Common Ground

In the summer of 1787, our Founders began work on a governmental framework that could replace the Articles of Confederation. It wasn’t an easy task. It took three months to agree on the initial wording, and that was only the beginning of debate. There were many concerns about creating a government that might become a threat to the liberty of its citizens.  In order to reach agreement, several changes. that would later become the Bill of Rights, had already been promised.  Ultimately, it wasn’t until early in 1789 that the final state, New Hampshire, ratified the Constitution and it could be put into effect.

The Tea Party movement and its supporters face a similar challenge. Dissatisfaction with the status quo is a clear area of agreement, but that doesn’t really make for much of a platform. While we all might agree that we are headed in the wrong direction, the change in course is certainly up for debate.  If the Tea Party is to have any influence, some decision has to be made as to what candidates and policies will be supported.

Here also, the Constitution and our Founders can be helpful. One of the greatest complaints of the disaffected electorate is that the Constitution is not being followed. Members of government, who swear an oath to uphold the Constitution, seem to forget that oath the moment they lower their hand. This is a problem in each of the branches and at all levels of government. While the Federal Government receives the greatest criticism, states also overreach; no one in government seems immune to this imperial attitude. Many of the Founders predicted as much in their original debates, and perhaps this is the best place for the Tea Party to start.

The Tea Party movement is hardly a unified front. It has cobbled together people from a wide variety of ideologies, and there seems to be limited agreement on specific policies. One thing that we should be able to agree on, though, is that the government should be restrained to its constitutional functions. If policies and candidates are first viewed through this lens, a great many other issues may solve themselves.  As opposed to battling one another in the arena of ideas, perhaps it would be best to focus on supporting people that seem most dedicated to their constitutional oath and policies that clearly fall within the responsibility of government.  This back-to-basics approach should at least help to limit the damage that is being done, if not solve every problem.

The problems we currently face didn’t happen overnight, and they won’t be solved quickly. I would like to offer a reminder (particularly to my libertarian readers) that compromise will be necessary on many fronts if we have any hope of getting out of this mess. Our current economic woes are a destabilizing factor, and nothing will get done if we can’t turn the economy around. The deficit, which I see as a related issue, is equally troubling, and if we can’t find a way to get that under control, there will be little left to save. It is an unfortunate truth that “taking back the country” will be an incremental, and almost assuredly painful, process. It saddens me to say that I don’t think the country could survive a “libertarian revolution.”

That doesn’t mean that I’m “jumping ship.” I intend to promote libertarian ideas on this blog and elsewhere (when appropriate), and I encourage others to do the same with whatever beliefs they hold. Even the Constitution will not offer an area of perfect agreement, though, varying interpretations are inevitable. That is why I intend to discuss the Constitution in this blog as I move forward. (You’ll find a link to the right of the page.) I plan to offer my interpretations – perhaps one article at a time -- and try to point out areas where we seem to have strayed.  I invite others to do the same in the comments section; I am always interested in new information and viewpoints.