We have few true statesmen (or stateswomen) in government these days. Instead, we have politicians, the very type of people our founder's hoped to protect our nation against. While self-serving and bought off politicians desperately ignore and oppose this, there are four root issues, which, are either ignored or undermined, which open the doors for our national problems to multiply. While politicians and pundits will focus on all the problems precipitated from the failure to solve these four issues, they will do everything in their power to avoid any serious discussion or action. Failure to address these four root causes are creating our national demise--since unless these are addressed any progress made on other issues can easily be undone:

1) SELF-GOVERNMENT REQUIRES SMALL LEGISLATIVE DISTRICTS – It is impossible for self-government to work when big money and special interests control the legislative selection process. And this is what happens when legislative districts grow beyond the public's ability to oversee and control the process. The apportionment amendment, which was the 1st of the 12 amendment proposed for out Bill of Rights was to protect us from this, but it was sabotaged. Not since before the Civil War were districts limited to the size our founding fathers approved in 1789. The uncorrupted version of Article the First should have been our First Amendment to the Constitution in our Bill of Rights, placing an upper population limit on each congressional district. An option not requiring an amendment to the Constitution is outlined here.

2) RESTORE THE FEDERALIST SYSTEM – The Constitution is our first line of defense against government tyranny. Our Constitution was designed with specific, but limited federal (national) government authorities. Under a federalist system, the federal (national), state, and local governments as well as the people have differing responsibilities and authorities. It is NOT within the federal government's authority to assume control over domestic issues—which, with little exception, are the prerogative of the states, local municipalities and the people. We have allowed our Constitution to be shredded by all three branches of the federal government, as they bypass the Constitutional amendment process, enacting measures to further agendas, which are not just unconstitutional, but also wasteful and extremely destructive to the General Welfare of this nation. We must stop the federal government from this practice, most notably usurping state, local, or the people's authority over domestic issues, and rescind or nullify all Executive, Congressional and Judicial actions that have exceeded the powers granted under our Constitutional.

As a further and growing issue, our Constitution's preamble states a purpose of our government is to Establish Justice. But this has been all but obliterated as the courts assume unlimited authority over every aspect of society, often overruling the will of the people. That combined with the use of stare decisis and court procedures, enable attorneys and judges to run roughshod over the public good and sacrifice justice in the process.

3) STOP LETTING BIG BUSINESS UNDERMINE OUR SOCIETY – NGOs, special interest groups, and large corporations are corrupting our economy and our freedom. They collude with one another to the point of creating virtual monopolies. Behind closed doors they exercise extreme power over our elected representatives, and secure legislation that harms the ability for small businesses to compete or even survive. Historically, it is small business and independent entrepreneurship that has been at the heart of most job creation and innovation that made America an economic power. We must rein in mega-businesses and non-profits, which increasingly work to the detriment of the General Welfare of this nation. These entities are licensed by government to conduct business; thus We the People can require they operate in a way that does not undermine our nation, our founding values or the General Welfare of We the People.

4) STOP ELECTION FRAUD – As stated in Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 of the Constitution regarding election regulations: “Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations.” Congress must not allow states a blank check on the federal election process; we must act eliminate corrupt processes that have evolved, our nation cannot survive without fair and honest elections. Congress must use its Constitutional authority to establish federal election law sufficient to prevent increasingly rampant election fraud.

Bottom Line: We cannot restore our Republic, limited federal government, or the great American Experiment in Self-Government unless we address these four root issues.

Our Nation's founders were classical liberals. Classical liberalism is the philosophy committed to the ideal of limited government, constitutionalism, rule of law, due process, and liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets.

Below is a short bulleted list of what used to be and is rapidly being destroyed:

 

·         Our Constitutional Republic, designed to provide limited government to protect the people is being destroyed, as the false ideas of about democracy are used to move the nation increasingly towards an oligarchy ruled by the ever more powerful elite.

 

·         Our Constitution – adherence to the integrity of its original intent as a federalist system of a limited federal government with sufficient protections and safeguards to avoid government abuse.

 

·         Without imposing a state religion, maintaining a basic respect for Judeo/Christian values, which provided the generally accepted moral standard for society.

 

·         Melting Pot – multi-cultures are expected to embrace American values and assimilate into the common culture.

 

·         To be a land of opportunity with minimal laws as necessary to avoid anarchy and reasonable protection of the public and natural resources, while providing the opportunity for religious, educational opportunity, use of private property, free enterprise, and freedom to flourish.

 

·         A sense of national integrity, self-respect for American values with a healthy sense of national pride and unity.

