Most of the time It is good to think outside of the box. However, there is one box we should never think outside of: The Constitution of the United States. The Constitution is a small box. I copied and pasted the entire Constitution, including the preamble and all 27 amendments, into my word processor. According to my word processor it is less than 8000 words. Eight thousand is a big number – if you are hand counting raindrops or grains of sand. For reference: a work of fiction that would be classified as a short story might well be up to 15,000 words. In case you want to check it out, the Constitution can be found online here: http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html. I don’t recommend counting the words by hand, but if you would like to – go for it.
The nice thing about thinking inside a box is you have less to think about. Especially when the box is small. None the less, our hired help in Washington D. C. have a hard time with the limitations of this little box. It seems that almost none of them like to be confined. This seems so strange since they all took an oath to support the United States Constitution when they took office. If they don’t like the idea of staying within the confines of this little box, why do they run for office? Surely they know what is required before they run, don’t you think? Whatever the reason, they can’t seem to stay within that box.
If you want good government (some would call that an oxymoron), you have to keep up with what is going on. I’ve heard some say, “I have no interest in politics.” Maybe not, but remember this: Politics has an interest in you! So, first and foremost, let your senators, representatives and president know that you are paying attention and you will work to vote them out of office if they violate the Constitution. If they pay no mind to you, DO work to vote them out of office.
If you find it necessary to replace an unresponsive elected official, just be careful that you help find someone who will be more honest when taking the oath of office. Finding such a person who is willing to run is not an easy job, but it needs to be done. Maybe you can run. Mind you that while we are talking the federal level here, it is also important to take similar actions on the state and local levels.
Since it is almost impossible to keep power hungry politicians from running for (and winning) office, we must be prepared to act against the laws they create which violate their Constitutional restraints, along with our rights and freedoms.
There are two primary approaches to fighting this problem. The first is to work from within. I cover options for that in my article “Right or Wrong!” published in this blog on July, 3, 2009. In this article I will show ways to fight from outside the system. Of course, replacing the scoundrels who write and pass the laws that go beyond the Constitution is always desirable. Otherwise you have to just keep fighting against each new legislation that is outside of the box.
Actually, their confinement is much smaller than the 8000 words of the whole US Constitution. You see, everything that congress is allowed to do is spelled out in Article I, section 8. Section 8, which is titled “Powers of Congress,” consists of 430 words. And that is everything congress is allowed to do. EVERYTHING!! If you started reading this article from the beginning, you had read more the 430 words by the time you finished the fifth paragraph.
Why they can’t stay within the Constitution box is not the purpose of this article. Instead I want to discuss what WE can do about it after THEY have gone beyond the Constitution. Once these laws are passed we have a limited array of options to fight them.
The three branches of the federal government are each supposed to work to prevent the others from getting excessive power. It’s called “Balance of Power.” However, that just doesn’t seem to be working.
Between the president and the congress, bad bills get passed. Lots of them. In fact virtually all legislation passed in the past century goes beyond the Constitutional box. What can we do? Some of the options involve the courts. The third branch of government, the judicial branch, is supposed to strike down laws if they violate the Constitution. This does not work so well.
You can file a lawsuit to get it overturned. This is not only very time consuming but it is also very expensive. And the odds are against you. The government has more money and can hire as many lawyers as it needs. You, most likely, have much more limited resources. But let’s say you find an attorney you can afford, and she or he is an excellent Constitutional lawyer. She or he can take the case to the top of the system where it will be adjudicated by some judges who were appointed by the president and approved by the congress. These judges have opinions, too, and those opinions helped get them on the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, the opinions stay with them when they ascend to the bench. Like I said, the odds are against you!
A second option is to ignore the law and let the chips land where they may. Of course this usually will not work in your favor. You are likely to be fined or imprisoned for failure to follow the law. At this point you can go to trial and hope for a better outcome than indicated in the previous paragraph. Good luck.
There is one thing that MAY work in your favor here, if you are lucky. It is called jury nullification. You see, if you get a trial by jury, which you are entitled to in most cases, the jury may acquit you. They just might find you are not guilty of the ‘crime’. It is not likely you will be prosecuted if you are not guilty, so if the prosecutors take you to court you probably will be found guilty. What most people in this country do not know is that the jury has the right (even the duty!) to judge the law itself, not just the facts relating to your guilt or innocence. The judge will not tell the jury this, in fact he or she will likely say just the opposite. He or she will be wrong! Jury nullification is one of the ways a citizen can help change bad laws.
To find our more about jury nullification please go to the Fully Informed Jury Association site at http://fija.org. I strongly recommend everyone check out this site so you can be prepared to act in the correct manor if you are called to jury duty. Don’t try to get out of jury duty as it may be one of a few opportunities for you to help keep an innocent person out of prison and possibly overturn a bad law.
Please understand this: I am not suggesting that you acquit a person of a crime of which you are convinced the defendant harmed someone or their property in violation of a just law. Jury nullification is for bad laws, such as victimless ‘crimes’. I have been called to jury duty a few times and never tried to get out of it. As it happens, only once did the case actually come to a trial. In that case, I would have voted guilty had the prosecutor presented sufficient evidence for conviction. The charge was a violation of a legitimate law. However, the prosecutor failed to prove his case so the other jurors and I found for the defendant.
