Young Americans for Liberty – Ole Miss Chapter

By listening to the current political debates in this country, one would believe that America has turned into a forest of wolves. Should we have a public healthcare option, should we send more troops to Afghanistan, should we curb executive compensation, etc. These questions, unfortunately, seem to hinge on the idea that America is a democracy. The democratic form of government is a complex creature. It is regarded today as the American form of government, which the rest of the world should strive to emulate. However, this form of government touted as civilization’s greatest accomplishment by our leaders today was despised by those who founded our country.

True liberty activists describe democracy as the worst form of government imaginable for one major reason: the majority always gets their way. The American system of governance was formed to keep government under control. Congress was given the power to vote on specific issues, and the rest were left up to the states or the people to decide. Article 1 Section 8 of the US Constitution lists 18 powers on which Congress has the authority to legislate. There are only 18 powers because the founders did not want a government that could vote on anything they wished. However, due to deceptive propaganda, most Americans believe our government to be ruled by majority vote, and that Congress has the authority to vote on anything the majority finds necessary.

There is no better example I can find to illustrate my point than the sidewalk chalk I saw today urging our student body to support a public option for healthcare reform. The statistic given to persuade us into supporting the 1,990 page healthcare legislation is that 66% of Americans support the reform and want to see a public insurance company compete with private insurers. This message, of course, assumes that what the majority of Americans want should be made into law. What it doesn’t take into consideration is that the Constitution has limited the government’s power to legislate on this issue. It doesn’t matter how many Americans support a public option for our healthcare system, the Constitution simply doesn’t grant Congress the right to create one. The genius of our Constitution isn’t what it says but what it doesn’t say. It was written to protect the minority from the tyrannical wishes of the majority. Even today, we see members of our society trying to subvert the minority voters into accepting legislation that doesn’t offer, what they believe to be, a solution.

However, will the Constitution stop these sidewalk-chalkers from trying to ignore the wishes of the minority and force them to live under a healthcare system that is counter to their wishes? I would have to say no. We must remember we live under a two-party system of governance. No doubt those writing on the sidewalk in support of unconstitutional healthcare bills are democrats. We should all be very aware by now that the Democratic Party is no defender of our Constitution.

However, republicans share in the blame as well. Take the Iraq War, for instance. During the debate over whether or not to invade Iraq, the truly noble and courageous Congressman Ron Paul mentioned that giving the president the authority to invade a country without a formal declaration of war was unconstitutional. He was quickly told that Congress does not abide by that section of the Constitution anymore. Soon after that, the Congress issued an illegal authorization of military force to President Bush. Alberto Gonzales later testified there was no formal declaration of war for Iraq. Therefore, republicans, who are quick to point out when President Obama is turning our country into a socialist state by violating the fundamental beliefs this country was founded on, violated one of the fundamental beliefs this country was founded on by invading the sovereign country of Iraq without a declaration of war. Of course, today the democrats are violating that same belief by continuing to wage an illegal war in Afghanistan. Obama is even contemplating sending more troops to fight in a war that was never legally declared by our Congress.

Of course, healthcare and the wars are not the only issues that democrats and republicans ignore when it comes to our Constitution. The constitutional authority surrounding the Patriot Act, bank bailouts, abortion, education, state sovereignty, and the drug war, along with a host of other topics, are all ignored at the convenience of the democrats and republicans. Even though there is a method to changing the Constitution, neither party wishes to use it. If we truly want more wars and more government run healthcare, we must change the Constitution. If not, then I suggest both parties begin acknowledging their constitutional limits.