House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill
in Washington, Thursday, March 26, 2020. – Photo by Susan Walsh / AP
“It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous
way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people
who pay no price for being wrong.”
– Thomas Sowell
At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, the one most
contentious issue the delegates had to deal with was representation. Fisticuffs
broke out as lines were drawn in the sand, on how power was to be divided and
who would be able to pass which laws and who would have the last word enforcing
them. This battle ensued during the dog days of the summer in Philadelphia
while the concept of a central government with three branches was debated along
with the role of each individual branch. The issue of representation was so
perverse it put the success of the entire convention in jeopardy.
When the Convention got so out of hand it looked as
though all was lost, Roger Sherman proposed what would become the skeletal
corpus of our government, “the Great Compromise.” He proposed each state would
be represented by population in the House and they would have equal numbers of
votes in the Senate. Senators chosen by state legislatures would protect state
rights and the House Representatives chosen by voter would insure every
American had a voice in government.
Article One of our Constitution established the
legislative branch of government, Congress. It was bicameral consisting of the
House of Representatives and the Senate. It granted Congress limited powers and
restricted ability to pass necessary and proper law to enforce them. It also
established the procedures for passing bills with limits on powers. This
insured they never usurped the will of the people or abused those powers to
disenfranchise the voice of voters in every American region.
“The question is how our rights are equally and
effectually guarded in society.”
– Roger Sherman
The House of Representatives last week passed a bill to
spend over $3 trillion for Covid-19 relief and a rules change to allow
lawmakers to vote remotely during the pandemic. The measure barely passed by
nine votes and reflects all leftist priorities and is the largest relief
package in U.S. history.
If the Senate approved this bill, the House would have a
free reign to pass anything they wished. It was written by Speaker Nancy Pelosi
and went directly to the floor. It was the socialist wish list and more. It
would give federal aide to illegal immigrants, federalized elections, released
prisoners, and allocated money to the growers of cannabis. It restructured
Congress to allow voting by proxy, which would disenfranchise all opposing
voters and give Pelosi and her socialist comrades unadulterated control of
Congress.
In agreeing on this atrocity, House Democrats openly
violated our Constitution with this proxy voting scheme. Our founders mandated
Congress to convene and deliberate. The Constitution requires a “quorum of
members” be present to pass all laws. In times of a national crisis, changes in
rules may be necessary. But when they are contrived with open partisan
maneuvering to bypass the tenants of our Constitution to eliminate the voice of
the people in government, this is tyrannical despotism.
This latest support for abridgment of Congressional power
shows how untrustworthy House leftists are. Just a few weeks ago in the heart
of the COVID crisis when it was suggested Congress vote by “proxy,” Pelosi said
on the House floor, “We are the captains of the ships. We are the last to
leave. Proxy voting calls on Congress to abandon the ship, to be the first to
leave for months or even the rest of the session. For members to leave and
never have to return to session is totally wrong.”
This is the first time in American history that such a
conspicuous abuse of power by Congress has been attempted! There are 435
members that represent the voters of America. There are districts created to
represent the wishes and demands of the voters in each precinct. We evaluate
districts for changes every two years. Each district “loans” their voice and
their power to those members of Congress that they elect to “represent” and
vote for “them” in the halls of Congress in Washington.
This new leftist scheme of a proxy-ship would enable 20
people to have control of Congress, since each member represents 10 proxies.
The 435 members who represent regions around the nation would no longer be
accountable to voters that elected them. This would also enable Democrats to
have 20 people with 10 proxies to pass every bill without approval from one
voter. This would be a flagrant abuse of power.
“The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.”
– Edmund Burke
This contrivance would reconstruct Congress and nullify
the Great Compromise without the states ever voting on a constitutional
amendment. Members of Congress would do what their party told them to do, not
what the people who elected them and “loaned’ them the authority to do for
them.
Pelosi could sit in her office and compose the biggest
government monetary give-away bill that’s ever been written in the history of
government. And it would not be vetted in one committee. The bill would go
directly to the chamber floor without amendments or objections from one person.
It was revealed that Pelosi’s “left hand man” in
Congress, Jim Clyburn, recently said that he believes COVID-19 is a perfect
time to restructure government to meet the needs of Democrats. The socialist
left is not looking at COVID-19 as an obligation to work with the president to
resolve a crisis for Americans. They see it as an opportunity to reinvent
government for the socialist, liberal far left.
When Roger Sherman proposed the Great Compromise, he said
“this government should be made to represent all people in each sovereign
state.” He would be turning over in his grave if Pelosi were to succeed with
this assault against voters by her and the socialist liberal left. It would be
a coup to give unlimited power to the House speaker and violate every principle
our founders wanted to bring to America.
“Congress is too old. They don't have a stake in the
game.”
– Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
President Donald Trump has worked tirelessly with other
world leaders to contain and to find a way to stop the spread of COVID-19. He
finally forced the Chinese to share data with other nations in an effort to
discover the true source of this virus so a legitimate vaccine can be created.
Since this crisis began, he has asked for bipartisan support to work with him
and public health officers to help manage this pandemic. But Congress has
rebuffed him and the American people to gain favors for their party.
Author Ken Blanchard wrote, “None of us is as smart as
all of us.” We’re the most powerful nation in the world because ‘When the going
gets tough, America gets going.” We brought communism to its knees in the
Soviet Bloc and Korea. We’ve defended world freedom in two great wars against a
common enemy. One can only imagine how quickly this crisis would have resolved
if Congress had worked with the president against this common enemy COVID-19 –
instead of working against him.
Roger Sherman dedicated his life to this nation. He was
the only founder to sign all Revolutionary documents: The Declaration of
Independence, The Articles of Confederation and The Constitution. As Roger
Sherman looks down from the heavens above he has got to be ashamed to see what
his Congress is doing to his beloved America.
– Alexis de Tocqueville, 1832
Contributing
Columnist William Haupt III is a retired professional journalist, author, and
citizen legislator in California for over 40 years. He got his start working to
approve California Proposition 13.
