Posted on 08/05/2007 7:51:43 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
We believe the federal government has grown too big, too expensive, too intrusive, too nosy, too abusive and.. . .well, just about everything it was not supposed to be.
What are we talking about when we say that? It's not Congress. Nor is it the Presidents, but between the two, they have created and fostered an Imperial Bureaucracy, a virtually independent, ever growing government that is answerable to no one, staffed by unelected bureaucrats who write rules and regulations that have the force of law and lord it over us as if they were our Imperial Masters.
How big is the bureaucracy? Not counting Congress, the White House, the State Department, the CIA or the Military in uniform, there is 1 fulltime civilian federal employee for every 123 Americans. Surprised? Is that too big?.
Congress has been on a Legislative binge for more than 60 years. To enforce those laws, at the direction of Congress, the bureaucrats write regulations. At the end of 2006, there were 144,040 pages in the Code of Federal Regulations. In that almost undecipherable mass there has to be one, two or a dozen that can jump up and bite any one of us at any moment. When it happens, they have the full force of government behind them while all we can do is go broke paying attorneys.
For instance: The BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) is systematically, one by one, revoking gun dealers' licenses on paperwork technicalities. Someone overlooked and therefore did not fill in one space in a form. BOOM! "Your license has been revoked." The small ones who could not afford thousands of dollars in Attorney's fees, simply went out of business. Twenty years ago, there were 250,000 licensed gun dealers in this nation. Today, there are only 108,000. That works out to be 19 a day that have just disappeared. And, of course, the number of gun dealers "not complying with regulations" is used by BATF to justify and expand it's budget.
How much are these regulations costing us? According to a recent study released by the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration, in 2004, the nation's business community, mostly small businesses, spent $1.1 trillion complying with Federal Regulations. Who pays that? We do. It's a cost of doing business and is a part of the price of everything we purchase. How much is $1.1 trillion? Assuming a population of 300 million, it's $3,667 for every man woman and child in the country. And you thought all those regulations didn't affect you. Right?
All Congress has to do to change all this is snatch the bureaucrats up by the knap of the neck, let them know the Rules Committee has arrived and rewrite the enabling legislation in specific terms, precisely narrowing and defining the scope of their authority and how they will conduct themselves. But it's too busy playing a vicious, high stakes game of political "Gotcha" while enacting even more legislation that directs the bureaucrats to write even more regulations. And virtually every new regulation take a bite out of someone's liberty.
The list of abuses and abusive attitude could go on to near infinity, but the real question is, "How did it get this way?" The Founding Fathers put together a government meticulously designed to prevent what we have. What happened?
What happened was the standard ingredients of politics, greed and corruption. Late in the 19th Century, the Power Brokers and Robber Barons saw the federal government as a cow that could be milked for power, prestige and cash, but the Senators, who took their marching orders from their respective Legislatures kept blocking them. After a number of years of manipulation, apparent bribery and really dirty politics, we got the 17th Amendment which took the power of appointment away from the State Legislatures and moved it over to general election.
The result was predictable and inevitable. When the Senators were dependent on the Legislatures for reelection, the individual legislators and the Legislature as a whole, had enormous clout. When your reelection depends on only 80, 90, 100 people, you pay very close attention to what they want. When it was shifted over to the entire population of the State, the electing units were so large no one at home had any clout. This is exactly what the manipulators wanted, because the Senator's attention and loyalties switched to those who could help assure reelection, the Power Brokers. And that's where they still are today.
We were supposed to have a Senate made up of Statesmen who would be immune to public opinion and popular causes, vigilant guardians of our individual rights and liberty. Instead, we have a Senate composed of 100 free agents, free to follow their own agenda, which they do with impunity and immunity; answerable only to their political party, special interests, the mainstream media and their campaign contributors; responding with legislation to every popular cause that comes along, often inventing one just to get face time on TV; perfectly willing to eradicate everyone's rights simply because a few might or have abused them and have turned the United States Senate into an arena for an ongoing, seemingly never ending political food fight. It's disgusting and we deserve better.
The answer, the solution, is to repeal the 17th amendment so we have at-home control over what they do or do not do and we can get that done if we put our mind and resources to the effort. Put the appointment of Senators back where it belongs, with the Legislatures and that's exactly what we're going to do..
"Whaat," you wail, "you want to take away my right to vote for Senators." If putting it back where it belongs, with the State Legislatures, means taking it away from you, Yes, we do. We're taking away ours too, so you haven't been singled out. But be realistic. That vote is only symbolic. It is meaningless, simply because the only time a person has power in the ballot box is when he can exercise some control over the actions of his "servants" and the only way to have control is to be able to talk to them directly, not just to their staff. Can you call your Senator and get him on the Phone? The Party Bosses can. Milton Megabucks can. The media can. The lobbyists can. But you can't. Face it. We're just a mass of nameless faces in the crowd they have to shmooze every six years just enough to persuade us to keep them in office.
So, the choice is yours. You can hang on to your symbolic vote, or you can take positive steps to help change it. Millions of men have put themselves in harm's way to preserve our freedom with their blood staining the world's battlefields. We have not served them well by allowing this to happen. It's time to make amends and giving up your symbolic vote is a small price to pay compared to what they sacrificed.
We have a solid, three step plan to get it done. It's been hailed as "Brilliant," "Outstanding" with an 80% to 90% probability of success by some pretty savvy people who have been trying for years to get Congress to exercise some self restraint, trying to make them understand that they have been granted responsibility rather than power.
Constitutional historians rate the 17th Amendment as the biggest mistake we have ever made. Our success will be hailed by future historians as the greatest advance of liberty in the 21st Century.
