Even More Reform

I should jot down notes when I start ranting, I always seem to forget something. I forgot to mention all of the Congressional reforms that I thought need to happen.

A big one, that ties into limiting the Congressional "session", is there should be no lame duck session on Congress. Who's interest is really being looked out for at that time. They don't listen to us when in office and up for reelection, why would they when they get voted out? The only reasonable excuse for a lame duck session would be to cram an unpopular agenda further down the peoples throat. I think we have a real possibility to see that happen this year, after November. Hopefully, the American people will send the libtard, progressive's to the retirement home. The mood of the country (long time incumbents losing in primaries, the number who said they weren't seeking reelection) appears to be anti establishment. That could potentially make most of Congress lame ducks and they would not hesitate to cram more of the progressive agenda through before they leave their "Congressional Service" for retirement. They shouldn't spend as much time as they do in Washington DC, let alone after the people have spoken (voted).

Along with repealing the 17th Amendment, we need to repeal the 16th Amendment as well. The 16th Amendment allows Congress direct taxation upon the people, there is no apportionment or census enumeration, just tax income from whatever source. The 16th and 17th Amendment were states' rights killers. Those two Amendments took virtually any "voice" the state had in the federal government. The states created the federal government, not the other way around. The states should fund the federal government, not the other way around. The federal government should have to receive money from the states to carry out it's limited, enumerated powers. The Founders believed that the states were sovereign, with the exception of the limited power they gave the federal gov't. The federal gov't controlling the purse strings is kinda like the employees controlling them, or a kid in a candy store. The federal government takes money from the states and the residents of those states and decides which states will receive the money and how much. The federal government can make the states cave in to their will. If you don't comply with what we tell you to do, we will withhold federal funds. Where did the fed get that money in the first place? A government that governs locally governs best. Keep the politicians close, they are more accountable. We could eliminate several wasteful federal departments, the Dept of Education, the Dept of Agriculture, The Dept of the Interior, HUD, HHS, Labor, Homeland Security, EPA and OSHA. All of these functions could easily be done at the state level for a cheaper cost. If you don't like the laws in one state, you can very easily move to another state but when all laws become federal, there is no where to escape to.

There are two ways to Amend the United States Constitution, it is found in Article V. The first way is 2/3 of both houses of Congress vote to propose an amendment; the other, which has never been used, is 2/3 of the state legislatures call a national convention to propose amendments. Congress obviously won't propose a balanced budget amendment so we need to rally the states to call one. The mounting debt is slowly killing our country and a balanced budget amendment would be one way to work towards our economic futures. States already have balanced budgets, why shouldn't the federal government have to live within a budget (that goes back to FDR taking us off the gold standard). An amendment convention would be great, we could propose to repeal the 16th & 17th amendments and propose a balanced budget amendment, term limits and even an amendment to make Congress have to live and abide by the laws they pass. We could reform their pay, pensions, health care. Remind them who's in charge and that serving in Congress is a service, not a career.

Campaign finance reform needs lots of work, first they need to stop using taxpayer money to fund political campaigns. Organizations that receive federal money to redistribute for social programs should not be allowed to spend that money on elections. There should be a cap on the amount spent, no matter the source (unless as above), that is strictly accounted for. This would allow more normal people to run for public office. But this topic could fill an entire blog or two.

Remember November, recycle Congress and push your state legislatures to call for an Article V convention!