The last question is… do we have any members of Congress willing to cut their own workload, paycheck and pension by dissolving bureaucracies and giving up power they were never meant to wield?
Open letter to my (and every) congressional representative
August 11, 2022 I attended a town hall in Wallowa County, Oregon conducted by Representative Cliff Bentz and there were a few things that came up that need discussion and solutions.
First, it was evident that too many folks have been hoodwinked into believing that the federal seat of power, Washington, D.C., is where they need to go for answers regarding decisions that affect their daily lives.
It doesn't matter what issue was raised whether it was healthcare, which one attendee insisted on adding abortion to that "benefit," drug costs, veteran support, access to grazing leases, energy availability or the millions coming across the southern border, their questions came down to one thing – how will the government manage it and, more importantly, pay for it?
Constitutionally, the only reasons for the federal government to exist is to protect interstate trade and foreign commerce and provide national security
The whole problem with this notion is that the federal government has no business overseeing the majority of these issues.
Constitutionally, the only reasons for the federal government to exist is to protect interstate trade and foreign commerce (the Marines were formed to counter piracy on the high seas) and provide national security. For these reasons were roads built and maintained; armories, forts and customs houses established; and immigration supervised. All other areas of administration from health insurance and education to forest management were never intended to be controlled by a federal apparatus… never.
Representative Bentz said something crucial that was glossed over by the attendees when he noted that every one in the room ought to go to Congress.
Going back to the inception of the House of Representatives, it was originally devised to be an assembly composed of citizens who would take one or two terms to serve in the capital, representing their home districts when considering issues of national security and commerce. Nowhere in the Constitution was there mention that Congress, the President or the Judiciary was apportioned control over citizens' health maintenance, education, land usage, natural resources, wildlife or, believe it or not, individual taxation. Theserights of management were left to the states and individuals under Article 1, Section 8.
Founding principles never included progressive tax
From Toddy Littman, our legal researcher, in an article written in 2012, Founding principles never included progressive tax:
[Go b]ack to the beginning of this country and the Framers' intent, the change of former servants to become masters, and realize that now the reverse has occurred where the elected servants have usurped the role of master. Note that it was the government that amended the Constitution to gather income tax, not the People. The purpose of the 1913 beginning of this boondoggle was to collect money to fund projects and entitlements that were neverdesignated under the Constitution.
Article 1, Section 8:Congress having the power to tax, etc. "to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States."
This is the definition of "welfare" used within the context of the United States Constitution (note the designation specific to states):
Welfare: Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary:2. Exemption from any unusual evil or calamity; the enjoyment of peace and prosperity, or the ordinary blessings of society and civil government; applied to states.
Thus were (and are) taxes never to be collected for the purposes of providing education, promoting arts or even providing for the poor, the "welfare" programs, i.e. entitlement programs. Read Jefferson's second inaugural address (fifth paragraph).
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Congress was never meant to undertake the level of governance that it now oversees
Bentz commented how going to Congress as a representative now entails shouldering a huge burden of wading through tens of thousands of pages of legislation that, in order to slog through the reams of paper, it practically requires legal training. Even with that, the work couldn't be accomplished without the assistance of staff with years of experience under their belts.
Herein lies the problem. Congress was never meant to undertake the level of governance that it now oversees. Congress is overworked because it has usurped management of affairs that it has no authority to decide and certainly none to enforce. (By the way, that goes for the executive and judicial branches as well.) Perhaps if most representatives actually carried out duties themselves rather than living the high life on the public dole – 187 reps submitted proxy votes on the $730 Billion "Inflation Reduction Act" that should have been deemed illegally cast after the CDC pulled Covid guidelines giving cover to avoid attendance at the Capitol – unelected staffers wouldn't bear the brunt of the labor.
The management of healthcare, retirement, property management, forests, resources, education and arts (who ever thought the government should have input on the arts?) are left to the People.
The answer to getting Congress back into the hands of citizens willing to go to D.C. for a few years is to divest Congress from the power it's stolen. The same is true for the executive and judicial branches.
Consider that the majority of alphabet agencies, although authorized by legislation, were not commanded to be created and can be dismantled or abolished at the demand of the People the agencies purport to rule.
There is no easy way out of this dilemma
Regulations that do not directly result from what is specified in the Constitution are not law, and federal usurpation of authority over areas of life that are limited by the Constitution is not enforceable. However, nothing will come of this knowledge unless individuals are willing to bypass the pittance they receive from federal programs in exchange for signing away their right to make their own decisions, because that is essentially what's been done.
There is no easy way out of this dilemma. If we want Congress to "get things done" and represent us, we have to retake our position of authority and pare D.C. back to the bare bones role it was meant to have… protecting commerce, our borders and our shores from the enemy, both within and without.
At this point, it will have to be done on the local level. States and counties with the gumption to rule themselves as the Founders intended, will have to take matters into their own hands and send federal agencies and the bureaucrats packing, carting their volumes of regulations with them.
The last question is… do we have any members of Congress willing to cut their own workload, paycheck and pension by dissolving bureaucracies and giving up power they were never meant to wield?
Former newspaper publisher, A. Dru Kristenev, grew up in the publishing industry working every angle of a paper, from ad composition and sales, to personnel management, copy writing, and overseeing all editorial content. During her tenure as a news professional, Kristenev traveled internationally as a representative of the paper and, on separate occasions, non-profit organizations. Since 2007, Kristenev has authored five fact-filled political suspense novels, the Baron Series, and two non-fiction books, all available on Amazon. Carrying an M.S. degree and having taught at premier northwest universities, she is the trustee of Scribes’ College of Journalism, which mission is to train a new generation of journalists in biblical standards of reporting. More information about the college and how to support it can be obtained by contacting Kristenev at cw.o@earthlink.net.
ChangingWind (changingwind.org) is a solutions-centered Christian ministry.
August 11, 2022 I attended a town hall in Wallowa County, Oregon conducted by Representative Cliff Bentz and there were a few things that came up that need discussion and solutions.
First, it was evident that too many folks have been hoodwinked into believing that the federal seat of power, Washington, D.C., is where they need to go for answers regarding decisions that affect their daily lives.
It doesn't matter what issue was raised whether it was healthcare, which one attendee insisted on adding abortion to that "benefit," drug costs, veteran support, access to grazing leases, energy availability or the millions coming across the southern border, their questions came down to one thing – how will the government manage it and, more importantly, pay for it?
