Introduction
Bribing voters with the promise of government benefits that involve federal actions that are disallowed by the Constitution is fundamentally corrupt, but this has happened so many times that it has led to a massive expansion in socialistic government programs and the unconstitutional practice of creating new government departments and agencies by the ordinary enactment of bills in Congress rather than by amending the Constitution as the Constitution requires. This is legislative lawlessness. It will continue to impede upward mobility and innovation and it will continue to drive our country deeper into debt.
A tremendous effort will be required to correct this grievous state of affairs. You can help by being aware of the problems and spreading the word.
Limitations of Federal Power
The founders knew very well that the guardians of society often become its tyrants. Establishing a representative democracy is not enough. The creation of the federal government was predicated upon permanent limitations imposed upon it by the Constitution. If Congress could pass any law it wanted with only a majority vote, it would inevitably find all manner or excuses to extend its own power. This is why the limitations of powers set forth in the Constitution are so critical to America. Those who want socialism have long sought to defeat this feature of the Constitution. Here is the part of the Constitution that provides for these vital limitations:
Article I, Section 8
Clause 1
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:
Clause 2
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
Clause 3
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;
Clause 4
To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;
Clause 5
To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;
Clause 6
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;
Clause 7
To establish post offices and post roads;
Clause 8
To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;
Clause 9
To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
Clause 10
To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;
Clause 11
To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
Clause 12
To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;
Clause 13
To provide and maintain a navy;
Clause 14
To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;
Clause 15
To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions;
Clause 16
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
Clause 17
To exercise legislations in all cases whatsoever, over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings; And
Clause 18
To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.
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In addition to explicitly listing the powers that the federal government has, the founders ratified the tenth amendment on December 15, 1791 which made clear who and what have all of the other powers: 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.
Appropriately, the process that amends the Constitution requires much more agreement than does the passing of a bill in Congress. Here is Ammendment V:
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or on the application of the legislature of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of equal suffrage in the Senate.
Many federal departments and agencies have been created that intrude upon the prerogatives of the States and the free market. The list of departments and agencies is very long. Education, Labor, Commerce, Agriculture, Energy, Transportation, NASA, and the Federal Technology Administration are just a few examples.
Self Dealing
Peter Schweizer exposes legislators' insider trading in his book Throw Them All Out.
Typical citizens cannot participate in Initial Public Offerings at the asking price. Our politicians do so continually. The author's analysis of financial
records and the timing of stock trades, briefings, Congressional votes and other complicated deals reveals that our elected officials routinely enrich
themselves at our expense.
The profitability of federal office explains why so much money is involved in reelection campaigns and so little is done about term limits. As Peter Schweizer says, the Permanent Political Class must go.
Two-Party Monopoly
Over the at least the last eighty years, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party have cooperated to make laws intended to keep the candidates of other political parties off the ballot in all states. This is why the occasional rise of a third-party has depended upon the financial support of a multi millionaire or a billionaire. This is not the way the country was. The electoral process laws enacted by the Republicans and the Democrats, and supported by judges belonging to these two parties, has, for many decades, effectively assured the political dominance of these two parties over the many other fervently active political parties in the United States. This limits choice. It is not democratic and it is not republican (representative). It is corrupt.
The voluminous and tedious regulations in each of the states are all different. This means that an enormous legal effort is associated with any attempt to create a national candidacy. Most of the media is complicit in this outrage. The famous media question is not why this lack of political competition exists, but which of the two candidates from the major parties will be adversely affected by any additional political party. Any remedy would require an enormous legal effort, as these books attest:
The Tyranny of the Two-Party System
Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny
There have been many efforts to create alternative political parties. Even fame is very problematic. Here are a few that are currently trying:
Epilogue
Free Enterprise is a natural phenomenon that is older than money. At the close of the hunter-gatherer stage of our development, and long before the invention of writing, fixed settlements came into existence that were primarily engaged in the domestication of plants and animals. The right of assembly was exercised without any suspicion that this right needed to be granted. People discovered that they differed in their knowledge and skill. Tools and tables were traded for food and garments. Whatever one could do well could be a service traded for the other necessities and comforts of life. Much later, gold become a popular medium of exchange.
Like the right of assembly, the right to engage in free enterprise was long tacitly assumed. Then, there came an age of principalities. This provided each village with security from marauders. This was achieved by means of an organized guard force commanded by a prince. Taxes paid the prince. The prince paid the guards. The prince and the guards could then control the marauders; but, the prince and the guards quickly learned that they could also control the villagers. After countless abuses and rebellions, governments evolved various systems of laws -- some (as in the United States) are based upon democracy and human rights. Maintaining democracy and human rights is not always easy. There is a tendency for powerful representatives to gravitate toward self dealing and corruption. There are also some in government who want to diminish the power of voters merely because the those government officials believe that they know best. This leads to big government and corruption. It remains a continual struggle which requires our unwavering vigilance.
Contact
Please also feel free to write to me directly. My email address is jim@futurebeacon.com. You can also go to my contact page to get my full contact information.