Continuation of Constitutionalism 101
Continuation of Constitutionalism 101
William G Burmer
I wanted to share this article with you, because it ties directly into my past articles on the Constitution
New American May 25, 2009 www.jbs.org
Pressing forward with the theme God and Country, again from the New American May 25 2009, Thomas Jefferson was not the only Founder governed my Faith in God. Indeed you will, if you have not previously discovered, all of our founders were so governed in their private, and public lives.
They all knew the evils associated with a reliance on the whims of men, elected or otherwise, for individual Liberties and Freedoms.
Unanimously, in signing the Declaration, they all recognized that individual Liberties are endowed by Natures God and the Creator, and they all relied on the protection of divine Providence as they set forth to end Governments violations of those Liberties, pledging to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
The Declaration of Independence embodies the profound, high-order principles of Republican Government that all men are created with equal unalienable Rights, that governments are formed by men to secure these Rights, and that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the People.
With Americas Charter secured, its by-Laws followed. In describing the purpose of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Virginia delegate Edmund Randolph commented: The general object was to provide a cure for the evils under which the United States labored, that in tracing these evils, to their origin, every man had found it in the turbulence and follies of democracy.
Guided by the Creator and the Charter, with a single-mindedness of purpose, steering clear of democracys shoals, the Founders mapped a course for an enduring Republican America that would limit government and maximize individual Freedom and Liberty. Guided by the Creator and the Charter, the Founders adopted a Constitution that guarantees to every State in this union a Republican Form of Government. FYI SEE, Article 4, Section 4, United States Constitution.
The Founders, like many scholars of their day, knew well that Democracy, ruled as it is by men rather than law, will eventually sink all ships of State. Professor Alexander Fraser Tyler, writing when the states were still colonies of Great Britain, explained why democracies always fail; A Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of Government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largess of the public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that Demoracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy .
John Marshall, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1801-1835, had this to say: Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos. John Adams warned: Remember, democracy never last long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy that did not commit suicide.
Historians, including American historian Charles Austin Beard (1874-1948) confirmed the Founders distaste for democracy as the vilest form of government; At no time, at no place in solemn convention assembled, through no chosen agents, had the American people officially proclaimed the Unites States to be a democracy. The Constitution did not contain the word or any word lending countenance to it .
On the other hand, the Founders gave clear expression to the blessings of a Republican Form of Government; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the Universe. To jettison the Constitution is to sink the Republic. Without question, our Constitution has been abandoned by Americas elected and appointed officials and those whose water they carry. Its violations are numerous and mounting with each newly elected Congress and President. In addition, as the record clearly shows that since 1995, each new Congress and President have arrogantly refused to respond to repeated Petitions for a Remedy to these Grievances, instead answering the Peoples Petitions only with repeated injuries, playing both to the mob and to those who feed at the public financial trough.
America has transitioned from a Republic to a democracy even while the Constitution of the Unites States of America lies in plain sight.