Compassion vs. Constitution?

How have we come to the place where compassion or at least purported or perceived compassion trumps the constitution? Why do we look to the federal government instead of our state and local governments for help? Does it have that much better of a track record? I don’t think so. The Founders and Framers never intended for the federal government to be the benefactor of all nice and good things to all people in the country. James Madison remarked that charity is not a befitting function of the federal government. Our Republican form of government hinges on the principle that the government closest to the people best serves their needs. Sadly today that idea has been turned upon its head and Uncle Sam has become Uncle Santa Claus to everyone for nearly everything we need and want. Need a retirement plan? Here’s Social Security. Need medical care? Here’s Medicare and now Obamacare. Just overlook the fact that none of this tomfoolery is authorized to the federal government in the constitution. We have become a nation ruled by whimsy instead of law. The states are perfectly within their rights to offer these goodies to their citizens, so why don’t they. Simple; they don’t have the power to steal money from other states. It takes the strong arm of the federal government to do that. But one can quickly surmise that such a policy is destined for financial insolvency. There just isn’t enough money to go around. And surprisingly (not) Social Security and Medicare are currently bankrupt and soon destined for the ash heap.
If this idea is so great why not, in the name of compassion; give everyone a 3000 square foot home with central air and heat? Why should I have to pay the utilities to heat and light that home? Why not a Mercedes in every one of those garages with free gasoline? How about free lobster and filet minion on all of those tables? Food, housing, transportation, water and electricity are all necessities, so shouldn’t a compassionate society provide them for free, or nearly so? And what’s with this $7.25/hour federal minimum wage? How can you call that compassionate? If we’re going to do it (it’s not authorized in the constitution anyway) then let’s really do it right…jack it up to $50.00/hour! Or why not let everyone take a turn at being CEO of Berkshire Hathaway? Where does the madness end? The mind reels. And there’s the rub, the madness never ends. Giving away other people’s money is akin to a gambling addiction or alcoholism. The deficits and debt just spiral out of control. It used to be that a billion dollars was a big deal, now it’s a trillion, what’s next? We will never pay back our current national debt and it is growing at an unparalleled exponential rate. Let the party rock on!
The constitution was written as a foundational law for the creation and restraint of the power of the federal government. The Framers knew that men, left to their own devices would become corrupt and in turn corrupt the federal government and the nation. We are, after all created a little lower than the angels. If men were angels no government and no constitution would be needed. But being fallen, we need a Supreme Law of the Land. The constitution serves as our fixed point of reference, our anchor, something that doesn’t move or easily change and can be counted on in a storm. For Christians that is the Holy Bible, for Jews the Torah, for Muslims the Koran. For many years this philosophy worked. But as the ratification of the constitution faded into history and new generations of politicians sprang up with no personal memory of the Revolutionary War or the writing of the constitution it became easier and easier to gradually begin to ignore and subvert its purpose and power. What was once revered is not reviled, once sacred now scorned. Politicians today publicly announce their ignorance of constitutional tenets as if that were a badge of honor. Some gleefully and boldly denounce it as a meaningless relic and take great pride in proclaiming their intention to willfully disobey its clear commands. They almost dare someone to call them on it as a show that they can violate this most crucial law with impunity; that the people pose no threat and have no means of reprisal. Those of us who still cling to the notion that Supreme Laws of the Land should probably be obeyed are looked upon by these erudite public servants as some sort of retarded mutant simpletons, throwbacks to a different era and fodder for a good laugh. Surely we and our archaic ideas cannot be taken seriously in this enlightened present day. These hucksters on high will argue that the constitution was meant for a simpler time; the Framers could not possibly have foreseen the complexity of 21st century society. And the amendment process is too slow and cumbersome in such a fast-paced microwave world. Thus it must be viewed as a malleable, living, evolving document which can mean anything to anyone at anytime to fit the need of the current issue at hand. (This of course truly means that it means nothing under such an interpretation.) They see it full of penumbras and emanations only visible to the trained eye of the seasoned politician or activist Supreme Court justice. We simple folk just cannot appreciate the nuances which must have been secreted into the document by the wise Framers. The DaVinci Code has nothing on the Constitution. So today we must entrust the covenant between the people and their federal government to the sole interpretation of basically five people, five Supreme Court judges. We must not question their intellect, their insight, their powers of divination, their motives or their objectivity. They are above mere mortal temptation and could not possibly have a personal or political agenda. What rubbish! The constitution was written in plain language that all can read and understand. It means just exactly what it says and absolutely no more than that. It was written by the people as a covenant document between them and the federal government that they, and thus it created. The people are the ultimate arbiters of the meaning of the constitution, acting through their respective states and state governments. There are no penumbras or emanations and the amendment process was supposed to be long and difficult. The powers of the federal government were supposed to be few and severely constrained while the states retain most of the governing authority. The federal government is supposed to serve the people, not vice versa. Rights come from God, not the government and the role of government is to protect those rights. When governments become abusive of that trust and charge the Declaration of Independence serves as a reminder of how to deal with such tyranny.
My fellow Americans it is time for the people to resume our rightful role as keepers of the constitution and reverse the course of the federal government dictating to us what the constitution says and means and what they are going to do to us and what we must do for them. We the people must loudly proclaim what the constitution says and means and what the federal government is and is not going to do for us. We must take back the constitution and take back our federal government in order to save the republic from decline and ruin, or worse a fall into tyranny. Time is very short, we must act now.