Federalism, Accountability and the Union
The following is a position paper of The Jacksonian Party.
The compact between We the People arose in 1787 due to the problems with the previous joining under the Articles of Confederation, which left States without means to protect themselves as integral units of a greater United States and need to carry out heavy taxation for individual defense of their States. In this era the States were Sovereigns and gave very little over to the Government of the United States, including the power to raise a militia to defend the United States as a whole. The Shays Rebellion of 1786-87 gave rise to uprisings across the States due to the highly non-representative nature of many States and how they implemented laws and the harshness of placing those on the margins of society in the deepest debt to pay for the budget of the State. Those poorest of individuals saw no recompense in their taxation and, indeed, noted that it was falling disproportionately upon those least able to pay, while those in more urban areas paid far less in proportion.
With this in mind, the Annapolis Constitutional Convention of 1786 called for a greater convention which became the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention of 1787 set about to right these wrongs by forming a stronger Federation amongst the States, so that some burdens would be shared equally so that all of the States would be defended as a whole. Additionally, as paying for the Revolutionary War had still not been done, a higher commerce regulation and taxation authority needed to be set-up so that the debt of We the People could be paid in-full for help given.
As drafted and ratified the Constitution of the United States gives States autonomy *within* the United States so long as there is regularity but not necessarily identicality in due process upholding of rights for the People. Further the States cannot regulate interstate commerce, nor impose taxation one upon the other for that internal trades, save in the current instance of alcoholic beverages which is a hold over of the repeal of Amendment XVIII by Amendment XXI. And the States may keep Militia's, but they will be paid for from the Federal budget and fall under all laws set by the Federal Government for them in training and adjudication of military use. The States may call upon such forces for internal problems, as needed, but these forces are first and foremost, to protect the Union.
Further in areas of Foreign Policy, Treaties, Commerce with Foreign Nations and in protection of the Union, the Federal Government is formed to administer each of these areas and ensure that the Nation is defended and protected, and that the Laws of the Land are administered equally and without favor or prejudice for We the People. Outside of these things addressing the externals of the Nation and those few things seen as necessary to actually *have* a Federal Government to uphold these things, all other power and rights rests with the States and the People. In point of fact the Constitution ensures that the recognition is that the Federal Government is *granted* these few rights and powers By the People to do these things for the good of All the People.
When any member of the Citizenry joins the Federal Government, be it as President, Congressman or Senator, Supreme Court Justice, or even the man mowing the lawn employed by the Federal Government for grounds maintenance, each must Swear and Uphold an Oath to the Constitution of the United States of America. Be they in the political arms or in the military or the civil service in its varieties, each and every individual who takes part in the government to help oversee the Nation's needs takes such Oath and is expected to uphold such and keep all commitments that they are empowered to make by the Government as a whole. Those that are not empowered may not do so, even if they have *appearance* of power, as mere appearance is not the actuality of the thing itself as due Warrants to spend on the behalf of the People is necessary and must be shown and demonstrated on the civil service side. Appropriations and their use is carried out in the First by Congress and in the Second by the Executive as Head of Government.
Thus we come to the crux of the State of the Union by this Federal Government in this year of 2006. The years and decades leading up to this year have not been easy ones and the previous century has seen three Global Conflicts, Two World Wars by name and the Cold War, and the arising of groups that no longer abide by the Peace of Westphalia and seek to diminish or destroy the system of Nation States. Thus those individuals that come together as groups seek to give rise to Transnationalism so that the individual Nation State is no longer considered a Sovereign. A great number espouse that Progressivism in its modern form, be the basis for this broader community. For some decades these individuals have been joined by those using Terrorism to assert goals and ideology that no Nation State follows and force such upon Nations via means of terrorizing Citizens of Nations.
