We here are in a revolution … a war … that will determine the fate of our Republic.
In 1964 the US Supreme Court handed down an un-Constitutional decision that has turned legislatures of state governments into a chaotically gerrymandered mess. And since 40 or 50% of the population of most states abides in large cities, the gerrymanders can only get worse after the next census. By their “one man, one vote” decision they have effectively done away with our system of representative government. The logical consequence of this decision is that the populations of the largest cities will entirely overwhelm the voice the small communities. It is called the “tyranny of the majority.” The political strength of America and of the States has always been that the least of the community at large has always been represented and heard. It is the Republican form, government rooted first in the individual, then the family, the community, the state and finally the Union. Every citizen has had full access to all levels of government. This will soon go away if we don’t act now.
We need only to look at the state of California, to see the horrible consequences of a non-representative government.
The attack upon the governments of the states is an insidious tyranny being thrust upon us from Washington DC by the minions of socialism and collectivism who have found a way to destroy our Republic. They have co-opted one of the branches of the Federal government, namely the Supreme Court. They have done this by packing the membership of the Court with leftists that delight in telling us that the Constitution is a “living document.”
Since the Supreme Court only has nine members, all these DC-ites had to do was to place five leftists on the bench. Then those Justices could read into their decisions interpretations that are not in or ever intended to be in the Constitution by the founders. Many of their “living Constitution” decisions were specifically rejected either in the Constitutional Convention, the Congress or early decisions of the Court and continue to be rejected by the citizens of the States. What they do by inventing “what the founders forgot to or should have included or what the document should now say in view of ‘modern circumstances’ ” is to amend the Constitution without the consent of the people. The very definition of tyranny.
The Constitution is very explicit, laws are the specific province of Congress under Article I, section 1 … the Supreme Court has no lawmaking authority and its authority under Article VI, the supremacy clause, extends only to the ” the Constitution and laws made in “Pursuance” thereof.” In the Bill of Rights, the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution states: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor Prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people. Clearly, by the Bill of Rights, the apportionment of state legislatures lies with the individual states. Our prescient forefathers could see specter of what the Court is doing now and insisted that the States have the final say.
How do we approach the problem? Some years ago at a State Convention I introduced the following Resolution and the delegates passed it. I now re-present it for your perusal.
A Resolution
Asking the Legislature to Reinstate Suffrage of Its Counties
Whereas, the Founders of our nation, meeting in Philadelphia in 1787, after due consideration of the relative merits of Democracies and Republics, presented the nation with the most successful form of government yet devised by man, their Republic:
The Constitution of the United States of America
and
Whereas, their ingenious system was a compendium of checks and balances upon the power of the branches of government, directed at giving the majority its prerogatives, but providing due deference to minorities; and
Whereas, the government could have never been formed without enfranchising both the people and their property … a problem which they solved in the way that they made up the Congress, a compromise which resulted in the equal representation of the States in the Senate (no matter how small) and the guaranteed representation of each State (no matter how small) in the House of Representatives; and
Whereas, the national model provided by the Founders for successful government lay in recognizing distinct political entities solving distinct local problems, such as those known to the Founders to be manifested in the diverse original 13 Colonies, was subsequently venerated as a viable model for the make-up of State governments; and
Whereas, the Federal Constitution guarantees under Article IV Section 4 to each State … “a Republican Form of Government” … it is undeniable that the Forefathers of our State were correct in deciding that the political subdivisions of this State, namely the Counties, were entitled, following the Federal model, to enfranchise each County with one Senator and at least one Representative in the House of Representatives in the State Legislature; and
Whereas, the Supreme Court of the United States of America misapplied their ruling under the 14th Amendment in Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, as was proved by the erudite dissent of Justice John Marshall Harlan II, when they ruled that the 14th Amendment required the Senates and State Legislatures be apportioned on the basis of population rather on the basis of political subdivisions … the Counties; and
Whereas, the imposition of Federal Court Ordered reapportionment of State Legislatures is beyond argument a tyranny of the Federal Government, the child of the States, being imposed upon its Father and Superior, the Sovereign States; and
Whereas, it is impossible to conceive and historically inaccurate to believe that the States would have ratified an Amendment to the Constitution that abrogated their ability to apportion their Legislatures; and
Whereas, the unintended consequence of this Federal meddling has resulted in the fragmentation of the County system of government and the loss of the representation and understanding of the distinct and unique problems of large areas of the State, not to mention the chaos of gerrymandered voting districts.
Now Therefore Be it Resolved that we strongly urge that the Legislature and Governor of our State assert their Duties as the guardians of the rights of the citizens of this great Sovereign state and take all measures necessary, including Resolutions, Memorials, Amendments, Referendums, Laws, Lawsuits and if necessary Nullification to re-enfranchise the numerous disenfranchised Counties of this great State; and
Be it Further Resolved that the our delegation to the national Congress present this Resolution to that body for its consideration and urge its adoption nationally as it would apply to each of the Several States.
To this end, I offered a proposed amendment to the our Constitution as follows:
Apportionment of the Legislature
That we the citizens of our State shall apportion our Legislature, following the model of representation in the Federal system in the Congress of the United States of America and asserting the Guarantee of a Republican form of government as delineated in Article IV Section 4 of the Constitution of the United States of America so that:
The Senate of the Legislature of our State shall consist only of one Senator from each County of this State.
And:
The members of the House of Representatives of the Legislature of our State shall consist of at least (x) members and shall be adjudicated County by County on the basis that the number of citizens in each county bears to population of the whole State, provided that no member may represent the citizens of more than one county, and provided further that each county shall have at least one representative in the Legislature and that no county may have more than (x) Representatives.
If you agree with me, I urge you to make all possible effort to convince your present legislators to offer this proposed Constitutional Amendment to your Constitution to the electorate in the next general election so that they, the people, can decide whether or not they want an American Republic in your State or a socialistic tyranny.