In my book (looking for a publisher) THE GREEN WAR CHRONICLES - A Novel of Ecoterrorism, Collectivism and Corruption in America, there is a scene comparing a professional bank robber with members of Congress.

The bank robber walks into his target bank, waves at the security camera, displays his weapon, announces the holdup, and receives a big bag of cash.

Police arrive within minutes.

"Mr. Bank Robber," the policeman respectfully says, "please stop robbing our banks, at least until after the next election." The policeman notes the big bag of cash and offers the bank robber a ride home in the police car so that the robber will not strain a back muscle lugging the heavy load home. The bank robber even gets to run the siren, just for fun.

The bank robber is not arrested or jailed. The stolen money is not returned.

A few weeks later the bank robber is short of cash and robs the bank again, with the same result.

How like the ongoing crimes committed by members of Congress through legislative theft and violation of the Oath of Office. Elected officials who steal the most ('earmarks' are one example) for the folks back home are never punished. Successful congressional pirates keep getting reelected time after time and never do jail time for their misdeeds.

There is a growing movement, now in several States and spreading quickly, to pass legislation that asks elected and appointed federal officials to honor the Constitution, specifically the Tenth Amendment, and stop issuing unfunded mandates, earmarks, treaties, laws and regulations that violate the U. S. Constitution that all elected officials swear an Oath to uphold and defend before assuming office.

Well and good. But not enough.

Elected officials are almost never held personally responsible for violating their Oath of Office. Just like the fictitious bank robber, a government official who creates, cosponsors, votes for, or enforces laws and regulations that violate the U. S. Constitution, is not fined, jailed or thrown out of office in disgrace.

Elected officials hide behind the policy that they cannot be sued or punished for doing their job. Actually, that is good and sound policy. If an official could be sued for creating legislation that somebody doesn't like, Congress would turn into a feeding frenzy for Trial Lawyers. People who found a law objectionable would sue the lawmaker. People who liked the law would sue people who found the law objectionable. Everybody would eventually sue everybody else and nothing would get done in Congress. If there is a winner, it most likely would be some extremist group.

So, if you can't use the legal system to punish people who create bad laws, what can be done? Now, if a law or part of a law is found to be un-Constitutional, the most that happens is that the un-Constitutional part may (very rarely) be corrected or removed. There is no penalty for the people who allowed an un-Constitutional law to be created. The bank robber is not sent to jail and made to return the stolen money.

However, there is a remedy within the U. S. Constitution, and that remedy applies no matter what policy Congress adopts to shield its members from responsibility for their actions.

In the U. S. Constitution, Article 2, Section 2, is the following instruction:

Before he (the President-elect) enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United states."

The requirement to preserve, protect and defend the U. S. Constitution is required of all elected officials in the federal government, and by State government Constitutions that all agree to support the U. S. Constitution.

Failure to support the U. S. Constitution is a Constitutionally-mandated Breach Of Contract that cannot be avoided by Congressional policy.

In what ways might an elected official not 'preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States'? That happens every time a law or regulation not specifically authorized by the U. S. Constitution is created in violation of the Tenth Amendment.

There are many ways to violate Constitutional authority. By far the most common are attempts to go around, chip away at, and invalidate sections of the Bill of Rights, the first Ten Amendments to the U. S. Constitution.

The Second Amendment is a frequent target. The Second Amendment says, in part, '. . .the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.'

My Webster's New World Dictionary and Thesaurus says:

• "in[fringe to break off, break, impair, violate, to break (a law or agreement); fail to observe the terms of; violate.
  infringe on (or upon) to break in on; encroach or trespass on !to infringe upon their right to privacy"

Legislatures are full of elected officials who keep 'infringing' on the peoples' Constitutional right to Keep and Bear Arms. A steady stream of bills and amendments propose to license firearms (and even knives, spears and arrows), serialize ammunition, ban 'assault weapons' and otherwise 'infringe' upon Second Amendment rights.

Historically, the same sort of people with the same sort of ideas often preceded genocide by their own government upon various groups of citizens. First disarm the people, then mow down the dissenters and undesirables.

The First Amendment is a common target. 'Hate Speech' is an example. This legislation is un-Constitutional on its face, with the word 'Speech' right in the title and text, in direct violation of First Amendment protection of free speech. Just look at the 'Fairness Doctrine' moving through Congress and designed to choke-off Talk Show discussions that some members of Congress find inconvenient to their work of moving the United States toward Socialism at a full gallop.

What can we, as citizens, do to stop this massive, ongoing violation of our Constitutional rights? Merely reminding our Congressional representatives and senators that Congress is in frequent violation of the U. S. Constitution is about as useless as the fictitious policeman in The Green War Chronicles politely asking the bank robber to please stop robbing banks and return the stolen money.

Remember, the Constitution says, there is a requirement that an Oath of Office be taken and agreed to before an elected official takes office. This is a Constitutionally-mandated CONTRACT. Violation of that contract by an elected official voids everything that the official has done from the present time back to the date and time of the first Oath of Office contract violation, no matter how many years ago that first violation occurred.

When an elected official creates, co-sponsors, votes to approve, or otherwise supports laws and regulations that are in any part un-Constitutional, including 'infringement' of Constitutionally-guaranteed rights, that official is immediately disqualified from holding office because of violation of the Oath of Office. Back to the time of first violation, even if many years ago, all votes made by that official are void and must be removed from the voting record. All pay, office rent and expense reimbursements received must be returned to the U. S. Treasury. Service Time is reset to the date of first violation for purposes of seniority and retirement. This applies to current office holders as well as retired office holders.

Congress can not wiggle out of this, or claim that ex post facto nullifies the provision, because the Oath of Office requirement before assuming office is right there in the Constitution.

It is no longer, "Mr. Bank Robber," the policeman respectfully says, "please stop robbing our banks, at least until after the next election." Oath of Office contract violation introduces a huge element of personal responsibility placed directly on the official. Follow the Constitution, or you lose your job and pay a steep personal price.

That approach will restore our Constitutional government.

William Jud