An American Agenda

My fellow citizens:

SOMETHING HAS BEEN LOST, and it must be found.  “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”  Thus, Thomas Jefferson reminds us of what we forget at our peril:  Knowledge is the foundation of the American Republic.

     By remembering who and what we are, this nation can complete the mission Alexander Hamilton   described on the first page of The Federalist Papers.

      

     “It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really    capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force.”

     “Reflection and choice” or “accident and force”?  The stakes are high.

     The nation that masters the interplay between domestic and foreign affairs—with the economy on the cusp—commands the future.  And, in the nature of things, a republic has a better chance of getting the right balance and blend.  But first one has to exist.    

     The lofty principle about “governments…deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” must be put into practice.  And Thomas Paine noted its significance.

     “The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected.  To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery, for slavery consists in being subject to the will another, and he that has not a vote in the election of representatives is in this case.”

     According to Article IV, Section 4, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government,” which is clarified through brief remarks by James Madison.  “A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place….”  (The Federalist Papers, No. 10 and No. 39 provides a longer definition)

     Relying on the Constitution itself is a powerful response beyond the remains of the Voting Rights Act.  The Executive can go to a District Court and couple Article IV, Section 4 with Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment.  Fusion that is the true nuclear option.  But the time has come to threaten recalcitrant States with loss of representation in the House, which simply adheres to the old adage—Where there is a right, there is a remedy.

     Internal and external threats can be met.  Separate Federal paper ballots are needed to insure the integrity of the voting booth, which shall be maintained by a simple rule:  Count, by hand, where cast—before the public, the press, and the parties.

     The contours of the campaign are clear.  National security, properly understood, is the issue.

     “A foreign government messing around in our elections is, I think, an existential threat to our way of life,” said Michael J. Morrell, former Acting Director of Central Intelligence.  “To me, and this is to me not an overstatement,” he said, “this is the political equivalent of 9/11.”

  

     The Russian Connection gets all the attention, but what also had an impact on the election was Operation Crosscheck.  And while that may sound like the authorization included plausible denial—“As always, should you or any member of the I.M. Force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions”—it was a domestic effort to deny certain American citizens their right to vote.

     Kris Kobach, the Secretary of State of Kansas, was the commander.  His faulty list of approximately 7 million voters was used by GOP counterparts in 27 States to remove Democratic or Democratic-leaning voters from the rolls by claiming they were voting in multiple States.  A first and last name was enough for a match.  Jr. & Sr. did not matter, nor middle names, nor different Social Security numbers.

     “The program’s method of identifying and purging voters especially threatens the registrations of minority voters who are…67% more likely than white voters to share America’s most common names: Jackson, Washington, Lee, Rodriguez and so on,” according to Greg Palast.

     In the three crucial States that were supposed to be the Democratic firewall, the gentleman from New York “won” by 44,000 in Pennsylvania, 11,000 in Michigan, and 23,000 in Wisconsin.  Crosscheck removed up to 344,000 in the first and 449,000 in the second.  In the third, Photo ID, which is used to stop non-existent “voter fraud,” made the difference by depressing turnout in Milwaukee.  Thus, the 20 electoral votes in Pennsylvania, 16 in Michigan, and 10 in Wisconsin went to the Republican instead of Mrs. Clinton.  And so, the legitimacy of the gentleman from New York goes beyond the question of foreign influence.

     The misunderstood, misrepresented, and misused Electoral College has two functions.  They are popular choice and national security.

 

     At the time of the Federal Convention, there was no way to reduce, as James Madison noted, “the   different qualifications in the different States to one uniform rule.”  (The Federalist Papers, No. 52)  But that barrier has been removed.  Thus, the complete transition from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution is at hand.  For the original intention is clear.  “The President of the United States,” as Alexander Hamilton noted, “would be an officer elected by the people.”  (The Federalist Papers, No. 69)  And the National Popular Vote would insure the protection of popular choice—for reasons of national security.

     The contours of the campaign are clear.  National security, properly understood, is the issue, and the definition is hardly mysterious.  Its key elements are in plain sight, as they have been for over two centuries, in Article I, Section 8, Clause 1—taxes, debt management, the common defense, and the general welfare.  Thus, it cannot be denied that the Framers understood domestic and foreign affairs and the economy are intertwined.

