|
What the Government
Doesn't Want You to Know about the Constitution
by Rick Stanley
The fifty-two word Preamble to the Constitution sets forth the purposes for
which our federal government is instituted and delineates, broadly, the goals
that We, the People, are seeking. Six separate goals we aim for are included.
Today I'd like to draw your attention to the first of those goals: Unity.
The Preamble expresses that goal in these words:
"We, the People, ... in Order to form a more perfect Union, ...
do ordain and establish this Constitution."
What, precisely, does that mean?
My dictionary defines a Union as "a confederation or league of independent
individuals (as nations, or persons) for some common ends or purposes." When I
ponder this definition, several closely related ideas pop into my head.
-- Independence precedes Union. Before there can be a Union, there must be
several independent individuals.
-- The Union is formed voluntarily, by the separate decisions
of independent individuals, or nations, who compose the whole after the Union is
complete.
-- A Union is not an amalgamation. Each individual or nation
joined with the Union retains its independent existence after
the Union is formed.
-- Before the Union was formed, some universally understood and common ends or
purposes existed -- separately and independently for every single individual who
opted to unite.
Now from the historical record it's clear that the American
Union is not only a union of the people who live here. It is
also a union of the several states. In 1787 the thirteen states were in fact
thirteen separate nations, bound together loosely by the Articles of
Confederation, a defensive alliance formed during the Revolutionary War. The
phrase "a more perfect Union" is commonly taken to mean that the new national
government under the Constitution improved upon the Confederation then existing.
But America is not only a union of states; it is also a union
of individuals. Historical fact supports this contention: the
Constitution was adopted, not by executive action by each of the states, but by
conventions of popularly elected delegates. "We, the People" really does mean
that we, the people, join the Union as individuals.
Let's combine this realization with our knowledge of what the
Union really is. Each American has joined the Union. So has each one of the
fifty states. But they have not surrendered their autonomy to the national
government. Both individuals and states retain their sovereignty. We have agreed
to let the federal government pursue our common goals on our behalf in a certain
limited way. But there remain many goals and purposes we do not share in common,
and not a single one of those is subsumed within the sphere of lawful federal
action.
That's the theory. How is it working out in practice? The short answer is -- not
very well.
Under the constitutional plan of Union, good government begins at home. The
individual is sovereign within his own sphere of action, unless his actions
impinge unjustly on his neighbors. The state and local governments also have
their own limited roles to play. And the federal government's role is strictly
circumscribed. Under the Constitution, it must limit its actions to matters of
national and international importance.
In theory, the power remains with the people. In practice, it
has all gone to Washington. Think of education, a local concern "overseen" by
the federal Department of Education. Think of wages, and food prices, items of
personal concern "managed" by the DOL and the USDA. The drug war? That's a
personal responsibility issue subject to self-government, not federal
intervention. Old age insurance? Same deal. Medical care? The same. You get the
picture.
Wherever you look you can see the federal government poking its nose into
everybody's business. CIA, DEA, EPA, FAA, FBI, FCC, HHS, ICC --the list is
interminable. And practically all of it is unconstitutional.
We can fix this. There's still time. We can elect people who
actually understand the Constitution, and who know what a more perfect Union is
really all about.
Which is it going to be? The United States of America? Or
Americans Amalgamated, Inc?
|
