Posted on 07/05/2002 5:21:03 AM PDT by Boonie Rat
The Constitution - Read it While you Can
By Jeff Adams - League of the South
Politicians and lawyers like to act as if the founding documents of our form of government are very complicated, and only they can interpret them. In reality, the founders wrote the Constitution so that the common man could understand it. This is one reason why I am so concerned about the public school system failing to do a good job of educating our kids. If kids could read at a reasonable level of comprehension, and were educated in what our Constitution actually says, our politicians, and the pack of lawyers that work for them, would be branded as the traitors they are.
I would encourage everyone to get a copy of the U.S. Constitution and sit down and read through it. Several things in the Constitution are very clear, and stand in stark contrast to how we are told things are suppose to work. In the following paragraphs, you will see several issues that expose how our politicians have trashed the constitution, making it practically a dead document.
In Article IV, section 3, it is clearly stated that "no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State.... without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress." So by what right does West Virginia exist? A portion of the state of Virginia seceded form the rest of the state, and the U.S. government recognized it as legitimate [and the Virginia legislature did not,] yet the U.S. government went to war with the South over Lincoln's belief that there was no right of secession. West Virginia is an un-Constitutional state, and therefore any laws or Amendments passed with their vote is illegal, thus un-Constitutional.
The Constitution doesn't 'grow.' Law is law, and means what it says. If events or society demand a change in the law, the founders provided for it. Article V provides for the Amendment process for changing the Constitution. Reinterpretations of the Constitution are in actuality the overthrowing of the Constitution. Judges who do this are violating their oaths and are traitors. In his farewell address, George Washington pointed out that the Constitution was, in effect, 'written in stone' until the people decided to change it via the Amendment process. That is why we say we live by the 'Rule of Law' rather than the 'Rule of Man.' If people can 'reinterpret' the Constitution and make it say whatever they want it to at any given moment, then we are living under the 'Rule of Man.'
Read Article VII. It is one of the most telling. Within this article is the first indication that the founders believed in the idea of State's Rights and the concept that if a state can accede to the union, it can secede from the union. The first paragraph says, "The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same" [italics mine.] So what would have become of any states that didn't ratify the Constitution? They would have been still functioning under the Articles of Confederation. The states, acting individually, united for common cause under the Articles of Confederation, and then, again acting individually, seceded from the union under the Articles of Confederation and acceded to a union under the Constitution. Some say that this was a mere formality, but it is very important to understand that it demonstrates the independence and sovereignty of the member states of the American union.
The Bill of Rights, the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution, was established to protect people's rights, as individuals, from the federal government. Where the 1st Amendment states the government "shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," our federal government has made many rulings barring religious expression in our daily lives [mostly public, but some even private.] A clear violation of the Constitution.
The second Amendment states, "The right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." It doesn't get any simpler than this. Any law barring the ownership of any firearm is un-Constitutional. If people don't like this, then change the law through the Amendment process, rather than betraying the Constitution and, through that violation, becoming a traitor to the American people. Go back and read this Amendment. The 2nd Amendment, like the rest of the Bill of Rights, doesn't create rights, it simply acknowledges and protects the God-given rights we already have.
To 'piggy-back' on this, the 9th Amendment states, "the enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." Simply put, the Constitution doesn't 'grow' and deprive the people of their God-given liberty and rights, and Congress and the Judiciary cannot extrapolate and make laws to cover areas the Constitution clearly restricts the government from interfering in. The ultimate in State's Rights is the 10th Amendment. This amendment has been attacked the most by Judges and the Congress. It reads, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Meaning the federal government has clearly defined and limited powers, while the people of the member states of the union, acting as sovereign states, have the bulk of the powers. The central government is supposed to be the servant of the states [notice the word 'delegated' in the above quote from the 10th amendment,] not the other way around. In layman's terms, if it isn't expressly covered in the Constitution, then the central government cannot act on an issue. This outlaws about 60 to 70 percent of what the feds do today.
The mass ignorance on what our Constitution says is largely due to our socialistic educational system and the anti-Constitutional, anti-American forces that run our universities and have infested our halls of justice and legislatures. And the liberal press and entertainment industry have helped to promote socialistic ideas and provide cover for these anti-liberty elites who control our systems of government. If people would turn off the 'boob-tube' for just 30 minutes and exercise what few skills public schools did teach them and read through the Constitution, pretty much everyone could understand what our forefathers left us, and how much it has been abused and betrayed by the elites and leaders of today. Is 30 minutes too much to ask so as to take back our freedoms, our liberties, and preserve them for our children and grandchildren? I hope not.
Jeff Adams is the Chairman of the Texas League of the South.
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
(No longer relevant - see: Deconstructing the Second Amendment
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
(No longer relevant - see: War on the Constitution
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
(No longer relevant - see: Seizure Fever: The War on Property Rights
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
(No longer relevant - see: Is This man's case worth suspending the United States Constitution?
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
Virginia left the union and a portion of the former state of Virginia (now of the Confederacy) was added to the United States. Then Virginia was added to the union again.
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