     “Taxation without representation is tyranny” was one objection to be overcome during the Revolution.  Yet there was also opposition when the situation changed, as if to say, “Taxation with representation is terrible.”  But after attempts to reach an accommodation failed, President Washington mounted up and reviewed the Militia “called into the actual service of the United States” to put down the insurrection known as the Whiskey Rebellion, making it clear that taxes are the dues of citizenship, and they have to be paid.  (Article II, Section 2, Clause 1)  For the cry during the troubles with King George III was “No taxation without representation,” not “No taxation.”

     The President who had the first income tax fades away as the apostle of tax cuts steps forward.  The party of Lincoln has forgotten him but remembers Reagan.  The party of TR, who supported progressive taxation and the estate tax and conservation, favors the flat tax, hereditary wealth, and denies climate change.  The supposed party of fiscal responsibility is out of touch with physical reality.  And their insurrection is the Whiners Rebellion.

     History tells the tale, and the numbers tell the truth.  The purpose of taxation is to raise revenue for Government operations in a manner consistent with the system it supports.  Concentrated wealth, which tends toward monopoly in economics and politics, and usually benefits a minority, is antithetical to a republican form of government that exists to “promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”  Effective taxation provides inoculation against such a threat to national security.

     Sufficient revenue is the first principle of tax reform, not “revenue neutral.”  The measure must take into account the recent tax cuts, the wars unpaid for, the corporations which benefited from them, and then set appropriate rates to restore the status quo ante—the surplus and paying off the national debt.  In the interest of bipartisanship via a time warp, let us examine progressive and estate taxes.

     “No man should receive a dollar unless that dollar has been fairly earned.  Every dollar received should represent a dollar’s worth of service rendered—not gambling in stocks, but service rendered.  The really big fortune, the swollen fortune, by the mere fact of its size acquires qualities which differentiate it in kind as well as in degree from what is possessed by men of relatively small means.  Therefore, I believe in a graduated income tax on big fortunes, and in another tax which is far more easily collected and far more effective—a graduated inheritance tax on big fortunes, properly safeguarded against evasion, and increasing rapidly in amount with the size of the estate.”

     So said Theodore Roosevelt.

     Corporations cannot claim to be persons and then pay less than flesh and blood people because of a privileged position at odds with the Revolution.  The Constitution’s prohibition on granting any titles of nobility—a step toward equality—was not about a label but the display of distinctive traits, hereditary succession and an enormous disparity of wealth.  (Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 & Section 10, Clause 1)  Otherwise the “artificial aristocracy,” of which Thomas Jefferson spoke, whether actual or artificial persons, becomes de facto royalty, a way to make the world safe for feudalism or mercantilism, as was the case with the East India Company.

     Corporations must be subject to a head tax so that, regardless of tax credits, they make a minimum payment.  And, unlike real human beings, they do not possess “unalienable rights.”  But corporations have duties.  Executive action must be taken in regard to offshore parking and inversions, for they must be viewed as tax evasion.  Senator Sanders’s bill to stop them from getting Government contracts, when they use a phony overseas address, is another way of getting their attention.

     From 1914-1966, a Wall Street transaction tax was in effect and it needs to be reinstated, perhaps based on the average State sales tax throughout the Union.  To prevent a reoccurrence of the events which contributed to the Great Recession, the President must have standby authority to increase the regular tax by up to ten percent.

      Social Security can be made solvent and sustainable by two related adjustments.  First, adopt a Carter Administration proposal that would use general revenue, if unemployment reaches a certain rate, to make up for the projected shortfall.  Second, raise the income ceiling.  Not doing so makes the payroll tax regressive.

     A critical factor respecting income inequality is ignored.  Too often, taxation is discussed, understandably, in terms of details—rates, credits, depreciation.  But the question of sovereignty must not be overlooked:  Is the GOP’s States’ rights position a cover for divide and conquer?  For the party that is opposed to centralization of power, specifically, in the Federal Government, whose policies they abhor, has no problem applauding that condition—in economics and politics—when created by a corporation.  Accordingly, there must be acknowledgement and action as to the impact of tax policy in that regard.  Furthermore, instead of just the minimum wage, the pay gap between employers and employees must be addressed in terms of the maximum wage—or ratio.

