Blame the Politicians
BLAME THE POLITICIANS NOT THE SYSTEM
THE NEW FEDERALIST PAPERS
Misinformation, lack of historical perspective and blind parroting of slogans has polarized political debate in this country and reduced the debate to the lowest common denominator. Add in the media, a pinch of romanticism (V for Vendetta and the Guy Fawkes mask) and we have our current political situation.
I must admit that there is one major flaw with the system, but it is not a systemic flaw, it is a failure on the part of the citizens. I reached this conclusion after going to many pages on Facebook, debating in occupy city pages, on the tea party blog and with many supporters of Ron Paul and Herman Cain, and even some people who thought they were anarchists or panarchists.
Almost all the people I typed against on the pages failed to understand the Constitution and the system it created. In order to have this make sense, let me give you my interpretation of what the Constitution means for citizens. To understand this, we must first look to the Founding Fathers and how this Republic was formed.
The major misunderstanding most citizens have is that the United States is a democracy. The United States is not a democracy, it is a constitutional republic. The citizens do not vote on every issue to be decided by the government. The citizens have a responsibility to elect representatives who will make decisions for them in the halls of Congress.
Many people feel that “we elected them” so they must do what we want. NO, each representative may cast his vote “according to his conscience”.
Representatives are not the puppets of their constituents, and may vote as they please. They are our employees, but they are “independent contractors” employees. If they displease us, we “fire” them by voting them out.
Now to our rights as citizens. All citizens of the United States have constitutional rights. While debating, I encountered many profane people who chose to debate by using curses and saying I have a constitutional right to do so. Constitutional rights are not absolute and they are not free.
Our rights were passed down to us, initially earned by the valor and blood of the men who fought in the Revolution. Since then our rights have been paid for by the blood and sacrifice of the brave men and women of our Armed Forces. Rights are not free, and they carry obligations with them.
The right to free speech carries the obligation to listen to the opinions of others and engage in civil discourse. A free press has a duty to exercise their freedom responsibly and not misstate, lie, engage in innuendo or libel and slander. If media personalities are engaged in entertainment (Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert) they must make it clear that they are entertainers and not represent themselves as newscasters. For those who purvey their opinions, they must clearly state that their broadcasts are opinion and not give the impression that they are broadcasting news, hiding that they are spreading rumor and innuendo, with no verifiable facts to support the statements. Under any moral code, use of arguments such as that implies that the speaker has deliberately ignored the truth and is using lack of verifiable information to draw unwarranted conclusions. Is that what a free press should do?
Separation of Church and State and freedom of religious choice requires us to respect the faith of others. This means that Christians, Jews, followers of Islam, Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists and Atheists should all tolerate the others faiths.
The right to bear arms carries the obligation to use those weapons responsibly and respect the rights of others. I am shocked every year on July 4th and New Years Eve when I hear the discharge of firearms in the city. Every year I read about some citizen who was hit by a bullet indiscriminately fired into the air.
The right to assemble peaceably requires us to keep the peace when we assemble and obliges the authorities to allow us to assemble and not put artificial and unreasonable barriers in our way. The right to petition for redress of grievances means more than going to the park and sleeping there and waving signs. The right to assemble and petition does not protect assemblies on private property. Private property owners may exclude any one they choose from their property and no one’s rights were violated. The Founding Fathers and their progeny knew that a petition for redress was written on paper, signed by citizens and presented to their Representatives for debate in the halls of Congress.
Somewhere along the way we forgot that. I have filed several petitions for redress on the White House page in their We the People feature. President Obama is a constitutional scholar, he understands our primary law and he has provided citizens with a means to petition the government.
When I posted copies of my petitions on several occupy sites I was rebuffed. When I begged people to sign the petitions I was told the system is bankrupt and it does no good, the same response I got when people were asked if they had voted.
Many of us have not been exercising our rights responsibly. We have failed in our obligations to listen and engage in civil discourse. Much of the press has failed us in disseminating the truth. We have failed to respect the religions of others. We allow too much access to dangerous weapons and many are used irresponsibly or illegally. Our law enforcement officers (at least in NY) are actively violating the gun laws. A majority of us have failed to vote and now our government is in shambles.
The authorities have attempted to suppress our right to assemble, and have resembled the British in India when they opposed Mahatmas Gandhi, most recently at UC Davis. We have failed to petition our government for redress in writing and we are shouting into the wind and waving signs. We must set our grievances down on paper or over the internet on the White House site and append our signatures. Our representatives will be unable to ignore them without appearing totally unresponsive. With nothing on paper, unscrupulous politicians may say that they are “following the will of their constituents” and there is nothing solid to contradict them. As a result of our failures, our government is in shambles and controlled by representative more concerned with their own re-election than the interests of the American people.
We are all angry and blaming the government and different segments of the population (tea party, occupy, commies, hippies, unemployed, etc), when it is ourselves who have let this happen through our apathy and indifference. If we had voted responsibly and acted sooner, our problems would not have multiplied to where they are now. If we had petitioned the Government sooner with millions of signatures attached, the independent contractor Representatives would have known that they could not ignore the will of the people. This is what our Founding Fathers intended and this was their formula for “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.
Now we all sound like politicians engaged in a rancorous debate. We are the politicians. It is not too late to correct our failures. We must all work together, and once again, our country will be a shining example of liberty for the rest of the world.
GOD BLESS AMERICA AND ITS CONSTITUTION THE MOST PERFECT SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT DESIGNED TO DATE.