Progressivists work within Nations to diminish the role of the National Government and give rise to conceptions that the concept of a Nation is absurd and useless in modern times, so that such things as National Boundaries, National Sovereignty and, indeed, National Identity should fall by the wayside to a larger, global grouping of individuals via other means. By fighting all laws and activities that seek to define and protect Nations internally, the Progressivists work ardently at undermining individual Nation States so that they will become, in essence, meaningless administrative units more amenable to some form of global group oversight. And as the proponents of such, Progressivists assert that as the formularies of this conception, that they are the best and most able to be that oversight group.
Terrorists seek this very same thing, but do so from outside the context of Nation States and undermine the legitimacy of them by using Force of Arms outside of the Geneva Conventions in an effort to de-legitimize National Militaries and get reactions from Nations that are more brutal and authoritarian. In that reaction the Sovereign Government will *appear* to act similarly to terrorists and decrease their legitimacy until the Citizenry cannot tell the difference between the two and terrorist goals will be seen as just another variety of goals that have the same legitimacy as that of their Government. Once this is done, the National Identity and National Sovereignty is weakened and Terrorists can truly impose their beliefs by dint of being seen as no different from the repressive Governments they have brought about. And, as such Terrorists espouse global conceptions of the World, be it radical religious beliefs, economic beliefs and/or social beliefs, they seek to impose this broader conception upon the world via this means.
The United States of America has been specifically targeted by both of these concepts as it is the sole remaining superpower after the Cold War and that its strength of National Identity formed of radical individualism from the late 18th century is anathema to the goals of Transnationalists of all stripes and order. Being born of Revolution, they see the United States in its adherence to the goals of that Revolution to be out of step with more modern conceptions of Revolution and so seek to delegitimize its Revolution in various ways. Both internally amongst the Citizenry and externally by Terrorists the United States has been and continues to be weakened as a Concept born of Revolution to ensure the greatest Freedom to its People with the Least amount of Government. Transnationalists encourage National Sovereignty to be abridged until it is broken and that National Identity of a Free People is less important than group identities and that as power is derived from the People that smaller units of 'People Power' can be employed all though such groupings do NOT represent the People as a whole, but a sub-group or division or clustering of them.
What these Transnationalists forget, however, and that We the People must remember, is that each State within the Union is a Sovereign Entity in and of itself, within the confines of the larger Federation. By attacking the Union and diminishing it, We the People as a whole may seek to reinforce the Union via the States. In the older days of the Republic means and methods to give States broad oversight into who goes into the political arms of control of the Federal Government were set in place. The ability of the States to assert direct influence and, indeed, control over the Federal Government by these means was assured. This was done immediately in Article I, Section 2, reading in part:
The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.And in Section 3 to cover the Senate:
No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.
Taken as a whole, the right of the People to Vote directly for their Representative and Senator is given via the States, that are to choose such means as to give voice to that vote. Notice that the State is given supremacy in deciding the manner and means that such representation of their People may be done. The burden of actually getting these means in place falls to the States. And as the earliest Congresses were chosen, lawfully and legally, by the legislatures of the States to send such Representatives and Senators. This is the entire concept of the Electoral College writ small and first: the States provide the Representatives in accordance with the People of their State in manner made by the State.
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.
[and later, skipping the 6 years and choosing thereof]
No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.
[and]
AMENDMENT XVII, Passed by Congress May 13, 1912. Ratified April 8, 1913.
Note: Article I, section 3, of the Constitution was modified by the 17th amendment.
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.
When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.
This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.
[and]
Section 4
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
We the People have been told, time and again, that the Nation we live in is a Democracy. It is *not* a direct democracy that is the categorical necessity to be a full Democracy. The United States is a Republic that uses representational democracy as its means to create government. And as part of that representational schema, as laid out by the Constitution, the States hold the highest decision making power of who, exactly, is put in place to represent the People in the Federal Government's legislative branches and, via the Electoral College, the President. By blurring the boundaries between Representational Democracy and Direct Democracy, We the People have been ill-served in thinking that we are in the latter and not the former. In a Representational Democracy as given by the Constitution, Accountability *begins* by the States, while in a Direct Democracy accountability is only available via recall to the People for each level of Government. By placing a Sovereign and Representational layer between the People and the Federal Government, additional accountability and checks and balances of Power are available.
