I know that our “representatives” on Capitol Hill aren’t representing us in any way but at least they used to pay lip service to their title. For some time though these politicians have been getting more and more blatant about the fact that they view themselves as our rules, not our “representatives.” This becomes obvious when issues arise making it difficult for the government to grasp even more power.
Take the debt ceiling for instance, our government needs to be able to rack up the credit card some more in order to expand even further into our lives. As it sits the government’s credit limit is quickly approaching and no more money can be borrowed unless the government gives itself a credit extension. When you get to give yourself credit extensions they’re easy to obtain but sometimes you have to pretend it’s difficult. Right now there is a political pissing contest between those who want to rack up the credit card some more and those who are trying to salvage what they can of the American economy by reducing our ever increasing debt.
Well those who want to increase the credit limit have hit upon a plan, establish a 12 member “super” congress that would have the full authority to raise the debt ceiling:
The ongoing battle between the House, Senate, and President over the upcoming debt crisis has led establishment Congressmen in the Senate to propose the creation of a Super Congress to create and pass legislation allowing for the raising of the debt ceiling. Led by Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, and proposed on July 24th during the weekend debt ceiling meetings, this new bi-partisan gang of 12 would unconstitutionally allow for laws to be passed solely by the group, and bypassing what they consider the majority of ‘regular’ members of Congress.
George W. Bush is often incorrectly quoted as saying the Constitution is just a “goddamned piece of paper.” Although it’s highly unlikely that he actually said that the bitch of the thing is that the quote is accurate.
I know a lot of people get very upset when you mention that the Constitution is just a piece of paper with some writing on it. What I’m talking about in this case is the physical document itself, divorced from the ideals and rules that are described in the document. Physically the Constitution is a mere piece of paper with writing on it that declares a foundation for the federal government. As with any piece of paper the Constitution is unable to enforce any ideas that are written upon it.
Although the Constitution never mentions that the federal government has the authority to establish a 12 person “super” congress some people on Capitol Hill are seriously considering it. The Constitution also never authorizes executive orders, social security, public education, the highway infrastructure, or any of the other federally run government programs not outlined in the Constitution itself. What the Constitution does say in the Tenth Amendment is, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
Thus if the Constitution doesn’t specifically grant the federal government powers they’re not supposed to have it. Yet they exercise verboten powers all of the time and nothing happens. Why? Because the Constitution is a piece of paper. The important parts, the ideas and laws set forth, are easily ignored because a piece of paper can’t enforce what is written upon it. That enforcement is up to people, and the people we’ve put in charge of doing that are disregarding their supposed duty.
Instead of performing their job of upholding the laws of the United States our “representatives” have decided it’s their duty to rule over us with an iron fist. They’ve decided this because unchecked power attracts megalomaniacs. The power to rule has been left unchecked in the United States because people no longer oppose blatant abuses of this power. The majority of the people in this country just sit idly by without raising a fuss and continue to re-elect those who keep grabbing for more.
The people of this country were supposed to be the teeth of the Constitution. If those who were sent to Washington D.C. abused their power the people who elected them were supposed to either recall the offender or prevent him from going back come next election cycle. The people of this country were supposed to use their power of jury nullification to toss out laws that were blatantly unconstitutional or otherwise bad.
When shit like this “super” congress come to light nobody puts up a fuss. As soon as this news became public there should have been angry letters and phone calls going to those supporting this idea with the threat of recall made absolutely clear. Instead the silence of the majority has lead to the creation of Leviathan, a monster created by power hunger madmen who conclude to increase the authority they wield of the people.
The reason I’m such a strong supporter of Ron Paul for president is because he’s one of the few politicians who not only promotes the idea of individual liberty but also votes based on those ideas. We need to get a man like that in the White House to keep the House and Senate in check. We need somebody who will like at a power play like this “super” congress and say “No way in Hell!” The guy sitting in the Oval Office should be liberal (using the definition of given, used, or occurring in generous amounts) with the use of veto powers.
To summarize what I’ve said to those not looking to actually read a long-form post, this shit needs to end. I’ve lost all belief that any government can be good but I still believe that it can be better than despotism. People need to look at news like this “super” congress and get pissed off. The people on Capital Hill are trying to control more and more of our lives and we need to say enough is enough. We have a chance at this by working to make Ron Paul is the Republican nominee and then electing him into the White House. With him in the White House there will at least be one check in the federal government working on our side and ensuring shit like this “super” congress doesn’t get through for four years (hopefully eight).