Since government is so busy chasing its own tail, how do we go about breaking that cycle? The legislators overstep their bounds by passing laws that regulate our lives in intricate, complex ways. The they realize there are unforeseen consequences to those legal regulations and so they pass more legal regulations to correct the problems with the first set. Then they realize there were unforeseen consequences for those laws and so they have to pass some more laws to correct for those consequences and then they realize...... You get the picture. How do we stop this foolishness?
We don't. This is what government is all about. That is why we have to strip government down to the bare bones because if we don't we will suffocate under the weight of all those legal regulations, all those laws. Government MUST be restrained and contained or it is going to kill us socially and even personally. That is why the Constitution was written to RESTRICT government, not to AUTHORIZE government. The founding fathers knew very well how burdensome to the private sector government can become. And so they wrote the Constitution to restrain and contain government. The Constitution was not written to restrain or even to authorize the citizens. The citizens did not need the Constitution to authorize them to have their rights. The rights we have are God-given, natural. We have them because we are born with them. The Constitution had one object in mind: restrict, restrain, contain government. The Constitution was written to prevent government from becoming so overwhelming that it would smother the private sector and the rights that we have by virtue of our birth.
Does this sound familiar? Sounds like what is happening today, doesn't it? Why is it happening? It is happening because so many of our elected officials despise the Constitution. So many of our elected officials, and even our appointed officials, consider the Constitution something to be stomped on and ridiculed. And as a result, those officials, elected and appointed, end up getting themselves all tied up in knots trying to figure out how they can correct the unforeseen consequences of the legal regulations they have created. They end up chasing their tails and get so dizzy they don't even know what is coming next.
That is why James Madison wrote: "It will not be denied, that power is of an encroaching nature, and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it." (The Federalist Papers; Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay; Bantam Dell, 2003; p 301) Power is encroaching; power just grows without encouragement. And so it must be restrained, contained, restricted.
But "(w)ill it be sufficient to mark with precision the boundaries of these departments in the Constitution of the government, and to trust to these parchment barriers against the encroaching spirit of power?...experience assures us, that the efficacy of the provision has been greatly over-rated." (ibid, p 301) James Madison realized that just having a piece of paper that lays out the restrictions on government is not sufficient. That efficacy is over-rated. As it should be. After all, a piece of paper does nothing to stop anything. It needs to have enforcement. But what enforcement?
"(T)he people are the only legitimate fountain of power....it is from them that the constitutional charter...is derived." (ibid, p 307) The enforcement comes from WE THE PEOPLE. The buck stops here, not at WDC, the state houses, the county courthouses, or the city halls. The buck stops with WE THE PEOPLE.
That is why it is such a shame that any official would state in any way that elections should be postponed or canceled. That is pure revolution. That is treason, even if stated in a joking manner. To state this even in a joking manner is like shouting "FIRE" in a crowded theater. To even entertain such a thought is pure revolt against the legitimate fountain of power.
And so we the people must start taking our responsibility seriously. We have the task of managing the employees of this country, the elected and appointed officials. One reason we have gotten into such a burdensome place is because we the people have not carried out our responsibility. And so our government has chased its tail until the hole has gotten so deep it will take years, decades and many elections to remove ourselves. We have only ourselves to blame for all the work we now have before us.
But what do we do? We can't get rid of government. Government is a necessity. The founding fathers called it a "necessary evil." So what do we do?
We MANAGE the government. That means that we do NOT destroy our government. God forbid! For even though, as Winston Churchill said, "Democracy is a terrible form of government, but I have found nothing better." We have the best form of government. So we do NOT want to destroy our government. We MANAGE it. We supervise, govern, direct our government. We keep it within its limits. That is what the Constitution gives us guidance in doing. We manage our government by making sure it remains within the limits that the Constitution has laid out so that our government does kill our freedoms and society and country.
And so, government being government, will continue to chase its own tail, but as long as it does this within certain limits it causes much less damage/evil than if we just let it run rampant over the Constitution, the country and us.
