A national government is a government of the people of a single state or nation, united as a community by what is termed the “social compact,’ and possessing complete and perfect supremacy over persons and things, so far as they can be made the lawful objects of civil government. A federal government is distinguished from a national government by its being the government of a community of independent and sovereign states, united by compact. ~ Black's Law Dictionary
Renewal:
Our founding fathers provided a framework in our Constitution and founding documents that, if followed, provides the best form of government yet available to man to safeguard personal liberty and provide for a civil society. This government provides for checks on the power of government and a decentralization of the functions of that power. But a framework is only that, a skeletal structure on which to build...in this case, a structure of principles on which to operate a nation. It is The People who provide the muscle and sinew to make the skeleton operate as designed.
When, at the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked what form of government they had provided for the people, he replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it.” Franklin truly understood the challenges to freedom that comes from government power. Though more than 200 years have passed, and technology has advanced in ways that were unimaginable at the time, human nature has not changed in any significant way. People are still vulnerable to the corrupting influences of power.
In all real and important ways, the Federalism of our founding, with its checks and balances against the tyrannies of centralized governmental power, is dead. Government has become the uncontrollable juggernaut that our founding generation feared...always growing, always drawing power unto itself. The voice of The People has been largely silenced and the State legislatures neutered.
So, why is this important? Are things all that bad? They are indeed bad...and getting worse every day. The Federal government has grown completely out of control. Their proclivity to buy votes through pork projects and massive giveaway programs has brought our country to the verge of financial collapse. Recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) numbers show that the Federal deficit will surpass $1.3 trillion this year (2010). Heritage Foundation analysis predicts that "the national debt held by the public will pass 100 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020; by 2020 half of all income tax revenues will go to pay just the interest on our $23 trillion national debt." Unfunded mandates has also contributed to bringing many States to the brink of bankruptcy. Our Federal legislators and President now feel no restraints on their power, they ignore established law (bankruptcy, immigration and more) and the Constitution. Where are the checks and balances that safe guard our liberty? The Supreme court? This is only a small group of politically appointed lawyers, with tenure for life, who have a history of rubber stamping government expansion. No, the only real hope is to return to America's founding principles, and it is The People who must demand the changes necessary. But, what are these changes? How can we resurrect federalism?
Education:
One of the most important changes that is needed is in the area of education. The public must become knowledgeable of the function and utility of our system of government, as it was designed. They must know their own history in order to defend it. There has been decades of effort by "progressive" elements of government, academia, the press and special interest groups to present a revisionist view of our past. This revisionism is all aimed at promoting a nationalist view of government, and downplaying the virtues of limited government and individual liberty. The current government/academic educational regime is too invested in the progressive view of the history of our government and society to be trusted to make the changes necessary.
We must first educates ourselves and our children in the truth of our past so that we are equipped to defend our heritage of freedom. Then, we must become active on a State and local level to overcome the progressive elements in our educational systems to assure that a true and proper rendering of our founding principles is taught in our public schools. While this is an important element of change, this is no small task and will take many years. We cannot wait for the results of this effort. Its already too late for that. Our country is faltering and needs a more immediate remedy.
Vote:
Certainly we must take to the ballot boxes and vote out as many big-government, statist candidates as we can from the Federal government. And this does not just mean Democrats. The Republican party has only been the lesser of two evils when it comes to big government policy. They have been the party of "not quite so big and not growing quite as fast" as the other guys...but they have, by and large, not been for limited government. A Republican sweep of the November mid-term elections would be a step in the right direction, but it would only be a band-aid. This will last for two or three presidential election cycles at the most, and then we will be right back where we started.
So, who do we vote for? In the short-term we must vote for the best candidate we can get elected. This will not always be best person for the job. In the longer term, we need to pay closer attention to primary races and support candidates with a history of supporting a strong small-government policy. We need to insist that our candidates begin working to cut spending and eliminating programs that have no Constitutional mandate.
State Sovereignty:
We cannot only count on Federal candidates. The Federal juggernaut is too large, too corrupt to stop from within. We must also restore State sovereignty. State legislatures must reclaim their rightful role as a major check on the power of the general government. Contrary to the nationalist version of history, the Civil War did not settle the issue of State rights. Just because the Federal government acted illegally and trampled the Constitution, does not mean that the law has changed or that the founding principles have been made void. Federalism continues to be the law of the land.
