America's Constitution Under Assault

Our Constitution hangs by a thread, under the assault of those who have sworn to defend and uphold it. If those who have sworn to defend and uphold the Constitution will not, then who will? More importantly, who can? When our elected officials lay siege to our Constitution, there is little that the average run-of-the-mill American can do to stop them.

The framework established by the Constitution provides a system of checks and balances among the three co-equal branches of government to keep any one branch from becoming too powerful or running amok on our Liberties. But the Constitution defines the structure for these checks and balances within the government itself. In other words, the Constitution provides no legal means (aside from periodic elections) for the citizens of the United States to defend the Constitution by removing from office those who would commit no crime other than disregarding the Constitution. The exception is the 18 states (and District of Columbia) whose laws permit the recall of an elected official, but many of those require the official to have been caught in some misconduct or malfeasance. In general, once a Congressman is elected, they have a blank check for the duration of their term. (With this in-mind, you can kind of understand why some citizens think they must resort to threats of violence when their elected officials don't respond to phone calls, letters, and peaceful protests. But, I digress.)

In addition, the "Coattail Effect" can often lead to a situation wherein a de-facto alliance is developed between the Executive and Legislative branches of government that prevents these two branches from checking or balancing one another. We saw this in 2008: Barack Obama was a very popular Presidential candidate, and many people who now occupy the House and Senate owe their election to Barack Obama. Don't think that Obama is not acutely aware of this fact. And I absolutely believe this has already played a part in at least one legislative vote. When this alliance puts the Constitution in their crosshairs, the only means left to defend the Constitution are the threat of electoral defeat (slow) and the Judicial branch (also slow). When time is of the essence, as it is now, both are inadequate for the defense of the Constitution. Moreover, consider that Federal courts are filled with individuals who have been placed there by the Legislative-Executive alliance.

I submit that when the Constitution is under assault, as it is now, the Constitution does not provide adequate protection for itself. We must step in and defend it, as it has done (and continues to do) for our Liberties. I have some ideas on defending the Constitution, but for the sake of brevity, I will conclude this post for now, and continue the topic soon. If you have any ideas how we can legally defend our Constitution against our elected officials, I'd like to see whatever comments you may have.