating methods to redistribute wealth to the poor and eliminate any that have been able to accumulate more than another. Much of the attack from most of this group is unfounded, what they think that are doing is simply creating an effective democracy!
On the other side it is seen, as a crisis over governance. While the same Ad Hominum-Ad Nauseaum rhetoric, has tried to paint this side as wanting to hurt the poor, take food out of starving babies mouths and punish poor people, this is not their agenda, it is the simple premise that the constitution is constructed to put checks and balances to protect against the rise of a tyrannical oppressive government and preserve individual rights and equal opportunity–not equal outcome–a huge philosophical difference.
In the end, one of the great things about our constitution is that it grants to the people the power to control our rule. Notice I said control our rule not rule directly. While we like to think we are a democracy, we are not. We are a constitutional republic. We place decisions in the hands of our elected officials whom serve at our discretion. We can un-elect them. While this has been inconvenient on the micro-decision basis it has been a stellar success in the macro over the years.
Still, we have systematically weakened the controls of the constitution and the original mechanisms over the years, often for very reasonable needs on a temporary basis but in the end they have become permanent changes. The original role of the federal government was not to act as the seat of all power. The seat of powers were constructed to be as close to the people as possible in the states and the cities. The role of the federal government was to act as an interface to the states, control and administer the connections between the states, and prevent actions where one of the state tried to behave in a manner that harmed the republic as a whole.
The primary vehicle of federal expansion has been through the expansive interpretation of the commerce clause. (see HealthCare Mandate and the Commerce Clause if your interested in some history) This was the prime argument for the insurance mandate in the ACA/Obamacare that the Supreme Court adjudicated. The tax authority issue was a minor issue that in the end had a major impact. This is now important because while the Supreme Court did rule that the Mandate was legal as a tax it also ruled that the Commerce Clause did not provide any constitutional authority for the mandate. In effect it reversed a long trend in federal expansion and set precedent for potential challenges to previous expansions.
This is important because now is the time for the nation to decide what it wants to be. Are we to remain a Constitutional Republic as founded, to see if we could find a structure that would survive the ages, or do we become a democracy, a structure that the founders well knew had specific structural weakness and led to historically documents defined duration leading to a failed state? Or, do we think we are smart enough to create a new structure?
The problem is, for close to 50 years we have no longer educated our citizens on the differences in these governance structures. It is safe to say that few born in the 1970s are even aware that we are not a democracy, in fact they have been taught that we are a democracy. The concept of a significant threat of the rise of a tyrannical government, so imminent in the mind of the founders of America, has dissipated from our experience like the vapor from a hot drink on a cold day. Yet unbeknownst to us, this is a potential of what we face by expansion of federal control. Not because it is a purposeful conspiratorial act but because as was said by a very wise man, John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834-1902), “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely!”
In closing, it may be a good for us all to review the words of Benjamin Franklin. Upon leaving the constitutional convention in Philadelphia immediately after the vote to approve the final draft of our new constitution, a woman asked, “Mr. Franklin, what kind of government have you given us?” To which he replied, “A Republic, madam, if you can keep it!”
One Response
Sad but true. Decentralization is the only way. We have to somehow take some of the power conceded by the states to the federal government back. Unfortunately, the federal government isn’t going to hand it back, so the only option we have is tucked in Article V of our Constitution. Thomas Jefferson said, “In terms of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind man down by the chains of the Constitution.”
The only way we can even begin this long road towards regaining state duality and eventual supremacy, is if we get the states to use the Article V process to amend the Constitution. We have to do as Jefferson said, bind these men down. This is why I have taken the position as Legislative Coordinator with Compact For America. This is our goal. We will be working with States to ratify a balanced budget amendment into the Constitution in a way that gives the power to spend in Washington back to the States.
http://www.compactforamerica.org
This is the only way. Nullification is only a temporary solution, we must also bind the federal government down by the chains of the Constitution. Civil disobedience is warranted and necessary, but we also must reassert the rule of law here in America. Many people think the Constitution is outdated, but using the article V process via the States will squash such assertions.
This may seem out of place, but it is important for people to know that the BBA is just a first state in reclaiming power back to the States. This was based on our research which states that 80% of Americans are in favor of a BBA, so our decision use Article V of our Constitution to ratify a BBA is strategic (and necessary). We have to take back the federal governments power to spend, before we can rightfully prevent them from implementing utopian healthcare mandates.
Please review our educational resources and consider working with us to provide solutions to our many ailments.