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Responsibility #66
To the People of the United States of America:
June 15, 1993. The administration of President Clinton, and the 103rd Congress, have had the responsibility for governing our nation for about 5 months. Already their performance, and domestic and foreign events, have not boded well for what the condition of our country, and the world, will be 1 1/2 and 3 1/2 years from now. This fourth postscript, to the initial set of 63 RESPONSIBILITY papers, concerns a number of facets of their performance and those events.
Immorality. In Responsibility #65 the blunder of President Clinton, in his first 10 days in office, calling for the lifting of the ban on homosexuals in the military, was discussed. This action was met with a storm of indignation from We the People, leaders in the armed services, and members of the Congress. Instead of taking the decisive action, that would arrest or slow the slide of the USA down the slimy slope of immorality, the administration initiated a "study", and deferred action until July 15th. This face saving compromise satisfied neither We the People, nor the homosexual special interest group.
The homosexuals conducted a militant and defiant march on Washington. Individual homosexuals came out of the woodwork, to serve as martyrs to the cause of freedom to perform perverted sex acts anytime, anywhere. What ever happened to the constraint of privacy?
Those who seek and militate for further immoral "rights" (or resist steps toward the remoralization of our society) constitute a Fifth Column. They march to the diminishment and fall of our nation. Those leaders and politicians who condone, or aid and abet, their goals are Marshal Petains and Pierre Lavals of the 1990s.
Alas, President Clinton and members of the 103rd Congress are also accelerating the nation's slide down the slimy slope, by increasing the killings of our developing human beings. Clinton's administration has taken steps to relax or eliminate even the limited restraints on abortion, supported by the Reagan and Bush regimes. Members of Congress have introduced bills to bolster this calamitous crime against humanity.
Having made his case, Publius IV hoped that the Supreme Court could be brought to undo its horrendous judicial mistake. Copies, of the first 63 RESPONSIBILITY essays, were sent to the Chief and Associate Justices in September 1992. Upon reading of the coming retirement of Justice White, who had taken such a strong stand against the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, the author sent the then 65 Responsibility papers to him in March and April 1993. There have been no acknowledgments of the correspondence, nor any public evidence of action by the Court.
On the subject of immorality, the reader is referred to Responsibility #16 through #19, #21, #27, #28 and #65.
Appointments/Nominations/Confirmations. It has been demonstrated again, with the coming into power of the Clinton presidency, that the spoils system of appointments by the executive branch is a decided detriment to good government. A new administration goes weeks and months without a full roster in the positions subject to presidential appointments.
For the limited number of positions for which nominations and confirmations are quickly achieved, the new officials usually take weeks or months to get their feet fully on the ground. With the positions, holders from the previous administration having departed the scene; with most new holders of positions not selected, nominated, and confirmed well after swearing-in of the new President; and with the time it takes new holders of positions to get up to speed in their new responsibilities; the new President is inhibited, if not precluded, from firming up his policies and programs, and timely communicating them to each executive agency, the Congress, and the people.
Until late in the 19th century, nearly all federal employees were subject to the spoils system. Laws were established over the decades, that now place most positions in the Civil Service System, where they are essentially safe from political turnover. However hundreds of positions are non-career appointments, where the officers serve at the pleasure of the President, or the heads of departments. All are treated as positions, that may be filled as pay-offs for working for the election of the President, and for the "dues" paid to the political party of the President. The spoils practice is given credit, for the stability of the Democratic and Republican parties. But at what a cost!
To rid our nation of this detriment to good government, it is recommended:
1. All appointments be made for the duration of the presidential term plus 6 months.
2. For those appointments which are subject to "the advice and consent" of the Senate, the President be required to show cause why the replacement officer should be preferred over the incumbent. The intent being to preclude spoils appointments, and to retain continuity and experience of well-performing incumbents, to the maximum extent consistent with presidential prerogatives.
3. For those "inferior officers" whose appointments by law have been vested by the Congress "in the President alone, .... or in the heads of departments", the appropriate committees of the Congress exercise their oversight responsibilities to achieve the similar intent.
The fourth postcript will be continued in the next essay.
Publius IV
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