National political leadership
Letter, February 11, 1997.
The Blood on Their Doorstep
Letter, July 27, 1998.
Congress and US v. Emerson
Letter, April 15, 1999.
What's wrong with Barney Frank?

US Senate: Expulsion from Office

On September 10, 1995, Sen. Mitch McConnell, chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee wrote a column, "A Victory for 'Political Rectitude,'" on the op-ed page of the Washington Post justifying his resolution for the expulsion of Sen. Packwood from the Senate. I wrote the letter below to Sen. McConnell. I attached p. S16315 from the Congressional Record, Nov. 19, 1993, on which, in the course of the Brady Law debates, Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska made the following statement:

"But what is more deep seated in those of us who believe in the second amendment, is the feeling that what people are doing with this bill is, they are not really interested in the waiting period, they are building up a Government base of the information necessary to determine who owns guns in this country. An armed citizenry, people who have the ability to defend themselves, are [sic] not going to become an oppressed citizenry."

This is the gravest matter of state. I would never have thought that a member of Congress would ever be fool enough to go public with this nonsense. No one has inquired into the senator's meaning. One person's oppression is another's proper exercise of public authority to enforce democratically enacted law. Jaywalkers regard laws against jaywalking oppressive, the KKK laws against racial exclusion. If the senator is asserting the right of private interests to resist under arms the legal institutions of government, he has to be expelled from office. On that there can be no controversy. American political culture has degenerated so much that this goes by without notice.

The NRA and the senator may respond that they mean extralegal usurpations by a tyrant. Hamilton addressed the possibility explicitly in Federalist Paper No. 28:

Enterprise of [federal] usurpation cannot be masked under pretenses so likely to escape the penetrations of select bodies of men, as of the people at large. The [state] legislatures will have better means of information.

The fear of "building up a Government base of the information necessary to determine who owns guns in this country" is a contemporary fear of our present rightwing ideologies. It was not a fear of the early republic. The Militia Act of 1792 created just such a government base of information.

Senator Stevens can "believe" in the Resurrection and the Hereafter if those are his religious convictions. Constitutional amendments, however, are not articles of faith. His oath of office obligates him to the people of this country who depend on this government to maintain a base of the information that would enable the government to determine that those who own guns do not own them for unlawful and seditious purposes. That is why we have a government. Getting the message to Sen. Stevens has to involve getting it to a great many others as well. Getting the message out can start with an action by the United States Senate.

Letter:

September 11, 1995

The Honorable Mitch McConnell
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Re: A Victory for 'Political Rectitude'
Washington Post, 9/10/95

Dear Senator McConnell:

It is very important that the United States Senate uphold high standards of ethics and personal conduct for its own members. It is far more important, essential, in fact, for the success and survival of this nation, that the Senate uphold the rule of law. The Constitution established the rule of law. The oath of office required of members of the Senate by Article VI of the Constitution is every one of your member's obligation to the rule of law. Being capable of disciplining its own members includes the Senate's holding its members to their oath of office. The American people need to know whether or not we have a functioning government and whether or not we do in fact live under the rule of law. You cannot hide from your oath of office forever.

Yours truly,
G. Eyclesheimer Ernst

Copies of this letter were sent to Senators Barbara Mikulski (a member of the Ethics Committee) and Paul Sarbanes with the comment, "This country needs leaders not cowards." No responses.

[PotowmackForum] interactive posting

National political leadership
Letter, February 11, 1997.
The Blood on Their Doorstep
Letter, July 27, 1998.
Congress and US v. Emerson
Letter, April 15, 1999.
What's wrong with Barney Frank?

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