Does Our Leadership Know What is in the Constitution?

Ever stop to consider what our leaders swear to when they are sworn into office? I have and I have questions, concerns really.

Here, in part, is the oath of office that each congressman takes: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same … ."

My question is: If our leadership takes an oath to uphold and defend, and bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution, at the minimum, shouldn't they know what they are supposed to uphold, defend and be faithful to?

Congressmen, judges, the president and all other government officials take this oath. On an almost daily basis, we hear of one or more of them misquote or otherwise misuse the Constitutions powers, the Bill of Rights’ granted freedoms, and/or the well-documented intentions of very founding fathers.

If this misuse and abuse were merely ignorance of our Constitution, there'd at least be some hope because ignorance is curable through education. But, these people in Washington see themselves as our betters and rulers. They consistently show their contempt for the limits that our Constitution places on the federal government envisioned by James Madison, the father of our Constitution, who explained in the Federalist Paper 45:

"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce. … The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives and liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement and prosperity of the State."

The way I see it, anyone who wants to represent the American people in a position of leadership should have more than a basic understanding of our Constitution. Immigrants are required to know this stuff before they can be sworn in as American citizens. Why aren’t our leaders required to know it as well?

America has fallen, can she get back up?

The U.S. has rendered ourselves so reliant on foreign countries that we are in dire danger of becoming a second-class financial and industrial power. Thanks to the Bush Administrations policies and the mishandling of economic conditions, we are about to be passed by China in both rankings.

The U.S. is a bankrupt nation. Medicare and Social Security are under-funded, our state and local governments are under-funded, private-sector pension plans are under-funded. How did we get into this mess? Inept politicians, apathetic voters, and rampant greed and cynicism on all levels.

We are becoming increasingly indebted to China and they are buying Wall Street. The very financial cornerstone of our economy is failing and they are taking advantage of it by buying an ever increasingly larger stake in our financial future. Capitalism is taking a hit and its hurting us all. George Bush’s response is as long as money is changing hands and his cronies are getting their share it is all good. Never mind that the rest of us are loosing our shirts, homes, and jobs.

Our dependence on foreign oil has allowed Saudi Arabia to wield a much larger controlling stake over our economy than any foreign entity should ever have. The very greedy and selfish nature of capitalism has brought us to this point. And Americans refuse to curb our driving habits to ease this dependence.

Our greatest chance to reverse these trends is to replace George W. Bush’s policies with something that will return America’s future as top priority ahead of personal gain. We have fallen victim to greedy political power hounds who have distanced themselves from any accountability and in doing so has left this country to flounder due to a lack of direction. The needs and concerns of the citizens of this once great nation have fallen to the wayside while political hacks like Karl Rove, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have decimated and dismantled the constitution. They have, in less than eight years of political circus-acts, the likes of which this country has never before seen, have turned this once thriving, self-reliant nation from an industrial and financial power into a groveling street beggar for foreign oil and money. They need to be booted out immediately. At this point, anyone is a better choice.

Our Congress, the very people who are charged with keeping this country focused on our future, spends countless millions of dollars and expends countless hours pursuing such secondary and tertiary issues as steroids in sports and pointing the finger at each other over who did or said what to whom instead of tackling one of the greatest threats to our sovereignty: illegal immigration.

We have been coerced into funding an illegal war, we have been spied upon under the thinly-veiled disguise of terrorist threats, our dollar is shrinking at an alarming rate, and Congress spends its time on preserving the purity of baseball! The irresponsibility and incompetence is outrageous!

There was a time when citizens would stand up to our government at all levels and demand to be heard and listened to. There was a time when the future seemed promising. There was a time when citizens actually believed that if they did stand up and speak their minds, if they did protest, they would be heard and the future actually had promise. These political dark ages that have befallen us are the direct result of politicians who are more concerned with their own re-election and therefore place more importance on their financial backers than on what the everyday blue-collar taxpayer has on his mind. Public outcry for the common good has been drowned out by special interests so often that we no longer see the point of voicing our opinion. Apathy has finally won out. The ‘Silent Majority’ has grown larger and as a result wealthy special interests now run this country. And look at where it has gotten us.

