- There is a lot of talk about Democrats not offering any
leadership, and that's true. What alternatives they do propose are simply
variations of what the Republicans have proposed. That's because both parties
agree on the same basic premise: There must be a strong, central government
with an imperialist foreign policy.
-
- The true alternative to both parties is to return to
the constitutional republic the Founding Fathers created. That would mean
getting the federal government entirely out of such areas as welfare, education
and medical care. It would mean disbanding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
and abrogating the treaty that makes us a member of the United Nations.
It would mean repeal of the legislation authorizing the World Trade Organization,
closing all of our overseas military bases, eliminating all forms of foreign
aid and strictly limiting the CIA to nothing but collecting information.
-
- It would mean allowing states to handle situations the
Constitution intended for them to handle, whether we agreed or disagreed
with the way they were handled. The Constitution gave us a true federal
system in which, to use James Madison's words, "95 percent of all
governing" would be done by the sovereign states, with no direction,
interference or funding from the federal government. The role of the federal
government in the Constitution is severely limited.
-
- That republic was destroyed at Appomattox in 1865, and
since then the Constitution has been gradually reduced to nothing by deliberate
and gross misinterpretation. The question for judges is not whether they
are liberal or conservative, but whether they are judicial activists or
judges who will construe the Constitution as it was written and in context.
There is absolutely nothing in the Constitution that allows the federal
government to legislate on abortion, medical care, education or the environment,
much less on what kinds of sex lives people live or what substances they
choose to drink or otherwise consume. There is nothing in the Constitution
that authorizes Congress to tax the American people and give the money
to foreign governments.
-
- Americans ought to think how strange it is that people
in Missouri and Tennessee whose homes and businesses have been destroyed
by tornadoes can expect nothing from the federal government except loans
at interest, while the same government is making a gift of billions of
dollars to foreign governments like Egypt and Israel. It is strange indeed
for the federal government to undertake to rebuild Iraq but not Pierce
City, Mo., or Jackson, Tenn. These are the kinds of paradoxes Americans
ought to think about. Then perhaps they will begin to demand better government
from their politicians.
-
- I recognize that we cannot return to the 18th century,
but there is no reason why we should abandon the great principles that
created this country. The federal government can't govern the people well
for the same reason the Central Committee of the Communist Party in the
Soviet Union couldn't govern very well: It's too distant from the people.
How can bureaucrats in Washington educate children in Alaska and Nevada?
Education is a function that should be left entirely to the states. When
the Constitution was adopted, there was no public education. The responsibility
rested entirely with the parents.
-
- And, yes, children unlucky enough to have irresponsible
parents suffered as a result. And that's still true today, despite trillions
of federal dollars and shelves of laws and regulations. If you look truthfully
at the situation, you will see that none of the social problems the government
has undertaken to solve, at the price of treasure and liberty, has ever
actually been solved. Think about that. There are better alternatives to
the ways we are doing things now, but you won't hear about them from either
Democrats or Republicans, because they love the power the present system
gives them. The last thing they want is a nation of thinking, self-reliant
individuals who are beholden to no one, least of all to a bunch of selfish
politicians.
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- © 2003 by King Features Syndicate, Inc. http://reese.king-online.com/Reese_20030514/index.php
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