Uncelebrated Constitution Day
Fellow Constitutionalists,
Last Saturday was Constitution day. 224 years ago on September 17, 1787 our Founding Fathers signed our Constitution. That day was the first time in human history that a new government voluntarily codified the limits of its own power. This was certainly a high point in humanity's struggle for freedom.
The United States Constitution codified the fact that certain rights are given by God, as the Founding Fathers had first officially recognized years earlier in our Declaration of Independence. The Declaration and Constitution both recognized that God-given rights cannot be taken away by government.
Contrary to the modern teachings of our public school system, the purpose of the Constitution was not to simply set up three branches of government. It had a much more important purpose: to explicitly limit the authority of the Federal government, and to recognize that all remaining authority was vested in the people. In other words, God gives us Life and Liberty and Property. We then create government and give government some of our authority so that government can do certain things for us. You see, government is our employee. We have all the power. That is what the Constitution recognized and codified, for the first time in human history.
Unfortunately power corrupts. Those to whom we give our authority have turned it against us because they want to be the boss (sound familiar?). They now tell us what to do, when, how, why, how much…And they use our own authority to punish us if we resist.
It took generations, but our Constitution has been nearly destroyed because it has been forgotten. I have a calendar in my office that I got at an office supply store last January. Last week I noticed that Constitution day was not marked on my office calendar. “Peace Day” is marked. Every full moon is marked. Grandparents Day, First Day of Fall, Mexican Independence Day, Australian and New Zealand Labor Day, Daylight Savings, Kwanzaa, and many other days are marked on my mass-produced office calendar. But not Constitution Day.
This is why we have Presidents, Congressmen, Judges and Governors that ignore the Constitution. Because they can - because the Constitution has been forgotten. Because most Americans no longer know WHY it existed in the first place, or why it matters. This is what we must change.
Liberty Legal Foundation’s mission is to restore the Constitution through challenging flawed Supreme Court precedent. Part of the reason we chose that mission was because through high-profile legal battles we can raise awareness of how much America has lost. We can re-educate the people (and the courts) about what the Constitution says and does.
If we are to re-capture America’s greatness we must help America re-discover WHY it was great in the first place. Whether individual judges agree with us in court or not, we can educate Americans about the authority that comes to them from God, and only then, to government. If they understand that government has stolen the people’s authority and rights, we can get them back in the fight and we can re-establish our Constitutional Republic.
In Liberty,
Van Irion
Co-Founder, Lead Counsel
LIBERTY LEGAL FOUNDATION