The Constitutional Mistake

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Most who study our storied Constitution, properly motivated, come away awe-inspired and thankful for the Divine Intervention that must have taken place for this group of people to have come together at that one particular point in time and ultimately put together the document that would define the world for the next few hundred years; much longer God willing. A deeper investigation however reveals a flaw that I have yet to find a respectable Constitutional historian point out. I arise today to illuminate that failing for you, my faithful readers. I know, I know. You're immediately asking rhetorically, "Keith, who the Hell are you to determine failure of our Founding Fathers?" I am no one. Just an ol' country boy, raised in the greatest nation on earth, just smart enough to take advantage of the greatest access to knowledge the world has ever known, with just the right amount of common sense passed on from Grandpa Rodebush and Mister Rodebush to know a rat when I smell one. As to the reason for the failure I will get to that later. Mostly, I intend to dive right in.

Article III of the United States Constitution deals with the Judicial branch of government. This branch was fully intended and expected to wield equal power with the other two branches, the Legislative and the Executive. Please take a moment to open your pocket Constitution which, as a reader of mine, I'm sure is close by, well worn, creased and stained. Notice if you will the brevity of Article III. Article II is indeed not much longer; you see they actually believed that the Executive should not have very much power. Kings need not apply. Article I is the longest reflecting their concern that the Branch that holds the purse strings is indeed the strongest; AND the most likely to be corrupted.

Why is Article III so short and sweet? My reading of the Federalist Papers and various writings of our Founders and the author of the Constitution convince me that they believed that the Congress would 'fill in the blanks'. In fact the first major legislation passed by Congress was the Judicial Act of 1789. Section 35 is of particular interest here:

"...And there shall also be appointed a meet person, learned in the law, to act as attorney-general for the United States, who shall be sworn or affirmed to a faithful execution of his office; whose duty it shall be to prosecute and conduct all suits in the Supreme Court in which the United States shall be concerned, and to give his advice and opinion upon questions of law when required by the President of the United States,..."   emphasis mine (Keep this in your quiver for later reference.)

So the Congress thereby 'invented' the judicial system of the United States of America. They did a wonderful job. Think about the history from then till now. How many times have wrongs been righted by one judge or one decision by our Supreme Court? How many times has the absolutely most destitute and inconsequential among us had their God-given rights upheld by this system established by the 1st Congress of these United States? If you know your history, it takes your breath away. To be sure, there are several times in our history when this branch of government served opposite of it's charge and instituted tyranny. Such is the fallibility of Man. But the system is set to rebound. The Court is NOT the final arbiter of all things Constitutional. We The People are. SCOTUS affirming separate but equal did not make it so. This is very important. Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is stealing your Liberty. NEVER allow it to go unchallenged.

You seem … to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions;  a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy.
Our judges are as honest as other men, and not more so.  They have, with others, the same passions for party, for power, and the privilege of their corps.  Their maxim is “boni judicis est ampliare jurisdictionem,” and their power the more dangerous as they are in office for life, and not responsible, as the other functionaries are, to the elective control.
The Constitution has erected no such single tribunal, knowing that to whatever hands confided, with the corruptions of time and party, its members would become despots.
It has more wisely made all the departments co-equal and co-sovereign within themselves.
If the legislature fails to pass laws for a census, for paying the judges and other officers of government, for establishing a militia, for naturalization as prescribed by the Constitution, or if they fail to meet in congress, the judges cannot issue their mandamus to them ;  if the President fails to supply the place of a judge, to appoint other civil or military officers, to issue requisite commissions, the judges cannot force him. …
The Constitution, in keeping three departments distinct and independent, restrains the authority of the judges to judiciary organs, as it does the executive and legislative to executive and legislative organs. - Thomas Jefferson, Letter to William Charles Jarvis, (28 September 1820).

