Remember the Constitution Anyone???

By Matthew J Lawrence

Political affiliation aside, it’s high time that the government of this nation and its leaders take a closer look at the constitution. Oh yeah, does anyone remember that document? Every new piece of legislation put in front of law makers, with every new bill that is passed in the name of “protecting the people” or “social reform” is an affront to the sacred document that has guaranteed the rights and liberties of the American people and ensured the democratic process prevailed in our nation.

Perhaps the leaders of our nation, the politicians that make the laws of the land, need to go back to high school and get some recurrent training in how the American government operates and take a refresher course on the one document in particular that lays out the framework for how our government operates. Isn’t that what we learned in 101 level government classes our freshman years? Either the majority of our politicians weren’t paying attention or they just don’t care. Now that should concern you!

Let’s just get real clear here and go back and revisit the purpose and the basic content of the document that has as of late been so neglected by those in power. The document itself was adopted on September 17, 1789 by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was then ratified by the individual conventions of each state and was done so “in the name of the people.”

What an amazing concept, giving each state the right to review and adopt a federal measure! Oh yeah, see, during the formative years of our nation it was believed that the best way to ensure the liberty of the people and keep the government from becoming despotic and abusive to its citizens was to keep the federal government as small as possible. There was to be a small decentralized federal government responsible mainly for the maintenance of an army to defend the new confederation of states.

The majority of the responsibility for law making, taxation, and various regulations was to be in the hands of the individual states. As long as any law passed by the government of any state didn’t violate the content of the constitution, it was deemed to be fair. That is the primary purpose of the constitution—to be a framework for the organization of the government of the United States and more importantly the relationship between the federal government and the states and citizens of the country.

In addition to defining this relationship, the constitution also created and described the three branches of the federal government—the legislative branch which would be the congress, the executive branch led by the President, and finally the judicial branch which is represented by the Supreme Court. The constitution then reserves all powers that are not specified by the individual states which thus creates the federal system of government with a built-in scheme of checks and balances. There are twenty-seven amendments to the constitution, the first ten amendments are known as the Bill of Rights—this is to be proverbial law of the land guaranteeing the rights and liberties of the people.

Please take note this doesn’t say that the federal government has all of the power or that it has the right to tell the people of an individual state what is right or wrong. Nowhere in our constitution is there a provision for overruling the individual affairs of the state as long as, once again, those actions aren’t in violation of the constitution. The federal government was never intended to stick its nose into the affairs of the states—that’s really a violation of the people’s rights. It’s the classic states’ rights versus the federal government debate.

Yet the current government in Washington which has burgeoned out of control and expanded into the all powerful bureaucracy the founders of our government warned us about makes no bones about overstepping its boundaries and overruling the laws of the individual states. This is the exact definition of taking the power away from the people and all of this from a federal government that is supposed to be guided by a document that was adopted in the name of the “people.”

Take for example the current situation in Arizona and the controversial immigration law that was passed recently. The people of Arizona have the absolute right to define how the disturbing issue of illegal immigration should be dealt with—the right to protect themselves. So where do the law makers in Washington thousands of miles away get off making a ruling that Arizona is out of line—“Nope, sorry you can’t make that law even though there’s nothing in the constitution that says you can’t make it because we said so.” Now, that’s tyranny and despotism at its finest. Isn’t that why we declared our independence in the first place?

When the people of a country have little or no say in what laws are passed or how their rights are interpreted, then we no longer live in a free country. The federal government has usurped the power from the people by claiming its superiority over the rights of the individual states. It’s been the liberal agenda for decades to see the power of the states, meaning the responsibility of the people, filed down to a level of insignificance all the while increasing the power of the central government.

Many politicians are guilty of trampling upon our constitutional rights, but it’s the liberal left that so blatantly violates the constitution—simply by believing the document was meant to be interpreted. Fortunately for us the content of the constitution was not written to be interpreted; it’s not open for debate. What is written on that piece of paper is to be taken literally, yet liberal politicians and judges continue to make the assumption they can propose legislation and make rulings based on their own interpretation of what a certain amendment means. Tell me again what place that has in a democracy?

Whereas the conservatives of this country believe absolutely in the rights and personal freedoms of the people, and in the responsibility that comes with that power, the liberal left sees the people as weak and impotent and in need of heavy handed guidance. By intruding in our personal affairs, how we do business, and regulating the economy, the liberal law makers of this country assert their control over the people. They have no regard for those rights laid out in the constitution and they’ll make their own interpretation of its contents if it furthers their goals of what they like to call “progress.”

Don’t be fooled by the lie of progress the liberals love to shove in our faces, though. Just what are we progressing towards? When looking at the abuses of power, the advancement towards a government controlled economy, and the declining power of the states, I’d have to assert that we’re progressing towards a nation with no regard to the traditions and principles that have kept the democratic process and our freedom in place for more than two centuries. The current administration is more than open about its goals of increasing the power and size of the federal government, intruding more and more into our lives and how we conduct ourselves. They might as well just rip the constitution up or use it to wipe their ignorant rear ends with. It’s not like they obey any of the guidelines in the damn thing anyways.

There are certain inalienable rights that we as a people share, rights that were put in place more than two centuries ago and they have ensured that we remain not just a nation but a free nation. We fought a revolution because we were being ruled by a government that had no regard for our rights and freedom. Once again our rights that have been guaranteed are being ignored by a tyrannical government—confirming the fears of the anti-federalists among our nations’ founders that a strong federal government would merely replace one despot with a whole gaggle of them.

There is more than one document from the history of our nation’s founding, but by far the most important is the United States Constitution. Far from being the most respected document among our lawmakers, it is instead the most neglected. If we as a people don’t stand up and begin supporting only those politicians who are guided by these unquestionable rights and principles, then we will continue to see those rights erode.

The constitution itself guarantees our right to make changes in the government to ensure that no one administration or incarnation of the federal government become the power and law of the land. The citizens of this nation guided by constitutional principle must fight to fend off the advances being made by the current administration to ensure that the power remains with the people.

If we don’t make a stand and fight for our freedoms, don’t elect the right politicians, or fail to make the necessary changes in society to keep our liberty, then there’s no use in complaining. We have the power to make the change, but if we remain complacent our own ignorance will be responsible for the assassination of our freedom. This nation has fought for our freedom from its inception and the fight must continue—guided by those principles so clearly laid out for us almost two hundred and twenty years ago.

Take some free time and read the document that has been the foundation of all this nation stands for since its adoption—we all could use a regular review of it. Study the content, know those amendments by heart as they are you’re rights, after all. Remember there is no interpretation necessary—what is written is what it means. Then, ask yourself if you enjoy those rights, those freedoms and liberties that have made us who we are today. Do you think they’re worth fighting for or will you stand by and let them disappear? The choice is all yours—that very document guarantees that.