March 16, 2011

PROPOSING: AMERICA’S CONSTITUTION LOBBY

WILL YOU JOIN WITH US TO MAKE IT HAPPEN?

WE THE PEOPLE CONGRESS 

AMERICA’S CONSTITUTION LOBBY

Editor’s note: We are grateful for all the individuals and organizations who are devoted to our federal and state constitutions. This article in no way diminishes the importance of and need for their continuing presence and accomplishments. However, no one organization has the organization, power and money to stop and reverse the across-the-board violations of our constitutions: most focus on education, avoiding action; some are activist in nature, but focus on a single issue or two; few, if any, are devoted to the defense of our State Constitutions and those local constitutions known as City Charters. What’s needed is a true constitution lobby with the organization, power and money needed to truly hold government accountable to our constitutions. This article presents our view of what’s needed. Please let us know if your vision of a constitution lobby differs from ours and if we can include your comments in one of our updates. Please send your comments to Bob@givemeliberty.org, with a copy to honoramerica@gmail.com.

The We The People organization exists to establish a permanent nationwide, grassroots network of informed People committed to the personal duty of Citizen vigilance in the cause of securing Constitutional Governance and Accountability, by raising the consciousness of our citizens above and beyond politics, personalities and parties to the principles, prohibitions, restrictions and mandates of our Charters of Freedom -- the Supreme Law of our Land. 

After decades of dedicated efforts to provide civic education and conduct appropriate civic actions in defense of the Constitution and the individual Rights of Free People, the organization is now compelled to step up its national initiatives during this critical time in America.  

The organization, built upon a balanced operational and management framework capable of supporting its communications, financing and mission needs, proposes to become an Effective Voice for the People, by comprising citizens in every state who are devoted to this Cause, who will be in touch with one another through a totally reliable communications system, and who are sufficiently organized and financed to:

·        effectively and consistently monitor the official actions of public officials within their town/city, county, state and federal levels of government;

·        measure the actions of their public servants against the requirements of their City Charters, state and federal Constitutions, laws and oaths of office;

·        in the event of a conflict or violation, prepare and serve a constitutionally protected First Amendment Petition for Redress of the Grievance and remedial instructions for its remedy, upon all responsible parties;

·        facilitate public awareness about the violation(s) and remedy(s), and apply public pressure upon the served parties to reply and/or comply with the remedy(s);

·        in the event of no response, take steps to enforce the Rights of the People that have been violated, engaging all members and supporters.

The We The People organization seeks to ensure that the power of America’s system of governance is returned to the People and that all elected officials become true servants of the People, whose very first obligation is to keep the People Free.  

The We the People organization assists the Free People of all fifty states to establish a culture and environment where all elected officials will feel more reverence for the People and their Constitutions than they do now.  Our government, at all levels, will know a critical mass of People - well educated about their Rights and the means to secure them - are watching and are ready to hold them accountable to the Constitution and Law, without  undue reliance on the electoral process, and regardless of their political party.  

The We The People organization seeks to assist the Free People of all fifty states in developing the tools to finance the construction and operation of a highly visible Citizen Vigilance Center in each State Capital.  These Centers will be manned with paid attorneys and professional staff who will support the on-demand needs of the People’s Constitutional Monitors, located in towns and cities across the State, i.e., those patriotic citizens with sufficient passion, personal time and resources available to help maintain constitutional order.  

The We The People organization shall assist the Free People in each of the fifty states to see to it that the guarantees of the Constitution and its essential underlying principles shall be upheld and maintained, rather than ever again be set adrift by the ceaseless whims, promises and assurances of men (or politicians), who, by their very nature, can guarantee nothing, and will typically deliver far, far less.

The Need

Government at every level in America has been operating in sharp contrast to the way they have been designed and authorized by the People to work.  Ongoing departures from essential, fundamental principles of Liberty in the one instance becomes a precedent for a second, that second for a third and so forth, until, as Jefferson warned, "[T]he bulk of society is reduced to be mere automations of misery…."  

The situation continues to deteriorate as constitutional violations mount, pushing the country headlong into further debt, dependency and decay.  

Notably, the judiciary is no longer acting as an independent, co-equal branch of the government, i.e., a constitutional forum to “check” the abuses of (and Grievances against) the political branches of government. Instead, the record of the WTP organization has clearly documented legal challenges to governmental behavior by ordinary, nonaligned citizens that have been met with judicial collusion or collaboration with the executive and/or legislature branches. Even if a decision dishonors the Constitution, the judiciary is now seen to cooperate with the executive and/or legislature, blurring the lines of “Checks and Balances” which are fundamental to the health of our Republic.  

The We The People organization has learned that when it comes to confronting uncivil, unjust and unauthorized acts of government, i.e. when government steps outside the boundaries drawn around its power by our written Constitutions, the education of citizens is for naught unless that education is coupled with civic action by a critical mass, ready, willing and able to enforce their Rights, intelligently, rationally, legally and non-violently.  

As Frederick Douglas said in 1849:

"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will.

“Find out just what the people will submit to and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they have resisted with either words, or blows, or by both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they suppress."
 

THE TWIN PILLARS FOR ENSURING
THE PEOPLE’S FREEDOM:
CIVIC EDUCATION AND CIVIC ACTION

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance…”

“The People are the only sure reliance for the preservation of Liberty...”  Jefferson

The Free People of America are learning the Fundamentals of Freedom: we must never again turn our attentions away from our public servants; we can no longer afford to rely entirely upon elections to reverse wrongs; we can never again assume that the Supreme Laws, which established America and are to guide Her Destiny, will be obeyed by our elected officials without our continuing vigilance and action.  

