Words of wisdom
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Give me Liberty
Rodger Williamson
To be honest, I was at a loss as to what to write about this week. All the latest news was the same news that has been ongoing. Russia is still in Ukraine, but if I ignore the propaganda and listen to the actual experts, I am still getting conflicting information, and conflicting opinions, as to which way this will go in the future.
Biden is still only semi cognitive. Some days he is there. Most days he is not. Someone above him is making his schedule, parading him around and telling him what to say. I tried to warn all y’all back before the election that BOTH Biden AND Trump were the two oldest candidates to ever run for president, and regardless of who won age would prove an issue to their performance.
The economy still sucks, and thanks to the continuing devaluation of the U.S. dollar, inflation is still rampant. Neither Hunter Biden nor his father have been charged with racketeering yet. And every official in Washington that has violated their oath to our Constitution has not yet been impeached or removed from office.
The same goes for Gov. Ivey for violating the First Amendment right of every Alabamian “to peaceably assemble” with her COVID-19 shutdown order. And on the subject of the Constitution, and following with my introduction to our founding fathers in last week’s column, I believe that I have finally found my inspiration for this week, to visit notable quotes from some rather notable Americans.
“Cities may be rebuilt, and a people reduced to poverty may acquire fresh property: but a Constitution of Government once changed from freedom, can never be restored. Liberty once lost is lost forever. When the people once surrender their share in the legislature, and their right of defending the limitations upon the government, and of resisting every encroachment upon them, they can never regain it.” – John Adams, 1775
“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” – Patrick Henry, 1775
“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.” – Samuel Adams, 1776
“… 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. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” – Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, 1776
The Constitution’s first three words; “We the People,” written by Gouverneur Morris in 1787; affirm that the government of the United States exists to serve its citizens.
“There is no position which depends on clearer principles than that every act of a delegated authority, contrary to the tenor of the commission under which it is exercised, is void. No legislative act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid. To deny this would be to affirm that the deputy is greater than his principal; that the servant is above his master; that the representatives of the people are superior to the people themselves; that men acting by virtue of powers, may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid.” – Alexander Hamilton, Federalist #78, published 1788
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” – James Madison, Bill of Rights, 1789.
Rev. Edmund A. Opitz (1914-2006) surmised that “no one can read our Constitution without concluding that the people who wrote it wanted their government severely limited; the words ‘no’ and ‘not’ employed in restraint of government power occur 24 times in the first seven articles of the Constitution and 22 more times in the Bill of Rights.”
In Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1803), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that “all laws which are repugnant to the Constitution are null and void.”
In 1867, Judge Timothy Farrar published his “Manual of the Constitution of the United States of America.” The states are recognized as governments, and, when their own constitutions permit, may do as they please, provided they do not interfere with the Constitution and laws of the United States or with the civil or natural rights of the people recognized thereby and held in conformity to them.
The right of every person to “life, liberty and property,” to “keep and bear arms,” to the “writ of habeas corpus,” to “trial by jury,” and divers others are recognized by, and held under, the Constitution of the United States and cannot be infringed by individuals or even by the government itself.
In United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542 (1876), the Supreme Court ruled that rights are not granted by the Constitution; neither are they in any manner dependent upon that instrument for their existence, implying that a right is natural born and that the listing of a right as an amendment within the Constitution simply restricts the powers of the national government.
In Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 U.S. 105 (1943), the Supreme Court ruled that “No state may convert a secured liberty into a privilege and issue a license and fee for it.”
In Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham, Alabama, 373 U.S. 262 (1963), the Supreme Court ruled that “If the state does convert a right into a privilege and issue a license and charge a fee for it, you can ignore the license and fee and engage in the right with impunity.”
In Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966), the Supreme Court ruled that “where rights secured by the Constitution are involved, there can be no rule making or legislation which would abrogate them.”
“The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others RETAINED BY THE PEOPLE.” – the 9th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, James Madison, 1789
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, OR TO THE PEOPLE.” – 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, James Madison, 1789
“If ever the time should come when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.” – Samuel Adams in a letter to James Warren, October 24, 1780
Stay free, my friends…