The Jacksonian Party adheres to this balancing of Power as given via the Constitution as it allows for speedy condemnation and accountability of the Federal Government BETWEEN elections and makes available means to adjust the Federal Power when it is not used to serve the Union and the States thereof. As a Republic that uses Representational Democratic means to give checks and balances to power and responsibility, the United States of America offers multiple means to ensure that Federal Power is not abused, nor that States become authoritarian towards their Citizenry. The goal of this structure is set out fully in the Preamble of the Constitution and Government, at all levels, is but one MEANS for the People to adhere to their responsibilities to ensure the Nation remains United and Justly administered to the good of the People.
Thusly, the Federal Government of the United States needs to be held accountable by the STATES for the following:
1) Invasion of the Union by Mexico using various incursions and seeking to move their people over the boarder to meet illegitimate *labor needs* of such organizations in the United States that benefit from such slave labor. According to the Dept. of Homeland Security, the Territory of the United States has been breached by Mexican Federal Military and Police, even unto incidents of weapons discharge by such intruders. This is covered in the here and gives evidence from the Federal Government itself that 216 incursions have happened between 1996 and 2005. Each and every incursion by the forces of one Sovereign Nation upon another without due authorization by the second Nation is known as an invasion. This entire conception of Casus Belli giving rise to Jus ad bellum is gone over for other contexts, but the overall diplomatic conception is valid globally and is part of how Nation States agree to interact with each other.
By *not* responding to each and every incident via Diplomatic means, two Presidential Administrations are at fault for not enforcing National Sovereignty and asserting the right of the United States to have its territory free from Foreign influence. This is a clear and direct violation of the Oath of Office sworn to Uphold and Defend the Constitution of the United States.
By this lack of response the individual States are given the burden to defend themselves and worry about their individual sovereignty as States. By doing so the social compact of We the People put in place in 1787 is abridged in WHOLE.
The Jacksonian Party calls upon the Governors of the States to ask this current President exactly *why* he is abdicating his Oath of Office and let this individual know that if the Federal Government cannot protect the States, then the States, themselves, will no longer be bound by this agreement and will seek to bring a New Constitutional Convention in place so as to fix this problem and ensure that the powers available to protect the Nation are actually *used*.
2) From the 99th Congress to the present Congress remains a promise by the 99th onwards that Congress shall, indeed, put in place measures to protect the National Borders so as to ensure National Sovereignty for the United States. This is to uphold their Oaths, one and all, to the Constitution. That was first solemnly promised in 1986. At the 20 year mark no Congress has done this thing nor has even proposed to do so nor has even spent the necessary funds to investigate the means and methods to secure the Borders.
Note that over these past two decades congress has changed hands and some number of seats overturned from party to party so all political parties that have sat in the majority are at fault in both houses of Congress. This is a taint that is equally shared from 1986 onwards and adheres to each and every past and present member of each and every Congress since the 99th.
The Congress, although it can set the regulation of the time and place of elections, may not overstep its bounds there. Further, as each member of the House is seen as a co-equal in stature to the member of the more numerous State Legislative bodies, they are also under the same accountability to that State as they are to the Union as a whole. And as the Legislature of each State validates that the position of each Representative is given by the People, it also serves as the stopping point to call that Representative to account and, in the end, to give writ if a member of the House of Representatives is no longer representing the State or its People. This same logic and methodology is valid and has been tested by *recall* elections from States. But the ultimate power for such is given to the Legislature of each State.
Thusly, if the State Legislature sees that its Representatives to Congress from that State are not working to the good of the Union to protect it or to ensure the Sovereignty of that State within the Union, they may give writ to recall some or ALL of their Representatives and use such necessary powers as to either appoint or elect new members.
