— Published with Permission of The John Birch Society —
Each judge or justice of the United States takes an oath before performing the duties of his office. It goes as follows, “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 as ___ under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.”
Now, why on earth would a Federal Judge be caught tossing the U.S. Constitution aside after he swore an oath to uphold it? Unfortunately that is exactly what has happened with Federal Judge Richard Posner who implied that the Constitution should be forgotten.
Posner wrote, “I see absolutely no value to a judge of spending decades, years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, or seconds studying the Constitution, the history of its enactment, its amendments, and its implementation (across the centuries — well, just a little more than two centuries, and of course less for many of the amendments).”
Even though Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner claimed to take back his comments he still did not seem to have any higher regard for all the work that the founders put into creating this historic document. He claimed that the Founding Fathers could not have “foreseen the culture and technology of today.” Even so, many of our country’s problems would disappear if our politicians were held accountable to what they swore an oath to defend.
Although his comments and judgements seem appalling to defenders of the Constitution, the way that those in office have been disrespecting its contents, he isn’t too far off. Disregards and attacks on the Constitution are occurring constantly. However, the biggest threat to the Constitution is an Article V convention, also known as a constitutional convention. And although it does seem tempting to try to rein in the federal government and politicians by revising the Constitution with an Article V convention, the Constitution is not the problem. The problem is the lack of enforcement of the Constitution. Holding an Article V convention is a threat to the Constitution because such a convention would have the inherent power to be a runaway convention that could rewrite the Constitution.
But how do we put a stop to government overreach? The answer is in the states. James Madison shared it in the Federalist, No. 45, “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.” The Founders made it clear that only enumerated powers would be delegated to the federal government. The 10th Amendment states, “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.”
The majority of public officials and many American voters act if the federal government’s power is unlimited. In order to restore freedom, an informed electorate must be created. The Constitution does already limit the power of the federal government, just the way that the founders intended. But if politicians and judges are getting away with keeping their Constitutions hidden on a dusty shelf, who is coming along to blow off the dust? Let’s start with ourselves. When was the last time you picked up the Constitution and studied its contents? When was the last time you debunked something in the news with support from the Constitution? We the people need to stand up and hold those in high offices accountable!
