A Pipe Dream

In case you're wondering why True Blue I chose the name for a couple of reasons. 1) I've been in the Navy, and am currently in the AF Reserve, both wear blue; 2) Because the blue on the flag of our great nation stands for vigilance, perseverance, and justice.

Ground Rules

1) Keep it civil. Calls of idiot, moron, etc. will get your post deleted.

2) Minimize cursing. Sometimes cursing helps stress a point, but excessive cursing will get your post deleted.

3) Please link to sources. I like facts, they tend to annoy people in that they don't change no matter how much people want them to. Wikipedia is not a valid source, sorry folks. Too easy to edit, and most of the time doesn't even link to a real reference for the information.

So, this being my first post I figured I may as well start off big. That way everybody knows where I stand in regards to our elected officials.

Step One: Mass Replacement. If they have been there for more than one term, get rid of them. Republican, Democrat, Independent; I don’t care what party they belong to, they need to go. I’m sure we’ll get rid of a few of the good ones, but if they really care for the country they can try to mentor the new guys without getting a paycheck.

Fire all of the staff too, by the way. Replacing the head does no good if the diseased body is still around to regrow another one. Someone will complain, “But then nobody will be left to teach the new people how things are done in Washington!” To which I respond, THAT’S THE POINT! “How things have always been done,” is part of the bleedin’ problem. Even the best of people that goes to D.C. ends up infected with the idea that things have to be done a certain way because that’s how they’ve always been done and so nothing changes. Get rid of all of it.

Fire most of the federal judges too, based on their past case decisions (yes, I know that will take a lot of time). I have no confidence in their ability to defend the Constitution without legislating from the bench. Their job is to read the Constitution of the United States (CotUS) and tell Congress, the President, and the States whether something they are trying to do is allowed or not based on the LITERAL wording in the Constitution. Not to figure out what they think the Founders meant. If the CotUS doesn’t say they can do something, THEN THEY CAN’T DO IT!!! Amendment 10, “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.” End of story.

It is Congress’ responsibility to make sure the federal judges follow the rules as well; they are allowed to remove judges. Article III, Section 1,  Clause 1, Sentence 2: “The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a Compensation which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.” If they are breaking the rules and going beyond the limits of their established power that is NOT “good Behavior.”

Once we get a new Congress in there they can even make Regulations specifically limiting the power of the Judicial to make it completely clear where their responsibilities lie, since they can’t seem to figure it out by reading one single PART of a document. Article III, Section 2, Clause 2, “In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.”

Step Two: Repeal Obamacare. The single statement by Nancy Pelosi that it had to be passed before we could know what was in there means it never should have been passed in the first place. Absurdity. The only fog of controversy is that you idiots didn’t (and wouldn’t) read what you were passing into law!

If you’re really bored you can read through the entire bill (I tried, but I wasn’t able to make it). Suffice it to say it creates so many agencies with powers not even written into the bill itself. A lot of “The head of XYZ will determine,” giving unelected officials power to create more regulations enforceable by law. That’ll never hit the courts though, Congress is too heavily in to being able to relegate authority so they can pass things they know would never actually make it through a vote without destroying their political careers.

Step Three: Term Limits. Yup, I said it. Pass a term limit Amendment to the Constitution limiting Representatives and Senators to two terms in office. Four years total for the House, twelve years for the Senate. If someone manages to go from one to the next and then on to the Presidency they can stay in office for 24 years straight, that’s it. These lifetime politicians need to go.

Step Four: Salary adjustments. Here they should do one of two things.

1)      Fix the salaries of those in Congress to the same amount that an O-5/6 in the Armed Forces makes. Give them a Housing Allowance and Cost of Living Allowance dependent on where they live, just like anyone else in the military. They want a raise; they can give a raise to the entire US Military while they’re at it. It’s a lot harder to justify raising their own salary when they have to account for the massive budget increase of a military-wide raise, and if they CAN do it then at least our guys and girls in uniform get a better paycheck too.

2)      Change it so they are paid by their State/District of origin. They want a raise then the citizens that elected them can vote them a raise, or not, based on how well they think they’ve been doing. Make it so if they go from the House to the Senate they retain the same pay level. Each State can then determine the base pay they want to give to the representatives and any other benefits they think they should get. That would be the amount the next guy coming in would get, instead of starting at the paycheck his predecessor had to work for.

Step Five: Regulation Agency Shredding. Every single regulation agency needs to be gutted. First thing you do is have the new President repeal Executive Order 10988; issued by JFK in 1960, it gave authorization for federal employees to unionize for the purpose of collective bargaining rights. Make a new one that lets them unionize for the purpose of protecting them from their boss screwing them over, greater legal power in a large group, etc. but who exactly are they bargaining with? The citizens of the United States are their employers! While we’re at it, attach their paychecks to the military pay scale as well. Come to think of it, I’m not seeing where in the Constitution the President has the right to issue Executive Orders that affect anything outside of the Executive Branch at all… Get rid of all the ones that do so while he’s at it.

Second thing you do is fire 90% of the regulatory staff, starting at the top (I’m tired of the BS government downsizing method where they screw over the people that actually do the work and keep all the supervisor spots). Take all of the regulations they have passed that are enforceable by law (not Constitutional by the way) and put them before Congress with a Yea or Nay vote just like every other law is required to do, then signed by the President, or not. Yet another thing that will take time, but you know what, maybe it’ll keep the new guys from getting into mischief and making new stupid laws we don’t need.

The regulation agencies DO NOT have any power listed in the CotUS to make laws, that is the sole purview of the Congress! Article 1, Section 8: Powers of Congress, Clause 18, “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.” Notice that is a power of the Legislative Branch, NOT the Executive (noted above).  

Article 1, Section 7, Clause 2, “Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.” Emphasis added. It’s pretty specific on how things are made into law at the Federal level. Even regulation agencies attached to the Legislative Branch don’t have the power to arbitrarily create things enforceable by law. THEY CAN ONLY MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS TO CONGRESS!

Yes, this will put a lot of people out of a job, but the federal government is a monstrosity and there are more people who are not employed by the federal government than those who are. It’s far bigger than it should have ever gotten. One of the Founders was rather specific on the idea of LIMITED government rather than this gigantic mess we have now. “It is to be remembered that the general government is not to be charged with the whole power of making and administering laws.  Its jurisdiction is limited to certain enumerated objects.”  James Madison, Federalist #14

I recommend everyone read, and reread, the Constitution. Print it out, give it to friends and family (at least ones you’re sure won’t explode at the very idea they MAY be trusting the wrong people), and read The Federalist Papers for a better understanding of what was intended by, and the mindset of, the founders when they wrote the Constitution. You'll see they were very specific in how they wanted to limit the government.