Why
a Republic?
By
David L. Miner
In the last essay, we discussed some of the differences
between a democracy and a Constitutional Republic. We saw that
America was created to be a republic and NOT a democracy. And we saw
that so much of today’s government and political elite are trying
very hard to redefine this republic into a democracy.
In this essay, we are going to look a little more
closely at the document that became the foundation of this Republic.
We are going to discuss the Constitution for these United States.
Notice first that we said “for
these United States,” not “of
the United States.” The
United
States did not create the Constitution; the Constitution created the
United States. Please read that again. The
United States did not create the Constitution; the
Constitution created the United States.
This is a terribly important concept that no one in
Congress or the Administration ever want you to know. Our politicians
like to interpret the Constitution any way they please, and expect
you to accept that. If they can treat the Constitution like they have
authority over it, then they can do just about anything they want to
do.
"If
the Constitution is to be construed to mean what the majority at any
given period in history wish the Constitution to mean, why a written
Constitution?" (Frank J. Hogan, President, American Bar Assn.
1939)
But if the Constitution has the authority over the
government, then clearly the government is
limited in what it can do!
So what is this great document that wields so much
authority? Quite simply, the Constitution was designed to limit the
federal government. It was never intended to limit or control We The
People, only the government. All the authorities and responsibilities
of the government are spelled out in detail within the Constitution.
It then goes on to state that any authority not specifically
delegated to the federal government is expressly reserved from
the federal government. This means that
the government can never grow or increase, can never take over a new
area of political power, can never take control over We The People.
Yet why has our government so vastly exceeded its limitations?
Because
We The People allow it!
This is not a discussion of conservative politics versus
liberal politics, this is a discussion of Constitutional limitations.
America will always have Conservatives and Liberals, but America
should NEVER have unconstitutionals!
Let us explore an example of what we mean. Take
healthcare, for example. Liberals would create a large federal
bureaucracy to run things, like they did with ObamaCare.
Conservatives would instead create a small federal bureaucracy and
allow the States to run most of it. Those who
look to the Constitution would say, “The
Constitution gives the federal government absolutely no authority or
jurisdiction over healthcare at all. Why are they even debating the
issue?”
The Constitution recognized that all
authority rested in We
The People. We The People delegated
some of that authority
to the various state governments. We
The People
delegated a
very small amount of authority
to the federal government. All authority not expressly delegated to
the federal government is expressly reserved to the States or to the
People! This is our Constitution.
"I consider the
foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground; That "all
powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the
people." To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus
specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession
of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any
definition."
Thomas Jefferson,
February 15, 1791, where he quotes the 10th Amendment to the
Constitution
So why do we have a federal government that sits around
all day every day just looking for more issues to write new laws
about, with no regard for or discussion of any Constitutional
authority for those laws?
Again, because We The People
allow it.
All authority rests
with We The People. We
are the owners and rulers and bosses of this great nation. Yet we
don’t keep up with our elected representatives, we don’t vote,
and we don’t fulfill our great responsibilities to run this nation
under our Constitution. Shame on us.
It will be of little
avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own
choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so
incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or
revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant
changes that no man who knows what the law is today, can guess what
it will be tomorrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how
can that be a rule, which is little known, and less fixed? -- James
Madison, Federalist Paper #62
If we allow the federal government to evolve into
whatever it wants to, then we deserve the monster that results from
that unconstitutional evolutionary process.
"We,
the People, are the rightful masters of both the Congress and the
Courts. Not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men
who have perverted it." -- Abraham
Lincoln.
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