Those States that have been ill-served by the abdication of National Security by Congress, which is to say the entire Union of States as a threat to One is a threat to All under the Federal system, can recall their Representatives from the House and deny them validity in representation of that State by an Act of that Legislature.
The Jacksonian Party supports this concept in full as the States are NOT to be supplicants to a Federal Government to *plead* for protection, nor are its Representatives to act as unaccountable Nobility to Reign over the United States instead of merely govern it. Those that have been elected to govern no longer accept that this is their foremost function as individuals and that such governance must be equally applied so that the entire Union is protected first and above all other things.
3) National Security is being abridged by the personnel of the Federal Government and by various members of Congress that have access to such knowledge as is their right by sitting within the Congress and having oversight on these parts of the Government. Over the past few years multiple and numerous *leaks* of classified information on various projects and programs have happened. The *leaking* has been directly to the press, for the most part, and has served various internal agenda's of both the leakers and the press. Each and every one of these is unlawful, and the upholding of the administration of such laws is upon the Executive Branch. The President as Head of Government has not ensured that the laws regarding National Security have been robustly administered and that guilty individuals tracked down, found, and brought to Justice.
The proper means for any individual employed within the Federal Government, when misdeeds or illegal activity may be occurring, is to go to the Inspector General that has independent oversight for that Agency and/or Branch of the Executive. If this, once done, brings into suspicion that the Inspector General has been compromised, then that individual *must* go up the chain to the *next* Inspector General, or, lacking that, go to Federal police, such as the FBI, to look into the matter. If, at that point, the individual sees an investigation being countered by higher up the chain, that individual absolutely *must* go to Congress. Executive abuse at that level needs instant Congressional investigation so as to keep the Executive from seizing power or turning Federal power to their own means.
At no point in this entire chain, which is laid out for each individual in the Federal Government, is the *press* mentioned. The press is not a part of government. The press has no oversight by the People being, instead, a means of the People to communicate with each other on things they find of interest. The press, by having no oversight function, and by having no legal place in the chain of command and accountability, sits outside the legal context for means of redress of problems within the Government on issues of abuse of power, wasteful spending and similar.
Any individual that goes to the press and gives unauthorized disclosure of Federal information is committing an unlawful act. This applies from the lowliest janitor to the highest members of Congress. And the declassification authority for classified information rests solely and completely upon the President who then appoints others to administer such and those individuals have written confirmation of their ability to do so. Congressmen do *not* get that via the laws they have drafted.
The Jacksonian Party sees individuals and groups encouraging leaks to serve political purposes which do not benefit the Nation as a whole and, in point of fact, endanger the individuals in the Military protecting this Nation. Further, by giving such information out, those that seek to undermine the United States are given knowledge on means and methods used to track them down and stifle their operations. Each and every leaker of classified information, or even normal Governmental information not released either by normal bureaucratic acts or via the Freedom of Information Act, needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for violating their Oath of Office, for putting mere partisan political views above those of the National Interest and for undermining the entire faith of the People in its Government. By degrading the National Security and Interest, such individuals put Us all at peril to personal ends, and are thus abusing their positions of trust to the detriment of the Union.
4) A number of municipal areas have declared themselves to be 'Sanctuaries' for illegal aliens. In this doing each of these municipal units have abrogated the Constitution and have declared their separation from the Union by declaring that they will no longer abide by it. As has been written previously, this is a direct abrogation of all 6 Articles of the Constitution and some number of Amendments, but most particularly Amendment XIII outlawing slavery save as a means of punishment. In a Federal Republic, all areas agree to abide by and uphold the law of the land, which in the case of the United States, is the Constitution. The Constitution and all the resultant Government and laws that come from it, are not a Chinese Menu system of 'choose one from column A and two from column B'. In point of fact it is an all-or-nothing deal with respect to the entirety of the Union. We the People are enjoined to make the Union more perfect via legal means and to adhere to even unjust laws will seeking redress to end such laws. One may not seek to enforce a law at whimsy nor to say 'it is unjust, I will not administer it'. What one must do is go through the proper channels to address such problems via the Federal distribution of powers amongst the entirety of the Union.
