The Citizen As Constitutionalist
Prior to yesterday, P.J. O'Rourke observed that November 2, 2010, would be less of an election and more of a restraining order. He was right, of course. Personally, it was exhilarating to evict Allan Boyd from the House, particularly after I warned him of the consequences of siding with Pelosi and against the Constitution. How did that saying go? Ah yes, ..."elections have consequences."
But our work isn't done. We now have a responsibility to act as probation officers, carefully watching those we have elected and reminding them that a fate such as Mr. Boyd's awaits them should they fail to uphold their oath to the Constitution. I don't expect the next Speaker and the next Congress to take this bloated behemoth of a government and turn it from Jabba The Hutt into Marie Osmond in two years. I do, however, expect them to stand up against the insanity from the administration by sending up measure after measure, peeling back layer after layer of over reaching and overarching bureaucracy meddling in our lives and businesses, and starve the beast by defunding it. It won't always be veto proof, but so what? Put the statists on record, and then defeat them with that record in 2012.
While we become probation officers to those we elected, we must also enforce the restraining order against the other two thirds of the Senate, and the White House. Make no mistake: If the entire Senate and the Presidency had been up for election yesterday, Republicans would have swept all of these coconuts out of office. That is not, in my opinion, because the public embraces the Republican party, but rather because they are so mortified and appalled at how much of their earnings and freedom the Democrats have swallowed up in such a relatively short time. Citizens have effectively dialed 911. Ours cannot be a tepid response.
To which point David Limbaugh has it exactly right. Moderating the pace of destruction is not an option. The parameters and rules of this restraining order were set in place 223 years ago, and plainly delineate the limits of federal power. Republicans have yet another chance to be the party of Constitutionalists. If they embrace this opportunity, they will reap electoral success. If they fail, we all fail. Republicans on the national stage will be further aided by robust Republican gains at the state level, where the spirit of the 10th Amendment remains vibrant.
As citizens, our responsibility did not end with the drop of a ballot. Not this time. The very best of us stands guard and stays vigilant on our behalf on the battlefield half a world away. We owe it to them, our children, and their children to remain vigilant here at home. The Constitution enshrines the concept of individual liberty. Its success, our success, ultimately depends on citizen-constitutionalists who, by guarding their freedom, also keep their government honest.
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Comments :
May '10
Re: The Citizen As Constitutionalist
I agree Dave: it is up to us to keep an eye on these congress-critters. Every day we have to know what they are doing, and let them know how we feel about it. And remind them of what they promised. We can't just tune out and check in with them in a couple of years. If you're like me and have a Democrat Representative and/or Senator, he or she needs to hear from you too! Constant vigilance!
Jul '10
Re: The Citizen As Constitutionalist
One of My favorites:
"Our Country is in danger, but not to be despaired of.... On You depend the fortunes of America. You are able to decide the important questions upon which rests the happiness and the liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of Yourselves."
General Warren, Bunker Hill 1775
Jul '10
Re: The Citizen As Constitutionalist
Excellent piece, Dave. It sounds like most conservatives are glad for the success we had last night, but are not content to sit on our laurels and let things slide right back. I'm excited for the possibilities in two years now that we've seen the American polity still cares enough to make themselves heard.
May '10
Re: The Citizen As Constitutionalist
Since the prior thread has molto comments, I will ask here: has anyone considered that, over the last 30 years, Gerrymandering has made it progressively more difficult for House districts to flip? 60 or 70 seats in 2010 is way more than that number in 1970 or 1950....
Re: The Citizen As Constitutionalist
Whiskey Sam, very true. We can't sit on our laurels, or anything else for that matter. We have to stand on our Constitutional principles, and insist that our representatives do the same.
Re: The Citizen As Constitutionalist
ParisParamus, excellent point! I hadn't considered the numbers from that perspective. Starting from that point, wouldn't you think that Democrat survivors would proceed more gingerly after yesterday's victories? As for Obama, rather than driving the bloody car out of the ditch, he seems determined to run it off a cliff!
Jun '10
Re: The Citizen As Constitutionalist
Dennis Miller said on his program something to the extent that we let the kids table have their shot, but now the grown-ups need to take the keys back. Lets hope the Constitution serves as our guiding star on the sea of turbulent waters of big government. That's a pretty good analogy for 11 at night with much writing to be done tonight!
Sep '10
Re: The Citizen As Constitutionalist
Jabba The Hutt into Marie Osmond in two years.
Marie Osmond had something like 37 children, divorced her husband (snoring?) collapsed on Dancing with the Stars and did weight loss commercials. I get the analogy but perhaps Marie Osmond should have been more thoroughly vetted by McCain's handlers before you nominated her to run on the ticket.
Jun '10
Re: The Citizen As Constitutionalist
To expound further on Paris' point, I would submit that the scope of our vigilance should be not just on our reps in Washington, but also on our respective state houses. As an example, for the first time in 136 years, Alabama has a state legislature and state senate control by Republicans. Republicans also swept Alabama's governor, lt. governor and attorney general slots. My county is as red as I have ever seen it. So clearly, it will benefit the Republicans during redistricting.
But Alabama's system of government, thanks to the factors that set up its convoluted constitution, is severely dysfunctional, which makes it all the more important to key an eye on what happens next. I truly think the energies of the tea party movement should also be applied to the states, not just on candidates for Congress. It's easy to put eyes on Washington, but we ignore our state governments at our peril. Fail to set the states aright, the long term aims of Constitutional restoration will be that much more difficult.
