Don’t take responsibility out of being a citizen

A foundation of our system of government is that enforcement of the Constitution and rule of law supersedes rule of men or the judgment of government “experts.” No one is above the law or can force selfish interpretation of the Constitution. Consider these modern contradictions.

1. The thievery, sexual harassment, groping, voyeurism and humiliation enabled or encouraged by TSA measures at airports would be heavily prosecuted if anybody else did it. But because the federal government is “protecting” us from the chance of moronic-level terrorism, Americans are supposed to be grateful. One is reminded of the recorded Nazi justifications for parading naked concentration camp inmates before guards and officials — security, safety and health.

2. It’s strictly unlawful for the federal government to provide military or foreign aid to nuclear-armed countries that have refused invitations to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and participate in its open inspections. Yet the federal government is doing just that with Pakistan, India and Israel. Reference: The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, Section 669 (Symington Amendment of 1976), and Section 670 (Glenn Amendment of 1977).

3. Our founding fathers knew the vulnerability of a chief executive, as commander-in-chief, being tricked into military adventurism by war profiteers and foreign espionage. Thus, the Constitution and the explanatory Federalist Papers place the power to declare war solely with Congress — as chronic war-making historically and consistently bankrupts nations. Yet our last congressionally declared war was World War II, coincidently the last war that the U.S. clearly won. Wars commenced by presidential judgment also force our military to dishonor their enlistment oaths (see any military recruiter for the text).

4. Abraham Lincoln famously summarized our system of government as “government of, by and for the people.” All systems of government — including ruling kings, emperors, dictators, aristocrats, slave masters, etc. — do “for” the people. Historically, many chiefs, emperors and kings were even elected. Certain tribal leaders — including the early Mongols, the Byzantine Emperors and the early Sumerian kings — underwent versions of popular elections.

Republics and democracies do “of and by” the people (republics/parliamentary democracies, indirectly by elected representatives condensing their constituents’ will and ideas; and democracies, directly through full population or citizen participation).

Now, in the bill raising the U.S. debt limit, Congress has ceded its fundamental budget control functions to a Super Congress consisting of six Democrats and six Republicans. To centralize congressional function this way denies meaningful, constitutionally mandated representation to 95 percent of the congressional districts of our nation. The excuse is to create efficiency to deal with the current U.S. financial, economic and national security emergencies. Such justification has been used to overthrow republics and democracies since the dawn of recorded history! Congress is already extremely vulnerable to lobbying efforts. The Super Congress centralization of power increases this vulnerability to nearly the extremes seen with the kings and emperors of old.

5. We Americans pride ourselves for being the world’s best example of self-government. But do you and your neighbors insist on participating with ideas and solutions in the work of government? Do you and your fellow citizens make public comment opportunities realistically more effective than free speech window-dressing? Do you and your neighbors insist on meaningfully carrying out jury duty? And have you considered citizen voting percentages lately? I know that I was the only Alaskan private citizen to testify in both committee hearings on Rep. Wes Keller’s bill (HB 8) to organize state infrastructure to enforce the 10th Amendment on the federal government. Where were Alaska’s Tea Party people or Southcentral’s Conservative Patriots Group? Where was everybody who complains about excessive federal government interference in Alaska affairs? The public silence was terrifying.

A citizen of another republic more than 2,000 years ago said best what the problem really is — setting aside careless irresponsibility by the people:

“A system can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive ‘treason’ from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. The ‘traitor’ moves amongst those within the gates freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself, for the ‘traitor’ appears not a ‘traitor.’ He speaks in accents familiar to his victims, he wears their face and their arguments and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a system, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the nation and he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. Beware, beware, beware.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero, 42 B.C.

Stuart Thompson lives in Meadow Lakes.