Constitutional Reform
Modern historians, many of whom have dedicated their entire careers to the conditions and events that led to the American Declaration of Independence, our revolution, and, most importantly, America’s uniquely world-changing Constitution, exhibit an enduring awe of our founding fathers, who inspired what would become the promise of Western Civilization.
As they endeavored to create a country of the people, by the people, and for the people, these freedom-loving visionaries never anticipated that their governing principles would also give rise to the expansion of organized crime to such an extent that it would generate a tax-free income surpassing that of Apple, Inc.[1]
To their credit, the founding fathers inherited the British custom of educating young men in classical Greek and Roman studies, which included history, law, literature, and philosophy. This examination of history provided them with insights into the factors that led to the collapse of those civilizations. Witnessing firsthand the impact of England’s harsh treatment of its own people, these revolutionaries contemplated and subsequently designed the American democratic republic to circumvent the pitfalls of being subjects to a British monarchy. However, they did not foresee the effects of time and human nature on this defining document.
Today, our constitutional protections have been in place for over 230 years. However, these protections have eroded to the point that we are well on our way to repeating the ultimate fate of Athens and Rome.
What began with the wealthy oligarchs of Athens surrendering to naked greed was followed by the Roman aristocracy, who became oligarchs on steroids. We all know how those societies ended.
The difference we face in 21st-century America is that the individuals who are destroying our functioning republic no longer consist solely of hyper-wealthy elitists whose only gods are wealth and power. They have been replaced by government bureaucrats who have come to believe their union propaganda that they are our best and brightest. If you accept the last sentence, recall your last trip to the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles). Most bureaucrats are middle-class sellouts who lack real power but are in a position to inflict pain and aggravation on the citizens they swore to serve. Thus, they delude themselves into believing that they too possess power over those who are forced to endure government dysfunction.
Following the first principle of the ‘plumbing profession,’ senators and congresspersons inflict the most pain on their employers (us) by exchanging their votes for campaign contributions of the rich and famous. As the plumbing medium trickles downhill, those bureaucrats also find sanctuary in their ability to inflict pain or an unhealthy attitude toward citizens.
It is rather impolite to rant about a problem we all recognize in our hearts without proposing a reasonable solution.
The first step is recognizing that we are a democratic republic by design, which requires us to vote for candidates who will work and legislate according to the wishes of their constituency. In this system, we inherently agree to respect the preferences of the winning collective who decide on our senators and congresspersons. What we haven’t grasped in our experience is that when the majority makes a mistake by electing a selfish narcissist, instead of removing them at the next election, we allow them to thrive on the remains of our trust. We keep them smiling at us every two or four years to secure their reelection. Fool me once . . .
As citizens, we must take responsibility and remove these sweet-talking cardboard drones to give someone else a chance. Sooner or later, the new crop will realize that their smiles won’t get them reelected and must work to remain in the legislature. Then, we must demand that Congress change the rules so these bottom-feeders can be terminated for cause. If Congress cannot amend the laws to eliminate the trash, we’ll simply remove those in Congress until they act according to the people's will.
I’ll stop there for this session. If we can become smarter (read more cynical) when a candidate makes a promise and then refuses to advance the wishes of his or her constituency, don’t even wait for reelection — order a recall election. Eventually, once in the legislature, most legislators will only work for one thing — to play another inning.
[1] There is no method to accurately estimate the revenues of organized crime, since by definition, its income is not reported anywhere. For our purpose here, we’ve used Chris Mathews’ Fortune Magazine article (9/14/2014) to estimate the take of the 5 Biggest Organized Crime Groups of roughly $30 billion. Then we assumed that the rest of organized crime adds another $30 billion. This number places Organized Crime’s annual unreported income to approximate the net income of Apple, Inc.