Oct '10
Re: The Citizen As Constitutionalist
The 10th Amendment itself being dead as a stone along with most of the Constitution itself. We're in a post-Constitutional era here in America because people like Dave and the rest of us constitutionalists are an intellectual minority.
The government schools run by the public employee unions have labored for generations to turn out students who are miseducated and ignorant about our Constitution. That's one of the primary reasons why we lost it.
Even the law schools were knocked over by the anti-constitutionalists and they turned out generation after generation of law students who were grossly miseducated about the Constitution. These students then went on to positions of power in the courts and legislative bodies.
Because we as a people were ignorant of our Constitution, we lost it and the American Republic which it created.
There is no alternative (Hi Claire!) but to listen to people like Dave and act accordingly if we want to restore the Constitution to its rightful place.
Edited on Nov 4, 2010 at 5:29amAug '10
Re: The Citizen As Constitutionalist
Oh wow - if snoring is cause for divorce - I am in huuuuge trouble....
Nov '10
Re: The Citizen As Constitutionalist
I love the idea of citizens as probation officers! I'm cynical about the American citizenry's attention span, and yet have been bowled over by the diligence and relative longevity of the Tea Party movement. My personal feeling on this election is this: the silent majority has been stirred from its lethargic state and delivered the message that we would like our country back now, thank you very much. The Dems and their socialistic agendas are hopeless, so we'll co-opt as much of the GOP as we can, give 'em enough rope to hang themselves with, and see if they listen. If not, 2012 will be very interesting.
Nov '10
Re: The Citizen As Constitutionalist
I am in full agreement with the sentiments expressed. What we need to do is to develop a roadmap to share with our new Republican house majority. It's time to leave the rhetoric and get down to brass tacks. What are we going to cut? There are huge parts of the cow that appear off limits (to use a kosher metaphor) -- defense? education? commerce? EPA? all of BO's czars (or tsars)? Labor? HUD? Transportation? Remember the original cabinet posts were: State, Treasury, Defense (War), Attorney General. Everything else is an expansion of federal power from that day forward. There are 15 cabinet departments today. I would love to see some wholesale cuts attempted -- let's start with HUD, Education and Transportation.
Oct '10
Re: The Citizen As Constitutionalist
I remember this talk in 1994 when the Republicans briefly talked about eliminating entire cabinet agencies. Reality sunk in pretty quickly once they realized that you have to have a full congressional and executive support for something like that.
Forget about getting rid of entire cabinet agencies. It's simply not going to happy for a very long time. Fine idea for the long run after a lot of public education, support and further electoral victories, but completely unrealistic for this next Congress. You can do a lot of dramatic spending reduction without having to fight the unwinnable battle of cabinet agency elimination.
May '10
Re: The Citizen As Constitutionalist
There is a built-in tension between leading, and persuading the public, and cramming it down their throats before they're ready. When you do the latter, they get you for it.
That is precisely what the Dems did after 2008- they recruited moderate-sounding candidates, and won with them by pretending to be moderate. Then they governed as though they had gotten a "hurry up" mandate from the Fabian Society. Don't make the same mistake.
Walk the tightrope between Stockholm Syndrome and repeating the Dems' errors, but on the right. Rick Moran (ABC News' Terry Moran's sane brother) talked about this a bit. You do not get a long term chance to move the ship around the iceberg if you scare the bejabbers out of the public with your first moves.
1) The public loves "bipartisanship" for the illusion of comity. There is a difference between compromise and common ground. Find where there is common ground and agree.
2) Be patient, but keep moving forward (or maybe backward).
3) Kill spending- even if you need to do it by slicing a little bit of everything. Otherwise you get lost in the details and the lobbyists take over.
Nov '10
Re: The Citizen As Constitutionalist
Publius
Forget about getting rid of entire cabinet agencies. It's simply not going to happy for a very long time. Fine idea for the long run after a lot of public education, support and further electoral victories, but completely unrealistic for this next Congress. You can do a lot of dramatic spending reduction without having to fight the unwinnable battle of cabinet agency elimination. · Nov 4 at 10:55am
The problem is that there is precious little that is meaningful that can be done without the eliminate of cabinet departments. Discretionary spending -- whatever that means -- even at zero -- is like the private sector equivalent of cutting the corporate travel budget. It doesn't do much for the bottom line. Believe me, I am an old corporate controller and it is merely window dressing.
May '10
Re: The Citizen As Constitutionalist
RAPROX, cabinet departments were impossible for even Reagan to remove- he tried and failed.
And executive branch costs are essentially discretionary as well, as are Congressional staff budgets.
Gramm-Rudman-Hollings actually worked. Start with that, after killing all of the remaining TARP and ARRA funds andany future year ARRA-baseline follow-ons. Then you go after entitlements.
May '10
Re: The Citizen As Constitutionalist
That all sounds fine, but the sad fact is voters have little political power between now and 2012. Our votes are our only leverage over politicians.
We can threaten to oust them two years from now, but all we can currently do politically is try to establish a consensus on what specifically we expect Republicans to do before then. We need to set the standards we will measure them by.
Most of a citizen's influence on the nation's future is done apart from government participation. Live nobly and courageously, learn and debate, and thereby change the hearts and minds of individual voters.