Let’s start with a bit of a romp down memory lane…but WAY….WAY…back:

One of the most important underlying foundational philosophies behind the founding of the United States of America is a strong distrust of government…especially a strong centralized government. Many risked life and limb coming to the New World in order to escape from the constantly changing whims of monarchs and corrupt governing bodies.

In order to cement this foundation we enacted a Constitution that was not only short and abundantly clear in wording, but limits the federal government to just 20 or so functions (Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution). Things like coining money, establishing a Post Office, and establishing patents and copyrights.

It divides the power of government into 3 branches. Based on the original concept, Congress meets a few weeks out of the year and is made up of volunteer representatives chosen by neighbors to represent them. They decide on the nations business.

The president just carries out what Congress decides and is the head of the military. The president can also enter into treaties when appropriate. The president cannot make law and executive orders are restricted only to the most emergency of situations.

The Supreme Court should decide only in matters pertaining to the Constitution.

This was further cemented with the 10th Amendment to the Constitution which states that any power not granted to the federal government in the Constitution is a power reserved for the individual states or the people.

Underlying all of this is that the American citizen could live their life with only the most minimal interference from government and most issues would be decided locally with solutions appropriate to a particular location.

Nowhere in the Constitution is the federal government empowered to get into income redistribution, social welfare, getting involved with civil wars of foreign countries, dictating what schools can teach, and a host of other illegal powers that have been assumed.

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes extra-constitutional powers have resulted in a good. Certain limited powers like the FDA, FTA, and the Park’s Department have brought us good. But, I often wished they would have been established through constitutional amendment rather than governmental fiat.

Many of this nation’s problems today are not the fault particular to the Republicans or the Democrats. Many of these problems are caused by government getting involved with situations they have no legal authority to get involved with. We are in debt beyond any imaginable way of digging out of yet what do we hear? How to spend even more. United States military are getting killed or disabled in wars we have no legal authority to get involved in. We see a government wasting huge resources trying to impeach a President already out of office and with the full knowledge that the impeachment process would go absolutely nowhere other than to create political publicity. I could go on and on.

WE NEED TO RETURN TO OUR FOUNDATIONS or, as I like to say: BACK TO BASICS.

Read the Constitution and every time you listen to the news about some new power the government is assuming as yourself a very basic question: How does this power reconcile with the Constitution. Then, start to write your representatives. Start pushing your local school board to mandate the teaching of the Constitution in schools. Perhaps, over time, a grass roots movement will be started.

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