The number one threat to our republic is not the debt, is not the entitlements, is not invasion from another country. The number one threat to our country is lust. It is not a sexual lust. It is a lust for power. Since time began, the lust for power and its ruthlessness has ruined liberty, derailed democracy, wrecked republicanism, crippled nations and killed millions. The paths have been many but the goal singular — lust, lust for power.
Our founders knew firsthand how the lust for power corrupted human rights. They knew that, to quote James Madison, “men are not angels.” Thus, they created a government of checks and balances that would keep tyranny at bay. According to the Constitution, one branch of government can never usurp the other and no one branch can be autonomous.
There has been, and is, a faction amongst us that wants to change the fundamental structure of these checks — the progressives. The progressives don’t want a multi-tiered, self-checking and self-limiting government. They want an all-powerful, singular nexus of decision-making in the executive branch, free from checks and balances.
American progressives are savvy and cunning. They know that Americans will never willfully accept tyranny or a lustful tyrant. Thus, the progressives set forth, over one hundred years ago, to accomplish their goals in an underhanded manner – slowly, steadily, stealthily. Their mission is a progression away from three branches of government to one autonomous branch — in other words, tyranny/big government.
It is interesting to note how they have already managed to accomplish this and how they are continuing to do so with exactly the same tactics. Their mission is to eradicate the potency of the U.S. Congress, thus eliminating the utterly crucial check on executive power. They accomplish this by diminishing the reputation of the legislative branch and thus crippling its power and effectiveness. Our legislators fell for this in 1912. They are falling for it again and they are taking the American people with them.
Progressives had astonishing results in 1912 and 1913 with the 17th Amendment. Progressives managed to convince the state legislatures and the U.S senators that they were, themselves, corrupt. They convinced them to vote for their own demise. In the late 1800s, patient and premeditated, the progressives had planted a negative Senate public-relations campaign to germinate into the nucleus of the culture. With political comments such as “the Senate is dictated by special interests” and “the Senate is ineffectual,” the progressives fanned the flames of destruction.
They manipulated a masterful coup in the Senate, denying states’ rights, with a simple message – “The Senate is corrupted by special interest groups.” Sound familiar? It was simply stunning. Henceforth, the senators would no longer be appointed by the state legislators, but by the people. With this singular, monumental sweep of states’ rights, the Constitution, which they conveniently believe to be outdated, was thrown off-kilter.
Be aware: the progressive are not finished. They are enacting the same campaign today. Now instead of the Senate, the entire legislative branch is the problem. “The legislative branch prevents all good from taking place.” “The legislative branch is corrupt.” “The legislative branch is a bother.” “The legislative branch never gets anything done.” “The legislative branch is corrupted by special interest groups.” By beating down the legislative branch, the executive branch rises.
What is their goal? The progressives want the legislative branch to be beholden to the executive branch. However, constitutionally, the executive branch is to be beholden to the legislative branch. Only with this process can the people truly be protected. George Washington knew this well. George Washington knew that as a general of the Continental Army he was beholden to the Congress. He also knew that as president he was beholden to the Congress. Alexander Hamilton at one point wanted Washington to coerce the Congress to bend to Washington’s will. Washington, however, refused, reminding Hamilton that he, as president, in the executive branch, was beholden to Congress, the legislative branch, the people’s branch.
This is not what permeates the culture today. Most Americans consistently rate Congress much lower than the president. Why? Americans are being brainwashed because they essentially do not understand the United States Constitution and because the legislators are digging their own grave.
Here is the crux. The American people do not understand what their congressmen and women are saying. Simply put, the legislative branch is legislating the American people out of their favor with bills that both they, and the American people, cannot understand. Legislators need to understand their own bills. The American people need to understand. The American people want to understand. The president is more appealing and more trusted than the Congress because his message is simpler. The president’s message, delivered in friendly, fatherly sound bites, is comprehensible to the people. It is clear, concise and easy to understand. Congress’ message with 2,700 page bills and 1,200 page bills is simply incomprehensible, unfathomable. Consequentially, legislators are deemed untrustworthy by the American people.
The legislators in the legislative branch need to act and they need to act quickly, very, very quickly. They need to pass rules that limit their own largess in order to prevent the progressives’ “legislators are corrupt” campaign from succeeding. They need to save our country by returning the people’s house to the people. They have let it be run by lawyers. They have leveled Americans’ trust with legalese.
The legislators need to simplify, simplify, simplify. They can start by reducing the number of pages in their bills and by summarizing their objectives. Comprehensive bills are compromising our republican form of government. The American people are turning to the wrong branch of government – the executive branch, the president, the branch that is most vulnerable to tyranny and corruption. Ironically, the American people are trusting the branch that can enact the most uncensored control over the people if left unchecked.
The progressives’ plan is working and the legislators in the legislative branch are playing right into their hands, just as they did in 1912 with the 17th Amendment. If we lose this last battle then the progressives, in their subtle form of sorcery, will have succeeded in radically changing our government. The American people in turn will be denied the only thing that protects out inherent rights, our limited, checked government.
Our legislators need to introduce and pass the TRUTH ACT. They need to reduce the page numbers of their bills to thirty pages. This was the norm until the past couple of decades. It has been done recently, however. Chairman McCaul’s Border Security Act is one example.
Our legislators need to read and understand the bills they write. The need to convince the American people that they actually know the bills’ true intentions and repercussions before they vote on them. They need to read these bills to the American people and have them open to the public in many forums. They need to give the American people the respect they deserve, letting them have due time to explore the bills before the vote takes place. In short, the legislators need to return the people’s branch to the people.
It is absolutely imperative that the American people turn their trust and attention first and foremost back to the legislative branch and understand that it is their branch. It is time for the legislators to earn this trust and quickly, or they will be reduced to irrelevancy and take the American people with them. This will culminate with the demise of our experiment in self-government. We will be leaving our children in the hands of a lustful tyrannical form of government that will focus all power to one faction, or one man, and their liberty and inherent rights will be forever lost.
The writing is on the wall. The pages of history tell the tale. Let us pay heed.
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