There isn't a day that goes by without the federal government overstepping boundaries imposed upon it by the Constitution. Fact is, nary a minute passes without a new abuse or unconstitutional action being committed by the president or the vast bureaucracy he commands as head of the Executive Branch.
If it isn't the federal bureaucracy trampling on the nation's founding document it is the Judicial Branch. Don't like a duly passed state or federal law? Take it to court and to hell with the people's will.
In fact, there is hardly an industry, business, or daily life activity that isn't regulated by the federal bastard. And in many cases, heavily regulated.
The monetary cost of this regulation is astronomical, amounting to something like a trillion dollars a year. Obama's bureaucracies, during his first term, added about $70 billion annually.
But the cost of the leviathan on individual liberty and freedom has been incalculable. And each year, the zone of freedom that encircles each of us grows a little smaller.
That's because each year, the surveillance state grows a little larger. Federal agencies and the IRS grow a little more tyrannical. The president a little more imperial. The central government a little more intrusive.
Where once they were sovereign, voluntary members of a federalist pact, today states, like the people, exist primarily to serve the federal machine.
There is a permanent ruling class in Washington, and with each passing year, that ruling class gets ever more powerful, while the masses become less so.
What's more, it has become patently obvious that Washington isn't going to reform itself. We keep having elections, but where's it gotten us? You know, insanity is defined as doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting a different result.
We know by now that, regardless of what party is in power, Congress is not going to stop delegating its authority to presidents and nameless, faceless bureaucrats who spend their professional lives abusing the public and terrorizing entire industries.
Presidents are not going to stop abusing executive orders to rule by decree, in violation of their oaths of office, as long as they can continue to get by with it.
Lawmakers on the national level are never going to shutter entire agencies, no matter how useless and arcane they have become.
The federal government will never stop spending hundreds of billions dollars more than it takes in.
So, in short, it's time for America to push the reset button. And lucky for us, our founders adopted a constitutional way for that to happen, without having to ask for permission from the co-opted, corrupt and conniving ruling class in D.C.
At the urging of Indiana state Senate President Dan Long, a Republican, and some others, nearly half of all states have committed to sending delegates to Mount Vernon, Va., on Dec. 7, for the purpose of exploring the possibility of holding an Article V convention of the states at some point in the future, to propose new constitutional amendments aimed at restoring the proper balance between the people, the states and Washington.
It's the very beginning of a process participants hope will lead to the kind of historic reset the country so badly needs. As explained in a post at Free Republic designed to explain what will happen at Mount Vernon and to ally concerns and fears:
The Mount Vernon Assembly isn't actually calling a convention; it's just an unofficial meeting of legislators to discuss putting rules in place to pave the road for a convention. Most importantly, they are trying to take the runaway convention argument out of the picture by passing laws in each state that strictly limit the authority of delegates and punish those delegates who exceed their authority. We think this is a worthy goal and great objective. With the runaway convention argument out of the way, we can stop arguing over procedural technicalities, and focus on the actual merits of a convention.
The Assembly isn't trying to cut the people out of the process; it's trying to help the people make a difference by getting all the states to work together under Article V. That's all the Mount Vernon Assembly really is: a group of legislators meeting together away from distractions so they can get on the same page about Article V. And that's a good thing in our book.
It is no accident that the Mount Vernon location was chosen. At the same location a few centuries ago, our founders met to begin the process of events that would eventually culminate in the ratification of the Constitution. So it's appropriate that the site be chosen again.
Not everyone is convinced this is the right thing to do. Some still hold out hope that just a few more victories in national elections will enable Republicans to "change things" and "make 'em right." While we should not give up on national elections, putting all of our eggs in them is just a fool's errand.
Consider that the last time Republicans had majorities the country got "No Child Left Behind," the Patriot Act, huge increases in our national debt, Medicare Part D - and not a single reduction in the number of federal agencies and bureaucracies. In fact, as embodied in the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the federal bureaucracy exploded.
No, this problem of unconstitutional government is not going to be fixed by the ruling class turds who are destroying our constitutional system. Any "fix" must come from We the People. It must come from the states. The Article V amendment process is our peaceful way out from under the thumb of federal tyranny.
As Alexander Hamilton expressed in Federalist No. 85: "We may safely rely on the disposition of the State legislatures to erect barriers against the encroachments of the national authority."
posting from my phone...so please excuse the lack of quoting.
the courts don't need to back away from striking down laws, they need to nuke the right ones. a good start for our interests would be the 34 nfa, 68 gca, and the remnants of the 93 awb that didn't have a sunset.
next they could nuke concealed carry permit laws giving us de facto national right to carry. there are tons of other areas they could lay similar waste to bad law.
next, we the people could wake up to the fact that the so called two party system isn't. we can vote for any candidate from any party. understand that your politicians are part of the problem and vote them out. put a libertarian, or constitutionalist, or even a green party guy in their place. and if they don't execute, nuke them too.
I think the basic framework is sound. but execution, or lack there of, by voters enables the mess we currently have.
We need to start hauling them out by their hair. No resistance will be accepted. Or lots and lots of recall elections.