Posted on 04/16/2014 2:47:01 PM PDT by Jacquerie
A common concern among Article V opponents is fear that a convention of the states to propose constitutional amendments will result in an oppressive constitution. All we need to do is enforce the constitution we have. Elect the right people to implement our written constitution and all will be well.
As logical and appealing as that approach appears to be, it ignores some horrible realities, and actually promotes our headlong dive into tyranny, for the anti-constitution, the unwritten Frankenstein constitution rules.
First, aside from the occasional heat politicians take from an outraged populace, our legislative and executive branches in the aggregate do not acknowledge any limitations on their power.
Second, and perhaps worst of all, the branch charged with adjudication of disputes arising under the constitution has rewritten the constitution such that instead of securing our freedoms, their constitution, the Frankenstein constitution, welcomes tyranny.
The United States has two constitutions. Freepers read, study, and revere the brilliance of our framers’ plan of government, and support like-minded politicians. Meanwhile, federal courts, when they adjudicate within any limits at all, are guided by the Frankenstein constitution, the one they and their predecessors amended at least dozens of times these past eighty years.
There is no need to attempt to list here at FreeRepublic all of the illegal judicial amendments that created today’s Frankenstein constitution. Suffice to say that a counter-revolution to the American Revolution has occurred. A compact between We The People, via our states, and the government we created has gone wrong. Rather than secure our rights, the unwritten constitution secures the power of our oppressors. When cases come before Scotus, the starting points are previous, typically unconstitutional decisions, and not the supreme law they swore to uphold.
The executive branch has gleefully swept up powers discarded by congress. In fact, the very first clause of Article I, Section 1, the one in which a free people assigned all legislative authority therein granted to congress, now resides within the executive branch. This authority will pass on to the next president. Unless these powers are formally retrieved, ALL subsequent presidents will have Obama’s unwritten, unconstitutional, despotic powers. That is tyranny which no even year election alone can reverse.
When freepers ignore the reality of the unwritten Frankenstein constitution that is the actual framework of the ruling class, there is little hope for freedom’s restoration. It means we have turned a blind eye to our situation, for elections long ago stopped serving to choose who will faithfully perform their constitutional duties on our behalf. It means the ruling despots have a constitutionally free hand to aggrandize more power and wealth, to continue sapping our liberty. In order to possibly restore republican freedom, we must first come face to face with our enemy, admit the dominance of this Frankenstein constitution and the increasing irrelevancy of the written constitution.
Only the very hard and fast provisions of the written constitution remain. Representatives serve two years, senators six, and for the time being at least, presidents are limited to two four year terms. Nearly every other “soft” clause that has gotten in the way of progressive goals is either gone, misapplied or turned upside down. Think commerce clause, equal protection, taxation, abortion, fag marriage, our Bill of Rights, Obamacare, Common Core . . .
An unwritten Frankenstein constitution rules. If we are to kill this monster and return to republican freedoms, it is way past time, if time remains at all, to grasp a clause from Article V that George Mason demanded at the federal convention of 1787.
Unlike so much of the written constitution, the state amending authority of Article V still exists. We must act while we still have the power to peacefully correct the mistake of the 17th Amendment, thoroughly re-federalize our government with structural amendments, and subsequently reverse the oppression that no election can correct.
For it to be an Article V, 30-some states must approve basically the same amendment(s).
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Let’s see that first.
Then, we can read the language and see what they are going to be voting for. Until that, I don’t trust ANY of them and trust them even less behind closed doors.
Losing is never good.
I have not evolved.
States will not send schlubs off the street, or even reps with plenary powers to the convention. Legislators will send trusted, known men/women as delegates with tight commissions.
The Frankenstein constitution exists because the 17th Amendment turned the US overnight from a federal republic into a democratic republic. As our framers knew, democratic republics eventually drift into anarchy and finally, tyranny.
I believe the states are awakening to the power they have under Article V. It is one the Left has not yet excised. Oppression from DC is very well known in state capitals. Recent events, starting with the Tea Party, the mess over immigration, voter ID, and over half of the states standing against Obamacare in court reveals a growing undercurrent of building resistance.
In short, I think our nation awaits a Patrick Henry of 1765 spark, but this time to peaceful revolution.
I try to be careful and distinguish between government and people. By structural amendments, I mean along the lines of those proposed by Mark Levin.
The problem is that since states have all the power via the Article V convention & ratification, they could order the Federal government to print money to pay for their debts, the states’ debts. All restraints would be gone as none of the state governments had to balance their budget any more — they could just charge it to the federal debt.
We’d end up with cradle to grave socialism, even more than we have now, until the entire system eventually collapse under the weight of the debt.
Roger that!
I think we disagree only to the extent of how bad things are.
For all practical purposes, Congress has relinquished its power to the executive. The American Revolution has been overturned. There is no restraint.
Our backs are against the wall.
There is nothing to lose, everything to gain via Article V.
We are on the cusp of either peaceful or less than peaceful change. This Article V convention had better happen soon, for their is no doubt that Obama and his statists are sporting to put us all down.
We do indeed have two constitutions, but the second one, the one being used to do all the damage, is CORPORATE. And the problem is that the courts have ruled that the government can PRESUME corporate jurisdiction against a human being without having to announce it or prove it. Requiring announcement and proof of jurisdiction before any invocation of corporate law, therefore, is the solution. That ONE THING stops ALL the abuses in their tracks - instantly.
All we need to do is enforce the constitution we have. Elect the right people to implement our written constitution and all will be well.
That's one argument against an Article V convention. That was also an argument against writing the first ten amendments (the so-called Bill of Rights) because all those things were not enumerated powers to the federal government and, therefore, were automatically forbidden from the federal government by the Constitution itself. Although true, that argument lost to the argument that the federal government would take liberties if these things were not expressly stated in the initial amendments. So it is today. Both time and progressive activism has, as you point out, effectively and illegally amended the Constitution.
So the valuable outcome here would be a recent, clear amendment expressly limiting government and government spending. As with the first ten amendments, this would act as a clear proscription that is inferred in the Constitution but ignored. It will be hard to ignore a freshly-passed, clearly-written Constitutional Amendment.
There are more steps states can take to recover their freedom and independence FROM the feds but UNDER the Constitution, but this is an important first step.
EXCELLENT overview. Thank you for taking the time to put this together. I am going to bookmark this!
“Don’t Tread on my Blue Suede Shoes”!!!
America has only one King. Obama is just a Dictator.
Thanks! I hope you’ve made it clearer for some knuckleheads(or trolls) who frequent these threads.
The thrust of the CoS is to restore the powere of the states sufficiently to allow them to reign the power of the federal government. If the federal government refuses to follow the duly ratified amendments then we can be their slaves or we can fight. I would rather try the peaceful path. There is always time for the other option. To a point...
Well said. There is little to lose and much to gain.
A Frankenconstitution was produced by a Frankengovernment.
Unless this is accompanied by a vast axing of the government ranks (read: fire scads of civil workers) the new one will be as Frankenized as the old.
Thank you for a responsive reply.
In some cases it could make their current untouchable status quite touchable
.
Remember the John Murtha incident, where judges declared that he was a federal employee
so that they could protect him from the slander lawsuits by the marines?
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