CONVENTION of STATES

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Heritage Foundation's Blueprint for Balance

Heritage Foundation continues to offer and present logical and realistic guidelines for U.S. government operations and expenditures. Daily Signal articles present and analyze the problems showing how government continues to fail followed by solutions to those problems. The US' biggest problem today is National Debt and Annual Deficits.

One of the greatest failures of the U.S. CONgress is their pathological over-spending each year on a plethora of unnecessary Agencies that have "...practically unlimited discretionary power..." and whose decisions are exempt from judicial review. These agencies generate 200 pages per day of regulatons posted to the Federal Register. Over a decade, the number of regulations could total 1 million. In addition and the subject of this presentation is the fact that the federal government through its agencies encroaches on the daily life of State and Local governments which then affects the lives, property, and prosperity of American citizens.

Below, Heritage has outlined a detailed list of UNNECESSARY expenditures that the CONgress over-spends every year which this editor has presented below as the Chapters of Heritage's document. Since 1991, I have complained (by FAX, email, and by this net site) about stupid, boondoggle, favored expenditures that WASTE money. These detailed expenditure ELIMINATIONS and MODIFICATIONS will balance the government's budget by 2024 and debt will continue down (not up). Take a look—Read and understand.
  1. Introduction
  2. Policies for CONgressional Budgets
  3. Criteria for Budget Proposal
  4. Agriculture, Rural Development, Food & Drug Admin, & Related Agencies
  5. Commerce, Justice, Science, & Related Agencies
  6. Defense
  7. Energy, Water Development, & Related Agencies
  8. Financial Services & General Government
  9. Homeland Security
  10. Interior, Environment, & Related Agencies
  11. Labor, Health & Human Services, Education & Related Agencies
  12. Legislative Branch
  13. Military Construction, Veteran Affairs, & Related Agencies
  14. Multiple Subcommittees
  15. State, Foreign Operations, & Related Agencies
  16. Transportation, Housing & Urban Development
  17. Savings From Recommendation

A PLAN for the beginning of a FRUGAL GOVERNMENT with FOCUS on DEFENSE, PRIVATE PROPERTY, and EQUALITY UNDER the LAW

 

FROM Quote Garden

  1. To get something done a committee should consist of no more than three people, two of whom are absent. ~Robert Copeland
  2. A committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours. ~Milton Berle
  3. To kill time, a committee meeting is the perfect weapon. ~Author Unknown
  4. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings." ~Dave Barry, "Things That It Took Me 50 Years to Learn"
  5. If computers get too powerful, we can organize them into committees. That'll do them in. ~Author Unknown
  6. Our age will be known as the age of committees. ~Ernest Benn
  7. A committee is a cul-de-sac down which ideas are lured and then quietly strangled. ~Barnett Cocks, attributed
  8. If Columbus had an advisory committee he would probably still be at the dock. ~Arthur Goldberg
  9. A committee is an animal with four back legs. ~John le Carr�, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
  10. It is impossible to imagine the universe run by a wise, just and omnipotent God, but it is quite easy to imagine it run by a board of gods. ~H.L. Mencken
  11. A "Normal" person is the sort of person that might be designed by a committee. You know, "Each person puts in a pretty color and it comes out gray." ~Alan Sherman
  12. Football is a mistake. It combines two of the worst things about American life. It is violence punctuated by committee meetings. ~George Will
  13. A committee is a thing which takes a week to do what one good man can do in an hour. ~Elbert Hubbard
  14. A camel looks like a horse that was planned by a committee. ~Author Unknown
  15. A committee is a group of the unwilling chosen form the unfit, to do the unnecessary. ~Author Unknown
  16. If you live in a country run by committee, be on the committee. ~Author Unknown
  17. Could Hamlet have been written by a committee, or the Mona Lisa painted by a club?... Creative ideas do not spring from groups. They spring from individuals. The divine spark leaps from the finger of God to the finger of Adam. ~Alfred Whitney Griswold
  18. We always carry out by committee anything in which any one of us alone would be too reasonable to persist. ~Frank Moore Colby
  19. I don't believe a committee can write a book. It can, oh, govern a country, perhaps, but I don't believe it can write a book. ~Arnold Toynbee
  20. There is no monument dedicated to the memory of a committee. ~Lester J. Pourciau
  21. Any committee that is the slightest use is composed of people who are too busy to want to sit on it for a second longer than they have to. ~Katharine Whitehorn
  22. Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything. ~John Kenneth Galbraith
  23. People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything. ~Thomas Sowell

"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."

James Madison, Federalist Paper 47, Friday, February 1, 1788

Anyone who believes this country is free is an idiot!

RESTORE AMERICA! CUT GOVERNMENT 50%!

"The politicians only want power so they can 'serve' you."

"Extortion and thuggery are good things when they're called law!"

