Checks and Balances

The Key 2 Liberty involves learning the principles of freedom for yourself and then sharing your knowledge with others.

Checks on the government by people.

The people have a check on their representatives, senators, and the president by having the power to elect people to these offices at regular intervals. The people also elect their state governors and members of their state legislatures. Some states even have judges that are elected by the people.
The people have a check on the federal government by limiting the extent of Congress’s power to create legislation by explicitly stating the powers delegated to Congress in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. If a power of Congress is not explicitly stated in this section they do not have it. The states or the people by the Tenth Amendment reserve all other powers not specifically delegated to the United States by the Constitution.
The jury trial provides a powerful check on the government by the people. If the legislature makes an unconstitutional or unjust law which is then enforced by an official of the executive branch the people can use the power of the jury to protect themselves before a judge in the judicial branch has a chance to administer a penalty for the alleged crime. This is an important reason why the people of a republic must be well informed. If the people of a republic are well informed on the Constitution and their rights they can better protect themselves from unconstitutional or unjust laws by making better decisions when serving on juries.

John Adams once said; “It is not only his right, but his duty… to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgment and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court.”

Link to information on the power of juries to protect the people’s rights

The people have a check on the military power of the country by having the power to elect the president that is Commander in Chief of the armed forces. The president has the power to appoint all officers of the military by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Armed Services Committee of the Senate is in charge of overseeing the operations of the military and makes suggestions to the president for the nomination of military officers. The Congress also has the power to declare war.
The people have a check on the federal government by the Constitution requiring that Congress have the power to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures. This check is listed in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution and is currently not being followed as Congress legislated away its authority to issue the nation’s currency back in 1913 with the passage of the Federal Reserve Act. The Founders were aware of the tricks that private banks can play with paper money and made sure that the power to issue the nation’s currency was specifically given to the Congress so that it could NOT be given to private banks through legislation.

The Founders wanted a currency system based on gold and silver and not of paper notes. History has shown that more often than not paper notes end up loosing their value due to inflation after too much currency is issued. Banks and governments have never been able to restrain themselves from the temptation of creating paper money out of nothing in order to increase their power over the people that have to work honestly for it. This eventually causes the currency system to become unstable with the end result of financial collapse.

The Constitution also requires that all money drawn from the Treasury be made in consequence of appropriations made by law and that a regular statement of expenditures of ALL public money shall be published from time to time. It is a very frightening fact that the Federal Reserve System has NEVER been audited.

The people have a check on the federal government by the Constitution forbidding the direct taxation of the people unless it is in proportion to the Census taken every 10 years. This check is also no longer being followed as the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913 granted the power to the federal government to collect income taxes on individuals without regard to the Census. This occurred in the same year as the passage of the Federal Reserve Act which can hardly be considered a coincidence. When a central bank issues currency for a country, it charges the country interest on it and then the interest must be paid, very often by raising taxes.
The Bill of Rights – Amendments One – Ten. The first ten amendments are specific rights that are spelled out to protect the people from the FEDERAL government. After the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment and some liberal interpretation by a group of dark robed individuals called Supreme Court justices the Bill of Rights has been improperly applied to the states. Most people seem to forget that the Constitution was created by the states to create a federal government to provide limited functions only and to protect people from the federal government becoming tyrannical. The Constitution was designed, for the most part, to articulate what the federal government CANNOT do to the states or people and was not designed to articulate what it can or should do to the states or people.

Patrick Henry once quoted; “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people,it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.”

Important checks on the federal government listed in the bill of rights.

The First Amendment gives the people the right to their choice of religion (or to choose no religion), to free speech, to a free press and the right to assemble. The ability for the people to speak out against the government and any corruption within it allows the corruption to be exposed and then removed peaceably through the election process.
The Second Amendment is the final absolute check on the government by the people. It is the option of last resort given to the people to defend themselves against a tyrannical government. History has clearly shown that tyrannical governments of the past and present have disarmed or do disarm their people in order to allow them to stay in power.

Thomas Jefferson explained it best when he said, “The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves from tyranny in government.”

The Ninth Amendment. The Ninth Amendment states; The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. This basically means that if a right of the people is not specifically listed in the Constitution along with other rights it does NOT mean that they do not have it. The Constitution is not a comprehensive list of rights. It only lists a few of the rights that our Founders felt were most important in order to protect the fundamental rights of the people; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as stated in the Declaration of Independence.
The Tenth Amendment . The Tenth Amendment states; The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to States respectively, or to the people. This makes certain that the federal government only has the power do what has been specifically granted to it in the Constitution and that the states or the people retain all other rights.

