Golmer's Blog

If the #teaparty movement has done anything, it has demonstrated that Americans are fed up with the current broken system, where instead of congressing and coming to mutually beneficial compromise legislation (as the founders of this nation intended), we have a bifurcated, diametrically opposed system whereby if you don’t tow the Democratic or Republican party lines, you are out. The result is what we see in congress today - they don’t CONGRESS - they just shit on each other.

But the Teaparty has a problem - they dont’ have a direction or a solution - they just have a flag and sign waving “take back our country” mantra that, in the end, really doesn’t mean ANYTHING. The teaparty is a mish-mash of peoples that want something different, but don’t know what that something is. They offer no alternative other than to foment insurrection and calls for violence and/or civil war.

The existing alternatives (Green, Libertarian, etc.) really don’t have the answer either, because they are all based on some political agenda and don’t really define themselves in a way that is amenable to fixing what is wrong with this country.

I propose an alternative solution. I happen to believe that the founders did a really good job in creating our constitution and system of laws based thereon. The system itself is sound - even if it takes a while to find redress of wrongs - if only it were followed and upheld without reservations. The Constitution and the laws formed thereunder are our responsibility - not just to ensure their correctness - but to ensure they are properly applied and properly addressed as intended.

Our leaders have failed in that implementation - primarily by allowing personal crap and politics to get in the way of governing soundly. 

Thus my Idea for what I am calling the Constitutional Rationalist party. It is for those who truly want a return to the ideals our founders had for this nation, instead of the right-wing confederate teaparty “take back our nation” mantra, which is largely based on extremist religious and social dogma. For any new party to have a REAL chance, it has to have a creed and a solution. I propose (as a start) the following:

1. Each person must pledge to support and defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Yes. This is the same pledge that every elected official and member of the military takes. If you don’t believe in the founding document, its structure, content, and intent, then you have no business voting, let alone becoming the member of the Constitutional Rationalist party. This also means that you pledge to work within the framework of the constitution itself to redress wrongs, hold our public officials accountable, etc.

2. Each person must pledge to support the complete and utter separation of church and state. This is a core principle of our nation’s founding. That doesn’t mean that the party should be composed of non-believers. Far from it; the first groups to call foul on religion and government inappropriately mixing inappropriately in this country have always been the religious, whether they be Catholic, Baptist, Jewish, etc. What it DOES mean is that constitutionally, personal religious dogma has no place in any government law or institution. It means that government utterly has no right whatsoever to dictate to any religious system what it can and cannot preach or teach to their congregations inside the doors of a religious institution. It also means that religious institutions utterly have zero right to dictate or influence government, or expect that any aspect of their religion whatsoever would be promoted, held in deference, or in any way supported by government.

3. Each person must pledge that they will never support a religious test whatsoever of any kind for any public office or government position. We have had a defacto and wrongfully allowed religious test in this country - asking politicians to swear on a bible, asking them what their religion is, demanding to know what church they go to, etc. This has to stop. It is unconstitutional and frankly flat out wrong. It goes against the core principles of the founding of this nation.

4. Each person must pledge that they will promote a responsible and fiscally sound government. This doesn’t necessarily mean a smaller or larger government, but a constitutional government that responds to the will of the people and remains fiscally solvent. If all citizens are expected to keep their financial affairs in order and not become a burden, how, then, can we let our government get away with doing otherwise?

5. Each person must pledge to support the laws of this nation, and to use constitutional methods to redress wrongs or correct errors. That doesn’t necessarily mean agreeing with them all, it just means that while they are in force and/or have been held to be constitutional, that they must be followed. If you have a problem with a law, then use the constitutionally provided method for changing or having them struck down. If you have a problem with the speed of redress, then work within the law and constitutional framework to speed up the process. Governments and law enforcement entities ought not expect to be able to disregard laws they find unpopular or only implement portions of laws they “like.” If it is law and if and until it is struck down, it is the law.

6. Each person must pledge not to interfere with the rights of others and to do no intentional harm to others. This includes not letting one’s (or one’s group) beliefs, social, or political practices or dogma dictate what is good for others. Examples of this would be current religion based proscriptions against abortion, doctor assisted or self determined suicide, gay marriage, drug use, etc. Basically, if something isn’t harming you directly, then it is none of your business.

