ABOUT OUR CONSTITUTION...
by
Michael Connelly
Some people seem to be forgetting
that it is “our Constitution.” It belongs to the American people. It is not the
property of the President, the Congress, or even the Federal courts. It is not
theirs to tinker with, rewrite, or ignore depending on their personal whims and
ideologies. It was carefully crafted by the founding fathers to provide a form
of government that was limited, not all powerful.
The Bill of Rights does not contain
a list of rights that are given to the American people by the government.
Instead it provides a list of the rights that are inherently ours, and they
can’t be taken away by the government. For example, despite their claims to the
contrary, freedom of speech and freedom of the press don’t just belong to those
that agree with a certain political ideology. In addition, the Constitution and
Bill of Rights were not designed for only the people who consider themselves
elite and better than the rest of us. In fact, it was designed to protect us
from them.
However, despite these truths that
have been the foundation of our Republic for over 200 years, every article,
section, and amendment of one of our most precious documents is under constant
and unrelenting attack by the current administration. The balance of powers
between the three branches of government is being ignored in favor of a de
facto dictatorship by those who consider themselves above the rest of us. They
think they are ordained to tell us how to live our lives and to decide what is
best for us.
Yet, sadly, even as we face the
imminent prospect of losing our freedoms and the way of life that so many brave
Americans have fought and died for, there are many citizens of this country who
seem oblivious to this fact. This is because they have either never read the
Constitution in its entirety or don’t really understand what it means. This is
probably not really their fault because for years the importance of the
Constitution has been downplayed or ignored in many of our schools, especially
in our so-called institutions of “higher education.”
The bottom line is that if Americans
are unfamiliar with the Constitution and the way our government is designed to
work, how will they know that it and the rights it protects are being taken
from them? That is why I have done something new. I have prepared a pocket
sized booklet on the Constitution that doesn’t just contain the wording of the
document, but after each section and amendment contains my comments on what
each means.
Here is an excerpt from the booklet about
the 2nd Amendment:
“Amendment
IIA 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.
Comments: The Second Amendment to the Constitution has been the subject of much controversy over the years. Many individuals in the United States own firearms, either for protection, or for hunting, or for both. There are other individuals who feel that only the police and members of the military should be allowed to carry firearms, and that individual citizens should have restrictions put on their gun ownership rights. These “gun-control” proponents have long argued that the Second Amendment does not provide an individual right of gun ownership, but, only, a collective right belonging to state militias or to the National Guard. In recent years, the United States Supreme Court has ruled that the right to keep and bear arms is, in fact, an individual right, and it cannot be restricted unduly by either the federal government or by state and local governments.”
Many people who have read the booklet have told me that they have learned things about the Constitution that they had never realized before. The booklet is being offered through my non- profit corporation, the Constitutional Law Alliance (CLA). The website is www.constitution.jigsy.com and single copies can be ordered through the site for $6.00 each including postage. There are also substantial discounts available for multiple copies and these are explained on the website.
I encourage everyone to get at least one copy to carry with you. That way when you hear someone making an incorrect comment about the Constitution or our freedoms you can have the document there to show them. However, I also hope you will let others know about the booklet and order additional copies to distribute. You can also make donations to the CLA to help us supply this booklet to youth groups and schools at reduced prices.
I believe that this booklet will raise the consciousness of Americans when it comes to understanding how important our Constitution is and how it must be defended.
Michael Connelly
Related:
www.michaelconnelly.jigsy.com
www.constitution.jigsy.com
