Come to the aid of your country

FRANK MIELE

I used to think we needed to leave the Constitution alone.

That was before the Senate decided to extend citizenship to as many as 20 million lawbreakers whose sole purpose in breaking the law was to gain U.S. citizenship. Talk about making the punishment fit the crime! This punishment fits the crime exactly - they are identical!

Forget about the billions of dollars it will cost the taxpayers of this country to give amnesty to illegal immigrants. Forget about the fact that it will forever change the nature of our country. Forget about the fact that if 9/11 terrorist Mohammed Atta had not blown himself up in the World Trade Center, he would have been eligible for a Z visa under the Senate's plan so that he could enjoy the fruits of American citizenship before he attacked us.

Forget about all that. Even forget the fact that this immigration bill was hammered out in the dark of night by senators who think they can make better law without interference from everyday Americans. Forget the fact that there is every indication that this bill is being bought and paid for by multinational corporations who want a source of cheap labor, and don't care about the future of the United States of America.

Just forget all that, and focus on the fact that for a few more short months, you still have a chance to make a difference. Think about how unresponsive your government is, and how you have no confidence that your senators or even your congressman will do what is best for this country, and then ask yourself who is going to fix it if you don't.

Yeah you. Because I am pretty sure you scare the bejeezus out of Mr. Congressman and Mr. Senator.

If you are waiting for them to fix the problems in this country you will wait for a long time. The Senate and the House do not speak for you. They speak for the campaign contributors who financed them into office. It is time that the real rulers speak up, and that is "We the People."

It is time for "We the People" to run our own country for a change, and not assume that someone else is doing it for us. We can do that, if we do it quickly, by seizing control of the Constitution and stopping the Congress from giving away our country to the foreigners who have invaded it.

All it would take is a simple amendment to establish that citizenship shall not be granted to anyone who entered the country illegally. It should also establish that citizenship is not granted automatically to anyone born in the United States while their parents are here illegally. And finally such an amendment should spell out that it is the duty of the commander in chief to act to secure the borders of the country against foreign intrusions of any kind. The amendment could also establish the authority of the Congress to regulate legal immigration but rule out blanket amnesty of any kind for illegal residents of this country.

The problem, of course, is that such an amendment could never pass in Congress. Congress has no interest in securing our borders, and certainly the president has proven time and again that he has absolutely no desire to protect the rights of American citizens against the costly invasion from Mexico and elsewhere.

So that means we are doomed, right?

Not quite.

Listen to what the Constitution says about the amendment process:

"The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress…"

As a matter of historical record, all of the 27 amendments ratified and joined to the Constitution thus far have originated with the Congress. But it may be time for the Legislatures of the several states to act, and act swiftly, to demand a constitutional convention to establish once and for all the will of "We the People." It would not by any means be easy to get 34 states to call such a convention, but this is do or die.

Every special interest group in the country would be terrified of what such a convention might do, but that is the point. It is time for the special interests to stop running this country, and for "We the People" to take it back. Thomas Jefferson would have thought we were long overdue. In a letter to James Madison in 1789, he said that "no society can make a perpetual constitution or even a perpetual law. The earth belongs always to the living generation." In the same letter he warned that the people's "power of repeal" was not of great value because it depended on representation in the legislature which was "unequal and vicious," and warned that the people's representatives were tainted by factionalism, corruption and personal interest. Today, we would call it party politics, campaign finance, and ambition, but the message is the same - don't trust the Congress to represent your interests. They have their own agenda.

Today, in this so-called immigration reform bill we have the best example we will ever need. This bill is not immigration reform; it is national reform - a fundamental change in the rules of citizenship - and it must not be allowed to stand.