Matt Collins
06-28-2008, 12:48 AM
Mr. Donovan,
I think you are a very sincere and passionate individual and that you have the best of intentions for our country. I am always impressed and encouraged by people who immigrate (legally) to the US, work to become a citizen, and then make a successful life for themselves. You are a testimony to the average native-born American that success is possible with the right effort and determination.
I would like to work with you to bring you up to speed on a few things under the umbrella of constructive criticism and the hopes that you will consider some of what I have to say.
One of the most important and fundamental concepts you can understand as a Congressman is Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution, coupled with the 9th & 10th Amendments. The Constitution is one of enumerated powers and was created by the sovereign States. Each State was sovereign before it created the federal government. The States only granted very specific powers to the federal government. A list of the powers that Congress is granted can be found in Article I Seciton 8 of the Constitution; please read it. The 10th Amendment says in plain English that if a power isn’t listed in the Constitution (without an Amendment), the federal government is not allowed to exercise or usurp that power.
Also remember as a Congressman who you work for. You do not work for the People of the United States. You do not work for the President. You do not work for the GOP. You do not work for Tennessee. You do not work for the lobbyists. You do not work for the greater good. You do not work for anything other than the Constitution. Your job as stated in the oath of office is “to support and defend the Constitution”.
What does this mean? It means that you are NOT allowed to stray from the Constitution when you cast a vote or author a bill. If a vote comes up, as a Congressman, you must determine yourself whether or not it is listed in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution and whether or not it violates any amendments regardless of case law or common law rulings. If you vote for a bill that clearly does not fall within Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution or if it is contrary to the Bill of Rights or the rest of the Constitution, then you have just broken your oath. This includes of course granting more power to the Executive branch than what is Constitutionally authorized to grant. Also please realize that the United States is NOT a democracy, it's a Republic.
During the course of conversation you seemed to indicate that in some situations we need to realize that security might need to curtail liberty. I am a bit concerned by this because liberty and security are NOT to be balanced. Liberty is the default position because it is integral to our nature. A government powerful enough to take away your liberties cannot be expected to return them.
To quote Judge Andrew Naopiltano of the NJ Supreme Court and Fox News:
“Natural law extends from human nature which is created by God. Because humans are individuals and desire freedom from artificial restraint and because all humans desire to be free, our freedoms extend from our humanity and ultimately the Creator of that humanity.
Freedom does not come from the government. Freedom does not come from the consent of the governed. Freedom does not come from the community. Freedom comes from human nature because it is inherent in our beings.
Our freedoms cannot be disregarded by the government unless we are convicted with due procedural process that we have violated someone else's freedoms (natural law).
The goal of government is NOT to bring the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people. The ONLY goal of government is to secure liberty which is the freedom to obey one's own free will and concise, rather than the will of others.
The United States was created by individuals giving power to their States, and then the States giving power to the federal government. This is opposite of Europe where monarchs granted privileges to whom it chose.”
The result of this is that ALL RIGHTS ARE DERIVED FROM PROPERTY.
You own your own body, you can do with it what you want so long as you don't infringe on the rights of others. You own your own land, you can do with it what you want so long as you don't infringe on the rights of others. The only limitation on your rights is the equal rights of others. Please keep this in mind when authoring and voting upon legislation.
Another point of which you should be aware is of the Interstate Commerce Clause (ICC). The ICC was not actually meant to allow the government to regulate interstate commerce, it was written to allow the government to make interstate commerce regular (no trade wars, no interstate tariffs, etc). Even Thomas Jefferson remarked on this.
The final point on the Constitution that you should know is about the General Welfare Clause (GWC). Again like the ICC it is a victim of evolving language and bad court decisions which have resulted in a gross misunderstanding of it’s original meaning. The GWC originally meant that everything Congress did was for the general welfare, as opposed to the special interest welfare. In other words if a road was built, it couldn’t be used only for a special class of citizens. The GWC is also NOT a specific grant of unlimited power.
