Category: General

Constitutional Amendment 21

Post author By David
Post date August 19, 2009
2 Comments on Constitutional Amendment 21

Warning: Undefined array key "adf" in /home4/hpvcxhmy/public_html/wp-content/plugins/similarity/similarity.php on line 69

Warning: Undefined array key "sim_pages" in /home4/hpvcxhmy/public_html/wp-content/plugins/similarity/similarity.php on line 70

Closely tied to the Eighteenth Amendment (because it repeals it) the Twenty-First Amendment serves to validate the value and proper use of the amendment process.

Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

Section 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

Because government justly derives its power from the consent of the governed, and because the will of the majority cannot ultimately be held in check by a rule (no matter how good the rule) unless the majority choose to abide by that rule (thus giving their consent), the 18th and 21st amendments demonstrate that the high barrier of creating a Constitutional Amendment can be used to remove rights and grand government new restrictive powers but that leaving that possibility open is reasonable because it can also be used to undo previous poor decisions when the people change their stance on an issue that should never have been addressed in the Constitution.

The amendment process is powerful and should be used carefully, but it has been established precisely so that we have the possibility of making fundamental changes (when so desired by a large majority of the people at any given time) in a way that is essentially peaceful. There is no way to grant a power while guaranteeing that it can never be abused, but the amendment process does of good job of making it difficult to abuse the power while leaving the people ultimately sovereign over their government (if they will insists upon holding their government in line with their Constitution).

Tags amendments, Constitution, documents, history

General

Constitutional Amendment 19

Post author By David
Post date August 12, 2009
6 Comments on Constitutional Amendment 19

Some amendments are so obvious now that they need no comment.

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any States on account of sex.

Some states had allowed women to vote long before 1920 and been stopped by the federal government. Now, in a day where I have seen calls to lower the voting age to 16, the only question on this subject that we have to ask ourselves is where to draw the line.

Tags amendments, Constitution, documents, history, voting

General

Securing Liberty

photo credit: Brian Wilson Photography

I got a complaint on facebook over a statement I made that later amendments take legal precedence over earlier ones where both conflictingly address the same point of law. Here was the complaint:

I have a problem with the rationalization . . . that a later amendment takes precedence over an earlier one- That takes away all security in the freedoms that our constitution grants.

I don’t know how it is possible to fight common sense. If the city code states that housing density may not exceed 2 houses per acre and then a later city council passes an ordinance stating that housing density may not exceed 5 houses per acre it would be absurd to try stopping a developer who wanted to build a subdivision filled with 1/4 acre lots (at least it would be absurd to do so using the original density code to back up your complaint). The same principle holds true at every level of legal authority – including at the Constitutional level. The guarantees of freedoms in the Constitution are only binding from one time to the next if they are not challenged at that level of law. If the people of succeeding generations challenge and remove the liberties currently in the Constitution through new amendments there is no way today to prevent them from doing so.

Tags amendments, Constitution, Elevated, liberty, Orrin Hatch, Reagan, thoughts

General

Constitutional Amendment 18

Post author By David
Post date August 7, 2009
18 Comments on Constitutional Amendment 18

The Eighteenth Amendment is a great example of constitutional law.

After one year from the ratification of this article, the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

I know that many people will argue that it is a bad amendment (generally citing the fact that it was later repealed as evidence of their claim) but I would like to explain why I argue that it is such a good example.

Congress (and the majority of states at the time) wanted to restrict the use of alcohol for recreational purposes. They had no constitutional authority to do anything like that. The proper fix for this is to pass a Constitutional amendment rather than trying to ignore or get around the Constitution and use some easier means of doing what Congress wants to do. In this case, Congress followed the correct path – perhaps they had too many senators and representatives still in Congress since the 17th amendment was passed who remembered how the government was supposed to be limited according to the Constitution.

The question of whether this was a good law is a separate matter. Should Congress decide whether people should ever be allowed to consume alcohol? No. But at least in making this bad law they followed the proper procedure to give themselves the authority to take the action they wanted to take – and to successfully pass a Constitutional amendment requires a very broad base of support. If the people choose to prohibit consumption of alcohol that’s much better than having Congress prohibit its consumption because of the influence of a vocal lobbying group.

Tags amendments, change congress, documents, history, liberty

General

The American’s Creed

I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed, a democracy in a republic, a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.

I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.

I should be able to support The American’s Creed wholeheartedly, but I am finding it difficult on some levels because while this creed supports the ideal vision of what the Constitutional Government of the United States should look like I fear that the creed needs an asterisk next to it explaining that our current government does not live up to anything like that ideal and must be brought back into line with the ideal through the diligent efforts of those who truly love their country.

Here is a summary of where I think the ideal of the American’s Creed and the Constitution differ from the realities of our government today:

This government has become more of a government over the people rather than a government of the people.
While the just powers of government are derived from the consent of the governed, the governed have allowed the government to derive unjust powers from themselves and through judicial rulings, international law, and executive orders.
The states of which the nation is comprised are no longer sovereign in any meaningful way. (Often they are not even sovereign from each other.)
While the government was established upon principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity it has not been perpetuated upon those same principles – especially in the last few decades.

