A CONSTITUTIONAL DISCUSSION
In the late 1700’s conversations about
religion and politics were commonplace in America. Farmers, statesmen,
preachers, teachers, professionals, writers, journalists, politicians, common
laborers and others thought it quite proper to discuss the future of the
Colonies and the risks associated with declaring independence from England.
Underlying much of the rhetoric of that day were concerns over religious
freedom and political independence. The word “posterity” was frequently used
by our Founding Fathers in their treatises and letters. In fact, America’s
future generations were addressed in the first paragraph of the United States
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 defence, 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.”
Posterity to our Founding Fathers was
of primary concern and it was their intention to provide for future
generations the Blessings of Liberty that they themselves fought to secure.
Future generations would carry their names, their physical, emotional and
psychological characteristics, their religious faith, their philosophies,
their dreams, their ideals and more. Their children and grandchildren would
be recipients of their love and devotion. Protecting their posterity was
central in their planning. There was immense pride, for both men and women,
in their heritage. Leaving for their posterity a $17 trillion debt,
legalized abortion, removal of the Ten Commandments and prayer from the public
arena would have been abhorrent to them.
There are fundamental Rights given to
men by God that are not negotiable. The Right to Life is one of them. No
individual has been authorized by the Lord to kill another human being,
whether born or unborn makes no difference.
Government’s first duty is to protect all human life. Another fundamental
Right is the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity. What has
happened to America? That we have so lightly regarded our heritage by
allowing 1/3rd of our Unborn babies to be killed in the womb is
inexplicable! That we have caused each child who survives the womb to
inherit a debt of $57,600 is unconscionable! That we have stolen from our
posterity their Constitutional and Christian/Judeo heritage is damnable!
“
. . . We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure
these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of
Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to
alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation
on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall
seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness...”
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE July 4, 1776
Reclaiming our God given
Constitutional Rights is still possible, but it won’t be done through the
Courts, Congress, Executive Branch or politicians. It can only be done
by the people through prayer, confession of our sins, repentance before
Almighty God and through “SINGLE ISSUE” Amendment Federal Conventions.
“If we confess our sin, he is faithful
and just to forgive us sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
(I John 1:9)
“If my people, which are called by my
name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their
wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and
will heal their land.”
(II Chronicles 7:14)
Consider the God fearing heritage of
our Founders and early leaders:3
“My God! How little do my countrymen
know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other
people on earth enjoy!” - THOMAS JEFFERSON
“Indeed, I tremble for my country when
I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever.”
- THOMAS JEFFERSON
“The first and almost the only Book
deserving of universal attention is the Bible” - JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
“No people can be bound to acknowledge
and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the
people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the
character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some
token of providential agency . . . We ought to be no less persuaded that the
propitious smiles of heaven cannot be expected on a nation that disregards the
eternal rules of order and right, which heaven itself has ordained.” - GEORGE WASHINGTON
“Whereas it is the duty of all nations
to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be
grateful for his benefits, and humbly implore His protection and favor...”
- GEORGE WASHINGTON
“It is the duty of nations, as well as
of men, to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God and to
recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all
history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.” - ABRAHAM LINCOLN
“The moral principles and percepts
contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil
constitutions and laws. All the miseries and evils which men suffer
from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war, proceed
from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.”
- NOAH WEBSTER
“Lastly, our ancestors established
their system of government on morality and religious sentiment. Moral habits,
they believed, cannot safely be trusted on any other foundation than religious
principle, nor any government be secure which is not supported by
moral habits.” - DANIEL WEBSTER
Alex DeTocqueville, 19th
Century French political philosopher and author of Democracy in America
visited America in her infancy to find the secret of her greatness. As he
traveled from town to town, he talked with many people and asked many
questions. He examined our young national government, our schools and centers
of business, but could not find in them the reason for our strength. Not
until he visited the churches of America and witnessed the pulpits of this
land “aflame with righteousness” did he find the secret of our greatness.
Returning to France, he summarized his findings: “America is great because
America is good; and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to
be great.”
Catherine Millard in her book Great American Statesmen and Heroes
quotes Patrick Henry from his most famous speech on March 23, 1775 which was
delivered at the second Virginia Convention2:
“.
. . They tell us, Sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an
adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the
next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard
shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution
and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying
supinely on your backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our
enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a
proper use of the means which the God of nature hath placed in our power.
Three millions of people armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a
country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy
can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone.
There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations; and who will
raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the
strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we
have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to
retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery!
Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston!
The war is inevitable – and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come! It
is vane, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry peace, peace – but
there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from
the North will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren
are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen
wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be
purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!
I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or
give me death!”
This was the cry that heralded the American Revolution.
May God enable us to herald a new American Revolution that will reclaim
America from God defying, America hating, anti-Constitutionalists who have
denigrated our nation into a cesspool of degenerate laws and licentious
behavior. Almighty God has provided us with the requisite authority to
Reclaim America through SINGLE ISSUE Amendment Federal Conventions.
It is apparent everywhere that we have
become a very selfish, unthankful people majoring in frivolous trivia rather
than substantive matters. We have failed miserably to train up successive
generations in the biblical heritage we have inherited. Too many in America
are deathly scared of anything religious. They are totally ignorant of the
fact that the moral fabric of America was formed by Christians. The Bible has
never threatened America. It has helped to build it. Consider the
following:
1.
