This Saturday is the anniversary of our Constitution’s
birthday, signed September 17, 1787. That’s 235 years ago. To celebrate, we’re
going to look at whether our Constitution follows the principles that lead to
freedom, prosperity, and civilization, which we outlined here in Monday’s post.
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Howard Chandler Christy's "Scene at the Signing of the
Constitution of the United States"
image found on Wikipedia |
The Constitution
and the Political Sphere
·
The
purpose of government is to protect and preserve the God-given rights to life,
liberty, and property of each person individually and as a people within that
government entity.
We might best see the direct wording from our Declaration of
Independence, where the founders declared:
We hold
these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness—That to secure these Rights,
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the
Consent of the Governed.
So that is the philosophical underpinning of our nationhood.
Note that life, liberty, and property are rather poetically worded as “and the
pursuit of happiness.” What we do with our life and liberty includes but is not
limited to how we go about getting ourselves out of our poverty, how we acquire
food, clothing, and shelter so that we can enjoy our lives.
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Page 1 of the Constitution of the United States
image found on Wikipedia |
Government isn’t about providing happiness; it is about
protecting property, which is the product of our earning and acquiring more
than the essentials for a day of life. Other than that protective role,
government should get out of the way.
In the actual Constitution, in the Preamble, those
protective purposes are laid out with just a bit more detail:
We the People
of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice,
insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the
general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our
Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of
America.
The protective role
includes laws and justice, officials such as police and judges who carry out
the laws, a military to protect national borders, and whatever details are
required to benefit all the people—things like monetary systems, weights and
measures, and a few things to be enumerated. Which brings us to the next
principle.
·
The
government can do only those duties delegated to it by the people in written
and binding law.
The Constitution includes enumerated powers—that is, the
limited, listed powers granted in law. Beyond this list, all rights and
privileges remain with the states and with the people—which got spelled out in
the 9th and 10th Amendments, just in case later
generations forgot what was understood at the time. Here are the enumerated
powers, which Congress can legislate, the Executive can administer and carry
out, and the Judiciary can adjudicate on:
1.
The Congress shall
have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the
Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United
States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the
United States;
2.
To borrow Money on the
credit of the United States;
3.
To regulate Commerce
with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
4.
To establish an
uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies
throughout the United States;
5.
To coin Money,
regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of
Weights and Measures;
6.
To provide for the
Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United
States;
7.
To establish Post
Offices and post Roads;
8.
To promote the
Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors
and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
9.
To constitute
Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
10. To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high
Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
11. To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make
Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
12. To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to
that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
13. To provide and maintain a Navy;
14. To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and
naval Forces;
15. To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of
the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
16. To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the
Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service
of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of
the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the
discipline prescribed by Congress;
17. To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over
such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular
States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of
the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by
the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the
Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful
Buildings;—And
18. To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for
carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by
this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department
or Officer thereof.
These are all in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution,
listing the powers of Congress. The next section, Section 9, lists limitations
that Congress cannot do, just in case tradition or someone getting a “bright
idea” down the line thought such things could be construed as part of one of those
enumerated powers.
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| Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution of the United States |
Then there are a few more added as amendments to the Constitution:
19. Exercise governing authority over the
District (Washington, DC, an area not exceeding 10 square miles) as the seat of
the government of the United States.
20. Exercise governing authority over places
purchased (by consent of the legislature of the state in which located) for
erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings.
21. Make all laws which shall be necessary
and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other
powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the US or in any
department or officer thereof.
22. Outlaw slavery and involuntary servitude
(except as a punishment for crime), and enforcement of this prohibition.
23. Sixteenth Amendment: Lay and collect
taxes on income.
24. Fifteenth, Twenty-fourth, and
Twenty-sixth Amendments: Enforce equal voting rights laws across all the
states.
·
The
government can do only those duties delegated to it by the people in written
and binding law.
Because government derives its “just Powers from the Consent
of the Governed,” it is only reasonable that government cannot do something the
people do not have the power to delegate to government. This would include that government cannot confiscate property owned by
one person and bestow ownership of that property on another person. That is
called theft when one person does it to another, so it is theft—and unconstitutional—if
government does it. Any redistribution of wealth comes under this category.
Even welfare for benevolent, “charitable” purposes is unconstitutional. Being
generous with someone else’s money is theft, not charity. What we need is for
government to get out of the way of churches and charitable organizations who
freely choose to give to those in need.
The rest of these should go quicker, since we’ve covered so
much already.
·
Governing
should be done at the lowest level possible.
The Constitution—written and signed eleven years after the
country’s birth in 1776—was designed to “form a more perfect Union.” It was a union prior to that, but a rather weak and disorderly one. The Constitution strengthens the union, while it spells
out the laws that limit this central power, so that only those duties
necessarily performed by the states altogether are given to that dangerous
central government.
·
The
government cannot cede power to any entity larger than the nation;
international issues must be handled by diplomacy, preferably, or military
defense when necessary.
The states forming the Union, and the people making up those
states, do not grant the federal government the right to cede power to any
other authority. The very idea of a One World government is unconstitutional—and
treasonous in the very thought. We may have alliances with other nations—when that
is in the interest of protecting our borders and our people and property. But
any such alliances should be limited to those specified ends and must carefully protect our sovereignty as a guard against tyranny.
The Constitution
and the Economic Sphere
·
The
person who earned, accumulated, and owns wealth is the person who gets to
decide how it is spent.
We covered this above, pointing out that welfare and charity
cannot be justly done by government. Government’s don’t have feelings of charity,
but only raw power. Coercing a person to give their wealth to another isn’t charity.
