For those not old enough to know, New York City’s crime rate prior to the Mayor Rudy Giuliani era was so bad that a sci-fi movie, Escape From New York (1981) did very well at the box office. In this dystopian story, Manhattan was walled off and filled with the worst criminals from across America. Mayor (1994-2001) Giuliani famously put into practice a “no broken windows” (NBW) theory of law enforcement. His police no longer ignored misdemeanor violations of the law. The criminal element soon realized that not only were petty crimes prosecuted, but prison time for felony violations was a near certainty. Criminals were no longer coddled and the crime rate plummeted. NYC was livable once again.
The lesson, of course, is that aggressive law enforcement works to protect the people the law is designed to serve. The proven NBW approach strikes me as obviously consistent with natural law. When we sin or commit a crime without receiving punishment, our nature is, unfortunately, prone to commit greater sins or crimes. NBW simply substitutes punishment for reward and discourages crime.
Now, let’s shift gears to the national governing scene, to Washington DC. Here, the criminals don’t get their hands dirty in common street assaults against individuals. Crimes at this level impact and violate an entire nation. The Framers referred to these as high crimes. They are so extraordinary that no manmade statute could possibly describe them all. Despite the ambiguity, high crimes, which can only be committed by those in the top positions of civil trust, are real, and consist of violations of the Constitution. Once these people swear to God that they will uphold and defend the supreme law of the land, they are subject to the impeachment, trial and removal clauses of the Constitution. Uh, well, except they are not. Like the NYC street thugs of 1981, the DC high crime spree continues and grows.
For one illustrative example among probably hundreds, the issuance of regulations with the force of law by the administrative state is a high crime. When administrators from the EPA release their diktats, they usurp a power We The People loaned to congress and congress alone: lawmaking as per Article I § 1. Instead of issuing thousands of regulations per year, scientists at the EPA should submit policy proposals for congress to consider. That is all. When scotus ensconces this practice as Constitutional, scotus also participates in high crimes against the sovereign people.
I assert that no high crime against the sovereign people should go unpunished.
Our politicians, scotus, and senior administrative officials have as much respect for the supreme law of the land as the street thugs of NYC respected city ordinances in 1981. The difference is that unlike NYC, no single man, no Rudy Giuliani, can institute a nationwide NBW.
My stance isn’t novel. From Chapter XIX of his Second Treatise, John Locke encouraged an NBW approach to enforcement of the supreme earthly law. Since the legislative power is the creation of civil society, society is not bound to obey those not authorized to make laws. The people are in full liberty and duty to resist the force of those who attempt to impose their raw will upon them. When what constitutes law becomes uncertain, society becomes a confused multitude without order or connection to one another. Without integrity and the keeping of covenants, civil society is not possible.
We have become inured to near daily assaults on our sovereignty. We not only do not have to stand for seemingly minor infringements, such as the issuance of a single EPA regulation, it is our duty to ourselves and posterity to stop the assaults on free government and punish those who recognize no limit to their power. Since the impeachment, trial, removal clauses of the Constitution are dead letters, We The People must institute a national NBW policy through Article V.
Toward this end, I have argued for annual Article V conventions, here and
here. Unless our high criminals in DC are made to know that the supreme earthly power, We The People, stand ready every year to look over their shoulders and demand accountability, our continued head-long dive into tyranny is a certainty.
We are the many; our oppressors are the few. Be proactive. Be a Re-Founder. Join Convention of States. Sign our COS Petition.
Great blog post Rodney. Let’s shake this apathy. Stay steadfast in our pursuit of the Founders dream of freedom thru individual rights and responsibility. We know the proven results of socialism from all over the world. Shared misery is not a virtuous inheritance to leave our children. Join the dedicated patriotic grassroots community at http://www.conventionofstates.com
“Shared misery is not a virtuous inheritance to leave our children.”
Outstanding!
Stated like a true patriot. I too am ‘all in’ and will stand with you and other great american to preserve liberty and renew this country.
With regard to putting too much emphasis on a president, their power and our expectations of them: We have to keep reminding ourselves that they are our servants, we are not theirs. They serve at our pleasure, not theirs.
And now we have arrived at the best tool delivered to us by our founders, the provisions of Article V of the US Constitution. It was never intended that we were to simply cast votes every two and four years and hope for the best, we were to be involved and to hold them to account. Jefferson said, “The ultimate arbiter is the people of the Union, assembled by their deputies in convention, at the call of Congress, or of two-thirds of the States. Let them decide to which they mean to give an authority claimed by two of their organs. And it has been the peculiar wisdom and felicity of our constitution, to have provided this peaceable appeal, where that of other nations is at once to force.”
Visit here to learn more, sign the petition, and volunteer: http://www.cosaction.com/?recruiter_id=1636326
Yes, simply voting every two years has proved to be thoroughly inadequate. Heck, the Soviet Union and Venezuela had/have elections!
One by one our rights are being taken away by administrative acts & judicial overreach. The States created the Federal government and its now time to take the power back. Its time for an Article V Convention… it may be a long shot, but it also is our only shot to peaceably & constitutionally restore our Constitution.
Visit here to learn more, sign the
petition, and sign up to volunteer:
http://www.cosaction.com/?recruiter_id=1636326
Another great article Rodney! 🙂
Amen, brother… we must either wake up and realize that what we have allowed ourselves to become is not the perfect form of self-governance that the Founders envisioned… or we must accept it as the New Normal.
I, for one, am wide awake. COS!
This is clear evidence as to why we need, “under the provisions of Article V of the Constitution of the United States, for the calling of a convention of the states limited to proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States that impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and limit the terms of office for its officials and for members of Congress. ” http://www.conventionofstates.com/citizens_toolkit
Great article Rodney!
http://www.cosaction.com/?recruiter_id=246073
Well done. We must keep this going.
VERY awesome and well thought-out article!
Coming from you, that is high praise indeed. Thanks.
Awesome perspective of our situation. If we the people MUST stand for complete law in our in all states.
Thanks Bud,
There really is no reason to put up with ANY usurpations.
Convention of States (COS)has a solution as big as the problem of government overreach and overspending. The (COS) resolution in the state legislatures applies for convention to propose amendments limited to three areas.
1. To impose fiscal restraints on the federal government,
2. Limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and
3. To impose term limits on all government officials and members of congress