-Caveat Lector-
On Sun, 3 Dec 2000 23:57:20 -0700 MICHAEL SPITZER <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
writes:
>-Caveat Lector-
>
>Abolishing the states?
>
>The Chattanooga Free Press
>
>Because history, our Constitution and government are so little
>taught -- and learned -- in our country these days, many people
>have been mystified about the division of powers and the checks
>and balances built into our system, and especially the role of
>the Electoral College in our election process.
Ain't THAT the truth!
>It is important to remind ourselves that the independent,
>sovereign states created the federal government -- not that the
>central power created the states. The states, through
>ratification of the Constitution, surrendered certain specified,
>limited powers to the national government -- retaining all others
>for the states or the people (10th Amendment of the Bill of
>Rights of our Constitution). The Founding Fathers' goal was to
>surrender very little power, maintaining personal freedom by
>retaining the rest.
Again, all too true.
>Over the years, however, there has been a constant trend toward
>abolishing state powers and infringing upon individual freedom.
I would have said it more like: "Over the years, however, there has been
a constant plot toward abolishing any and all real power that the states
have and eminimating any of the enumerated rights of the people."
>Reduction in state power has come in several ways. Most
>prominently it has come through the unchallenged assumption of
>power by Washington, made possible in large part by the federal
>income tax, which provides Washington the money to bribe states
>and individuals with political promises.
Even where this assumption has been challanged, those challanges have
been over-ridden.
>Sadly, dangerously, our democratic republic has seen and is
>seeing a trend toward the abolition of the importance of our
>states in protecting individual freedom.
...and the states have done an equally excellent job in decreasing the
rights of the people.
>With the 10th Amendment flagrantly being violated by usurpation
>of power by Washington, with the 16th Amendment giving Washington
>the power to buy our votes and make states and people dependent,
>with the 17th Amendment making senators less representative of
>the states and seekers of popular votes paid for by federal
>taxes, and with some people seeking to abolish the states' power
>in the Electoral College, it should be easy to detect the
>destructive trend.
10th Ammendment (for those without it handy)
"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."
This is the last of what are called "The Bill of Rights" initially passed
when this country was founded. Like most of the other "Original Rights",
this one no longer has any meaning in our lives. Those rights, so
precious to our founders that they included them in this fundamental
document, have proven to be so troublesome to government that they have
been "interpreted, devined, and modified" into oblivion.
>There's much more, of course: Presidents issue dictatorial
>executive orders. Congress creates unrestricted dictatorial
>bureaus. Judges usurp power to rule by decree where the
>Constitution and Congress do not speak.
>
>All of these are symptoms of the dilution of government "of the
>people, by the people and for the people."
>
>And since this comes "little step by little step," and without
>some previously effective checks and balances, many Americans are
>not really aware of what is happening.
Yes, most Americans are "fat, dumb and happy". Like the camel who pleads
with the driver: "...Please, Sir, it is so cold out here. Just let me
put my head in the tent.", there has been a steady erosion of the rights
of the people by both the feds and the states. Of the two, the federal
encroachment is the most damaging, and the hardest to come to grips with.
IMHO we are at the point where the only remedy is another 'Boston Tea
Party' type action, a new Declaration of Independence, and a fresh
Revolution; then put the Constitution of the UNITED STATES (including the
Bill of RIghts) back in place and start over from that point. The point
where we went irrevocably wrong was taking a phrase "...we are a Nation
of Laws, not of men" out of the original context and meaning. That has
led us to the concept that the mere making of a LAW, RULE, or REGULATION
supercedes the will of the people (be carefull here, I do not mean that I
am in favor of any form of "tyranny of the majority"). "It is better to
prevent crimes than to punish them. That is the chief purpose of all
good legislation, which is the art of leading men---if one may apply the
language of mathematics to the blessings and evils of life---toward the
maximum possible happiness and the minimum possible misery....To prohibit
a multitude of trivial acts is not to prevent the crimes which they may
occasion, but to create new ones, and to define at pleasure virtues and
vices, which we are exhorted to regard as eternal and immutable."
(Cesare Beccaria, "On Crimes and Punishments", 1763.
Just as the 'Boston Tea Party' was not, in it's essence, a revolt against
any IDEAL, but more a reaction to a minor law that was imposed on an
already overly regulated people, the incident that will precipitate the
next revolution will not be a major one, but rather a 'last indignity in
a long line of indignities'. The straw that finally breaks the Camel's
back. When and where it will come is unknown, and unknowable. That it
WILL come is destiny (or at the least a hgh probablity based on history).
The one thing that is dangerous (as history points out) is the
'Charismatic Leader' who takes control of the revolting masses (please
don't be glib and tell them to bathe) and forms them into a "New"...
(whatever).
Jayson R. Jones
(as usual, these are purely my own thoughts, and should not be construed
as anything other than that)
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