The United States Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787. On August 2, 1956, in commemoration of this revolutionary document, Congress set aside the week of September 17 to 23 as Constitution Week, with September 17 designated as Citizenship Day.
For the Reader's part in celebrating our beloved Constitution, we've chosen to publish excerpts from Iowa-based constitutional educators Restoring the Heart of America, as well as a portion of Texas Congressman Ron Paul's bestseller The Revolution: A Manifesto. In addition, Constitutional attorney John Whitehead's commentary on the executive branch's abuse of constitutional authority is included here. These resources just scratch the surface regarding our legislators' growing and alarming departure from their sworn oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution.
Our founding fathers believed that, above all else, individual rights were sacrosanct. The sole purpose of government, then, is to protect and defend those rights. Nothing more, nothing less.
The original 13 colonies comprised thousands of families fleeing the tyranny of Britain's monarchy. The Declaration of Independence is an indictment of the cruelty and subjugation by a government that considered its citizenry little better than chattel for its own purposes.
It is from this oppression that the U.S. Constitution took its deepest founding principles. Its authors knew too well the importance of a common pact that would protect the people from the government. Government should be fearful of the people, not a people fearful of the government.
To that end, the U.S. Constitution was designed to expressly limit government, specifically enumerating its responsibilities. The 10th Amendment is dedicated to the affirmation of these limited purposes, stating "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."
Fast-forward to America 2008, and it is readily apparent that We the People have been grossly derelict in our duty to preserve our Constitution, which is to say our individual freedom. By remaining passive, we have allowed our elected officials to grow our government to obscene proportions, while at the same time abdicating Constitutional mandates that have left our nation weakened and vulnerable.
The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 gave the control of our money supply to a central bank owned by a cadre of private bankers. Most Americans believe that the Federal Reserve is a public entity. It is not.
Consider our current debt of $10 trillion. This is the interest we owe on money the government borrows, mostly from the Federal Reserve. The dollars we pay in federal withholding income tax go to the Federal Reserve to pay the interest we owe on borrowed monies it loaned us. Virtually none of the governmental services we have sanctioned are paid for through this income tax.
How different would our economy be if Congress still coined the money, thereby controlling its supply? If we loaned money to ourselves, then wouldn't we pay interest to ourselves? Wouldn't this same money be contributing rather than depleting our resources? Instead, we pay it to a private entity, whose wealth from our earnings is unfathomable, while our own assets diminish, including the value of our dollar.
The horror is that most of our elected officials do not understand this reality. Nearly to a man/woman, these individuals continue to spend, which means they allocate funds then borrow to fulfill the obligations, whether earmarks, entitlements, operating expenses, debt, and the list goes on.
Control of the money supply is a critical example of the peril of departing from our Constitution. Our founding fathers recognized the danger of central banking to a free people and accounted for it. But We the People are responsible for upholding it, and preserving it in the spirit that it was written.
Nothing of this world is more important than protecting that which protects the inherent nature given to us by our creator - the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Individual freedom through self-governance is the only means for the expression and actualization of these precious inalienable rights.
Please read the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. These two documents are forces of nature themselves in that each is deeply spiritual, abundantly applicable, and timeless in its sustainability as a successful blueprint for self-governance and a free people.
One of the remarkable things about our U.S. Constitution is that anyone can understand it and apply it. Armed with a comprehensive understanding of the mechanics of the core policies addressed in the Constitution, such as money supply, taxation with representation, and habeas corpus, citizens can better hold elected officials accountable. And if said officials are unresponsive, do not re-elect them. More importantly, if the choices for elected office are unacceptable as they relate to upholding the Constitution and rule of law, then citizens need to champion their rights and freedom by running for office themselves.
To read the U.S. Constitution, visit Constitution.org/constit_.htm or USConstitution.net/const.html.