Also your support for Senator John McCain is troubling. Have you seen how many times Senator McCain has flip-flopped lately? He is worse than Senator John Kerry was in the last election. Criticizing Senator Kerry and not recognizing Senator McCain’s flip-flops would be highly hypocritical. With few exceptions Senator McCain’s shifting platform is unfortunately agenda driven and not based upon principal. I can provide direct evidence of this including video of McCain contradicting himself on multiple occasions.
In the near future I will be sending out a letter to all of my fellow conservatives regarding my refusal to support Senator McCain. I will make sure you receive the letter explaining my position in detail. Hopefully you will be open to it.
I am also concerned about your idea of federal intervention. During the course of conversation the other evening you stated you wanted no socialized medicine, but yet you want the federal government to dictate to the States and to the schools how to handle state-sponsored medical care (nurse practitioners). This is absolutely contradictory. On one hand you say “get the government out” and moments later you say “the federal government needs to take charge on this issue”. I find that to be highly inconsistent.
While chatting with you I am glad to know that there are many things that you and I both agree upon however. Since there is not much point in discussing those issues, I would like to share my opinion on a few points of which we disagree.
-Illegal immigration is a very serious problem. However building a fence is not the best solution for several reasons. First it’ll be largely ineffective as evidenced by multiple tunnels recently discovered in the southwest. Secondly it will be very expensive to build. And third, possibly the most important, a fence will trample many citizens property rights in terms of eminent domain abuse. It is better to have the US military patrolling our own border than the border of Iraq.
- I would like to see you stand up with Senator Alexander against the REAL-ID. Also note that Oklahoma recently “declared it’s sovereignty” and told the fed to ‘back-off’ from many of it’s unconstitutional mandates. I want the federal government to get out of my life especially in the implementation of a national ID card.
- Taxing business is always a bad idea because the business simply passes that overhead on to the consumer. I would like to see the IRS and income tax abolished and replaced with NOTHING. Did you know that the United States of America operated for more than half of it’s existence WITHOUT an income tax? Income tax accounts for only approximately 1/3 of federal revenue. Only a few years ago, the federal budget was roughly one-third less than it is today. Surely we could find ways to cut spending back to 1990 levels. Perhaps the idea of an America without an income tax is not so radical after all?
-Social Security should be completely phased out, however the promises need to be kept. Everyone should have an option of “opting-out” and getting the money back that they have paid in with appropriate back-interest and adjusted for COLA/inflation. I’m 26 and should not be forced to shoulder the burden of the retirement of my parents and grandparents. I also know how to invest and prepare for my own retirement and should not be forced to put my property (money) into a system that will rob me of growing my own wealth
- I would like to see the State Senators elected from the legislatures, NOT by the popular vote. This would mean the repeal of the 17th Amendment. States are sovereign which has been forgotten by most. The government of Finland has representation in Washington, DC but the government of Nebraska doesn’t. The more sovereign the States, the more independent their laws will be; this means more choice. Choice means the freedom to vote with one’s feet.
- The only way for the federal government to have it’s power checked will be for the States to reclaim some of theirs. The right of States to secede from the Union should be clarified in the Constitution.
- Every member of Congress should be forced to identify under oath the specific grant of power in the Constitution that forms the basis for each of their votes. Every bill introduced and voted upon should include a section citing the Constitutional clause of which it’s source originates.
- We should remove the personal immunity on the part of individuals who work for the government when they commit crimes. If a government employee or elected official commits a crime in the course of their work they should lose all immunity and be exposed personally to litigation by the victim of the crime. This would serve as a strong way to compel the government and it's employees to obey the same laws they swear to enforce.
- The Preamble to the Constitution should be changed from "we the People" to the more accurate phrase "We the States". The People did not author the Constitution, the individual and sovereign States created and then ratified it.
- The Constitution should also be amended so that the Interstate Commerce Clause (ICC) includes the word "expressly". The ICC along with the GWC are two of the most widely abused clauses of the Constitution. It’s where the federal government abuses most of it’s power.
I realize some of my above points are of course beyond the power of any one member of Congress. However if elected, I would like to see you work to achieve the above ends.