Broken checks and balances and suggested amendments

Unfortunately some of the original checks and balances of the Constitution have been destroyed and have caused our country to slip away from the balanced center of the Founder’s political power scale and shift toward the tyrannical left.

The money supply is corrupt. Without a stable currency system the people cannot save their money without its value evaporating into thin air or be able to invest with confidence in the market. The solution is to abolish the Federal Reserve. This would actually just require legislation and not a constitutional amendment since the constitutional responsibility of issuing the currency already belongs to the Congress. The people just have to demand that Congress take back what is rightfully their responsibility.
The income tax is an oppressive and unnecessary tax. The only way the government can accurately asses the tax that individuals are required to pay is to massively invade their privacy which directly conflicts with the people’s Fourth Amendment right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures. The solution is to repeal the Sixteenth Amendment and place a tax on all imported goods which is already allowed per Article I, Section 8, Clause 1. The tax on imports must be a uniform percentage on ALL imports so as to not favor one sector or business over another. This without question would cause American jobs to be more competitive with foreign markets such as China that practically uses slave labor to produce their goods.
Senators are no longer appointed by the state legislatures. This has left the states for the most part completely defenseless in guarding the encroachment of the federal government on their sovereignty. The solution is to repeal the Seventeenth Amendment and restore the proper balance of power between the federal and state governments.
The Fourteenth Amendment has been interpreted by the Supreme Court to apply the Bill of Rights to the states. The Constitution is an agreement between the states to clarify the limits of power and jurisdiction of the FEDERAL government. When the Bill of Rights were originally ratified it was clear that they did not apply to the states. States were clear to regulate speech as they thought fit to protect the rights of the people. To say a state doesn’t have the right to ban yelling “fire” in a theater makes no sense. They have always had the right to regulate speech in this manner. Most people are also unaware that at least seven states had officially established religions after the Bill of Rights were ratified. It seems that most people have been taught to believe that applying the Bill of Rights to the states helps to protect the people’s rights. The reality is that it gives the federal courts the power to regulate areas that are reserved to the states and therefore makes the people’s rights less secure. The solution is to clarify the Fourteenth Amendment so that the Bill of Rights does not apply to the states. Let each state determine what is best for its own people and not force all decisions concerning the day to day lives of the people to be made from Washington. The federal government should handle foreign concerns only.

Thomas Jefferson said it best; “Were we directed from Washington when to sow, and when to reap, we should soon want bread.”

Clarify the general welfare clause so that Congress can only pass legislation in accordance with the powers granted in Article I, Section 8 and not on whatever it feels like. One of the most important checks on the federal government is the specific list of powers that has been delegated to Congress. Unfortunately some liberal Supreme Court judges have twisted the meaning of “general welfare” to mean specific welfare and have allowed the Congress to pass laws well outside of the specific powers listed in Article I, Section 8. It makes absolutely no sense to list twenty five specific powers in eighteen clauses if the first clause gives unlimited power to the Congress to do anything that it feels benefits the “general welfare” of the nation. Why list any other powers of Congress if the first grants unlimited power?

Thomas Jefferson stated; “We disavow, and declare to be most false and unfounded, the doctrine that the Constitution, in authorizing its federal branch to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States, has given them thereby a power to do whatever they may think, or pretend, would promote the general welfare—which construction would make itself a complete government, without limitation of powers… The plain sense and obvious meaning were that they might levy taxes necessary to provide for the general welfare by the various acts of power therein specified and delegated to them, and by no others.”—Bergh 17:444. (1825) [The Real Thomas Jefferson, p. 454]

Supreme Court justices and federal judges currently serve for life. The original intent of this provision was to make sure that justices and judges are not influenced by the passions of elections when they make their decisions on court cases. Unfortunately, history has shown that judges that are given life terms frequently abuse their trust of power and legislate from the bench. The people, the executive branch or the legislative branch are not currently able to properly check the powers of the judicial branch. In order to correct this the president and the Senate should reconfirm justices and judges every 6 years.

Thomas Jefferson argued for the necessity of reconfirming judges; “Let the future appointments of judges be for four or six years, and renewable by the president and Senate. This will bring their conduct, at regular periods, under revision and probation, and may keep them in equipoise between the federal and state governments. We have erred in this point by copying England, where certainly it is a good thing to have the judges independent of the King. But we have omitted to copy their caution also, which makes a judge removable on the address of both legislative houses. That there should be public functionaries independent of the nation, whatever may be their demerit, is a solecism in a republic, of the first order of absurdity and inconsistency.”—Bergh 15:389. (1822) [The Real Thomas Jefferson, p. 503]