September 17 is a significant day in America's history. In honor of the United States Constitution, we should pause and reflect on the principles and ideas underlying that Constitution and the Declaration of Independence which preceded it by 11 years.
In the midst of debate and discussion of government spending, taxation, unemployment, and a plethora of other problems facing America today, we might find answers by referring to the Founders' formula for liberty, opportunity, productivity and prosperity.
That formula is contained in the structuring of separated, limited, checked and balanced powers which "We, the People" would grant to our elected representatives, as specified by the Constitution.
President Andrew Jackson's Proclamation of December 10, 1832 (excerpted):
"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. . . ."
I just heard today about a national website for organizing public readings of the constitution. It's late to organize for this year, but since next year will be so important at election time, I'm going to suggest that we FReepers organize these "read the constitution" parties on September 17, 2012 (or maybe on the 15th or 16th on the weekend).
Also, one thing I am doing. I plan to personally hand a copy of the United States Constitution to every voter in my precinct, along with a copy of the "oath" section they signed to register to vote.
We need for every American to actually read the Constitution of this great Republic, and we all need to realize that it's up to us to defend it from the usurpers who have taken over the Congress and the Executive. We also have to make it clear to the usurpers waiting in the wings in our state and local governments that 
still believe that the Constitution of the United States matters.
Although we make a big deal about Washington overstepping the authorities and enumerated powers of the Constitution, the truth is that every county commission that requests a "federal grant" for schools or for roads or whatever do damage to our republic when they fail to consider whether the federal Congress has been granted authority by the powers enumerated in Article 1, Section 8 to tax the people of Idaho and New Mexico to pay for schools or local streets in Florida, for example. Everyone should know the constitution, and they should ask their city council and their county commissions questions when those local governments are complicit in usurping powers to the government in Washington.
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Happy Constitution day, September 17, 2011.
— cc2k |