Larken Rose

Joseph Story, Supreme Court Justice
... when the court wasn't part of the L-E-J Cabal

 

Joseph Story (1779�1845) was born during the American Revolution, and came of age in the early years of the new United States of America. He was a scholar of the U.S. Constitution, and, eventually helped found the Harvard Law School.

In 1811, Story was appointed to the Supreme Court by President James Madison � who knew a few things about the U.S. Constitution, in that he helped write it. Story was a contemporary of another famous member of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Marshall (1755�1835).

In 1833, Justice Story published a study titled, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States. In a discussion of the Second Amendment, Story stated:

"The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them."

See the following links for more related articles:

[Editor's Note: what I have dubbed the "Legislative-Executive-Judicial Cabal" which the American People have caused by ignoring the generational transition from our Constitutional Republic to what now is, in effect, an "elected" dictatorship. Never mind who is elected. Never mind which bogus party is in power. The superficial, theatrically staged, choreographed appearance of debate, disagreement, and stalled legislation always resolves into more government and less FREEDOM. We the People still lose more freedom after every "emergency" or unnoticeably when CON-gress passes another general, open-ended law that enables the Executive (dictator) and its unaccountable agencies to formulate more freedom-restricting regulations (200 pages a day get posted to the Federal Register). The "Dictator's" agencies (police force) continue to pile-up more weapons to squelch uprising(s) when the People finally realize and understand their tyrannical government.

A Convention of States is necessary to amend the Constitution for Congressional Term Limits to twelve (12) years and restrict time in DC to only six (6) months per year. Such an Amendment is only a FIRST step in restoring America to its Constitutional roots. Back in the day when the People still feared kings, the president's term was limited by Constitutional Amendment.

Currently, CONgress is just a group of socialists, progressives, and faux-conservatives (career politicians) that, on a daily basis, ignores the Constitution, many of their own past statutes, and cedes their responsibilities to the president ("elected" dictator). A comparison to the history of Rome becomes more and more credible with the Executive and its "featherbedded" lackeys gaining more power while CONgress sits back all fat-dumb-and-happy.

CONgress has made recent efforts to expose State Dept. failures in Benghazi (inept political leader), Fast-and-Furious gun-running (criminal AG), IRS 1st amendment violations, gov't union Veterans Administration fraud, and whining about Obama(Reid)-killer-Care, but these efforts are mostly politics as usual. Most "citizens" will forget about these infringements from our unaccountable, uncontrollable Executive branch with its tyrannical agencies staffed by socialist unions that extort "juicy" contracts from the "elected" dictatorship.

Most positions in the federal government whether elected, appointed, or hired are nominal, make-work jobs (confidentially) designed merely to grow government, bilk money from private businesses and citizens, and eventually fully transform America into a totalitarian state. When this happens, CONgress will have destroyed the economy and the country by their negligence and counter-liberty policies, and it will be almost impossible to Restore America. The 'Restore America' list is only a beginning too.]

"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."

James Madison, Federalist Paper 47, Friday, February 1, 1788

Anyone who believes this country is free is an idiot!

RESTORE AMERICA! CUT GOVERNMENT 50%!

"Extortion and thuggery are good things when they're called law!"

Larken Rose

[Editor's Note: a Constitutional Convention is required to reverse the damage to freedom and liberty since 1900. This Article V was ratified by the participants at America's founding Constitutional Convention as an alternate path for repairing damage to freedom and liberty, a path for the People to restore damage caused by our failed representatives in the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches of a government designed to represent the wishes of We the People.

The States must "demand" a Convention and explicitly specify an agenda of:

  1. laws to be repealed or modified,
  2. Amendments to existing constitutional clauses that define the co-equal branches to further specify and define, and
  3. new Amendments or statutes to be eventually ratified by States.

These Amendments should further specify and clarify the powers of the Legislature and Executive Branches. A good example is the definition of a "Bill". A Bill should contain ONLY verbiage in regards to the topic of the future law. NO earmarks and NO unrelated sections or attacments.

Many past Bills sent to a president for signature contained unrelated but essential funding sections that rendered the Bill veto-proof when it warranted a veto. CON-gress can override a veto if the Bill is deemed absolutely necessary by CON-gress. If the Bill requires SPECIFICALLY related amendments, the CON-gress can "debate" (with its usual theater) and vote any new amendments.

The original text of the Constitution contains some very GENERAL clauses enabling both CON-gress and Executive branches to write laws and regulations with their particular nuances expanding powers beyond intent. "Intent" may be gleaned from a complete understanding of Federalist Papers. An example of further specification and clarity for CON-gress should be a clear, very specific definition of the boundaries for the interstate Commerce Clause.

