The Jefferson Solution

Last week we were all introduced to the “Slaughter Solution;” a procedural method that could be used to get around the requirements of the Constitution to pass a bill without actually voting on it.  I have read a number or articles both defending and condemning the move.

For me any attack on the Constitution needs to met with a swift and overwhelming response.  Most of us picked up the phone and called our representatives, and expressed our deep concerns to some nameless staffer who took down our information and promised to relay our frustrations to our congressman or congresswoman.  I have already done this twice so far this week.  Some have emailed lengthy rants to their representatives about how the Democrats are trying to destroy the Republic using unconstitutional procedures.  Ok I did that too.  It has been somewhat of a frustrating week for many of us and when I get this frustrated I turn to God and the Founders.

God sustains me and the Founders feed me.  I was thinking about how we have drifted so far away from the basic principles that this country was built on.  How we have let the enemies of liberty into the halls of congress to decide our fate.  The more I thought about the “Slaughter Solution” the angrier I became at myself for allowing it to reach this point.  You see I had become complacent as a citizen of this great country.  I failed to act when I saw the forces of progressivism creep back into our political arena.  I viewed it as a passing political fad that would never find traction in the United States of America.  How wrong I was.  I totally underestimated these forces that hid in the shadows, waiting for the right crisis to hit.  What looked like a fad, ended up being a well organized machine; a machine seeping with radicalism and one goal; to transform the United States into a wealth redistributive society.  This brings us to the real crisis; a Constitutional crisis we face today, that just might change the face of America forever.

So tonight I decided to turn to my favorite radical.  No not Saul Alinsky.  But a radical that stood up against tyranny and defiantly declared, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness;” Thomas Jefferson.  Thomas Jefferson is my favorite Founding Father for a number of reasons, too many to discuss in this post.  But the one thing I admire the most about this man is that he was an ardent supporter of states’ rights and limited government.  He embraced the notion that the people were the masters and the politicians were the servants.  This is the type of statesman we need now; a statesman that will stand up for the people.

I opened one of my books on Thomas Jefferson and found a few quotes that might provide us with our own solution to the problems we face with our Congress and Executive branch of government.  Please read with a clear mind and determined spirit.

I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master. Could the contrary of this be proved I should conclude either that there is no God or that He is a malevolent being. (1797)

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground. (May 27, 1788)

The God, who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time. (1775)

The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object. (March 1801)

In questions of power let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution. (1798)

A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities. (March 4, 1801)

How have we drifted so far away from this philosophy?  How can we get it back?  Where are the men and women in Congress that will take up the cause for liberty and say enough of this madness?  Perhaps they too should look to the past to find solutions to the problems we face today.  I looked and found the “Jefferson Solution.”  It’s really that simple.

Liberty forever, freedom for all!

Original Post: The Current