Okay, so much for the history lesson. Back to the point at hand. By not explicitly defining and providing for the election of the Attorney General of the United States of America, our Founders unfortunately laid the groundwork for what we suffer from this very day. We live in a system in which the President, as head of the Executive Branch, gets to rightfully and Constitutionally appoint the Attorney General who is the only person who can bring actual criminal charges against any federal politician. I am not such a student of history that I can quote each and every instance of past administrations that have taken advantage of this fault. I can only tell you that in my lifetime, I have never seen an Attorney General of the U.S. who so willingly turns a blind eye to the corruption of his boss as Eric Holder, Attorney General of the United States of America, 2009 - 2015.

Black Panther voter intimidation, Fast and Furious gun running to Narco-terrorists, NSA spying on innocent domestic communication, Foreign campaign donations, IRS intimidation of political opponents, Destruction of government documentation, Bribery, Corruption, Leaking of government secrets, Aiding and abetting enemies of the United States, Muslim Brotherhood infiltration of Administrative Branch, HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF MISSING FUNDS FROM BAIL-OUT AND STIMULUS MONEYS, Release of TERRORISTS for a deserter, Executive orders countermanding the specific oath to 'uphold the law', Refusing to faithfully execute the laws of the United States of America......
My friends the list goes on and on and is added to every day. YOUR GOP congress just approved the nomination of another Radical Leftist who will continue this same despicable injustice...ALL brought to you by none other than James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin et al.

The lack of specificity of Article III of our magnificent Constitution has allowed the Wolf to guard the Wolf. In THIS, our Founders have shown themselves to be of all things...human. It is inexplicable. A group of Men who railed for years about the fallibility of Man as the necessity for the 'Chains of the Constitution', nevertheless believed that the good folks in Congress would 'fill in the blanks'. They believed that those who attained such distinction as the highest legal official of these United States would be a person of honor and integrity. They believed that no President would be so brazen as to appoint a vile 'Yes Man' to the highest legal office in the land. They believed that no Congress would approve the nomination of such a person. They believed that no Higher Court would accept the irrational and illegal arguments of such a Man. I, Keith D. Rodebush do hereby attest and affirm that they were wrong, for sadly I have witnessed it with mine own eyes. Only one was perfect, and we hung Him from a cross. Our Founders were not perfect, and this is their ever-lasting mistake that we are suffering from today.

BUT!!! We're in luck. They knew that they were imperfect. They left us a tool to right the wrong. Amendments. So how do we fix this? (Assuming we can ever educate ourselves enough to elect actual statesmen to office)

The actual text of a Constitutional Amendment is vitally important. I have not the space nor the attention span to get into the fine art of wording same here. However, I have an idea. The salvation of all Mankind can come from a simple thought in a simple man's mind.

Thus, I proffer this solution: A Constitutional Amendment that provides for the appointment of the Attorney General of the United States of America. A specific sub department of the Justice Department will be established with the SOLE purpose of investigating and prosecuting corruption within Federal Government. Something will have to be done about the 'Justice Department' as it is constituted currently. The POTUS has absolute authority to appoint the Heads of the Several Departments as it should be, with Congressional advice and consent of course. Therefore, I submit that the Justice Department must in some way be integrated into the Judicial branch of government. The Attorney General must be appointed by the Attorney's General of the Several States. If  a majority of the Attorney's General of the Several States will STILL appoint a Party HACK, then we are in more trouble than we can overcome without blood anyway. The POTUS is to have zero input into the nominees. Perhaps We The People elect nominees. Perhaps they are nominated by Congressional committee. This must of course be worked out. It is VITAL that the nominations include the Peoples input. The term of said AG will be four years and shall fall two years after each Presidential election. In this manner the AG term will always run through two different administrations. Penalties must be explicitly established for dereliction of duty. Any AG who refuses to aggressively pursue criminal charges against egregious acts of corruption of Congressmen, Bureaucrats, Judges or Presidents must face prison time. The real breaking rocks into gravel type prison. ( I know. We don't have them anymore...that's another article.) Finally, the only appeal of the prosecution through the sub department entrusted to investigate corruption of government officials will be the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

There you go. A little man, in a little community with a little education has solved one of the most vexing incongruity's of the Constitution of the United States of America. You see; YOU can be anything you set your mind to. YOU can be a catalyst for changing the world. All you have to do...is think.

humbly,
Keith D. Rodebush