“I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpation. It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.” – James Madison
Well, guess what folks? We have reached Madison’s level of tyranny. Today the Federal Register, which is a list of all in-effect regulations churned out by the federal bureaucracy, is well over 80,000 pages. In fact, there are so many regulations I guarantee every one of us is violating at least one of them weekly. Additionally, no one we elected created these regulations. Rather, they were created by unelected bureaucrats. During Congressional oversight hearings, these bureaucratic agency directors have been asked how many of their regulations carry criminal penalties and I’ve never seen any one of them have the ability to answer that question.
Our Constitution gives the authority to create law to the Legislative Branch. The House of Representatives is where appropriations bills originate. Since representatives are elected every two years, The Framers believed they would be more accountable to the people. And, if they were not good stewards of the people’s money they could be voted out of office in no more than two years. It’s difficult to say with a straight face that this is exactly the situation we find ourselves in now.
Senators have the easiest job in the world. Their job is to say “no.” The Senate is much more procedural than the House and their rules can be confusing; if not arcane at times. Think of it this way. The House is like a drag strip. Relatively speaking, things move fast in the House. At the end of a drag strip the parachute comes out. If the vehicle cannot stop before the pavement runs out, it runs into a pit of sand. The Senate is the sand pit. This legislative feature is not a flaw; it’s intentional. The federal government isn't supposed to do “big things” because one of the underpinnings of a civil society is a stable law.
The federal government -- both political parties -- is committing fiscal abuse. Congress votes on 2,000+ page bills with 48 hours’ notice. There is no chance anyone knows everything contained in these bills. Remember, these are the elected officials we've sent to DC to represent our interests, and we're so far afield of that that year after year it continues to get worse.
We have just crossed over $29T in the national debt. This is every dollar ever collected by the federal government minus every dollar ever spent. If you add unfunded mandates, which are promises the federal government has made to pay future benefits to people, our debt runs somewhere between $150 and $200T. In the last two years, the federal government has spent or approved spending of about $17T (about $10T in spending and $7T in loan guarantees through the CCP Virus relief bills).
So, how did we get here? The federal government justifies most of this spending through the Commerce Clause or the General Welfare Clause. In Section 8 of the Constitution the Commerce Clause states, “To regulate Commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian Tribes.” The reason for the Annapolis Convention of 1786 and one of the purposes of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was due to trade disputes among the states. Regulating commerce in The Framers’ day meant to make regular or facilitate trade. The intent of the Commerce Clause was not to place regulations on products or businesses per se.
The General Welfare Clause reads, “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.” Let’s see what Alexander Hamilton said in Federalist 83 about the intent of the General Welfare Clause:
“This specification of particulars [the 18 enumerated powers of Article I, Section 8] evidently excludes all pretension to a general legislative authority, because an affirmative grant of special powers would be absurd as well as useless if a general authority was intended.” James Madison wrote to Henry Lee, “What think you of [Hamilton’s] commentary … on the terms ‘general welfare?’ The federal Govt. has been hitherto limited to the Specified powers… If not only the means, but the objects are unlimited, the parchment had better be thrown into the fire at once.”
The bottom line is this: Federal spending is only Constitutional if it stays within the confines of Congress’ enumerated powers.
So, how do we roll this nonsense back? Do you think Congress will voluntarily reduce spending to their Constitutional authority? Not a chance. Will the Courts step in and declare this spending unconstitutional? Nope. The only Constitutional way to reduce federal spending and restore some semblance of fiscal sanity is through the Article V Convention of States process. State legislators have the Constitutional obligation to use this authority to propose amendments to the Constitution to restore its original intent.
The 2022 Missouri Legislative Session begins January 5. Your Convention of States Missouri Team will be there and you are invited! Our goal is to have Convention of States supporters present at the Capitol every day of the Legislative Session. If you are interested in meeting your legislators, being part of the legislative process and being a self-governing citizen, WE WILL HELP YOU!
We will have a training session from 2 - 3 p.m, Sunday December 12, and another from 6 = 7 p.m, Wednesday December 15. These sessions are designed for our Capitol Strike Force Team, but you will find them valuable as well. We can arrange other times if necessary. To sign up for Opening Day at the Capitol and to participate throughout the session, CLICK HERE..
In Liberty,
Brett
For more information about our Strike Force, CLICK HERE.
The Missouri Information Page has the tools to help you get to work restoring our freedoms and our Constitution. Article V is the solution as big as the problem.
Past Blog Posts
Did you miss last week's blog post? No worries, we've got you covered!
Click here to access our archive and see the full history of the blog.
