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The day I “got” the Constitution

By: karenmartin (Diary)  |  November 25th, 2009 at 12:18 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

As I began to examine what I knew about congress, bills, spending, personal liberty, government power, states’ rights, and the Constitution I had to admit I knew very little.  I had the basics we all pick up from civic class.  I knew the Fifth Amendment meant I didn’t have to testify against myself in a court case … more or less … and I really only knew that from TV.  I knew the Second Amendment gave me the right to bear arms, which meant I could own a gun.  As for the rest, well it was so long ago, and let’s see, um, the courts and lawyers and politicians took care of all that right?

As I got involved with the Tea Party movement and met some folks with a deep respect and love for our Constitution I found myself intrigued by their discussions about how prescient our founding fathers were and how they wrote a document which, had we paid attention and held our congress and government accountable would have prevented our current disastrous economy, put a stop to the alarming erosion of our personal liberties, and kept us saner and safer from enemies both foreign and domestic.  We were warned by them not to drift away from it, yet they predicted we would.

One day I came across a blurb somewhere that brought me to Arizona Representative John Shadegg’s efforts in each year he’s been in Congress to introduce the Enumerated Powers Act. Holy Cow what a concept! Talk about a light bulb moment … Having each bill introduced into Congress state the specific constitutional authority under which the law is being enacted!

Kevin Craig, candidate for Congress in Missouri has a very detailed page with tons of data and a list of all of the enumerated powers and duties of Congress in plain English at his site, with specific links to Healthcare and Education. The Tenth Amendment Center has a page listing the powers that our founders determined to be outside of federal reach. I’ve spent hours over days over weeks reading and understanding more and more how brilliant these early patriots were, and how far we’ve come from their vision. Enumerated Powers became my favorite two words and I asked everyone I had conversations with to look them up. While we move forward to restore our liberties, rein in our OUT OF CONTROL government, elect candidatures who commit to follow Constitutional principles, we could do a lot worse than beginning with compelling our candidates to sponsor and vote for the Enumerated Powers Act. I bet we can count on Representative Shadegg to continuing introducing it.

(from my blog Ordinary Sway http://bourque77.blogivists.com/)

COMMENTS

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  • http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com ColdWarrior

    Karen, great post, but to be clear, the Bill of Rights did not grant the American people any rights. The Second Amendment does not grant you the right to own a gun, it guarantees the pre-existing right of the people to keep and bear arms.

    The Bill of Rights declare existing rights and restrict the federal government. That was made clear in the Preamble to the Bill of Rights.

    Think of the Bill of Rights as a series of “shall nots” to the newly constituted federal government — as the Preamble stated, a series of “declaratory and restrictive clauses” to the Constitution designed “to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers.”

    Once in a while you may hear some libtard talking about “repealing” the Second Amendment. The idea that we could “repeal” any of the Bill of Rights is a subject unto itself, but a “repeal” of the Second Amendment would do nothing regarding the pre-existing right of the people to keep and bear arms.

    I know you probably understand this, and maybe your use of the word “grant” was a poor choice of words. Just wanted to make sure that you understood the nature of the RKBA and the purpose and effect of the Bill of Rights.

    http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com/preamble-bill-of-rights.html

    Thank you.
    ColdWarrior
    www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com

  • karenmartin

    thanks ColdWarriorI actually don’t completely understand and appreciate clarification, I’m still so new to this arena. one of the reasons I’m “putting it out there” is to help other folks at “entry level” like me to help catch up and I know I’ll misstate and make a few faux pas but that’s okay! I know my understanding this time next year will be far ahead of my understanding this year, and I’m grateful for every opportunity to gain clarity. Seriously, if a person finds my post and looks up Enumerated Powers and goes “aha” like me … SWEET!
    BTW I’ve shared your “precinct” pages with pals already, and appreciate your convictions on that topic.

  • http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com ColdWarrior

    After you’ve read and re-read the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution and Bill of Rights several times:

    The Law by Frederic Bastiat

    The Discovery of Freedom by Rose Wilder Lane (daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder)

    After that, a great resource which is online is “Your American Yardstick: Twelve Basic American Principles” by Hamilton Abert Long (out of print but on the web at: http://lexrex.com/enlightened/AmericanIdeal/ )

    The Heritage Foundation will send you a free copy of the Declaration and Constitution just for filling out a form at their web site. I prefer the Citizens Rule Book published by Whitten Printers, which includes quotes from our founders and Jury Handbook that explains the history and importance of our right to trial by jury.

    Whitten Printers
    1001 South 5th St.
    Phoenix, AZ 85004
    (602) 258-6406

    www.whittenprinters.com

    wprinters@qwest.net

    The Citizens Rule Book was compiled by a returning Marine who was a machine gunner in several of the famous battles in the Pacific in WWII. He wanted to write something that might inspire his fellow citizens to preserve the rights he was willing to die for.

    You can also see the Rule book on the web if you do some Google searches. I carry one with me virtually at all times and try to also have several copies with me to give away to those I think might actually read it.

    Keep at it and I hope you will recruit some PCs!

    Thank you.
    ColdWarrior
    www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com



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