Recent actions by State governments to stand against the health care legislation, and to enforce existing immigration law is encouraging. These efforts should be supported. We must vote for candidates for State offices who understand their role in federalism and who will stand against the Federal leviathan. States must begin again to use nullification as a tool to curb unconstitutional actions by the Federal government. This will not be easy in the beginning. The Federal monster will not be tamed easily. Federal authorities will bring extraordinary pressure against States to continue to bow to their will. For this reason, State legislatures and governors should band together to provide a more united front. As the States win more and more of these disputes, the Federal government's power will recede as State sovereignty is restored. The real power of government will again be closer to The People. Remember, the Federal government's power comes from the The People, through the States. It is the States who have ceded their authority in the past, and it is only the States who can recapture that authority.
There are other instruments that can be used to recapture State sovereignty. Repealing the 17th Amendment would give the States the direct representation in Congress that they were meant to have. Senators would then be advocates for their State's best interests and the interests of their citizenry, and less vulnerable to the influences of special interests and nationalist goals. It can be demonstrably shown that the rapid growth of the Federal government began after the ratification of the 17th Amendment as Todd J. Zywicki noted in a review of the book The Road to Mass Democracy: Original Intent and the Seventeenth Amendment:
"The Senate was also an important part of the bicameral legislature. The ability of factions or special interests to capture control of the federal government was mitigated by requiring bills to receive the approval of the public, speaking through their representatives in the House, and the approval of the state legislatures, speaking through their representatives in the Senate. The transition to direct election made the constituencies represented in the House and Senate more similar, thereby facilitating creation of logrolling agreements across the two houses of the national legislature. Moreover, it made the procurement of special-interest legislation easier by allowing special interests to lobby the Senate directly, rather than having to proceed through the intermediaries of the state legislatures. In an era of increasing interstate commerce, accompanied by the development of groups whose interests crossed state lines, these “economies of scale” in lobbying were critical. Direct election thereby weakened the protections of bicameralism and made special-interest legislation easier to obtain.
In preserving federalism and bicameralism, the Senate did an extraordinary job before 1913. Throughout the nineteenth century, the federal government remained small and special-interest legislation was limited. The activity of the federal government was largely confined to the provision of “public goods” such as defense and international relations (Robert Higgs, Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987, p. 114). Although the federal government grew during national crises such as war, the passing of the crisis brought a return to a small federal government (Roger E. Meiners, “Economic Considerations in History: Theory and the Little Practice,” in Economic Imperialism, edited by G. Radnitzky and P. Bernholz. New York: Paragon House Publishers, 1987, p. 95). The so-called “ratchet effect” of federal intervention persisting after the dissipation of the crisis that spawned it was scarcely evident in American history before World War I (Higgs, p. 30). The role of the Senate in thwarting special-interest activity on the national level and protecting the autonomy of the states was critical in preserving this arrangement."
In conjunction with repealing the 17th Amendment, we must also protect the Electoral College. Just as progressives and special interests sought to undermine State sovereignty with the passage of the 17th Amendment, there have been ongoing calls for the elimination of the electoral system for choosing a President. Their arguments usually claim that the system is archaic and unfair. They falsely claim that the system was used in the 18th century only because it was so difficult to properly communicate the voting results of the whole nation in a timely manner. Now, they say, with the modern communications networks we have at our disposal, this antiquated system is no longer needed. They claim that the system is unfair because it is possible that a president could win the "popular vote" and still not be elected.
Both of these arguments distort the original intention of the electoral system. It was not simply an instrument of a relatively primitive bygone age. It was also purposely designed so that the so-called "unfair"event could take place. The electoral system was designed to maintain a federal character to the election of the President. While Representatives were to be voted on directly by The People, and the Senators were to be appointed by the States, the Presidential election was to be a mix of the two. The People would vote indirectly, as a group of citizens from the various States. In this way, State representation was maintained. This also provided a way for the smaller States to be more equally represented. In a system of popular vote, if the population of a few of the most populace States voted overwhelmingly for one candidate, this candidate would be elected, even if the populations of the majority of the other states voted against that candidate. The country, then could be run by a handful of States. The Electoral College, then is not an unfair, archaic system, but rather a vital tool in the maintenance of our federal system.
The Last, Best Hope:
I believe, with all my conviction, that the last, best hope for America is to return to the principles of our founding. We must restore the checks and balances on government to prevent centralization of power that, as the founding fathers believed, leads to tyranny.
Our part, as individual citizens, is to educate ourselves in our own history and the heritage of liberty we have been bestowed by preceding generations. We must know our principles, stand firm and vote to preserve them. Sometimes this will mean voting not for the perfect candidate, but for the one with the best hope of moving the country in the right direction. It will not be an easy or quick remedy, but we must beat back the forces of statism and force the States to stand their ground, band together and restore their rightful sovereignty. Only in this way can we hope to maintain a legacy of liberty for future generations.
< Part 3
