Five Point Strategy for Restoration
Beyond the issues, my five point strategy for restoration targets cracks in the nation’s foundation. Corruption, expansive government, irresponsible spending, a struggling economy, an American people who feel disregarded and a growing politically-driven racial conflict, are the result of a foundation undermined, and a faltering integrity in Washington.
Each strategy identifies and remedies one of 5 key problems.
Neutralize Partisan Politics
(Restores the power to the people)
We must establish an Independent faction in both the U.S. House and Senate to neutralize partisan control. As Americans raise Independent candidates, and fund their campaigns, they will effectively reclaim power. This will re-establish the sovereignty of the people.
“The fabric of the American empire ought to rest on the solid basis of the CONSENT OF THE PEOPLE. The streams of national power ought to flow immediately from that pure, original foundation of all legitimate authority.
-- Benjamin Franklin, Federalist Papers, No. 22
The power of the American people has been significantly eroded in recent decades. Partisan politics has played a key role. Special interests and the powerful Democratic and Republican parties supply the funding and influence to get candidates elected.
The result is a government run by career politicians, who work for special interests to get re-elected, rather than loyally serve the public. Sadly, corruption, an erosion of morality and virtue, and a disregard of the Constitution have set-up politicians as an elite class of Americans.
What's worse, in the past two administrations both Democratic and Republican party majorities in Congress and the White House have proven that legislators will overstep their authority and constitutional bounds when given the opportunity.
In popular elections, there's generally, an Independent voter base that works as the swing vote to determine the winner of an election. A good example is the 2008 presidential election. The Independent vote determined the election, breaking the deadlock between Democratic and Republican voters. An independent vote, or faction, establishes a balance and stabilizing force in the election process.
In Congress and the Senate, the Independent faction is missing. We must establish an Independent faction in both houses of Congress, a faction that serves as the people's candidate. The American people must raise up Independent candidates, fund their campaigns and hold them accountable to work in their interests.
While one Independent candidate is not enough, I believe a faction of 10% Independents would have a dramatic impact on the way Congress operates and resulting laws. When neither Republican or Democratic lawmakers have a majority, they are forced to work across party lines, and they will be forced to work with the people (the Independents). This will create unity among legislators and among the people. And it will foster a greater integrity in the process of legislation.
Establishing an Independent faction will also force the Republican Party and the Democratic Party to center their work on the will of the people. When the American people feel their Republican or Democratic senators and representatives are no longer listening, they simply expand the Independent faction until parties re-align themselves with the people.
Restore Constitutional Integrity
(Protects the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual)
We must restore fidelity to the Constitution, in how we make laws (Congress) and how we interpret laws (Judiciary). A return to the Constitution and constitutional values ensures the promises therein; life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and most importantly it ensures the power of the people.
The U.S. Constitution was designed to establish a limited government for the people, of the people and by the people. It was designed to provide for the greatest freedom and liberty, and to provide prosperity to people through a free market system of commerce.
Holding true to the Constitution, America became the greatest nation in the world. Yet, a growing disregard for the Constitution and constitutional values (in lawmaking and in the judiciary process) is rendering it fruitless. Our liberties are fewer. Our economy is faltering. Our national security has never been more uncertain. Our power has been removed.
Fidelity in Congress
The Constitution must be the foundation for lawmaking. This ensures the protections and liberties provided to the people, and it protects the integrity of our nation.
The greatest failing in Congress, regarding constitutional fidelity, has been the expansion of Federal powers at the expense of state sovereignty. Education, healthcare, and social programs are just a few examples of an overreaching Federal government. Many of our nation’s problems, including an expansive national debt, high taxes and a foundering economy can be linked to unconstitutional federal expansion.
Fidelity in the Judiciary
The role of the Judicial branch, as established by the Constitution and the framers intent, is to preserve the Constitution and laws enacted by Congress. They do this by hearing cases that challenge constitutionality or challenge existing laws. Every case is simply a test against the Constitution or against the law. A judge weighs the case and determines the outcome of the test.
Today, laws are rarely weighed against the Constitution, and often judges legislate from the bench, constitutionally the responsibility of Congress and the Executive branch.
Instead of using the Constitution, today judges interpret and rule based on previous case law. This means that no longer is the Constitution the measure of law. Instead, law is measured on recent case histories, the recent judgments of other judges who’ve heard similar cases.
By using recent case history, instead of the Constitution, justice is lost, and outcomes are no longer rooted in fundamental truths. The Constitution is an immovable basis for judgment, a central point of reference, a consistent foundation for judicial procedure and rule. Without constitutional foundation, the law becomes whatever the ruling authority deems it.
This is frightening. Yet, there is an even darker side of this movement. Many within the Federal courts now see themselves as lawmaking authorities, and often rewrite laws or author new legislation from the bench. Remember, the Constitution establishes no legislative authority to the Judicial branch.
