And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder

Here is an excerpt from the book, Line In The Sand.

The Union started out as good thing. Given their sparse populations and their international status as "Johnny-Come-Latelys", it brought prosperity to its member States. It gave them a chance at survival in a world dominated by centuries old powers for whom imperialism was a cornerstone. But almost from its inception, the Constitution was under assault. As it goes in many unions, the Union of the States was to fall victim to the same challenges of jealousy, power-mongering and political intrigue.

The struggle played out between those who wanted more power in Washington, D.C. and those who held to the Constitutional requirement that it reside in the States. It was an epic battle between those who wanted to lose themselves in this new entity and those who fought to keep their individuality. This, along with a clash between industrial States and agricultural States, interventionists and isolationists, North and South, slave states and abolitionists eventually festered into the bloodiest war ever conducted on this soil. But this isn't 1860 and those battles are not our battles. However, the root cause remains.

In the 21st century we are in the midst of a new struggle and the Constitution that is the sole basis for the existence of the Union is again in question. It is the basic right of self-government of the States, the preservation of the rights of the individual and the limitation of power of the Federal Government for which we contend.

Never again will this be decided in the context of a morally reprehensible institution. Instead, stripped of all pretense of moral superiority, those who would subjugate the States and people therein will be forced to argue for the preservation of the Union on the only battleground that matters – the Constitution.

There are 4 questions that matter in this regard.

1. Has the Federal Government exceeded its mandate?

2. Has the Federal Government failed in executing its explicit purpose?

3. Has the Federal Government violated or allowed the violation of the rights of the people?

4. Are the abuses isolated or are they chronic?

These questions and these alone, are the criteria to determine whether the Union should continue to exist. In light of Article 1 Section 1 of the Texas Bill of Rights, the answers to these questions will determine whether the Union has already been dissolved and replaced by something more sinister.

Congress was granted a very limited authority by the United States Constitution. The Executive Branch was tasked with the sole responsibility to carry out those laws. And the Supreme Court with determining the Constitutionality of those laws when they were challenged. So any examination of the Constitutional mandate must begin with listing the specified duties of Congress.

Article 1 Section 9 of the Constitution states:

"The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof."

Using this list of powers granted to Congress, let's compare it to this list:

• Bureau of Land Management
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Personal Income Tax Division of the IRS
• National Endowment for the Arts
• National Wild Horse and Burro Program
• Department of Education
• Department of Energy
• Bureau of International Organization Affairs
• Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation
• Bureau of Legislative Affairs
• Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs
• Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
• Federal Emergency Management Agency
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
• Freddy Mac & Fannie Mae
• Administration on Aging
• Administration for Children and Families
• Administration on Developmental Disabilities
• Administration for Native Americans
• Children's Bureau
• Family and Youth Services Bureau
• Head Start Bureau (HSB)
• Healthy Marriage Initiative (HMI)
• Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
• Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE)
• Office of Community Services Block Grant (OCS)
• Office of Family Assistance (OFA)
• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
• Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)
• President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (PCPID)
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
• Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
• Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
• Indian Health Service (IHS)
• National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• Office for Civil Rights (OCR)
• Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations
• Bureau of Political-Military Affairs
• Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration
• Housing & Urban Development
• Office of International Information Programs
• Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs
• Office of Minority Health (OMH)
• Program Support Center (PSC)
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
• Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT)
• Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (CFBCI)
• Employees' Compensation Appeals Board (ECAB)
• Employment Standards Administration (ESA)
• The Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS)
• Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP)
• Wage and Hour Division (WHD)
• Employment and Training Administration (ETA)
• Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
• Women's Bureau (WB)
• Job Corps
• Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs
• Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs
• Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
• Internet Access and Training Program
• Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs
• Bureau of Human Resources
• Bureau of Information Resource Management
• Bureau of Intelligence and Research
• Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
• Bureau of Public Affairs
• Bureau of Resource Management
• Bureau of South Asian Affairs
• Bureau of Verification, Compliance, and Implementation

This is a list of current Federal agencies and it is by no means a comprehensive list. Covering such a diverse range of subjects and services, they all do share one thing in common. None of them is authorized by the Constitution. And these aren't the only ones.

While some would put up an impassioned argument for their necessity, I will not engage them on these grounds. That is not the battle. The question is whether or not the Constitution gives explicit authority to establish these bloated bureaucracies. I am not arguing about the validity of their aims. I am arguing against their very existence.

The accusation of creating swarms of bureaucrats was a charge leveled at England by the 13 colonies in the Declaration of Independence. This is one of the reasons that the Federal Government was given a limited mandate by the Constitution. But here, centered in the very heart of those 13 former colonies, we have a bureaucracy that would have given King George III a case of green-eyed jealousy.

You can read the rest of this chapter in the book, Line In The Sand, that you can receive FREE when you join the Texas Nationalist Movement.

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