The problem for us now is to get it back to its limits. We have let this slip so long that we have a task that will last for years, decades, and many elections. But then, what would we expect? The buck stops here. This task is REALLY a daily task, a life-long task, for everyone, IF we want to remain free. As Benjamin Franklin answered the woman who asked him what kind of government the convention had given the citizens: "A republic, ma'am, IF YOU CAN KEEP IT." IF YOU CAN KEEP IT. Keeping a republic is a constant task. What we need to do is pass this concept onto those that come after us in this life. We, they, MUST work daily to keep the republic. That is the responsibility of we the people.
Showing posts with label we the people. Show all posts
Showing posts with label we the people. Show all posts
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Friday, September 30, 2011
Sober Reform Of Government
There can not be much doubt that our government, especially federal but also state, needs major reform. But what kind of reform is needed? Would this include more 2000 page legislation that lawyers can haggle over endlessly, thus creating more work for themselves? Oh, I hope not, but what needs to be done to reform our government?
You know what? The government can not reform itself. We the people need to reform our government. No one else can do it. For when the government tries to reform itself, it just gets in deeper and deeper. The government trying to reform itself is like a dog chasing its tail. The faster it goes the dizzier the politicians get. And the dizzier they get the more madness/confusion we get from the government. The government passes reform which it then has to reform which it then has to reform, etc. Do you see where this ends? We finally end up spinning ourselves right into the ground.
James Madison could have told us that 235 years ago. Those gullible, unscientific, aged, old-fashioned founding fathers knew human nature. Listen to James Madison: "(The sober people) have seen, too, that legislative interference, is but the first link of a long chain of repetitions; every subsequent interference being naturally produced by the effects of the preceding. They very rightly infer, therefore, that some thorough reform is wanting which will banish speculations on public measures, inspire a general prudence and industry, and give a regular course to the business of society." (The Federalist Papers; Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay; Bantam Dell, 2003; p 273)
The legislative interference is but the first link of a long chain of repetitions. Does that sound familiar? Congress passes a law and then realizes all kinds of unsuspected consequences for which they have to pass another law to clear up which leads to all kinds of other unsuspected consequences for which they have to pass another law to clear up which leads.... You get the picture.
So James Madison states that a reform is wanting which will banish speculations on public measures. But what kind of reform? Won't this just lead to Congress chasing its tail some more? How can this cycle be broken? What kind of reform is needed?
There is only one answer: GET THE GOVERNMENT OUT OF OUR LIVES. REPEAL GOVERNMENT. Oh, not all of it, but repeal all the laws that are beyond and outside of what the Constitution requires our government do for us. What would that be?
Well, our Constitution requires our government to defend us from enemies external and internal. And internal enemies do NOT mean business enemies, competitive enemies, sports enemies, but enemies that would destroy our freedoms of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And notice it does not mean people who prevent us from being happy, but prevent us from pursuing happiness. We may pursue happiness our whole life and never get there. So be it! The government is not commissioned to give us that happiness, but just protect our right to pursue it. And by the way, pursuit of happiness originally meant the freedom to own property, to own what we have earned by our own labor.
The Constitution also requires our government mediate between states in any disputes between them. That does not mean that the national government has the right to create a relationship between the states, but to only mediate if the states cannot agree with each other and to monitor it so that those states do not go to arms in their dispute. Nor does that mean that the national government can dictate to the states how they may do business in their own states or even between each other unless it interferes with the business of another state. And even then, the national government is to only mediate in the dispute, not dictate. The states are to find their own solution to the dispute and to use the national government in the dispute only if necessary and desired by the states.
So what do we do with the rest of the national government, all the bureaucracies, agencies, czars and every other structure the government has created. All these creations of the government has created nothing but confusion and burden.
REPEAL THEM! Sounds quite simple, doesn't it? Well, just try it. You will find a bunch of screaming, crying idiots.
