A rule not of men, but a rule of objective laws
On July 4, 1776, the Founding Fathers forged a political revolution. They stated as self evident truth in the Declaration of Independence that “men are endowed by their creator by certain inalienable rights.” Our rights are endowed by the Creator and precede all government and that among them are “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” In the very next sentence, they stated “to secure these rights governments are instituted.” They declared for the first time in history that men do not exist to serve the government, but rather that the government exists to serve men. This is the philosophic base of the founding of the United States of America.
Eleven years later, in 1787, the Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia and drafted the Constitution to enable government to protect these rights. Having recently defeated tyranny, many citizens, including Patrick Henry, were opposed to ratifying The Constitution. They insisted, as a condition of ratification, that several amendments further delimiting the authority of the federal government be passed. Those first ten amendments, satisfying these demands, became known as The Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights however, would have more aptly been named the “bill of limitations” on government in that its sole purpose was to safeguard God given rights by limiting government power.
The Bill of Rights insists that “Congress shall make no laws about speech, religion, press, assembly, the right to petition, the rights to bear arms, etc.” The Bill of Rights additionally secured a broad range of vital liberties including immunity from unreasonable searches and various jury trial privileges. The amendments are aimed squarely at the federal government and not at the citizen and most are not aimed at the states.
We oppose government restrictions on free and honest expression, especially those that infringe on political discourse.
Defense of ones self is an inalienable right and therefore we oppose government restrictions on the right to bear arms.
People must be secure in their persons, property and privacy; we stand against any form of government regulation that restricts the use of one’s own private property. We oppose all legislation aimed at circumventing the warrant requirements for searches and seizures of persons and property. We oppose any use of eminent domain except for essential government functions and this must be kept to an absolute minimum.
We support initiatives in defense of privacy. Banking, medical and ethnic information should not be in the government’s province. We oppose any form of National Identification Card and the Real ID Act. We support initiatives in defense of privacy and oppose any form of National Identification Card and the Real ID Act.
We support equal protection and enforcement of the law, including legal accountability standards for all public employees and severe restrictions, and if possible, the elimination of “sovereign immunity” to protect illegal and unethical government conduct. Government officials should be held to the same levels of accountability as the citizens.
We recognize the harm that drug abuse causes, but also that the “drug war” has been ineffective and has led to terrible abuses of personal liberty. We favor flexible alternatives at the state and community level to combat the harmful aspects of drug use.
We oppose “litmus tests” for judicial nominees who are qualified and recognize that the sole function of the courts is to interpret the Constitution. We oppose judicial amendments or the crafting of new law by any court.
The proper role of government is to protect an individual’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This is the philosophic basis of the founding of the United States of America.
The Preamble to The Constitution states, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
The Preamble to the Bill of Rights leaves no room for doubt as to the thought of those who drafted it “…The Conventions of a number of States having at the time of their adopting of the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added:…”
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