Getting out of our government quagmire

Look at the news.  It’s same stuff, different day.  Our national leaders are at odds about everything.  Everyone has an agenda.  If you don’t agree with it, then you must be evil.  A little gridlock is not a bad thing, but gridlock as a way of life has become counterproductive.  How do our elected officials break this gridlock?

I think I know of something that we should all agree upon.  It is the Preamble to the Constitution.  It is sort of the mindset of our government—the why of everything that follows.  Perhaps it might get us moving towards something better than the quagmire that has sullied our statesmanship.

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

More perfect union.  We have many different opinions but one Union.  Quit polarizing our nation.  Realize that you won’t get everything you want, but work together to maintain a strong union.  You all work for the same boss—the people of the United States.  We are tired of your dissension.

Establish justice.  Our justice system is surely the worst ever, except for those in other countries.  Yes, we have some problems, but ours is better than most man-made systems.  That means you have time to focus on other areas right now.

Insure domestic tranquility.  Knock off all the discussion about guns and gun laws.  The Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunters or home defense.  This is the most basic element of liberty provided by our Constitution.  If we want to change something, then let’s have the national discussion and put forth an Amendment to repeal the Second Amendment, but only after we decide as a nation (it is intentionally difficult to amend our supreme law of the land and with good cause) that our government will never be too powerful and too abusive that we must do as our founding fathers did and overthrow it.  Yes, there is a higher price to pay for this liberty today than in the late 18^th century.  We don’t need laws to circumvent this amendment.  We need as a people to affirm it at its current price or repeal it.  Our government has circumvented our constitution too many times.  Change it, embrace it, but don’t ignore it.

Provide for the common defense.  Our service men and women are the very best in the world—the very best.  Our equipment, research and development, and pay should reflect this.  We should never again engage them in an undeclared war.  For over half a century, our nation has gone to war without the backbone to declare it and the mission of our federal government seems to have been to lessen the impact of our wars upon the general population instead of to engage the entire population in winning our declared wars.  War should never be our first course of action, but when we do declare war our enemies should tremble in fear all the way up to the day of their surrender.  NO MORE UNDECLARED WARS!  The Congress of the United States needs to grow a set and step up to their responsibility.  Arm chair quarterbacks are a dime a dozen (even cheaper among the legislature).  We elected men and women to lead, not to second guess. 

Promote the general welfare.  This has been misconstrued to getting everyone on welfare.  We need to get America back to work.  That means that both major parties must set aside their absolutes and do what is best for the American people.  None of you have all the answers.  Together, you have enough answers.  The American people sent you to work on their behalf.  Finger pointing and never-ending rebuttals and vitriolic banter don’t count as work.  Work together for the welfare of our nation or file for unemployment because you are not doing the job for which we hired you.  Promote the general welfare or find yourself on welfare.

Preserve the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.  Tell all special interest groups to take a hike.  They are looking out for their own interests.  You were sent to look out for ours.  If every decision other than giving yourselves a raise each year results in brinkmanship, this union will not continue.  Will you let it crumble on your watch?  It is time to put aside partisan politics and put on the clothing of statesmanship.

Actually, that time has come and gone.  You need to play catch-up.  Realize that we have trusted you with our liberty and the liberty of our grandchildren.  Right now you are getting a D- in the trust department.  That dog don’t hunt!

Remember that our fathers not only established this wonderful constitution; they ordained it.  It is set apart from all the other laws of the land, and if we would look at the magnitude of its purpose and scope, we would see that it is set apart from every other man-made law on the planet.

It is time to live up to the expectations of the electorate and those who ordained this more perfect union.