Accountability
I was on my way to pick up my children from preschool the other day, but was late by two hours because of gridlock. I’m not sure how it happened exactly, as I didn’t see the impact, but two cars traveling in opposite directions had a head on collision. No one was hurt, mind you, only the vehicles were damaged. They backed up traffic in both directions for miles. After calling my wife, who had to leave work early in order to pick up our son and daughter, I dialed through the radio to pass time. Of course, I settled on NPR. Beyond the top story of the week, that tawdry affair, the fiscal cliff was brought up again, followed by a story about copious signatures in favor of certain states seceding from the Union. The more I listened, the more enraged I became—enraged at the literal and figurative gridlock. Then it occurred to me.
What is the best way to reduce gridlock?
It’s not building better roads or better transit systems.
The best way to reduce gridlock is to reduce the number of cars on the street.
No members of the House and Senate can serve without taking the oath of office; it’s a requirement of Article VI of the Constitution. Our nation’s current oath of office requires members of congress to “faithfully discharge the duties of the office…without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion.” This oath is the basis of the oath I took when I enlisted in the Army. It is an oath I took very seriously; it’s an oath I fulfilled, despite reservations for a certain war.
However, certain members have betrayed this oath; they subverted it by pledging allegiance to a non-governmental individual: Grover Norquist, a lobbyist. By signing Norquist’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge, members of congress—of both the House and Senate—relinquish their “Power To lay and collect Taxes” (Article I, Section 8).
The ability to lay and collect taxes is the primary function of congress. It is a sacred duty. It is the reason we, the people of the United States, sought our independence from England so long ago.
Our patriots did not secede from England because they didn’t want to pay taxes; rather, they established their independence so their taxes would take care of their own. Elimination of taxes altogether or, at the very least, refusal to raise revenue, cripples our government and our people. The refusal to generate revenue is tantamount to supporting anarchy.
Unable to raise the necessary capital to support government functions, the Defense Department faces a $109 billion dollar sequester in a time of war. Refusing to pass bills that raise taxes based on a pledge to an individual interferes with military operations. The lack of funds available for defense will obstruct the military’s ability to recruit new members for the military, and injure the morale of our current fighting forces. This act, the signing of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, is an act of sedition, if not treason. While raising taxes is an unpopular political move, it is a necessity to protect our people. Pledging not to raise taxes is a willful obstruction of the recruiting and enlistment service of the United States.
Therefore, it is incumbent upon the executive office to act against such individuals “who have poured the poison of disloyalty into the very arteries of our national life; who have sought to ring the authority and good name of our Government into contempt…to destroy our industries…and to debase our politics” (Woodrow Wilson). Grover Norquist, and those who have pledged allegiance to him, are criminals Under the Espionage Act. They “willfully obstruct the recruiting [and] enlistment service of the United States, to the injury of the service or of the United States,” (Espionage Act, Section 3). We are a nation at war. As such, Norquist and those who have signed his pledge must be prosecuted accordingly.
After all, if Army Sergeant Camilo Mejia could be sentenced to a year in military prison for violating his oath of enlistment in a time of war, then all of the members of the House and Senate who signed Norquist’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge should “be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both” (Espionage Act, Section 3) for violating their own consecrated oaths.
So let me hear no more on secession until a reckoning visits the true enemies of our great Union.
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