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If You Don’t Get Your Way, Just Change The Rules

In what passes for statesmanship in America today, we’re going to take a look at several examples of some in government who want to get their way by hook or by crook.  These efforts are not for your benefit, but to further accumulate power in Washington, D.C.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Declaration of Independence

The Electoral College

I find it interesting that we hear about getting rid of the Electoral College mostly when a certain group loses a Presidential election.  (Some say they won the popular vote, but as I describe in Disassembling the Republic with Good Intentions, there is no popular vote for President in the United States of America.)  So why would they want to get rid of this Constitutional bulwark against a democracy in America?  The Electoral College prevents large cities’ populations from selecting a President because they are controlled primarily by those who promote centralized control of the people of this nation and the forced implementation of socialism.  While abolishing the Electoral College would be disastrous for our republic, I find it enlightening that its removal is only called for when that certain side loses an election.

Packing the Courts

Starting with the supreme Court, there are those who want to add justices or “pack” the courts.  Why?  I believe it is  because much of the political gains these groups have made have not been through the legislative or political process, but through activist courts that set aside their oath to support the Constitution in favor of advancing their own political agenda.

This is not the first time politicians have tried to place their thumbs on the scales of justice.  In the late 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was upset with the supreme Court for thwarting parts of his New Deal.  Contrary to what is taught in schools today, F.D.R.’s plan was not only economically destructive to the nation, but illegal and unconstitutional as well.  As a thank you to the court for doing their job, the President tried to convince Congress to allow him to appoint new justices, presumably more in keeping with his socialist and tyrannical desire to centralize power in Washington.  While F.D.R.’s plan to pack the court failed, he did get to appoint eight out of nine justices, making a lasting change not only to how the court views it’s role in government, but our view of the courts as well.

Taking a page from history’s playbook, those who see the illegal gains they have made by going around the system is in jeopardy; they want to re-rig the system to help insure the superiority of their worldview over those of the Constitution and We The People of the United States of America.

Lowering the Voting Age

Some people believe “Demographics is Destiny”, which is the idea that you can predict how people will vote by where they find themselves on someone’s demographic chart.  To some extent, this has proven true.  Look at the almost uniform voting records of African-Americans and Latinos, or the difference between voting of older Americans vs. younger ones.  With that in mind, why do you think some are pushing to lower the voting age?  They don’t think they are more responsible, since many of these same people supported the raising of the drinking age form 18 to 21 and the ability for children to remain on their parents health insurance until age 26.  No, the reason is obvious; younger voters tend to vote for more socialist, progressive, and centralized control than those who have lived with the consequences of those policies.

There should be no real surprise in this move.  Medical studies show that teenagers tend to react strongly and emotionally to what they perceive as injustices.  With all those hormones impelling them to act and few real-life experiences to temper their enthusiasm, teenagers as a group are more easily manipulated.  Add to that the fact that most of these new voters will still be in school, an institution heavily influenced if not controlled by those who want to bring socialism and government control over more and more of our lives, and this is a perfect way to advance their agenda.

Washington, D.C. Statehood

Looking for more representation from a politically safe group also seems to undergird the push to make Washington, D.C., a state.  The Constitution requires that the nation’s capital be outside of any state for good reason, and complaints about a lack of representation should fall on deaf ears since those who choose to live in our nation’s capital have a voice, albeit not a voting one, in the House of Representatives and electors for selecting the President.  No, as a progressive, socialist, centralized control leaning city, why wouldn’t those who promote those ideas want votes in the Senate on their side?

Government Run Healthcare

You may think those who want government run healthcare did get their way with the Affordable Care Act, but a quick look at history has shown not only has that program not made healthcare more affordable, it has made it harder and harder to get.  Over the last few years, more and more of the doomed project has been found to be incompatible with our Constitution and republican form of government.  To use a quote often attributed to Albert Einstein, “The definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result.”  Yet, insanely, Washington is again trying to take over our healthcare system with false promises of ease, efficiency, and cost effectiveness, three words never associated with any government program.  This time the plan seems to be turn Medicare into our National Health Service and make sure it works by making competing with it illegal.

Conclusion

When I was a child I was taught not to be a sore loser.  Sadly, it appears that being one is almost a prerequisite for some in politics.  I guess if you’ve been taught that the ends justify the means, then anything, up to and including bullying, theft, and lying, is fair game.  That seems to be a pretty good description of the political class these days.  Unless we want to be bullies, thieves, and liars, I think it’s time we started hiring a better class of politician to represent us.

Paul Engel

Like many of you, I am a product of the public schools. Like many of you I thought the Constitution was for lawyers and judges. One day I read the Constitution, and was surprised to find I didn't need a law degree to understand it. Then I read the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers and even the Anti-Federalist Papers. As I learned more and more about our founding fathers and documents I saw how little we know about how our country was designed to work and how many people just didn't care. I started The Constitution Study to help those who also want read and study our Constitution.