Opinion

The year of the Constitution

Font Size:

The United States of America was born of revolution by the people. And from the revolution was created a unique document offering a system of government incorporating expressed balance of power elements to make sure those in power would not trample on the people’s hard-won rights. Said Patrick Henry:

“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government, lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.”

The 112th Congress was sworn in and called to order this week through the reading of the U.S. Constitution. The new Speaker of the House, John Boehner, supported the reading as a fundamental act of loyalty to the people of the United States. Roughly half of the members of this Congress approved, while the others openly rebuffed, mocked, or at best begrudgingly approved. It may be that the elected D.C. rulers and elites finally get it; the people have had enough, and having sent in new representatives, they demand Congress adheres to the ultimate rule of law, the U.S. Constitution.

A stirring line from the 1776 Declaration of Independence set the tone for the definitive creation of the Constitution. This line, above all others, helped the Founders focus as they produced the document creating a new nation ruled by the consent of the governed. It reads:

“We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

These were revolutionary ideas, never before practiced in any formal democratic society. In Matthew Spalding’s outstanding book, We Still Hold These Truths, the Heritage Foundation author and researcher offers words from John Adams:

“What do we mean by an American Revolution? The revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people…This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution.”

The first oath I took out of high school was to the Constitution. I subsequently took it two more times in my life. Swearing an oath is a powerful elixir affecting the deepest of motivations and beliefs. Any living American who has experienced raising their right arm with a willingness to give their life for it does not easily put it aside. “This radical change” was in the hearts of the people then as it is now, and remains enshrined in a document that over a million Americans have died defending. The people’s loyalty and love for the U.S. Constitution is deeply embedded in their hearts, something the left can hardly understand.

We are between election cycles. A testing of wills ensues. I predict that Americans will some day look back upon 2011 as the year we celebrated the vital substance and meaning of the 223-year-old Constitution.

This, despite irrational liberal arguments that its meaning is archaic and unintelligible. The Washington Post’s youthful blogger Ezra Klein said last week that the Constitution “is confusing to some because it was written more than 100 years ago…” He added that the Constitution “has no binding power on anything.” Mr. Klein neither understands American history nor respects the depth of rights that the Constitution guarantees him.

These anti-constitutionalist sycophants offer the wind behind the sails of the founding document’s present-day defenders. Just as they know it holds the key to people’s liberty in every aspect of life in the American republic — from commerce, to faith, to politically correct speech, charity, property and personal rights, etc., they know it threatens their big-government hopes of total control and citizen management. To win control over the constitutional powers the people defend, the left must either control via disobedience to the Constitution or rule by regulatory and executive powers.

Congress’s constitutional violations over the past two years are brilliantly laid out by Paul Skousen in his Daily Caller piece, The Top Ten Violations of the Constitution by Obama and the 111th Congress.

The people understood their Constitution was being torn to shreds by corrupt D.C. power-mongers. What we witnessed in the 2010 election cycle was not a Republican-led victory but the people’s victory, led by the patriotic Tea Party.

If the GOP continues with what they started, reading the Constitution in the House chambers with the intent to obey it in all matters of legislation, the country has a chance to survive and return to its position as the bright hope to all mankind.

Writes Matthew Spalding in We Still Hold These Truths: “When Benjamin Franklin departed the Constitutional Convention he was asked by an acquaintance if the framers meeting in Philadelphia had created a monarchy or a republic. ‘A republic’ he famously replied, but then added, ‘if you can keep it.’ Our nation’s Founders knew that the perpetuation of liberty would always depend upon spirited citizens and patriotic statesmen actively engaged in the democratic task of governing themselves, holding to the truths of 1776.”

Reading and understanding the Constitution is not as hard as young Mr. Klein of the Washington Post thinks. A free copy of the U.S. Constitution is available at www.heritage.org and at my publishing site: www.powerthink.com. And because millions still love it, trust it, and do understand its value, they will continue to defend it.

With a sentiment of fidelity to their heritage of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, millions of Americans will continue to affirm, as I did at eighteen years old:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

James Michael Pratt is a New York Times bestselling novelist and non-fiction author, CEO of PowerThink Publishing, public speaker, Op Ed writer for The Daily Caller, and Founder of Reagan Revolution 2. His creative work may be reviewed at www.jmpratt.com. Email: james@powerthink.com

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel