Limit Federal Spending

Roadmap for Constitutional Recovery

Although the founders of this great country tried to leave us with a federal government of strictly defined and limited powers, it has grown almost beyond constitutional recognition due to abuses in a few major areas: money, taxation, legislative, and judicial. We are all now paying a high price for things that should never have happened if the U.S. Constitution had been followed. We’ll explore these areas, and some possible solutions.

Money
There is nothing that impacts everyone’s life more than a country’s currency.Today we have a completely “un-backed” paper currency that has lost over 90% of its value since it was introduced in 1913. These “magical” pieces of paper masquerade as “dollars.” But if this is really true, then why are silver coin “dollars” so obviously more valuable to anyone than the pieces of paper that also claim to be “dollars?”

The two major clauses in the constitution concerning money are Article I, Section 8, which gives the federal congress the power to “coin money and regulate the value thereof,” and Article I, section 10, which prohibits any state from making “any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.” The states delegated to the federal government their right to coin money, but reserved the right to determine its substance,which was strictly limited to gold and silver. These provisions are there because the founders had already experienced the abuses of “paper money” by the then-existing states and knew the history of paper currency always ended in disaster.

Today, we not only have gold “prices” at all time highs, but U.S. currency at all-time lows against every other major currency in the world. Even the Taj Mahal of India (home of the humble Rupie currency) recently stopped accepting U.S. paper “money” because of its serious devaluation! Could this be a sign of serious trouble?

Taxation
Up to the turn of the 19th century, the federal government not only existed on, but many times had budget surpluses from, excise and import taxes.There was no standing “income tax” until 1913, and no payroll “withholding” until the 1940’s. Through stealthy abuse of the power of taxation, the federal government has grown to the monstrosity it is today.

The federal constitution recognizes two broad classes of taxation: direct and indirect.While all “indirect”(excise) taxes must be uniform across the country, all “direct”taxes must be “apportioned among the several states,” and “in proportion to the census.” (Article I, Section 2, (para 3); and Section 9 (para 4)). The writers of the constitution had actually set up a system where the general public would never see a federal tax collector. Instead, the states would collect any “direct tax” federal revenue and pass it on the federal government. If this system was followed, do you think there would be a dramatic shift in the balance of state and federal power? (Remember, whoever has the money gets to make the rules?) By fostering an income tax (among others) directly on the people (with highly questionable authority), the federal government has switched the natural balance of power that would otherwise exist, and has the states bowing down (to the very government they created) in order to get their share of “federal revenue” doled back to them.What sort of sense does that make?

Legislative & Judicial Abuse
Until FDR and the Great Depression, people understood the limited powers of the federal government and, more important, the courts enforced them. Prior to the mid-1930’s, the Supreme Court routinely struck down attempted federal power grabs such as federal license taxing schemes, attempts to exercise police powers within the states, and attempts to control such things as manufacturing, mining, agriculture, construction, etc., within the states. Even the equivalent to today’s Social Security scheme was recognized by the Supreme Court as unauthorized and unconstitutional back then.

This prior scheme involved “taxing”railroad workers to “pay” railroad retirees. In May 1935, the Supreme Court held that act to be unconstitutional in Railroad Retirement Board v. Alton R. Co., 295 U.S. 330 (1935).The crucial part of this decision not only found that the “federales” lacked the power to adopt this ‘social security’ act, but it also indicated that a vast array of social programs were equally beyond the power of Congress. In this decision the court held “the Act denies due process of law by taking the property of one and bestowing it upon another.” It also stated “There is no warrant for taking the property or money of one and transferring it to another without compensation, whether the object of the transfer be to build up the equipment of the transferee or to pension its employees.” P. 357. This decision has never been overturned.

So what’s the difference between that (Ponzi) scheme and the current Social Security (Ponzi) scheme.There is none — other than the judges back then understood a clearly defined line of where federal power ended. Then, along came FDR’s “New Deal” ideology.

The main obstacle to FDR’s “New Deal”socialist ideology legislative proposals was the U.S. Supreme Court. In case after case, the court held these legislative schemes to be beyond federal power, including the National Recovery Act. In a frustrated response to the rulings, FDR stunned even his own political party by proposing a bill that would have allowed him to pack the court with five new appointees (almost the same number of justices already there). In apparent response, the court softened its hard-line and in short order began “magically” proclaiming new legislative proposals to be constitutional such as the Labor Relations Act and the Social Security Act.Through retirements and deaths of the justices from 1937-1941, FDR appointed 8 new liberal judges to the Court. For a more comprehensive analysis as to how 12 Supreme Court decisions radically expanded government and eroded freedom, get a copy of the recently released book THE DIRTY DOZEN (by Levy and Mellor) from bookstores or www.cato.org/dirtydozen.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
Money
The ultimate solution to this issue will most likely be through political action. But since it is unlikely the federal government will abide by its duty to provide the type of currency mandated by the constitution any time in the near future, people must take their own steps to protect their assets and wealth from an obviously devaluing fiat currency.Why go down with a sinking ship if you don’t have to?