As a result of these deficiencies my duty is not only to love my country, support its Constitution, and obey its laws, but also to correct its deficiencies in a way that does not violate the very principles upon which the nation was founded.

Unlike the Pledge of Allegiance, I thought it important to say something about the author of the American’s Creed, William Tyler Page. His story of public service is a textbook example of the American’s Creed in action. The day after he died it was said of him that:

He believed that the Constitution of the United States was next to the word of God: the most spiritually illuminated and divinely inspiring political document of modern times. So he sat here, a philosopher, a friend, a Christian gentleman, and we sat at his feet and received from him new strength, new courage, new understanding.

Like Page, I believe that the Constitution is “the most spiritually illuminated and divinely inspiring political document of modern times” and it does stand adjacent to the canon of Holy Scripture in the library of my heart. Unlike scripture I am free with the Constitution to disagree with parts of it (like the 16th and 17th amendments) and to seek to have those parts altered or abolished by following the procedures outlined in the Constitution. There is no such procedure in the scriptures nor do I consider myself an equal to the Author of scripture – unlike the authors of the Constitution. (I consider myself the equal of the founding fathers in that they were men who loved their country and wanted to secure her liberty for their peers and their posterity, as do I.)

Tags Constitution, documents, history, ideal

General

Constitutional Amendment 16

Post author By David
Post date July 31, 2009
4 Comments on Constitutional Amendment 16

The longer I live and the more I study, the more convinced I become that the sixteenth amendment is the greatest assault on liberty in our Constitution.

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

The amendment was passed as a benign revision to the Constitution, amending Article I Section 9 which had specifically prohibited Congress from laying any direct tax. Without this amendment the government could never have sufficient funds to substantially exceed their constitutional authority.

This amendment was passed in order to make it possible to levy income taxes – the most sinister aspect of income taxes being that government now holds first claim on the income of its citizens. If I don’t wish to support what the government is doing my only legal way to not support it is to have no income (or at least, less income than they are interested in taxing). While it will never happen in my lifetime (and probably will never happen period) the fact that the government has first claim on my income means that Congress could claim everything I produce and take it as income tax. So much for the right to property because my property (and yours) is now a gift or loan from the government.

Tags amendments, Constitution, documents, history, liberty, taxes

General

The Pledge of Allegiance

The Pledge of Allegiance may well be the most widely memorized bit of prose in the United States. In fact it is so widely known that I wonder how many people have ever stopped to consider where it came from or what it means (few I suspect). It was first written in 1892 but it’s final form did not come until 1954. Those who object to the reference to God are following in the footsteps of the daughter of the man who wrote the original version.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I think it is instructive that we do not pledge allegiance to the United States or its government, but to the flag and the government ideal that it represents. We are pledging allegiance to the republic that the founders established in order to protect the freedoms of all the citizens of the nation. A nation which is meant to be under God and indivisible and which should be devoted without exception to protecting liberty and promoting justice for all.

That is the kind of nation that I can cheerfully and wholeheartedly support. We must ask ourselves how close that image aligns with the realities of our nation today. Those who truly pledge their allegiance to the flag and the national ideal of good government that it represents are pledging themselves to pursue those policies in government and society which will bring us closer to the ideal represented by the flag, the one where there are 50 sovereign states which, together with the sovereign citizens of the nation, work together to promote liberty and justice for all.

Tags documents, history, liberty

General

Facts From Honduras

One month after Manuel Zalaya was sent into exile we are hearing very little news on the situation. The crisis in Honduras is still not resolved however and now Roberto Micheletti, the interim President, is expressing his views in the Wall Streett Journal. The views that he shares sound like he is very much on the same page as Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, whose position I covered a couple of weeks ago.

I’m not sure if the story withered from lack of interest or if the facts being cited by the current leadership of Honduras make it hard to continue pushing the version of events that the media seemed to prefer.

Tags Honduras, international, media, Wall Street Journal

General

Constitutional Amendment 15

Post author By David
Post date July 23, 2009
No Comments on Constitutional Amendment 15

The 15th Amendment appears to be the first attempt to curb the efforts of those who were trying to deny blacks the right to vote as explicitly established in the 14th amendment.

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

As history has shown, those people who still held their prejudices found more creative ways to deny that right. This is just further proof that there is no way to legislate what people will or should think – regardless of how well the social engineers concoct their plans.

Tags amendments, Constitution, documents, history, liberty

General

Constitutional Amendment 13

Post author By David
Post date July 20, 2009
No Comments on Constitutional Amendment 13

The Thirteenth Amendment is about as straightforward as any of the first ten amendments (I find it interesting to notice that the most obvious and natural amendments tend to be the shortest).

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

While there is nothing that I would dare add to that amendment and I doubt that anyone needs a lesson in the context behind its adoption I do wonder how our nation might be different if the issue of slavery had been resolved by the process of adopting this amendment rather than fighting a war before then adopting this amendment.

I would not suggest that the issue would have been “resolved” by 1865 even to the degree that it was with the Civil War, but I would not be surprised if the outcome would have been to more completely lay to rest the prejudices that were so openly accepted 100 years later and which we still feel among our society today. (No, electing a black president does not prove that we have no racism or bigotry remaining in our society – in case there was anyone who entertains such a notion.)

Tags amendments, Constitution, documents, history, questions