US Constitution Versus Modern US Government (or Is the modern US government still a constitutional republic?)

 

Due to the sinful nature of man and the corrupting influence of power it is necessary to establish safeguards to prevent the abuse of power. According to the Bible there are three kinds of government power: judicial, legislative, and executive. (Isaiah 33:22) The US Constitution separates government power into three branches of government so that the individual is protected from the tyranny that is inevitable with a concentration of power. A legislative power was established and made the most important to protect the rights of the individual to his own life, liberty, property, and Christian self-government. The Supreme Court is to interpret laws according to the Constitution and is accountable to the legislative branch: Federal Judges do not hold lifetime appointments; they are appointed to hold the office "during good behaviour" and are subject to impeachment. What do we have now? The balance of the powers is upset by the growing predominance of the presidency, the Supreme Court's continual usurpation of the rights of the legislative branch, and the weakening of the legislative branch. The legislative branch routinely passes laws which encroach upon the right of the individual to his own life, liberty, and property as well as his right of self-government, presidential powers often bypass Congress and usurp legislative power through executive orders, and the Supreme Court often usurps legislative power.

In the early church individual churches united together for common purposes (in modern terms we would call them conventions, associations, or denominations), such as evangelism, charity, and support of missions, while each individual church retained autonomy, and this is an example that States would do well to follow. To prevent the US Government from becoming a centralised despotism the US Constitution outlined a limited government in which the States retain sovereignty while the powers of the US Government are clearly defined and limited to those powers necessary for its function. The powers for each branch of government are limited and defined in the US Constitution, and any changes to the US Constitution must be ratified by a super majority of the States. What do we have now? The US Government steadily absorbs all the political life, routinely exercises powers that are not constitutionally mandated, usurps State's Rights and defrauds their sources of revenue, the rights of the individual are often sacrificed for the sake of unity and to protect the US Government against the possibility of insurrection, and the US Supreme Court often issues decrees which contradict or alter the US Constitution.

 In the story "Gulliver's Travels," by Jonathan Swift, Gulliver was a giant compared to the people of Lilliput who were about 6 inches tall, but millions of tiny threads made it impossible for Gulliver to move. Excessive legislation and excessive taxation tyrannise in the same way, which is one reason that limited constitutional government is essential and big government is dangerous. History provides numerous examples which demonstrate that respecting local self-government increases the importance of the individual and keeps a union secure while denying local self-government necessitates the sacrifice of liberties to secure the union and guard against insurrections from within and attacks from without. (e.g., the Roman Empire)

The purpose of the Guarantee Clause of the US Constitution (Article Four, Section Four) is to make sure the US government is a representative government to every State and prevent the US government from becoming a majoritarian democracy (mob rule) that disregards the rights of the individual and less populated States and entrusts charismatic personalities with unchequed power. How is this a guarantee? After all, the US Constitution is a piece of paper that cannot enforce itself. The US Constitution is a compact between the several free and independent States as clearly Stated in the Preamble. The Preamble to the US Constitution clearly says the US government exists to serve the States. As free and independent States (See the Declaration of Independence) in a voluntary union each State has a constitutional right to secede if they believe the union is working against their interests, such as if the US government imposed an oppressive tax that could impoverish some States while leaving other States virtually tax free (this happened in 1860), or if there is a breach of contract, such as if the US government denies or overrides the constitutional rights and powers of a State.

The phrase "which shall be made in Pursuance thereof" means that the Supremacy Clause of Article VI of the US Constitution only applies when the US government is acting in pursuit of constitutionally authorised powers that are clearly defined and limited to those powers necessary for its function, and the Tenth Amendment further clarifies that the authority of the US government is limited to those powers clearly defined and specified in the US Constitution.

In the discussions of the First Amendment prior to ratification the word "religion" was often used to mean a single denomination. The First Amendment prohibited the US Congress from establishing a single national denomination or ruling in religious matters through a state church ("establishment of religion"). The clause "... nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof" was meant to prevent governmental separating of Bible principles and values from the public sphere and keep basic Bible principles and values present throughout society, and for over a century-and-a-half this was the only way in which the religion clause of the First Amendment was interpreted because that is what it says. Incidentally, any system of beliefs and practices fits the dictionary definition of religion even without belief in the supernatural, including socialism and humanism, so that freedom from religion is impossible. Modern US restrictions against Christians and religious groups influencing government and government decisions, and US requirements that God, religion, and Scripture be kept out of government violate the First Amendment. Today the US Government is acting according to the socialist or leftist definition of separation of church and state: Socialism makes man (corporate man, the state) the standard of truth and the ultimate authority, which puts it in conflict with God and those who believe that God is the standard of truth and the present ruler of the Earth, which is why socialism and freedom of religion are incompatible.

What is meant by "militia" in the Second Amendment? "I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for a few public officials." (George Mason, in Debates in Virginia Convention on Ratification of the Constitution, Elliot, Vol. 3, June 16, 1788) When the Bill of Rights was ratified the word “militia” was understood to refer to the general population of adult males (especially in that context) and “well-regulated” means that something is calibrated correctly or able to fulfill its purpose (a militia without guns is not well-regulated); a well-regulated militia is necessary as opposed to a disorderly mob. The purpose of the Second Amendment was to prevent a police state by giving the people the ability to use guns as a last resort to resist governmental tyranny and oppression.

For over a century various amendments have been added to the US Constitution (sometimes unlawfully) which sound noble or even practical but in their application actually increase the powers of the US government and infringe upon liberties. Consider a few examples:

The Reconstruction Amendments, the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the US Constitution, are sacred cows that all too many are reluctant to criticise because these amendments are claimed to protect civil rights. What the Reconstruction Amendments actually did was centralise the US government and expand the police powers of the US government. The wording of the Reconstruction Amendments makes them appear to merely protect civil rights until one reads between the lines.