 

·         A basic respect for the rule of law and practices that maintain the fairness of the law.

 

·         A healthy realization and caution that other nations and peoples do not necessarily respect or share similar values to those that allowed for the freedom and opportunity available in the United States of America—thus we must exercise caution on our foreign involvements and with those we allow access into our nation.

 

 

Once the 4 issues are addressed, true progress can be made about fixing the federal government:

 

America must decide whether it wants a government where We the People have self-government, as envisioned by our founders when they framed the U.S. Constitution, or whether they want the corrupted version as we have now, where with minor exceptions, big money and special interests govern in ways that are contrary to the general welfare and contrary to the will of the people. 

 

Most of what needs to be done can be fixed by a clarification of the original intent of portions of the Constitution and a strict adherence to original intent.  Fixing the Congress is a biggee, and one which will require two Constitutional Amendments, one to repeal the 17^th Amendment (which destroyed the Senate's ability to enforce the 10^th Amendment or represent the people) and the passage of an Amendment similar to Article the First, which was the first of the 12 amendments approved by Congress in 1789 (10 of which comprise what we refer to as the Bill of Rights).  All 12 were sent to the states for ratification.  Article the First was meant to bracket the size of a congressional district such that for every 50,000 people in the nation we would have one representative—possibly because it was so critical to the concept of self-government by We the People, it was sabotaged and did not get ratified.

 

50,000 (as approved by the House) or 60,000 (as approved in the Senate version) represents a practical maximum for a congressional district population if we want to provide reasonable assurance that the local citizens can adequately select and elect representatives known to them and which represent the local community interests—and not be fooled by the propaganda of special interests.

 

If such reasonably sized districts are enforced at the federal and state level, and the 17^th Amendment repealed, then the legislatures at each statehouse will be accountable to the people and thus tempered in their selection of a Senator, and House members will be accountable to their local district.  Of course big money and cunning will still be in the loop, but the people will be able to protect themselves much better from such influence. 

 

Graph showing how the population size of House Districts have grown over the years.  The sudden change upswing since 1911 is the result of Congress freezing the size of the House membership to the current 435 members.

 

 

If we do not shrink the population of congressional districts back to a manageable size, then we cannot be a self-governed people, as large districts make it impractical for the public to actually know the candidates—or even select them—other than to vote from a list of what is submitted to them by the powerful interests that have the capability to control big government operations. 

 

Everything suggested below as possible fixes could be accomplished in a single election cycle if the general public bought into it, we selected and elected representatives committed to its implementation.  Some clarification (restoration of original intent) to the Constitution is required as with the repeal of the 17^th Amendment and the passage of a new amendment to replace the original amendment (Article the First) approved by Congress in 1789, but not properly ratified by the states due to a clerical or intentional error.

 

• We the People – We need to understand that not just does the status quo with regard to the election process and lawmaking process not work in America, what we have is not what our founders envisioned via the Constitution. We the people must have the power and ability to not just select candidates of our choice, but also be the instigators of what is needed in regard to new law.  This is a necessary ingredient to promote self-government and inhibit money, propaganda, and special interests from controlling the outcome selection and election process of representatives and forcing special interest laws down our throats.
• General Welfare – does not include catering to special interests.  At the federal level all law and justice must be geared to assure the general welfare is promoted, which would include prohibiting State and local law that discriminated against opportunity for certain segments of society.  To accomplish this would include phasing out all federal welfare programs while mandating the reopening of doors of opportunity in regard to work, free enterprise, private property rights, and education.
• First Amendment – Religious freedom – acknowledge that Secular Humanism is as much a religious perspective as any competing belief system and that federal government cannot play favorites by excluding traditional Judeo/Christian values while enforcing Secular Humanism (which is simply a secular belief system) on the public. 
• Bracket the size of Congressional Districts (pass something similar to Article the First) so that districts cannot continually expand in population size but be limited to something in the range as approved by Congress in 1789 (50,000 to 60,000 or something in a similar range).  Granted, this will mean 6,000 or so House members, but that can easily be made workable and via modern technology they can mostly reside in their home districts to remain accountable and vote and discuss via computer technology.
• Repeal the 17^th Amendment to restore the original intent by our founders for the Senate to represent the interests of the states.  And, for the benefit of the States repeal the Supreme Court decisions (Baker v. Carr and Reynolds v. Sims) of 1962–1964, which was an un-Constitutional federal overreach and interference in State management of its internal affairs.
• Restore original intent of the Commerce Clause—which was to prevent the individual states from hindering interstate commerce; it did not provide for federal control over industry, agriculture, or to create price controls.  We need to repeal all law and federal agencies resulting from this unconstitutional corruption of the Commerce Clause—this will render minimum wage laws and much of the federal bureaucracy as unconstitutional.
• Emphasize that the Constitution does not provide for life tenures for federal judges, only for good behavior (Impeach and expel from the bench any and all judges that either try to legislate for the bench or demonstrate a disregard for maintaining the integrity of the Constitution)
• Correct the misconstruction of the 14 Amendment, Section 1 that the provision for citizenship only pertains to children born of U.S. Citizens, not visitors or illegal aliens.
• Reference the enumerated powers of Article 1, Section 8:  Repeal all law and disband all federal agencies that exceed those specifically prescribed in the Constitution as a federal responsibility.
• Immediately repeal specific recent laws and Supreme Court decisions that exceed federal jurisdiction, to include Obamacare, Dodd/Frank, Roe v Wade, Obergefell v. Hodges, Reynolds v Sims, and many other federal overreaches.
• Stop promoting division among peoples because of differences in outward appearance, by categorizing people as being of different races. Science has proven genetically that we are all descended from common ancestors and there are no separate races of people.
• Establish a sunset law for all laws passed since 1900 that continue to impact government operations or society to the present day, with the caveat that any similar bill be reintroduced to congress based on grass roots support by various congressional districts or state legislatures prior to being submitted as new legislation for Congressional approval. 
• Restore Congressional control over the valuation of our currency and stop the feds from devaluing our currency an average of 3% or more each year.

