Esteemed Ghosts from our Past | Eastern North Carolina Now

    If you are ever confused as to the order of things, the emphasis of individual rights with respect to government, the rights of States with respect to the federal government, and the states' rights of nullification and disunion with respect to the government's position, it helps to refresh oneself with the wisdom of the men who wrote our Founding documents and provided us with the bedrock on which our nation was established and grounded.

    James Madison (the principle author of our Constitution) wrote to Thomas Jefferson (the author of our Declaration of Independence) that the Constitution was subordinate to the Principles and Rights enshrined in our Declaration. Madison noted, "On the distinctive principles of the Government ... of the U. States, the best guides are to be found in ... The Declaration of Independence, as the fundamental Act of Union of these States." In other words, although the Articles of Confederation and its successor, the U.S. Constitution, were the contractual agreements binding the several states into one union - E Pluribus Unum - the innate Rights of Man identified in the Declaration are the overarching act of that union, and would never be negotiable by way of "collective agreement and compromise."

    Nor are those Rights negotiable today or tomorrow.

    Similarly, the role of government (primarily to protect the essential liberties of the People) is the only grounds for allegiance by the People. Once that purpose becomes frustrated, abused, diluted, or convoluted, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish government.

    Leftists and progressives refuse to acknowledge that the Rights of Man are non-negotiable, as we have seen in the debates over gun control. Leftists like Barack Obama do not believe that individuals have the inherent right to own guns. In other words, they don't believe in the Second Amendment. Furthermore, if they don't believe in the Second Amendment, then they fundamentally do not understand the Bill of Rights and the role of government. Rather, they subscribe to the errant notion of a "living breathing constitution" ("living breathing document") - one which is subject to an at-will interpretation, and most conveniently, to the interpretation of the very government that the Constitution seeks to limit. A living, breathing constitution" is one that has no fixed meaning and therefore individual rights are subject to executive and legislative encroachment whenever it suits the government's agenda. A "living breathing constitution" is one that can be judicially amendment by diktat, instead of its legally prescribed method of amendment in Article V. This enables them to undermine the Constitution's fundamental protections of Human Rights and to transform government into whatever suits them.

    Likewise, even though our Founding Fathers and indeed the drafters of our Declaration and Constitution acknowledged that the states have a right to check the power of the federal government and prevent it from encroaching on its sovereign powers and they have the right to voluntarily leave the union, and these rights supercede the Constitution, the federal government, through the voice of Presidents and the men (ie, puppets) they appoint to the Supreme Court, has attempted to deny that these rights do not exist. [see Texas v. White (1868, decision written by Lincoln's appointee as Chief Justice, his former cabinet member and right-hand man, Salmon Chase) and Cooper v. Aaron (1958)]

    At North Carolina's first Ratifying Convention in Hillsborough in July-August 1788, attorney James Iredell explained the status of the Constitution: "When Congress passes a law consistent with the Constitution, it is to be binding on the people. If Congress, under pretense of executing one power, should, in fact, usurp another, they will violate the Constitution." In other words, if a law is passed by the US Congress that exceeds the authority granted at the time (1787-1788), that law is null and void and therefore is no law at all. The States must not enforce it. At that Hillsborough Convention, the NC delegates voted 184-84 not to adopt the Constitution. The anti-Federalist majority concurred with delegate William Gowdy of Guilford County, when he remarked: "Power belongs originally to the people, but if rulers be not well guarded, that power may be usurped from them." It should be noted that the Hillsborough Convention is perhaps the most insightful convention regarding the original intent of the Constitution. The transcriber of the debates in that Convention was non-partisan.

    Alexander Hamilton, who co-wrote The Federalist Papers, the series of essays assuring the States that the government created under the Constitution is one of very limited powers, wrote: "The Supreme Being gave existence to man ...; and invested him with an inviolable right to personal liberty and personal safety ... Hence, also, the origin of all civil government, justly established, must be a voluntary compact between the rulers and the ruled; and must be liable to- such limitations, as are necessary for the security of the absolute rights of the latter: for what original title can any man, or set of men, have to govern others, except their own consent? To usurp dominion over a people, in their own despite; or to grasp at a more extensive power than they are willing to entrust; is to violate that law of nature, which gives every man a right to his personal liberty; and can, therefore, confer no obligation to obedience."

    Although Presidents and Congressmen and justices (and all other government officials as well) swear a solemn oath to "to Support and Defend" our Constitution (with some taking the oath on the Koran, a document that demands allegiance to a system that must ignore the Constitution), most politicians on the Left and too many on the Right ignore that obligation, and have trampled on the notion established by the Constitution - The Rule of Law - with reckless abandon. The implications for Liberty are dire.

    The debate between right and left, of progressives/liberals and conservatives, characterizes all fundamental historical debates regarding Liberty and tyranny and begs the core question: Who endows the Rights of Man? -- God (as ordained in natural law) or government (as ordained by man)?

    The Left's position has been made plainly evident by Barack Hussein Obama, who has a history of deliberately and repeatedly omitting the words "endowed by their Creator" when citing in open constituent forums the Declaration's reference to "Rights." He intentionally compares himself to Abraham Lincoln for a reason. Lincoln himself ignored the intent and the letter of the Constitution perhaps more than any other president and enlarged government in a way that no Founder could have envisioned (although Hamilton had hoped, and maybe even Madison too for just a brief period in time).

    "Obama and other contemporary leftist protagonists seek to substitute Liberty as ensured under the Rule of Law established by our Constitution, with the rule of men in their so-called 'living breathing constitution.' They do so because the former is predicated on the principle that Liberty is innately 'endowed by our Creator,' while the latter asserts that government is the sole arbiter and grantor of Liberty. Ignorance of the true and eternal source of the Rights of Man is fertile ground for the Left's assertion that government endows such Rights. It is also perilous ground, soaked with the blood of generations of American Patriots defending Liberty at home and around the world. Indeed, as Jefferson wrote, 'The tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.'" [Mark Alexander, "The Inalienable Rights of Man"]

    [These comments are based, in large part, on an article by Mark Alexander - See Mark Alexander, "The Inalienable Rights of Man: A Brief Civics Lesson on Liberty," The Patriot Post, February 18, 2015. Referenced at: http://patriotpost.us/alexander/33261 ]

    Publisher's note: Contributor Diane Rufino also serves of co-publisher for Pitt County NOW.