One obvious thing is to put some savings and investments into precious metals, especially coins. As opposed to government manipulated paper, these metals have a centuries-long history of being a reliable store of value. Another (probably less obvious) thing to do is to put those same resources into foreign currencies such as the Euro, British Pound, Japanese Yen, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar, or even the Australian Dollar. These can be obtained at any currency exchange and some banks. Also, to the extent you can, contract for whatever payments possible in precious metal coins and/or foreign currencies.Ultimately, money is not what some government tries to force on the public but what the public decides it is.

Taxation
Issue #5 of this magazine exposed in detail the federal income tax for the scam it is, the controversy over the authority for it, and why it is not needed to fund the government.This subject has actually been around for awhile, and people’s reactions over the years have been everything from simply questioning government officials to participating in the “underground economy.” Whatever your reaction may be, a great idea is located at the website http://www.takeyourmoneyback.com/. It contains a simple petition to send to your elected officials letting them know that if they don’t support abolishing the confiscatory so-called “income tax,” you will be actively seeking their replacement by someone who will do so. Also join the
Truth Attack at www.truthattack.org. There is no question that this highly questionable and confusing “tax”must “officially” be demolished and eliminated.

Legislative & Judicial Abuse
There’s good news and bad news for dealing with the legislative and judicial abuses.The bad news is the process will not be something that occurs overnight. It took several years for the political ideology to get where it is today, and will take some time to reverse it. We also already know the solution does will not lie in the federal courts — at least until new judges are installed who are willing to rule according to the limitations that are actually imposed by the federal constitution.

The good news is the revolutionary process has already begun. It has at least materialized in the form of thousands of grassroots ‘meet-up’ groups that autonomously formed all over the country to support the Ron Paul presidential campaign and his ideology of a limited federal government.

Paul has ignited a huge fire of ideological revolution in a lot of people that will last far beyond any election in 2008. Paul supporters have absolutely invaded the Republican party, even to the point of scaring the existing party “powers that be.” They are also running for public offices and supporting those running for office who have the ideology of getting the federal government back to its proper constitutional limitations. Many of the groups are extremely well organized and effective. Go to www.ronpaul2008.comto find your local group.

At the end of April 2008, Paul released his latest book entitled REVOLUTION: A MANIFESTO. It sold out in mere hours at some bookstores, and quickly rose to the top of Amazon’s non-fiction list where it will get even more public notice. If you have not gotten your copy yet, get it (along with some of the other books Paul has written). This is spreading more of the ideological change necessary for a revolution.

Of course, it is always more effective to fight any battle by joining with others who share your views. Individuals simply cannot do everything on their own. One of my favorites is the Institute For Justice (www.ij.org), a public interest litigation organization that is on the forefront of defending our economic, free speech, school choice, and other rights. Another to consider joining and supporting is the We The People Foundation, at www.givemeliberty.org, a group very active in petitioning the federal government for change on the issues of taxation, money, war powers, “clean” elections and more. Also, get involved with Downsize DC, located at www.downsizedc.org. As their name suggests, they are attacking the size and illegal activities of the federal government on many fronts.

YOUR ULTIMATE AUTHORITY
The founders of the constitution did not trust government officials with the ultimate enforcement of any legislative edicts. Instead, they put that power in the hands of the people in the form of the right to trial by jury. It only takes one person on a jury to vote “not guilty,”and stop some of the government’s worst machinery. The era of “Prohibition”was ended when jurors refused to convict anymore — regardless of what any legislative edicts might say.

The same power still exists in the people today.The problem is judges falsely tell jurors something to the contrary, by having jurors “swear” to “follow the law as described by the judge.” If this were really true, then we would probably still have Prohibition, slavery, Jim Crow laws, and who knows how many other obnoxious problems that were effectively abolished by jurors refusing to convict. If you are ever selected for jury duty, simply play along with the judge’s game until you get into that jury deliberation room.You can then vote your conscience not only on the facts but also on the law. If it’s a federal case and you can’t see where in the constitution the particular law at issue is authorized, you should vote “not guilty,” regardless of what the facts might be. This is your right and your power to reign-in a federal government that is simply out of control.

The revolution has already started.Will you be part of it?

By Dave Wellington