Happy Independence Day 2010
July 3rd, 2010Last year I wrote “Could This Be the Last Independence Day” exploring the expansion of government and the impact upon our liberty. Since that posting we have had one new Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor, confirmed, and now Elena Kagan is in the confirmation process before the U.S. Senate. Health Care reform has passed mandating for the first time in our history that all citizens must purchase a product, health insurance in this instance. That is being challenged in the courts today.
Two new justices being named within a year has reopened the debate about our founding principles, and documents; The Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and The Bill of Rights. A recent court ruling upholding the second amendment barely passed with a 5 to 4 vote that citizens have the right to own a gun. This too has spurred debate.
The ideological divide between the views of the left and the right in America today are on display with court rulings and confirmation hearings.
On the left the belief is that the constitution is a living breathing document that can be interpreted as justices see fit due to the changed circumstances of today’s world. That the founder’s had no way of seeing the challenges we face today from some 234 years ago. This has allowed the court to make decisions by translating the constitution to saying there are rights which are not written in the constitution. An example would be the right to privacy from which abortion was made legal in the Roe vs Wade decision. This is viewed as judicial activism.
On the right is the belief of strict constructionism, that the constitution means what it says, clearly stating the laws forming this Republic should be followed, and is not a living breathing document. That if there are to be any changes to that law it should be done through the amendment process the founders built into the constitution. That judges interpret the written word. Is a matter before the court constitutional as the constitution was written or is it not?
It seems to me that if judges can interpret the constitution as a living breathing document, then the constitution is rendered meaningless. Any judge today or in the future can simply make law from the bench that meets their personal world view without any constraints. This is dangerous. That means the rights granted Americans in the constitution and bill of rights can be rendered meaningless based upon political desires. That my friends would be the Last Independence Day.
An amazing set of questioning occurred at the Kagan confirmation hearings this week. Senator Tom Coburn asked Kagan if she believed in the natural rights stated in the Declaration of Independence. She would not answer the question. A person being considered for the supreme court, a lifetime appointment dodges the question do you believe we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? She can’t answer? Just this one set of questioning should disqualify Ms. Kagan. If anyone doesn’t believe in natural God given rights, they have no right to a seat on the Supreme Court. Natural rights are the DNA of the American Republic.
Personally I believe what President Calvin Coolidge said in 1925 on the 4th of July is an eternal truth;
“It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with unalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress.”
If the constitution is a living breathing document then we have no constitution. We will be ruled by the whims of the political elite, and no longer self governed. The Heritage Foundation is running a series of favorite stories from our founders. Please contemplate the meaning of this story, and have a great Independence Day celebration.
Matthew Spalding, Director of the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies at The Heritage Foundation: One of my favorite stories is from an interview I discovered in the course of writing my recent book [We Still Hold these Truths]. It is with Levi Preston of Danvers, Massachusetts. He was in his early twenties in the spring of 1775 when he fought at the Battle of Concord, at the opening of the American Revolution.
As is often the case with stories or quotes, the best are those that capture an idea.
Many years later, Captain Preston was asked why he went to fight that day. Was it the intolerable oppressions of British colonial policy, or the Stamp Act? “I never saw any stamps.” What about the tax on tea? “I never drank a drop of the stuff; the boys threw it all overboard.” It must have been all your reading of Harrington, Sidney, and Locke on the principles of liberty? “Never heard of ’em. We read only the Bible, the catechism, Watt’s Psalms and Hymns, and the Almanack.” Well, what was it? asked the interviewer. What made you take up arms against the British?
“Young man, what we meant in going for those redcoats was this: we always had governed ourselves, and we always meant to. They didn’t mean we should.”
The opinions expressed here are solely those of Fritz Pfister, or identified sources, and not those of RE/MAX Professionals of Springfield, or RE/MAX International.