Well, what do we do? Do we just go along the way we have and sink right down the toilet or do we shrink government down to survive and put up with the whining and crying? The choice is ours. It will take a horrendous amount of work. It will be a life-time job. Indeed, the reason the job has gotten so big is that we have not been paying attention to it all along. We thought our officials, elected and appointed, were taking care of business, but you know what? IT DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY. We the people are the responsible ones and if we are not paying attention why should we expect our officials to pay attention? The buck stops HERE! Not in WDC or the state capitols or the county courthouses/city halls. No, the buck stops HERE at "we the people". And if we are not taking care of business, no one else will do so. So let's get to work and let's expect to work for decades, indeed for life, because that is what it takes to manage our freedoms and protect them. God bless our efforts!
You know what? The government can not reform itself. We the people need to reform our government. No one else can do it. For when the government tries to reform itself, it just gets in deeper and deeper. The government trying to reform itself is like a dog chasing its tail. The faster it goes the dizzier the politicians get. And the dizzier they get the more madness/confusion we get from the government. The government passes reform which it then has to reform which it then has to reform, etc. Do you see where this ends? We finally end up spinning ourselves right into the ground.
James Madison could have told us that 235 years ago. Those gullible, unscientific, aged, old-fashioned founding fathers knew human nature. Listen to James Madison: "(The sober people) have seen, too, that legislative interference, is but the first link of a long chain of repetitions; every subsequent interference being naturally produced by the effects of the preceding. They very rightly infer, therefore, that some thorough reform is wanting which will banish speculations on public measures, inspire a general prudence and industry, and give a regular course to the business of society." (The Federalist Papers; Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay; Bantam Dell, 2003; p 273)
The legislative interference is but the first link of a long chain of repetitions. Does that sound familiar? Congress passes a law and then realizes all kinds of unsuspected consequences for which they have to pass another law to clear up which leads to all kinds of other unsuspected consequences for which they have to pass another law to clear up which leads.... You get the picture.
So James Madison states that a reform is wanting which will banish speculations on public measures. But what kind of reform? Won't this just lead to Congress chasing its tail some more? How can this cycle be broken? What kind of reform is needed?
There is only one answer: GET THE GOVERNMENT OUT OF OUR LIVES. REPEAL GOVERNMENT. Oh, not all of it, but repeal all the laws that are beyond and outside of what the Constitution requires our government do for us. What would that be?
Well, our Constitution requires our government to defend us from enemies external and internal. And internal enemies do NOT mean business enemies, competitive enemies, sports enemies, but enemies that would destroy our freedoms of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And notice it does not mean people who prevent us from being happy, but prevent us from pursuing happiness. We may pursue happiness our whole life and never get there. So be it! The government is not commissioned to give us that happiness, but just protect our right to pursue it. And by the way, pursuit of happiness originally meant the freedom to own property, to own what we have earned by our own labor.
The Constitution also requires our government mediate between states in any disputes between them. That does not mean that the national government has the right to create a relationship between the states, but to only mediate if the states cannot agree with each other and to monitor it so that those states do not go to arms in their dispute. Nor does that mean that the national government can dictate to the states how they may do business in their own states or even between each other unless it interferes with the business of another state. And even then, the national government is to only mediate in the dispute, not dictate. The states are to find their own solution to the dispute and to use the national government in the dispute only if necessary and desired by the states.
So what do we do with the rest of the national government, all the bureaucracies, agencies, czars and every other structure the government has created. All these creations of the government has created nothing but confusion and burden.
REPEAL THEM! Sounds quite simple, doesn't it? Well, just try it. You will find a bunch of screaming, crying idiots.
Well, what do we do? Do we just go along the way we have and sink right down the toilet or do we shrink government down to survive and put up with the whining and crying? The choice is ours. It will take a horrendous amount of work. It will be a life-time job. Indeed, the reason the job has gotten so big is that we have not been paying attention to it all along. We thought our officials, elected and appointed, were taking care of business, but you know what? IT DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY. We the people are the responsible ones and if we are not paying attention why should we expect our officials to pay attention? The buck stops HERE! Not in WDC or the state capitols or the county courthouses/city halls. No, the buck stops HERE at "we the people". And if we are not taking care of business, no one else will do so. So let's get to work and let's expect to work for decades, indeed for life, because that is what it takes to manage our freedoms and protect them. God bless our efforts!
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