By DR. LARRY MOSES
No one asked me but… Constitutional Conventionalists are people who have decided that there is a need to re-write the Constitution of the United States of America. They claim the founding document of America is out dated.
This crisis has been aggravated by the election of President Donald Trump. Trump lost the popular vote by over three million votes, however, easily won the electoral college vote as stipulated in the Constitution. If one is to study the history of presidential elections he will find this is not really unusual.
But before we scape this document maybe we should try following it.
Actions of the federal government makes one ask: Does anyone in Washington, D.C. have even a vague idea that there is a ruling document for the American government called the Constitution? Has anyone in Washington read the document that they are required to swear to uphold?
Clause 3 of Article VI of the United States Constitution states: “The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution.
The President of the United States does not officially take office until he has publicly sworn the following oath: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
The Constitution contains an oath of office only for the President. For other officials, including members of Congress, the document specifies only that they “shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation to support this Constitution.”
The oath for U.S. Senators and Members of the House of Representatives is as follows: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and I that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”
Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are required to take two oaths before they may execute the duties of their appointed office. The oath stated above, required by Article VI Clause 3 of the Constitution. The second oath is found in the Judiciary Act of 1789 and requires that before the justices of the Supreme Court proceed to execute their duties, they must swear or affirm the following: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So, help me God.”
This was a government built on checks and balances to make sure that absolute power could not reside in any one branch to the determent of the American people. The Constitution is quite clear as to the role of each branch of the government. Under the Constitution, Congress has the power to create laws, the President is to execute the law, and The Supreme Court has the power to interpret law.
One of the major facets of American history has been the ebb and flow of dominant power of one branch over the other at different times.
During the formation of the country, the executive branch was the dominant power in the country. The President reserved the right to determine the Constitutionality of laws passed by Congress.
It was during this period that Chief Justice John Marshall established the right of Judicial Review for the Supreme Court in Marbury v. Madison (1803). This un-Constitutional right of the Supreme Court did not really blossom until the 1960’s. However, this is one of the most far-reaching violations of the Constitution that the American people have accepted. Nine non-elected officials now determine the law of the land. While this was slow in developing, it has definitely helped lead America away from Constitutional rule.
The executive branch is presently violating the Constitution each time it signs an executive order establishing a law for the United States. It is not the constitutional duty or right for the President to make law. Rather than enforce the law, the President merely creates law with a stroke of his pen. This is not the role or power of the leader of a constitutional republic.
The Supreme Court violates the Constitution each time it rules on the Constitutionality of law. While case law has established the Supreme Court as the ultimate ruler of the Constitutionality of a law there is nothing in the Constitution that gives it that right. The constitutional role of the Supreme Court is to evaluate a case and determine if the law was followed not to determine if the law in question is constitutional.
Like it or not, there is no Constitutional basis for requiring a person to buy Medical Insurance. For those who wish to equate that to mandatory auto insurance, I will gladly argue that that too is unconstitutional. There is no Constitutional basis for any prohibitive gun law. There is no Constitutional basis for collecting personal data on Americans without probable cause and a warrant.
If the American people want to change the Constitution, there is a Constitutional process for this, and it is not a revisionist court, an imperial president, nor a dictatorial Congress.
The men who wrote the Constitution realized the document would need adjusting. There were compromises made that had to be remedied if the nation was to develop into a government by the people, of the people, and for the people. So they included a process to make the changes necessary.
You will find the process in Article V of the Constitution itself. The American people have chosen to do so twenty-seven times. That is about one in every eight years.
While some adjustments may still be made to the document, the Constitution does not need a rewrite; it needs a re-read.
Thought of the week… We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.
– Abraham Lincoln
