-By Dan Scott
This April 15th, millions of Americans will be protesting the rampant deficit spending of Congress (and the Obama Administration by encouraging it). Tea Parties will be held in every State of the Union. On that day, we who oppose reckless spending will have a cathartic moment having vented our spleens at the irresponsible behavior of those running government. We the People will have spoken, politicians will condescendingly notice, the MSM will spin the story line to minimize it and of course the Left is unhappy calling us sore losers and unpatriotic. But on April 16th will anything have changed?
When it comes to Congress acting as an agent of the People, the record is pretty spotty.
When a number of people in power attempted to give a blanket amnesty to illegal aliens, We the People hounded our representatives to the point the email servers crashed and the telephone switchboards couldn’t handle the traffic. The people in power got the message loud and clear, NO (almost a year before the 2008 election). When those in power attempted to pass the first bail out package, the People spoke and they narrowly defeated the bill (shortly before the 2008 election). Through bribery (sweeteners via minimal changes in the bill), stealth and fear, the leaders of the House and Senate convinced just enough members of Congress to pass the bailout bill over the objections of the overwhelming majority of the People. Again, just before the 2008 elections. Through clever deflection under the cover of the Presidential election, those who voted for the bailout package were never held to account for their vote. Since then, We the People have come to regret failing our chance to hold these people responsible. Congress passed a so-called stimulus bill over the objections of the most people via a party line vote. Congress has passed a number of other bills with little popular support. Many of us have thrown up our hands in disgust not knowing what to do and many will be protesting on April 15th.
One of the central tenets of a Republic is representation. The entire concept of representation rests on the premise of “consent of the governed” or “self governance”. This form of government chosen by the Founding Fathers sought to overcome the deficiency of both the Parliamentary and Monarchy forms of governance. The US form of Republic is still fairly unique in the world because it was created by the debate of ideas between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists. The debate was mostly and successfully settled by the creation of the US Constitution. Many of the concerns of the Anti-Federalist were addressed in Constitution such as the Bill of Rights and Amendment allowances. But not all of those concerns made it into the final form. One of those concerns was the recall provision of federal representatives. A federal representative can’t be recalled by the voters once they are elected to office. The only means of removing a faithless representative prior to their term ending is via impeachment in Congress for cause. Even if cause existed, in the current environment there wouldn’t be the votes since most of them are guilty of the same offense of self-interest. Those who wield power without the express consent of the governed are not representatives but rulers.
I suspect, as many of you do that Pelosi, Obama and Reid will get their way for the most part over the objections of most Americans. The idea of deficit spending is so well entrenched in Washington DC that it seems hopeless to stop it never mind moderate it. Why would any of those in power now even listen to the voter in any event since they for the present moment won’t be held accountable for it? Justice delayed is justice denied as the saying goes, the elections are a long way away. They were successful in deflecting in 2008, so who’s to say they won’t be in 2010 and 2012? So when April 15th comes and goes, do we pat ourselves on the back having expressed our dissent or do we walk away sullen in the knowledge our concerns were disregarded in a condescending manner by the current rulers of this country who call us the “chattering class”?
If you believe government is out of control, you care about pork laden bills by self serving politicians (paying off their campaign contributors) and you either will protest on April 15th or support those who do, then you should consider well that April 15th is the beginning not the end of your activities. Expressing dissent against the current rulers of this country can come in many forms and in the coming months we will have to be creative to the consternation of Pelosi, Obama and Reid. We do have a number in Congress who represents our dissent but they are inconsistent and too few in number. The majority may rule but we of the minority do have our rights and they should be exercised vigorously otherwise we will lose them as well.
Reference:
Recall of Legislators and the Removal of Members of Congress from Office
What Is the History of Recall Elections?
Recall of State Officials
———-
Dan Scott calls himself a “Member of the Global Capitalist Cabal preaching Capitalism and personal responsibility as the economic solution to world poverty.” He is also a member of the 14th Amendment Society — victimhood is a liberal code word for denying the civil rights of others. He is also a proud member of the Global Warming Denier Cabal, insisting that facts not agendas determine the truth.
Dan can be seen on the web at http://www.geocities.com/fightbigotry2002/ as well as http://www.geocities.com/dscott8186/saidwebpage.htm, And can be reached for comments at dscott8186@yahoo.com.
Fair Use: This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material available in my efforts to advance understanding of political, human rights, economic, democracy, and social justice issues, etc. I believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research, educational, or satirical purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site/blog for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.