Letters to the Editor

by Our Readers

Send Letters to [email protected]

Letter from James J. Odle

Hey John:

Here's an open letter that I have just dispatched to my representative.

It might be suitable for the LE.

Take care!

---

James J. Odle
4122 West Boca Raton Street
Phoenix, AZ 85053
(602) 547-0177
[email protected]

Honorable John Shadegg
United States House of Representatives
430 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Honorable John Shadegg,
           I am pleased to learn that the latest unconstitutional gun control law went down in well deserved defeat.
           I am not pleased to learn that the bill reached the floor in the first place.
           Apparently, there is some confusion as to the role of the Bill of Rights and the Constitutional limits upon power that it imposes and the resulting range of options that are therefore legitimate arenas of legislative action.
           In my basic high school civics class I was taught that the purpose of the entire Bill of Rights was two fold:

• To protect each of us as individuals from the tyranny of majority rule;
• To protect us as individuals from the tyranny of a strong central government.

           This means that, where any one of our individual rights are concerned, they are beyond the purview of legitimate legislative action. The only proper and legal method of getting legislation that effects our rights is through the amendment process.
           Does following the rules pose an incredible inconvenience to Congress?
           Of course it does! But then that is the entire purpose of the Constitution. That is its job. The very reason for the existence of the Constitution is to impose upon and to constrain the range of options available to law makers, law enforcement agencies and other bureaucrats. They are all supposed to be inconvenienced!
           Isn't this basic civics lesson taught to anyone any more? Doesn't anyone remember and apply it? Why aren't these fundamentally American ideas on prominent display on the floors of the House and Senate? Has Washington gone completely power crazy? Are the vast majority of Washington politicos in desperate need of some serious, no nonsense couch time with Dr. Laura? Apparently so.
           Why am I so upset?
           Imagine, if you will, that tomorrow you rose -- opened up the morning newspaper -- and discovered that one of your employees had, without your knowledge or permission, put your house up for sale.
           You would be outraged!! You would storm your place of business and try to find out what the heck was going on, wouldn't you?
           That is how I feel whenever I see Congress negotiating laws that effect our rights.
           MY RIGHTS ARE NOT CONGRESS'S TO BARGAIN WITH!
           Since when do employees determine the rights of employers? Since when do agents have determine the rights of the principals they work for?
           Just for the record, politicians are our employees -- they are not our leaders! This political arrogance is getting out of hand. Some Washington politicos have even gotten it into their heads that it is their job to be the leader of the nation or the leader of the free world.
           Where in hell, are these silly ideas to be found in the Constitution? I'll give you a hint -- they ain't there!
           I, for one am not a sheep and I don't need a shepherd. When I enter that voting booth, I am looking for someone who wishes that the government live within Constitutional constraints.
           The Constitution doesn't permit bureaucrats to do anything they please. Roughly 80% of everything the Feds do everyday is unconstitutional you know.
           Let us all try to get a grip on this pathetic lust for power. Is pushing people around -- that is, bullying -- really that much fun? I don't think so!
           We don't want to wind up as a desperate antisocial power crazed psychopath like William Jefferson Blythe Clinton, do we?
           Let us all get a grip!

Cordially,
James J. Odle

Back to the Letters to the Editor page
Table of Contents to return to The Libertarian Enterprise, Number 49, June 30, 1999.