Friday, September 17, 2004

Eroding Freedoms

First we had the U.S. Supreme Court quoting precedents from foreign courts in their opinions. Next, a liberal group funded and coordinated by wealthy Democrats seeks to abolish the Electoral College in Colorado by apportioning electoral votes. Now we have the specter of foreigners monitoring our Presidential elections. These incremental erosions of the fundamental pillars of American government are frightening and heinous. What is equally terrifying is the roar of deafening silence from the Peoples’ representatives in Washington, D.C. When is someone, anyone going to display some backbone in defending the tenets which have protected this republic for the past 200 years? What, exactly is our military fighting around the world to protect anyway? The ‘right’ for France to pick our next President? Good grief, Charlie Brown. I hate to say it, but it appears that everyone in Washington is on the take. I have not heard anyone seriously stand up to defend the U.S. Constitution in a long, long time. I’m not talking about a few minutes of media rhetoric, but rather serious legislation to save our hallowed institutions. Executive orders to put an end to this chicanery. Constitutional amendments to place some things off limits to more tomfoolery. Once our freedoms slip away it is damned hard to get them back. Look at what the Colonies had to resort to. I would love to see someone draw a line in the sand (or across the Potomac) and stake their political fortune on that position. Outside of our security, protecting our basic form of government dwarfs any other issue in importance, yet it seems that no one with any ability to preserve it can see that the emperor has no clothes. That, or else they are afraid to speak up for some reason. And if that is the case, we are even worse off than I thought. God save this hallowed land.

Amendment 36-Colorado

With regard to the initiative to alter the way Presidential Electors are selected in Colorado, the idea of voting on a measure to change the way an election is conducted for that very same election is patently absurd. One does not change the rules once the process is already underway.
On a more substantive note, the proposal in question would essentially eliminate the Electoral College without a U.S. Constitutional Amendment. Presidents are elected by the States, not a general national plebiscite. The purpose is to maintain the integrity of our republic. Without the Electoral College process, states with lesser populations would lose their participation in selecting the President. Our nation was founded as a federation of sovereign states with a relatively weak national government. The majority of power is vested in the states. The current process ensures that all citizens of the various states have a say in selecting our national leader. Under the proposed adulteration, the President could be elected by three or four populous states. That would herald the end of States’ rights. The President is elected by the States to represent the States; hence the President of the United States of America. The People directly elect their Representatives. Thus, the House of Representatives was designed to be the Peoples’ House.
Article II, section 1 of the U.S. Constitution charges the state legislatures with establishing the method for holding elections in their respective states for President. It does not provide for those legislatures to abdicate or delegate that specific responsibility.
This proposal is nothing more than a veiled attempt to unconstitutionally usurp the power to elect their President from the people. What these proponents cannot obtain by legal ballots, they seek to obtain by chicanery and tomfoolery. We must never allow any dangerous changes like this to take away the peoples’ right to elect the President.
We must demand from our State Representatives that they make a pre-emptive declaration by legislation that they and only they under the U. S. Constitution have the authority to designate how elections are held in Colorado and that the apportionment of electoral votes shall not change.
We’re waiting…