LETTERS: CONGRESS HAS VILOATED CONSTITUTION

To the editor:

Why is it that so many supposedly educated people, including most of our congressmen and women and our president, refer to the United States as a democracy? It is an indisputable fact that our country was founded as a constitutional republic. A minimum of research will verify this. As far as I can determine, there in only one democracy in the world, and that is Switzerland. So those who refer to the U.S. as a democracy are either ignorant or liars. I think they do this purposely to confuse the citizens.

I said earlier that this country was founded as a constitutional republic, but in actual practice it is operated as a socialist dictatorship. This means that only by adhering to the Constitution would the country be legally operated.

Congress has no authority under the Constitution to delegate any of its powers to the president or any government agency (nor to the United Nations). By passing the War Powers Act in 1933, giving the president authority to issue executive orders, Congress was washing its hands of its own responsibilities and also giving the president the status of dictator, but since this delegation of congressional power is not authorized by the Constitution, it is illegal. Also, granting the power to government agencies to fine anyone they please any amount they wish without due process of law is unconstitutional. Anything that violates the Constitution is illegal, since it is the basic and supreme law of the land. A little research will also verify this.

So the conclusion of all this is that our government is being operated illegally. If a citizen is accused of a crime, he can be fined or sent to jail, but our Congress has been acting illegally for years violating the oath of office. The penalty in most cases is a raise in pay and generous pensions and re-election to office. This must change, or the U.S. as a great nation will only be a sentence or two in the history books.

RAY UMBDENSTOCK

Cape Girardeau