Education and the Constitution

By Douglas V. Gibbs

Radio Veteran, Billy Montana, a seasoned radio voice originally from terrestrial radio, invited me to be a guest on his radio program, Talk America USA, and when he asked about my endeavors, I mentioned that I teach a Constitution Class in Temecula, California on Thursday Nights.  One of the attendees is a lawyer, and he has stated that I teach more about the Constitution than does law school.  In fact, when Constitution Studies begin in law school, the Constitution is never opened.  Constitutional Law is based not on the Constitution, but on the opinions of judges regarding the Constitution, a.k.a. case law.

Billy was aghast.  How could this be?  He learned all about the Constitution in school as a youngster, yet now young law students aren't even taught a single word from the text of the Constitution?

But it goes even further than that.  My nephew in middle school was shocked when the chapter on the Constitution in his history book was skipped by his teacher, and when he asked why, she told him because, "The class is limited in time, so they must skip the unimportant parts of the book."

Our freedom is dependent upon us being educated about the rule of law.  In fact, James Madison said regarding this, "A well instructed people alone can be permanently a free people."

George Washington said in regards of instructing future generations, "A primary object. . . should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty more pressing. . . than communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?"

This nation became great because we were informed, but now the voters are uninformed, and could care less about the issues, and put all of their cares in the gifts they receive from the federal treasury.  Dependency upon the government has replaced being educated about our political system and Constitution.

We have become a nation of ideologies, and we have let go of the founding principles of this nation.  Though I call myself a conservative, because the tenets of conservatism closely resembles my constitutional beliefs, in reality I consider myself a Classical Centrist.

When the United States became a nation, the founders realized that government, a centralized governmental system, was necessary in order to protect, preserve and promote the union. However, central governments are also the birthplace of tyranny.  So, though the Founding Fathers recognized the need for a central government, they also realized, for the sake of protecting State Sovereignty, that it must be limited in its scope and powers.

The political spectrum holds that to the far left is bigger government, and smaller government resides on the right.  Totalitarianism, or 100% government, hugs the left side, and anarchy, or 0% government, blankets the far right.  The founders wanted to take a big government idea, but restrain it.  The Articles of Confederation, the constitution before the constitution, was too weak.  The Articles were a lamb, but we needed a lion. The problem with lions, however, is that lions eat you.  So, we needed a lion, but we needed to restrain it so that it did not devour the people, and our freedom.  Those restraints, those chains that hold back the lion, that cage that keeps the lion in check, is the Constitution.

But we have become complacent, and uninformed, so our lion, the federal government, is running amok.  The only thing we have to bring it back under control is what held it in the first place, the Constitution.  The solution is the Constitution.

Otherwise, we will become yet another failed footnote in history that swayed away from its original principles, only to allow itself to collapse under the tyranny from within.

How do we return to the Constitution?

The battle must begin locally. Grab on to the local school board, be involved in your city council, run for positions in the local government, know your central committee, meet with the county supervisors, and communicate with your State legislators.  We are in this fight together, but we need to fight to make it work.

The Constitution is nothing more than ink and paper if we don't fight for it.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary