Taking Back Our Government
2008 and 2009 will mark the most cataclysmic changes in American society since the
revolution of 1776. Our government will have been taken over in a bloodless coup. Barack
Obama will step into the White House on January 20th to take the helm of “The Socialist
States of America”, the way having been prepared for him by President Bush, Henry
Paulson and Ben Bernanke.
We will either take back the government over the next two to eight years or condemn
another generation in the near future to the unpleasant choice of taking up arms against
their own government or living in servitude. Few of us can even imagine the dislocations in
our lives and life styles that will take place over the next few years, as we make the transition
from a free market, capitalist society to a socialist, centrally planned one.
If we are to have any success in returning our government to the constitutional republic that
has served us well for over two hundred years there are some steps we must take
immediately. We must defend the Electoral College against a mounting effort to eliminate it
and we must break the hold of political parties over the reigns of government.
Political parties did not exist at the time the Constitution was written, therefore there is
nothing in it concerning their place in American politics. The Constitution envisions a
partisan-free government operating in a limited sphere, for the purpose of national defense,
domestic security and protection of the God given rights of its citizens. Instead, we find
ourselves today moving rapidly toward a government more or less indifferent to national
defense and domestic security, bent on abridging as many rights as possible, substituting in
their place, special privileges for certain favored classes and groups.
Although the Constitution makes no provisions for the workings of political parties, the
nature of our form of government would seem to make them a necessity. The two
competing principles that provides the philosophical basis for the Democratic and
Republican parties of today emerged during the first decade of our government and
expressed themselves in the newly formed parties of Hamilton (the Federalists) and
Jefferson (the Republicans).
In the mid-eighteen hundreds, a new element was introduced into our politics in the form of
the socialism that had gained favor in Europe. Socialism is a political and economic parasite
that eventually destroys its host. It attached itself to the Democratic Party in the early part of
the twentieth century and by the beginning of the twenty-first, it had completely taken over
the Party. Using the power of the Democratic Party, it is now positioned to take over the
entire government.
The evils of socialism have not only infected the Democratic Party but to a lesser degree the
Republican Party as well. In spite of the problems created by political parties, it would
probably be a mistake to attempt to eliminate them because they serve two very important
purposes. They provide the checks and balances necessary for the continuance of a free
democratic society and they provide the means for identifying leaders from which citizens
choose their representatives.
Unfortunately, both parties have gown too powerful over the years. Leaders are picked and
policies are made by party bosses with less and less deference given to the will and needs
of the average citizen. Congress is run by the Speaker of the House and the Majority
Leader in the Senate with near dictatorial powers. Loyalty to the party has become more
important than loyalty to the country and its Constitution.
The changes in our form of government were brought about by a few changes in the
application of the Constitution in ways that went almost unnoticed by the average citizen.
Our government was originally set up as a federation of thirteen sovereign states. There
are now fifty states but they are no longer sovereign. Just as the anti-federalists of the
1780s feared, the federal government has usurped the powers of the individual states until
they have few left today. The first departure from the model of government set up by the
founders was a change in the office of Vice-President. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson,
our first two Vice-Presidents were strong leaders taking seriously their responsibilities as
President of the Senate. The Twelfth Amendment, ratified in 1804 changed the way Vice-
Presidents are elected, gradually leading to the candidate for President picking his own Vice-
Presidential running mate.
Not willing to be overshadowed by the Vice-President, most Presidents pick men with less
leadership ability to fill the office, insuring they will not face competition from their second in
command. Over time, the powers of the second most constitutionally important office was
transferred to the Senate Majority Leader (not a constitutional office) thus transferring
power from the only nationally elected member of the Legislative Branch to a party leader
elected by the voters of a single state.
Today, forty-nine of the fifty states have no remedy for a tyrannical Senate Majority Leader.
Only his home state can remove him from office. They seldom do so though, because the
home state profits from the additional influence his office provides. The same thing could be
said for the Speaker of the House, however in the founder’s model the Senate was intended
to counteract abuses of power by the House. It is the Senate that has veto power over
appointments by the President, the ratification of treaties, and determines the make-up of
the federal judiciary making it the most critical to the welfare of the nation.
(For a more in-depth discussion of this subject, see “Sarah Palin as President of The
Senate .)
Another serious departure from the Constitution model is the way our Presidential
candidates are selected. Under the current system, candidates are selected by the minority
rather than the majority. For example, in the 2008 Republican primaries, far more voters
voted against John McCain than voted for him yet he became our standard-bearer.
The results of the 2008 primaries illustrate how the party establishments and the national
media are able to mislead the voting public to select the candidates desired by the party
bosses. By manipulating the primary schedule and using massive and misleading
advertising campaigns coupled with an emphasis on selected information and suppression
of other information by the national media, the party establishment is able to choose
candidates of their choice.
The Constitution says, “The Congress may determine the Time of choosing the Electors,
and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout
the United States.” The reason for this is to prevent early voting states from influencing the
votes of states voting later. (Article II, Section 1) Our current system of winner-take-all
primaries and pledged electors makes a mockery of the Founder’s vision for the Electoral
College.
One of the reforms that could be made to bring our electoral process for President and Vice-
President back into compliance with the Constitution while still giving the people a voice in
their selection is to hold open primaries on the same day nationally. Voters would cast votes
for the person they believed would be best suited to the office they were to fill regardless of
Party affiliation.
At the same time, voters were making known their preferences for candidates, they would
also vote for electors to cast ballots for President and Vice-President. Voters in each
Congressional District would cast votes for three electors, one for their district and two for
the state. The idea of “pledged” electors could be maintained and the political parties would
still select their candidates in their respective conventions. However, electors for candidates
not selected by the party convention would then be free to cast ballots for the candidates of
their choice for President and Vice-President when the Electoral College met. Again, their
ballot would be cast without regard to political party.
Under this system, the state and national popular votes cast on “Election Day” would be
advisory and not binding on the Electoral College. This idea will sound radical to most and
downright “un-American” to many. That’s because most Americans have never been
educated as to the purpose and principle on which the Electoral College process was
included in the Constitution allowing political parties to exploit it to their own ends.
The Founders considered and rejected the idea of a popular vote electing the President
and Vice-President. Their fear was that an uninformed electorate would vote for reasons
other than merit, passing over the most qualified candidate in favor of one from their own
sub-group, i.e., state, locale, religion, race, gender, etc. etc.
An election process patterned after the Constitution precludes the winner-take-all practice
now being employed in the preliminary steps of primaries and conventions. Contrary to
popular belief, the Constitution only gives state legislatures the power to determine the
manner in which electors are to be appointed. (Article II, Section 1) It does not give them the
power to change votes cast by those electors, or dictate to the electors how they shall vote.
Instead, the electors are instructed to tally the number of votes cast for each candidate and
to transmit those tallies to the President of the Senate for tabulating the winner.
- “The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President
and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same
state with themselves;
[T]hey shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct
ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all
persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of
the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit
sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of
the Senate;
The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of
Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;--”
(Amendment 12)
When utilized in a constitutional manner, the Electoral College eliminates the undue power
of political parties over the selection of the President and Vice-President. Reforming this
process to conform to the Constitution is one of the first steps we must take in restoring our
government.
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