We are at a remarkable moment. We have an open, 2,000-mile border to our south, and the entity with the power to enforce the law and impose safety and order will not do it. Wall Street collapsed, taking Main Street’s money with it, and the government can’t really figure out what to do about it because the government itself was deeply implicated in the crash, and both political parties are full of people whose political careers have been made possible by Wall Street contributions. Meanwhile we pass huge laws, bills so comprehensive, omnibus and transformative that no one knows what’s in them and no one””literally, no one””knows how exactly they will be executed or interpreted. Citizens search for new laws online, pore over them at night, and come away knowing no more than they did before they typed “dot-gov.”
It is not that no one’s in control. Washington is full of people who insist they’re in control and who go to great lengths to display their power. It’s that no one takes responsibility and authority. Washington daily delivers to the people two stark and utterly conflicting messages: “We control everything” and “You’re on your own.”
All this contributes to a deep and growing alienation between the people of America and the government of America in Washington.
I love Peggy Noonan’s gutsy incisiveness, and how she blasts the Republicans just as much as the Democrats for abdicating responsibility for solving our nation’s intolerable illegal immigration problems. I think she’s dead on target in saying that both parties shrink back from cracking down seriously on the massive and continuing numbers of illegal immigrants streaming across our southern border because it would cost them dearly in terms of losing the mushrooming Hispanic vote, possibly for decades or generations.
Her idea of granting citizenship to eligible illegal immigrants after two years of military or public service is a great, pragmatic suggestion worth considering. And it’s noteworthy that this scathing article comes from a devout Roman Catholic, who is well aware that Hispanics are infusing lots of new life into the Catholic Church in this country and crucial to its future here.
But the deep and growing alienation she warns of between much of the electorate and their representatives in Washington is a very real and present danger. We’ll see how much of that alienation and anger gets expressed this fall with the midterm elections.
David Handy+
There are no simple solutions to our current problem of government reacting only feeding to the perceived instantanous whim of the people. We have come to the circumstance Ronald Reagan described government to be analgous to a baby who has an insatiable appetite at one end and no control at the other. Complexity from many additional meddlings over the years stipulated, the rood of our current problems, IMNHO originated with the adoption of the 17th Amendment.
The 17th Amendment was conceived in the latter part of the 19th century as an implementing piece of the Progressive agenda. The Progressives believed American government was incapable of adapting to the Progressives’ wants for radical change of the country. As the Senate was beholden to their state legislature’s wishes against the House of Representative’s nearly instantaneous reaction to the “will of the people” the Senate was truly the moderating, some would say stifling, influence in the legislative process. The 17th Amendment moved along by the new Democrat majority in both houses seated 1910 paved the way for the Woodrow Wilson, the Progressive Architect, to cheer in its ratification in 1913.
Today we reap the fruits of Wilson’s Progressive agenda. Unless the organization of Congress is restored to the founder’s Federalist system so damaged by the 17th Amendment, restraint on spending is not within the power of this or any Congress whose members must pander to the populace to gain and keep their seats.
The Judiciary has been indirectly, but adversely affected by the 17th Amendment, as well. The Senate knows what is required of the federal courts to support its fiscal needs and so encourages the appointment of judicial appointess who won’t moderate the ‘wild rocking’ of the out-of-control spending ‘boat.’
What we need is more thoughtful, statesmanlike deliberation to produce legislation that is sound in all respects – including fiscal responsibility. The Progressive reconfiguration of Congress removed the internal check and balance established by the Founders and has left us a legislative model that is organizationally incapable of restraining spending. Doesn’t matter whether it is run by R’s or D’s. We have reached the point where the effects of the Progressives’ 17th Amendment quite seriously threaten to bring down our country.
Some will contend that the 17th Amendment added value by making the Congress less plutocratic. For those who believe more democracy is always better, please recall the fate of every pure democracy. Every historic democracy starting with the Greeks of old descended into tyranny or anarchy. The fate of every pure democracy is to be dropped into history’s dustbin.
For a Constitutional Republic to persevere, internal restraint of the government is essential. The republican political form is messy, inefficient, not very responsive to the instant wants of passing factions – yes. Not the ideal of any set of advocates, but far better than all the rest.
Until we somehow fix the travesty of the 17th Amendment any hope of seeing our government exercise fiscal control over itself is a pipe dream.
Add me to the list of those who like what Peggy Noonan has to say. I think she would make an excellent candidate for office. I hear her often on Fox news and she offers critical analysis but with no real axe to grind.
Another excellent article here, from David Harsanyi of the Denver Post. An excerpt:
2, I agree. The 17 Amendment should be repealed. This turned the Senate into a second House of Representatives and upset an elaborate system of checks and balances.