Originally Posted - September 19, 2005

return home

PERSPECTIVES

We, The People Must Make Government Representative
By June Maxam

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.

With those powerful words, the Constitution of the United States was signed on Sept. 17, 1787.

Saturday marked the official birthday of the U.S. government, the day in 1787 on which the Constitution was signed.

This week is Constitution Week, proclaimed by President George Bush in remembrance of the signing of the Constitution and in recognition of the Americans who strive to uphold the duties and responsibilities of citizenship.

Constitution Day, a new federal holiday honoring the signing of the document, was celebrated for the first time Saturday.

Beginning this year, all schools that receive federal money, from pre-schools through colleges, are required to commemorate Constitution Day, the day in 1787 the Constitution was signed.

And that’s a good thing.

Education is the first step towards eradicating the judicial tyranny that is invading our country in the guise of judicial independence.

Sen. Robert Byrd (R-West Virginia) who carries a copy of the U.S. Constitution in his pocket and who bemoans the ignorance of the founding document, last fall added a rider onto the federal Appropriations Act requiring schools to commemorate Constitution Day and President Bush signed it last December.

“It seems obvious that a great Republic cannot sustain itself unless its citizens participate in their own government”, Byrd said. “But how can they participate meaningfully if they don’t know the fundamental principles on which their government is founded?”

Sadly it has become more and more obvious that many of our government leaders are oblivious to the U.S. Constitution with government itself more frequently engaging in egregious violations of individual constitutional rights and at times total disdain and disregard of First Amendment rights to speech, press, religion, assembly as well as the rest of the Bill of Rights. Is it because of total arrogance or total ignorance of the Constitution. Unfortunately we believe it’s a combination of both.

More than two centuries after our Founding Fathers gathered in 1787 in Philadelphia, our Nation continues to be guided by the Constitution they drafted, President Bush said in his Proclamation.

“The Constitution of the United States reflects our ideals and establishes a practical system of government. It provides for three separate branches -- the legislative, the executive, and the judicial -- with defined responsibilities and with checks and balances among the branches. Under our Constitution, both the Federal Government and the State governments advance the will of the people through the people's representatives. To protect the rights of our citizens and maintain the rule of law, Article III of the Constitution provides for a judiciary of independent judges who have life tenure”.

Ah, life tenure. That’s the first thing that has to be changed to try and stop today’s runaway judiciary. While appointing judges for life is supposed to insulate them from political pressure, it succeeds in allowing bad judges to remain on the bench forever including those who have passed their usefulness and are no longer doing their best work. It allows sick judges to remain on the bench with no way to remove them unless they decide to voluntarily leave---or die in office.

The Constitution establishes fundamental principles---separation of powers, federalism and an independent judiciary---“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”.

But the judiciary is tipping the scales, unbalancing the power and usurping the U.S. Constitution with their legislating from the bench and abuse of power.

The U.S. Constitution must be preserved and revered. We, The People must act to do that. If the Constitution is to be legally amended, there is a process that must be followed by the populace, the Executive and the Legislature Branches. Congress must draft a proposed amendment, the two Houses of Congress agree on one version. Then two-thirds of the House of Representatives and two-thirds of the Senate vote for the amendment and upon their approval, the amendment is presented to each state for vote and three fourths of all the states must vote in favor of the amendment in order for it to be ratified.

However, in order for the judiciary to amend the Constitution, all it takes is for the judge to pound his or her gavel in their black dress and say, “so ordered!” Legislating from the bench and it’s undermining today’s society and creating an angry populace.

An independent judiciary is one thing. Judicial activism and judicial tyranny are quite another.

It’s time for We, The People, to assert our power, to meet and defeat the constitutional crisis that confronts the American public, the threat of realigning the balancing of power as intended by our Founding Fathers. Representative government must be restored to the people as intended and guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

During this Constitution Week, we encourage every American to take the time to read the U.S. Constitution, the Preamble, the Bill of Rights. The first step to combating the increasing assault of the judiciary on the American populace is to become informed. http://www.constitutioncenter.org/explore/Welcome/index.shtml 9-18-05