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Let Freedom Ring |
Publius and the OracleBy Jim Hauser It was mid-day and I had not quite finished the latest article for the Independent Journal when a knock came at my door. Not expecting company or disposed to entertain such it was with considerable indignation tempered by an inborn civility that forced me from my work to welcome the unwelcome intruder. I opened the door and we exchanged cordial greetings, or at least as cordial as one could expect after being so rudely interrupted. He said that he was from the future and had come back in time to point out an error in the proposed constitution for the states. I was taken aback by this preposterous notion of someone traveling backwards in time but welcomed the several minutes of laughter that ensued on my part. The first perception of such a statement would naturally be accompanied by suspicions of lunacy at the worst or at the very best, the habit of overindulging in liqueur. But it was his statement concerning the constitution of the several states that turned suspicion into a welcome as I asked him to sit down. He then proceeded to tell me that he was from the year 2001 and he spoke of the many changes that had taken place since the present time. His creativity was boundless as he talked of incredible inventions and feats accomplished by those of his imagined generation. His talk of men walking on the moon was a work of marvelous fiction and the very notion that man could create ungodly weapons that could fly around the globe would defy the imagination of even the most creative story tellers. But I was being entertained and thus being so inquired about the United States as it exists in his future. It was pleasing to hear that the union would one day consist of fifty sovereign states even if such a notion were a product his imaginative or perverted mind. It was the end to which we hope to provide the means. But what disturbed me greatly about the young man's lack of mental acuity was his description of what had become of the federal government. Had he read our articles he would have known that such a thing could not possibly occur. According to his twisted account of the future the federal government was in almost absolute control of the day-to-day aspect of all personal life. I told him how this could never happen because of the very carefully crafted checks that we had put into place. His first allegation was that the federal government would someday control the legislation of the states by withholding funds from those that did not comply with the mandates of the federal government. This could not possibly happen under the proposed constitution. The reason being that the Senate would be composed of people who were directly chosen by the legislatures of the states. This would insure that the Senate was composed of agents for the several states who were not only answerable directly to the state governments but would also convey the flow of power from the states to the federal government. It is this power that would make treaties with foreign powers a contract with the collective will of the states. The Senate members would not be subject to the same influences as the House in that they would not have to campaign directly to the people in order to be elected. They would also not be swayed by outside influences or money, as this would be compared to bribing an ambassador of a sovereign nation, in this case a state, for political influence. This very nature of the Senate would also limit corruption in the House, as only one body of the legislature would then be subject to influence by money and popular ideas. It would not be very productive for an outside or alien influence to spend time and money to elect or corrupt the House members knowing that the influence would be checked at the door of the Senate. If such an influence were to pervade the Senate it would corrupt the advise and consent process concerning judicial and other nominations by the Executive authority. I asked him how such a thing could even be possible considering the great care in which we crafted the Constitution in order to preclude such a usurpation of power from the states. He talked of a seventeenth amendment that allowed the people of the states to directly elect the Senators. I nearly fell of off my stool with laughter. Amendments can not change the very structure of the Constitution. Besides, the Supreme Court could not, by using well placed logic, come close to considering this so-called amendment as being within the bounds of the Constitution. When I asked him for the reasoning behind such a vile attack on the very heart of the Constitution he said that it was because future state legislatures would fail to elect Senators because of partisan politics thus leaving many Senate seats empty and delaying congressional actions. It was a laughable notion indeed, as it would only take a simple majority of the whole number of the Senate to form a quorum and that only one-third of the Senate is chosen every two years. It then occurred to me that there was one piece of language that we could have used that would preclude such an event from taking place. Allowing the Executive authority of the state to select a temporary Senator if no consensus could be reached in a reasonable amount of time would then force the legislatures of the states to take care of the matter with some dispatch. It could always be added later as a minor amendment if the need arises. It was stimulating to argue the very misconceptions involving the constitution that I hope my articles will dispel. Thus being entertained I felt it now proper to serve my guest a generous draught of beer. As I was preparing the dark libation I wondered if we had talked about the error in the Constitution as was first mentioned by the young oracle during his entrance. Perhaps it was just a small missing phrase or a missing word here or there. I resolved to ask him directly. When I returned with the beer he was gone. I quickly opened the door and looked both ways but saw nothing of him. It was quite disconcerting as he no longer seemed mad or a drunkard but on the contrary seemed to be an intelligent man with a very fertile imagination. His arguments would have been invaluable subjects for the rest of the articles. I was just getting ready to point out to him that what he foresees as the future of this country could never happen according to his imaginary account. Aside from the checks in the Constitution there is the moral fiber of humanity that gets it's sustenance from above. The people of this soon to be born nation will never allow such foolish things to happen. They and they alone will always have the final say in this matter and will have the necessary means to restore the Constitution as long as they retain the right to bear arms. JD Hauser, Admin@jdhauser.com Jim Houser is the Mississippi state editor for GOPUSA, editor of www.jdhauser.com "Commentary with an attitude", and webmaster for "The Right Stuff" This article was contributed by www.jdhauser.com All rights reserved to the author |
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