America's Forum - 'We are the Media!'
June 23, 2010
Serafin Quintanar
This month we celebrate the ratification of the US Constitution back on June 21st of 1788. The Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation as the authorization for the operation of a federal government as the means to facilitate the cooperation between the several sovereign and united states.
Although the federal government was authorized with relatively few responsibilities, it has defaulted on its obligations. Here is one of the most obvious failures of the federal government.
The federal government has failed to maintain a republican form of government as guaranteed in Article 4, Section 4. Two contributing factors to this failure are the adoption of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution and the ignorance and/or corruption of our elected representatives.
The 17th Amendment works in opposition to the original intent and delicate balance that our founding fathers set forth in the Constitution. When all of our representatives are directly elected by pluralities, then we have a convoluted democracy, think tyranny by the majority, not a republic. Additionally, with this change, the states lost their only direct representation in the federal system. The 17th Amendment can be called the Mob Rule Amendment.
Then, there are ignorant or corrupt elected officials who have abandoned the principles of republican government. When our representatives pander to the voters so that they might stay in elected office in perpetuity, they often give into the will of the majority and ignore the constitution. Our representatives take an oath to defend and be faithful to our Constitution, not to bend to the will of their constituents or to be reelected! A republican form of government means that the rule of law, namely the Constitution, reigns supreme, not the fancy of the majority at any given time. Not having the manhood to stand up to the majority and defend the rule of law shows either a sever lack of understanding of the Constitution or a blatant disregard for it.
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