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.
| Illinois Conservative "It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible" ~George Washington |
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