Remedy for Washington gridlock, presidential lies

Justice Robert Jackson, a judge at the Nuremberg trials, said: "It is not the function of the government to stop the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error."

We the people have got to take our country back! One way we can do this is to elect people who will do what they say they will do.

Laura Ingraham wrote in an article, "When Barack Obama said he would get tough with China and renegotiate NAFTA, he was placed into the White House – where he swiftly abandoned those promises and began negotiating even more sovereignty-killing trade deals."

As a matter of fact, Daniel D. Alman from Squirrel Hill has a list of 1,249 well-sourced examples of Obama's lying, lawbreaking, corruption, cronyism, hypocrisy, waste, etc., and the list is still growing.

If a presidential candidate lies about the things we voted for him or her to fulfill, then we should be able to impeach that person. Politicians are known for lying, but we cannot afford the leader of our country to mislead us. So, We the People should force Congress to initiate a law stating when candidates running for president promise the American people, "These are the things I'm going to implement as soon as I'm in office," if they don't, they are a candidate for impeachment. If they don't fulfill their promises, then we should enforce impeachment proceedings. That is the one way we can keep them honest and accountable.

I discovered another way of accomplishing this by reading Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's incredible new book, "Broken but Unbowed." In it, Abbott discusses Article V in the U.S. Constitution, which gives the states power to amend the Constitution.

Article V outlines two methods for amending the Constitution: "The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress …"

To summarize, Article V authorizes two-thirds of state legislators to call for a convention of states where constitutional amendments are proposed and voted on. No amendment becomes effective until it's ratified by three-fourths of the states. It takes 34 states to call for an amendment, and it takes 38 states to ratify and pass an amendment, as outlined in Gov. Abbott's fabulous book.

This path gives states and citizens a greater say in the amendment process. And empowering states to amend the Constitution is a superior way to protect us from federal overreach and to restore federal-state equity and the power of the states (10^th Amendment) as well.

Abbott delivered the keynote address at the Texas Public Policy Foundation's Annual Policy Orientation, where he unveiled his Texas Plan to return the Constitution to its intended purpose and restore the rule of law.

Gov. Abbott couldn't have stated it better: "The increasingly frequent departures from constitutional principles are destroying the rule of law foundation on which this country was built. We are succumbing to the caprice of man that our founders fought to escape. The cure to these problems will not come from Washington, D.C. Instead, the states must lead the way. To do that, I am adding another item to the agenda next session. I want legislation authorizing Texas to join other states in calling for a convention of states to fix the cracks in our Constitution."

To accomplish this, Abbott offered the following constitutional amendments on his official website:

Prohibit Congress from regulating activity that occurs wholly within one state.
Require Congress to balance its budget.
Prohibit administrative agencies – and the unelected bureaucrats who staff them – from creating federal law.
Prohibit administrative agencies – and the unelected bureaucrats who staff them – from preempting state law.
Allow a two-thirds majority of the states to override a U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Require a seven-justice super-majority vote for U.S. Supreme Court decisions that invalidate a democratically enacted law.
Restore the balance of power between the federal and state governments by limiting the former to the powers expressly delegated to it in the Constitution.
Give state officials the power to sue in federal court when federal officials overstep their bounds.
Allow a two-thirds majority of the states to override a federal law or regulation.

If you believe in the above, send it to your state's representatives and let's see if we can't stop the gridlock in Washington and presidential lies once and for all – the old-fashioned way by We the People!

Thomas Jefferson believed that the Constitution should be revisited and rewritten every 19-20 years.

Jefferson wrote James Madison about this:

"Every constitution, then, and every law, naturally expires at the end of nineteen years. If it be enforced longer, it is an act of force, and not of right. It may be said, that the succeeding generation exercising, in fact, the power of repeal, this leaves them as free as if the constitution or law had been expressly limited to nineteen years only. In the first place, this objection admits the right, in proposing an equivalent. But the power of repeal is not an equivalent. It might be, indeed, if every form of government were so perfectly contrived, that the will of the majority could always be obtained, fairly and without impediment. But this is true of no form. The people cannot assemble themselves; their representation is unequal and vicious. Various checks are opposed to every legislative proposition. Factions get possession of the public councils, bribery corrupts them, personal interests lead them astray from the general interests of their constituents; and other impediments arise, so as to prove to every practical man, that a law of limited duration is much more manageable than one which needs a repeal."

– Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1789. ME 7:459, Papers 15:396

Christopher Phillips, an American author, educator and pro-democracy advocate, explained Jefferson's intent to NPR: "His argument was that if Americans weren't vital stakeholders in that foundational document, they would become distanced from governance itself. And the politicians from the president on down would become 'like wolves.'"

Jefferson sure got that right!

Even if you can't agree with every constitutional amendment proposed by Gov. Abbott, we certainly can all agree with Jefferson about this one final bit of advice: "I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government to the genuine principles of its Constitution; I mean an additional article, taking from the federal government the power of borrowing."

Chuck Norris provides real solutions to our county's problems and a way to reawaken the American dream in his best-seller, "Black Belt Patriotism."