Lawyers get rich defending insurance companies who back out on their obligations, ad agencies get rich peddling products they try to convince consumers we can’t live without, corporations get rich selling products that help ruin our environment, and our federal government passes legislation to protect them all. What do taxpayers get? We get to foot the bill and the occasional joke of a handout in the form of a $300 tax refund designed to ‘stimulate’ the economy.

Our political system has become a game where the expectations of the voters are acknowledged and then step by step, debate by debate, through name-calling, character assassination, and generally dirty politics, the candidates are whittled down to the smoothest talkers with the thickest skins. And in the end, what do we have? A changeling who is able to bend, twist and re-invent themselves at a moments notice to whoever can get them re-elected. We have given up on using our moral compass as a guide. Political integrity and courage, along with personal pride have taken a backseat to money. Capitalism, perfected.

That ‘Going to Hell in a Hand basket’ phrase I grew up hearing about seems more relevant today than ever before.

President Bush’s abuse of Congress

This political system of ours is a strong one. It will withstand any onslaught from within and from the outside. But it will do so only if Americans know what specific powers each of its branches of government have and only if those branches diligently and relentlessly exercise their own powers that are designed to hold each others power in check.

President Bush is no stranger to controversy on how he has usurped the power of Congress to declare war. He has also abused his office in declaring his right to spy on his fellow Americans and has used corporations to help him pull off this illegal and heinous activity as well as a long list of other crimes against the Constitution.

The current White House has made a mockery of what our forefathers deemed was the perfect union of the three branches of government and continues to do so unchecked by the very safeguards that were built into our Constitution.

I found an article on AntiWar.com written by Thomas R. Eddlem back in February 2006. This essay addresses the presidential powers, and lack thereof, as succinctly as any I have read. I present the link here in hopes of further enlightening as many Americans as possible to how President Bush’s ego has sought to destroy the balance that our forefathers instilled in our constitution. Mr. Eddlem has more clearly outlined the presidents role in politics much better than I ever could. I thank-you Mr. Eddlem for your articulation in this much needed clarification.

Congress and Ethics

Here is something I just learned. Of the three branches of the federal government, Congress has the fewest prohibitions on conflicts of interest and acts of self-dealing.

Officials in the executive branch and judiciary are required to divest themselves of any investment in or ownership of for-profit entities that may be within the purview of their agency or court. They are also under strict limits on the extent to which members of their immediate families may benefit directly from their position.

Members of Congress are not required to divest themselves of any financial interest, even if that interest is subject to their official oversight and influence. Nor are they required to recuse themselves from voting on issues that may harm or benefit the personal investment interests of themselves or their relatives. They have free reign to pass any legislation that will benefit themselves, their family and their friend (and lobbyists) in anyway that can. And trust me, they do.

I find it very telling about the overall character of the members of congress that they have not yet enacted even the most miniscule ethical measure to govern themselves in this matter. They may not be legally bound by the written law to divest themselves of financial interests, but each member should hold themselves to the higher standard of ‘moral’ and ‘ethical’ laws. Perhaps this is why so many have been caught in ‘conflict of interest’ situations and have been convicted of unethical and downright illegal acts. It seems some people need to have their restrictions and boundaries spelled out for them and written into law before they can appear to be ethical and moral.

Don’t these members of congress take an oath stating that they will not doing anything unethical or immoral?

The extent to which some Members of Congress have taken advantage of this lack of ethical restrictions can be seen in the number of congress members who has brought unfavorable media attention to themselves by bribe taking and power brokering.

In response to unfavorable media attention, Members of Congress have introduced legislation that would deter conflicts of interest in some federal spending decisions, although these limits would apply only to earmarks (whatever these are). Having finally recognized and proposed remedies for the conflicts of interest inherent in one source of spending, a good place for Members to begin expanding the ethics enhancement process would be the $25 billion per year that the federal government spends on subsidies to farmers and ranchers.

See how it took media attention to get them to start thinking in the right direction. I don’t believe for a minute that any legislation they come up with on their own will make these guys any more accountable.