The Thirteenth Amendment does not abolish slavery or involuntary servitude, it merely leaves the identification and definition of what merits involuntary servitude or being categorized as a slave to the discretion of the US government and provides justification for unlawful imprisonment and concentration camps.

What is wrong with the Fourteenth Amendment? First of all, the Fourteenth Amendment was not ratified by the States and therefore is not lawfully part of the US Constitution. Consider just a few examples of the negative repercussions of the Fourteenth Amendment:

-The Fourteenth Amendment nullifies State sovereignty and constitutional protections and leaves the protection and interpretation of liberty and property to the discretion of a central government which must sacrifice liberty for the sake of unity and to protect itself from the possibility of insurrection in a coerced union.

-The meaning and application of the Fourteenth Amendment is left to the discretion of the US government. For example, in 1973 (Roe V. Wade) the US Supreme Court interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment to mean that abortion is a constitutional right even though when the 14th Amendment was written US law defined an unborn child (from conception) as a person and the words "nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws" (Section 1) were said to be included in the Fourteenth Amendment to keep abortion from being legalized.

-The Fourteenth Amendment makes a US citizen a citizen of the State wherein he resides by virtue of his US citizenship instead of the citizen of a State being a US citizen by virtue of his being a citizen of a State that is part of the Union, and leaves the qualifications and requirements of citizenship to the discretion of the US government, thus changing the United States of America into the United State of America and further enabling the US government to manipulate the masses. According to the US Constitution the citizen of a US State is a US citizen, but according to the Fourteenth Amendment a US citizen is the citizen of a State by virtue of US citizenship, and the US government grants citizenship based on the Fourteenth Amendment. "The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States." (Article IV, Section 2, Constitution of the United States of America) This doesn't say being a citizen of a State makes someone a citizen of every State, just that the citizen of a State automatically has the rights guaranteed to citizens under the US Constitution.

-US restrictions against Christians and religious groups influencing government and government decisions, and US requirements that God, religion, and Scripture must be kept out of government are based on interpretations of the First Amendment in relation to the Fourteenth Amendment.

-The Second Amendment is interpreted to mean either the right of a State to a National Guard (organized militia), even though the US Constitution already provided for that before the Bill of Rights, or the right of people to hunt animals for food, which makes even less sense, as a result of interpreting the Second Amendment in relation to the Fourteenth Amendment.

-The Fourteenth Amendment necessitates the increase of the power of the US government with the additions of government programs that are not constitutionally mandated.

-The Fourteenth Amendment is often used to correct wrongs and injustices, whether genuine or perceived, that were actually the direct or indirect result of US government intrusion or responses to US government intrusion, thus influencing the masses to depend on the US government to solve problems by expanding US government power and increasing US government intrusion in order to correct problems that could have been prevented or overcome through limited constitutional government.

The Fifteenth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-sixth Amendments leave electoral qualifications to the discretion of the US government, changed voting from a civic responsibility into a civil right, leave the validity or propriety of electoral qualifications to the discretion of the US government, and the last sentence of each amendment increased the police powers of the US government. During the so-called Reconstruction of the South the Southern States objected to the Fifteenth Amendment on grounds that a suffrage amendment should be delayed to allow time for freed slaves to learn to read as well as adapt to emancipation. The Fourteenth Amendment was used to keep white southrons from voting or holding public offices, and the Fifteenth Amendment was used to make illiterates the overwhelming majority vote in the Southern States and enable carpetbaggers and scalawags to win elections with empty and unrealistic promises. The Nineteenth Amendment (female suffrage) created a gender gap, encouraged women to transfer dependence from husband or father to the government, encouraged men to neglect or forsake their duties and responsibilities as men, and encouraged grown people of both sexes to act like spoiled teenagers dismissing reality in pursuit of utopian dreams. The real purpose or goal behind the Twenty-Sixth Amendment and the continuing teen suffrage movement is easy to discern when the same people who say teenagers are too young to be entrusted with other decisions and responsibilities (which teens were entrusted with until modern times) insist that teenagers should decide who to entrust with government power. (Yes, government power is extremely dangerous.)  It should also be noted that, while universal suffrage may sound like a noble goal, it makes inevitable a majoritarian democracy with unchequed power entrusted to charismatic personalities and gives control of the election process to whoever can get control of the media.

The Sixteenth Amendment (Federal Income Tax) was a socialist dream come true and enables the US government to further control and manipulate the individual and the masses even though it was not legally ratified.

The Seventeenth Amendment (Senators chosen by popular vote instead of State Legislatures) removed an important safeguard against majoritarian democracy (mob rule) and centralised despotism. The selection of US Senators by State Legislatures was a safeguard for the protection of the States as corporate entities. (Article I, Section 3, Constitution of the United States of America.)

The Eighteenth Amendment (Prohibition) further centralized US power and increased the police powers of the US government, and those powers were retained after the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment.

The Biblical view of man as a natural born sinner is behind the constitutional system of government that does not depend upon the wisdom of mobs or give absolute power to one person and sets limits on the power of civil government and requires accountability of public officials. The republican form of government (not a reference to a political party), representative government rooted in moral law, is based on Bible precedent. (Exodus 18: 21; Deuteronomy 1:13; 16:18) The US Constitution, as written and intended, only supports democracy in the sense of rule through elected representatives and makes pure democracy unconstitutional. (Constitution of The United States of America, Article IV, Section 4) Now we have a majoritarian democracy (mob rule) representing the will of the majority that disregards the rights of the individual and entrusts charismatic personalities with unchequed power.