By the Founders' formula, "the People's" written Constitution was the anchor of our liberties, binding government to the "People's" limitations on its power.Today's so-called "progressive" philosophy, in effect, undoes all the monumental work accomplished by the Founders on behalf of liberty and leaves the law afloat and without anchor, relying, as of old, on mere men and women who wish to operate outside the "constraints" of the document they are sworn to honor and uphold.
From Page xv of "Our Ageless Constitution," allow me to include here excerpted words from President Andrew Jackson's Proclamation of December 10, 1832:
"We have received it [the Constitution] as the work of the assembled wisdom of the nation. We have trusted to it as to the sheet anchor of our safety in the stormy times of conflict with a foreign or domestic foe. We have looked to it with sacred awe as the palladium of our liberties, and with all the solemnities of religion have pledged to each other our lives and fortunes here and our hopes of happiness hereafter in its defense and support. Were we mistaken, my countrymen, in attaching this importance to the Constitution . . .? No. We were not mistaken. The letter of this great instrument is free from this radical fault. . . . No, we did not err! . . . The sages . . . have given us a practical and, as they hoped, a permanent* Constitutional compact. . . . The Constitution is still the object of our reverence, the bond of our Union, our defense in danger, the source of our prosperity in peace: it shall descend, as we have received it, uncorrupted by sophistical construction, to our posterity. . . ."
*Underlining added for emphasis
And, it was Thomas Jefferson who used another metaphor with reference to the Constitution when he indicated that "the People" must "bind them (government) by the chains of the Constitution." In another instance, he declared: "It was intended to lace them up straitly within the enumerated powers. . . ."
Thomas Jefferson did not confuse his identity as citizen, when not in public office, with his role as President when being a servant of "the People." The Preamble's phrase, "We, the People," applies to what Justice Story, in his "Commentaries on the Constitution . . . ." called "the only keepers of the Constitution." Further, Justice Story warned us of our duties and responsibilities in that "keeper" role in his final paragraphs of that volume:
". . . Let the history of the Grecian and Italian republics warn us of our dangers. The national constitution is our last, and our only security. United we stand; divided we fall."If these Commentaries shall but inspire in the rising generation a more ardent love of their country, an unquenchable thirst for liberty, and a profound reverence for the constitution and the Union, then they will have accomplished all, that their author ought to desire. Let the American youth never forget, that they possess a noble inheritance, bought by the toils, and sufferings, and blood of their ancestors; and capable, if wisely improved, and faithfully guarded, of transmitting to their latest posterity all the substantial blessings of fife, the peaceful enjoyment of liberty, property, religion, and independence. The structure has been erected by architects of consummate skill and fidelity; its foundations are solid; its compartments are beautiful, as well as useful; its arrangements are full of wisdom and order; and its defences are impregnable from without. It has been reared for immortality, if the work of man may justly aspire to such a title. It may, nevertheless, perish in an hour by the folly, or corruption, or negligence of its only keepers, THE PEOPLE. Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them." - Justice Joseph Story - "Commentaries on the Constitution"
I would like to comment on this:
Today's so-called "progressive" philosophy, in effect, undoes all the monumental work accomplished by the Founders on behalf of liberty and leaves the law afloat and without anchor, relying, as of old, on mere men and women who wish to operate outside the "constraints" of the document they are sworn to honor and uphold.
You notice Obama is going directly at the Constitution as if he is stabbing to see where he can purposely deflate it. By creating the atmosphere by which the Constitution is readied to be picked to death by the progressives.
All of the amendments were specifically written to protect the basic fundamental freedoms we were given by God - Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (which is actually our freedom to live a virtuous life). So, we have these basic God-given freedoms that no man can neither give to us nor take away. And all of the original amendments to the Constitution are posted after that declaration in the Preamble and were placed as such in order to safeguard our God-given freedoms.
Obama is chipping away at all of the amendments in order to make our basic God-given freedoms of Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness essentially bare naked and primed for abolishing.
Obamacare is specifically designed to smash every last vestige or flicker of freedom we yet hold. It is cornerstone of his Marxist agenda. It works to place our Life into his very own hands to where he will decides who gets care and who lives and who dies. By its economic aspects Obamacare places our Liberty in serious jeopardy. And, our ability to exercise our religion puts our Pursuit of Happiness is in complete peril.
Which is why he needs to remove our guns.
Yeah, that pesky old piece of paper.