"Constitutional Observations"
©My effort to inform interested Americans...
Web Site: www.cacp.infoOn the Origin and History of the U.S. Constitution and its 28 Principles of Freedom
This month’s issue: Principle # 7:
"Protect equal rights, not provide equal things"Question # 1: What powers can be assigned to the Government?
Answer: It was a popular practice in Europe, at the time of the Founders, for the government to "take from the haves and to give it to the have nots so that all might be truly equal." The Founders disagreed with this principle. The Founders recognized that under "the laws of Nature and of Nature’s God" that the people, or their elected representatives, cannot delegate to their government the power to do anything except that which they have the lawful right to do themselves. This is a powerful principle, seldom discussed, and certainly not comprehended or understood by either the people themselves or by their elected representatives today.
One of the basic principles of government is to protect the life and property of its citizens. They do not have the right to "legislate" the taking of one’s property, either through confiscation or taxation. The Founders recognized that the moment the government is authorized to start leveling the material possessions of the rich in order to have "equal distribution of goods," the government thereafter has the power to deprive any of the people of their "equal" rights to enjoy their lives, liberties and property. To apply this principle is to revert to "Ruler’s Law," communism, or socialism.
Question # 2: What approach did the Founder’s follow?
Answer: The Founders policy was to guarantee the "equal protection" of all the people’s rights and thus insure that all the people would have the freedom to prosper. This totally different approach from their European neighbors allowed for the creation of the money needed to fund the soon to come industrial age which provided millions of jobs which had never existed before. The Founders felt under this policy of "equal protection" America would become a nation dominated by a prosperous middle class with a few people becoming rich, and a nation where the poor was insured the freedom to prosper so that no one would be locked into the poverty level the way people have been in all other parts of the world, even today in 2004.
And in making the nation prosperous some would prosper more than others, an inevitable factor so long as there is liberty. Some would prosper because of talent, some because of good fortune, others by inheritance, but most would prosper because of hard work. This entire American concept, new to the world, of "freedom to prosper" was based on the belief that man’s instinctive will to succeed in a climate of liberty would result in a whole people prospering together. The poor would lift themselves through education and individual effort to become independent and self-sufficient. Their idea was to maximize prosperity, minimize poverty, and make the whole nation rich.
The Founder’s key: To have the government protect equal rights, not to provide equal things. Samuel Adams wrote "The utopian schemes of leveling [redistribution of the wealth], and a community of goods [central ownership of all means of production and distribution], are as visionary and impracticable as those which vest all property in the Crown. These ideas are arbitrary, despotic, and, in our government, unconstitutional."
The United States today has strayed from the Founders Principles. On February 3, 1913 America adopted the 16th Amendment that allowed the government to "soak the rich" with unequal taxes in order to equalize goods. The Founders tax program was what we call today a FairTax, a tax on consumption, equal for all. Article I, section 8 of the Constitution states "The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; ..." A lesson to remember on April 15, America’s tax day.
To review past issues of Constitutional Observations go to
www.cacp.info - Source: Skousen - The 5,000 Year Leap, page 115-121. To obtain "The Making of America," or other Skousen books go to www.cacp.info or www.nccs.net or call 800-388-4512. Become involved in this growing e-grass-roots movement to educate more Americans on the FF’s basic principles of freedom by e-forwarding this e-message to your family & associates. Build an e-base, then add 5 new e-addresses monthly and e-forward. If not you, who? Now, until May l, 2004. DSC