By: Rebecca Witherspoon
How can you protect your Constitutional rights if you do not know what they are or why they were codified in our U.S. Constitution?
Our Declaration of Independence is the document which outlined our grievances with our then government, England. Our Constitution of the United States of Americaoutlined the limited form of a new government, by the people and for the people (NOT by or for the governors), with imbedded checks and balances to ensure no one of the three separate but equal branches could usurp the other’s unique authority but could check each other if one was found to be overstepping its authority. The Constitution also sets out very specific rights of the people in the form of a Bill of Rights, which the government is not allowed to usurp. Thankfully, our Constitution is extremely difficult and cumbersome to amend for very good reason.
We The People elect officials who are supposed to represent us in local, county, state, and federal government. These governing bodies are supposed to set the policies and enact laws and penalties primarily to PROTECT our Constitutional rights. Bureaucracy is supposed to be the unelected body which implements the policies and laws, NOT set policies or create laws and penalties. Our country has strayed FAR from what our Founding Fathers intended or implemented.
Sadly, very few Americans today have read, know, or understand these truths.
If we as a nation and society are to overcome the division and trials we are currently experiencing, we MUST relearn, teach, and begin to once again understand the truths set out in our founding documents and once again demand our government acts in the manner it was intended.