Jury nullification is not something most of us will have much opportunity to participate in. So what else can we do besides tea parties, marches, and other demonstrations. Of course we can keep in contact with our government servants but that contact is often ignored. Lets look at the government servants at the state level. We have state congress persons and governors who pass their share of bad laws, too. So why are we looking to them for help here? Because many of the bad federal laws impact the state government. Often at an expense that will fall on the state budget.
So the state has good reason to want some of the bad laws rescinded. It is not easy for the states to get the federal government to overturn a law it has passed, but it can be done. Our little box allows for it in the tenth amendment. The following 28 words are the entire tenth amendment:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
How does the tenth amendment help us? If a law is outside of the Constitutional box, the states have the right to nullify it. There is a long history of this being done. It was first done with the Kentucky Resolution of 1798. This resolution reminded the central government that they had limited powers. It goes on to state: ” . . . and that whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force . . .” Therefore, when the central (federal) government passes laws which violate the Constitution, the states are not bound to obey or enforce these “unauthoritative” laws.
The same year Virginia passed their own resolution which was along the same lines. Since these two were from southern states, many people have cried racism when states nullification is brought up. This is far from correct as neither of these resolutions had anything to do with race or slavery. Even further proof is that early in the 19th century it was the New England states talking about state nullification and even considering seceding from the union!
In late 1814 a group of New England states held what became known as The Hartford Convention in Hartford, Connecticut. Only Massachusetts (which called for the convention), Rhode Island and Connecticut sent official representatives. The purpose was to recommend to the legislatures of the attending states to adopt measures to protect their citizens from ” . . . the operation and effects of all acts which have been or may be passed by the Congress of the United States, which shall contain provisions, subjecting the militia or other citizens to forcible drafts, conscriptions, or impressments, not authorized by the Constitution of the United States.”
Among other things, the convention recommended passage of seven new amendments for the US Constitution. They wanted the president to be limited to a single term. They wanted it to take a two-thirds majority of congress to declare war. They wanted the same majority to be required to admit a new state. Another amendment they sought was to limit the power of congress to place embargos on US ships. This was a major concern as embargos previously placed had been harmful to the New England economy since much was exported from there. So you see, it was not just the south that sought to correct the federal governments overreach.
In current times a number of states have passed various resolutions, state amendments and laws designed to protect their citizens (as well as the state itself) from harmful federal laws which went beyond the Constitution. Specifically they have dealt (and are dealing) with the Real ID act, gun restrictions, Cap and Trade, and the health care reforms, among other issues.
Our job is to get our state legislatures to pass whatever measures are needed to hold the Federal government in check. You can learn a lot about this process from the Tenth Amendment Center which is online at http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/. There you will find out all about the history mentioned above in much greater detail. More importantly, you will find out how to work to get your state reps and senators to act in concert with the needs of the public who want to take responsibility for and control of their own lives.
Above I was talking about working with the elected servants at the state level. Here is an example of doing the same thing at the county level: http://tinyurl.com/ybjh5ch. What you will read here is how a county council is taking up the mantra for the right of the people to defy top down edicts that take away the rights of the citizens.
There is one more, not so well known, method to fight the overreach. This also requires some help from an elected official: the county sheriff. The sheriff is the only elected law enforcement officer in the nation. All others are either appointed or simply hired. The fact that he or she is elected and local gives you some leverage with your sheriff. Use that leverage to get him or her to stand up to the federal agencies when they come calling. No federal officer has the right to make arrests or confiscations without the approval of the county or parish sheriff.
Get and read The County Sheriff: America’s Last Hope by Richard Mack. Sheriff Mack led the way in the battle to the Supreme Court against the Brady Bill. His excellent book should be read by every person and, especially, by every sheriff in the United States. Please go to http://www.sheriffmack.com/ which is Sheriff Mack’s web site and read over the information about the power of the sheriff. There you will also be able to purchase copies of Mack’s books. Get one for yourself and one to give your sheriff.
In summary, there are several ways you can work to override the federal governments reach beyond the Constitution.
Stay on top of your elected servants at the federal level. Keep them aware that you are watching them and what bills they vote to pass. Work to replace those who disregard the limits of the Constitution.
Don’t ever try to get out of jury duty. Instead, take the opportunity to serve and see if you might not get to help an innocent victim of the legal system escape undue punishment. In doing so, you might also help bring attention to an unjust law and perhaps contribute toward the process of rescinding it.
Work with your state (and local) legislative officials to get them to pass resolutions, laws, etc., that will keep the federal overreach from interfering with your life and freedoms.
Educate your sheriff to his or her duties regarding upholding the Constitution. If he or she is not willing to honor their oath, work to replace him or her at the next election. This should be one of the easier officials to replace as it is much more local than state and federal legislators.
We all can do a part and we all need to. Letter writing campaigns, email campaigns, phone campaigns, marches, town hall meetings, and demonstrations: they all have a place. But the steps that will make a difference are those detailed above. This is especially true to fight bad laws that have already been passed.
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” (Edmund Burke, 1729-1797). NOW is the time to stop doing nothing.
Tags: 10th Amendment, Article I Section 8, Constitution, FIJA, Jury, Jury Nullification, Powers of Congress, Sheriff, Sheriff Mack, Tenth Amendment