Responsibility #1
(written prior to July 1992)
To the People of the United States of America:
"After an unequivocal experience of the inefficiency of the subsisting federal government, you are called upon to deliberate on a [reformed government] for the United States of America. The subject speaks its own importance; comprehending in its consequences nothing less than the existence of the UNION, the safety and welfare of the [people] of which it is composed, the fate of [a nation] .... . ....it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their [systems of government on money and power]. ....the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind."
The above quotation (with modifications) is the first paragraph of the first of a series of 85 essays addressed "To the People of the State of New York" which were published in 1787 and 1788. The essays came to be known as The Federalist Papers. They were written under the pseudonym of Publius by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. The mission of the Publius papers was to overcome the arguments raised by anti-federalists and others who opposed or questioned the ratification of our Constitution.
The contents of the quoted paragraph, can be seen to be applicable to the United States of the 1990s. The framers of our Constitution at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, and in the ensuing ratification process by the thirteen original States, recognized that our nation could not prosper nor indeed long survive under the then Articles of Confederation government. Now, 205 years later, it again appears that our nation cannot prosper and, indeed, may not survive under the present conditions of our government and its citizens.
On July 4, 1776 our Representatives in the Continental Congress declared our independence from Great Britain. In our Declaration of Independence they stated "that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of [our unalienable rights], it is the right of the people to alter .... it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."
The impetus to reform our government today also is not "for light and transient causes." There has been "a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object." That object is government through money and power; in place of Abraham Lincoln's government of the people, by the people, and for the people. "....it is [our] right, it is [our] duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for [our] future security."
Unlike the "patient sufferance" of the Colonies mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, the abuses and usurpations under (but not necessarily within) our Constitution, have been borne with deleterious consequences. This has been especially true in the last generation or two:
We have become a very divided nation. Americans have little confidence, and to a large degree choose not to participate, in the election process. There is a general disdain and lack of respect for our elected and appointed officials.
Special interest groups appear to rule the roost through their financial and power contributions to and through political parties and individual election campaigns.
The executive and legislative departments and the two political parties vie off continuously for the retention or acquisition of power while neglecting the solution of our national problems and needs.
The checks and balances among our three federal government branches, and the States, have been by-passed and neglected, and used as excuses for lack of performance.
The executive and legislative departments have bankrupted our nation and have laid the burden of emerging from insolvency on our children and our children's children.
Our Supreme Court has fostered and condoned immorality by inventing and, in effect, legislating rights and privacies that are at odds with the general welfare.
Except for campaign oratory the President and Congress have stood by and let the Court overstep its bounds, rather than alienate the votes of any group.
With the void of leadership, our citizenry has drifted into a malaise of greed and self-gratification, to the neglect of our God, our nation, our families, and our fellow man.
The Federalist Papers were written to promote the ratification of our Constitution. The purpose of this essay and those to follow is to cause all Americans, all religious and societal groups, and all institutions to deliberate on our nation's shortcomings. It is time that we have a thorough sweep down of our Ship of State, fore and aft, port to starboard, keel to topmast. With RESPONSIBILITIES of all clearly set forward, we can sail into the 21st century with the renewed drive of our founding fathers to achieve the goals of the Preamble of our Constitution:
To form a more [united people].
To establish justice.
To insure domestic tranquillity.
To provide for the common defense [domestic and foreign].
To promote the GENERAL welfare.
To secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves AND our posterity.
If we begin now, we can even affect the conduct and results of the 42nd President and the 103rd Congress who will initiate their terms of office in January 1993.
Publius IV