Penn Jillette (the magician, and a libertarian thinker) put
it bluntly this way:
It’s
amazing to me how many people think that voting to have the government give
poor people money is compassion. Helping poor and suffering people yourself is
compassion. Voting for our government to use guns to give money to help poor
and suffering people is immoral self-righteous bullying laziness. People need
to be fed, medicated, educated, clothed, and sheltered. If we’re compassionate,
we’ll help them, but you get no moral credit for forcing other people to do what
you think is right. There is great joy in helping people, but no joy in doing
it at gunpoint.
·
Taxes
are acceptable only when limited to funding the duties of government enumerated
in written principle-abiding law.
Ah, enumerated in law—if only our government would abide by
the Constitution!
·
Government’s
economic responsibility is limited to protecting property. (This can include
the coining of money to be used as a form of exchange.)
Again, that’s what the enumerated powers limit government
to.
·
Government
must lawfully prevent monopoly or other economic tyranny, but otherwise must
allow people the open exchange of legal goods and services.
Sometimes conservatives—and libertarians in particular—think
private businesses can do just about anything they want. But a monopoly is not part
of the free market; it prevents a free market. Therefore laws that prevent
monopolies are appropriate.
·
Using
the people’s money to achieve political aims goes against the proper role of
government.
The proper role of
government is to protect life, liberty, and property. The ways to do that are
the enumerated powers. Here’s a partial list of things clearly not granted to
the federal government:
ü
Power to govern
education.
ü
Power to offer
charitable services (welfare).
ü
Power to force
purchase of a service or product (such as health insurance).
ü
Power to require
payment into a retirement supplement (Social Security).
ü
Power to interfere
with commerce that doesn’t cross state lines.
ü
Power to redefine
marriage in a way that is contrary to long-standing law and tradition, and to
enforce acceptance of the new definition, even when it violates personal
religious beliefs.
ü
Power to subsidize any
industry (such as alternative “green” energy).
ü
Power to target
industries in accordance with a social agenda (gun manufacturing, automobile
manufacturing, nuclear energy, oil and gas, fast food or sugary drinks).
ü
Power to use taxpayer
funds to support abortion.
ü
Power to subsidize or
control (or forgive) student loans.
ü
Power to take over any
industry (as when the Obama administration temporarily took over GM and banks).
ü
Power to favor or
disfavor individuals or groups for hiring, educational opportunities, or other
purposes based on their race or religion, or some invented ESG score.
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The Ten Commandments,
at theTexas Capitol |
The Constitution
and the Social Sphere
·
Civilization
requires a people who honor God, life, family, truth, and property ownership.
(These are a summary of the Ten Commandments.)
The Constitution and the Ten Commandments are connected—both
revealed by God, both as the law for the people. As an earlier prophet of my
Church has said,
The
Constitution of the United States of America is just as much from my Heavenly
Father as the Ten Commandments.—George Albert Smith, General Conference, April
1948, p. 182.
There are only two options for the source of our rights: God
or government. If it’s God, then those rights cannot be justly taken away by mere
mortals, including those who make up government. If it’s government, then those
rights are simply the whims of the governing power, and a capricious government
can take them away as easily as allow them.
People who want to maintain their God-given rights must
recognize God is the grantor of those rights. They must believe in God—a benevolent
God. There’s plenty to say about this—and I’ve done that here—but for today let’s
just reiterate John Adams, who said:
Our
Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly
inadequate to the government of any other.
·
While
not all religious societies are civilized, all civilized societies are made up
of a critical mass of religious people.
See above. And let’s add to that, this is an obvious reason
the federal government was prevented from interfering in the free exercise of
religion, the first right mentioned in the Bill of Rights, in the First
Amendment.
·
The
family is the basic unit of civilized society. Whatever threatens the family
threatens civilization. Therefore, preserving and protecting the family is
paramount in laws and social expectations in a civilized society.
I’ve written about this a lot, starting here. These are the
first couple of paragraphs:
Civilized
societies value family as the most important and basic unit of governance.
Alternatively, a hallmark of totalitarian regimes, which are savage, is the
replacement of the family with the state. Totalitarianism resents loyalty to
any societal unit other than itself. And it is this absolute weakness that will
always prevent a totalitarian state from offering true Civilization as you’d
find it in a free strong-family society.
This
is particularly important to know for people living in a sub-civilized society.
As long as families are allowed to live among themselves (children are under
the care of their own parents), it is possible to have a civilized society that
is just one family in size. Then, if that family can find additional similarly
civilized families to associate with, their society grows. If it could grow to
the size of a village or township, all the better. The goal of the founding
fathers was to have that civilization spread through the United States (and if
that experiment worked, have other sovereign states adopt the plan). But a
family doesn’t have to wait until the world changes; the family can live the
laws of civilization and enjoy many of the benefits, at least within the walls
of the home.
Families aren’t mentioned in the Constitution. The concept
was so obvious—that family is the basic unit of civilization—that I believe it
was considered self-evident. The Bill of Rights was to spell out some rights
whose infringements the founders had experienced before. Some worried about
including any, because later generations might consider them to be limiting the
people to those rights. The Ninth Amendment specifically dispels that
possibility:
The
enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to
deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Family rights—the right of parents to see to the care and
upbringing of their children—are among those not mentioned but retained by the
people.
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There's Mr. Spherical Model with our boys,
pursuing some happiness, some years ago, while we were
involved in the care and upbringing of our children. |
What is government’s role? To protect life, liberty, and
property. And it is required to allow states, families, and individuals to go
about pursuing their happiness.
The Constitution works every time it is tried. If only we would
fully try it!
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