As I’m sure everyone has heard by now, today is Constitution Day. On September 17th, 1787, the history of the world was changed when a relatively small group of people decided draft the Constitution of the United States. One year later that document was ratified and this Great American Experiment of a system of government of, for and by the people had begun. Here we stand, 228 years later and it almost seems like the government and the masses of people themselves have completely forgotten the purpose and reasons for passing the Constitution.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, 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.
Those words are constantly being used to justify new powers for the Federal Government and are relentlessly twisted to erode those unalienable rights that were originally referenced in the Declaration of Independence. You have to look at both of these documents, along with the Bill of Rights, together as a group. Just like the three branches of government, no one document is more important than the other and no one document can stand on it’s own.
According to their own website, 23 million people watched the CNN Debate last night. Listening to everyone’s breakdown of the debates and who did well, who stood out and who they think won, one thing I noticed that almost no-one was talking about was the Constitution. You would think that a group who prides itself on being the party of limited government would spend more time talking about this, especially so close to it’s anniversary. To be fair, almost every candidate did mention the Constitution, but I don’t think very many of them understand it.
Mike Huckabee first mentioned it in reference to Kim Davis and the federal government’s role in marriage. In my opinion based on what I understand about the Constitution of the United States, when he spoke about this recent Supreme Court ruling, he was absolutely correct when he said, “It’s a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn’t have and there wasn’t a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it.” The simple fact that marriage is not specifically mentioned in the constitution tells me that the Federal Government has no jurisdiction in dealing with the union of two people, gay or straight, and I see no reason that they need to be involved in any way.
To his credit, later on during the debate, he made another point about the jurisdiction of the Federal Government when speaking about the largest fight he and other Governors faced. His exact words were, “Every one of us – our biggest fight wasn’t always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood that if it’s not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it’s left to the states.” In that clips he also makes other references to the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 14th Amendments as markers of a litmus test he’d have for federal judges. Specifically though, his comments about the 10th is dead on. If it’s not outlined in the Constitution, the Federal Government has zero authority. Period.
Fiorina was one of those people who I don’t think really understands what she’s talking about. When speaking about the immigration issue she said, “As to birthright citizenship, the truth is, you can’t just wave your hands and say the 14th Amendment is gonna go away,” which tells me that she interprets the 14th Amendment to means that anyone born here is a citizen of this country. If you actually take the time to read the Amendment it says, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens..” It’s those six words in the middle that make all the difference. As Ken Klukowski of Breitbart news rightfully points out, the “Constitution doesn’t mandate birthright citizenship.” If your parents are not citizens of the United States and are not “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” then even though you are born here, you too are an illegal alien. It’s a very simple and reasonable concept, but the implications are politically incorrect so she’s afraid speak the truth.
There were other candidates who vaguely mentioned the Constitution. You would expect candidates like Jeb Bush and Scott Walker to talk about something so important only briefly and without much going into too much detail, but one person I was surprised didn’t talk more about it was Ted Cruz. The only time he seemed to refer to the Constitution was when he was asked about the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms, but again, he didn’t go into much detail which I thought was very disappointing. In all fairness, he was limited with time, but he had plenty of other opportunities to mention it. Still, that’s not as bad as Gov. Bush, Ben Carson, Gov. Christie, Gov. Kasich, Sen. Rubio, Donald Trump and Gov. Walker who didn’t even attempt to talk about the constitution other than saying things like, “I’ll protect/defend/uphold the Constitution.” Such broad statements mean nothing if you can’t prove you understand what it what it stands for by applying it to EVERY policy you wish to promote and implement.
Final Thoughts
Before I am criticized for not mentioning Rand Paul, I must say, out of everyone on that stage last night, he was the only person I felt that did a descent job in expressing his knowledge and understanding of the Constitution. He was the only person who mentioned it in his opening statement. Even when he wasn’t talking about the Constitution specifically, you could tell he has a deep understanding of it with issues like our foreign policy of entanglement and the federal jurisdiction of marijuana legalization. Out of everyone there, I’d say he was the only candidate who made the conscious effort to point out the importance of the Constitution. Every other candidate used it simply as a stepping stone to support their political agenda, right or wrong, and that’s just sad.
I wrote a blog a few months ago titled, “Rick Perry for President? Just say no.” In that piece I was talking about his announcement speech and everything I saw him say that I knew he was lying about. One thing he said that I agreed with was, “Yeah, it’s time for a reset. Time to reset the relationship between government and citizen!” He was taking a stab at Hillary Clinton and trying to present himself as a Constitutional Conservative. I don’t think that my post had any effect on the voters of these polls, but clearly the people were just as unconvinced as I was at the time.
I might disagree with Rick Perry personally, just like I disagree with all of these candidates on some issues, but when they say the right thing they need to be praised for doing so. The Constitution of the United States is the form of Government that We the People instituted among ourselves. This important document doesn’t give the Federal Government unlimited power over us, in fact, it’s the exact opposite. This is understanding is crucial when choosing our next President. Ron Paul was the last candidate who truly followed the Constitution. Rand Paul has shown that he hasn’t forgotten where he’s come from, but if he or anyone else wants my vote, they need to prove that upholding and adhering to Constitution comes before everything else – they must honor the oath of office.