I acknowledge that this will not be an exhaustive explanation or clarification but I can and will point to a time in American politics when our country made a sharp left turn away from the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.  There was a clear point in American politics when the Progressives, the anti-Constitutionalist, and New World Order gained significant inroads and the aftermath of that has been and will continue to be detrimental to the Freedom defined in the Constitution.  It was, in my view, a clear point when we began to lose our Republic.

The slow erosion since that point in time, and over the past eight years the rapid erosion must be addressed by all Constitutional minded patriots and lovers of our Republican Democracy.  If we continue to allow politicians to erode our liberties and rewrite or reinterpret our Constitution, we will pay the high price of tyranny.  I realize that saying, we are guilty of complicity in our apathy and silence will not be well received by some but think about it.  Does not our Constitution place the burden of oversight in our hands?  Are we not supposed to be the owners and overseers of our government?  How did we evolve to the place that we are simply the sheep and the politicians the shepherds?  How did we reach the place that Congress, the President, and the Courts gained supreme authority and our voices effectively silenced?  How and Why did we allow this to transpire?  Questions that each of us must answer within our own hearts and then express our answers at the polls.

I suggest that the decline of America as the Constitutional Republic designed and desired by the Framers and Founders began in 1913 with the election of Woodrow Wilson.  He and his cohorts, as did Barack Obama, quickly took steps to shred the Constitution and advance their particular brand of politics and ideology in America.  Many would argue that Wilson frequently showed bad judgment and his disasters on the international front are among the most prolific examples of his badness for America.  However, Wilson and his cronies selected their targets adeptly and began a systematic attack on the principles of our Founding Fathers and the Framers of our American Constitution.  His policies and actions opened the door for FDR, LBJ, and BHO to easily enact their agendas and further damage the Republic.

The election of Wilson in 1913 brought about the 16^th and 17^th Amendments to the American Constitution.  We saw the implementation of the Federal Reserve and the flourishing of the Progressive Movement and Era, an era we are still burdened with and labor under.  He broke the pact that the Framers made with the American people and opened the door to a federal government bureaucracy and power that significantly diminished our Freedoms and Liberties.  If one reads the pact that the Framers gave to the American people found in the writings of James Madison in Federalist 45 you can see the truth.  “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined.  Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.  The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce[.] … The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State.”

In saying what they ratified is not what we now have, there should be no argument.  The federal government of 2017 is only remotely similar to that described and defined in the Constitution.  Woodrow Wilson, in my view, was a significant starting point in our demise.  Some disagree with me but I contend that the 17^th Amendment was and has been incredibly detrimental to our Republic.  Electing Senators by popular vote rather than making them subject to the State Legislature allows them to become engaged in political cronyism and become far more self-serving than they could be if amenable to the State.  The Senators were, according to the Constitution, to represent the State from which they were elected, unlike the Representatives who were to represent their constituents within the District they served.  The purpose of serving the State is realized in the fact that each State regardless of population has two Senators.  They were to be a true check and insurance that the “few and defined” powers of the federal government did not usurp the Rights of the States.  That is only a fleeting memory today, thanks to Woodrow Wilson and the 17^th Amendment.

The 16^th Amendment introduced the Progressive Income Tax, which is one of the crowning jewels of the Progressive Movement.  This changed the federal government’s revenue base from tariffs, which are largely self-limiting and removed a basic limitation on the growth of the federal government.  In 1910 our federal revenue looked much like it did under President Washington, about 3% of GDP. The 16^th Amendment threw open the doors to government expansion giving it, what seemed to be, unlimited revenue and allowing the political opportunist to bribe and buy what they wanted to ensure their continued place of power.  This allowed the federal government to run its tentacles into every facet of the lives of every American citizen.  It brought corruption to the federal government like few other things could or have.  It was a death knell to Limited Government and will continue to be UNLESS and UNTIL we repeal it.

I will deal with the Federal Reserve in a later article but it too has been a destructive force to our Constitutional Republicanism.  Instead of providing liquidity to sound banks during a panic, the FED has taken control of our currency which is an unconstitutional power over America’s wealth.  It is estimated that one 1910 dollar would be worth approximately $24.89 in 2017.  The saying, “sound as a dollar” would indicate anemia and elicit the call to 911 today.  The dollar is not sound and I trace that back to Woodrow Wilson in 1913.  Thanks, Mr. Wilson, for nothing!

We are focused on peripheral issues today and nobody in Washington wants to address the three issues I have raised.  They won’t budge UNLESS we help them get off high center and fire enough of them.  Politicians do not like to alter the status quo because in the status quo they find safety and are able to advance their self-serving agendas.  AMERICA, WILL WE ALLOW THIS TO CONTINUE?

God, bless you and God bless America.