How To Regain Constitutional Lawfulness

Worldview Matters – On which foundation do you depend?

In a recent post at The Imaginative Conservative, essayist Brian Miller* explained how accepting a false premise quickly degenerates into actions that rather than solving problems, only escalates and empowers those very problems threatening the social fabric of our community. In supposedly “making progress” the devastating results of that “progressive thinking” belies any rational understanding of the word: progress.

Mr. Miller writes in Tremendous Triffles:

“Sooner or later we all have to grapple with these difficult questions, but too often, when that moment comes, we refuse to examine our presuppositions and surrender to the logic of progress. Once we admit contraceptives are here to stay, there is no reason why abortion is not also here to stay. Once we admit no-fault divorce is here to stay, there is no reason marriage cannot be about the emotional fulfillment of any number of consenting individuals.”

In accepting the progressive idea first, we have rejected the pre-existing lawful idea that preceded our human reinterpretation of reality.

If we are ignorant of those pre-existing laws and ideas, then we must learn them.

We cannot expect a return to constitutional lawfulness without actually knowing the original intent – the pre-existing understanding before the devolved “progressive thinking” – of The Constitution and The Rule of Law.

The firm foundation for our nation is found in knowing the original intent of our Founding Documents.

The Bryan/College Station Tea Party supports learning the original intent of our Founding Documents. The Constitution in 10 Lessons is meant to remind us of exactly what the Constitution was understood to mean using the very words of The Federalist Papers – the definitive explanation of the intent of The Constitution used to explain that document in order to garner voter support for the document.

Publius Huldah teaches us the original intent of our founding documents because the popular acceptance of the devolved progressive interpretation of our Constitution has allowed our leaders to become as though rudderless and adrift because they have disavowed themselves from the standards that should guide them.

PH teaches:

There IS a Chart and Compass for Us to embrace which would Make Us Strong & Bold!

“Daniel Webster reportedly said:

“We may be tossed upon an ocean where we can see no land nor, perhaps, the sun and stars.

But there is a chart and a compass for us to study, to consult, and to obey.

The chart is the Constitution.”

The Bible, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are the Rock on which Our Country was built. Courage and Strength arise from faithfulness to Fixed Principles. It is the man with no Principles who is blown here and there by prevailing winds. ⁴   Strong People – people who are able to stand alone and speak Truth – are strong because of their uncompromising adherence to Principles.

Anyone who is willing to make the modest effort required to obtain a working knowledge of the Constitution would become able to stand up to the progressives and defeat them. But we must first root out of ourselves the false notion that our own ideas on what the federal government should do are “important”! We must learn that in such matters, we must adhere to a Standard – the Constitution – which transcends our own precious selves with our “views”, “opinions”, and “thoughts”. This is what Daniel Webster is telling us.”

Politicians May Not Substitute Their Personal Views for The Constitution!

But how are WE to know the difference between a personal view or an enumerated power of the Constitution unless WE have studied and KNOW for ourselves?

The culture’s preset dial is in direct opposition to the pre-existing lawful understanding….or as Imaginative Conservative, Brian Miller describes: Tremendous Triffles.

Mr. Miller concludes it is only by regrounding ourselves in those pre-existing, “pre-progressed” principles before we know if our commitment is to “cultural progress” or TRUTH:

“The Christian [or Tea Party Constitutionalist] in the modern world will be called upon to “wake-up” to the many ways in which he has just gone with the stream of progress. As the world grows more metaphysically mad, and as we see many former friends “confessing strange doctrines,” we will be forced to challenge the validity of a good many assumptions we have long innocently held. But there is no innocence after that moment. After that we are responsible for our decisions. After that moment we find out whether we are committed to progress or to truth.

Chesterton once told us that if we find ourselves on the wrong road, the truly progressive man is the one who turns around first. Unfortunately, too many Christians [political conservatives] have refused to live up to their convictions. Now more than ever we need people with the courage to turn around. We need the Tories and the Thomists to insist there are some things that simply do not change with the tides of progress, and that there is an orthodoxy in manners, sex, art, business, and government just as much as there is in the creeds and doctrines of the Church. [and because God is Sovereign, in government, too.]

We need to be reminded of the “tremendous trifles” of life, for the fate of the world often turns on the things we have forgotten and cast aside as insignificant.”

Or as PH quotes Thomas Jefferson –

“… On every question of construction, carry ourselves back to the time when the constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed…” Thomas Jefferson’s letter of June 12, 1823 to William Johnson (6^th para from end)

Notes:

³ The quote is generally attributed to Daniel Webster. If you see it in an online scholarly collection, please send the link.

⁴ Senator Bob Dole (R) illustrates this.  He carried the Tenth Amendment in his pocket; yet one of his proudest achievements was passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act! Where does the Constitution authorize Congress to make that law?

Speaker John Boehner doesn’t know that the Constitution sets the agenda for the Country; and that it is the enumerated powers which limit Congress’ spending. That is why he can’t control the spending even though the House Republicans have the power to do it now.
Read more at http://sonsoflibertymedia.com/2014/10/republicans-sell-us/

http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2014/11/tremendous-trifles.html