One of my favorite subjects is the Bill of Rights. The sheer genius of the men who wrote this document, the simple elegance of the language, and the timelessness of the concepts, combine to make it as fresh today as it was back when it was written.
Too many people do not understand the purpose or the scope of the Bill of Rights. One might wonder if some of them have even read it. Or perhaps the meaning and intent of the Founders has been so clouded by interpretations, court decisions, and Ill-conceived laws that the plain meaning of the words are now difficult to discern.
Even so, it remains our primary duty as citizens to understand our heritage, the limits of government, the liberty which descends from our Creator, and to hold government accountable when it oversteps its authority.
There is one primary premise that must be established in order to understand the intent of the Founders: the Constitution and Bill of Rights are about the limits of government, not about the limits of citizens. The Founders‚ greatest concern was government tyranny. They wanted to establish a government that was severely limited in its power, a government that was answerable to the people by being made up of citizens who faced elections, and a government that was decentralized in power, with each branch having clearly defined and highly limited authority.
Amendment 10 is clear about the limits of government: “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.”
This brief statement is simple: if it isn’t in the Constitution, government has no authority. Government is excluded. Government is silent. Authority rests with the people, apart from government.
Let’s look at the First Amendment in the context of constitutionally limited government. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
It is quite clear that this amendment isn’t about citizens; it is about government. The first word is “Congress.” It is an amendment to tell us what government cannot do. Here is the crucial point, ignored by so many people: Constitutionally, government is required to have nothing to say about religion, speech, the press, peaceful assembly, or the right to petition the government. I’ll repeat. The First Amendment requires the government to be silent in these matters.
This means the Supreme Court does not have the authority to decide whether the Ten Commandments can appear on government buildings. It means that Congress cannot consider laws that limit speech, even “hate” speech, offensive speech, or unpopular speech. It means that government cannot give preferential tax treatment for churches who toe the line, or codify limits to the speech of pastors in the pulpit. It means that government cannot limit political speech before an election, regardless of who is funding it.
The Boy Scouts must be allowed to use a public facility to have their gatherings. A little girl in a public school is not Congress making a law respecting the establishment of religion, so she is free to write a book report about Jesus and keep a Bible on her desk.
Those who wish to demonstrate outside the Democratic National Convention in Boston cannot be herded into a fenced area several blocks away. These are all unconstitutional intrusions of government into areas in which it is constitutionally excluded from intervening.
Since this is an election season, we ought to seek out and vote for candidates who are committed to upholding the Constitution and Bill of Rights as written, not as interpreted and reinterpreted by government. This is a great challenge, but we must make government yield to the document which created it. We can settle for no less.
Too many people do not understand the purpose or the scope of the Bill of Rights. One might wonder if some of them have even read it. Or perhaps the meaning and intent of the Founders has been so clouded by interpretations, court decisions, and Ill-conceived laws that the plain meaning of the words are now difficult to discern.
Even so, it remains our primary duty as citizens to understand our heritage, the limits of government, the liberty which descends from our Creator, and to hold government accountable when it oversteps its authority.
There is one primary premise that must be established in order to understand the intent of the Founders: the Constitution and Bill of Rights are about the limits of government, not about the limits of citizens. The Founders‚ greatest concern was government tyranny. They wanted to establish a government that was severely limited in its power, a government that was answerable to the people by being made up of citizens who faced elections, and a government that was decentralized in power, with each branch having clearly defined and highly limited authority.
Amendment 10 is clear about the limits of government: “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.”
This brief statement is simple: if it isn’t in the Constitution, government has no authority. Government is excluded. Government is silent. Authority rests with the people, apart from government.
Let’s look at the First Amendment in the context of constitutionally limited government. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
It is quite clear that this amendment isn’t about citizens; it is about government. The first word is “Congress.” It is an amendment to tell us what government cannot do. Here is the crucial point, ignored by so many people: Constitutionally, government is required to have nothing to say about religion, speech, the press, peaceful assembly, or the right to petition the government. I’ll repeat. The First Amendment requires the government to be silent in these matters.
This means the Supreme Court does not have the authority to decide whether the Ten Commandments can appear on government buildings. It means that Congress cannot consider laws that limit speech, even “hate” speech, offensive speech, or unpopular speech. It means that government cannot give preferential tax treatment for churches who toe the line, or codify limits to the speech of pastors in the pulpit. It means that government cannot limit political speech before an election, regardless of who is funding it.
The Boy Scouts must be allowed to use a public facility to have their gatherings. A little girl in a public school is not Congress making a law respecting the establishment of religion, so she is free to write a book report about Jesus and keep a Bible on her desk.
Those who wish to demonstrate outside the Democratic National Convention in Boston cannot be herded into a fenced area several blocks away. These are all unconstitutional intrusions of government into areas in which it is constitutionally excluded from intervening.
Since this is an election season, we ought to seek out and vote for candidates who are committed to upholding the Constitution and Bill of Rights as written, not as interpreted and reinterpreted by government. This is a great challenge, but we must make government yield to the document which created it. We can settle for no less.
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