You may be asking yourself what is an instant turn off to thousands of fellow liberty loving Ron Paul supporters and myself?
- voting to raise taxes or voting to create a new tax
- voting for an unbalanced budget
- voting for ANY restrictions on gun ownership
- voting to increase the size / scope of government
- voting for increased regulation of anything
- voting to give the Executive Branch more power than Constitutionally authorized
- supporting anyone who has done any of the above
I do have a suggested reading list for you to dive in to. Every elected official in America should read the following:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul-collection2.html - books written by Ron Paul
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/reading-list3.html
· Constitution in Exile:
http://www.judgenap.com/
· Constitutional Chaos (what happens when the gov breaks its own laws):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0785260838/thomasnelsoni-20
· Nation of Sheep:
http://www.judgenap.com/
Also read:
· BlackGold Stranglehold - Myth of Scarcity and Politics of Oil (by Jerome Corsi)
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Gold-Stranglehold-Jerome-Corsi/dp/1581824890
· The Law That Never Was
http://www.thelawthatneverwas.com/new/home.asp
· Attention Deficit Democracy
http://www.lewrockwell.com/bovard/bovard19.html
· Age of Abundance
http://www.amazon.com/Age-Abundance-Prosperity-Transformed-Americas/dp/0060747668
· Freedonimcs
http://www.amazon.com/Freedomnomics-Market-Works-Half-Baked-Theories/dp/1596985062
· Radicals for Capitalism
http://radicalsforcapitalism.com/
· Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution
http://www.lewrockwell.com/woods/woods70.html
· Good to be King:
http://www.constitutionpreservation.org/book.htm
As a side note I have a minor in marketing and have two very direct and practical suggestions for your website:
- Post a couple of pictures on your site, one of yourself, and another of you and your family
- Also you should have a laundry list of issue positions so that people can quickly scan your stances
It is appreciated that you invited my friends and I into your home to exchange ideas and opinions. It was a pleasure to meet you, hopefully we can learn a great deal from each other.
I look forward to hearing back from you at your convenience.
-Matt Collins
I think you are a very sincere and passionate individual and that you have the best of intentions for our country. I am always impressed and encouraged by people who immigrate (legally) to the US, work to become a citizen, and then make a successful life for themselves. You are a testimony to the average native-born American that success is possible with the right effort and determination.
I would like to work with you to bring you up to speed on a few things under the umbrella of constructive criticism and the hopes that you will consider some of what I have to say.
One of the most important and fundamental concepts you can understand as a Congressman is Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution, coupled with the 9th & 10th Amendments. The Constitution is one of enumerated powers and was created by the sovereign States. Each State was sovereign before it created the federal government. The States only granted very specific powers to the federal government. A list of the powers that Congress is granted can be found in Article I Seciton 8 of the Constitution; please read it. The 10th Amendment says in plain English that if a power isn’t listed in the Constitution (without an Amendment), the federal government is not allowed to exercise or usurp that power.
Also remember as a Congressman who you work for. You do not work for the People of the United States. You do not work for the President. You do not work for the GOP. You do not work for Tennessee. You do not work for the lobbyists. You do not work for the greater good. You do not work for anything other than the Constitution. Your job as stated in the oath of office is “to support and defend the Constitution”.
What does this mean? It means that you are NOT allowed to stray from the Constitution when you cast a vote or author a bill. If a vote comes up, as a Congressman, you must determine yourself whether or not it is listed in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution and whether or not it violates any amendments regardless of case law or common law rulings. If you vote for a bill that clearly does not fall within Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution or if it is contrary to the Bill of Rights or the rest of the Constitution, then you have just broken your oath. This includes of course granting more power to the Executive branch than what is Constitutionally authorized to grant. Also please realize that the United States is NOT a democracy, it's a Republic.
During the course of conversation you seemed to indicate that in some situations we need to realize that security might need to curtail liberty. I am a bit concerned by this because liberty and security are NOT to be balanced. Liberty is the default position because it is integral to our nature. A government powerful enough to take away your liberties cannot be expected to return them.
