Many of us are upset with the “Feds”. The actions of Congress and the unelected bureaucracy are slowly depriving us of our God given constitutional rights. Rights expressed in the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Remember the the Constitution was originally ratified only after the
Bill of Rights was added by means of the first 10 amendments. The founders included two brilliant protective devices. First, Article V allows two orderly difficult methods to get amendments. The common one involves the approval of Congress, the second is done by two thirds of the states calling for a Constitutional Convention and subsequent ratification of the convention results by two thirds of the states. The Congress has no controlling role in the second method. It is a means around the Congress which has proven to be ineffective and the source of ever expanding federal powers. The eventual failure of Congress was anticipated and allowed for by Madison as a condition of getting the Constitution ratified. Thank God! Madison gave us a peaceful ripcord. It’s time to open our parachute before we have a bad and possibly bloody landing.
A second protective provision was clearly expressed in the 10th Amendment. Let me quote:
“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” How Beautiful! A sentence expressing the very core principle of our Republic. What’s it really say? Simply that we the people gave limited power to the Congress. Citizens advocating a Convention of States believe that the Feds have been abusing the limits of power for many years . It is time to reaffirm the sovereignty of states and the limited powers of the Congress and it’s stepchild the bureaucracy.
Out of countless choices two quick examples should trigger the readers concerns. How about the federal budget? Hey, there ain’t one! Hasn’t been for years. Surely that 5,000 page “budget” that no one has or ever will read does not qualify as a budget. There is a desperate need for a balanced budget amendment. Until we deprive them of limitless funds their power will forever grow. In time the sovereignty of the states will be only fiction. We are victims of a quiet but effective funding measure which divides funds at the federal level between Discretionary and Non Discretionary. The most important task of the federal government is national defense. Defense is Discretionary. That means the defense budget is a gigantic piggy bank. In the recent past, the period of budget sequestration, our national defense budget suffered cuts which resulted in the Defense budget paying 50% of the costs while sharing 17% of the budget. We actually lost the ability to project power.
The Non Discretionary budget items such as healthcare, environmental, and education programs did not really experience cuts. They merely slowed their rate of growth. Many of these programs are popular, many are essential; however many sure as hell aren’t in the Constitution.
Let’s take a glance at the Department of Education. When did the states surrender the control of education? Who in the bureaucracy had the authority to set up the kangaroo courts on college campuses that circumvented established laws governing conduct? Who do you want to write the curriculum your children are taught? We did fine without federal help for a couple of hundred years. Why we even made kids study the Constitution as part of the study of civics. Yep, I and many others are afraid of the idea of a core curriculum which can, and most likely will be, the basis of indoctrination as opposed to education. We have been dumbed down and must recover. We may be well along the trail of loosing our Republic as Ben Franklin feared
The risk is worth taking; otherwise we surely loose. The Montana Legislature will soon be considering whether to join the 15 other states that have called for a Constitutional Convention. I strongly urge you to tell your state representatives and senators to support the proposal. It may well be our last chance to keep our Republic. Get out of the weeds; take back the high ground!
Ed Sperry Col USAF (ret)
Stevensville