To seek to not uphold sections of the law that is applied to the totality of the Union is an act known as Secession. By municipalities deciding that some Federal laws shall not be upheld and that the powers granted by the People to the Federal Government are ones they do not wish to follow, these areas do not seek proper redress of grievances and bad law via legislation and the courts, but, instead, establish law by Fiat. At that point they have broken with the binding document and its backing and are no longer members of the Union, and by harboring those that are here illegally, they put at peril the entire system of laws of the Union and abdicate their responsibility in upholding the National Security. Until such laws are either over-ruled by the courts or changed by the Congress and signed by the President they remain in force for the entirety of the Union.
The Jacksonian Party supports all States in the ending of this secessionary movement so that the Union itself is not undone. For those States that contain such, these municipalities need to be brought into line via States laws for following the laws of the Union. Further, All States need to lobby the Congress and the Executive to get these secessionary areas back into the Union via any and all means, and those within them to only return to the United States as Citizens after reading an Oath of fealty to the United States and then having their right to vote and lobby government stripped from them for the rest of their lives. This is preferable to Civil War.
5) Lastly, but not least, is the mis-expenditure of the People's money by Congress. This is known as 'earmarking' and more commonly as 'pork barrel spending', or 'pork'. This process in one in which the funds of the People are put to use for projects personally inserted by a Congressman or Senator for their own State or District. This is a direct abuse of the power of the purse by Congress as such projects and programs have no legitimate need as presented to the Government as a whole. Further, these projects often are only contained in obscure and hidden Congressional budgetary documents that are *not* a part of the final budget line iteming NOR available to the public at any time.
This has progressed into a National abuse of money so that Federal funds are filtered through lobbyists and extended family of Congressmen and Senators and finds its way *back* to them either for campaigning or as personal funds. The argument is made that some States *need* some projects that just can't be made on a National level and that the State is too poor to fund itself. The counter-argument is that the State agreed to keep to its own funds except for those things in the National Interest presented openly as such so that the Nation could support them. Things that are purely local and serve no National Interest have no place in the Federal Budget or as 'off budget' items from the Federal Treasury.
The Jacksonian Party supports the Executive to take a stance that any item that does NOT show up for signature on the Desk of the President and signed off upon is NOT an official item for expenditure of Federal Funds and such funds shall be returned to the Treasury until such time as an official and public expenditure be put upon his desk. And the 'Black Budget' will suffer similar, save on the classified side. If it is not put out for perusal and reading and justification and appears no where in the budget, the actual project or program is NOT THERE. The Jacksonian Party supports this fully and that the States begin the hard process of actually getting in order those things that DO require National attention and funding and justify them.
In other areas The Jacksonian Party has encouraged States to take upon themselves those things that can help the Nation and the National dialogue so as to make a more perfect Union. On National Security there has been a call for more self-governance. Further, the plain necessity for more Representatives in the House has been an ongoing call so that the American People can have their diversity heard in the halls of power. Also there has been a call to re-examine the right of States to be protected by their lawfully armed Citizenry and thus bring about a change in the way problems of armed conflict may be addressed not only within each State but to the Union as a whole and seek redress of such things. And the founder and author of this article has looked at how States can approach Citizenship and alter the ground upon which there is much vitriolic opining and remove that ground from under them.
The Jacksonian Party cherishes the Constitution in all of its parts and in all of its outlook and adheres strictly to them. It is a fine system for making government, but requires that each level of the Compact be serious about wanting such. And the finality for all such accountability rests with We the People, as it is Our Government to have.
And Our Nation to lose if we are not serious about it.