     Taxes were necessary “to pay the debts…of the United States” because, according to Article VI, “All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.”  As Secretary of the Treasury Hamilton observed in a report to the House of Representatives:

     “If the maintenance of public credit, then, be truly so important, the next enquiry which suggests itself is:  By what means is it to be effected?  The ready answer to which question is, by good faith; by a punctual performance of contracts.  States, like individuals, who observe their engagements, are respected and trusted, while the reverse is the fate of those who pursue an opposite conduct….

     In nothing are appearances of greater moment than in whatever regards credit.  Opinion is the soul of it; and this is affected by appearances as well as realities….”  (Emphasis added.)

     Alexander Hamilton gave force and effect to Article VI.  His measures made meaningful the power “to borrow money on the credit of the United States.”  (Article I, Section 8, Clause 2)  He established the good faith of the nation and gave us our good name.

     Now, when Republicans have a majority in the House, there is a debate over the advantages of debt management versus default, something which was settled in the beginning.  James Madison dismissed “…the pretended doctrine that a change in the form of civil society has the magical effect of dissolving its moral obligations.”  (The Federalist Papers, No. 43, JM on “All debts and engagements”)  So if the original intention was to make our word true, can we now act in a way that makes our word worthless?  And should that even be a consideration?  Section 4 of the Fourteenth Amendment is a reaffirmation of Article VI.  And, therefore, all debts and engagements entered into shall be valid against the United States under the Constitution.

     Although the appearance of an issue has been created by the House Republicans’ periodic threat not to pass the debt ceiling resolution, after careful examination and review, their arguments are, upon mature reflection, as empty as the cupboard of Old Mother Hubbard.  In actuality, there is no debate, if the words of James Madison and the deeds of George Washington and Alexander Hamilton are accepted as precedent.  On the one side of the scale is the debt ceiling, a statutory provision, the technicality of technicalities and of dubious constitutionality.  On the other is the Fundamental Charter itself, The Federalist Papers, the reports of the first Secretary of the Treasury, and Chapter XIV of the Second Treatise of Civil Government.  Therefore, the Executive, if forced to choose between the Constitution and the statute, shall faithfully execute the supreme law of the land.  Accordingly, after giving due notice to the press and the public and a delinquent Congress by a Proclamation on Public Credit, the President would issue an Executive Order on the Means of Extinguishment and invoke the Gephardt Rule.

     In the early days, “the common defense” was a meaningful phrase.  Yet, today, some—who never served in the Armed Forces, the Intelligence Community, or the Diplomatic Corps—are all in favor of the common defense, as long as it is the common people who do the defending.  They want to shoot first and ask questions later.  But diplomacy was not a dead letter to President Washington.  The father of our country used the Proclamation of Neutrality and the Jay Treaty to teach his infant how to walk on the world stage.

     Originally, the common defense was to be a common experience, a constant reminder that citizenship consists of rights and duties.  And while the common defense meant the protection of the Union as a whole, it also concerned that of the several States, as the Second Amendment attests, and referred to a civic duty—active participation in the same. 

     In the old days, David, Alexander, Scipio, Arthur, Henry V, Napoleon, and Washington were in the field with their troops, a place the gentleman from New York will never be found.  For he is the type of guy that will fight to the last drop of your blood.

     Strutting and posing does not a leader nor an effective policy make.  Tough guy schtick is entertainment.  Toughness is a quality of the mind empowered by the spirit.    

     As Secretary of War Henry Knox reminds us in the report President Washington had him send to Congress in support of Universal National Service, much is required of those who aspire to leadership:  “Therefore, it ought to be a permanent rule, that those who in youth decline or refuse to subject themselves to the course of military education, established by the laws, should be considered as unworthy of public trust or public honors, and be excluded therefrom accordingly.”

     Taxes, debt management, and the common defense are the foundation of the general welfare, “the permanent and aggregate interests of the community,” to use Madison’s words—the very reason a republic exists, and which the Knox Report addressed.  (The Federalist Papers, No. 10)  Universal National Service, as envisioned by President Washington and set forth in that message he had the Secretary of War send to Congress, dealt with more than an order of battle.

     “If the United States possess the vigor of mind to establish the first institution, it may reasonably be expected to produce the most unequivocal advantages.  A glorious national spirit will be introduced, with its extensive train of political consequences.  The youth will imbibe of a love of their country; reverence and obedience to its laws; courage and elevation of mind; openness and liberality of  character; accompanied by a just spirit of honor.  In addition to which their bodies will acquire a robustness, greatly conducive to their personal happiness, as well as the defense of their country.  While habit, with its silent, but efficacious operations, will durably cement the system….”