 

Additionally, we need to educate public to the following aspects and create appropriate law to enforce it:

 

• Public education via taxation—the sole function of the federal government in regard to education should be to insure that states and municipalities do not tax the public to generate money for education and then force feed its particular brand of education on the taxpayer's children.  A pro-rated share of the tax revenue should be available (void of strings) to allow the parents to use it as tuition at a school of their choice.
• Gerrymandering—this is a corruption of the districting process and needs to end.  A formula (undoubtedly a computer software application) should be developed and implemented that would develop the boundaries for congressional districts during reapportionments that takes into account population densities, city and county boundaries and would be independent of political manipulation.
• Lobbying government officials and elected representatives independent of a public forum should be considered a crime.  Government officials and elected representatives must be at all times accountable to the people.  If special interests want to lobby for something, it should be done in a public forum with the people involved and with their approval.  Representatives cannot be free agents to act independent of the public they represent.
• Representatives are not free agents—but subject to local districts regarding stance on any proposed legislation.  Proposed legislation must either be proposed or thoroughly vetted by the public from the district of the Representative.
• House and Senate rules not prescribed by the Constitution are subject to revision and for a start, it would likely be a good idea to scrap it all and start afresh. 
• Once we have realigned the federal government with the original intent of the Constitution, there should not be that much domestic legislation needed on a regular basis at the federal level and that most legislation would be at the state or local level—and preferably at the most local level possible.
• Promote the idea that all representative districts, not just federal, but also state and local should be of small enough size that the forces of big money or special interests cannot unduly influence the public in selecting representatives known to them and who share similar values—thus the idea that a number like 50,000 to 60,000 population being a max size for a representative district should be promoted as a necessary ingredient for a society where We the People maintain a self-governing capability.
• While private sector employees have the right to collective bargaining and formation of unions, the situation with government employees is different as the employer is the tax-payer, not the elected representatives or bureaucratic agencies.  Public sector unions—unless the actual labor agreements are vetted and approved by some ongoing process by the general public—should be construed as unconstitutional.  This would include the public sector teacher unions. 
• People really need to be educated to the fact that it is not the responsibility of the federal government to provide actual funding or resources to needy groups of people, but to help assure that on a national and local level that fair opportunity exists for people to live without crushing government interference in limiting opportunities for education, use and development of private property, or community values, or the right of individuals to sell their labor on the open market without imposed price controls, and engage in free enterprise.
• I have no idea how we are going to get rid of the national debt, but by as quickly as possible reducing the size of government, phasing out federal welfare programs in conjunction with opening opportunities for the poor to get a decent education, develop private property they acquire without undo government regulation, and free themselves from labor price controls and undo regulation that hinder entrepreneurship—we can grow our workforce and simultaneously reduce the cost of living. Of course private charities and the church needs to expand its involvement (once government backs off) to help people in need get on their feet. A good source of information on the history of the dichotomy between government and private involvement in helping the poor is a book by Marvin Olasky, THE TRAGEDY OF AMERICAN COMPASSION.

 

 

This is simply a draft of some ideas on what I believe needs to be done to fix this nation.  Please offer me your thoughts and ideas—including your disagreements.