The Constitution: An Introduction

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The Constitution was written in 1787 and ratified in 1788. The debates that led to the creation of the Constitution, primarily the work of James Madison, and those within the originals 13 States of the Union are beyond the purview of this series, but are important to our understanding of the Constitution and especially its original on only intent. As needed I will refer to those necessary to drive home a critical point.

Despite all of the hoopla over the Bill of Rights - originally 12 Amendments to the Constitution that were winnowed down to 10 - the Bill of Rights is not the Constitution; it is part of but not the the most important part. In fact many, as I do, believed that including the Bill of Rights would lead, as it has, to the limitation of our rights. I will not delve into this in detail here but will reserve the discussion for a later post; the point being that given the nature of Government delineating a subset of our fundamental rights could, and has, lead to the Government to infringe on rights not listed in the Bill of Rights. It should also be noted that the Constitution is also, NOT, the tens of thousands of legal opinion - Constitutional Case Law - that has been generated and spewed by 200 years of Supreme Court rulings. These opinions are just that, opinions, they are not law and can be changed whenever necessary - they are flawed interpretations of a document that really is hard to misinterpret. Supreme Court opinions represent not adherence to the Constitution but political attempts to circumvent the law to the benefit of special interests. The purpose of the Supreme Court was not to give the citizenry or the government a venue for overturning laws with which they disagreed.

It is also important to understand that the Constitution does not grant a single right (it does grant the privilege to vote). Our rights do not derive from men or governments of men - as the Declaration of Independence says: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It cannot be any clearer than that yet this is one of the most misunderstood - especially by liberals - notions about the Constitution - The purpose of the Constitution is to define a government that has limited scope and powers, the most critical of which is to secure our rights. So, it is a misnomer to refer to our fundamental rights as Constitutional Rights. This is a point that Elena Kagan could not grasp - thus the real reason she should never have made it to the bench.

Fundamental to an understanding of the Constitution is to understand that the majority of our country's Founders distrusted government and understood far better than our current rulers do, that government is a necessary evil to be taken in small doses. Thus the Constitution is a document intended to define carefully and clearly a government of limited extent and limited power and balanced against the rights of the states and the individual.

The Constitution consists of 7 Articles that define the structure and powers of our government. If a power is not specifically specified as belong to the government authority then the government does not have that power. That is a critical point to understand - The Government does not have ANY implied powers. Another way of saying that is, just because the Constitution does not specifically prohibit or grant a power that does not imply that the Government can claim that power. A reading and understanding of the 9th and 10th Amendments clearly spell this out:

Amendment IX: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

As we go along we will see how purposeful misunderstandings of the 14th Amendment have gone a long way toward stripping the IX and X Amendments of their important purpose.

So, let's reiterate: The Constitution does not Grant the Government any powers not specifically specified in the text of the document.

Article I of the Constitution defines the Legislative Branch of our Government and Section 8, Clauses 1-18 specify the enumerated powers of that Branch - beyond those listed in those Clauses Congress has not other powers, real or implied - PERIOD.

Article II defines the Executive Branch and other than those limited powers granted the Executive - none of which involves making laws - the President has limited authority - as intended by the Founders.

Article III defines the Judicial Branch of government and specifies that its job it to uphold the Constitution, "The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution." Again not anywhere in Article III is there a granting of authority to make law and more importantly, there is no authority to grant rights to the Citizenry.

The remaining Articles of the Constitution discuss Full Faith and Credit, Debt obligations, etc. Article V, which will be discussed later is very important in that it defines how the Constitution is to be changed if needed to adapt to changing situations. "The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of it's equal Suffrage in the Senate." An interesting thing to note here, is that no where does it say that the Judicial Branch has the authority to modify the intent or meaning of the Constitution.

In summary: The Bill of Rights is not the Constitution - it is a list of prohibitions on government toward a subset of our rights; The Constitution does not grant any rights; Supreme Court Opinions are not the Constitution but flawed misinterpretations of the Constitution. The Constitution really does mean what is says, it is just that simple.