To quote Judge Andrew Naopiltano of the NJ Supreme Court and Fox News:
“Natural law extends from human nature which is created by God. Because humans are individuals and desire freedom from artificial restraint and because all humans desire to be free, our freedoms extend from our humanity and ultimately the Creator of that humanity.
Freedom does not come from the government. Freedom does not come from the consent of the governed. Freedom does not come from the community. Freedom comes from human nature because it is inherent in our beings.
Our freedoms cannot be disregarded by the government unless we are convicted with due procedural process that we have violated someone else's freedoms (natural law).
The goal of government is NOT to bring the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people. The ONLY goal of government is to secure liberty which is the freedom to obey one's own free will and concise, rather than the will of others.
The United States was created by individuals giving power to their States, and then the States giving power to the federal government. This is opposite of Europe where monarchs granted privileges to whom it chose.”
The result of this is that ALL RIGHTS ARE DERIVED FROM PROPERTY.
You own your own body, you can do with it what you want so long as you don't infringe on the rights of others. You own your own land, you can do with it what you want so long as you don't infringe on the rights of others. The only limitation on your rights is the equal rights of others. Please keep this in mind when authoring and voting upon legislation.
Another point of which you should be aware is of the Interstate Commerce Clause (ICC). The ICC was not actually meant to allow the government to regulate interstate commerce, it was written to allow the government to make interstate commerce regular (no trade wars, no interstate tariffs, etc). Even Thomas Jefferson remarked on this.
The final point on the Constitution that you should know is about the General Welfare Clause (GWC). Again like the ICC it is a victim of evolving language and bad court decisions which have resulted in a gross misunderstanding of it’s original meaning. The GWC originally meant that everything Congress did was for the general welfare, as opposed to the special interest welfare. In other words if a road was built, it couldn’t be used only for a special class of citizens. The GWC is also NOT a specific grant of unlimited power.
Also your support for Senator John McCain is troubling. Have you seen how many times Senator McCain has flip-flopped lately? He is worse than Senator John Kerry was in the last election. Criticizing Senator Kerry and not recognizing Senator McCain’s flip-flops would be highly hypocritical. With few exceptions Senator McCain’s shifting platform is unfortunately agenda driven and not based upon principal. I can provide direct evidence of this including video of McCain contradicting himself on multiple occasions.
In the near future I will be sending out a letter to all of my fellow conservatives regarding my refusal to support Senator McCain. I will make sure you receive the letter explaining my position in detail. Hopefully you will be open to it.
I am also concerned about your idea of federal intervention. During the course of conversation the other evening you stated you wanted no socialized medicine, but yet you want the federal government to dictate to the States and to the schools how to handle state-sponsored medical care (nurse practitioners). This is absolutely contradictory. On one hand you say “get the government out” and moments later you say “the federal government needs to take charge on this issue”. I find that to be highly inconsistent.
While chatting with you I am glad to know that there are many things that you and I both agree upon however. Since there is not much point in discussing those issues, I would like to share my opinion on a few points of which we disagree.
-Illegal immigration is a very serious problem. However building a fence is not the best solution for several reasons. First it’ll be largely ineffective as evidenced by multiple tunnels recently discovered in the southwest. Secondly it will be very expensive to build. And third, possibly the most important, a fence will trample many citizens property rights in terms of eminent domain abuse. It is better to have the US military patrolling our own border than the border of Iraq.
- I would like to see you stand up with Senator Alexander against the REAL-ID. Also note that Oklahoma recently “declared it’s sovereignty” and told the fed to ‘back-off’ from many of it’s unconstitutional mandates. I want the federal government to get out of my life especially in the implementation of a national ID card.
- Taxing business is always a bad idea because the business simply passes that overhead on to the consumer. I would like to see the IRS and income tax abolished and replaced with NOTHING. Did you know that the United States of America operated for more than half of it’s existence WITHOUT an income tax? Income tax accounts for only approximately 1/3 of federal revenue. Only a few years ago, the federal budget was roughly one-third less than it is today. Surely we could find ways to cut spending back to 1990 levels. Perhaps the idea of an America without an income tax is not so radical after all?
