"....So, Why is the Constitution important to Me, Now?"
"I'm worried about my job, taxes, health insurance and keeping my house, so why is the Constitution important to me, now?" asked a peer.
I replied: "The U.S. Constitution is the only safeguard against losing your job resulting from federal mandates, increased taxes, government run healthcare and keeping your house. Next question..."
We have travelled far from our Constitutional roots. This gap produces uncertainty and instability in our lives. Instead of looking to our gifts and strengths, some consider that the Federal Government could show us the way. Nothing could be further from the truth.
First off, many are not aware we were founded as a Republic (or Representative Democracy) and not a Direct Democracy. The difference is considerable; our Constitution specifies that a Republic form of Government meaning we have a foundation of laws which we agree to live by through representatives. Ours is called the Constitution. A Direct Democracy considers majority rule on every decision. While that sounds good at first, it quickly can lead to undesired consequences based on a quicksand foundation; as learned from Greek history.
"They (the Greeks) define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men." -- John Adams
Now men do create laws; but our founders realized that a boundless federal government would only result in corruption and desire for undeserved power when left to momentary and emotional circumstances. Whereas, the Constitution is set and augmented over long periods of time and can't be disrupted easily. This is the purpose of the Constitution to give us all a sense of stability and security.
"It is weakness rather than wickedness which renders men unfit to be trusted with unlimited power." -- John Adams, 1788
"Free government is founded in jealousy, not confidence. It is jealousy and not confidence which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind those we are obliged to trust with power.... In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in men, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution." -- Thomas Jefferson, 1799
Our founding Citizens saw State and Local Government as their resource for resolving local issues with the Federal Government. The Federal government was to be focused on interstate commerce, international treaties, immigration policies, defense, and census taking. Today citizens have been taught that our Federal Government is there to resolve all issues. The U.S. Constitution delivers an accountability system which we increasingly abandon. We are no longer able to leverage the isolation of the State Government to protect our local beliefs. This transition has evolved over the noblest of causes, but taken shortcuts with judicial fiat.
"The greatest tyrannies are always perpetrated in the name of the noblest causes." -- Thomas Paine
"A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on Earth... and what no just government should refuse." -- Thomas Jefferson in a Letter to James Madison, Paris, Dec. 20, 1787
"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents...." --James Madison
Every day, thousands of Jobs are lost because of unconstitutional Federal legislative or judicial decisions. The Stimulus Bill for example, had its roots in Jimmy Carter's 1977 CRA Bill (Community Reinvestment Act), a bill that laid the foundation for bankers to give away loans to those who couldn't afford them in an effort to be fair. In the trade they called it "redlining". The lost bank revenues were simply loaded atop the costs of those who could afford mortgages (another name for wealth redistribution). Well, yes, Wall Street got caught up in repackaging these and selling mortgage backed securities, now far removed from face-to-face dealings and got blamed for the mortgage crises. Wall Street should be blamed second for this one, not first.
Our legislative branches had not done their due diligence in overseeing two quasi-government agencies FannieMae and FreddieMac. The agency's leadership eased financial-criteria policy to provide loans to those that could not afford them. Then they supported the packaging of flawed loans on Wall Street based on Government guarantees, which led to a collapse of our financial markets. You didn't hear these truths in the press......
I first noticed the devastation of federal interference while a liberal Democrat in the late 80's. As an Accountant at Total Health Care in West Baltimore, I saw two young pregnant girls, ages about 12 and 14, walking down the hallway. In questioning why, it became clear the idea of Government offering us opportunity, life security and sanctuary was a false promise. Welfare was creating and enforcing damaging habits resulting in the destruction of families causing harm to our children and overall society. What began as a grand idea was devastating, results that could not be questioned for fear of being declared insensitive or racist.
"Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." -- Frederick Douglass
A recent article by the Dolans, financial advisors, about the 2009 ‘Making Work Pay’ Tax Credit had the following quote:
“But in their haste to rush the stimulus package into law, Congress overlooked some very important details. These mistakes mean 10 percent of taxpayers will have to pay back some or all of that “Making Work Pay” tax credit. Will you be one of them? ... Good rule of thumb: Never rush when you are working on something that impacts millions of Americans and BILLIONS of dollars! ... But here’s the rub … the law contained some serious mistakes that resulted in certain taxpayers receiving money they shouldn’t have received. Now approximately 15 million taxpayers will have to repay Uncle Sam!”
The impact for each of these Americans will be the $400 dollars that they accepted, in good faith, and now will be required to return it to the Federal Government. Now we have a Health Insurance bill that has been passed; how many mistakes will be found and how many will suffer because of them. It is for this reason the Amendment process is critical for each of us to provide us security and freedom from tyranny; why it is slow and requires each State and it’s citizenry to be willing to relinquish its claim to this right giving each of us time to assess what is being asked of us.
"If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one, subject to particular exceptions." --James Madison
We have a Senator with the current Democratic Party that is more interested in extending the powers of the Federal Government into every element of our lives; whether or not it violates our moral sensitivities or the boundaries set by the Constitution. We have seen this with Federal provided Abortions, Healthcare mandates, Environmental Controls, Immigration, Minimum Wages, Childcare, Travel, Religion, Tax Code, etc. Business has a term called "going concern", whereby a company must reflect its value as if it were to remain in existence for and beyond the foreseeable future. The actions from Washington DC do not provide a stable environment for:
Businesses, especially small businesses, to be able to plan for their future and develop ideas and jobs.
Citizens, especially families, to be able to plan for the future to buy a house or save for the future.
The rules keep changing, each time impacting jobs, families, health care, freedoms…
