US Constitution, Article 6, Clause 3:
"The Senators and Representatives... shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution.…”
The Congress of these United States has become an overpaid, overstaffed, self-serving institution. It confiscates taxpayer funds to finance exorbitant and unconstitutionally determined salaries, pensions, and perks. Most members of Congress have become more accountable to the Washington establishment than to their constituents. Both chambers of Congress are all too often unresponsive and irresponsible, arrogantly placing themselves above the very laws they enact, and beyond the control of the citizens they have sworn to represent and serve.
It is time for the American people to renew effective supervision of their public servants, to restore right standards and to take back the government. Congress must once again be accountable to the people and obedient to the Constitution, repealing all laws that delegate legislative powers to regulatory agencies, bureaucracies, private organizations, the Federal Reserve Board, international agencies, the president, and the judiciary.
The U.S. Constitution, as originally framed in Article I, Section 3, provided for U.S. Senators to be chosen by state legislators. This provided the states direct representation in the legislative branch so as to deter the usurpation of powers that are constitutionally reserved to the states or to the people. The Seventeenth Amendment (providing for direct, popular election of U.S. Senators) took away from state governments their representation in the federal legislative process.
Since then, Congress has usurped power relatively unchecked, where today, very few members of Congress make it through a single session, without violating their oath of office to the Constitution.
If we are to see a return to the states those powers, programs, and sources of revenue that the federal government has unconstitutionally taken away, then it is also vital that we repeal the Seventeenth Amendment and return to state legislatures the function of electing the Senate. In so doing, the U.S. Senate would return to being a body that represents the legislatures of the several states on the federal level and, thus, a tremendously vital part of the designed checks and balances of power that our Constitution originally provided.
We support legislation to prohibit the attachment of unrelated riders to bills. Any amendments must fit within the scope and object of the original bill.
We support legislation to require that the Congressional Record contain an accurate record of proceedings. Members of Congress are not to be permitted to rewrite the speeches delivered during the course of debates, or other remarks offered from the floors of their respective houses; nor may any additional materials be inserted in the Record, except those referred to in the speaker's presentation and for which space is reserved.
We seek to abolish Congressional pensions and other benefits that extend beyond their term in office, and favor a conflict-of-interest provision that prevents former congressmen from lobbying for two years after leaving office.