-Social Security should be completely phased out, however the promises need to be kept. Everyone should have an option of “opting-out” and getting the money back that they have paid in with appropriate back-interest and adjusted for COLA/inflation. I’m 26 and should not be forced to shoulder the burden of the retirement of my parents and grandparents. I also know how to invest and prepare for my own retirement and should not be forced to put my property (money) into a system that will rob me of growing my own wealth
- I would like to see the State Senators elected from the legislatures, NOT by the popular vote. This would mean the repeal of the 17th Amendment. States are sovereign which has been forgotten by most. The government of Finland has representation in Washington, DC but the government of Nebraska doesn’t. The more sovereign the States, the more independent their laws will be; this means more choice. Choice means the freedom to vote with one’s feet.
- The only way for the federal government to have it’s power checked will be for the States to reclaim some of theirs. The right of States to secede from the Union should be clarified in the Constitution.
- Every member of Congress should be forced to identify under oath the specific grant of power in the Constitution that forms the basis for each of their votes. Every bill introduced and voted upon should include a section citing the Constitutional clause of which it’s source originates.
- We should remove the personal immunity on the part of individuals who work for the government when they commit crimes. If a government employee or elected official commits a crime in the course of their work they should lose all immunity and be exposed personally to litigation by the victim of the crime. This would serve as a strong way to compel the government and it's employees to obey the same laws they swear to enforce.
- The Preamble to the Constitution should be changed from "we the People" to the more accurate phrase "We the States". The People did not author the Constitution, the individual and sovereign States created and then ratified it.
- The Constitution should also be amended so that the Interstate Commerce Clause (ICC) includes the word "expressly". The ICC along with the GWC are two of the most widely abused clauses of the Constitution. It’s where the federal government abuses most of it’s power.
I realize some of my above points are of course beyond the power of any one member of Congress. However if elected, I would like to see you work to achieve the above ends.
You may be asking yourself what is an instant turn off to thousands of fellow liberty loving Ron Paul supporters and myself?
- voting to raise taxes or voting to create a new tax
- voting for an unbalanced budget
- voting for ANY restrictions on gun ownership
- voting to increase the size / scope of government
- voting for increased regulation of anything
- voting to give the Executive Branch more power than Constitutionally authorized
- supporting anyone who has done any of the above
I do have a suggested reading list for you to dive in to. Every elected official in America should read the following:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul-collection2.html - books written by Ron Paul
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/reading-list3.html
· Constitution in Exile:
http://www.judgenap.com/
· Constitutional Chaos (what happens when the gov breaks its own laws):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0785260838/thomasnelsoni-20
· Nation of Sheep:
http://www.judgenap.com/
Also read:
· BlackGold Stranglehold - Myth of Scarcity and Politics of Oil (by Jerome Corsi)
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Gold-Stranglehold-Jerome-Corsi/dp/1581824890
· The Law That Never Was
http://www.thelawthatneverwas.com/new/home.asp
· Attention Deficit Democracy
http://www.lewrockwell.com/bovard/bovard19.html
· Age of Abundance
http://www.amazon.com/Age-Abundance-Prosperity-Transformed-Americas/dp/0060747668
· Freedonimcs
http://www.amazon.com/Freedomnomics-Market-Works-Half-Baked-Theories/dp/1596985062
· Radicals for Capitalism
http://radicalsforcapitalism.com/
· Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution
http://www.lewrockwell.com/woods/woods70.html
· Good to be King:
http://www.constitutionpreservation.org/book.htm
As a side note I have a minor in marketing and have two very direct and practical suggestions for your website:
- Post a couple of pictures on your site, one of yourself, and another of you and your family
- Also you should have a laundry list of issue positions so that people can quickly scan your stances
It is appreciated that you invited my friends and I into your home to exchange ideas and opinions. It was a pleasure to meet you, hopefully we can learn a great deal from each other.
I look forward to hearing back from you at your convenience.
-Matt Collins