The U.S. Constitution established a form of government that gave direct
governing power to a small minority over the American people at-large.
Power was structured from top-down, as opposed to the taxpayers who
financed it from the bottom-up, an oligarchical system that favored
influential money interests and leaned toward elitism.
This, despite the words of one of the nation's most quoted founders,
Thomas Jefferson;
"I know of no safe depository of the
ultimate powers of society but the
people themselves."
And further...
"...if we think them not enlightened
enough to exercise control with a
wholesome direction, the remedy is
not to take it from them, but to inform
their discretion."
But the power to enact or repeal the laws of American society was not
vested in the people. Rather, it was constitutionally reserved to
powerholders, and secrecy in government became commonplace for lack of
specific constraint.
The general population was disempowered from directly initiating and
voting for change in the Constitution by Article V, which placed the
determination of Amendments in the hands of federal and state
politicians only;
"The Congress, whenever two-thirds
of both Houses shall deem it necessary,
shall propose Amendments to this
Constitution, or, on the Application
of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the
several States, shall call a Convention
for proposing Amendments."
Neither could Americans at-large initiate a direct popular vote on
proposed laws. By contrast, Californians could directly initiate general
voting on statutes as well as their State Constitution;
Section 8. (b)
"An initiative may be proposed to the
Secretary of State that sets forth the
text of the proposed statute or amend-
ment to the Constitution and is certified
to have been signed by electors..."
Americans were further disempowered by having no provision in the U.S.
Constitution that provided for Congress to submit proposed statutes to a
vote of the people at-large as by referendums.
The imbalance of national power resulted in an imbalance in U.S.
principles, policies and programs, domestic and international. Rather
than reflecting the majority of Americans at-large, they most frequently
carried out the desires of minority money interests, which often were
not the popular will, as these Grievances show to a candid world;
"The chance of baking a good cake in
a faulty oven is slim."
Dollars & cents held greater power than common sense. Americans
at-large had no direct voice in the U.S. liberal-conservative insiders
aliignment referred to in Bill Kauffman's book "America First" (1995);
"Henceforth, the armed forces...are
to plant, with trowel and bayonet, the
seeds of capitalist democracy in all
the countries of the world, even those
whose native customs are inimical to
Western Democracy."
Nor did Americans at-large have a balance of power regarding such huge
expenditures of their tax dollars as $4.5 billion for a single
nuclear-powered Navy aircraft carrier, that common sense said had more
to do with profiting defense industries than in defending the nation.
By the end of the 20th century, lawmaking for 260 million Americans, and
influence over much of the world, was in the hands of 535 politicians in
Congress, and defacto lawmaking, with powers of life and death over much
of the world, was in the hands of a single politician, the President.
All were easy centralized targets for controllers and manipulators of
government power through elections and lobbying.
Due to constitutional vagueness and ambiguity, the power of the
President slowly grew to the point where social commentator Dr. Laura
Schlessinger, reacting to sexual improprieties of Bill Clinton, called
for a role model in the office;
"How naive not to imagine or realize
that the quality of a persons character
is, in addition to his intellect and exper-
ience, necessary for the proper fulfill-
ment for those tasks."
A federal judge found Clinton "in contempt of court for intentionally
false" testimony, but there was no constitutional means for the people
at-large to directly remove him short of a four-year term. There was no
constitutional provision for a "recall" election.
By extension of unbalanced power, the U.S. government was instrumental
in creating such powerful unelected bodies as the United Nations,
International Monetary Fund, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization, non
of which offered even a pretense of democratic processes in
decision-making.
Centralization of power in the U.S. government represented the opposite
philosophy of Individuality;
"The truly civilized government is
that which is balanced by individual
franchise."
George Mason University Professor and newspaper columnist Walter E.
Williams noted a practical consideration;
"The bulk of knowledge and information
to conduct our lives is held locally among
millions of individuals, not centrally among
bureaucrats."
Top-down governing power by a relatively small number of politicians and
money interests was tantamount to bondage for everybody else, and the
Constitution locked out Americans at-large from correcting the injustice
directly.
With an AUTHENTIC CONSTITUTION in harmony with the natural
Cosmic Laws of the universe, and producing High Moral Values and
Democratic Ideals, equal opportunity of all individuals to vote directly on
U.S. government principles, policies and programs is guaranteed for a balance
of power.
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