Happy Constitution Day, folks! Today is the 225th anniversary of the signing of the US Constitution, the supreme law of the land, the model of government for the world.
Today, as this solemn occassion is observed, I’d like to remind everyone of 7 fact about the Constitution and the form of federal government it calls for:
1) America is a Constitutional Republic, not a democracy. When the Founding Fathers exited Independence Hall in Philadelphia after signing the Constitution, some people asked Benjamin Franklin what the new form of government was. He replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it.”
2) The Constitution authorizes only a limited federal government – limited in what it is authorized to do. It permits the feds to deal only with a precisely defined, limited list of issues, such as defense, foreign relations, bankruptcy laws, and copyright protection. It cannot regulate everything, or spend money on everything. (For detailed explanations of the Constitution, consult this excellent website.)
3) The Constitution does, however, authorize, and indeed obligate, the federal government to handle a few issues. Chief of those is defense. Under the Constitution, it’s a duty, not an option. Anyone who opposes a strong defense, or claims that standing armies are unconstitutional, is not a conservative, let alone a constitutional conservative.
4) The true test of any politician is whether he will always obey the Constitution or sacrifice his principles and fidelity to the Constitution when he thinks he needs to do so. The vast majority of members of Congress, including Republicans, are examples of that. Even those who swear to Heaven that they’ll never betray the Constitution sometimes set the Supreme Law aside. For example, Sen. Rand Paul is a cosponsor of the unconstitutional National Right to Work bill.
5) The Constitution means what it says, and it says what it means. It has a fixed, precise meaning. To find that meaning out, we must consult the writings of those who wrote the Constitution, chiefly the Federalist Papers, and check what words used in these writings meant at the time (not today).
6) America is in the fiscal, moral, governmental, and social mess it is in today because its politicians AND its ordinary citizens have dumped the Constitution, and it can be rescued only if the Constitution is strictly obeyed. The time to rescue America is running out. The Chinese recognize this. Remember that video in which a Chinese professor says that Americans “forgot the principles that made them great” and “now they work for us”? He was right.
7) The Constitution is not a menu. You cannot cherry-pick it and decide you’re going to obey parts of it but not the whole thing.
If you want to learn about the Constitution, read it yourself and consult the Federalist Papers and this website. If you want to study it together with your friends, set up a Constitution study group with them. If you want your fellow countrymen to learn more about it, give them the facts stated at the websites referred herein.
Happy Constitution Day, folks!