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Most American's do not know their own history, nor do they stop and consider that the government that fought for independence from the British Empire was disbanded within seven years after attaining that independence. What replaced it was the Constitution of the United States of America, a much more centralised and consolidated federal republic.(Constitution.Org) -- The Confederation, this despised government [Articles of Confederation], merits, in my opinion, the highest encomium -- it carried us through a long and dangerous war; it rendered us victorious in that bloody conflict with a powerful nation; it has secured us a territory greater than any European monarch possesses -- and shall a government which has been thus strong and vigorous, be accused of imbecility, and abandoned for want of energy? Consider what you are about to do before you part with the government. Take longer time in reckoning things; revolutions like this have happened in almost every country in Europe; similar examples are to be found in ancient Greece and ancient Rome -- instances of the people losing their liberty by their own carelessness and the ambition of a few. We are cautioned ... against faction and turbulence. I acknowledge that licentiousness is dangerous, and that it ought to be provided against. I acknowledge, also, the new form of government [The Constitution] may effectually prevent it. Yet there is another thing it will as effectually do -- it will oppress and ruin the people....Patrick Henry, Virginia 1788
On the political Right of American politics today are those who enshrine the Constitution as Holy Writ. Some will literally say they believe it to be a divinely inspired document on par with the Bible. They believe the Constitution is our sacred founding document, that there was no 'America' prior to it, and that everything that is good about America flows from it. They are strict constructionists, consistent with their point of view, believing the Constitution never changes, and must be followed and obeyed by both the government and the people.
On the political Left of American politics today are those who believe the Constitution is a 'living and breathing' document, again, a different way of interpreting Holy Writ, meaning something new to each successive generation. It is a document that is flexible, able to be moulded and applied to fit the needs of the day.
Both the political Left and political Right of American politics are religious zealots, but each in their own way, with their approach to the Constitution mirroring their approach to the Bible, or whatever other scriptures they hold as sacred, if any. Can there ever be a reconciliation between them? No. Never. They will forever hold each other in enmity. For religious zeal is their driving principle.
I submit to you here that both are wrong. Both have made a critical error in reason. Both have consigned themselves in perpetual conflict which can only result in the destruction of the nation they both hold dear. Both must repent of their wicked religious zeal for a man-made secular document. 'The Catholic Knight' is about to call a spade a spade, and say something that is sure to make both the political Right and the political Left a little uncomfortable...
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES IS NOT DIVINELY INSPIRED.
Get that through your thick skulls now before it's too late! When was the last time you read the U.S. Constitution anyway? Is it not this same Constitution that originally denied women's suffrage, enshrined slavery into federal law, and counted a slave as three-fifths of a person? Well, I suppose three-fifths of a person is better than half a person, or no person at all, but still, does this sound divinely inspired to you? Maybe it depends on the kind of divinity you worship. I don't know about you, but I worship the Holy Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - who teaches through his Holy Catholic Church that rights come from God, that women have the same legal rights as men, and a slave is just as much of a person as a freeman. Maybe you disagree with my interpretation of the U.S. Constitution here. That's fine, since neither you nor I have the authority to interpret it anyway. That authority is reserved explicitly for the United States Supreme Court. You know, that same Supreme Court that gave us the Dred Scott decision, 'Separate but Equal' racial segregation, the banning of prayer in public schools, and of course Roe v. Wade. The Constitution makes it clear that only the Supreme Court has the right to interpret it authoritatively, and this is how the Supreme Court has interpreted it. Divinely inspired? I think not.
I submit to you here that both the political Left and the Right are wrong in America. Both are guilty of idolatry. Both have ascribed too much to a secular document that many of America's founders opposed. Maybe it's time Americans take a second look at the Articles of Confederation, imperfect as that document is, it nevertheless enshrines some of the principles of a truly free and equitable Union between states, wherein the states may govern themselves and solve their own problems, without interference from 'Uncle Sam' and an all-powerful federal government. Maybe Patrick Henry and the Anti-Federalists were right. Maybe after 224 years Americans may come to see the prophecy of Patrick Henry came true, and our own federal government (which our Constitution creates) has become our own worst enemy, a nemesis rivalling that of King George III. Maybe, just maybe, Americans will finally wake up and realise that we have become slaves to an instrument of our founders' own making. Maybe, just maybe, Americans will once again realise that America and The Constitution are not synonymous, that they are not one in the same, that Americans lived without it before 1789, and indeed gained our independence from England without it. Maybe, Americans will finally remember that the men who fought the American Revolutionary War never heard of a U.S. Constitution, and those who survived wouldn't hear of it for some time. Maybe, just maybe, Americans will stop idolising a document that is enslaving us to a federal government that WILL NEVER STOP GROWING until it has consumed everything there is and left us with nothing. Maybe, just maybe, Americans will finally WAKE UP and understand that true freedom in our Union can only be realised when states are given the ability to govern themselves, solve their own problems, and let people vote with their feet which system is best. Maybe, just maybe, this 224 year experiment in federal tyranny will finally come to an end, and the people of the states will rise up to the occasion and save us from the brink of our own self-destruction. Maybe just maybe. Then again, maybe not.
(This article may be freely copied and distributed without permission from the author -- The Catholic Knight.)
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