Why we don't take specific policy positions.

Often, we read or hear comments that We Surround the Frederick (WST) is clear about what we are against, but short on what we’re for…a legitimate question. This post seeks to answer this question, though perhaps not as definitively as people or our critics may hope.

To begin, WST was not founded as a think-tank, or to advocate any particular policy objective. Rather, WST was founded to advance an argument that has great relevance to today’s public debate. Namely, that the idea of limited government and a truly free people as advocated by the majority of the Founders in 1776 and 1787 is a superior form of governance when compared to the current case-law based federal government. That’s it, that’s what WST is all about…advancing an argument that until WST and other groups emerged in the last year wasn’t really being discussed.

To be sure, the term “Constitution” or “Constitutional” comes up from time-to-time in relation to government discussions as in; “don’t worry, everything will be ok, after all, what I’m about to vote on is Constitutional.” But that was usually from a politician or other political operative seemingly to soothe the average voter mind on their desire to expand government even further.

Having wandered onto Constitutional territory in this post, rest assured, WST has no disagreement with those who suggest there was not unanimity amongst the Founders; we do not suggest or promote this concept. WST has no disagreement that shortly after the ratification of the Constitution, it almost immediately came under assault by advocates of a larger central government, we agree. Our disagreement is with those who seek to re-write history to suggest that what we have today was spawned from those very Founders who declared independence and codified the principles contained therein in the Constitution.

For indeed the federal government, from 1787 to roughly 1861 was nothing more than a smallish entity often failing at its efforts to expand. The federal government’s effort to tax personal production (The Whiskey Rebellion)…eventually withdrawn forcing the federal government, up through the Civil War, to rely almost exclusively on tariffs for revenue. Its effort to curtail the Bill of Rights (The Alien and Sedition Acts)…mostly expired or repealed. And finally, the US Government’s assertion, via the sword, that States would bend to the expansion of its powers. After the Civil War, the ground work was laid to have a robust and central government that would eventually swallow the sovereignty of the State.

Before any attempt to squelch WST before the conclusion of this post, please be assured that though we believe the Civil War began on legitimate Constitutional grounds; the right of a sovereign State to withdraw from the union, the slavery issue doomed them to defeat. No man has the right to own another and from the very formation of our Constitution, its greatest weakness was its failure to be true to the essential principle of the Declaration of Independence…that ALL men are created equal and are endowed with certain unalienable rights. WST concedes that this unholy concession to the South during the Constitutional Convention inevitably would lead to a national conflict, though in reality, this issue was not a primary reason for the War. That stated, one fortunate by-product of the War was the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would put a nail in the coffin of legal slavery. Sadly though, the attitudes would take much longer to disappear until a group in the South decided to stand up against the prevailing civil rights deficiencies that still lingered, even with the 13th Amendment.

However, acknowledging that one basis for the Civil War was wildly wrong, nevertheless, since the War, America has been on a trajectory that has culminated in a HUGE and bloated government that can

1. Tax any form of income, at any rate it likes, at any time it wants;
2. Create programs that are unsustainable such as Medicare and Social Security;
3. Create federal agencies that infringe on State Sovereignty and rob economic activity such as the IRS, Department of Education, NEA, FEC, and a myriad of other agencies;
4. Infringe on 1st Amendment Rights via the Fairness Doctrine;
5. Involved the United States in undeclared wars;
6. Take private property whenever is can justify a perceived need;
7. Ultimately, run up an un-payable $99 TRILLION DOLLAR DEBT (http://www.dallasfed.org/news/speeches/fisher/2009/fs090223.cfm)

Thus, WST seeks to advance discussion about the principles so eloquently laid out in the Declaration of Independence; LIFE, LIBERTY and the PURSUIT of Happiness.

WST asserts that both parties have abandoned any pretense to holding to this vision. Therefore as part of an ever growing movement taking shape across the country, WST is by-passing the two-party process and instead speaking directly to the people with our appeal. We call it the We the People message for the 21st Century.

Simply put;

- We believe America was established with a set of Rights, not handed down by a King or legislature, but by our Creator and/or Natural Law;
- We believe the ultimate power rests in the people, not the government;
- We believe and human history supports that the closest form of government to the people (town, local, state) is far superior to an all-powerful centralized government distant from the people.
- We believe the only Constitutional responsibilities the federal government possesses are to secure the liberties of a free people and not grow its power.

Thus, at this point in the movement’s evolution, we do not believe it necessary to make policy statements or take policy positions. Not because of any weakness on our part, but rather, we’d be making statements on a less than Constitutional playing field. We believe that much of what occurs in the sausage making process called the legislative process in Washington DC is not in keeping with the original meaning of the words contained in Article 1. Section 8. Therefore, until there is two-party agreement on the original meaning of the “Big 3,” the general Welfare Clause, the Commerce Clause, and the Necessary and Proper Clause, there really is no reason to expound on specific policies. This merely leads to multiple nuanced debates, open to emotion and subject to propaganda as we’ve seen for decades. Again, this has led to an un-payable $99 TRILLION DOLLAR DEBT and a continuing degradation of civil liberties.

So, in a word, our “solution” to America’s problems lie not in the pro’s and con’s of a particular piece of legislation. Our solution is to resurrect a discussion and promote an argument that must be dealt with; are we a people governed by the original meaning of the words written in the Constitution and the principles laid out in the Declaration of Independence or are we not? If we are not, then our future truly is bleak and our liberties are in peril. If we decide to resurrect the original meanings of the Constitution and the Principles of the Declaration of Independence, then we have some heavy lifting ahead of us. As for those of us involved in WST, we believe We the People can do it.

As it began, this post has not stated specifically which policies WST is “for.” If we did, it would entirely miss the point of WST and relegate us to the status of just another special interest group. We resist that effort.