We Must Understand the Consent of the Governed

Happy New Year 2019 and welcome to a new beginning.

By Mike Kapic January 1, 2019

The 2019 resolution: Understanding the Declaration’s meaning of the “consent of the governed.”

Despite the notion that we are losing the battle for America, nothing could be further from the truth. We are gaining ground, slowly, and we have another opportunity to shore up the structural foundation of our country and return the United States to the values and virtues with which our Founders empowered us. All is not lost, but the road is not free of impediments either.

Here’s the problem: Both political parties continue their move Left, growing the Big Establishment’s elitist culture in DC a bit more every year.

But we, the majority, even when we differ on policy matters, have retained our basic values and beliefs in the Constitutional America we were taught. We do not value the new left’s ideology led by Republican and Democrat party leaders. You and I are still Republicans and Democrats, but just not a part of what has morphed into the Establishment Party. Our leaders in DC, both parties, are not listening to us, but expect us to pay for their ideological misadventures whether we like it or not. After all, they’re in control, not us.

We’re lost in a wilderness of strange politics where laws are easily broken, our cities are turning against us, ‘entitlements’ are nearly insolvent, identity politics consumes the media, law enforcement is demonized, our debt continues growing, healthcare is failing, a deteriorating welfare system is expanding, fraud, lies and fake news are accepted as the norm, and free speech and religious freedoms are attacked every day.

President Trump, with all of his flaws, has slowed our slide to the left but it is administratively and politically impossible for him to make the kind of structural changes required to turn our country around. According to the Constitution, only Congress or our state legislatures can do that. And do you think Congress will rein in its own power or halt enriching itself?  I didn’t think so. If we expect a real return to our Constitutional government, we must take charge.

We can begin by understanding and accepting the history of how our freedoms have slowly been eroding over the last 106 years. How we the people have lost sight of the most important clause in the Declaration of Independence: “…deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”  That’s us!

Next, understanding how the Constitution clarifies that our government is limited. And finally understanding how the Bill of Rights upholds our protections from a tyrannical and over-bearing federal government.

Understanding that the Constitution defined us as being a limited republic with certain elements of democracy is key.

In order for us to solve this problem, we must also understand the little known but well chronicled process that built America beginning in the early 1600’s. Our colonial ancestors met with neighboring colonies to resolve issues that they could not do by themselves: safety, defense, inflation, currency, government reform, anti-trust, water rights, balanced budget amendment convention rules, to name but a few.

In the not to distant future, we could, you and I, be sitting at a gathering debating how to amend the Constitution to do just that—making the federal government smaller and more responsive to us, the People.

Would term limits on Congress and SCOTUS, a balanced budget limit, or a way for you and your state legislation to erase laws or ruling like the ACA, the new definition of marriage, or Roe v. Wade interest you? It’s not that far fetched as the process parallels our centuries old history and, codified in the Constitution, is the only safe and legal way to reform our government.

The year 2019 could prove to be a new opportunity for us. But! It won’t happen by itself. Or by the DC elites, politicians, bureaucrats, or lobbyists. No, we must get off our collective butts and make it happen ourselves. Only you and I can return America to its original values, so our children and future generations will have the freedom that the United States of America was born with.

Choose and get on board with one of the many Article V Caucus groups here. Learn about the three centuries of consensus building through gatherings at Conventions That Made America.