7. Each person must pledge to be responsible and culpable for their own actions. Following along with not interfering with the individual rights of others, each person or group should also be expected to be both responsible and culpable for their own actions. Yes, it is each person’s right to have an abortion, because it has been held constitutional. The individual has to live with the mental and physical results of that individual action - they accept that responsibility. Likewise, if someone chooses to smoke for years, then they ought not expect to have the same insurance rate as someone who doesn’t. If someone chooses to take drugs, then they ought not be upset when they can’t get hired into a job that requires clear thinking for safety reasons, etc. Individual choice does NOT give free license to break the law. If a person breaks the law, they should expect to have to live (or die) with the consequences.

8. Each person must pledge to be responsible for the actions of their elected representatives, and to hold them accountable through constitutional means. That constitutional means is through the election process. We the People have allowed our congress to become the ineffective, bifurcated, and entrenched mess that it is today. Congress is named Congress because it is supposed to CONGRESS. We have allowed the political grandstanding that occurs. We have allowed our congress to split into two diametrically opposed pugilistic retards. We have allowed the extremists of both current parties to dictate the rules of the game and we have handed them the keys to the Titanic. Only by holding them accountable and voting them out of office can we affect change - the right kind of change- in our government. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats are working in the public interest. It is time that we change Congress back to Congress, where compromise is made through a majority in the middle (which should encompass about 80% of the body) instead of letting the extremists on both ends of the spectrum ineffectively bicker and fight and squabble as they have done for decades.

9. Each person must pledge to support the constitutionally defined separation of powers as was intended when the constitution was written. The federal (state, etc.) Judiciary is only there to test existing law against the constitution - and to test lower constitutions and charters against that of the federal.  The judiciary is meant to be an apolitical institution. It HAS to be apolitical, because the constitution and its application is apolitical. We have allowed the Executive and the Legislative branches to destroy that objectivity. The Legislative is meant to create constitutional laws based on the will of the people. We have allowed the legislative branch to pretty much do whatever it wants, thanks to our inability to define what their boundaries are and control through the electoral process. The Executive is there to implement and enforce the laws created by the legislative. It also “steers” the country, but only does so at the will of the people. It does not have the right to choose which laws or which portions of laws it wants to implement. It has been given too much power that ought to reside in the legislature, and does not have the right to create law itself. The primary fix, and easiest to implement, is fixing the legislature - and WE do that by not reelecting the same people that have allowed the system to fail.

10. Each person must pledge to forgo (as per our constitution) discrimination of any group based on religion, sex, race, creed, color, or disability status. This does not necessarily mean “anything goes” however. Individuals and groups ought not expect to be able to get whatever they want or do whatever they want by claiming a protected class or status. Equal protection under the law means each individual person and group has the same RIGHT as any other to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as any other - according to his or her abilities. It does NOT mean that we have to dictate or legislate all facets of society to the lowest common denominator. There is a reasonable expectation that each individual perform and “step up to the plate” to participate in society to the best of their ability.

11. Each person must pledge to forgo a “Welfare State.” Government can rightfully be expected to give citizens and institutions a “helping hand” when needed to get them back on their feet after a crisis. There should also be a reasonable expectation that that help should be temporary, until that person or institution “gets back on their feet.” There should be zero ways to “work the system” or cheat. Just because a person has lost a job or has had an injury, etc. does not mean they should be able to milk that for the rest of their lives. Temporary means temporary and reasonable means reasonable.

12. Each person must pledge that, as per the constitution, only citizens have full rights in this country, and that what and whom a citizen is should be clearly defined; further, each citizen should expect that their identity is unique, unassailable, free from fraudulent use, and secure. This means that a citizens status must be determined using constitutional methods and using lawfully derived factors. It also means that each individual must be identified uniquely and AS a citizen. In today’s information saturated age, gone is the time where people can be trusted, both physically and electronically, to be who and what they say they are. This makes national ID a must. It also means that our government at all levels has the right and expectation to challenge the citizenship of a person. It isn’t racial profiling - it is a simple truth. Companies and other institutions have been exploiting non-citizens for decades and have brought our infrastructure to the brink of failure partially as a result. Real identification would go a long way not only to fixing immigration problems, but also welfare fraud, tax fraud, healthcare fraud, voter fraud, and identity theft.

Please feel free to add to the list or discuss alternatives. This is just a start. If you agree, spread this as far and as wide as you can.