     A return to the national security policy of the Framers will be a blessing—an opportunity to see that no one is left behind—because of jobs, healthcare, and education; and with alternative service available to conscientious objectors, the New American System picks up where Henry Clay left off.  So, it is time to get America moving again.    

     Knowledge is the foundation of the American Republic.  By strengthening the intellectual and the interior lines of defense, Universal National Service increases the synapses and the sinews of our power.  For national security is about survival, and the ability to adapt involves playing to one’s strengths.

     Memories must light the corners of our mind.  According to an ancient Chinese proverb, “The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.”

     If America were a movie, George Washington would be the above the title star.  He was the Commander in Chief of the Continental Forces, the President of the Federal Convention, and the first President of the United States.  He is in a class by himself.  Therefore the airport that serves the Federal City, which honors him, should bear his name—alone.

 

     Treason and patriotism are like oil and water.  They do not mix.  Both are bad for the environment.

     George Washington's endowment rescued Liberty Hall Academy, and it was renamed in his honor.  But after the Civil War and Robert E. Lee’s tenure as president of Washington College, the name was changed to Washington and Lee University.  One was a patriot and the other was a traitor, which does not justify the latter’s elevation.  So, instead, why not honor the man who accompanied the Commander in Chief of the Continental Forces to New England when the troops of the North and South were to be reviewed for the first time?  That gentleman's name was Billy Lee, someone the Father of the Country remembered in his will.  Is that too much to ask of a private college?

     Misty water-colored memories of our history…  Destroying another’s identity is a means of conquest.  For those who do not know who they are offer less resistance.  By definition, a nation of immigrants cannot be an h_ _ _land—a place for a particular ethnic or racial group—also referred to as motherland or fatherland.  “Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuhrer” belongs elsewhere.  But here, we sing The Star Spangled Banner, not H_ _ _land Uber Alles.  Thus, a constitutional phrase provides the proper name for the most recent Cabinet post—the Department of Public Safety, a phrase also used in nine times The Federalist Papers.  (Article I, Section 1, Clause 2)

     Furthermore, Social Security—and Medicare and Medicaid—are not entitlements.  They are insurance—a whole life policy that helps to promote the general welfare.

     Finally, restoration of the fairness doctrine will help in calling things by their proper names.  The broadcast press will not be beyond challenge.  There will be a check on inaccuracy.

     Once established, free states have a tendency to take their liberty for granted.  While enjoying the benefits, some neglect the burdens.  Such an imbalance cannot continue.

     The greatest threat to the survival and the success of liberty is the attitude of those who do not comprehend that the United States of America is a country, not a country club.  For privilege tends toward cognitive dissonance and the fate of Sisyphus.

     The would-be gods are impediments to progress.  Their attitude was revealed in response to Eleanor Roosevelt’s desire to provide indoor plumbing to those who had none.  But those descended from on high wanted to know, How could one then tell the rich from the poor?  “In matters of such simple decency,” the First Lady replied, “we should not be able to tell the rich from the poor.”

     Until we close the gap between the nation’s ideals and the reality, until those who see themselves as more than mere mortals have to bear the burden, until they have to sacrifice, the chatterboxes are not citizens.  But they have been described by T.S. Eliot.   

     We are the hollow men

     We are the stuffed men

     Leaning together

     Headpiece filled with straw.  Alas!   

     These proposals—voting rights and the proper use of the Electoral College; national security, properly understood; Universal National Service; enforcement of the emoluments clause; the importance of names; restoration of the fairness doctrine; and others to “promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity”—constitute a revolution within the framework of law.  They are necessary for what lies ahead.  To travel at warp speed, the ship of state needs good shields and a sound navigation system.  Fellow citizens, it is time to batten down the hatches.

     America is under attack—at home and abroad.  Catastrophe can be avoided and the victory of our values assured.  But preparation is the prerequisite of survival.  And a leader lights the way.

     May God bless all the members of the Armed Forces, the Intelligence Community, and the Diplomatic Corps.  And may God bless the United States of America.

(c)2020 Marvin D. Jones.  All rights reserved.


https://www.nationalpopularvote.com

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/02/681547346/democrats-announce-major-changes-to-u-s-house-rules    [the Gephardt Rule]