The Tenth Amendment
A Permanent Super Committee, unless . . .
 | By A.J. Cameron (Bio and Archives) Saturday, November 5, 2011 | Print friendly | Subscribe | Email Us |
Many people question the constitutionality of the Super Committee, for good reason. The challenge with the Federal Government is that most of what passes as ‘doing the peoples’ business’ in D. C. is unconstitutional, and the Super Committee threatens to become another in a long line of permanent, government-created logjams. To realize just how far our Federal government has strayed from its Constitutional authority, people must read the Constitution, the Amendments to our Constitution, and our Bill of Rights. Are you familiar with the Tenth Amendment?
Amendment X – ‘The powers not delegated to the United States [Federal Government] by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.’
It is time to demand that our elected politicians retreat from their ravenous overreach of the Constitution, acting in accordance with the Constitution and for the ‘common good.’ In order for the Federal government to come into compliance with our Constitution, and to rein in its maleficent spending, several actions must take place. Otherwise, whatever comes out of the Super Committee will be window-dressing and more of the self-serving ‘legislation’ that has brought us to our current plight!
Number one, members of Congress must conform to the laws it passes upon its citizenry, and they must have access to the worst options they make available to their citizenry. We need legislators with principles and the wisdom of Solomon to realize that only when those creating legislation are forced to live under the weight of their legislation will there be any ‘fairness’ and rationality in their legislation.
Congress’s exemptions from its own legislation (including, and especially, ObamaScare), from insider-trading restrictions, franking privileges for incumbents in office (paid for by the taxpayer), and a whole host of other sins need to cease immediately and retroactively! Our country was founded upon breaking away from a single, selfish king. We are now burdened with the selfishness of hundreds and thousands of kings and queens.
People and politicians talk about the ‘sacred cows’ of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, but the real sacred cows are the un-Constitutional agencies, departments and policies that have been ‘invented’ as ways for elected politicians to secure votes and amass power and wealth.
The Super Committee has been directed to identify $1.2 trillion in cuts in spending over a ten (10) year period. The deficit spending by the Federal government for 2011 is $1.3 trillion! Even the ‘aggressive’ $4 trillion in cuts proposed by Senator McConnell falls woefully short of solving our fiscal mess, although, at his age, he probably couldn’t care less after amassing a fortune while in office. Fed Chairman Bernanke acknowledges that the pace of U.S. economic growth is likely to be ‘frustratingly slow.’
This means under and unemployment will remain stubbornly high, restricting the collection of tax revenues. With a tepid employment environment, already inflated gas prices due to the Fed and the EPA, and a food inflation shock about to slap everyone because of the Fed fueling it with printed money, this will put greater strains upon families and our moribund economy. If all the Super Committee comes up with is $1.2 trillion in cuts and/or increases in tax rates over a ten (10) year period (which leads to lesser revenues, compounding the problem), we are going to be subjected to a permanent, un-Constitutional Super Committee!
For the Super Committee to do what it has been charged to do, it must aggressively thaw the lurking iceberg of the auto-increasing Baseline Budget that annually drives gaping holes into the hull of the titanic federal budget. There are multiple benefits to be realized by adhering to the Tenth Amendment. The sinkhole in the road to Constitutionality and exacting the cuts necessary for now and into the future is the elimination of useless, abusive and/or un-Constitutional agencies and departments. This means off-loading the massive amount of employees within these federal agencies and departments.
I can hear the howls from those within these agencies and departments who have been protected from performing and firing, while living off of the private sector, but assuming they have marketable skills, they should be employable in the private sector. Of course, the unemployment rate will spike in the short term, but the private sector is the genesis of our return to prosperity. Additionally, this may be the only way to get those who have feasted at the expense of the American taxpayer to realize that what those in D. C. have been doing for decades has selfishly led to our current fiscal demise.
Among the many benefits of pink slipping D. C. is the elimination of inflated salaries and benefits that surpass the average private-sector employee by upwards of 40%! This will also eliminate the malicious rush to spend unspent money in the budget at the end of each year to ensure the auto-increase in each agencies’ and departments’ budget. As the agencies and departments are eliminated, the properties in which they work can be sold, reducing the money spent for rent, and bringing greatly needed cash into the treasury. The elimination of paying for utilities, car pools and their maintenance, and use of gas will also dramatically reduce the strains of a bloated Federal government.
State governments should welcome this political paradigm shift for a couple of key reasons. One, this will reduce the need to funnel taxpayer money to D. C., only to be returned to the states after Congress skims money for pet projects and contributors, similar to how the Kansas City mafia did in skimming profits from the Tropicana and Stardust hotels in Las Vegas in the ‘70s. Secondly, this returns the power of government to the states, as called for by the Tenth Amendment. This will help wring much of the waste from government that is at the American taxpayers’ expense!
Possibly the greatest non-fiscal benefit of returning the power of government to the states and closer to the taxpayer is the Balkanizing of the lobbyists to the 50 state capitals vs. the current concentration of power by lobbyists inside the Potomac. Can’t you picture turning the light on in a roach-infested kitchen, seeing the roaches scurrying towards the crevices in the shadows? There isn’t any difference! This will limit lobbyists’ ability to author legislation in collusion with members of Congress that benefits members of Congress and their clients at the expense of the American taxpayer.
If we are going to be subjected to the ‘wisdom’ of a Super Committee, we need a ‘one and done’ Super Committee that actually does what it is supposed to do, not what is politically expedient to do . Contact your Representative and Senators to hold their feet to the fire, lest our feet be held to a raging inferno at the hands of our Congressional arsonists!
A.J. Cameron was born in Kansas City, MO, and raised in Prairie Village, KS. He is a graduate of Rockhurst High School and University of Kansas, and is a the former president of the Native Sons & Daughters of Greater Kansas City. Having worked for international and local, start-up companies, A. J. brings a wide range of insight to many of the challenging issues of the day. A.J. seeks to engage readers on key issues with views grounded in time-tested principles and common sense. Contact A. J. at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
