by R.E. Hannay
* That in the Constitution, the states granted to the federal government limited, enumerated powers, principally authority and responsibility involving defense, foreign relations and interstate commerce, all other powers being reserved to the states and to the people. Since 1933, Congress and legislating courts have allowed the federal government to steal many other powers, making a mockery of the Constitution. It is not only the Supreme Court’s responsibility to uphold the Constitution, it is the responsibility of all three branches of government and they need to be dragged back to the intent, form and substance of the Constitution, particularly restoring the original meaning of the interstate commerce and welfare clauses and enforcing that meaning.
* That a series of spendthrift and power-hungry politicians have almost spent the nation into bankruptcy and drastic changes need to be made in federal spending, government regulations, harassing and exploiting business and successful individuals. We should end federal deficits financed by foreign nations, investors and by our own Federal Reserve printing money to lend to our own Treasury Department. That is a game that would put anyone else who did it in prison.
* That environmental radicals and the Obama administration have prevented the needed development of our natural resources, particularly energy. We can and must end our dependence on foreign oil, much of it coming from unfriendly, undependable sources.
* That many of our problems have resulted from Congress having changed from citizen legislators who took their turn in government and then returned to the real world. Now Congress is controlled by politicians whose careers are dependent on bringing pork and benefits to their districts, to the powerful military-industrial complex and to the big banks and Wall Street. Term limits are appropriate, twelve and six -- two terms for senators and three for representatives.
* Serious tort reform is needed. The proliferation of lawyers, lawsuits and outrageous judgments needs to be curtailed by legislation mandating loser-pays and prohibiting contingent-fee lawsuits, and by limits on "pain and suffering" and punitive-damage awards.
* That our limited-government, maximum freedom nation has been turned into an Orwellian police state with a gigantic government prying into and micro-managing our formerly free citizens and businesses. The Constitution specifies only three federal crimes: treason, counterfeiting money, and piracy, but Congress and the courts have fabricated more than 5,000 other federal crimes. Everyone needs to be willing to disobey peacefully and nullify laws and rules that are unreasonable or unconstitutional, and when serving on juries, to be willing to nullify improper laws and instructions by judges.
* That presidents and officials who plead ignorance of corruption and illegal activities are committing a crime. “I Don’t Recall” is Hillary Clinton’s maiden name. Presidents can set the wrong tone, as Obama and the Clintons have done, and their toadys do their dirty work, often without specific instructions.
* That the so-called “entitlements” – mainly Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid and Obamacare – as now scheduled to be paid are impossible dreams that will bankrupt the country, but irresponsible politicians fail to act to avoid the coming disaster.
* That the country is flooded by illegal aliens, mostly unskilled, unemployed Latinos driven out of their own countries and now competing for jobs with our own blacks, Latinos and poor whites. Instead of enforcing existing laws to cause self-deportation of the illegals, Democrats keep trying to legislate a second amnesty bill to buy Latino votes and to add more Democrat voters to the rolls. The family reunification policy of the Democrats has mostly unskilled children and old people getting all the immigration slots, making a divisive Latino nation within a nation and preventing the restoration of our mostly European ethnic mix and ability to bring in young, educated, English-literate, productive immigrants.
* That forced unionism, government and teachers’ unions in partnership with Democrat politicians are imposing enormous costs on business competitiveness, workers’ freedom and opportunities, bankrupting states and municipalities with unfunded pension liabilities, and resulting in expensive, obsolete, mediocre education in our government schools.
* That journalism has been corrupted. Many of the news media are merely the propaganda division of the Democrat party, filtering and distorting the news and disguising editorial commentary as news.
* That the monstrous Obamacare medical legislation crammed through Congress without study and adequate analysis is failing before it begins, is hopelessly unworkable, unfair, medical costs will rise and the quality of care deteriorate, and it is clearly unconstitutional. There is nothing in the Constitution to give that authority to the federal government. It needs to be disabled and much-needed reforms made.
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The author is an Arizona entrepreneur who has been involved in a variety of businesses and civic activities, M.B.A., served in the military during two wars, traveled extensively, an aviator for 60 years and a dedicated inquisitor for at least twice that.
He welcomes comments and criticism at [email protected]