Individual liberty and smaller government are our objectives, but it goes beyond that. We have wounded men and women languishing in miserable conditions in VA Hospitals and there are 1,252,188 members of Disabled American Veterans who are not receiving adequate care, partly because of the bloated, inefficient, dollar consuming bureaucracy but primarily because Congress has proven itself to be the world's most profligate spendthrift to the point where there's no money "left over" to take care of them properly. When we can cut the bureaucracy down to size and get some control over the Senate we will be able to provide some better care for these wounded warriors. We owe it to them and they have earned it.
If you want to be a part of it, contact us at the Email address below or at http://hometown.aol.com/repealthe17th/ROAR.html
ROAR (Restoring Our American Republic, Inc) 2975 Elizabeth Lane Snellville, GA 30078 Voice: 770-978-1913 FAX: 770-978-1064 RepealThe17th@aol.com http://hometown.aol.com/repealthe17th/ROAR.html
I said my “first thought”.
My second thought is this - an example of a True Leader:
Philippians 2:5-8
5Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
So based on this example, it can be done. But it has been quite a while since we’ve had a humble servant in Congress following Christ’ example. Maybe we cast our votes with the wrong presuppositions and intentions?
So far this year, 2007, the Internet made it possible for a lot of people to gather in DC on March 17 for a common purpose, and counter the antics of the loony-leftists.
About a month ago, the Internet afforded a way for most Americans to tell their so-called elected representatives exactly how America felt about a stupid, dishonest, Shamnesty bill, before they voted on the bill.
It'll be the Internet that finally teaches Americans how to use their VOTE to un-elect their useless, so-called elected representatives! ..............FRegards
It appears it can. We have to do something, our country is slipping through our fingers and if it keeps up the way it's going.........
I realize being so cynical(as I am) could give the malefactors an open gate.. so I fight my cynical bent.. "We" might have a government that reflects the American people exactly.. Its a mystery that blacks and Jews support a party that literally HATEs THEM.. Has proved it hates them and continues to prove it hates them.. Yet they vote lock step for them.. American democrats are mostly women.. the ditz vote..
Maybe I've grown too cynical.. God help me..
Another thoughtful article. Thanks
Public will? Responsive? Like the article says, yeah, sure.. Once every six years, for about 6 months.
With an appointed senator, at least it is the states that hold the influence, and the state legislature is still elected by "the people" of that state.
The influence of the voters may be indirect, but it is much stronger.
Some things won't change.
Senators will still seek pork for their state constituencies, and advance their state's interests.
But there would be less support through certain special interests and corporate sponsors.
The senators would be directly responsible to their state legislature.
Additionally, IIRC, the state legislatures had the power to recall senators that did not faithfully represent the state.
That would help end the "good ole' boys" club in the senate that refuses to punish anyone for their misdeeds.
BTTT
Not being swayed by public opinion cuts both ways. How might things have gone with shamnesty had our opinions not counted?
Given my State’s legislature, this is not an improvement.
I had mentioned this just the other day. Appointment by the state legislature kept the Senators from only playing to the special interest groups, especially here in flyover country where the battle lines have been drawn between rural and urban interests.
At least proportional representation on a basis of land area in the state legislature would create a situation where no longer merely appealing to the population majorities found in two or three cities guarantees re-election, (while the rest of the state wishes in one hand and watches the other fill up).
It is not hard to imagine that the founders would have wanted to ensure all were indeed represented in the workings of the Republic.
The current mess is the result of 'democracy' in action.
If the State legislature were to choose, then the folks from Carson, Powers Lake, Crosby, Velva, and Dodge would have an even chance of influencing the decision as to who would be Senator, and a better chance of being represented because the vote of their legislators would count for proportionally more than their individual vote in the current system.
This was a check against sliding into the morass of 'democracy' and mob rule, and a balance against the House which would be more representative along population lines.
BINGO!! Thank you Jim!!
mash here folks for more info...
http://www.articlev.com/repeal_the_17th_amendment.htm
17th amendment — 1912 — BAD year -— TR and his Bull Moose lost it for the Republicans ushering in the horrid Wilson.
Being conservative to the bone, I don't like democracy and really would like to see a return to Federalism as it was meant to be.
What I'd really like to see is the repeal of the 17th coupled with a drive to increase the size of the House. I've been banging at these issues ever since I came on board FR, but these threads never seem to gain the traction that I believe they should.
By putting the appointment of the Senators with the Legislatures, the founding fathers made sure being “responsive to the public will” would NOT infect the Senate. In fact, that’s one of the problems we have now, they do respond to popular causes and public opinion. Once the media starts a feeding frenzy on a “Popular Cause,” the Senators flock to the TV to see how much face time they can get.
“It’s not an easy question to get a handle on !!!”
Look at it from a little different perspective. Right now we have virtually all power centered in DC. Repeal of the 17th would break it up into 50 power centers. And once you can break up the power, you end up with smaller govenment.
“I can’t imagine all the backroom deals that might go on here as they negotiate who to send to DC”
At their worst, they wouldn’t be any different from what is going on right now. When a candidate gets on the ballot it’s only with permission of the party bosses and, once elected, they have to toe the party line or lose the party’s support (read money) for the next election. Look what the Dems tried to do to Lieberman
“I have been saying for years that the 17th Amendment was when and where it all started going to hell in a hand basket.”
So, now is the time to quit talking the talk and come along to help get it done.
“This is the first I’ve heard of ROAR, how long have they been around?”
How long does one have to be around to have a good, solid plan to get something done?
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