To the editor:

The majority of people are getting frustrated with the goings on in Washington DC and our state capitals. It’s like watching a very bad soap opera. Political spats between our representatives and senators over who want to spend more and more of “our” money.

We the people feel helpless in being able to do anything about it when, according to our Constitution, we the people are to have control of our government.

We used to and still do if we would only get active and involved beyond just voting every two years. “We” don’t pick and choose our representatives or senators. A select few that head the major parties have more control over that, because not enough people are involved in the process. We have been negligent in our duty as citizens.

Not many people know the people they voted for if they met them on the street, yet they have been given powers that interfere with your life, health and livelihood on a daily basis. More, but not all, may know some at the lower levels of government.

That is just a part of our problem. The larger part are the bureaucrats and the bureaucracies that have been created over our lifetime. These are un-elected people that do the actual issuance of rules and regulations that impact our lives.

If you know the Constitution and what our Founders gave us, the answer is simple. A prior generation of apathetic citizens too busy to get involved allowed the ratification of the 16th and 17th Amendments that allowed the politicians of the time to breech the fire walls of the Constitution and go beyond the limitations of the enumerated powers of the Constitution. The States no longer have representation at the federal level and we the people have no control of our money. We have come to a point where our individual freedoms, liberties and property are no longer ours.

It’s time to act and get involved. Hold our elected representatives to accountable Work to get our legislators to organize with other state legislatures and propose and repeal the 16th and 17th Amendments to put the power of the states and its citizens back where it belongs.

We the people have the power and the duty to do this. Let’s make America what it should be. Let freedom ring.

Roger Baumann

Wabasso