To restore freedom, liberty, and individuality - minimally these must be repealed:

  1. the 16th Amendment,
  2. the Federal Reserve Act,
  3. the War Powers Act,
  4. all Asset Forfeiture laws,
  5. the Controlled Substances Act (CSA)
  6. the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act
  7. NDAA
  8. Homeland Security which includes TSA
  9. the Dodd�Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
  10. most Eminent Domain laws, and
  11. the Affordable Care Act

Currently, even with computer-searching systems, the list of antiquated and/or obsolete statutes (and related regulations) is unwieldy. These statutes must be invalidated unless there remains an applicable reason for retaining the law(s).

Aside from invalidating statutes, there are many regulations that are biased in favor of large enterprises (who buy support from bureaucrats) at the expense of the competition, effectively repressing the Free Market. Any regulations not related to public safety that gives a financial advantage to some companies over their smaller rivals must be rescinded to enable all companies with good consumer products to excel without burdensome regulations.

Additionally, the Convention should adopt for ratification at least these new Amendments or statute modifications:

  1. clearly define and limit the role of government in regards to the term "general welfare",
  2. Term Limits for CON-gress (12 years) including a 6 month limit on time residing in DC,
  3. strict Prohibition of Lobbying (with a comprehensive definition of "lobbying"), and
  4. a Balanced Budget Amendment to stop wreckless spending. During a CON-gressionally declared "war" (only after USA is attacked or attack is proven "imminent"), deficit spending is permissible.
  5. Restore America to its roots, i.e. Defense, State, Treasury, and Justice. Some Agencies are required like CIA and NSA, both respectively focused on defense against real foreign aggressors and not fictitious paranoid delusions of war mongers. Other agencies help where certain interstate communications are necessary. Most agencies like Agriculture, Education, DEA, IRS (eliminated with 16th Amendment) and many other listed here should be eliminated.
  6. Restore the world Gold Standard with five contentious steps, and
  7. Replace the IMF, World Bank, and Export-Import Bank with facilities that reflect the new Gold Standard, and
  8. After decentralizing and economizing, if tax revenue is needed to fund all or part of the federal government, then implement the Fair Tax.

Regarding a Constitutional Convention itself, some of the available literature warns the reader about a possible "unstructured" and "mismanaged" Convention that might propose and adopt amendments that could damage the Republic. Possible, however, it is difficult to envisage how much more damage could done over what the L-E-J Cabal has already done. If the Convention's agenda and rules of order strictly prohibit violation of the rules and enable a vote on unlisted Amendments AFTER all others are adopted, then the Convention will be properly structured and managed. ]

FROM Project to RESTORE AMERICA

The FairTax is a consumption tax unilaterally applied to all Americans at the same rate. For businesses, payroll taxes would no longer exist. Our exports would include a heavy tax for overseas buyers purchasing our products, while our imports would be cheaper for us to purchase. I'm not sure how this would affect GDP, as more information is necessary.

According to the FairTax website, "Under the FairTax, every person living in the United States pays a sales tax on purchases of new goods and services, excluding necessities due to the prebate." The prebate gives every legal resident household an "advance refund" at the beginning of each month so that purchases made up to the poverty level are tax-free.

So a family of four making something like $50,000/year should not have to pay taxes, thus preventing an unfair burden on low-income families. Since the FairTax eliminates both federal and payroll taxes, you get to keep your gross pay amount of each paycheck earned.

Why Do We Need Term Limits?

John Adams said, �Without [term limits] every man in power becomes a ravenous beast of prey�. That being said, here are some of the reasons we believe our country needs Term Limits.

  1. Term Limits can help break the cycle of corruption in Congress. Case studies show that the longer an individual stays in office, the more likely they are to stop serving the public and begin serving their own interests.
  2. Term Limits will encourage regular citizens to run for office. Presently, there is a 94% re-election rate in the House and 83% in the Senate. Because of name recognition, and usually the advantage of money, it can be easy to stay in office. Without legitimate competition, what is the incentive for a member of Congress to serve the public? Furthermore, it is almost a lost cause for the average citizen to try to campaign against current members of Congress.
  3. Term Limits will break the power special interest groups have in Congress.
  4. Term Limits will force politicians to think about the impact of their legislation because they will be returning to their communities shortly to live under the laws they enacted.
  5. Term Limits will bring diversity of people and fresh ideas to Congress.

Term limits for lawmakers: when is enough, enough?

[Editor's Note: If you want to get rich, i.e. advance from a low paying government bureaucrat job on the local or state level, THEN GET ELECTED TO THE US CONGRESS (House or Senate). Once you're elected, it's easy to steal from your campaign contributions or the Congressional budget allocated to your seat and staff. You can go on a government-funded junket with 'lavishly' paid expenses. The list of ways to steal from the government while in office is inexhaustible. There are only a few Congressmen who left Congress just wealthy instead of a multi-millionaire. Of course, there are several who arrived in Congress as multi-millionaires and don't need to steal from the government.]