Column for March 22, 2012

I have long been a proponent of repealing the 17thAmendment to the US Constitution.  That amendment reads, “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote.”  That amendment was ratified in April of 1913, and most of us cannot remember the national senate being otherwise.  Well, prior to 1913, Senators were chosen according to Article I, section 3 of the Constitution which states, “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.”  There is a big difference.  The original method of selecting Senators meant that the Senate was beholden to the individual states that created the federal government.  Since 1913, Senators have been directly responsible to the general population as is the House of Representatives.  There was great wisdom in the original method of selecting U.S. Senators.  The Senate was to look after the interests of the states, not the people.  The House was to look after the interests of the people, not the states.  It was a great balance.

In another section of the Constitution, “The President...shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur” (ArticleII Section 2).  That is a tremendous amount of power for both the President and the Senate.  Presidents negotiate treaties regularly.  They just do not have the effect of law unless the Senate agrees with a two thirds majority.  Why a two thirds majority?  Because under Article VI, “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land”.  That means that treaties that are ratified by the Senate have the effect of law upon us citizens.  That is done without a bill being passed by the House, the Senate, and being signed into law by the President.

I have been reading up on several treaties that are underway.  If for no other reason than what I am about to write, we need to be careful about electing a president and senators.  Liberal, America hating radicals look for every opportunity to harm American sovereignty.  Sovereignty means freedom.  We the people have it, this nation has it.  But this will change if the following treaties are ratified.

The US, with Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, is negotiating for a US participation in an international criminal court.  This would subject American officials to criminal charges if a decision is taken to go to war without the permission of The United Nations and give nations like China and Russia a veto over our sovereignty to declare war.  The power of war is the very essence of being sovereign.

The Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) has been signed by the Obama administration, and if ratified, would force America to give up half of all royalties it gets from offshore drilling.  We would give that money to the United Nations for them to distribute as they see fit to any nation it chooses, with only a single vote from the US as to where the money will go.  The UN would not earn the money and the recipient nations would not earn the money.  We would simply obligate ourselves into just giving it away.  Sadly, some liberal Republican senators are pushing for this ratification.

The administration is attempting to sign on to a small arms treaty that would force nations to stop the exportation of firearms for private use.  I happen to collect antique military firearms, and from nations like France, Switzerland, and Russia in particular.  This treaty would stop the flow of old military pistols and rifles into America for millions of collectors like me.  It would also open the door for total firearms registration.

There is a treaty that would ban “space junk” under the guise of stopping space debris and litter.  In reality, this would prohibit America from deploying a missile defense system in space.  It is colorfully called the “Outer Space Code of Conduct”.

The “Rights of the Child” treaty is designed to extract money from richer nations (read that America) to go to poorer nations, ostensibly for the purposes of clothing, food, shelter, and education of children.  The fund would be administered by a fourteen member court that would sue nations to that end.  That court is already suing over welfare cuts in England, so don’t think for one moment that it wouldn’t do the same thing here.

As you can see, the passage of treaties is nothing to take lightly and it is often overlooked by those who only focus on reasons like Supreme Court nominees when it comes to consideration of senatorial elections.  The Senate is a powerful body by design.  When a powerful body is complicit with a socialist presidential administration, as we have now, American sovereignty and money, as well as individual freedoms can be taken away or seriously limited.  Vote freedom hating senators and presidents out of office.  For that matter, every freedom hating elected representative you can identify.  Keep and restore American sovereignty and individual liberties.