The American
Sunday School Movement was the Churches way to pass on its heritage to future
generations. The Churches mission was undergirded with the spirit of
patriotism through Sunday School education. Many of America’s patriots were
supporters of the concept of training up the next generation through Sunday
Schools. One supporter was Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of
Independence and the most eminent physician in his generation. Bushrod
Washington, nephew of George Washington and Vice President of the American
Sunday School Union, wrote the most widely circulated book on George
Washington. Another officer was John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United
States Supreme Court. Pennsylvania Governor John Pollock, Vice President of
the American Sunday School Union and director of the United States Mint first
inscribed on our coins the motto, “In God We Trust.” Francis Scott Key, who
wrote The Star Spangled Banner, was a manager and Vice President.
2.
Christians in
earlier years planted many of America’s colleges: Northwestern University of
Chicago (founded by Methodists), University of California at Berkeley (founded
by Presbyterians), Harvard University (founded in 1638 by Puritans), Yale
(founded in 1701 by Christians in Connecticut), Princeton (founded in 1746 by
Evangelical Christians), plus Columbia, William and Mary, and many other
Christian Colleges.
3.
The phrase “In
God We Trust.” appears opposite the President of the Senate and inscribed
in marble behind the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
4.
Above the head of
the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court are The Ten Commandments. At
each opening session the Court Crier declares: “God save the United States
and the Honorable Court.”
5.
On the top of the
Washington Monument are the words: “Praise be to God.”
6.
Numerous
quotations from the Scripture are inscribed on the walls of The Library of
Congress. One such inscription says: “What doth the Lord require of thee,
but to do justly and love mercy and walk humbly with thy God.” (Micah
6:8) Another says: “The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness
comprehendeth it not.” (John 1:5)
On the Jefferson Memorial, Thomas Jefferson still speaks: “God
who gave us life gave us liberty, Can the liberties of a nation be secure when
we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed
I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice
cannot sleep forever.”
Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia cites these
words of Jefferson as “a forceful and explicit warning that to remove God
from this country will destroy it.”
7.
Inscribed on the
Lincoln Memorial are these words: “That this nation, under God, shall have
a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for
the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Lincoln continues: As
was said 3000 years ago, so it still must be said, “The judgments of the Lord
are true and righteous altogether.”
8.
The Supreme Court
in 1892 in its Church of The Holy Trinity v. United States said: “Our laws
and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings
of The Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and
in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are
emphatically Christian . . . This is a religious people. This is historically
true. From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a
single voice making this affirmation . . . we find everywhere a clear
recognition of the same truth . . . These, and many other matters which might
be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic
utterances that this is a Christian nation.”
If you are a Constitutional patriot
you must understand that we have one option left for peacefully reclaiming
America to its founding and God given righteous standards. That option can be
found in Article V and IV, Section 4 of the United States Constitution. The
Founders empowered future generations to reestablish the venerable principles
left to us and our posterity through the Constitution. SINGLE ISSUE” Federal
Conventions that address one Amendment at a time is the only safe way to
protect the splendor of our Constitution. We can reinstate the God fearing
sole America once had.
STATES AND CITIZENS CONSTITUTIONAL
RIGHTS
Amendment IX
“The enumeration in the
Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be
construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
The Constitution guarantees that when a specific right is not enumerated, it
is retained by the people
. There are many constitutional rights, both enumerated and
unenumerated, that have been stripped away because of flawed rulings by the
Supreme Court and Congressional legislation
:
-
economic rights
-
posterity rights
-
free speech rights
-
property rights
-
Unborn Child’s right to
life
-
father’s right to a live
heritage
-
grandparent’s right to a
live heritage
-
due process rights
-
criminal defendants
rights
-
religious rights
-
procreation rights
Amendment X
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it
to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
“SINGLE ISSUE” Federal Conventions are
the only way for the States to regain States and citizen Rights that have been
usurped by the Federal Government. The following is a partial list of areas
in which States Rights have been denied or diminished through Federal
regulations, Congressional legislation and Court decisions:
·
2nd
Amendment Rights
·
Environmental
regulations
·
Educational
mandates
·
Busing mandates
·
Prayer in public
schools and public arena
·
State
Constitutional powers
·
State Legislative
powers
·
Interstate
commerce
·
Criminal and
civil law
·
Health care
mandates, etc.
The States can reclaim their
Constitutional Rights and powers by joining together and agreeing on selected
Amendments to the Federal Constitution and advancing them under the authority
reserved to the States in Article V and Article IV, Section 4.
Article V
"The Congress, whenever two thirds of
both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this
Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the
several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in
either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this
Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the
several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the
other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no
Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and
eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth
Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be
deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate."
Article IV, Section 4
“The
United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form
of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on
Application of the Legislature, or of the
Executive (when the Legislature cannot
be convened), against domestic Violence.”
State Legislatures, not Congress, have
the authority to reclaim and protect their Constitutional powers through
“SINGLE ISSUE” Federal Conventions. Article IV, Section 4 grants equal
authority to every State regardless of population or political influence in
Congress. Implied in Article V is the ”SINGLE ISSUE” intention of the
Founders when they wrote “. . . or, on the Application of the Legislatures of
two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing
Amendments. . .“ The United States Congress can only propose Amendments to
the Constitution. The State Legislatures alone can Call for a Convention for
the purpose of amending the Constitution. The Founders gave to the States the
option of Calling for a Limited Convention or an Open Convention.
State Legislators are encouraged to
email their concerns, proposed Amendments and ideas to director@citizeninitiatives.org.
Citizen Initiatives will be advancing “SINGLE ISSUE” Amendments that reinstate
States Rights.
