The Reason For The Constitution

By Douglas V. Gibbs

I was recently speaking before a group about the U.S. Constitution, and I made the statement that the reason for the writing of the Constitution was to establish the federal government in its current form, and to improve the union by enabling authorities to protect and preserve the union. A gentleman raised his hand, and politely disagreed. He said the reason the Constitution was written is to protect our individual rights and individual property.

The Preamble lists the reasons for the creation of the United States Constitution. The very first reason listed is "in order to form a more perfect union," specifically, one that can be protected. The Articles of Confederation, the constitution before the constitution, did not have a provision that allowed the federal government to protect the union. The Constitutional Convention was conducted in the hopes of improving upon the Articles of Confederation, partly to enable the ability of the federal government to have armed forces for protecting the union, and partly to allow the federal government to tax so that it may be able to pay for the new military. However, knowing that a federal government with more power than given to it in the Articles of Confederation could result in it becoming an entity that may be willing to trample on our rights, the founding fathers placed limiting principles in the Constitution so as to protect our rights and property from the federal government. It was understood that federal systems of government tend to move toward becoming a centralized system, so protections for the people needed to be present.

We need to remember that the Constitution is a contract between the States and the federal government. The States allow the federal government to exist. The States granted the federal government its authorities. The States, in order to protect the rights and property of the people, allowed in that contract the powers to the federal government to be limited specifically so that your rights and property would be protected from a potentially tyrannical federal government.

"What about protecting our rights and property from the individual States?" I have been asked.

The U.S. Constitution applies to the federal government. There has been some argument that the 14th Amendment changed much of that, and that the Bill of Rights apply to the States as well. However, considering the original purpose of the 14th Amendment was intended to protect the rights of the emancipated slaves, and that the language of the amendment is careful to explain that, I believe the 14th Amendment fails to subvert the original intention of the Constitution as some may imply.

You, my friends, are the States. If you don't want your State to trample on your liberties, then you have to make sure that your State does not do such a thing. Part of what protects you from your State getting out of hand is the State Constitution. And you have the ability, in most cases, to amend your State Constitution without legislative interference.

The closer your government is to you, the less likely it can become tyrannical. At the city and State level your access to the government is increased compared to your access to the federal government. At the federal level the people are more detached from the bureaucrats, so the U.S. Constitution is there to check the government by dividing the powers of the branches, of the vote, and of the federal government from the sovereign states. You have the responsibility of placing representatives there to represent you through the vote, but your personal hand is not nearly as involved once they are in office as it is at the more local level. Therefore, it is important to put people into office that you know will abide by the U.S. Constitution.

At the State level it is important to place people in office that will represent you while abiding by the State constitution. And with the state government you as a citizen are a little bit closer, and it is easier to be a little bit more involved. At your county and city level your ability to be involved increases even more, giving you more direct control. But, it is still the responsibility of the people to ensure government is populated by the right people. In turn, you have direct ability to ensure your rights and property are protected by ensuring your local government has the right people running it, and are acting in accordance to the wishes of the voters. With freedom comes responsibility. Your freedom is in your hands.

We must be responsible enough to hold on to our freedom. Freedom is not something we are just given, and you put it on the shelf, and it is always there. Freedom must be worked for daily. Freedom is something that must be maintained by the people, and the States, through involvement. Failure to be involved may result in the loss of freedom.

It is easy not to be free. A government that holds power with offices occupied by human beings that are corruptible can easily take your freedom from you. Freedom must be worked for, and the Founding Fathers knew it.

The Founders gave us a Constitution with everything we need in it to ensure our freedom's protected. All we must do is enforce that Constitution, protect that Constitution, and be the final arbiters of that Constitution. It is not the Supreme Court's job to make sure our government is constitutional, it is our responsibility. We have the power. If the people representing us does not uphold the Constitution, if they breach that contract, we need to fire them. If the judges are activist judges, and they are not abiding by the Constitution, we can vote in people that will impeach those judges. We have all the power if we are willing to exercise it. If we don't, if we become complacent, if we figure our freedom will just always be there, one day we will wake up and our freedom will be gone.

Freedom must be worked for. This is why I write, this is why I do the radio show, this is why I lead the Constitution Study on Thursdays in Temecula, this is why I am running for city council in Murrieta. I do these things to be involved, and to help equip people with the knowledge on how to be active, on how to protect that Constitution, and how to be responsible with our freedom. If we don't, as Ronald Reagan said, "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary