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As you will see in this video the wrong word could potentially change your life forever.
The Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is made up of ten separate amendments, dealing with issues ranging from free speech and unjust searches to religious liberty and cruel and unusual punishment. Read more.
Last week in a New York Times op-ed, Georgetown Law professor Louis Michael Seidman made the argument that the U.S. Constitution was the document that has made our nation broken with it’s “archaic, idiosyncratic and downright evil provisions.” Read full story…
oh, my goodness, the good lady from California must have forgotten her oath of office:
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 that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
The Second Amendment (Amendment II) to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms and states:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Seems pretty straightforward yo us. Maybe the lady from California should bone-up on her understanding of the U.S. Constitution.“… if I Could Ban Every Single Gun, I would...”
Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed...."
On October 16, 1991,George Jo Hennard drove his 1987 Ford Ranger pickup truck through the front window of a Luby's Cafeteria at 1705 East Central Texas Expressway in Killeen, yelled "This is what Bell County has done to me!", and then opened fire on the restaurant's patrons and staff with a Glock 17 pistol and later a Ruger P89. About 80 people were in the restaurant at the time. He stalked, shot, and killed 23 people and wounded another 20 before committing suicide. During the shooting, he approached Suzanna Gratia Hupp and her parents. Hupp had actually brought a handgun to the Luby's Cafeteria that day, but had left it in her vehicle due to the laws in force at the time, forbidding citizens from carrying firearms. According to her later testimony in favor of Missouri's HB-1720 bill [1] and in general, after she realized that her firearm was not in her purse, but "a hundred feet away in [her] car", her father charged at Hennard in an attempt to subdue him, only to be gunned down; a short time later, her mother was also shot and killed. (Hupp later expressed regret for abiding by the law in question by leaving her firearm in her car, rather than keeping it on her person. One patron, Tommy Vaughn, threw himself through a plate-glass window to allow others to escape. Hennard allowed a mother and her four-year-old child to leave. He reloaded several times and still had ammunition remaining when he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head after being cornered and wounded by police.
In a world rife with moral confusion and corrupt, arbitrary and unlimited government, America's Founding Principles still remain our best access to permanent truths and the best ground from which to question the current direction of our nation. In this video, join Matt Spalding, author of “We Still Hold These Truths” and an authority on American political thought and religious liberty at The Heritage Foundation, as he highlights some everyday Americans on a journey to reclaim our future.
We The People - The Last Line of Defense
We, as citizens, are ultimately responsible for the survival of our republic.
The Future of Democracy in America
The Founding Fathers knew well the kind of government they were trying to avoid, but could only project what their own experiment in government would become. They based this projection on their analysis of governments in the past, on principles derived from natural rights, and on an assessment of the nature of man. Thomas Jefferson always maintained a great faith in the American people and their capacity for self-government. The success of the Founding Fathers' experiment certainly attests to their wisdom and genius.
"[When] corruption... has prevailed in those offices (of) government and (has) so familiarized itself as those men otherwise honest could look on it without horror... (then we must) be alive to the suppression of their odious practice and ...bring punishment and brand with eternal disgrace every man guilty of it, whatever his station."—Thomas Jefferson in a letter to W.C.C. Claiborne, 1804.
DO YOU STILL HOLD THESE TRUTHS? THE TIME TO CHOOSE IS AT HAND.
There is less than one month left until the deadline for The Bill of Rights Foundation’s scholarship contest. The We The Students Scholarship Contest runs through November 16, 2012.
To participate in the contest, high school students will answer three questions around the ideas of the Constitution and the role of government. One $4,000 prize will be awarded for first place, one $2,000 prize for second place, and one $1,000 prize for third place. Two $500 prizes will be awarded for honorable mentions. >>Learn more hear.
Welcome to part 3 of our 10-part lecture series presented by Hillsdale College entitled “Constitution 201.”
Each lecture lasts approximately 40 minutes. Lectures and other study materials will be included and are available to our readers. We expect to present all 10 parts before Election Day, November 6.
Woodrow Wilson argued that the separation of powers established by the Constitution prevented truly democratic government. In order to render government more accountable to public opinion, Wilson held that the business of politics—namely, elections—should be separated from the administration of government, which would be overseen by nonpartisan, and therefore neutral, experts. The president, as the only nationally elected public official, best embodies the will of the people, resulting in a legislative mandate.
Poll: How citizens feel about Constitutional changes and privacy
Is the Constitution an enduring document or irrelevant in today’s world? The latest AP-National Constitution Center poll shows concerns some Americans have about constitutional issues. >>Continue reading.
Today we begin a 10-part lecture series presented by Hillsdale College entitled “Constitution 201.”
Each lecture lasts approximately 40 minutes. Lectures and study materials will be made available to our readers. Today we present part 1 "The Founders’ Constitution and the Challenge of Progressivism."
We expect to present all 10 parts before Election Day, November 6.
Overview
The principles of the American Founding, embodied in the Declaration of Independence and enshrined in the Constitution, came under assault by Progressives of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Progressivism rejects the Founders’ ideas of natural rights, limited government, the separation of powers, representation, and federalism. Progressive government, exemplified by the modern administrative state, has fundamentally transformed key aspects of the American way of life.
Progressives believe that America needs to move beyond the principles of the Founding. Woodrow Wilson—who served as president of Princeton University, governor of New Jersey, and as America’s 28th president—was one of the earliest Progressive thinkers. His critique of the Founding—namely, his rejection of the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution’s system of the separation of powers—is one of the most articulate expressions of the Progressive movement’s core beliefs.
"… But every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country; he should lisp the praise of liberty, and of those illustrious heroes and statesmen, who have wrought a revolution in her favor.”
In this resent post we offered our readers the opportunity to take a pop quiz on 10 basic questions about the Constitution presented by The National Constitution Center (NCC) in Philadelphia. Today NCC released the results of its quiz.
This pathetic showing reflects poorly on Americans’ basic understanding of our nation’s most sacred document.
James Madison did more than any other individual to create the U. S. Constitution. This Constitution Day. We bring you “: James Madison, Father of the Constitution.”
Monday, September 17, marks the 225th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution. Can you pass a basic, 10-question quiz on the Constitution prepared by The national Constitution Center (NCC)? Let’s see if you know the basic facts about our nation’s blueprint and its most enduring document.
In 2004, Congress passed a controversial provision that required every school and college that receives federal money to teach about the Constitution on September 17.
The quiz contains questions about some basic Constitution facts that have remained unchanged since 1787.
“Miracle at Philadelphia” is Catherine Drinker Bowen's narrative account of the Constitutional Convention that is held in 1787, during which delegates from 12 of the 13 newly independent American states hammer out what will become the United States Constitution, which is still in effect today. Bowen works from the diaries and notes of delegates, including James Madison, and includes contemporary newspaper accounts to paint a human portrait of the Convention, complete with the tensions and dissensions between states that threaten to tear apart the Convention and perhaps even the young country. Miracle at Philadelphia is Catherine Drinker Bowen's narrative account of the Constitutional Convention that is held in 1787, during which delegates from 12 of the 13 newly independent American states hammer out what will become the United States Constitution, which is still in effect today. Bowen works from the diaries and notes of delegates, including James Madison, and includes contemporary newspaper accounts to paint a human portrait of the Convention, complete with the tensions and dissensions between states that threaten to tear apart the Convention and perhaps even the young country.
This short interview with George Romney was originally published here on June 20, 2012. We thought it deserved a second look as the RNC ramps up tonight in Tampa.
George W. Romney is the father of Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney and was an auto industry executive who became a three-term Governor of Michigan, a Republican Presidential candidate and a member of the Nixon Cabinet. George Romney died in 1995. He was 88.
Romney was chairman and president of the American Motors Corporation when he resigned in 1962 to run, successfully, for Governor. He ran for the Republican Presidential nomination in 1968 but dropped out of the race just before the New Hampshire primary. He then served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in President Richard M. Nixon's first term.
George Romney represented the liberal wing of the Republican Party, supporting civil rights initiatives and Government social programs and opposing the war in Vietnam. His politics proved successful in Michigan, where he was elected Governor three times, by increasingly large margins.
We found this 1992 interview of the elder Romney rather profound considering the current political and economic state of affairs the United States is facing some 20-years later.
It makes one wonder what our leaders in Washinton have been doing over the past two decades , lending greater credence to the claim that "All politicians are the same."
At approximately the one minute mark of this interview, Mr. Romney mentioned Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville and how this French visitor viewed the early Americans and how they dealt with their individual problems.
U.S. Constitution - Amendment 10
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.
Tomorrow we will all be witnesses to history when the United States Supreme Court delivers its opinion on the Constitutionality of what has been come to be known as “ObamaCare.”
Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will issue one of the most important decisions in its history. It will decide if the Constitution, as it currently exists and was originally intended, is still superior to the actions of the two other branches of the federal government.
Throughout America's history, there has been no doubt that it is. This week, and especially from our most liberal quarters, this historical foundation will be disregarded -- and in the most extreme outbursts, denied outright. Those protests will only grow louder if the Supreme Court rules, as it should, and overturns the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare).
It is therefore worthwhile to keep in mind the opinions of three who helped write, defend, and finally pass the Constitution. James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton, collectively authoring The Federalist Papers, offer responses to today's liberals that are, if anything, no less important now than when they originally wrote.
Liberals have already attempted to marginalize the Constitution -- thereby diminishing its role relative to the government -- effectively aiming to decide the case in the court of public opinion before it was ever heard in the Supreme Court. They again will claim that the Constitution cannot keep pace with the exigencies of our modern life. They will say that the federal government is more responsive and knows best.
In response, we should call to mind the words of Madison, writing in Federalist Paper #62: "It may be affirmed, on the best grounds, that no small share of the present embarrassments of America is to be charged on the blunders of our governments; and that these have proceeded from the heads rather than the hearts of most of the authors of them. What indeed are all the repealing, explaining, and amending laws, which fill and disgrace our voluminous codes, but so many monuments of deficient wisdom…?"
The Constitution and the Court remain our last fail-safes against the federal government's mistakes.
Liberals have also sought to deny the role of the Supreme Court in this case. They have said, and the Administration has echoed, that the Supreme Court has no role in the PPACA because it is a duly-passed action of the Congress.
A book once owned by George Washington containing his personal annotated copy of the U.S. Constitution and a copy of the Bill of Rights sold for nearly $10 million at a New York auction Friday.
According to the Associated Press, the 223-year-old book says “President of the United States” on the cover and is marked up with brackets and notes Washington made about the responsibilities of the president. Read more…
By 1786, defects in the post-Revolutionary War Articles of Confederation were apparent, such as the lack of central authority over foreign and domestic commerce. Congress endorsed a plan to draft a new constitution, and on May 25, 1787, the Constitutional Convention convened at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. On September 17, 1787, after three months of debate moderated by convention president George Washington, the new U.S. constitution, which created a strong federal government with an intricate system of checks and balances, was signed by 38 of the 41 delegates present at the conclusion of the convention. As dictated by Article VII, the document would not become binding until it was ratified by nine of the 13 states.
Beginning on December 7, five states--Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut--ratified it in quick succession. However, other states, especially Massachusetts, opposed the document, as it failed to reserve delegated powers to the states and lacked constitutional protection of basic political rights, such as freedom of speech, religion, and the press. In February 1788, a compromise was reached under which Massachusetts and other states would agree to ratify the document with the assurance that amendments would be immediately proposed. The Constitution was thus narrowly ratified in Massachusetts, followed by Maryland and South Carolina. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the document, and it was subsequently agreed that government under the U.S. Constitution would begin on March 4, 1789. In June, Virginia ratified the Constitution, followed by New York in July.
On September 25, 1789, the first Congress of the United States adopted 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution--the Bill of Rights--and sent them to the states for ratification. Ten of these amendments were ratified in 1791. In November 1789, North Carolina became the 12th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Rhode Island, which opposed federal control of currency and was critical of compromise on the issue of slavery, resisted ratifying the Constitution until the U.S. government threatened to sever commercial relations with the state. On May 29, 1790, Rhode Island voted by two votes to ratify the document, and the last of the original 13 colonies joined the United States. Today the U.S. Constitution is the oldest written constitution in operation in the world.
On the 224th anniversary of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, it seems uncanny that as our Republic faces what some are calling a Constitutional crisis as the president and the Congress square-off over subpoenaed documents related to the Justice Department’s failed “Fast and Furious” operation which lead to the deaths of two Americans, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and ICE agent Jaime Zapata.
A Case Study in Grassroots Restoration of the Rule of Law
By Mark Alexander, The Patriot Post, Thursday, May 3, 2012.
As you will see Alexander’s essay is appropriate and timely with Memorial Day approaching.
"The advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation ... forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of."
—James Madison, principle author of the U.S. Constitution and fourth President of the United States (1788).
As a direct descendent of Tennessee Patriots who were veterans of every major conflict in defense of American Liberty from the American Revolution forward, I stand in awe of my home state's distinguished list of Patriot sons and daughters. From 19th-century notables like Andrew Jackson, Davy Crockett, Sam Houston, Nathan Bedford Forrest and Sam Davis, to a long list of 20th-century Patriots headed by Alvin York, warriors from the "Volunteer State" have distinguished themselves in battle with honor and courage. Even our state's nickname was earned in recognition of the valiant service of volunteer soldiers during the War of 1812, most notably during the Battle of New Orleans.
There was a group of lesser-known Tennessee Patriots, however, whose efforts to defend Liberty at home in 1946 were no less noble. This group of World War II veterans took up arms to restore Rule of Law in the quaint east Tennessee town of Athens (McMinn County), between Chattanooga and Knoxville. That fight became known as the Battle of Athens. Read complete essay…
Following is an overview for the eighth installment of our 10-part/day The Founders’ Key webinar series:The institutional separation of church and state—a revolutionary accomplishment of the American Founders—does not entail the separation of religion and politics. On the contrary, as the Northwest Ordinance states, “religion, morality and knowledge” are “necessary to good government. “For America’s Founders, reason and revelation properly understood are complementary. “Almighty God hath created the mind free,” wrote Thomas Jefferson in the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. Human beings are fallible, yet despite this fact, they are capable of self-government.
With careful cultivation of one’s soul, attention to “the laws of nature and of nature’s God,” and the uplifting assistance of family, church, and the local community, an individual is able to tame base passions and live worthy of the blessings of liberty. Virtue is vital to good government.
Among the greatest of blessings—and the most important of rights—is religious liberty. Rejecting the low standard of mere “toleration” that existed elsewhere, the Founders enshrined liberty of conscience as a matter of right. It is immoral, they held, for any government to coerce religious belief. Yet they also argued that it is advisable for governments to recognize their reliance upon “Divine Providence,” and to provide for the support and encouragement of religion.
The government of the United States (or any of the fifty states) is not a church, and the church is not a governmental entity. This institutional separation, a clear statement of which is in the First Amendment, is a boon to both religion and politics, for instead of tying man’s religious fate to the future of the state, the establishment of religious liberty frees up religion so that it might flourish. This important point is missed by the Supreme Court’s misinterpretation, repeated numerous times since 1947, of Thomas Jefferson’s “wall of separation between church and state” metaphor.
From 2001 to 2010 Dr. Bobb served as director of the Hillsdale College Charles R. and Kathleen K. Hoogland Center for Teacher Excellence, a civic education program for high school teachers. Formerly a research associate at the Boston-based Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research, he has published reviews and articles in Perspectives on Political Science, the Claremont Review of Books, the American Spectator, and the Washington Times. He blogs regularly for BigGovernment.com and his book on humility as a political virtue is under review for publication. He received his B.A. from Hillsdale College, summa cum laude, and his Ph.D. in political science from Boston College.
Following is an overview for the seventh installment of our 10-part/day The Founders’ Key webinar series:
The separation of powers helps to ensure good government at the same time it guards against tyranny. Independent in function but coordinated in the pursuit of justice, the three branches of government—legislative, executive, and judicial—must each have enough power to resist the encroachment of the others, and yet not so much that the liberty of the people is lost.
A political regime has three dimensions: the ruling institutions, the rulers, and the way of life of the people. In America, the rulers—the people themselves—and their ruling institutions—staffed by the people’s representatives—aim at securing the Creator-endowed natural rights of all citizens. The Framers did this in two ways. “Vertically” considered, our ruling institutions are defined by federalism, or the division of power between the national, state, and local governments. “Horizontally” considered, the ruling institutions of the federal government itself are separated and co-equal.
In the American regime, the Constitution is the “supreme law of the land.” No one branch is superior to it; all three branches have a duty to abide by it. While each of the three branches plays a unique role in the passage, execution, and interpretation of laws, all of the branches must work together in the governing process.
The legislative branch is closest to the people. It is also the branch in which the danger of majority tyranny lurks. The passions of the people are reflected most in the House of Representatives, where the members are elected for terms of two years. The Senate, with its six year terms, was designed to be a more stable legislative presence than the House.
The defining characteristic of the executive is “energy.” The president can act swiftly and decisively to deal with foreign threats and to enforce the law and can also provide a check on legislative tyranny through the veto.
Members of the judiciary, the third branch of government, must exercise judgment in particular cases to secure individual rights. Through “judicial review,” the judiciary is given the authority to strike down laws that are contrary to the Constitution. But judicial review is not judicial supremacy; even the Supreme Court must rely upon the other branches once it has rendered judgment.
The checks that each branch can exercise against the encroachment of the others ultimately protect the liberties of the people. The separation of powers promotes justice and good government by having each branch perform its proper function. This institutional design allows the sovereign people to observe and to know which branch is responsible for which actions in order to hold each to account. The sense of mutual responsibility built into the separation of powers is a reflection of the moral and civic responsibility all Americans share.
Today’s presenter is Dr. Will Morrisey, the William and Patricia LaMotte Chair in the U.S. Constitution and Professor of Politics at Hillsdale College, where he has taught since 2000. He teaches courses in American politics, political philosophy, and comparative politics.
Morrisey is the author of eight books on statesmanship and political philosophy including Self-Government, The American Theme: Presidents of the Founding and Civil War; The Dilemma of Progressivism: How Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson Reshaped the American Regime of Self-Government; Regime Change: What It Is, Why It Matters; Culture in the Commercial Republic; and Reflections on DeGaulle. He is currently working on a study of the geopolitical strategies of Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle. He has written for the New York Times, Washington Times, the American Political Science Review, the Claremont Review of Politics, and Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy, of which he has served as an editor since 1979. He received his B.A., summa cum laude, from Kenyon College, and his Ph.D. in political science at the New School University.
Monday, February 4, 2013 at 8:50 AM 
