Thursday, March 18, 2010

Recall federal officials?

Congressman Pete Hoekstra wrote an exclusive article on enacting legislation to allow the recall of federal officials. Recall legislation has been introduced and passed in states across America, with California representing its political impact on the electoral landscape.

Hoekstra has good political intentions with this legislation, however, I believe the effort to enact a recall option for federal officials (Congressmen and Senators) is unconstitutional, will fast track the destruction of our Republic, and will hurt our opposition more than it helps.

There is also another reason this legislation will prove to be ineffective. The proposed purpose is to hold members of Congress accountable for their actions, however, elections are held every two years, and if their behavior is bad enough, such as in the case of Congressman Massa, their political career is over.

If we want folks to be held accountable, than we would never enact a recall option for federal officials, because elections have consequences. Imagine if liberals across the Nation used a recall option when Congress was debating the surge and the Iraq War. We are not a Democracy, we elect individuals to represent us, and when their term is complete, we either reward them with another term our elect new representation.

That process has worked for over 200 years!

Congress is held accountable every 24 months. How often are the American people held accountable? Let us not forget, it is the American people that are saddling government run health care upon us, through their uninformed political nature, horrific electoral voters, and believing there is such a thing as a "moderate democrat".

Recalling federal officials is not a legitimate option or cure to our political or Constitutional problems, it will serve as an excuse for the laziest of our political system, and it will shift America into a "50% plus 1" Democracy, instead of a time tested Republic.

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4 comments:

The BoBo said...

Actually, I believe he is just posturing or he really doesn't know the U.S. Constitution. First, giving the states the ability to recall senators and representatives were initially considered in 1787 while drafting the constitution - but - our founding fathers decided - as you pointed out - that would be a bad idea.

However, Art. 1, Sec. 5, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the authority to expel any Senator or Representative by a 2/3 majority vote.

Essentially, Congress is supposed to be self-policing. That's working out well isn't it? There has never been a senator or representative every expelled in the history of this country.

Lastly, because there is constitutional authority already - simple legislation enacting a recall would be unconstitutional. What would be required is an amendment to the constitution.

Anonymous said...

Quite a few States allow for recall of State office holders and has THAT destroyed the State governments? NO. The Founders did not allow for direct election of Senators. They used to be appointed by the House. If we went back to that, then the People could pressure their Representatives in the House to recall a Senator when they act unconstitutionally, or against the will of the People. This is why the Recall was not added to the Constitution. The Founders thought there was no need. They fully expected a 50% turnover in the House every election.

To say that the People are the ones saddling this country with the health care debacle, is to say that they had full knowledge of what Obama and crew were going to do. How do you then explain the vast unpopularity of Obamacare? The People did NOT vote to saddle the country with this travesty. Many were hoodwinked, but now understand their folly.

Recalling House members may not be to any point because they come up for election every 2 years, but just having the ability to affect their time in office outside of an election year could have a very healthy effect on their behavior.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, I could not have said it better.

If Senators were still appointed by the Representatives of the State Legislatures we could pressure them to recall a Senator, when they display such unconstitutional behavior as we've witnessed from Obama and crew.

And I love the point that We the People did NOT know that they would try to ruin this economy as we have, or Obama would NEVER have even gotten close to the reins of power.

Nuff said.

http://theacru.org/

Anonymous said...

"I love the point that We the People did NOT know that they would try to ruin this economy as we have, or Obama would NEVER have even gotten close to the reins of power."

This is not true and this would be beyond the point even if it was. The economy was already ruined when Obama took power by the few former governments.

The point is that the people lost control of the government to the corporations via electoral campaign financing.

While The Bush administration was mostly controlled by the energy industry, The Obama administration is mostly controlled by the entertainment industry.

Both side are controlled by wall-street and the banks in the process of ruining our country and many other countries in the world such as Greece for profit.

To get out of this mess the entire government shall be recalled
Curent and former members of the government shall be prevented to participate in the new election.

The first thing the new government will have to do is to write in stone in the constitution that organizations such as corporations are not people and therefore have no civil right.

Also Campaign contribution by organizations shall be made illegal.

Trade barriers shall be raise again to protect the US economy if no world wide business rule can be established to protect the people against multinational corporations.