Posted on 02/02/2014 10:09:40 AM PST by Jacquerie
Conservatives believe, as did our founding generation, a fundamental truth, a maxim that early on differentiated the US from other republics. The first principle of American political society is that government exists to secure our unalienable rights. Our Declaration eloquently expressed it as, “That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, . . . “
That straightforward concept begat the question, “How to best secure those rights?”
The answer was to be found in some form of republican government. By that, the founding generation meant the peoples’ representatives consent to all laws. That determination was all well and good, but was insufficient, for it left the difficult and decade long task of devising the particulars, the nuts and bolts of how to implement republican, freedom preserving government in thirteen suddenly independent societies that sometimes, (as now) confused republicanism with democracy.
Thirteen societies went their own ways in various grand experiments in self-government. About half continued an English tradition, a bill of rights in or alongside their legislatively adopted constitutions. Not all states were very successful in keeping their eye on the ball, of designing government for the single purpose of securing the unalienable rights of their people. The burdens of war exasperated lofty republican ideals such that some states approached something closer to democratic government than freedom enhancing republics. For instance, one’s wealth wasn’t always secure from tender laws and taxation approaching confiscation. Despots around the civilized world silently cheered as the American experiment appeared certain to founder on the shoals of too much of the democratic element.
With these experiences in mind, our Framers learned enough to design a government in 1787 that did not depend on a bill of rights, but rather one which strove to secure freedom by dividing power. They depended on the structure of their design, which set interests against interests, rather than the parchment barrier of a bill of rights, which they knew from experience to be an unreliable bulwark against tyranny.
Other patriots demanded a formal bill of rights and were rewarded with ten amendments that stated in no uncertain terms our rights to religious and press freedom, to protect ourselves and communities through force of arms, to be secure in our persons, personal papers and other possessions from unreasonable searches, to demand search warrants and grand juries, to not be subject to two trials for the same offense, no self-incrimination nor confiscation of property but for public use in exchange for just compensation, speedy and public trials, impartial juries, counsel for trial defense, no excessive bail nor cruel punishments.
Oh, and because the drafters of these amendments knew they couldn’t possibly list all of our unalienable rights, they determined that the rights they didn’t enumerate could not be denied to the people. To cap it off, the states retained every power they didn’t grant to the government they created. Airtight right?
Look at subsequent history. With the exceptions of quartering troops and defense counsel at trials, none of the first ten amendments are in near full force, and most are, for practical purposes, gone from the American scene. Why did our government drop the ball? When did we forget the singular purpose of government? When did government begin to pick off, one by one, our unalienable rights? When did DC begin to shift focus from securing our rights and toward so-called social justice?
They were trampled by a majoritarian government that beginning in 1913 featured popular elections for members of the Senate.
It began when the lessons of our immediate postcolonial experiences were forgotten or ignored, when the Left sold forgetful Americans the snake oil of democracy. Power to the people! Those stiff, rich and out of touch state appointed senators stand in the way of the people!
Our Framers relied on the structure of the constitution, its vertical and horizontal divisions of power, and not a bill of rights to secure freedom. Today, most people actually equate democracy with freedom. The legitimate purpose of government, to secure our rights was forgotten and replaced with whatever a Leftist majority, and recently minority, thinks it can get away with. Obama won twice, get over it and do as you are told.
Until power is divided once again, until the national government is re-federalized, the DC uniparty will chip away at what little remains of our rights, and our continued descent into the hell of democratic tyranny is assured.
It might be too late. Perhaps the people are too corrupt to care, but that is no excuse for conservatives to not support an Article V state amendment convention to reestablish first principles, and correct the Leftist wrongs in our constitution
I know Engineers would never fall for the Imaginary Numbers scam. Their calculators come up all “EEEEEE” when they try it, and that’s often their first indication their theory is off, and not just by a few decimal points.
;^)
(In computer programming, “ABS” is often the most powerful, yet the most dangerous single operand function.)
What's needed are some more explicit statements:
The constitution is already explicit.
There are times when I look at this country, politically and culturally, and I just want to say “What the hell, why keep fighting a losing cause?” It can get depressing beyond belief. That is exactly what the left wants us to think, how they want us to feel, beaten down. It is how the left works, with abortion, global warming, the 2nd Amendment, free speech, sexual perversion, Christianity, and so on. Evil never stops, never tires, and never thinks it is a losing cause, and evil is exactly what we are fighting against.
We have our tools and weapons, powerful arsenals we shouldn’t forget, Christ, our churches, our families, our morals, and principles. These can’t be beaten to submission. It may not look like it, and it may not work the way we want it to, but we still have a divided federal government, and it is up to us to push it as hard as we can to fight tyranny. We still have our states, and whenever possible, states must be made to push back against the federal tyranny.
We must use what we have to fight a strategic war, focusing on the far future, as well as on the brief political successes we can muster up. If we are going to retake what is ours, get back the lost ground, we have to dig in for the long fight, and then we have to fight it. There is no winning the political war without regaining the cultural high ground, our educational systems, our universities, our media, churches and institutions. If we can’t reach the hearts and minds of people, we can’t win, but it isn’t something that can happen overnight, through one election, or a dozen elections. Keep the faith, and recognize the full spectrum of the war.
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