As we celebrate the Fourth of July, it gives us time to pause and consider the watering down of what is probably the finest political document of its kind ever written by man: the U.S. Constitution.
The people who wrote it are probably the smartest and most well informed group ever assembled for the purpose of forming a government.
Unfortunately, many Americans do not grasp the concepts that are embodied in the Constitution and have therefore little or no understanding of what is in the Constitution or why it was written the way it was.
It is the purpose of this article to give a very short, quickly read summary of the important basic ideas behind the Constitution.
Hopefully, the reader will be motivated to dig deeper. The unique aspect of our Constitution is that it is written for the benefit of the people being governed and not those doing the governing. The main question to ask is what is it that will really benefit the people being governed?
The answer is eloquently spelled out by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, when he pointed out that the proper role of government is to guarantee man’s natural, God-given rights.
The reader should reflect that these natural rights occur in nature and are not granted by man or government.
The reader should reflect that these natural rights occur in nature and are not granted by man or government.
They are equally available to all people and exercising them by one man does not hinder any other man from exercising them. Furthermore, it requires no effort on the part of any man for another man to exercise his natural rights.
Among these natural rights are freedom of speech, freedom to acquire and dispose of property freedom to ply a trade and many others. Jefferson referred to them in The Declaration of Independence as the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
It is important to note that the natural rights are the only rights that a government can guarantee to its citizens. Any attempt to extend the guaranteed rights destroys the natural rights it is trying to protect.
For example, if the government tries to grant rights such as medical care, housing, schooling or a standard of living to some people it must first extract the means to do so from others.
Therefore, in order to go beyond guaranteeing natural rights some people natural rights have to be given up by other people. Furthermore, going beyond natural rights has thus far proven to be a job that is impossible for government to do satisfactorily.
Once they decided what the new government should be doing they had to decide what form of government would do it best. The founders knowledge of history shaped their decisions.
Firs,t they well knew that pure democracy was a very bad form of government.
In a pure democracy, the first thing that happens is that a majority quickly forms to take everything from the minority and eventually everyone loses their freedom. Every time someone tries to form a pure democracy, it ends up in a civil war and a dictator is needed to restore order.
The second thing the founders knew was that government has a natural and powerful tendency to grow and imperil human freedom. As a start, the founders decided on a republic form of government with strictly limited powers and functions.
The trick is to limit the government functions in such a way that it would be very difficult to add more functions. The government has to be powerful in the functions it should be performing while at the same time restrained from extending its reach beyond the functions it should be doing.
The founding fathers went to great lengths to give power to the people and keep the size and power of the government in check.
Some of the features of the Constitution which do this include the following:
· The powers of the central government are divided up between the executive, legislative and Judicial branches. The founding fathers intended that each branch would defend its “territory” and thus keep the other two branches in check.
· The powers given to each branch of the central government are specific and enumerated. For example the Legislative branch has about 18 things that it can do. The Executive has about four or five things it can do depending on how you count. If something is not on the list the government is not allowed to do it.
· Furthermore, jurisdiction over the people is divided in a non overlapping manner between the central government and the state governments. The powers delegated to the state governments are vague, but limited both by the U.S. Constitution and the individual constitutions of the states.
The powers delegated to the central government are few, limited and specified.
The reader should note that originally the power of the central government versus the states was held in check by having the Senate appointed by the state legislatures. Sadly, this constraining feature was eliminated by the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The reader should note that originally the power of the central government versus the states was held in check by having the Senate appointed by the state legislatures. Sadly, this constraining feature was eliminated by the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
This system of dual powers was called federalism, with the following tenets:
· Strong protection for property rights. Property rights are implied throughout the body of the federal Constitution and spelled out in several parts of the Bill of Rights. In particular, Amendments 2, 4, 5, the second, fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth amendments.
· The inclusion of the bill of Rights is actually redundant because the rights contained in it are implied in the body of the constitution. However, many of the founders thought that certain rights should be spelled out directly because governments were so strongly inclined to ignore them.
· The right to a trial by jury takes power from the government at all levels and gives it back to the people. The existence of “jury nullification “ gives power to the people in making law. No less an authority than John Jay, the first chief justice of the United States, said on several occasions that the juror has the power and duty to judge not only the facts of the case, but also the law of the case.
On a number of occasions, jury nullification has played a role in eliminating or reducing the effects of bad laws. For instance, the fugitive slave laws were decimated by jury nullification.
·The list goes on but these are most of the main points. The founding fathers were totally concentrated on preserving individual freedom and natural rights. They were very afraid of the majority taking away individual rights. For this very reason, the Constitution is very anti-democratic.
So, too, for that matter is the Bill of Rights. Certain rights are guaranteed to all people independent of what the majorities may think or desire. The Way the Senate is made up is an example. The process of making laws was purposely made awkward, slow and difficult.
The sad reality is the federal government was designed and continues to promote gridlock.
In this way, laws should have a hard time getting enacted without powerful and wide support.
The Constitution is very strong on protecting property rights. The founding fathers realized that property rights are an integral part of all human rights. When property rights are threatened so are all of the rest. Some of the specific property rights protections can be seen in the bill of right such as.
* The right to bear arms is a powerful aid to protecting your property.
* Amendment 4 contains strong language for property rights.
* Amendment 5 says among other things that private property can’t be taken for public use without just compensation.
* Amendment 7 says that in common law suits exceeding $20 in value the defendant has the right to a trial by jury.
* Amendment 8 stops the government from levying excessive bail or fines. It is also important to note that in section 9 paragraph 4 it says that no capitation or other direct tax shall be laid unless in proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken. This essentially prohibits an income tax.
The founding fathers recognized that in income tax would be a direct threat to people’s property rights as well as many of their other rights. This provision was struck down by the 16th Amendment.
The reader should reflect on the many ways his freedoms and property rights are curtailed and reduced by the 16th Amendment.
Up until about 100 years ago the central government was run pretty much in accordance with the idea of protecting our natural rights and thus the freedom of individuals.
However, as time went by the idea that the government should also act as an agent of benevolence and do good deeds as well as protect our freedoms and natural rights gained strength.
Using the vague and imaginary powers of the interstate commerce clause and general welfare clauses the functions and powers of the government were added to and extended to our great detriment. The number of additional government functions, activities and departments that plague us today are in the hundreds and occupy the majority of our national budget.
A very short list of some of the most obvious and damaging functions added to government include the following: income taxes, Social Security, Medicare , Federal Drug Administration, Department of Education, Environmental Protection Agency, OSHA and countless others.
The reader could spend the rest of the day adding in his or her favorite bad government programs to this list.
One of the ironies of the Constitution is that it was such a good document that the vast majority of laws or amendments added to it made things worse.
One of the ironies of the Constitution is that it was such a good document that the vast majority of laws or amendments added to it made things worse.
Therefore, the most urgent national needs involve undoing many of the laws and regulations added to the original Constitution. Every new function added to government makes it less of an instrument to protect our rights and freedoms and more of a tool for plunder and repression.
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