Reform Legislative Process
(Restores integrity to the process, involves the people in the legislative process, builds public confidence in the law)
We must have a user-friendly government. The Constitution is simple. Originally, the Federal government was simple. This was intended to promote the greatest participation by the people. The laws and the process of lawmaking should be simple and concise so that Americans can understand it, engage in the process and know how to live within it.
“It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man who knows what the law is today can guess what it will be tomorrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known and less fixed?”
-- James Madison, Federalist Papers, No. 62
Americans have become disengaged, in part by the corrupt nature of politics, but also in the complexity of the process, and the complexity of the resulting legislation. Let the Healthcare bill and the Cap and Trade bill be our examples. This manner of lawmaking does nothing to instill trust and confidence in the law.
I propose reforming the way we form legislation, one I call “singularis,” or single-minded legislation. Singularis would require laws to be written concisely, where the body of the law must be directly related to the title of the law. Additionally, the bill’s funding must also be explicitly related to the subject matter of the law.
Singularis would create transparency, encourage public engagement in the process of lawmaking, eliminate pork and deceptive practices, and streamline the lawmaking process.
Restore Balance of Powers
(Ensures limited government and a balance of powers between state and federal authority.)
We must restore the balance of powers between states and the Federal government, as to protect the rights of the people, as a means to reduce the size of government and to improve its services.
Today’s Federal government has expanded beyond imagine. Consider the past 76 years. Since 1934, Federal government spending has grown from $101.5 billion to $3.83 trillion in 2010. Their expansion has been at the expense of the states, resulting in an imbalance of power, where the Federal government has assumed powers intended for the states.
“Power being almost always the rival of power, the general government will at all times stand ready to check the usurpations of the state governments, and these will have the same disposition toward the general government. The people, by throwing themselves into either scale, will infallibly make it preponderant. If their rights are invaded by either, they can make use of the other as the instrument of redress.”
-- Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Papers, No. 28
Education, currently under Federal authority, is a good example of a matter better managed at the local level.
In 1980, The U.S. Department of Education was established by President Jimmy Carter, despite opposition regarding its constitutionality.
“A previous Department of Education was created in 1867 but soon was demoted to an Office in 1868. Its creation a century later in 1979 was controversial and opposed by many in the Republican Party, who saw the department as an unconstitutional, unnecessary federal bureaucratic intrusion into local affairs.”
I propose divesting many Federal programs to state authorities, where they can be managed more efficiently, and redundancy removed. This provides for a greater balance of powers, and greater protection against tyranny.
I believe in state sovereignty. I believe people should be governed closest to where they live. State and local governments should have the greatest authority over the issues that impact people most intimately, such as education, healthcare and other social issues.
When the Federal government manages programs, every inefficiency, every flaw, is compounded and magnified across the whole of the nation. Conversely, when programs are reserved to the states, states have an incentive to improve. They compete to attract businesses and people to their states. States are motivated to improve the quality of life for their citizens, their economies, their tax structures and they recognize efficiency is a competitive advantage. Furthermore, this provides a greater freedom to people, as they are free to choose to live in a state that best suits their needs and wants.
The results? Smaller government and better services.
Return to "One Nation Under God"
(Establishes a steadfast moral foundation for government, ensures a public trust between the people and their public servants, and provides for the blessings of a Godly nation; protection, prosperity and happiness)
If we are to return to a nation of prosperity, integrity and unity, we must return to a nation of faith. We must return to “One Nation Under God.”
The Founding Fathers recognized the divine providence in the founding and growth of the United States. They, along with nearly all early Americans, acknowledged the power of prayer, and essential value of Christian principles to maintain a just and effective government.
The Founders believed the existence of God was the most fundamental premise underlying all self-evident truth. So essential were Godly principles, the Founders attested that our republican form of government would only be effective if it was administered by a moral and virtuous people.
Samuel Adams conveyed this sentiment when he wrote a friend in England;
“It is the business of America to take care of herself; her situation as you justly observe, depends upon her own virtue.”
Regardless of what revisionists want us to believe, America was founded as a Christian nation. It was founded upon Christian principles. They are clearly evident in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
Daniel Webster, one of the Founding Fathers and Massachusetts delegate to the Constitutional Convention, was emphatic about the merits of Christian leadership and Christian principles in civil government. In a report he submitted December 4, 1820, he concluded as follows:
“I am clearly of opinion that we should not strike out of the constitution all recognition of the Christian religion. I am desirous, in so solemn a transaction as the establishment of a constitution, that we should keep in it an expression of our respect and attachment to Christianity - not, indeed, to any of its peculiar forms but to its general principles.”
Without men and women of virtue, morality and honor, there is no means to establish a trust between the people elected to serve and the people they serve. The integrity of the United States is rooted in Christian principles, a foundation that serves well both Christians and non-Christians alike.