Viewpoint: Still in pursuit of a more perfect union
Dave Atkins
“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution.”
This preamble from our constitution, lays out why we fought our Revolutionary War to separate from the King of England and our Civil War to protect all people’s rights. This sacrifice of blood and treasure was given to protect us from usurpation by another king or oligarchs.
We are still working to achieve this vision, but Congress has been failing “We the people” for the past 40 years with the current Congress representing the culminating failure. Congress was given very specific powers reserved from the Executive Branch to protect us from over-reach by a President. They understood that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Why and how have they failed us? And what should we do about it?
Here are some of the problems.
● The Constitution does not say one word about parties, and yet the majority party enjoys a monopoly of power in each chamber. Both the Senate and the House have adopted rules that give the Speaker of the House and Majority Leader in the Senate too much power. By giving them control over which bills come to the floor for a vote, they distort and paralyze lawmaking by denying our representatives a chance to vote on bills that pass out of committee.
● Both parties have gerrymandered House districts in most states to avoid any real competition in a general election. As a result the primary becomes the deciding election, thus the majority of voters are denied a say in who their representative is, creating apathy and distrust in the process.
● Octogenarians with diminished capacity hang onto power.
● The Supreme Court made a terrible decision by saying corporations are people and that money is speech, which has led to a financial arms race for elections, where voters are continuously bombarded with inane ads often full of lies and half-truths.
So, what do we do? We replace the bums that have created this mess by voting them out of office in 2026. We demand the new members initiate the following changes:
● Amend the Constitution so that every state must have a non-partisan commission draw congressional boundaries that make geographic sense and do not use party or race as criteria. This will make most districts competitive and reduce the power of the parties.
● Primaries have to be open, with every candidate on the same ballot available to every voter.
● Implement Ranked Choice voting so the top three vote getters move to the general election.
● Put an age limit on all officials in the legislature, in the executive branch and the courts. I suggest a maximum age of 78.
● Implement campaign finance reform, removing corporate and other organizations from contributing. Pass Initiative 194.
● Establish standards that require candidates to participate in a minimum of 8 face to face policy discussions/debates – live streamed on network broadcasts as well as streaming services.
At Gettysburg, Lincoln talked about preserving a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Together, we can recreate our government, together we can recreate our economy, and together we can recreate our sense of community.
Montanans Unite! Americans Unite! Elect people of honesty, integrity and who support the true functioning of our constitution, so we can work towards that more perfect union.
I am supporting Russ Cleveland in HD 1, check him out here.
Dave Atkins, politically Independent, forester and forest ecologist