Defending the Constitution

Here is an excerpt from the February 2010 Washtenaw Republican Informer, of which I am a co-editor and which may be accessed on the Washtenaw Republican Party website:

One of the unifying themes of the many “liberty” groups, whether they be Tea Party groups, Americans for Prosperity, Campaign for Liberty, etc., is the demand for a return of the reading of the U.S. Constitution as it was intended by the Founding Fathers, i.e., the creation of a limited government, chock full of checks and balances. Here are some useful resources.

• Nullification: A curb on federal overreach - An interesting outgrowth on the debate of the Senate health care bill (and ObamaCare in general) is the renewed interest in nullification among state legislatures. The first instance of the use of nullification were The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 a direct response to the constitutionally offensive Alien and Sedition Acts of the same year. Whether it’s ObamaCare, federal gun laws or the REAL ID Act more and more state legislatures are turning to nullification to reassert their state sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment. For further viewing: Judge Andrew Napolitano: The Constitution and Freedom
  
  
• On the humorous side, two eminent law enforcement officers (Barney Fife and Andy Griffith) weigh in on the Preamble of the Constitution in this YouTube video.
  
  
• Michael Badnarik, a more credible source on the Constitution, provides a very informative 8 hour class on the Constitution & History which can be watched in short segments.
  
  
• The webcast archives from the Hillsdale College’s January 30th “Constitutional Town Hall” are another excellent source (free, after registering online).

Thanks William Rushlow and Dave Pangborn for your submissions for this article.

Critics of members of the Tea Party: "What a quaint idea. The U.S. Constitution actually means what the words say? Pure madness." We all need to be concerned to the extent the limits on government written in the Constitution have been eroded by Supreme Court opinion after opinion over the years. We are to the point that many believe we are not the republic the Founding Fathers envisioned, but rather a democracy where 50% +1 can do anything they wish against the outvoted minority (typically the producers of society). Tea Partiers hold true to the 10th from the Detroit News.

Comments?

Rick