A. Welcome!
LIBERTY TREE MOVEMENT
Restoring Constitutional Representation
The Liberty Tree Movement’s two phase plan to return to our Constitutional system of representation is ambitious by any standard. We will accomplish this by reversing two Constitutional changes that adversely affected this nation’s core principle of representation.
1.) The 1911 Reapportionment Act, which capped the number of United States House members at 435, changing original Constitutional design of House Districts as small community districts of 30,000 citizens, to mega-districts with an average 700,000 plus citizens. The U.S. Representative is no longer a local “citizen legislator”, as designed by Constitutional Framers, but a powerful political figure unresponsive to the people of his district.
2.) The 17th Amendment, drafted in 1911, and ratified into law in 1913, changed the original Constitutional method of electing United States Senators. Constitutional Framers designed a two-house system with the House of Representatives to be elected by the people and to represent the people of a small community district, but the Senate was to represent the state. To represent and be accountable to state interest, United States Senators were Constitutionally mandated to be selected by each state’s own legislative body, not by popular vote as we have today. Today’s Senators are mega-politicians unaccountable to any other than their political party and the special interest groups that feed their campaign coffers. That the Senate is no longer responsive to their state’s best interest is evidenced by passage of the recent nationalized health care legislation, which is an affront to state’s rights.
The Liberty Tree Movement’s objective is to reverse these two Constitutional changes and return our nation to its representative roots. Achieving these goals will be no small matter. By design the two changes to representation that occurred between 1911 and 1913 (the beginning of the Progressive Era) took national power away from the state and the local community and gave it to an elite few. Reversing those changes will return a great deal of national political power to the state and the community. Those currently in power at the federal level will vigorously fight this initiative. “We The People” will benefit, as will the individual states, but those in control of the Congress will not release their power easily.
Until one is committed, there is hesitance,
the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiative there is one elementary truth
the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and endless plans:
that the moment one definitively commits oneself
then Providence (God) moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one
that would never otherwise have occurred.
A whole stream of events issues from the decision,
raising in one’s favor all manner of unforseen incidents
and meetings and material assistance,
which no man could have dreamed would come his way.
Whatever you can do or dream you can begin it!
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
~ Gothe
Gothe says that you have to commit completely to a task to succeed. And when you completely commit to a task things line up and conspire to help you. I agree with Gothe, and have seen evidence of this truth in my own life. Without question the Liberty Tree Movement’s plan to reclaim America’s Constitutional system of representation is a bold and ambitious plan. We could envision a thousand reason it would fail. But I choose to envision the one reason it will succeed. It will succeed because it is the right thing to do.
Join with us and help us by igniting the initial grass fire of this movement. We are a freshly minted organization and have many openings for volunteers at both the state and national level. If you interested in becoming a part of this movement write us and let us know where you would fit in. For all who would join us and for those who simply like this idea, we ask that you help us by promoting the Liberty Tree Movement web site to your friends, enter our blog, join our Face Book Page, and do all that you can to help promote our site. In these early stages we need all the help we can get to create the momentum that will lead to success.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Clay Waagner
LibertyTreeMovement.com