MICHAEL A. BLUM, a concerned citizen.
THE NEW FEDERALIST PAPERS
Misinformation, lack of historical perspective and blind parroting of slogans has polarized political debate in this country and reduced the debate to the lowest common denominator. Add in the media, a pinch of romanticism (V for Vendetta and the Guy Fawkes mask) and we have our current political situation.
I must admit that there is one major flaw with the system, but it is not a systemic flaw, it is a failure on the part of the citizens. I reached this conclusion after going to many pages on Facebook, debating in occupy city pages, on the tea party blog and with many supporters of Ron Paul and Herman Cain, and even some people who thought they were anarchists or panarchists.
Almost all the people I typed against on the pages failed to understand the Constitution and the system it created. In order to have this make sense, let me give you my interpretation of what the Constitution means for citizens. To understand this, we must first look to the Founding Fathers and how this Republic was formed.
The major misunderstanding most citizens have is that the United States is a democracy. The United States is not a democracy, it is a constitutional republic. The citizens do not vote on every issue to be decided by the government. The citizens have a responsibility to elect representatives who will make decisions for them in the halls of Congress.
Many people feel that “we elected them” so they must do what we want. NO, each representative may cast his vote “according to his conscience”.
Representatives are not the puppets of their constituents, and may vote as they please. They are our employees, but they are “independent contractors” employees. If they displease us, we “fire” them by voting them out.
Now to our rights as citizens. All citizens of the United States have constitutional rights. While debating, I encountered many profane people who chose to debate by using curses and saying I have a constitutional right to do so. Constitutional rights are not absolute and they are not free.
Our rights were passed down to us, initially earned by the valor and blood of the men who fought in the Revolution. Since then our rights have been paid for by the blood and sacrifice of the brave men and women of our Armed Forces. Rights are not free, and they carry obligations with them.
The right to free speech carries the obligation to listen to the opinions of others and engage in civil discourse. A free press has a duty to exercise their freedom responsibly and not misstate, lie, engage in innuendo or libel and slander. If media personalities are engaged in entertainment (Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert) they must make it clear that they are entertainers and not represent themselves as newscasters. For those who purvey their opinions, they must clearly state that their broadcasts are opinion and not give the impression that they are broadcasting news, hiding that they are spreading rumor and innuendo, with no verifiable facts to support the statements. Under any moral code, use of arguments such as that implies that the speaker has deliberately ignored the truth and is using lack of verifiable information to draw unwarranted conclusions. Is that what a free press should do?
Separation of Church and State and freedom of religious choice requires us to respect the faith of others. This means that Christians, Jews, followers of Islam, Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists and Atheists should all tolerate the others faiths.
The right to bear arms carries the obligation to use those weapons responsibly and respect the rights of others. I am shocked every year on July 4th and New Years Eve when I hear the discharge of firearms in the city. Every year I read about some citizen who was hit by a bullet indiscriminately fired into the air.
The right to assemble peaceably requires us to keep the peace when we assemble and obliges the authorities to allow us to assemble and not put artificial and unreasonable barriers in our way. The right to petition for redress of grievances means more than going to the park and sleeping there and waving signs. The right to assemble and petition does not protect assemblies on private property. Private property owners may exclude any one they choose from their property and no one’s rights were violated. The Founding Fathers and their progeny knew that a petition for redress was written on paper, signed by citizens and presented to their Representatives for debate in the halls of Congress.
Somewhere along the way we forgot that. I have filed several petitions for redress on the White House page in their We the People feature. President Obama is a constitutional scholar, he understands our primary law and he has provided citizens with a means to petition the government.
When I posted copies of my petitions on several occupy sites I was rebuffed. When I begged people to sign the petitions I was told the system is bankrupt and it does no good, the same response I got when people were asked if they had voted.
Many of us have not been exercising our rights responsibly. We have failed in our obligations to listen and engage in civil discourse. Much of the press has failed us in disseminating the truth. We have failed to respect the religions of others. We allow too much access to dangerous weapons and many are used irresponsibly or illegally. Our law enforcement officers (at least in NY) are actively violating the gun laws. A majority of us have failed to vote and now our government is in shambles.
The authorities have attempted to suppress our right to assemble, and have resembled the British in India when they opposed Mahatmas Gandhi, most recently at UC Davis. We have failed to petition our government for redress in writing and we are shouting into the wind and waving signs. We must set our grievances down on paper or over the internet on the White House site and append our signatures. Our representatives will be unable to ignore them without appearing totally unresponsive. With nothing on paper, unscrupulous politicians may say that they are “following the will of their constituents” and there is nothing solid to contradict them. As a result of our failures, our government is in shambles and controlled by representative more concerned with their own re-election than the interests of the American people.
We are all angry and blaming the government and different segments of the population (tea party, occupy, commies, hippies, unemployed, etc), when it is ourselves who have let this happen through our apathy and indifference. If we had voted responsibly and acted sooner, our problems would not have multiplied to where they are now. If we had petitioned the Government sooner with millions of signatures attached, the independent contractor Representatives would have known that they could not ignore the will of the people. This is what our Founding Fathers intended and this was their formula for “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.
Now we all sound like politicians engaged in a rancorous debate. We are the politicians. It is not too late to correct our failures. We must all work together, and once again, our country will be a shining example of liberty for the rest of the world.
GOD BLESS AMERICA AND ITS CONSTITUTION THE MOST PERFECT SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT DESIGNED TO DATE.
MICHAEL A. BLUM, a concerned citizen.
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