Get Back to Basics
Does government have too much power and too little sense?

In 1787, 55 American citizens met and argued for 127 days during a fiercely hot Philadelphia summer. When finished, they had produced one of the great documents of world history: the American Constitution.

They fashioned, almost without being aware, a nearly perfect instrument of government; a testament to what a collection of free men can achieve. It’s instructive to remember those 55 men who framed our Constitution. Elder statesmen George Washington and Benjamin Franklin contributed little to the debate, but greatly to the stability and inspiration of the convention. Thomas Jefferson, America’s most brilliant statesman of the day, missed the meetings completely. He was in France on diplomatic duty.

This convention contained a college president, a judge, a clergyman, a banker, a surgeon, a teacher of law and farmers. Also included was a military man who had been court-martialed during the Revolution. Nine were foreign-born. Some contributed little to the debate and others could not quite follow what was being debated. Together, they created a miracle, our Constitution. The hard, central work was done by a handful of truly great men like James Madison of Virginia.

Their decision to divide government’s power equally among the executive, legislative and judicial branches was a masterstroke. So was the way they protected small states by giving each two senators, and the interests of large states by apportioning the House of Representatives according to population.

The Constitution expressly delineates federal government power and reserves the remainder to the states and the people. Fast forward now to the year 2000.

Congress, supported by the courts, has grossly usurped those powers reserved to the states. The courts have initiated their own mischief, fabricating laws out of thin air. Various presidents, including Clinton, have assumed authority they didn’t have through executive orders. Congress has misused the Interstate Commerce Clause as an excuse to poke its nose into many state and local issues. For a farmer’s pond to fall under federal regulations simply because the products of that farm may be consumed by a person from another state is patently absurd.

Too many times, government recklessly acts to correct perceived problems without adequately understanding the effects of impacts of their "corrections." Signs of the heavy hand of Federal government are visible everywhere, such as stream and lake pollution caused by government-mandated gasoline additives and a tragic number of deaths caused by government-mandated air bags in vehicles that trigger too easily or too powerfully.

Also, government’s capricious litigation, as well as government-supported lawsuits, are contributing to the methodical destruction of legal American industries. Government is blackmailing its people with mere threats of overwhelmingly expensive litigation that may or may not be legally justified. When government mandates automatic trigger locks on guns, it will be only a matter of time until citizens, while struggling to undo the locks, are killed by robbers or intruders. This will result in even more lawsuits.

The founding fathers would recoil in shock and dismay at perverted interpretations of the Constitution, which allow federal intervention in every aspect of Americans’ lives. Regulate, legislate and litigate – that is the Feds’ approach to every question. Our founding fathers placed Constitutional limitations on government to ensure maximum preservation of freedoms. The Feds have demonstrated a cavalier disdain for personal freedom that is deleterious to liberty and a threat to our republic. Our federal government admits to currently intercepting individuals’ electronic mail under the guise of screening for possible illegal activity.

Only a vigilant, informed and active citizenry has any hope of ensuring that our three branches of government return to the restraints of our Constitution and our founding fathers. Our government’s current mandates and litigious activities affect not only the tobacco, firearm and technology industries, but also millions of Americans. They affect citizens’ stock holdings, their retirement plans and their very livelihoods. No one and no business is exempt.

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