Actually, there isn’t anything dead about the present
document, if we would but apply what it
says to our present situation.
For example, it says that States must pay their debts in
gold or silver! (Art. I, Sec. 10) Wow,
what would that do for our monetary base?
That alone could have prevented the overwhelming debt we now face.
It also restricts the areas in which the federal government
is empowered. Why? Because those were considered the only powers
a federal government would require in order to guarantee the unalienable rights
of the citizens. It goes even further in
Amendments IX and X to state that those powers not granted to the federal
government are reserved to the states or the people. Together these two amendments make it clear
that the states retain the powers related to the well being of their respective
citizenry and can enact whatever laws, regulations or prohibitions they deem
necessary for the citizens to pursue their own best interests. Is there something we’ve missed here? It would seem to be a very lively idea even
in today’s political environment.
Let’s look at the present federal government structure and
compare it to the powers granted by the constitution. One
cannot help but recognize that there are many activities for which there is no
authorization. If that makes it a dead
document, then we should certainly hope for a resurrection – and soon.
The growth of the federal government is beyond all
reasonable understanding. Wherein does
the federal government find authorization for the Department of Health and
Human Services? General welfare? (Art. I, Sec. 8) That would have to be a misreading of the
term as the modifier “general” makes it applicable to all and the entire
country, not a specific group. Nor does
it allow for discrimination which would require specific allocation of
resources to an identified person, group or organization.
Maybe the question should be, “are we killing the
Constitution by what we are allowing?”
In other words, if the Constitution is not dead or must be redefined as
a “living document”, have we and the previous generations not been paying
enough attention to what the document told us were the proper functions of
government in order to protect our God given rights?
Instead of paying attention, we have allowed egotistical
politicians to usurp power and distort both the meaning and intent of any
number of clauses to the point where we barely recognize any relationship
between the activities of our present government and what the Founding Fathers
provided. A most recent example of this
is the NSA surveillance and eaves-dropping on private citizens which is a
blatant defiance of Amendment IV:
“The right of the people to be secure in
their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and
seizures. . . ”
The only way such invasion of privacy could be accomplished legally
is by issuance of a warrant which, according to the Amendment must be specific
as to what is being sought and where such search may be conducted. It would appear that the Amendment is alive
but not doing well as the Federal leviathan simply does what it wants.
No, the Constitution is not dead despite the efforts of many
to bury it alive. To recover will
require the election of individuals with the strength of character and
integrity to abide by their Oath of Office.
That’s my view.
What’s yours? Reach me at constitutionviews@gmail.com
©Copyright 2013 Hillard W. Welch
