At an event at the Ronald Reagan Library on August 24, Senator Marco Rubio said: "Though the vision was well intentioned, it was doomed to fail from the start. It was doomed to fail from the start first and foremost because it forgot that the strength of our nation begins with its people and that these programs actually weakened us as a people. You see, almost in forever, it was institutions and society that assumed the role of taking care of one another. If someone was sick in your family, you took care of them. If a neighbor met misfortune, you took care of them. You saved for your retirement and your future because you had to. We took these things upon ourselves and our communities and our families and our homes and our churches and our synagogues. But all that changed when the government began to assume those responsibilities. All of the sudden, for an increasing number of people in our nation, it was no longer necessary to worry about saving for security because that was the government's job. For those who met misfortune, that wasn't our obligation to take care of them, that was the government's job. And as government crowded out the institutions in our society that did these things traditionally, it weakened our people in a way that undermined our ability to maintain our prosperity. Program after program was crafted without any thought as to how they will be funded in future years or the impact it would have on future Americans. They were done with the best of intentions, but because it weakened our people and didn't take account the simple math of not being able to spend more money than you have, it was destined to fail and brought us to the point at which we are at today. Americans in the 20th Century built the richest, most prosperous nation in the history of the world. And yet today we have built for ourselves a government that not even the richest and most prosperous nation in the face of the Earth can fund or afford to pay for. An extraordinary tragic accomplishment, if you can call it that. And that is where we stand today. And so, if defining the proper role of government was one of the central issues of the Reagan era, it remains that now."
Senator Rubio is right. It is all about the proper role of government. When government embraces those limited areas it was intended to be responsible for, and leaves the remaining matters to the States and to the People, then there will be true competition and prosperity. And it is the States which need to take the lead and set that division of power and responsibility back to where our Founders intended. The nation needs a massive re-adjustment and the States must take the lead. They need to reign in the power of the federal government, for the sake of liberty and for the sake of our children.
Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President of the United States, once said: "To live under the American Constitution is the greatest political privilege that was ever accorded to the human race."
We have inherited our freedoms at great cost from our forefathers. Those precious freedoms were once well- protected under the our Constitution, thanks to a group of intelligent, forwarding-thinking and liberty-minded public servants. The question we must ask ourselves today is whether our freedoms are as well-protected as they need to be. Secession is not the answer, but education, recognition, discussion, perseverance, and commitment are. If we aren't willing to do that, then our Constitution is worth nothing more than the piece of paper it was written on.
As Ronald Reagan warned: "You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We'll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we'll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness."
References:
1). Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 (1942)
2). Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 (1869). Referenced at: http://www.usconstitution.net/constfaq_a4.html ]
3). US Constitution Online. http://www.usconstitution.net/constfaq_a4.html
4). Chuck Braman, "The Political Philosophy of John Locke and Its Influence on the Founding Fathers and the Political Documents They Created," 1996. Referenced at: http://www.chuckbraman.com/Writing/WritingFilesPhilosophy/locke.htm ] Great Resource !!!
5). William Rawle, A View of the Constitution of the United States. Philadelphia: H.C. Carey and I. Lea, 1825.]
6). "Texas Secession Facts," Texas Secede!. Referenced at: http://www.texassecede.com/faq.htm
7). Thomas Paine, "The Truth About Secession," NoCompromiseMedia , June 25, 2009. Referenced at: http://nocompromisemedia.com/2009/06/25/the-truth-about-secession/ ]
8). "Wickard v. Filburn," Common Sense Americanism. Referenced at: http://www.csamerican.com/sc.asp?r=317+U.S.+111
9). "Wickard v. Filburn - Supreme Court Extends Commerce Power To Production." Referenced at: http://law.jrank.org/pages/13433/Wickard-v-Filburn.html
10). http://www.constitution.org/primarysources/primarysources.html (Primary Sources)
11). Federal Directory of Departments and Agencies: http://www.usa.gov/directory/federal/index.shtml
12). "Lincoln on Secession," The Real Abraham Lincoln. Referenced at: http://pointsouth.com/lincoln/secession.htm
13). James Ostrowski, "Was the Union Army's Invasion of the Southern States a Lawful Act?," Secession, State, and Liberty, New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1998). Referenced at: http://www.lewrockwell.com/ostrowski/ostrowski31.html]
14). Senator Russell Pearce, "9th Circuit Court of Appeals' SB 1070 Decision Demonstrates Contempt for Constitution," Intellectual Conservative, April 16, 2011. Referenced at: http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2011/04/16/9th-circuit-court-of-appeals-sb-1070-decision-demonstrates-contempt-for-constitution/
15). James Simpson, "Breaking - Power to the People! Repeal Amendment Gaining Strength," Emerging Corruption, November 27, 2010. Referenced at: http://emergingcorruption.com/2010/11/breaking-power-to-the-people-repeal-amendment-gaining-strength/
16). "Is, as Lincoln Said, The Union Perpetual?", Secession University. Referenced at: http://secessionu.wordpress.com/is-the-union-perpetual/
17). Schecter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495 (1935). See Cornell University Law School. Referenced at: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0295_0495_ZS.html.
18). Currin v. Wallce, 306 U.S. 1 (1939).
19). Thomas Woods, The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, 2004, Regnery Publishing, Washington DC.
20). Marco Rubio, Speech at the Ronald Reagan Library, Aug. 24, 2011.
21). Ex parte Milligan, 71 U.S. 71 (1866).
22). Ronald Reagan, "A Time for Choosing." Referenced at: http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/reference/timechoosing.html
23). Jim Ostrowski, "Secession." Referenced at: http://jimostrowski.com/articles/secession.html
24). "Middlebury Institute/Zogby Poll: One in Five Americans Believe States Have the Right to Secede," Zogby International, July 23, 2008.
25). Thomas J. DiLorenzo, "The Men Who Destroyed the Constitution," Lew Rockwell. Referenced at: http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo105.html
26). Gene Healy, "The Squalid 14th Amendment," Lew Rockwell. Referenced at: http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/healy1.html
27). Andrew Napolitano, The Constitution in Exile, Thomas Nelson Publishing (April 18, 2006).
Chapters One, Two, Three, Four and Five are complete. To be continued in Future Chapters.
Diane Rufino has her own blog For Love of God and Country. Come and visit her. She'd love your company.
