By Esteban Camacho

I have been recently inspired to begin to share my ideas about the current Congress and itʼs Constitutional proposals (or lack thereof). This past week, our own Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, was asked what I believe to be a very relevant question about the Health Care bill going through Congress. A media reporter asked Mrs. Pelosi “where does Congress get the Constitutional authority to enact a health care mandate?”To this question, Mrs. Pelosi simply answered “are you serious? Are you serious?”

If this is not bothersome to all Americans, then I should be rather worried. This answer, to me, highlights a very specific characteristic about our Speaker of the House. When pausing after the question, delaying after the question, and ridiculing the question, I have come to the conclusion ( a logical one) that Nancy Pelosi simply does not care about the Constitutional powers of Congress (enumerated or implied).

In fact, the idea of a limited Congress is so alien to her that the question of Congress ( or Pelosi herself) deriving authority from anywhere other than her brilliant mind is thought of as an absurdity. To this, I can turn to my own judicial philosophies.Congress does not have unlimited power. This should be as common of knowledge as every child knowing that our Earth revolves around the Sun. To some, like Nancy Pelosi, this seems a strange idea; to others, this does not seem to quite register. I “pick” on Nancy Pelosi the most because she is not a clueless person; on the contrary, she is quite understanding of the process of lawmaking.

This fact is what strikes me the most, and what fuels me to do whatever I can do to get her out of office. She willingly disregards the limits put on Congress by our great Constitution, and willingly disregards following the precedent set forth by past Congresses. From this perspective, I turn to our renowned Federalist Papers.

For those that cannot recall or have never studied the Federalist Papers, they are a collection of essays written by Jon Jay, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison in order to “sell” the newly founded Constitution to the several states, especially their own state of New York. In these papers, we find the true meaning and original intent of the Constitution. State powers are explained, system of checks and balances, hints on judicial review, power of impeachment, volatility of democracy, explanation of the articles, etc.

The Federalist Papers supply us with great knowledge as to how our system of government was designed and why it was designed in that manner. For the sake of this discussion, I will turn toward Federalist #46. This one was written by James Madison and speaks about the power of the people. Although this essay does not mention hefty amounts of information on Congress itself, itʼs definitions of power are significant to the subject at hand. Madison mentions that the people will always have sympathies towards their state and local governance, that the real power of the Constitution is drawn upon by the people.

Throughout the course of other essays (in addition to #46), Madison explains that the national government draws its power from the states and the people; thus, the state governments get their power from the people directly. In the design of the Constitution, the framers (especially Madison) recognized that the national government might become rather tyrannous. For this reason, the Constitutional amendment process is controlled by the states. In order to make a significant change to the Constitution, the states must ratify the change.

Think of it this way: the Constitution limits Congress in such a way, that Congress does not even have the power to change itself! In later entries, I will speak about why I believe this country has gone from state accountability to national accountability, meaning that the people now look mainly to the federal government to fix their problems. The entire point of the discussion is the fact that in this Congress, the Constitution is thought of as useless, and now we have proof. Nancy Pelosi does not seem to understand the importance of the Constitution. The phrase “are you serious?” is very offensive in this regard.

The FIRST thing Congress should have done before creating the bill was question itself to ensure that Congress has the basic ability and authority to create a bill that mandates all Americans to purchase health insurance. Note that this is only ONE question. In earlier writings, I have mentioned many parts of the health bill that I believe should be immediately removed, perhaps these very same parts were written and accepted because Congress did not question their own power. Supreme Court, anyone?

Esteban G. Camacho was born in 1989 in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. There he lived in a lower class family with his single mother for 11 years before moving to the contiguous states. Esteban became involved with politics when he reached his senior year of high school. When he got to college, he immediately pursued further education in the fields of government and economics. A staunch conservative and an advocate of the free market economies of the world, Esteban spends his time researching political backgrounds, economic titles such as Wealth of Nations, and strengthening his conservative base. Esteban believes in personal responsibility, individual liberty, equal opportunity, and in the American dream. Among his favorite quotes is: “What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?” Esteban resides in Las Cruces, New Mexico and is currently pursuing a degree in Political Science.