The United States was founded on several important principals beginning with a strong distrust of government. That led to the concept of dividing government up so that no one entity would have too much power. Article 1 Section 8 of our Constitution grants the federal government only 20 or so powers. The 10th Amendment solidifies that limitation by clearly saying that any power the Constitution does not grant to the federal government are reserved to the state or the people. Thirdly, all government has the right to govern only by the consent of the people.

So what is the Constitution?

The Constitution is a contract where “we the people” are telling the federal government what they have a right to do. If something unforeseen arises then that contract has a very specific process for amendment. However, in the past nearly 100 years that contract has become increasingly ignored and, for all practical purposes, we now have a federal government acting without the consent of law or acting outside the parameters of the contract…the Constitution.

Where in the Constitution have “we the people” granted government to institute entitlement programs? Where in the contract did “we the people” tell the federal government that they can get involved with schools?

I could easily write a very long account of where the federal government is acting ex-facto of the Constitution. But, you must ask yourself one very important question: What is a government that acts without outside of the limitations of law and without the consent of the governed?

We no longer have a government that is acting “of the people…by the people…for the people.” We now have a government where we the people are becoming increasingly subservient to it.

This past week we got a stark reminder of that when the House passed H.R. 1, the “For the People Act” which ostensibly usurps the constitutional right of states to control their own election processes. It passed with every Republican voting against it as well as Mississippi Democrat Bennie Thompson. This bill is nothing more than an assault on the Constitution and on American democracy, federalism, and free speech.

This bill will unconstitutionally override state voting laws and put elections under federal control, thus ending two centuries of state power to control voting and election.

To take this 792 page bill apart piece by piece would require a long book. But let’s look at some highlights:

It will wipe out state laws that allow voters to be checked against preexisting lists of registrations. Each state MUST allow same-day registration and allow people to change their name and address on the rolls at the polling place on Election Day, then forbids the state from treating the vote as a provisional ballot to be checked later. It also mandates online registration without adequate safeguards.

But here is the real kicker: It mandates automatic voter registration for anyone applying for unemployment, Medicaid, Obamacare, college, and coming out of prison. This includes…..ready for this….NONCITIZENS.

H.R. 1 explicitly bars states from checking with other states for duplicate registrations within 6 months of an election. It bars removing people from voter rolls. State voter-ID laws are banned under this law. A state MUST provide a ballot to everyone without asking for identification and may not use any notarization for the signatures. It also provides for curbside voting, ballot drop boxes, and 15-days of early voting. This law even controls the location and hours of polling stations and such.

And if all of this isn’t far enough for you: the bill mandates teaching 12 graders how to register to vote and mandates colleges to create a “Campus Vote Coordinator” position.

The bill also takes the drawing of congressional districts out of the hands of elected state legislatures and turns it over to “independent commissions.”

Of course the bill has a labyrinth of new rules placing limitations on political speech and all sorts of giveaways to political candidates.

Not since the Alien and Sedition Acts has one political party sought to overturn the power limitations of the Constitution along partisan lines toward crushing political opposition. H.R. 1 is not merely a bad idea; it is a treasonous scandal that I hope ends up in the hands of the Supreme Court soon.

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