| Charley Reese | 1 comment |
 17 May 2003 @ 17:13, by Raymond PowersNo Big Difference There is a lot of talk about Democrats not offering any leadership, and that's true. What alternatives they do propose are simply variations of what the Republicans have proposed. That's because both parties agree on the same basic premise: There must be a strong, central government with an imperialist foreign policy. The true alternative to both parties is to return to the constitutional republic the Founding Fathers created. That would mean getting the federal government entirely out of such areas as welfare, education and medical care. It would mean disbanding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and abrogating the treaty that makes us a member of the United Nations. It would mean repeal of the legislation authorizing the World Trade Organization, closing all of our overseas military bases, eliminating all forms of foreign aid and strictly limiting the CIA to nothing but collecting information. It would mean allowing states to handle situations the Constitution intended for them to handle, whether we agreed or disagreed with the way they were handled. The Constitution gave us a true federal system in which, to use James Madison's words, "95 percent of all governing" would be done by the sovereign states, with no direction, interference or funding from the federal government. The role of the federal government in the Constitution is severely limited. That republic was destroyed at Appomattox in 1865, and since then the Constitution has been gradually reduced to nothing by deliberate and gross misinterpretation. The question for judges is not whether they are liberal or conservative, but whether they are judicial activists or judges who will construe the Constitution as it was written and in context. There is absolutely nothing in the Constitution that allows the federal government to legislate on abortion, medical care, education or the environment, much less on what kinds of sex lives people live or what substances they choose to drink or otherwise consume. There is nothing in the Constitution that authorizes Congress to tax the American people and give the money to foreign governments. Americans ought to think how strange it is that people in Missouri and Tennessee whose homes and businesses have been destroyed by tornadoes can expect nothing from the federal government except loans at interest, while the same government is making a gift of billions of dollars to foreign governments like Egypt and Israel. It is strange indeed for the federal government to undertake to rebuild Iraq but not Pierce City, Mo., or Jackson, Tenn. These are the kinds of paradoxes Americans ought to think about. Then perhaps they will begin to demand better government from their politicians. I recognize that we cannot return to the 18th century, but there is no reason why we should abandon the great principles that created this country. The federal government can't govern the people well for the same reason the Central Committee of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union couldn't govern very well: It's too distant from the people. How can bureaucrats in Washington educate children in Alaska and Nevada? Education is a function that should be left entirely to the states. When the Constitution was adopted, there was no public education. The responsibility rested entirely with the parents. And, yes, children unlucky enough to have irresponsible parents suffered as a result. And that's still true today, despite trillions of federal dollars and shelves of laws and regulations. If you look truthfully at the situation, you will see that none of the social problems the government has undertaken to solve, at the price of treasure and liberty, has ever actually been solved. Think about that. There are better alternatives to the ways we are doing things now, but you won't hear about them from either Democrats or Republicans, because they love the power the present system gives them. The last thing they want is a nation of thinking, self-reliant individuals who are beholden to no one, least of all to a bunch of selfish politicians. |