Instead, we must fulfill the extra-governmental processes available to the citizenry to insure the public officials’ reverence for the Constitution and the Rule of Law.  

The We the People organization shall assist the Free People in each of the States through the inextricably intertwined, measured disciplines of civic education and civic action. Under the circumstances, one without the other will be of no avail.  

The need for civic education is two-fold:

1. Ignorance is incapable of self-government. To be free, the People must know what their Rights are, and what the Obligations of public officials are. We must rectify the abject failure of our education institutions to teach the history, meaning, effect and significance of every provision of the Declaration of Independence and our State and Federal Constitutions; and
2. The citizenry must learn how to intelligently, rationally and peacefully confront unconstitutional and illegal behavior by those wielding governmental power.

The need for civic action is two-fold:

1. The Constitution cannot defend itself and will not be defended unless the People defend it. Constitutional governance is simply not possible through political and governmental processes, with or without the nefarious control and influence the major political parties, special interests and monied entities have over the selection and behavior of our legislators, governors and judges, virtually ensuring the impossibility of Righteous reform or Redress. Individual Rights are guaranteed by the words of the Constitution, not the transient and biased will of those in Congress or our State Legislatures; and
2. Individuals and small groups cannot prevail in the task of keeping our elected officials within the boundaries drawn around their power by our written Constitutions. Instead, true reform requires an organized pro-active, non-violent, mass-movement comprised of knowledgeable and committed Citizens, guided by the moral imperatives of securing the Freedom of the People and their Individual Rights, and limiting the actions of all public officials to those authorized by our Constitutions.

ACCOMPLISHING THE MISSION 

The WTP organization includes two separate corporations connected by a mutuality of purpose, operating in tandem and close coordination, We The People Foundation for Constitutional Education, Inc. and We The People Congress, Inc. 

We The People Foundation for Constitutional Education, Inc., is a civic research and education entity that focuses on the Federal Constitution, providing constitutional education, outreach and assistance to our citizens, scrutinizing government behavior according to constitutional questions, as a non-partisan, non-political entity thereby avoiding all political activity.  

WTPF is supported entirely by donations from the People. 

The Foundation will:

• Lead educational and legal research efforts primarily focusing on the federal Constitution, the (Federal) Government’s violations thereof, and the People’s inherent Rights, guaranteed by the First and Ninth Amendments, to secure Redress for their Grievances and restore Constitutional Order;
• In the event of no response from their federal officials to a Petition for Redress prepared and served by the Foundation, it is the We The People Foundation that will call upon the We The People Congress in each State to enforce the Rights of the People that have been violated, engaging all members and supporters.

We The People Congress, Inc. is a civic education and civic action entity that focuses on the State Constitutions and City Charters in each State, taking appropriate peaceful and lawful actions to remedy government improprieties until they are resolved according to constitutional law. 

The Congress shall be comprised of a non-partisan group of members who will develop from the ordinary, non-aligned citizenry of each state, avoiding political activity.  Members will be committed to what Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. referred to as a "pro-active, non-violent, mass-movement" with the goal of achieving and maintaining constitutional governance in America. 

WTPC shall be supported by the dues of its members and donations from the People.

The Congress will finance, construct, own and operate a Citizen Vigilance Center in each State Capital, manned with paid attorneys and staff who will provide the necessary legal expertise and management resources to:

• Lead civic education outreach on State Constitutions and City Charters, the (Local and State) Governments’ violations thereof, and the People’s inherent Right to secure Redress of their Grievances;
• Articulate and coordinate citizen vigilance and enforcement efforts across each state;
• Organize and assist Constitutional Monitors to be located in towns and counties across the State: semi-retired or retired volunteers or those requiring a small stipend who will:
   
  • Systematically, routinely and quietly monitor what their elected officials are saying and doing at their town, city and state and federal levels of government;
  • Compare what their local and State elected officials are doing with the requirements of their state Constitutions, City Charters, and Law;

Together, the members of the We The People Congress will lead civic actions directed at securing fundamental Rights when public officials choose to ignore any provision of their written Constitutions, and ignore the People’s Petitions for Redress of that Grievance.

It is the We The People Congress in each State that the elected officials will come to listen to, knowing their outside political influences and natural proclivity to operate without accountability are no match against the committed curative efforts of the We The People Congress.

Conclusion

The We the People Organization recognizes that the path back toward Freedom will be difficult and that to secure permanent fundamental change in how governments currently behave and operate requires the enlightenment of our People and those we elect as public servants. 

Until the tide is reversed, there may be contentious confrontations involving the true nature of limited government and Individual Rights inherent in our Founding Documents.

Ultimately, these inseparable values must be integrated into our educational system, to be imbued in the consciousness of our young people for generations to come.  In order to live Free, the future citizens of each state must understand the history, meaning, effect and significance of every provision of the documents that frame their Republic, and be instructed in their duty to defend the Republic by holding their public officials accountable to those provisions. 

Those who participate in the fulfillment of this Mission and Vision will:

·        secure the power of the People as it was intended from the time of America’s Founding;

·        ensure the proper role of public officials as servants, securing the Rights of the People;

·        honor the genius of our Declaration of Independence and State and Federal Constitutions;

·        be embraced by the Spirit or our Revolution;

·        experience the Divine Gift of Liberty; and

·        fulfill the solemn duty to preserve and carry all this forward -- not only for our progeny, but for all Mankind.

How Can We Get There? 

If this is where we want to be, what are the appropriate next steps? How can we get there?  

We have been putting together a series of events, to take place during the next five months, all in support of moving the Constitution Lobby from concept to reality. We will present the schedule and events in our next issue.
 

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